Apple gives $10 million from its manufacturing fund to a COVID-19 testing firm

Apple has awarded $10 million to Copan Diagnostics, a company that manufactures COVID-19 sample collection kits. The funds will help Copan scale up its coronavirus sample kit production capability from several thousand to over a million kits a week b...

Laser-cut Star Wars Spaceship Models

Toys are cool to display on your shelf, but they’re even more special when you’ve assembled them yourself. These kits from LazerModels give you the opportunity to put together your own works of geek art using flat-packed, laser-cut wood.

They come in a variety of neat designs, with my favorites being the Star Wars-inspired models. While they’re not exactly screen accurate, they capture the spirit of the original spaceships quite well. Right now, they’ve got TIE Advanced fighters and Millennium Falcon models available.

Each model is made from baltic birch ply, and is designed to be assembled using plain white craft glue. Hot glue and other adhesives might ruin them, so stick with the good old Elmer’s. They can be painted, but I dig the look of the exposed wood.

The X-Wing measures 6″w x 6″h x 8″ d, the TIE fighter measures 5″w x 6.5″h x 4″d, the TIE Advanced is  6″w x 6″h x 6″d, and the Falcon measures in at 7″w x 6″h x 8″d. Those height dimensions all include the stand.

While it’s not Star Wars related, I also love the wooden TARDIS model they have. I might need one of those for my desk.