Tag: Strobe

Yes, everyone hates traffic cameras. They catch you rushing through the intersection when the light changes from yellow to red, and if you make a right turn on red when you aren’t supposed to. The worst part is not even realizing you triggered a traffic camera, and just getting that damned ticket in the mail with a photo of your car.

Check out this cool clock made from an old hard drive. Built by modder Svofski, the clock tells time on the face of the hard drive’s rapidly spinning platter. The Strobeshnik hard drive clock uses a stroboscopic effect to make it look like the numbers of the clock are persistent on the face of the drive platter – which Svofski galvanically etched to make the cool cutout numbers. A set of LEDs is positioned behind the platter, and a custom controller circuit automatically coordinates the rapidly blinking LEDs to illuminate precisely when the appropriate number window in the platter is lined up in the right location. Here’s a video clip of the Strobeshnik clock in action.

Ever felt the need to leave a television on to make it look like somebody is home while you’re out of town? This quirky little invention does just one thing – simulate the effect of having left your TV turned on. The $49 FakeTV uses an array of colored, flashing LEDs to create the illusion of the stroboscopic effect of a television.

The police department in Osaka, Japan is about to get a whole lot wackier. Apparently, they’ve ordered these goofy rabbit-shaped lights for about 800 of their cars. The bunny strobe lights are designed for use on vehicles patrolling the neighborhoods around schools, presumably so the kids can point and laugh at the cops.