Back in the early 1900’s a company named Caldwell made a snake-proof baby crib, they don′t make them like they used to folks… via BA.
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Original post by Phillip Torrone
Filed under: Gaming
Console collectors know good and well that Sega dished out a few less-than-easily-attainable versions of the Dreamcast back in the day, but only the hardest of hardcore fanatics are apt to have one this bad boy. Just 1,800 of these limited edition bundles were made, which feature an atypical Code: Veronica box, a translucent red version of the Japanese console, a matching controller, a copy of Biohazard Code: Veronica (Japan’s version of Resident Evil Code: Veronica), all the traditional connection cables and a huge dose of bragging rights. Number 280 out of the 1,800 units can be yours right now for the low, low asking price of $800, and believe us, we don′t foresee this one hanging around sans an owner for too much longer.
[Via Gadget Review]
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Original post by Darren Murph
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds
Those of us old enough to remember crap games like E.T. and Sssnake have every right to be thrilled by the relative quality of modern gems like Guitar Hero. We’re guessing modder Conner Flynn over at SlipperyBrick feels that way too, melding the old with the new by inserting an Atari 2600 console into the body of a faux-Gibson from Guitar Hero. This meant adding two controllers to the body (an eight-way joystick plus a paddle-style controller for Breakout), wiring up the green button on the neck, and adding a small screen where the strum bar would normally reside. It’s a layout that makes this axe best suited for play Jeff Healey-style, and with a pocketful of AA batteries you can game your Angel Eyes out wherever you like. No, it’s not the most ergonomic portable 2600 we’ve ever seen, or most practical, but is certainly is the most badass.
[Via technabob]
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Original post by Tim Stevens
Filed under: Gaming
Retro game lovers, don’t ever say Nintendo isn’t looking out for you. Only months after hearing that the Wii’s Virtual Console would be getting Sega Master System and Commodore 64 games, in flies word that at least one heralded SuperGrafx title is on its way, too. Granted, the Ghouls ‘n Ghosts (or Daimakaimura, as it were) port is only slated for release in Japan at the moment, but we’re keeping our increasingly less limber fingers crossed that it′ll head to other parts of the world in short order. There’s also no telling if any other titles from the console’s library will be headed to the Wii, but given that we could count ‘em all on two hands, we’d say chances are decently high.
[Via Joystiq, image courtesy of ClassicGaming]
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Original post by Darren Murph
Dale (our publisher) writes -
I came upon this exhibit of old tractors and tools at the Mendocino County Fair, which ran this weekend in Boonville, California. I saw this unusual sign for the exhibit:
I wondered what the heck it meant and learned that it was a phrase in the local Boontling dialect created in the valley here. “Kimmies” means men, and it can mean young men or old men. “Codgy″ means old, similar to “codger” and moshe means “machines.” The fellow who explained it to me said that it meant “Once-Young Men and their Old Machines.”
A colorful expression for a bunch of colorful machines such as the old Deere below, which was in operation:
Here’s a display of “varmint” traps and a pelt stretcher:
For more on Bootling, see this resource on the website of the Anderson Valley Brewing Company. You can learn how to harp, which is to speak Boontling.
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Original post by Phillip Torrone
Filed under: Digital Cameras
Don’t even bother wading through the Polish translations — Leica has finally got its act together and pushed out English releases to explain its latest trio of cameras to the world. First up is the C-LUX 3, a pocket-friendly shooter that packs a 10-megapixel sensor, 25 to 125-millimeter 5x optical zoom lens, all-metal chassis, optical image stabilization, face detection and a 2.5-inch LCD monitor. Movin’ on up, we’ve got the 10.1-megapixel D-LUX 4, which adds in the ability to extend its zoom range of 24 to 60-millimeters via lens adapters, and a choice of either an additional flash or a 24-millimeter optical viewfinder. Last up is the highly anticipated &euro4,400 ($6,236) M8.2, which keeps the 10.3-megapixel sensor but adds in a metal blade focal plane shutter, scratch-resistant sapphire crystal coverglass for the LCD, a new “snapshot mode,” redesigned bright frame lines in viewfinder and a Quick Override setting. Pricing for the earlier two is still undisclosed, though they should be available in shops this October / November, respectively.
Read - C-LUX 3
Read - D-LUX 4
Read - M8.2
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Original post by Darren Murph
Filed under: Digital Cameras
We’ll be straight with you — we’re still struggling to wade through Google’s machine translation of a few Polish releases, but the long of short of it is that Leica has finally announced the long-expected M8.2, D-LUX 4 and C-LUX 3. All the good stuff (pricing, ship dates, availability regions, etc.) seems to be missing, but the Leica faithful won’t mind paying a translator to figure out what the links below really mean.
