The gTar was launched as a Kickstarter project. It has actual strings, and uses sensors to relay what you are playing to a custom iPhone app, which is supposed to help people learn to play the guitar more easily. The array of integrated LEDs along the fretboard will light up to show you how to play. Each note is relayed to the iPhone, which then produces the sound. There’s even a feature called SmartPlay that mutes incorrect notes. (They could also call this “Cheat mode.”)

It’s more of a learning tool than a replacement for a real guitar, though it does offer a “free play” mode where you can play it once you’ve built up your confidence. In just a couple of days, the project raised the necessary $100,000 to be fully funded. There are still 34 days left. Will it do $10 million like the Pebble smartwatch? You’ll need to pledge at least $399(USD) to get yours (the introductory batch of 200 already sold out for $350.)

Despite its unusual appearance, the SleekSpeak is simply a Bluetooth speaker, optimized for bicycles. It has a shock- and water-resistant rubber case, a silicone rubber strap, and an internal battery that lasts for 12 hours and is charged via USB.

Inventors David Meisenholder and MK Li claim that the SleekSpeak can output audio at over 80dB. It probably won’t have decent bass, but 80dB is pretty loud. Meisenholder told backers that he’ll be uploading a demo video of the speaker soon, but for now have a look at their pitch video:

Bike on over to Kickstarter before May 9th, and pledge at least $69 (USD) to have a chance to own one of the first SleekSpeaks. If it becomes popular, you can say that you had one before it was cool. Not that anyone will care.

[via Freshness]

In this video you will see not one, not two, not even a trio of old floppy drives playing the 007 theme, but eight. This project was built for display at Purdue University for the Association of Electrical Technologists club during their Technology Week.

It sounds awesome. In fact, it’s exactly how I imagine a cyberpunk James Bond theme would sound. There isn’t anything floppy about this tune. Put this in the new Bond movie now! It could be the work of some laughing DIY villain and is the perfect way to start the movie.

[via Geekosystem]

Bringing 2Pac on stage was the idea of Dr. Dre and 2Pac performed a very realistic set on stage with Snoop Dogg and other stars. The company that provided the projectors was called AV Concepts and a CGI studio called Digital Domain actually created the digital 2Pac. Digital Domain is the company that created the CGI effects that brought the young Jeff Bridges to the screen in Tron: Legacy. The exact details on how exactly the effect was pulled off are being withheld, though you can see a bit about how the technology works in the video clip below:

The process of projecting the image uses overhead projectors and a thin sheet of reflective mylar film. The illusion was so well received that there is talk of the holographic 2Pac going on tour. There are numerous videos online of the holographic performance, but be warned they contain NSFW lyrics:

[via WSJ]

Disc Mounts work just like the buttons that hold discs inside a typical case, except they’re magnetized. This way you can both display the artwork on the disc and have easy access to the disc itself.

It’s easy to see the downsides of this tool though. For one, you need to have a magnetic surface. Also, if you clean your room as often as I do – which is approximately zero times per lifetime – the discs are bound to gather dust because they’re exposed on the backside.

If you keep your place metal object-filled and dust-free, you can order Disc Mounts from Laboratory 424. $7.95(USD) gets you a dozen buttons.

[via HolyCool]

The Drexel College of Engineering has seven of these robots, so maybe they can add a Stu Sutcliffe or Pete Best robot to the band too. These robots cost between $300,000 and $400,000 each. Sure, that’s expensive for a robot band, but cheap for a Beatle. I’m looking forward to their Sgt. Pepper album myself.

[IEEE Spectrum via Geekosystem via Neatorama]

Here’s two of the manliest product demonstration videos I’ve ever seen:

Here’s the second one, detailing how to put on the earHero Pro:

Man, doesn’t that voice get you pumped up? You can order earHero Pro from earHero’s website for $149(USD). Cuff microphone not included.

[via 7 Gadgets]

So the Linux-powered EOL band now has a robot snare, bass drum, tambourine, keyboard, and HP scanner AND vocals. Here they are, performing an awesomely geeky rendition of Maroon 5′s Moves Like Jagger:

If you thought that sounded a bit like Stephen Hawking on lead vocals, that’s because he used to use a DECtalk Express back in the 1980s as his voice.

