Gearfuse

People need to measure stuff. There’s no denying that. And to the best of my knowledge, doctors still aren’t removing splinters out of your schlonger for free. So it is with a great relief that the old school wooden ruler has finally wizened up and gotten itself a digital display.

Push down on the edge of the device  to mark where you want to measure and the ruler’s circuitry does the rest.

I hear that rulers are also useful for purposes other than measuring your junk.  I remain a skeptic.

(more…)

Prefer ripping apart older electronics than purchasing new ones? You’re gonna love this mod. Essentially, you’ll be ripping an Eee PC apart, jamming into into a wood frame and placing it on your wall. How is this better than dropping $100 on a digital photo frame at Best Buy? Simple: You can easily display slideshows of pictures from Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket and other online photo services. All you gotta do is hit the eBay circuit to find a used Eee and you’re good to go.

Link [via]

DJing has really evolved since the 1990s. Nearly everyone uses some kind of digital interface to spin, whether it be Serato Scratch Live, Traktor 3 or even the Pacemaker. Wacom, the tablet guys, are entering into the DJ controller market with the Nextbeat. This device features a removable, wireless scratch controller that you can use to dance around the room whilst still scratching. Quite a neat idea.

In addition to the wireless gimmick, the Nextbeat features plenty of knobs, some buttons, sliders and even a touchscreen to use for mixing it up. It includes FX units and a sampler to ensure you can keep the asses shakin’ into the night.
(more…)

Us men need us our sammichs. Digital or tactile, we love our pieces of bread to be packed full of meaty goodness. A properly made sandwich is enough to make most of us drool with anticipation. That’s exactly why Scanwiches is such a dirty tease.

Scanwiches is a nifty little blog which posts high-res images of cross-cut sandwiches. While you are free to admire the site all you want, we recommend a napkin tucked into your shirt and some kind of protective material over your keyboard. And if you love sandwiches as much as we do, drool won’t be the only bodily fluid risking your keyboard’s proper functionality. (We’re talking about sweat you pervert. Stop thinking about my penis.)

Link

In the latest issue of MAKE, there are instructions for a DIY project that is long overdue. If you’re into creating digital music, by now you’ve surely seen the video of a ball bearing sequencer on YouTube. You haven’t? Well watch the above video and you’ll be brought up to speed.

Essentially, you move the metal balls around to different areas of the setup to create beats. It works like a standard 16-step sequencer except that the possibilities for innovation are endless. Building your own will take a lot of time, money and effort, but the payoff will be priceless.

Link

It’s no news that we’re Arduino nuts here at Gearfuse, but lately, we haven’t seen anything that has really pushed the boundaries of the popular microcontroller. Now some smarty pants named Martin has come along with a schematic that allows real-time audio processing with the Arduino. This means you can create guitar FX pedals, equalizers and a whole lot of digital instruments thanks to this setup. Says Martin:

The first set of examples alter an incoming audio signal and put it back to an audio output. We achieve effects like Reverb, Phasor, Flanger or Ringmodulator. The second set of examples are outputting computed waveforms like Sinewave, Bell and Xylophone sounds.

Think you can handle it, Mr. Programmer? Then get to it.

Link [via]

I’m tired of my camcorder running out of room. If only there was a camera that was capable of storing over 50 gigs of my Benny Hill impersonations. What’s this? JVC announces two new cameras that have larger hard drives than my desktop PC. The JVC Everio GZ-MG840 and GZ-MG880, both capable of 720×480 wide format DVD-resolution video and a 352×240 resolution format, optimized specifically for YouTube.

The Everio is the juggernaut of storage capacity when it comes to camcorders. The 60GB for $750 and the 120GB for $810 are two models already available in Japan which have us sitting in the dark, waiting for a release in the states.

Link [via]

Get ready for some news that will blow your fucking mind. Ready? CD sales are down. I know! Down? How could this be? The execs at Atlantic Records feel the same way. Seems during Q4, Atlantic Records had 51% of all sales come from non-physical sources like iTunes sales and ringtones. The New York Times found it “shocking,” so what does this mean for us? It means more and more people are transitioning to iPods and MP3s over Walkman and CDs.

NBC Universal’s Jeff Zucker sums it up nicely, calling the transition “trading analog dollars for digital pennies.” Touche.

Link

This clock burns with the power of lemons. No, really. This is a digital clock that is powered by citric acid. The wood plank has two spikes of copper and zinc built into it. Put half of a lemon on each spike and be amazed at how it runs on a single lemon for an entire week. It’s magic.

Looking for an ideal project for your school’s next science fair? This is one that will surely have you taking home first prize. It’s not available for purchase but you could always make one. That’s what science fairs are all about.

Link [via]

Years upon years ago, I sold my bass amp and bought a couple of shitty Numarks with a shitty mixer and started DJing. It was a blast and I’ve never regretted it. But now that we’re moving into the 21st century, it’s time to ditch the belt-driven turntables of the past and embrace the digital movement. Numark’s “NUMARK TOTAL COMPUTER DJ IN A BOX” has the worst name ever, but the right idea is there. It’s a MIDI controller with built-in mixing board, headphones, an I/O interface and you score a copy of Traktor LE software. It won’t turn you into Justice anytime soon, but it’s a good start.

Link