Read - D-LUX 4 and C-LUX 3
Read - M8.2
[Thanks, Peer]
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Original post by Darren Murph
Jake von Slatt writes:
Last year I had the privilege of tapping a segment for Wired Science with Chris Hardwick. As far as I know the piece never aired (”not sciencey enough” I heard through the grapevine!
) but it’s finally turned up on the Wired Science website.
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Original post by Gareth Branwyn
Filed under: Home Entertainment
We’ve seen some pretty ingenious covers for earth-movers, but ELAC’s Rubik’s Cube-inspired MicroSUB 2010 BT is really something special. Sure to please both puzzle and bass lovers alike, the dual-driver subbie features built-in Bluetooth (ʌDP), 100-watts of power and a pair of speaker outputs for satellites. For those looking for less vivid versions, it is available in black or white, but really, where’s the fun in that?
[Via Unplggd]
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Original post by Darren Murph
Built with the LEGO NTX platform (plus PDA support processor), the Sundial Robot uses sensor data to calculate time of day the new/old-fashioned way -
In operation, the robot rotates 360 degrees to calibrate the Compass Sensor. It then rotates in 5 degree increments, the light sensor is swept from vertical until the Touch Sensor is pushed. During the sweep the maximum light level seen is recorded. Once the robot rotates from 70 to 270 degrees magnetic, the NXT sends via bluetooth the magnetic heading where the maximum light level was seen. The PDA then calculates the time and sends the result to the NXT. The NXT then sets the clock to the time. In practice, the robot is accurate to within 15 minutes or so.
- Sundial Robot [via Robots.net]
More:
The Bulbdial Clock
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Original post by Collin Cunningham
Fascinating tale about 2 students enlisted to see how hard (or easy) it was to make a nuke -
How two students built an A-bomb… It’s one of the burning questions of the moment: how easy would it be for a country with no nuclear expertise to build an A-bomb? Forty years ago in a top-secret project, the US military set about finding out. Oliver Burkeman talks to the men who solved the nuclear puzzle in just 30 months.
…the two amateurs were ironically aided by information published as part of President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program, which spread word of the benefits of non-military nuclear power around the world. And Atoms for Peace was only the most prominent example of a fad for everything nuclear that propelled a huge amount of technical detail into the public domain.
Eventually, towards the end of 1966, two and a half years after they began, they were finished. “We produced a short document that described precisely, in engineering terms, what we proposed to build and what materials were involved,” says Selden. “The whole works, in great detail, so that this thing could have been made by Joe’s Machine Shop downtown.”
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Original post by Phillip Torrone
It was made by Jam Handy Organization, a contract producer for the Chevrolet Division of General Motors. It was produced to be shown theatrically and also on TV, in the days when there were lots of empty time slots… you can see the video here.
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Original post by Phillip Torrone
Of all things Americans are… We are Makers. With our strengths and our minds and spirit. We gather, we form, we fashion. Makers and shapers and put-it-togethers.
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Original post by Phillip Torrone
Call us biased, but we still prefer Ben Heckendorn′s portable ColecoVision over this one, but that’s not to say we don′t deeply respect the immense amount of work that went into the mini ColecoVision. The seller of the unit stripped a ColecoVision PCB from an original casing and got to modding; when all was said and done, the miniaturized version still operated fine and required a lot less floor space. ‘Tis a shame the bidding just ended — now you’re stuck with Atarimax’s oh-so-similar (but not nearly as satisfying) MulitCart as you embarrassingly attempt to relive the past.
[Via technabob]
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Original post by Darren Murph
Great collection of clips from TV science teacher Julius Sumner Miller “Why is it so?”
Why is it so? - the ground-breaking TV series with the enigmatic Professor Julius Sumner Miller - ran on the ABC from 1963 to 1986. Professor Miller’s infectious enthusiasm for physics delighted, educated and entertained generations of Australians, most of whom have at some point asked each other ‘Why is it so?’ in the characteristic Julius Sumner Miller voice.
The Lab has found some of the funniest, most entertaining segments from the Why is it so? series, and made them available for twenty first century enjoyment - over both dialup or broadband connections. Now you too can watch some ‘enchanting experiments’ with the good professor!
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Original post by Phillip Torrone
Developages - Development and Technology Blog
