Hasta La Gadget!

While those with tens of thousands of dollars to burn can buy themselves a pre-built, space age media pod like the Ovei, the rest of us have to have to either make do with a comfy couch and a darkened room, or improvise, as one enterprising Instructables member did with this so-called Geodesic Media-Pod. Both recession and environmentally-friendly, this contraption is apparently constructed almost entirely out of recycled refrigerator boxes, and it even employs a ventilation system (including parts salvaged from a Shop Vac) to ensure that it stays somewhat comfortable inside. Of course, while it’s partly intended to be used as a flight simulator, there isn’t actually any movement going on, although there are at least accommodations for some surround speakers and, of course, a mount for a monitor. Head on past the break for a video, and hit up the link below for the complete how-to if you’re feeling inspired.

Continue reading DIY geodesic media pod: forged from cardboard, filled with shame

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming, Home Entertainment

DIY geodesic media pod: forged from cardboard, filled with shame originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RFID technology has turned up in plenty of surprising places, but there hasn’t exactly been the explosion of iPhone-related development that you may have expected. The lack of an easily accessible RFID reader may have something to do with that, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped the folks behind the Touch research project, who rigged up a not-so-discreet RFID reader and put it to some fairly inventive tasks. That includes assigning various media to different objects, like a Bob the Builder video clip that’s linked to a Bob the Builder toy, a clip of Chuck Norris kicking a car in the face that’s linked to a Chuck Norris action figure (which doesn’t even have an RFID chip), and a dynamically-updated MAKE podcast that’s linked to a slightly nerdy fellow. Of course, all of this is primarily a proof of concept, and the researchers behind the project see plenty of potential for other applications, including everything from gaming to marketing. Head on past the break to check it out in action.

[Thanks, Thorleif]

Continue reading Object-based media project brings iPhone and RFID together

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Object-based media project brings iPhone and RFID together originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 02:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a mystery for ages, but at long last, it seems a simple DIYer has found a solution. We all know that the best beers are the ones brewed at home, but after a given amount of “test sips,” things can easily get a little out of control. In order to simplify the homebrewing process, the brilliant BrewTroller was concocted during a short stint with sobriety. In essence, the system utilizes a Sanguino microcontroller platform which was inspired by the tried-and-true Arduino in order to give brewers complete control over temperature and the like. When connected to a simple menu-driven display, it removes the need to bang out a paragraph of code while tipsy in order to tweak the flavor ever so slightly. Hit up the read link to have a look at the progress, but make sure you strap on those Beer Goggles first.

[Via HackedGadgets]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

BrewTroller simplifies homebrewing, makes it doable while inebriated originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UPDATE: The links to the Russian site aren’t working; sorry! Hopefully the site will come back up.

This, hands down, is one of the most involved–and amazing–case mods I’ve ever seen. Originally posted on casemods.ru, few details about the project are available to those who don’t read Russian. (Google Translator to the rescue!)

Completely hand-built in just 18 days, this amazing mod began when a man named Valeri watched Wall-E, Disney and Pixar’s 2008 animated hit:

I was impressed by the
image of a small, very lonely robot who is struggling alone with a
whole army of fellow that I decided to make a computer corpus of my
favorite hero.

So he headed to the machine shop and got to work. There, he cut, milled, drilled, and filed every piece of the lovable little robot out of metal, paying remarkable attention to even the tiniest of details. The resulting 19 pages of in-process photographs show the truly astounding craftsmanship that went into creating the final piece.

Perhaps for his next project, an external-drive Eva is in order?

Just look into those cute, bubbly eyes and tell us that you’d still rather keep your plain-jane tower if offered this instead. We know, you can’t. While we’ve seen a number of Wall-E mods over the months, we’ve never seen anything close to this in terms of sheer incredibleness. So far as we can tell, this robotic PC even opens up his own optical drive, and he can also send out love letters to one “Eeeevvvaaaaa” without human intervention. A thing of beauty, no?

[Thanks, Doug]

Filed under: Desktops

Wall-E case mod is chock full of adorableness, win originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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