World’s Largest Tetris Game April 24, 2006
By David Ponce
Let’s say you’ve done well for yourself, and are now the proud owner of a large (preferably 10 or more stories high) building. You wish to enliven things up a bit, for passersby. This is what you should do: build the (second) world’s largest Tetris game.
This is how you do it. Outfit all the windows with, say, 10,000 Christmas lights. Then take eleven custom-built circuit boards, a twelve-story data network, a personal computer running Linux, a radio-frequency video game controller, spend five months tweaking and planning, and before you know it, you’ll have the entire front of your building running Tetris. It’ll be just like this one, off Interstate 95, in Rhode Island.
Wonder how it works? Come inside for a groovy video.
VIA [TechEBlog]
Original Article syndicated via RSS from OhGizmo!
Offroading With The Tank Chair
By David Ponce
Nothing like starting work, on a Monday morning, pondering just how awesome life would be if you got to get around on a tank chair. Like this one.
Of course, this particular chair is designed for people that actually need it, not just people who’d enjoy terrorising old ladies on the sidewalk. It appears to be the brainchild of a dad, who one day, while camping, realized his wheelchair-bound wife was unable to enjoy nature as much as she would have liked to, due to her current chair’s limitations. 2 years and lots of sweat later, the Tank Chair was born. With it, you can conquer snow, mud, sand, gravel or whatever else nature throws at you. Though, it seems you need to actually be disabled to own one.
And, well, no idea what the sticker on that thing could be.
[The Tank Chair] VIA [Digg]
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Landrollers Take It Offroad
By Bruce Eaton
This one is for our readers that like eating asphalt, or dirt and such. The Landroller in-line skates bring a new (well, relatively new, I suppose) twist to rollerblading, one that allows you to skate offroad as well as on. Using LandRoller’s patented Angled Wheel Technologyâ„¢, these babies provide all the benefits of large wheels, on your feet. Previous attempts at incorporating large wheels failed,
because the skates were either dangerously high off the ground, as in the case of Rollerblades’ Coyote skates, or unmaneuverable because of a long wheelbase, as with the TrailSkate and Crosskate,” states LandRoller co-inventor Bert Lovitt
.
The large wheels give you the ability to go on rough surfaces and even offroad while maintaining normal maneuverability, with a low center of gravity and short wheel base. The design even gives an improved glide time over conventional in-line skates.
Only problem is that they don’t come in large men’s sizes (above 13). Other than that, there seems to be nothing but rave reviews for the $249 skates. Landroller has several enhancements under development such as state of the art braking systems, a variety of wheels and tires (including pneumatic) and newer, more advanced options for the offroading crowd.
[Landroller] VIA [Gizmag]
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Modern Hour Glass Clock
By Andrew Liszewski
This modern take on the hour glass clock uses two cones rotating at different speeds to indicate the time with the upper cone representing the minutes while the lower cone represents the hour. A vertical embossed red line indicates where to read the current time.
On the top is a small round window revealing a third wheel that also rotates to show the seconds ticking by. The best part of course is that this version of the hour glass clock is probably far more accurate at telling time than the falling sand version that inspired its design.
The Hour Glass Clock is available from Gadgets.co.uk for about $45 (after conversion.) It’s powered by a single AA battery which should keep it running for several months at a time.
[Hour Glass Clock] VIA [Coolest Gadgets]
Original Article syndicated via RSS from OhGizmo!
PXN8 - Online Photo Editing
By Andrew Liszewski
There have been a few times when away from home that I’ve wanted to post a story or email a photo that needed a bit of touch-up but didn’t have access to Photoshop on the system I was using. Unfortunately MS Paint just doesn’t cut it and I’ve yet to find a good solution to the problem… until now.
PXN8 (pronounced Pix-en-ate) is an online, stripped-down photo editor based on HTML, CSS and Javascript that runs right in your web browser. While the toolset is not expansive it still includes an extremely useful array of functions like resize, crop, red-eye removal, horizon levelling and even color corrections like brightness, saturation, hue and contrast. There are even some ‘fun’ effects like the Lomo tool which will add a dark ‘artsy’ halo to your photo.
Images can be loaded into PXN8 from your local drive or directly from any web URL. When you’re happy with the results the image can then be saved back to your drive or easily uploaded to an existing Flickr account. Personally I would love to see the addition of a basic levels or curves tool and an option for jpeq quality when exporting but that being said I think the developers have already done a really good job with this tool.
While using PXN8.com does appear to be free you can also purchase and completely customize PXN8 to run on your own server for a flat fee of $749. This would be useful to a site that involves users uploading images where the PXN8 service could be offered to them as part of the upload process.