[via Blame it on the Voices]

Designed by a guy named Lloyd from down under in Australia, the Hi-Five watch would incorporate a round LED display into the turntable section, with the digits being displayed like grooves in a record. The watch also would have a date mode, which is indicated by the red dot in the bottom left corner.

In addition to its novel display, the Hi-Five would incorporate an MP3 player, so it could both tell time and play whatever tracks you’d like on its virtual platter. It’s not clear if the LEDs could be used to animate the time in a spinning motion, but I think that would be a nice addition to at least offer that as a display mode.

While TokyoFlash already offers a DJ-themed watch called the Kisai RPM, I kind of like this more literal take better. The only thing not to like about this watch is that it doesn’t yet exist. If you’re like me and would like to see it produced, head on over to the TokyoFlash Design Blog and vote for the Hi-Five. Hopefully, that’ll convince them to put these into production soon.

Created by Rob Sanchez, Ryan Rogowski and Kipp Bradford, the Tabber is a kit which can be attached to the neck of your guitar, using an array of bright LEDs to illuminate the appropriate finger points along the frets of your guitar. What’s really cool about the Tabber is that you can connect it to your smartphone, and have it light up based on the chords programmed into an app. This lets you learn on the go, and without being tied down to a computer or video game console.

The Tabber will work with either electric or acoustic guitars. It’s currently in the prototype stages, and raising funds for a production run over on Kickstarter now. While the prototype still looks a little bulky, the production version will be extremely slim and not interfere with fret fingering at all. A pledge of $150(USD) will get you all the parts to build your own Tabber, while $200 or more will get you a fully-assembled Tabber kit.

It was built using an Arduino and a bunch of other spare parts. The robot is controlled via a web interface. It’s easier to just let them explain how it works. This is a robot playing drums, and that’s good enough for me.

“The Arduino receives the string, unpacks it back to a pattern and simple loops over the steps controlling each servo.” It also has “Horns” which are 2 small fans with a servo that push a piece of plastic against the blades. This little bot is fun to watch and seems like he would be a good jamming partner too. For more about how this bot was made check out Steffest’s blog.

[via Hacked Gadgets]

Inside that box, you won’t find a single CD or DVD. As an ode to the digital age all you’ll find is this tacky golden orb ball with a flash drive inside. Along with that golden orb is a gold plated Queen crest pendant necklace. On the flash drive, you get all 15 Queen studio albums digitally remastered. The tunes are offered in 320 Kbps MP3 format and 24-bit 44.1 kHz wave format.

Accompanying the tunes are a bunch of digital photos on the flash drive. The set is limited to 5000 units and costs about $350 (USD). Given the fact that you could purchase all 15 albums for about $150, I think the orb should at least be plated with real gold.

[via EverythingUSB]

The answer to this question is, apparently, their music. Uniform, a British design agency, has just shown off a prototype of a literal musical poster. And by that, I mean a poster that lists upcoming gigs with thumbnail images that plays a short sampling of music when they’re pressed.

This is made possible because of conductive ink, which is used to print out the images. When pressed, the circuit is completed, triggering the playback. They even envision the posters being connected to the internet, so music samples could be updated whenever they want, and eventually support the purchase of tickets and music.

These musical posters are still at the early concept stages, but certainly have potential and I think they’re an amazing way to promote shows and concerts. (If they’re not too expensive to mass produce, that is.)

[via Geeks are Sexy]

Created by music app makers Amidio, Futulele is an upcoming ukulele simulator for iOS. While you can play it with a single iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone, the app really shines in connected mode. This requires the use of an iPad for the string box and strumming, and the iPhone or iPod Touch for the fret board. Here, check it out in action:

Sure, the idea is kind of silly, but it is pretty cool how they network the two devices together using Bluetooth to create one larger instrument. I’d love to see what other sort of instruments could be created this way too.

The app portion of Futulele is headed for the App Store this April, but Amidio is still looking for manufacturers to make the body of the instrument. For now, you’ll just have to improvise with some cardboard and duct tape. Or buy yourself an actual ukulele.

