MacBook Pro Touch Bar Turns Into Knight Rider’s KITT

Posted on 25/11/2016 by Paul Strauss

I’ve seen a few programs take advantage of the new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar already, but most of them are there to do something useful. How boring. What you need is to upgrade your MacBook Pro into the KITT 2000, the hyperintelligent car from the 1980s TV series, Knight Rider.

Developer Anthony Da Mota’s KnightTouchBar 2000 does just that, loading up the laptop’s skinny OLED touch panel with the chasing red light bar seen in the grille of the iconic Pontiac Trans Am. I suppose it could also double as the light in a Cylon raider’s helmet. You can see it in action in the brief clip below (which is running on a Touch Bar emulator):

It even plays the Knight Rider theme song while running – though I could see that getting pretty annoying. You can download KnightTouchBar 2000 over on GitHub for free.

Power Drill Foosball: GOOOOOAAAALLLL!

Posted on 13/11/2016 by Conner Flynn

How do you take Foosball from “It’s kinda fun I guess.” to “This game is awesome!?” You add power tools. Duh! The folks at SGS Engineering in Derby, UK have modified the foosball table in their office by switching out the standard handles with power drills.

More importantly, they added beer can holders to the table as well. Now the game is much faster paced and you need much better reflexes to succeed. Of course, the downside is that you have to keep those lithium ion batteries charged to play.

I bet everyone in the office had to try this supercharged version of the game at least once.

[via Laughing Squid]

Rotary Cellphone: Galaxy Note Senior

Posted on 06/11/2016 by Conner Flynn

It’s a pain to teach older folks how to use a smartphone again and again. It’s time we had a phone that they can use easily, so they stop bothering us. This is perfect. YouTube’s Mr. Volt built a custom cellphone out of aluminum, brass, and wood with a working rotary dial – just like the old days!

It’s super old-school, thanks to its brick-like form factor and hefty weight. The other features are equally dated, like a tiny OLED display, enough memory to store one phone number, and an FM radio. Your grandparents are going to love this. If I’m being honest, it looks pretty damn cool and retro. I would use it.

Who are we kidding? Grandma is still going to have questions. Hopefully not as many.

[via Gizmodo]

Big Mouth Billy Bass Hacked to Have the Voice of Amazon’s Alexa

Posted on 06/11/2016 by Conner Flynn

Big Mouth Billy Bass is pretty strange all by itself, but how do you make it even stranger? Try downright creepy. You give this fish the voice of Amazon’s Alexa.

Brian Kane is a genuine mad scientist for coming up with this crazy idea. He hacked a Big Mouth Billy Bass robotic singing fish so that it answers as Alexa, the voice that is used with Amazon Echo and Amazon Echo Dot devices. The result is so creepy and bizarre that I can’t decide if I’m scared, I want one, or I should kill it with fire. Maybe all three.

It is less annoying than the actual Billy Bass, so there’s that.

[via Brian Kane via Laughing Squid]

Circuit Playground Adds Light and Sound to Your Toys or Props

Posted on 04/11/2016 by Conner Flynn

Are you looking for an easy and inexpensive way to upgrade your toy weapons or props, whether for cosplay or just fun? This is a pretty cool way to do it. An all-in-one board called Circuit Playground lets you add light and sound effects to any weapon or wand, or really almost anything else, with a couple of zip ties.

It couldn’t be any easier to use and it will really make your weapon or anything else a bit more colorful and cool. John Park has made a video to show you how it’s done.

The Circuit Playground should be available very soon from Adafruit, and sells for just $19.95(USD). Cosplayers are going to find this thing very handy.

[via Nerd Approved]

Optimus Amazon Prime Costume: Shipments in Disguise

Posted on 31/10/2016 by Conner Flynn

Looking for a dirt cheap last minute Halloween costume? Just use those Amazon boxes that you have lying around and create a Transformer. Caron Arnold, a creative director of Fusion Marketing agency in St. Louis came up with this version of Optimus Prime made from cardboard Amazon Prime boxes.

She used all of the Amazon boxes she had from her orders and had some help from her colleagues for the rest. Arnold says she has no affiliation with Amazon and that it was solely her idea, but she is in marketing so who knows. Either way, it’s a great costume.

Her inspiration came from the Optimus Prime Costume by Instructables user Danny Eurena. Obviously she won the Halloween costume contest in her office.

[via Huffington Post via Damn Geeky]

LEGO RC Plane Actually Flies

Posted on 26/10/2016 by Conner Flynn

LEGO bricks can build many things, but we’ve never seen them on a functional aircraft. After all, they’re not exactly known for their stability or aerodynamic properties. Believing that nothing is impossible, YouTuber PeterSripol built what he thinks is the world’s first LEGO radio-controlled plane that can actually fly.

Well, it flies like it has a drunk minifig pilot, but it still flies. It is pretty amazing that they got it to fly at all. The video shows the entire construction of the plane if you want to see how it was done. The test flights start around the 10 minute mark if you want to skip ahead.

Maybe this will inspire LEGO to get to work on an official RC LEGO plane that we can all buy one day. Perhaps they can make one that flies less like it is drunk.

[via Gizmodo]

Using LEGO Bricks for Skateboard Tricks

Posted on 24/10/2016 by Conner Flynn

What would happen if you used a skateboard made out of LEGO bricks just like a regular skateboard? Could it handle the the flips and tricks that you normally do? Braille Skateboarding has the answer in this video which put a LEGO skateboard through its paces.

The skateboard deck was made by Peter Brown of Shop Time, using LEGO bricks and epoxy only. That’s it. You might be surprised at just how long it lasted, though eventually it does break under significant force.

After watching how well it did here, I’m curious to see how a LEGO board could be mades stronger – perhaps with a different arrangement of bricks. I’d love to see someone do it. I’m curious if it could be made to work more permanently.

[via Damn Geeky]

A Beer Claw Machine Is the Best Claw Machine

Posted on 21/10/2016 by Conner Flynn

Forget cutesy stuffed animals and cheap toys that slip through the fingers. Beer is what you want to grab in a claw machine. Mark from Victoria, Australia turned a regular claw machine into be a beer claw machine. Mark is my new hero.

After a hard day, there’s nothing better than grabbing a cold brew… With a claw. The only problem is, after you’ve had a few, it gets harder and harder to grab another as your faculties get hazy. Check out the video to see it in action.

Sadly this machine is not very gentle with the beer, so it will probably explode in your face when you open it. That’s okay. At least you caught your own beer in the wild.

[via Incredible Things]

1,000W LED Flashlight Mounted to a Drone Looks Like a Real UFO

Posted on 20/10/2016 by Conner Flynn

Last year, Daniel Riley of Stratus Productions built a super bright 1,000W LED flashlight. Now he managed to mount it to a powerful Freefly Alta drone. The result is some truly breathtaking aerial effects.

You’ll be amazed by the beautiful visuals in the video below. The drone can fly for up to 10 minutes on a single charge and obviously it can provide strong overhead light. I bet people report UFO sightings and run inside to grab their shotgun every time he flies this thing. Mulder and Scully would definitely like a word with him, I’m sure.

Here’s a fun behind-the-scenes video if you’ve got a few minutes to spare: