Author Archives: Jonathan Berisford

3D Visualization Compares The Size, Speed, And Range Of Different Missiles

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Animated by video studio RED SIDE, this is a 3D visualization comparing the size, speed, and range of various missiles used by multiple nations. Even the slowest missile is fast, but the quickest missile makes the slowest look like it’s standing still, and the slowest is traveling over 2,000MPH!

The video starts with a “drag race” comparing the missiles from slowest (the Mach 2.9 Novator Kalibr, ~2,225MPH) to fastest (the claimed Mach 27 of the Avangard, aka Objekt 4202, ~19,884MPH). It then provides an animation of how each missile is typically launched, its different stages, and what a flyby of the rocket at full speed looks like. The third part details each missile’s range; the last part is a size comparison, with all the rockets standing next to one another. I learned a lot by watching it. Mostly, I wouldn’t want to get hit with any of these, even without an explosive payload.

Which missile was your favorite? I found them all rather terrifying. Technologically impressive, sure, but scary to think about. And probably infinitely scarier to try to ride like a mechanical bull.

[via TheAwesomer]

Building A Drone Umbrella: The Future Of Staying Dry

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In the future, will we all have drone umbrellas autonomously follow us, hovering just above our heads to shelter us from the rain? Maybe! But Youtuber I Build Stuff couldn’t wait for the future, so he took matters into his own hands and constructed his own drone umbrella. While this one doesn’t autonomously follow its user, it’s certainly a step in the right direction. That step being one out of the rain, just to be clear.

After hand drawing the design, I Build Stuff then reproducing it in CAD, and the parts were 3D printed. The design is a large quadrocopter, with each rotor on a long arm to allow enough space for an umbrella to fit between them.

The design works well, although it appears any amount of wind causes the umbrella to quickly start drifting away. And rain and wind DO go hand in hand. With enough interest in the project, I Build Stuff says he’ll add a camera to the dronebrella and write the code to track his movement so it can autonomously follow him. This will also help the drone compensate for wind by trying to constantly stay above him. That’s a good idea. Another good idea? Adding some safety cages around those spinning blades right above your head.

[via TechEBlog]

Terrifying Humanoid Robot Plays Charades Using The AI Of GPT-4

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Using GPT-4, the University Of Tokyo’s Alter3 humanoid robot can autonomously act out actions given to it as prompts in a style not unlike a game of charades. Alter3 uses GPT-4’s large language AI model to convert the human-provided prompts into code for its movement, and the result, while rather unsettling to watch, is quite impressive. And it’s certainly a nice change of pace from their development of flying spider robots.

In the video below, Alter3 pantomimes playing a guitar, pretending to be a snake, taking a selfie, throwing a ball, and pretending to be a ghost, with varying degrees of success. It also attempts to act out the prompt, “Enjoying popcorn at the movies when I realized I was actually eating the popcorn of the person next to me.” That was perhaps its magnum opus, and if Oscars were awarded to humanoid actors, it would have almost certainly received a nomination.

The University of Tokyo researchers behind the project hope that robots perfecting making human-like movements will make our interaction with humanoid robotics more lifelike. And, in the very near future, you might not even be able to tell if your charades partner really is a human at all! What a time to be alive!

[via LaughingSquid]

Clicks iPhone Attachment Adds A Physical Keyboard

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Do you miss having a tactile, physical keyboard on your phone? Then set your time machine dial to 2006. Or you can buy Clicks, an iPhone attachment that adds a physical keyboard to the bottom of your phone. In addition to allowing more screen real estate while in use, the keyboard also allows shortcuts and dedicated keys. My productivity is going to skyrocket!

Billed as the first ‘creator’s keyboard’, the Clicks is currently available for iPhone models 14 Pro and 15 Pro ($139), and 15 Pro Max ($159) in two colors: BumbleeBee (yellow) and London Sky (dark grey). The keyboard features a backlight that can be toggled on and off for night use, and appears to make your phone long enough to pass as a handheld metal detector. That alone is worth the price in my opinion.

Make more space for apps and content by moving the keyboard off your screen….Real keys make typing feel so natural, you can tackle more tasks than ever on iPhone. …Fly through tasks with keyboard shortcuts and dedicated keys that give you ultimate control of your phone.

Admittedly, I do miss having a real keyboard on my phone. Of course, I also miss owning a pager. They say technology is cyclical, will both keyboarded phones and pagers make a comeback? I can dream, can’t I?

[via LaughingSquid]

Covering A Car With Color-Changing Mood Ring Disks

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Presumably curious how her car feels at any given moment, Youtuber Ali Spagnola covered it with 9,000 PopSockets, which she painted with thermochromic liquid crystal paint so they change color based on temperature, just like a mood ring. Wait — so mood rings aren’t sensing my mood, just temperature? 9-year old me demands a full refund!

The disks appear black at cooler temperatures but turn to violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red the warmer they get. Live in Arizona? Then you’ll always be driving a red car. Live in Alaska? Then a black car.

I imagine my car would constantly be red with anger at the way other motorists are driving. There…aren’t a lot of good drivers around here. You’d think new cars don’t even come with turn signals. Or even old cars, for that matter. They all definitely have horns, though!

