LED coffee table busts a multicolored move (video)

LED coffee table busts a multicolored move (video)

It might look like something out of MJ’s Billie Jean, but this colorful LED array won’t be under moonwalking foot — that is, unless the party gets crunk. This colorful grid is actually a table top, brought to you by way of TI’s MSP430 microcontroller, and it knows how to get down. The table is made up of 128 frosted glass cubes, each apparently capable of emitting 16 million colors. Its creators also produced a special beat-detection software, that could very easily have your furniture outshining the bumpers and grinders at your next party. If you’re looking for a little extra something from your coffee table, you can find full build instructions at the source link below.

Continue reading LED coffee table busts a multicolored move (video)

LED coffee table busts a multicolored move (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jul 2011 03:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple rolls out 27-inch Thunderbolt Display with FaceTime HD camera, built-in speakers

In search of “the ultimate docking station” for your Mac notebook? Look no further than the new Thunderbolt Display, a single 27-inch model packing a 2560 x 1440 res 16:9 IPS display, one of Apple’s fancy new connectors, integrated 2.1 speaker system, and even a Firewire 800 slot. There’s also a built-in FaceTime HD camera and Mic, Gigabit Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports and MagSafe charging for your laptop, but the big difference is that single speedy DisplayPort hookup. It can daisy chain up to six high speed devices and all those connectors mean when it’s time to take your laptop on the go there’s a minimum of cables mooring it to your desk. It’ll cost $999 to bring home in just a few days, if resolving cable clutter to your Thunderbolt-equipped Mac (required) is a good enough reason to ditch your old Cinema Display.

Continue reading Apple rolls out 27-inch Thunderbolt Display with FaceTime HD camera, built-in speakers

Apple rolls out 27-inch Thunderbolt Display with FaceTime HD camera, built-in speakers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 08:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple leaks Cinema Display refresh, teases dual-monitor Thunderbolt setup?

The cat Apple is out of the bag, apparently. Thanks to a leak on its website, there’s evidence that Cupertino’s readying a formal introduction of Thunderbolt to more devices. Keen eyes from MacRumors have spotted products on the site now sporting OS X Lion backgrounds, notably, what appears to be T-bolt connected Cinema Displays. The images showing the hook-up no longer appear to be listed, but the dual-setup above sure looks nifty. Considering Lion’s got about two weeks left to rear its head and meet that July release, we’d surmise it won’t be long until you’ll be able to opt for a similar rig. Now can we please just get an anti-glare option?

[Thanks, Trey]

Apple leaks Cinema Display refresh, teases dual-monitor Thunderbolt setup? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sharp’s Molecular Beam Epitaxy machine births components in its space-like womb (video)

A machine that builds other machines? Sounds like robot apocalypse time — except it’s not. This component-building, space-mimicking chamber of liquid nitrogen-cooled sterility gives birth to LEDs, not that kid from A.I. Housed in Sharp’s Oxford Laboratory, the Molecular Beam Epitaxy machine moves atoms “almost individually…to build the basis of high tech electronics.” Through the use of magnetic poles on the contraption’s exterior (kind of like in foosball), researchers can virtually manipulate substrates and elements, allowing for precise control and untainted crystal growth. While this MBE isn’t exactly new tech — larger commercial-grade versions already exist — it is noteworthy for its innovative petri-vacuum abilities. After all, progress has to start somewhere. Click past the break for the ominously toned video explanation.

Continue reading Sharp’s Molecular Beam Epitaxy machine births components in its space-like womb (video)

Sharp’s Molecular Beam Epitaxy machine births components in its space-like womb (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wearable lab coat TV packs thousands of LEDs, heads for Burning Man (video)


Sure, we’ve seen iPad hats and augmented reality tattoos, but a 60-inch display suitable for hours of wear under the hot Nevada desert sun? Well that’s just crazy talk. Believe it or not, a one Dave Forbes built exactly that: a 12V battery powered, 160 x 120-pixel monitor capable of displaying standard NTSC analog video from an in-pocket iPod. The result is nothing short of incredible, but when you’re building a wearable lab coat-based TV with thousands of LEDs and a pair of circuit boards, features like breathability and water-wicking tend to get overlooked. Forbes spent six months creating this ultimate gadget, which is likely to make quite the colorful splash when he shows it off next month at Burning Man. But with a multi-month time commitment and $20,000 price tag, we can’t help but wonder what this ‘brainiac’ could have come up with were he to redirect those resources towards a super-slick tech project for the masses, instead.