[via Holy Kaw]

Despite its awkward name, the Plugication app seems like a good fit for my needs, and perhaps for yours as well. All it does is allow you to command your iOS device to automatically resume music playback when it detects that headphones are plugged in. Here’s a demo of the app by YouTuber myjailbreakmovies:

Plugication is a free download from the Modmyi repository, but you do have to have a jailbroken device to get it. YouTuber rarestname also pointed out another alternative for iOS users with jailbroken iOS devices. The beta 1 of Activator 1.6.2 has a new field called “Headset Connected & Disconnected”, so you can trigger playback using that as well. Lifehacker commenters have suggested a few alternatives for Android users, including Just Shake and Tasker. I just hope Apple will be kind enough to include this feature in the vanilla iOS someday.

[via Lifehacker]

A professor at Auckland, New Zealand’s Massey University, Diegel created these beautiful and lightweight 3D printed electric guitars using a combination of alumide and polyamide materials with an EOS Formiga P100 selective laser sintering machine – a serious industrial 3D printer. I doubt you’d be able to do something this impressive with a Makerbot, but I’m happy to be proven wrong.

His current designs, the Scarab and Spider, feature a cool open air design, and tremendous depth and detail thanks to the capabilities of the 3D printing tech. I love the tiny insects and plants on the inside of these things.

Of course, while the guitar bodies are 3D printed, the neck, pickups, frets and strings are all standard electric guitar parts. Maybe someday those can be 3D printed too.

I’m not sure if Olaf is offering these guitars for sale, but if you’re interested, he has contact information up on his University web page.

[via Ponoko]

Take, for example, the Digitar. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it’s a mash-up of “digital” and “guitar.” This concept design by Formquadrat is basically a futuristic touch-sensitive guitar that makes use of Touchskin surfaces on the neck, drum, and wheel.

You’ll basically be able to play your favorite tunes and strum without risk of broken strings, because these Digitars aren’t fitted with strings. Instead, they’ve got capacitive touch surfaces, and LED fret indicators for music lessons.

While we’ve seen some digital guitars before, this one seems most interested in preserving some of the tactile strumming appeal of the original. It would be interesting to see if they catch on and manage to draw a following if they ever make their way into the market.

[via Yanko Design]

The fun began when students from Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science GRASP labs discovered that they could make these flying things play music. They set up some instruments and let the quadrocopters loose to perform the James Bond theme. These copters are controlled by a computer programmed with instructions to fly to the proper instruments and play them, and it’s pretty amazing to watch:

Thankfully none of the ‘bots fires at your screen in the end making it go blood red. That would be bad.

[UPenn via io9]

This compact box offers a 4×4 grid of arcade-type push-buttons, each backed with colorful RGB LEDs to provide visual feedback. But there are a ton of button controllers out there. What makes the Midi Fighter 3D special is its built-in motion sensor technology. Under the hood, it’s packing a gyroscope, accelerometer and compass, which allow musicians to use the position, angle or direction of the controller as inputs for MIDI software as well. Just plug it into your computer with the included USB cable, load up your favorite music software, and you’ll be all set.

It’s also got a set of bank-switching buttons on top, so the grid can be reconfigured on-the-fly to one of four different configurations and color schemes. In addition to the 16 buttons on top, the controller has six side-mounted buttons which can easily be pressed while you’re moving it around. They also plan on offering a hand strap, which will allow you to easily hold it in your hand without worrying about it flying out in a mad musical fit.

The MIDI Fighter 3D is being made by DJ Tech Tools, who expects to release it this April with a retail price of $249 (USD). You can reserve one now over on their website.

[via Create Digital Music]

Matsumura and company call their invention the Universal Earphones. Their secret is surprisingly simple and inexpensive – a proximity sensor piggybacked on one of the earbuds. As you can see in the picture above, the sensor faces towards the left ear and away from the right ear. If it detects that it’s about 30mm away from the ear, it means that it’s on the right ear. This input causes the earphones to switch the channels accordingly.

But that’s not all. By running a weak electrical current through the ear buds, the Universal Earphones can also detect if it’s being used by one person or shared by two people. If the current is interrupted it means that the earbuds are on separate heads. The earphones will then pump out a mono mix of the audio being played so the listeners can hear both channels at once. Genius! I suggest you put on your own earphones – correctly, of course – when you watch the video below.

That was awesome, save for the creepy synthesized narrator.

[via Engadget]