Jul 31

Coconut headphone mod makes us long for Kokomo

Posted in: audio, diy, hack, headphones, mod, Music, Today's Chili

You knew somebody would do it, and now you’re just downtrodden that said somebody isn’t you. Yes friends, the gadget you see above really is a pair of working headphones with coconut halves for earcups. We already got word that Dave Chappelle’s crack-infused twin fully approves, but we’re still waiting for Dr. Dre to give us the all-clear before we deem them “street credible.”

[Via MAKE]

Filed under:

Coconut headphone mod makes us long for Kokomo originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: ,
Jul 30

Robot with iPhone 3GS head reminds us of a cuter, more magnanimous Steve Jobs

Posted in: diy, iPhone, mod, mods, robot, Robots, Today's Chili, video, videos
Who’s this little guy? Oh, that’s just Robochan — the Kondo KHR-2HV bot with a fully-functioning iPhone 3GS fused to his head. Not interested? Well, hear us out — because we, too, have seen many an iPhone mod project in our day, leaving us jaded, easily susceptible to waking in the middle of the night to find ourselves shrieking out “fanboy!” for no reason, and finding that in general at this point — merely cranking the word iPhone into your DIY project is the easiest way to send us to Snoresville. But we’ll admit it: Robochan drew us in within ten — nay, five — seconds. His dance moves are killer, and his faces have stolen whatever remnants of a heart we had left. So take our advice: watch the video, which is after the break.

[Via Gearfuse]

Continue reading Robot with iPhone 3GS head reminds us of a cuter, more magnanimous Steve Jobs

Filed under: ,

Robot with iPhone 3GS head reminds us of a cuter, more magnanimous Steve Jobs originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Jul 30

MSI Wind battery used as a not-exactly-portable, unreliable USB charger

Posted in: charger, diy, iPhone, mod, netbook, Today's Chili, usb
Yes, we find the fact that our USB port won’t charge our phone when our laptop is sleeping to be pretty annoying, too. But does that mean we’ll rip the battery from it and use it as a semi-functional, clunky but self-sufficient charger? Well, probably not, but that doesn’t mean someone else shouldn’t. Now, we don’t want to launch into a big round of spoilers or anything, but we’ll say this: it takes a little over four minutes of sweet, blistering house music to get the battery off of the MSI Wind, and there are a couple of false starts before the phone (an iPhone) begins juicing up. The good news? It doesn’t seem to permanently damage the battery pack in any way. The bad news? The song eventually does end. Check it out after the break.

[Via Oh! Gizmo]

Continue reading MSI Wind battery used as a not-exactly-portable, unreliable USB charger

Filed under: ,

MSI Wind battery used as a not-exactly-portable, unreliable USB charger originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Jul 29

Papercraft NES and Dreamcast cost less, play just as many cutting edge games

Posted in: console, diy, nintendo, Today's Chili

Finally, your lovingly prepared SNES model is getting some well-heeled new friends to hang out with. Cubeecraft is a website wholly dedicated to the paper-based recreation of cultural icons, and it’s prepared a pair of exquisitely detailed clones of the NES and Dreamcast. While some such projects might require patience and finesse, putting together the above templates doesn’t even ask for any glue or tape. So what are you waiting for, grab your scissors and run to the links below for full 150dpi printouts — just be sure to make the time for some imaginary Contra action afterwards.

[Via Technabob]

Read – NES cutout
Read – DC cutout

Filed under:

Papercraft NES and Dreamcast cost less, play just as many cutting edge games originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Jul 29

Lamps Made From Old Cassettes Exude Warm Retro Glow

Posted in: diy, household, Retro, Today's Chili

cassette_tapes_lamp_small_web

This commercial product, the Cassette is Not Dead lamp, is an invitation to start a great DIY project. The €25 ($35) lamp is made up of old audio cassettes which are joined together by nothing more than string. In fact, so easy is it to construct that you can even remove and replace cassettes so they can be listened to (assuming you actually have something to play them on):

[Y]ou can play with it changing the tapes even with yours and listening all of them too.

See? Also available is a floor-standing version, which is essentially the same thing, forming a shade on a standard standard lamp. This costs a record-collection replacing €220 ($312), and could also easily be re-made with a bit of help form Ikea. Still, as inspiration, the beautiful lamps are priceless.

