Archive for April 2016

It’s becoming increasingly clear to makers that single board computers and the DIY devices based on them need control interfaces that are simpler and faster to use than desktop peripherals or even full-on PCs. Pičugins Arsenijs believes he’s come up with a much simpler alternative. Arsenijs’ calls his invention as he sees it: a Python-based Linux Control Interface, or pyLCI.

Milestone reminds us how far Street Fighter‘s art has come with these terribad 2″ busts. They’re 3D versions of the character portraits that appear in Street Fighter II after you’re defeated. Seeing Ryu and the gang beat up makes the “Continue?”

Most of the Peanuts’ holiday specials and cartoons that were around when I was a kid weren’t exactly new even then. They were always how I knew the holidays were near as a child. It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown told me it was almost time for free candy, and that Christmas was around the corner.

When traveling, chances are you pack quite a bit of stuff in your suitcases. Obviously this takes up a lot of space in your trunk or backseats. Well, the Roadster Seatback Luggage is unique because it uses the space directly behind one of your car’s seats for extra storage. This smartly designed tri-fold garment bag hangs from your headrest, and gives you an extra 3 inches of storage for things like suits, shirts and other items that fold easily.

If you aren’t afraid of Ewoks trying to trip you up, you too can wear your Scout Trooper armor and ride on this cool real world speeder bike. This mod was added to a Segway personal mobility device by Youtuber Rodger Cleye.

Using a tripod can mean getting the perfect picture, but the problem is getting it set up in time to take that shot. Somebody finally built a better tripod. The tripod of the future coming soon, and it eliminates knobs, buttons, and those awkward extending legs.

Sun praisers will soon be able to slay bosses without their consoles or PCs, thanks to Steamforged Games’ upcoming officially licensed Dark Souls – The Board Game. Based on its prototype, it does a great job of capturing the Souls series’ combat in a turn-based and tabletop format. The board game can be played by one to four players.

I was way too young to remember any of the ’70s. I am a ’80s child through and through. I do recall a babysitter having a beat up Star Trek play set in the toy box though.

3D printers are prone to a problem called layer shifting, which is when the printer’s x- or y-axis stepper motor skips, causing layers from that point onward to be misaligned with the previously printed layers. That of course leads to a useless object and wasted time and materials.

I’ve seen each of the original Star Wars trilogy films more times than I can count. Somehow, I don’t recall the Nebulon-B medical Frigate at all. Apparently, the ship showed up in The Empire Strikes Back and was the ship Luke was on after having his hand chopped off by Vader. 

The Campeggi Ca.Mia packs a bed into a compact bundle, allowing you to store it in a closet shelf for storage or pack it in a bag to take with you. However, it also inflates into couch with an integrated tent, so you can sleep in your own private space.

We have robotic bartenders, why not robotic cooks as well? Actually, Spyce Kitchen is not just a cook but an entire restaurant that works on its own, from measuring ingredients to washing its pots. MIT mechanical and electrical engineering students Kale Rogers, Michael Farid, Braden Knight, and Luke Schlueter are the wizards behind the robo resto.

You may remember Altar Furniture from its awesome R2-D2 pinball coffee table. Trekkies who are also pinball fans will be delighted to know that the company has something for them as well. The beautiful Shuttle Interactive Coffee Table is designed to look like Star Trek‘s shuttlecraft.

You know those newfangled hoverboards that are prone to explode and are really not that great anyway? Looks like people are just getting started making stupid accessories for them. Take, for example this hoverboard sitting attachment that lets you ride across the beach sitting on your lawn chair throne like redneck royalty. As they show on their webpage this amazing invention is versatile since you can attach a cooler and sit on it, clip an umbrella on the back of your chair, pull heavy bags or boxes and do other dumbass things on your dumbass moving lawn chair that goes about 2 mph. It’s basically a frame that attaches to your so-called hoverboard.

In our house, my mom was a big fan of counter containers to hold stuff like flour or sugar. I’m not a repackaging kind of guy, but I would totally use these Star Wars droid kitchen containers. They look a little odd with larger heads than normal.

Ever since watching Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive and seeing murderous construction equipment trying to kill people, I’ve got a healthy fear of big construction equipment. Apparently, in China, no one gives a crap about tons of construction equipment having a riotous fight in the middle of a street. A group of Chinese construction workers from rival firms got into a massive fight inside their front-end loaders.