[PXN8 - Photos Made Easy] VIA [Uneasy Silence]
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GearLive And Wicked Lasers April 21, 2006
By David Ponce
You can never have enough of a good thing, and the Wicked Lasers are no exception. Turns out, other people are having fun with them as well, including the guys at GearLive.
So, head on over that way and check out their March 6 videoblog entry, called The Bleeding Edge. It’s very well done, and in it, they talk about pitting the Gillette Fusion against an old-school razor, they show off a homebrew wireless network music player, but most importantly, get stupid with some Wicked Lasers. They use smoke, mirrors, and do a light saber battle.
It’s some good stuff.
Original Article syndicated via RSS from OhGizmo!
Grass Armchair
By Bruce Eaton
[This has been around for almost a year. Up and down blogs all over. But, since Bruce never saw it, it’s possible some of y’all didn’t either. So, enjoy. -Ed.]
Tired of bringing out the “lawnchairs” for a party? Well get the real deal with the Grass Armchair. Coming in the shape of a chair, are 14 cardboard pieces that you fill with 240 litres of soil and 20cm of gravel at the base. Apply the grass seeds and just like a chia pet it grows in about 10 days. Protect it from rain while in its “incubating” phase, and soon enough you will have a fully functional chair that is a part of your lawn, and is sturdy enough to support a full grown adult.
Just trim the grass to the desired comfort level and your house can seriously increase its fun value, maybe even its actual value. At $115 a pop, they’re not that bad, especially compared to buying a patio set. But this one is weatherproof, windproof, drinkproof, drunken-idiot-throwing-chairs-into-your-pool proof.
[Grass Armchair] VIA [Sci Fi Tech]
Original Article syndicated via RSS from OhGizmo!
Perific Ergonomic Mouse & Trackball
By Andrew Liszewski
Here’s a mouse that strives to improve the ergonomics of ‘mousing’ rather than cram in a handful of useless other functions no one really needs. Variation is the name of the game when it comes to minimizing the risk of repetitive strain injuries, so the Perific Ergonomic Mouse can be used in several different ways throughout the work day.
With the easily removed shell attached, the Perific funtions and is used just like any other standard desktop mouse. When the shell is removed though the Perific can be held in your hands in any position while mouse movement is handled by a trackball. There are also two sets of left and right buttons which facilitate the different ways the mouse is designed to be held and used. To make switching ‘modes’ even easier the Perific mouse functions wirelessly relying on a base unit that connects to your computer VIA USB which can also be used for charging.
The Perific Ergonomic Mouse & Trackball is available from The Human Solution for $119.00.
[Perific Ergonomic Mouse & Trackball] VIA [Chip Chick]
Original Article syndicated via RSS from OhGizmo!
The Chocolate Bomb
By Andrew Liszewski
What’s the perfect way to end a nice quiet dinner party? Well with an Explosive Chocolate Bomb of course. Your guests will most likely be quite curious as to why there is a wick sticking out of your chocolate centerpiece during the meal. All that mystery will be revealed though when after dinner you clear the table, setup the included safety guard (read blast shield), usher your guests to a safe viewing distance and light the wick.
While the website is a bit vague as to the extent of the actual explosion I’m at least hoping the chocolate shockwaves can be tasted by neighbors 2 streets over. I presume that’s being a bit optimistic though. If the bomb does fail to detonate there are even special instructions included on how to properly defuse it.
The Explosive Chocolate Bomb is available from the Chocolate Trading Co. for £75. However it seems that explosive chocolate regulations are far more strict in North America so this bomb can not be shipped outside the UK unfortunately.
[Explosive Chocolate Bomb] VIA [Shiny Shiny]
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Smarthome Curved Shower Curtain Rod April 20, 2006
By Andrew Liszewski
The majority of us who live in apartments don’t have the benefit of an actual shower stall in our bathrooms. Instead we have a bathtub with a shower head, which isn’t usually the most roomiest of places.
From Smarthome comes a really simple way to give that bathtub-shower a lot more elbow room. This unique shower rod actually curves outward and away from the bathtub itself and depending on where it’s installed can provide close to a foot of extra space. It works with any standard shower curtain and comes with all the necessary hardware for installation, which is apparently pretty easy with an existing shower rod already in place.
The Curved Shower Curtain Rod is available from Smarthome in white for $24.99, and in Polished Nickel or Stainless Steel for $29.99 each.
[Smarthome Curved Shower Curtain Rod]
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