Hasta La Gadget!

Disney’s miraculous touch-sensitive technology isn’t available yet, but Tinkering Techie found a way to discreetly incorporate current tech to his furniture. He made a wooden nightstand and installed three capacitive touch strips underneath its overhanging edges. Then he made a custom circuit so that he could control the nightstand’s lights and a lamp through touch.

The strips are located on the front and side edges of the nighstand. Tapping any of them once turns on an RGB LED nightlight underneath the drawer, while a double tap turns on the lamp on the nightstand. The lights can then be turned off with a single tap. Tinkering Techie also said that he can use the double tap gesture on any 120v device in place of the lamp.

As you’ll see in the video below, Tinkering Techie also installed another RGB LED on the drawer that lights up when the drawer is opened. The touch strips can also be used to adjust the color of the nightlight and drawer LEDs.

Check out Tinkering Techie’s blog for more on his project.

[via Bit Rebels]

A few months ago we heard about a supercapacitor designed by a high school student that could lead to quick charging and longer lasting mobile phones. The Blueshift Helium speaker gives us a taste of that future. It also uses supercapacitors instead of rechargeable batteries to drastically reduce charging times.

Blueshift claims that its Helium speakers can be fully charged in just five minutes and last up to six hours while playing at its maximum volume. That’s a huge improvement over practically any speaker in the market. The supercapacitors will also supposedly last up to 500,000 charges, compared to the hundreds or thousands of cycles for most rechargeable batteries. The Bluetooth speakers also have a bamboo case and one or two 4″ full-range drivers (there are mono and stereo versions).

Pledge at least $350 (USD) on Crowd Supply to get a Blueshift Helium speaker as a reward.

[via Damn Geeky via Design You Trust]

I’ve always been a fan of factory-modified cars (meaning that all mods are under warranty) – especially when they blow away more expensive, luxury sports cars. I love cars like the Subaru WRX STi and the Nissan GT-R. Naturally, the GT-R is quite a bit pricier, but this new version promises to surpass the performance of million-dollar rides. Are you up for it?

The Nissan GT-R Nismo comes with a tweaked 3.8-liter turbocharged V6 engine that produces 591hp and 481 pound-feet of torque. It will offer a racing suspension, a more rigid body, and improved aerodynamics, allowing it to perform extremely well in most conditions. Its Recaro racing seats come decked out in carbon fiber, and you’ll find Alcantara leather all over the place.

For now, prices haven’t been announced, but rumors say that you’ll pay roughly 50% more than what you’d spend on the standard GT-R. There will be only 200 GT-R Nismos made for the 2015 model year.

[via Top Gear]

The ol’ keyboard and mouse combo have proven nearly as versatile as personal computers themselves, but there are still cases when a more responsive or intuitive physical interface is needed. For example, many musicians today use MIDI controllers and sequencers. Palette aims to be that alternative interface to computers, and one that adapts to your needs.

Palette is a nearly infinitely expandable control interface. It has a power module that connects to computers via USB and control modules – buttons, knobs and sliders – that connect to the power module and to each other. Each module has two RGB LEDs that shine through its perimeter, and you’ll be able to customize the way those LEDs light up. Speaking of customization, the power module also has an OLED screen that displays the profile you’re currently using for your setup.

When it launches, Palette will support only OS X and a few programs – the Adobe Creative Suite, DJ software like Ableton and Traktor plus a few “basic web apps” – but its inventors are working on an SDK so that developers can make their programs compatible with Palette. That will be crucial to the success of this system. And if Palette does take off, we can expect more modules to come out, such as joysticks, jog dials and more. I think this has the potential to be revolutionary. It can help not just professionals but non-techies and perhaps even disable people as well.

Pledge at least $89 (CAD) (~$84 USD) on Kickstarter to get a four module Palette kit as a reward. Higher pledges get you more control modules, and there’s even a reward tier for modules with wooden cases. I’d love for Palette to be compatible with mobile devices. Imagine playing a light DJ set using only your tablet and your Palette setup, or playing Spaceteam with real controls.

[via Digital Trends]

The ocean is a vastly unexplored world that is all around us, and as technology continues to be refined, we frequently discover more oddities and fascinating creatures from its depths. Such research attempts are soon going to have a massive boon in the form of an ocean-based research laboratory called the SeaOrbiter, which will be […]