Continue reading Wearable lab coat TV packs thousands of LEDs, heads for Burning Man (video)

Wearable lab coat TV packs thousands of LEDs, heads for Burning Man (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LED Moon shines message of hope, no dark side to see

Scale models of manmade wonders are usually the stuff of gimmicky travel souvenirs, but could you resist a faithful replica that was a topographic clone of our closest celestial body? We didn’t think so. Dedicated to the super moon that brought his catastrophe-stricken nation comfort, Japanese designer Nosigner culled imagery taken by the lunar orbiter Kaguya to create a hope-swelling, LED-lit copy of Earth’s favorite satellite. Recently on display at the Dwell on Design exhibit in LA, this spherical lamp of lunar love doesn’t yet appear to be available for order — but then again, how do you put a price on hope?

LED Moon shines message of hope, no dark side to see originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tacky Glowing Valve Caps Look Cheap, Are Cheap

Valve-cap LEDs may be tacky, but they’ll also make you safer at night

Here’s a case where tacky novelty can actually result in something that keeps you safe and also makes you look cool. The Flash Tire Wheel Valve Cap Lights pretty much sum up their function in the name: they are little LED lamps that replace your bike valve dust caps.

The little battery-powered lights screw onto a Schrader valve (the fat kind also found on cars and motorbikes) and glow like tiny Lightsabers. For such a cheap item (just $3 per pair on Amazon), they’re actually pretty smart. Instead of switches, the lights have motion and light sensors so they only turn on when you’re moving and it’s dark. Once you get going, they’ll paint a virtual circle of light in the air.

Be careful, though. Fellow gadget blogger and Wired.com alumnus John Brownlee put something similar onto his bike when he lived in Berlin, Germany. His lights were bigger and flashier, but the effects on the normally calm and bike-friendly population of Berlin were startling. Poor John was heckled and even had beer bottles thrown at him on one night ride.

If you decide to risk it, strap on a helmet and grab a pair in red, green or blue.

Flash Tire Wheel Valve Cap Lights [Amazon via Red Ferret]

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Rotary phone mod tweets your emoticons, heavy soldering still required

File this under ‘questionably useful, but darling nonetheless.’ ZviZvi over at Instructables needed to update an outdated product for his Industrial Design portfolio, so he took grandpa’s old rotary phone and implanted an Arduino soul. With an involved bit of slap n’ solder and a WiFly shield, our enterprising Israeli modder transformed this once-luddite tech into an emoticon-tweeting wireless terminal. While the phone’s LED-lit dial is only capable of outputting ten heartwarming expressions, that’s still ten more than any rotary phone’s ever had before. Sure, you could always use that ever-accessible laptop (or smartphone) for your Twitter needs, but where’s the fun in that? Per usual, budding inventors can tickle their Emo in the source link below.

Rotary phone mod tweets your emoticons, heavy soldering still required originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 13:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vizio, your favorite low-cost TV leader introduces… a light bulb (video)


It’s a busy week for Vizio. The budget TV manufacturer flaunted its flashy new tablet in front of our cameras yesterday, and had us hopping across town this afternoon for a chance to go hands-on with its latest entrant into a mysterious brand-new product category (for Vizio, at least). Reps were mum on details, so we had no choice but to return to the CEA LineShows in NYC to see what was up. We walked around the booth, looking for signs of that Vizio Android phone we saw at CES, only to find co-founder Ken Lowe cradling the new goods: a line of light bulbs. We laughed. Then asked to see the real product that Vizio insisted would be worth the trip. Nope, that was it: a LED light bulb — four of them, in fact, arranged in height-order on a chrome bathroom vanity fixture. Lowe then proceeded to introduce his product as he has any other, so we hit record. They’re bright, round, and standards-compliant, and will be coming to a screw-in fixture near you in Q3. How much? “A Vizio price.”

Continue reading Vizio, your favorite low-cost TV leader introduces… a light bulb (video)

Vizio, your favorite low-cost TV leader introduces… a light bulb (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 16:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ICufflinks Pulsate and Glow Like a Sleeping Mac

Icuffboxed LRG

ICufflinks turn your wrists into sleeping computers

I don’t know what’s most impressive about the iCufflinks. It could be the fact that these glowing standby-symbols fit their electronics into such a tiny package, or it could be that the makers at Adafruit actually reverse-engineered the pulsing sleep light from Apple’s MacBooks.

Each cufflink contains an LED, a battery and the controlling circuitry. Screw the CNC-machined aluminum capsule closed with a fresh button cell inside and you’ll get a gently pulsing light for up to 24 hours.

And the light does look uncannily like Apple’s. Apparently this is patented, and while the patent says it is sinusoidal, Adafruit says not. To reverse engineer the wave, Adafruit measured the brightness of a Mac LED using an oscilloscope, a photocell, some extra circuitry and — of course — duct tape.

The cufflinks are also open source, so you download the schematics, CAD files and the rest to make your own. That’s a lot of work to do, though, so you might be better off just buying a pair. At $128 (even the price is nerdy) they’re not cheap, but it’s unlikely anyone else will be wearing them at the party.

Available now.

iCufflinks v1.0 [Adafruit. Thanks, Phil!]

Reverse engineering the Mac ‘breathing’ LED [Adafruit]

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