Technabob » lite-brite http://technabob.com/blog Cool Gadgets, Gizmos, Games and Geek Stuff Sun, 27 May 2012 20:00:08 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Lite-Brite Cubed: Makin’ Things With Light 4x http://technabob.com/blog/2009/07/27/lite-brite-cubed-makin-things-with-light/ http://technabob.com/blog/2009/07/27/lite-brite-cubed-makin-things-with-light/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 06:26:27 +0000 Technabob http://technabob.com/blog/?p=17331 I have fond memories of playing with a Lite-Brite when I was growing up. As a matter of fact, I can’t get that damned commercial out of my head at the moment. Of course, most of those childhood memories were those of frustration from either losing half of the colored pegs between the couch cushion, or my complete inability to create anything other than the barely legible text “Lite Brite” made up of pegs. Now that I’m well into adulthood, I get another shot at doing something more creative with one, thanks to this nifty Lite-Brite on steroids.

lite brite cubed 2

The Lite-Brite Cubed joins four of the perforated, illuminated panels together to form a canvas onto which you can put your own pixelated art. Each cube comes with over 400 colorful pegs and even has a handy drawer for you to store them in – so maybe you’ll have less chance of losing them this time around. And for the record, kids – those colorful pegs not only do not taste good, they shouldn’t be fed to your little brother, or stuffed up your nostrils either.

You can grab the Lite-Brite Cubed over at ThinkGeek for $23 (USD).

]]> http://technabob.com/blog/2009/07/27/lite-brite-cubed-makin-things-with-light/feed/ 0 Bandai Luminodot: Like a Lite-Brite on Steroids http://technabob.com/blog/2008/09/15/bandai-luminodot-like-lite-brite-on-steroids/ http://technabob.com/blog/2008/09/15/bandai-luminodot-like-lite-brite-on-steroids/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:54:16 +0000 Technabob http://technabob.com/blog/?p=4264 The Lite-Brite is one of my fondest childhood toy memories. Maybe it was the fact that it was THE original way to make pixel art. Or maybe it was the “living on the edge” thrill that any minute I could choke on one of the of hundreds of tiny candy-like pegs. Delicious. Of course, the biggest problem with the original was the fact that you couldn’t do particularly detailed drawings, and its clear that the guys at Japan’s Bandai channeled their frustration into the design of their new Luminodot.

bandai luminodot

The Luminodot has an insanely dense grid of capable of holding about 3500 light pegs (more than twice as many as the original Lite-Brite).  Thanks to its grid of 70 x 50 individually addressable locations, you can create much more detailed scenes than you could ever with the original.

bandai luminodot mountain

The Luminodot features a bright LED backlight, which not only offers full-on illumination, it can be set to sequence through one of 25 animated light patterns too.

luminodot close

In addition to a handful of included designs (and additional image packs you can buy), the best part is that you can create your own custom pixel pictures thanks to an online PDF template generator.

luminodot pins

Bandai ships 1600 pins (in 12 colors) with each Luminodot, so if you want to fill in the entire board with color, you’ll have to buy some spare pegs too.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While the Luminodot isn’t officially available outside of Japan, I did manage to find one for sale over on eBay for $128 USD. On the other hand, if you happen to live in the area, you can order one from Amazon Japan on sale for ¥10,035 (appx $96 USD).

Assuming you can read Japanese, you can find out more over at Bandai’s Luminodot website.

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