Seems the Maker Faire really stirred the DIY crowd up this year. For instance, check out this cape made by Andrew Lau. He stitched LEDs all over a black cape then used a microcontroller to display messages and the like.
Doesn’t seem like it’d be too hard to whip one up yourself, though the microcontroller programming could get a little hairy. Remember to start small on your projects but keep thinking big!
What happens in Rainbow Six, stays in Rainbow Six, or at least Tom Clancy would have us believe. With decked halls of LEDs illuminating the Rainbow Six Vegas strip, the PS3 is cleverly disguised as a high rise casino.
We’ve seen some pretty elaborate console mods in our day, including one soaked in fake (we assume) blood, but this is a design which takes the PS3 and makes it into something new altogether. When we first saw it we had no clue what the heck it was. (more…)
Alarme is a concept watch made for the hearing impaired. While we love poking fun at the handicapped just like any other average scum bag, we would never wish death upon one because of their disability (unless they were really, really mean cripples.)
Alarme is unique in the fact that it can alert those who cannot hear an audible alarm by sending a vibration through the watch, which can be felt on the wrist. The watch has two built in microphones which are made to record the surrounding ambient noise levels. When Alarme senses trouble, it lets the deaf person know by giving their wrist a vibrating tickle, and glowing like mad. The LEDs and face display show the user what the alert is all about, and then makes a Helen Keller joke. (more…)
Since smoke signals are somewhat obsolete in terms of technological advancement, this Lampex USB Magic Wand looks like it could do the trick for sending secret visual messages. Connect the Lampex to your PC, type in the message you want displayed, and then wave the little bugger through the air.
As you swipe it through the air LEDs (or perhaps some magical elf) blink in time to produce your message in midair. Can Harry Potter do this? I think not. Though we doubt this wand would be any help against The Dark Lord either. — Andrew Dobrow
Dandelight is a design piece which is made with LEDs, real Dandelion seeds, and a 9V battery. Each piece is made by the designers themselves, for a totally custom feel to this cool looking light. Even if some people look at Dandelions as weeds, and not the mind intoxicating kind, they make pretty cool light effects. In all seriousness, the Dandelight is much cooler looking then the 9v powered Arco Lamp.
Dandelight, designed by Designdrift of the Netherlands, was recently added to the Designboom web shop, so you can order your own for $99. Not too shabby for a custom made product, in a world of mechanistic production. — Andrew Dobrow
Much how people add in LED lights underneath their cars body kits, the Blue Moon Night Light adds the same style of ambient glow into your bedroom. Equipped with 14 LEDs, the light system should bring you back to your teenage years, when most of your love making was done in your hot rod.
The Blue Moon Night Light offers a selection of 3 different lightning coordinations; Single color, where you get your choice of red, blue, or green light, Seven Color Kit, where you get red, green, yellow, white, blue, purple, turquoise and pink light displays, and the Million color kit which fades into colors one by one. — Andrew Dobrow
The Wiimote sensor controller might be the more fun of the two, but sometimes, you’ve just gotta whip out the classic. It has to be done. So why not add a coolness factor to the classic controller as well? This DIY will allow you to add LED lights around the sticks of the controller. Some simple hardware manipulation is required.
All you’ll need is the controller, a triwing screwdriver, wire scissors, two 3mm LEDs in your choice of color (the blue looks pretty cool), a soldering iron and solder, a glue gun, and a solid core wire. The directions look pretty straight forward with the aide of the diagrams the site has, marking the step by step instructions. Happy hacking! — Andrew Dobrow