Product page [OOOMy Design]

See Also:


No Comments | Tags:
Jul 27

Video: Arduino-powered touchpad mimics iPod volume control

Posted in: arduino, diy, hack, homebrew, ipod, mod, modding, Today's Chili, touchpad

We’ve seen every manner of touchpad — multitouch, gesture recognition, no touch, LCD trackpads — if you can think of it, somebody has probably done a version of it. Take this particular one for example, which just might rank below even the touchscreen GBA in terms of practical usefulness — though, it’s not as if utility is a prerequisite of joviality, right? If you’ve been neglecting that DIY muscle of late, you owe it to yourself to check out the video beyond the break, which shows that a humble touchpad can learn new tricks. Oh, and if you feel extra inspired, the read link contains another video plus the necessary code for making the light show happen. Don’t say we never gave you anything.

[Via Hack A Day]

Continue reading Video: Arduino-powered touchpad mimics iPod volume control

Filed under:

Video: Arduino-powered touchpad mimics iPod volume control originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: ,
Jul 24

8-track Walkman makes the 70’s portable, more funky

Posted in: diy, homebrew, PMP, Retro, Today's Chili

The evolution of portable music players toward greater storage in physically smaller dimensions is well known. Cassette tapes are now seen as a quaint anachronism from an era gone by, but what about the history that didn’t happen? What about, specifically, the 8-track-playing Sony Walkman? Such are the questions that plagued the mind of one XenonJohn, who has spliced together the chunky beast you see above. Looking like something Maggie Thatcher might have used in her private moments, the portable (compared to, say, a fridge) device is composed of an audio amplifier from an old cassette tape Walkman and a dismantled car 8-track player. Another snap of the exposed components after the break, but if you must know how to recreate this great feat, or are just curious about the lengths people will go to in the pursuit of retro-glorious ideas, hit up the read link.

[Via Make]

Continue reading 8-track Walkman makes the 70’s portable, more funky

Filed under: ,

8-track Walkman makes the 70’s portable, more funky originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 08:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Jul 21

Resistance 2 Marksman recreated in fine form by Calgary modder

Posted in: canada, diy, mod, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, sony, Today's Chili

If you’re a regular to the site, you’d know that we’ve a soft spot in our hearts for recreated video game weapons. Partly, we enjoy seeing skill lead to wares, but we also find inspiration in life’s littlest (and most dangerous) pleasures. Take Calgary’s own Izy Cheung (shown above) for example, who spent over 100 hours toiling over the masterpiece she’s wielding. Resistance 2 fanatics will no doubt recognize the gun as the Marksman, a long-range rifle that hardly leaves the side of a devout sniper. The official PlayStation Blog managed to sit down with Izy for a full-on interview, and we’d say the contents are fairly enlightening. If you’re interested in what she has to say on the matter (and don’t you pretend that you aren’t), that read link down there is where you want to be.

Filed under: ,

Resistance 2 Marksman recreated in fine form by Calgary modder originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags: , ,
Jul 17

HDR imaging for the cheap and gifted

Posted in: diy, hack, homebrew, Today's Chili, UMPC

People who are seriously after HDR output tend to pony up the dough for a big and chunky DSLR, knowing they’ll get the highest quality possible. But if you’re short on cash, here’s a homebrewed mod that combines a gutted Polaroid x530 Foveon shooter with a Viliv to produce HDR-like imagery on the cheap. Essentially, the Viliv does all the processing and control work, while the el cheapo camera is used for its ability to save to raw format. You could instead pick up a compact Ricoh CX1 and save yourself a lot of trouble, but where’s the fun and tinkering in that? The homemade hardware might not be pretty to look at, but make your way past the break to see if the results are worth the effort.

[Via Hack a Day]

Continue reading HDR imaging for the cheap and gifted

Filed under:

HDR imaging for the cheap and gifted originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

No Comments | Tags:
Jul 15

Nasty Clamp: DIY Flash-Stand Goes Commercial

Posted in: diy, flash, Today's Chili

nasty_trio

Here at the Lab, its certainly no secret that we like DIY solutions to gadget puzzles. Which is why we’re so pleased about the Nasty Clamp. The flash stand was originally a home-made project, but the maker, Matthew G. Monroe, was so inundated with requests from other photographers that he decided to go ahead and turn it into a business. The result is the Nasty Clamp, a rather useful little device for clamping flash-guns to almost anything.

You can see the DIY origins right away. The clamp is essentially a combination of a standard hardware store spring clamp along with a few sections of Loc-Line hosing, a modular tube system which also looks a lot like the legs of the Joby Gorillapod. The clamp can hold either a strobe (it’ll even support the rather large Nikon SB900, loaded with batteries) or a small camera, thanks to its standard tripod-mount machine screw.

Why would you want this? Because you can use it to put a light pretty much anywhere. A lighting stand is cheap, light and easy but it isn’t always convenient, and you aren’t always on flat ground. The irony here is that, at $50, the clamps cost so much that you might be tempted to go the DIY route and make your own.

Product page [Nasty Clamps via DIY Photography]


No Comments | Tags: ,