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what if software still shipped on 3.5-inch disks?

35_floppy_photoshop_cs4

Remember the good old 3.5-inch floppy disk? Now remember how annoying it was when you had to install a program that spanned 4 or 5 disks? Well, imagine what life would be like if you had to install today’s bloatware on your computer using floppies. That’s exactly what the designers at Antrepo Design Industry envisioned…

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January 27th, 2009 comments (2) stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: computing design geek art + craft retro

5.25-inch floppy disk coasters save tabletops, not data

floppy_disk_coasters

For some strange reason, I never thought I’d write a story about floppy disk coasters twice. But these really floppy, floppy disk coasters I found over on Etsy today were just too good to be ignored.

Modeled after the truly retro 5-1/4″ floppy disk, these soft coasters are handmade from colorful felt, and just like…

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December 30th, 2008 comments (1) stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: computing geek art + craft just plain fun retro

floppy disk gift labels perfect for wrapping geeky gifts

Man, 3.5-inch disks. I still can’t believe that just a decade after the demise of the floppy, a pocket-sized iPod Nano can hold than 11,378 times more data than a single 3.5-inch disk. How far we’ve come. Still, there was something so tactile about working with floppies back in the day, so I sorta miss…

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October 22nd, 2008 comments (1) stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: computing geek art + craft retro

lacie 5big network drive looks like hal 9000’s brother

Designer Neil Poulton got the inspiration for the domed glowing light on the outside of his latest hard drive design from the red light on the face of HAL 9000, the infamous computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The new LaCie 5big Network storage array is designed for small and medium workgroups looking for a…

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October 12th, 2008 comments (1) stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: computing design

led hard drive clock lights up the night

Hard Drive LED Clock by Ian Matthew

Hardware hacker Ian Matthew decided to see if he could turn a hard drive into a clock. But this isn’t one of those lazy designs where you just stick some clock hands through a hard drive platter. On the contrary, Ian went way over the top.

A narrow slot cut into the platter allows a…

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August 3rd, 2008 comments stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: hacks + mods strange + wonderful

best hard disk clock ever

Harddisc Uhr Mod

In my travels, I’ve seen a few clocks made from old hard drives. They’re typically made by stripping out the guts of an old hard drive, slapping a cheap $2 clock mechanism through the platters, then call it a day. On the other hand, here’s a hard disk based clock hack that really is an…

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September 16th, 2007 comments (2) stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: computing hacks + mods timepieces

compact discs come in all shapes and sizes

Baba Akcja CDs

While digital players have put a major dent in the CD business, there’s something about having your tunes stored on something a little more tangible.
To shake the old CD up a bit, the designers of Poland’s Baba Akcja have taken the boring round disc and turned it into something far more visually interesting.

The…

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July 1st, 2007 comments (3) stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: design just plain fun

sony confirms 80gb ps3

Thanks to some images that were floating around on the FCC website, rumors have floating around for a while that Sony was working on an 80GB version of the PlayStation 3.

Well, it turns out the 80GB model is real. However, for now, it’s only coming out in South Korea. The real kicker is that…

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May 21st, 2007 comments stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: video games

the end of the hard disk: solid state drives hit 160gb

Adtron 160GB Solid State Disk

This week, Adtron announced the availability of a new solid state drive (SSD) that’s capable of storing a record-breaking 160GB in its flash memory. The drive will be available in IDE and Serial ATA version.

As storage size is rapidly approaching that of decent-sized hard drives, it would seem that these drives are really the…

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February 24th, 2007 comments (3) stumble it! digg it! author: technabob

filed under: computing