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Fun
This, my friends, is what you call asking for trouble: the new arcade driving cabinet Octane 120, from Dream Arcades, comes with a built-in keg-o-rator, with the beer tap placed conveniently on the dash next to the steering wheel. You know, so you can accurately practice your drunk driving in a safe environment before busting out your sloppy skills on Saturday night.
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Arcade Driving and Kegs: A Natural Combo
This, my friends, is what you call asking for trouble: the new arcade driving cabinet Octane 120, from Dream Arcades, comes with a built-in keg-o-rator, with the beer tap placed conveniently on the dash next to the steering wheel. You know, so you can accurately practice your drunk driving in a safe environment before busting out your sloppy skills on Saturday night.
More »
Wiimote Orchestra
Wiimote Hacked into Guitar for Mindbending, Accelerometer-based Effects
Hack a Day has a great video sent to them by a musician named Rob Morris, who uses the accelerometer data from his Wiimote to manipulate the sounds coming from his guitar. At the beginning of the vid, he shows how it can be used to change the pitch (using the Guitar Hero Star Power gesture), but then moves on to some crazier stuff, which involves using the actual Wiimote buttons to further distort notes and chords from the guitar, and it all sounds positively 8-bit. Morris says he uses a program called Max/MSP to send the Wiimote data to, then he sends that via MIDI to a whammy pedal which then manipulates the guitar noise. [Hack a Day]
DIY
DIY Egg Beater Centrifuge Can Save Lives
Apparently, egg beaters are more than just a tool for making tasty omelets—these cheap contraptions can also be used as a quick and dirty centrifuge in developing countries. According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, taping a bit of plastic tubing to the end of a standard egg beater and a little elbow grease is all that is needed to separate plasma from blood. According to George Whitesides and colleagues at Harvard University, the plasma obtained in the procedure is perfectly fine for conducting tests for diseases like Hepatitis B and cysticercosis. I can't believe it took chemists and Harvard-educated doctors all this time to figure that out. [Eurekalert via Crunchgear]
Robots
1.4-Inch Robot to Take Over Your Desk, World
At 1.37 inches, this robot may not be as complex as the bipedal 6.3-inch Tomy iSobot—the former-smallest bipedal bot according to the Guinness book of world records—but it can do plenty of things, from walking to finding its way out of a labyrinth to play soccer. It will arrive to europe later this year and hopefully to the US soon, because I want a full army of them, like the girl in the product shot from the Robo Japan expo. [Toylogy]
Giz explains
The biggest update to the new MacBooks—on the inside anyway—is their graphical muscle, which has been hooked up with some Barry Bonds-level steroids. Apple ditched Intel's crummy integrated graphics and chipset (basically the traffic controller between the processor and everything else) entirely, opting for a new one from Nvidia that combines the chipset and a GPU on a single chip—the GeForce 9400M. The MacBook Pro, being more Pro-erer than the MacBook, now rocks two graphics cards—the integrated 9400M and a separate, beefier GeForce 9600M GT. If that swirl of numbers, letters and BS is confusing, here's what's up.
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Giz Explains: Why Does the New MacBook Pro Have Two Graphics Cards?
The biggest update to the new MacBooks—on the inside anyway—is their graphical muscle, which has been hooked up with some Barry Bonds-level steroids. Apple ditched Intel's crummy integrated graphics and chipset (basically the traffic controller between the processor and everything else) entirely, opting for a new one from Nvidia that combines the chipset and a GPU on a single chip—the GeForce 9400M. The MacBook Pro, being more Pro-erer than the MacBook, now rocks two graphics cards—the integrated 9400M and a separate, beefier GeForce 9600M GT. If that swirl of numbers, letters and BS is confusing, here's what's up.