[via TheAwesomer]

World’s First 3D Printed Edible Eel: Sushi Ready

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Hot on the heels of 3D-printed salmon comes the world’s first 3D-printed eel, made by Steakholder Foods using its line of 3D meat printers. Its current iteration of eel is plant-based, but it plans to ethically harvested eel cells and cultivate them once “economies of scale allow for price-competitive cell development.” These are fascinating times for the sushi industry!

SteakHolder’s printing process involves printing alternating layers of varied textures to as closely resemble the meat it’s printing as possible. So, it’s not just a solid block of the same texture and flavor. Its printing technology also allows the company to produce meat alternatives using significantly fewer ingredients than others currently on the market.

Above: A filet of grouper being printed.

SteakHolder Foods CEO Arik Kaufman says, “The launch of our printed eel marks a pivotal moment in the seafood industry…This technology is designed to enable partners to generate products on a potential industrial scale of hundreds of tons monthly, not only at lower costs compared to wild eel, but also with the flexibility to create a variety of printed products using the same production line.”

Would you eat 3D-printed eel? I would. As a matter of fact, I want some right now. Ideally, laid atop some rice with wasabi and soy sauce on the side. Great, now I want sushi. But I just had Mexican! I suppose I still have a little room…

[via TechEBlog]

Engineer 3D Prints A Colorful, Functional Toilet

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Because great ideas come in all shapes and sizes (and colors), Youtuber Emily The Engineer decided to take it upon herself to see if she could 3D print a functional toilet. Could she? SPOILER: Yes– yes, she could. And I hope that this colorful commode serves as a reminder to us all that if you try hard and believe in yourself, anything is possible. Or you can at least 3D print yourself a toilet.

Due to the size of the toilet, the unit had to be split into numerous blocks for individual printing, and Emily took that opportunity to print the blocks in various fun colors. The result is what appears to be a LEGO toilet, or a Mondrian painting. My bathroom demands it!

Emily attached all the parts to one another using 3D plastic glue and a soldering iron to fuse where necessary. Even the tank float, flapper, and flushing mechanism are 3D printed, although a handful of metal nuts and bolts were required to connect everything.

Unfortunately, after testing, it appeared her design wasn’t strong enough to be attached to a traditional indoor plumbing system. So what did she do? What anybody would — attached wheels, armrests, smartphone charger, cup holders, and added a bidet. Boom — mobile toilet! Goodbye porta-potty, hello sporta-potty!

[via TechEBlog]

XBox Series S Toaster: When You Like Your Games Burnt

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Because there’s probably a diehard XBox fan out there that’s always dreamed of an XBox themed toaster, the gaming giant decided to make their dream a reality with this XBox Series S 2 Slice Toaster. The toaster looks just like the gaming console, and even toasts the XBox logo right on your bread! Mmmm, XBread. Breakfast is a game I will always play.

The unit features an extra wide bread receptacle capable of accommodating bagels, frozen waffles, Texas toast, and English muffins, and has 6 browning settings to perfectly dial in your level of burntness. Me? I like my toast a nice medium brown, right in the middle between raw bread and carbonized.

Is Sony going to follow suit with a Playstation toaster? One can only hope. Although if I had any say in the matter I’d suggest they make it an air fryer instead. Those things are magic! Cooking salmon? Reheating pizza? They can do it all! My actual Playstation can’t even make a decent grilled cheese.

[via TheVerge]

Indiana Jones Golden Idol Temple Wall Trap Replicas

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Inspired by the carved faces that fire darts at Indy and Satipo as they try to exit the temple after setting off the golden idol’s booby traps, these wall art blocks from Regal Robot are perfect for the Indiana Jones-themed room in your own home. You do have an Indiana Jones room, right? Well, if not, these will make the perfect start.

Each block measures approximately 15″ square and is made in the U.S. using hand-painted polyurethane resin. That quality doesn’t come cheap, though — an individual square will set you back $375. Yikes! I might have to steal and sell some ancient artifacts just to be able to afford one.

A few dozen of these on the walls, along with some cobwebs, spike pits, and a giant rolling boulder replica, and your Indiana Jones room will be complete! What a place to watch the movies that will be! Please, just remind me about the spike pits whenever I get up for snacks or a bathroom break.

[via TheAwesomer]

13-Year Old Becomes First Human To Beat Tetris On NES

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13-year-old gaming streamer Blue Scuti has become the first human to beat the classic Tetris game on the Nintendo Entertainment System, almost 35 years after its release. Previously, the game had only been beaten by artificial intelligence. Blue achieved the feat during a semi-final round of the Classic Tetris World Championship (CTWC) and set three world records in the process: the highest overall score (6,850,560), the highest level achieved (Level 157), and the most total number of lines (1,511). Wow!

The game is “beat” when it crashes, and the screen freezes. For the first two decades of the game’s existence, it was believed that progress past level 29 was impossible because the pieces are falling so fast that holding left or right will not move a piece all the way to one side or the other before it reaches the bottom. That led gamers to start getting creative with how they used their controllers.

According to Polygon, Blue’s strategy “was a culmination of the technique that younger players have been developing in recent years. These newer strategies, like ‘hypertapping’ and later ‘rolling,’ emerged in 2016 and 2020 respectively, allowing players to operate the NES controller even faster than the buttons by tapping the underside of the controller.” I’ve seen players doing that in videos and wondered what was happening! That explains it. Me? I’m lucky to hit the right button at all, let alone at lightning speed.

[via BoingBoing and Polygon]