These laser-etched tools were created by artist Dan Funderburgh. Though not all of them serve an essential use, they all have exquisite detail and beautiful patterns that really make them pop. Intricate designs scatter across handles and blades. Let’s just be glad Dan didn’t go balls out like Craftsman.
If you want to check these out in person, Dan is showcasing his tools at the Riviera Gallery.
Rumor has it that everyone’s favorite OS is making its way to the OLPC XO this year. According to reports, testing is to begin in June to determine if Windows XP is a viable solution for XO laptops. If all goes well, you could be picking up an XO laptop by September.
The existing OS, Sugar Linux, will not be wiped out of the picture anytime soon, much to Microsoft’s dismay. A dual-boot solution will be created and buyers will be able to choose which operating system they’d prefer. I feel that putting XP on these laptops is a great idea. Plus, if you don’t want to use Vista yet, this is about the only computer you’ll get with XP still installed on it.
Imagine the possibilities of having a tiny mobile-projector inside your cellphone. You could hold your own intimate private screenings, showcase the bestiality porn you found on IRC last night or broadcast. Really, the possibilities are endless. Thanks to John Van Scoter over at Texas Instruments, we now know that some cellphones will receive a portable projector by the end of 2008.
According to Van Scoter, he believes that by 2010, projectors will be as popular as built-in cameras. Some may even feature DLP technology to enhance the clarity of the movie being played. It’s really only a matter of time before hackers get a hold of some of these projection-enabled devices and use the projectors in another setting or homebrew device.
TouchWall, a prototype device currently in development by Microsoft Research and Office Labs is a lot like Microsoft Surface, the tabletop computer with multi touch capabilities, except now it hangs from your wall. Some basic uses of TouchWall include dragging, scrolling, enlarging documents as well as viewing photos and videos.
At the CEO Summit, Bill Gates is expected to talk about his ideas on the future of user interface technology and will demonstrate TouchWall and its many practical uses, from giving simple, elegant business presentations to games like Missile Command.
External hard drives never really become a personal affair. For the most part, we buy them to add additional storage to our computers because we just downloaded 100GB of pornography off a Bit Torrent site. Rather than have our OS slow to a crawl and our storage shrink to the size of an appendix, we simply copy all the tits and dicks over and our objective is fulfilled.
However, not everyone in this world is a complete slob and I hear some people actually have clean, organized PC setups. That’s where Hardbox comes in. It’s a beautiful looking hard drive enclosure that resembles a book written by Dracula himself. It takes any 3.5″ SATA hard disk and uses the fake pages as a heat-sink to eliminate the need for a fan. Hooks up via USB and can be yours for $300.
Some people assume that taking up a course in Tae Kwon Do will make you a kung fu ninja master overnight. This just couldn’t be further from the truth. It takes years and years of dedication to reach black belt status. But once you reach that point, there is little that can stop you from kicking an epic amount of ass.
The Tae Kwon Do Vest is a sweet little wearable project which enables users to measure their kick strength using a series of piezoelectric sensors, an MCU which cues a hit detection scheme and a set of wireless transmission crcuits for emitting a specified byte of data when a kick is detected (also detected via the massive pain in your chest.) A special receiver system translates the kick strength numerically then displays the numbers on a screen. (more…)
Sometimes simplicity can be king when designing a product. Case in point: The Brightdoor. A creation from the studio of Lervik Design, Brightdoor works just like a traffic light sans yellow. If the door glows green, it’s unlocked and you can enter. Seeing Red? No entrance for you!
Like many unique products, this is just a prototype that isn’t going to be implemented anytime soon. At first, I couldn’t fathom is how this door could be applied to real-life situations. Then it started to sink in. Perhaps a voting booth of some sort? A dark room for photography could make great use of the Brightdoor, keeping people out while you’re developing negatives.
I don’t care if you’re a construction worker or a mechanic, there is just no way you have a need for so many tools. Don’t get me wrong, it would be incredibly awesome to own a tool set which features gizmos that don’t even have a name yet (yes, that’s how big this thing is), but the 1470 piece Craftsman Professional Tool Set takes the macho allure of tool collecting to a whole new level.
Most men (and some very butch women) take a lifetime to accumulate a tool collection that barely reaches half of this number. The Professional Tool Set lets you catch up to the big guys with one foul swoop. Even if you’re a contractor, plumber, mechanic, lumber jack and electrician, you’ll be hell bent to give every tool a try. The $8,600 value will hook you up with just about every specialty tool you can imagine, and some that you can’t.
The NES console was a major turning point in the history of gaming. It probably doesn’t get enough credit for the influence it had on the gaming world and how it was the bridge between Atari and modern-day video gaming. Javier Segovia is a digital industrial designer who just so happens to believe it’s time for the old Nintendo Entertainment System to have a little taste of reinvention.
He calls his design the reNESED, and it is a beautifully re-imagined rendition of the old NES consoles of yore. I’m not saying that the NES had a ugly design, just that it might be time for a reinvention with a brand-spanking new outlook.
The NES console introduced the Super Mario Brothers to the world. Don’t you think it deserves some respect? Bow down!
Seriously, I’m not kidding. Bow.
In this day in age, you can walk into any big-box office store like Staples or Office Depot and pick up a printer for under $75 most of the time. For instance, I was able to procure a Canon all-in-one-style printer last year for $55 on sale. Problem is, after the ink cartridges (which, rumor has it, come only half-filled when you buy a new printer) run dry, you need to shell out the bucks for refills. This is when we must ask ourselves: Is it more cost-efficient to buy a new printer or buy refill cartridges?
BookofJoe has asked just that and lists the Epson C88+ printer as an example. It costs $80 and refills add up to $56. At that price, one has to really think hard about this. After all, you can recycle empty ink cartridges for $3 a pop at select stores like Office Depot. That’s $12 after your three colors and black. Each new printer you buy therefore comes with a $12 refund if you think about it.
So at $56 for refills versus $68 for a new printer with the $12 factored in (using the Epson C88+ as an example), I feel it’s best to just buy a new printer when your ink runs out and help contribute to the piles of shit in our landfills. Much easier.