Hasta La Gadget!

Now you know you can run down to the local Home Depot and pick up a scroll saw for under 100 bucks, right? Well that didn’t stop one enterprising DIYer from building his own. Instead of using metal, this guy built his out of wood.

Japanese builder Mikiono created this scroll saw almost entirely out of wood. Pretty much everything except for the saw blade, belt, wires and motor are handmade from plywood. Even the gears are wooden. But does it work? Absolutely. You can see the saw (see what I did there?) in action in the video clip below:

While many hand tools have wooden handles on them, it seems really unusual to me that you’d build a power tool from wood. I’d be afraid that it would saw itself in half. I guess Mikiono just wanted to prove it could be done. And a fine job you have done, sir.

[via Woodgears]

I would suppose that every one of us has an amount of geekery within – the only thing is, just what degree of a geek would that be? The thing about guys is, most of us would want to have our fair share of power tools to play with, and it is always nice to fantasize that we can be a MacGuyver to a damsel in distress out there from one time to another. If you have ever wished to carry a load of tools right in your pocket without having it look to sport an unsightly bulge, then chances are the $19.99 Get-A-Way Driver Pocket Tool would be just the ticket.

It is able to carry tons of functions on a small tool, and is great for around-the-house or on-the-go folks, sporting dozens of everyday uses. You can use it as a screwdriver with four standard flat and Phillips hex bits, and it also doubles up as an angle driver, not to mention being a push-button LED flashlight when you need to hunt down zombies in your basement, while opening up oxygen bottles when the need arises. Tipping the scales at under two ounces, if there is a portable tool you’ve ever wanted, this is it.

[ Get-A-Way Driver Pocket Tool copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Normally we associate Razer with hardware. Gaming mice, keyboards and headsets are the company’s bread and butter. It even has a laptop geared expressly towards the serious pixel pusher. But, you might be surprised to learn it’s also in the software business. The latest member of its burgeoning application family is the Razer Game Booster. Based largely on IObit’s app of the same name, the new downloadable utility will crank your rig to 11. There are three basic features, the most important being Game Mode which, with the click of a button, shutsdown unessential services and programs to keep your PC focused on the task at hand. (We assume that involves killing something or other with a large weapon.) There’s also a calibration guide that ensures your drivers are up to date and your essential gaming files are properly defragged. Last is Share Mode, which allows you to take screen shots or capture live audio and video to preserve your accomplishments. For now Razer Game Booster is in private beta, but you can request an invite at the source link. And don’t miss the PR and video after the break.

Continue reading Razer Game Booster enters closed beta, ready to fine tune your rig (video)

Filed under: Gaming, Software

Razer Game Booster enters closed beta, ready to fine tune your rig (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Razer Game Booster  | Email this | Comments

A few weeks back I was replacing a valve cover gasket on a race car and accidentally rounded off a bolt that was in a hard-to-reach spot. I was working on that bolt in the garage and it took me hours of cursing and trips to the hardware store to get the damaged bolt out and a new one in. I have a deep appreciation for what astronauts aboard the ISS have been going through as they struggled with a damaged bolt on the outside of the orbiting space station.

In the weightlessness of space, and with no Home Depot nearby, I can only imagine the ISS astronauts wanted to curse and throw tools, just as I did. They had to remain calm, and thankfully had a team of engineers to help work on a fix. The problem was that a bolt that held a replacement power unit to the main truss of the space station was cross-threaded and wouldn’t tighten properly.

The astronauts conducted a spacewalk this week and successfully repaired the damage bolt and attached the replacement power unit to the outside of the space station. Since the hardware store was hundreds of miles below, the astronauts had to create improvised tools. The tools were made from spare parts aboard the station and a toothbrush. The astronauts also used a pressurized can of nitrogen gas the blow metal shavings out of the bolt receptacles. It’s like an episode of MacGyver in space.

[via Space.com]