Sometimes we get the opportunity to help out select people who are developing projects for a good cause. One of those things dear to our hearts is inspiring children with science and electronics. So when John Porter came to us looking for a hand to make a musical gear project as part of an exhibit […]
Wednesday Cool Links: Nook Hacking, Kerf...
Solar botics
September 27, 2012
Hey, looks like we are still being late with the Wednesday cool link posts. Our busy days at the office are filled with fighting the multiple misbehaving lasers (with other lasers), conquering fridges stuffed with food (curtsey of Solarbotics bosses) and withstanding the unexpectedly good weather (or so I've heard…). Today's link collection is random at its best, almost as if it was made by a miniature sheep grazing on a green sled dog that dreams of being a pirate... that is interested in fluorescent lamp sculptures, carrot guns, pixels and espresso machine-generated images. We're not even going to pretend to justify this assortment of links aside from the fact that they're kinda cool, so hopefully everyone can find something they can enjoy and be distracted by:
 |
Fluorescent Light Moon Sculpture Chinese artist Wang Yuyang constructed his own Artificial Moon using thousands of differently shaped fluorescent lights. |
 |
PlayStation gaming on a NOOK Simple Touch Improvements in processing power really hit home when you see an eBook reader playing PlayStation games. Sure, we’re talking about a system which launched more than 15 years ago (the original PlayStation launched way back in 1995), but this is a $99 device which seems to be playing the games at full speed! |
|
Kerf Bending Patterns For all those of us who like playing with lasers! Kerf bending is a method of bending plywood by burning patterns along the desired bend. Here you can find some interesting patterns that not only work, but are visually appealing as well... And just to complete this section, another link on Laser-cut Lattice Living Hinges, with a mathematical modelling twist to it. Or torsion, I should say. |
 |
PIXELS by Patrick Jean Here's a clever and overall pretty impressive animation on 8-bit creatures overtaking NYC. PIXELS is Patrick Jean' latest short film, shot on location. |
 |
The Naked Espresso A really interesting take on a coffee ad campaign that involves hacking the espresso machine with an Arduino to output both analogue and digital signals. These signals are then converted from voltage to the relevant units and displayed through a processing application as the generative art animation. |
 |
Carrot Gun Improves Eyesight Just in time for your garden’s carrot harvest, Lou shows us how to make a carrot firing rifle. It’s cheap, easy, and quick. If you’ve got 15 buck and 15 minutes you can have one to call your own. |
 |
Mechanical Typewriter Keyboard for iPad If you like the old-time tactile quality of a classic manual typewriter, but have come to appreciate the ease of use of an iPad, you’ll dig Austin Yang’s iTypewriter mechanical typewriter keyboard. Each key is mapped to match up with the built-in iOS keyboard, so as you type, a mechanical arm tipped with a conductive pad swings out and taps the capacitive screen to render a character. |
Well I hope this post was as well-balanced as a calorie-counting vitamin-supplemented health freak diet and as lighthearted as popcorn with rainbow unicorns (hmmm, corn?) sprinkled with pink feathers… Yeah, let the random things rule, and happy (day after) Wednesday to everyone!
MORE POSTS
New Stuff!
We've been busy little elves at Solarbotics. New to our product listing is a fair number of parts and ICs that have been requested of us. Like what? Wellll...: You always need new chips. Especially when somebody on the BEAM list has made something cool: LM324 Op-amp (happy now, Bruce?) LM393 Dual comparator LM386 Audio […]
Solarbotics Christmas Hours
Ho Ho Ho! The 25th is fast approaching and we thought what better way to celebrate the season then with our families! (No, not the robotic ones, our real-living-breathing-warm- blooded ones!) Solarbotics will officially be closed from December 23 to December 27, 2005. We will be back in the office for December 28 when we […]
Friday New Product: MaKey Deluxe, Tiny L...
New stuff! See? Here it is, in the neat little boxes below: MaKey MaKey - Deluxe Kit $59.95 You may be the greatest living banana-pianist, but how will you ever know if you don't make yourself a banana piano? Good news, that project and countless others are easier than you think they are with MaKey […]
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!
Solarbotics, Ltd. is not responsible for misprints or errors on product prices or information. For more information, please see our Terms and Conditions.
Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.