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2:00 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
By matt buchanan
18,801 views,
60 comments
Latest by KLanD: Umm.. can you say useless? Seriously, I saw 2 vid cards and I was like "Sweetness!" Then I saw the "you more »
Software
The latest Adobe Creative Suite 4 for Mac OS X and Windows is now shipping in all its flavors: Design Premium ($1799), Web Premium ($1699), Production Premium ($1699), and $2499 for the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection. I can't wait to try the new GPU-based acceleration.
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Adobe Creative Suite 4 Now Shipping
The latest Adobe Creative Suite 4 for Mac OS X and Windows is now shipping in all its flavors: Design Premium ($1799), Web Premium ($1699), Production Premium ($1699), and $2499 for the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection. I can't wait to try the new GPU-based acceleration.
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Concept
IBM Laptop Concept Features Built-In Scanner, Shredder
Whether you are a spy or a shady CEO, this laptop concept by Nicolas Lehotzky has features that will fit the bill. I'm not crazy about the giant protruding lock / finger scanner, and the USB slots hidden behind a lockable metal cap may be a bit of a nuisance—but I love the built in scanner and paper shredder to archive and / or eliminate incriminating evidence. I'm sure a product like be snatched up lightning quick by corporate America. [Coroflot via The Awesomer via Ubergizmo]
1:20 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
By Sean Fallon
2,543 views,
26 comments
Latest by aec007: What...? No pencil sharpener??????? Good grief! more »
Japan
While browsing the usually awesome Tokyu Hands, I found only one really great thing: These Gundam slippers, with faux gold trim. They make giant robot stomping noises as you walk. Video:
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Japanese Gundam Slippers Make Giant Robot Noises
While browsing the usually awesome Tokyu Hands, I found only one really great thing: These Gundam slippers, with faux gold trim. They make giant robot stomping noises as you walk. Video:
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Security
Finger Trap Puts the Smackdown on Unwanted Laptop Usage
For a moment, let's just forget about the fact that this Finger Trap concept is ridiculous and would be completely useless as a real-world product. I mean, the idea of smashing someone's finger for trying to touch your trackpad is only a joke. Now, electrocuting someone for trying to touch your laptop is a completely different story. That is where it is at my friends. [Yanko via TechEBlog]
12:30 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
By Sean Fallon
2,921 views,
26 comments
Latest by Sam_Zebian: why not just plug in a USB mouse?? problem solved for those who end up seeing one of these on more »
Photoshop Contest
John McCain Gets Absolutely Humiliated by Technology, Photoshop
Boy, you guys really like making fun of John McCain. This week's contest invited you to improve any of the candidates with technology using Photoshop. The results? About 95% of the entries involved McCain. And they're absolutely hilarious. I didn't filter these entries to make them all McCain-centric, this is just the way they came in, so blame your fellow readers for this one, republicans, not us. This is one of my favorite contests yet, so nice work, everyone. And hey, this might be a good predictor of the election. You know what they say: as Gizmodo goes, so goes the nation. Hit the jump for your top three winners and then the complete goldmine that is the Gallery of Champions.
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11:50 AM on Wed Oct 15 2008
By Adam Frucci
26,629 views,
84 comments
Latest by shamoononon has a hebetudinous dog: I said, 95% of the Gizmodo political stabs, but I means 95% of the political stabs being done by the more »
Space
A new 9,000-square-foot, 3-story spaceship called "Second Solar" has just been constructed in the German city of Böblingen, designed to travel to distant solar systems to research inhabitable environments. It's loaded up with "giant engines, a thermal shell to protect the crew and landing runners designed to cope with unknown surface conditions." Oh, and it was designed for children.
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9,000-Square-Foot Spaceship Built in Germany, Open for Your Exploration
A new 9,000-square-foot, 3-story spaceship called "Second Solar" has just been constructed in the German city of Böblingen, designed to travel to distant solar systems to research inhabitable environments. It's loaded up with "giant engines, a thermal shell to protect the crew and landing runners designed to cope with unknown surface conditions." Oh, and it was designed for children.
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