GadgetReview

No one likes mowing the lawn, but what if I told you could sit back on the porch, sip a cold glass of mom’s home made lemonade all the while trimming the greens?  Yeah, I bet you’d be sold.

So it ain’t as simple as cruising down to your local Sears but if you’ve got a penchant for modding things, know what an Arduino is and have a small work shop then you’re probably set…and a little bit of extra spending cash.  Video after the ‘leap’ …Continue reading: R/C Controlled Lawnmower (video)

First responders, pay attention, because you might be able to save some MORE lives with what I’m about to hit you with next.  Some engineer managed to take ten dollars worth of electronic parts–available off the shelf pretty much anywhere–and modify his mobile phone into a cell phone that does double duty as a microscope.

This is no ordinary engineer; he’s an assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, and he’s actually started up his own company to market the cell phone microscopes.

Not that this is just great for the medical and scientific communities–now any putz can check a blood sample for signs of tuberculosis, malaria, or anemia!

It’s conceivable that, from here, the phone would then be able to remotely send the images back to actual medical professionals for diagnosis before the patient was even put on an ambulance.

No idea when they’ll be available, but they really should do a whole lot of good when they’re done.

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The hay day of the original NES might be far behind us, but that didn’t stop one modder from bringing a little of the old to the new.  Called the NEStickle, it combines the NES console from the 80s with a Sanwa joystick and is apparently compatible with not only an Xbox 360 but a PS3, PS2 and whole slew of computers.  Oh, and to connect the controller to your gaming machine of choice, it comes by way of a custom USB cord that jacks into the NES’ controller port.

[via Geeky-gadgets]

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This is a portable Game Cube from maker extraordinaire Hailraser.  He’s used a variety of components from a variety of systems to build this system.  The oddest part, though, is the exposed disc drive on the rear of the device.  So, if you’ve got large mitts you might find your finger on the wrong end of a spinning disc.  Actually he says it’s harmless, but I’d beg to differ when it comes to an infant’s finger.

Video after the ‘leap’ …Continue reading: Portable Game Cube With Exposed Disc Drive (video)

Chiggity check these decked out Scion DJxBs by Five Axis on display at this year’s SEMA auto show in Vegas.  They’ve got TVs in the doors, a grill in the back with a sink, amps up the yin yang, slotted turn tables in the roof with dance floor and a whole bunch of stuff that truly does pop!

More pics after the ‘leap’ …Continue reading: Scion DJxBs by Five Axis At SEMA Are Gadget Freaked

‘Stacks’ have long existed in Apple’s Mac OS, but what about the iPhone?  They are now thanks to ‘Stacks’, a piece of software that you can add to your iPhone, that is assuming it’s Jailbroken (aka hacked).

Much like Mac’s OS you can add multiple applications (in Mac OS X you can view multiple files in a folder, at a glance, from your dock) to your iPhone or iPod Touch’s dock instead of just four.  Tap on a ’stack’ and a playing card like display of applications are laid out before you.  If you’ve added too many applications to the ’stack’ it transforms the window to a grid like layout similar to your iPhone’s default screen.

Wired notes that there are a few draw backs to the current interation, such as the lack of icon badges (unread email), visual notifications and a few other minor hiccups.  Problems aside, I think it’s a great idea, though it might defeat the purpose of having four dedicated buttons to choose from.

If you’ve got a Jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch you can grab ‘Stacks’ now, you’ll just need to make a $1 donation to the developer.

Video after the ‘leap’ …Continue reading: Stacks Software Adds Mac OS X Stacks To The iPhone

So a strange development took place on Sunday–a Dutch hacker is currently holding what amounts to several jailbreaked Apple iPhones.

Just in case you’re wondering about the terminology here, a jailbroken phone is basically a hacked iPhone that allows you to install software from other sources besides Apple’s App Store.  The need for jailbreaking has fallen off somewhat in recent days, but there are still plenty of phones out there already that have been jailbroken.

But when you jailbreak an Apple iPhone, you force the resetting of a password that controls remote access to the general password coded in at the factory level.  Now, if you’re smart, you’ll quickly change that password to something you know well.  But a lot of people either got lazy or busy or just plain forgot, because they left their iPhones in the ORIGINAL PASSWORD SETTING.

And that’s where the Dutch hacker swung in.  He changed the passwords, effectively locking people out of their own phones until they pay him a ransom of five euros via PayPal.  Meanwhile, Apple considers jailbroken phones to have voided their warranties, so it’s pretty much either pay off the hacker or lose your phone until he’s arrested and forced to confess.

So if you’ve got a jailbroken Apple, you may want to switch that password around before the Dutch hacker gets you…if he hasn’t already.

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It’s always pretty interesting to see other things besides the Wii get controlled via Wiimote.  Some have hooked it to Airsoft guns or what have you, but today I’ve dug up a little something interesting.

Thanks to the Casmobot lawn mower, developed by scientists at the University of Southern Denmark, you can now use your Wiimote to tackle lawn chores.

The mower is synced to the Wiimote with Bluetooth, and allows you to not only steer the device, but also engage the cutting action (just tilt the Wiimote forward) or set the device on autopilot where it makes passes inside a previously established zone.

The grass cutting equivalent of a Roomba is a sweet enough idea, but tying it to your Wiimote?  Now that’s just entertaining!  Plus, for all the kids in the audience, next time mom and dad get all bent out of shape about your gaming time, just tell them you’re getting in practice for lawn mowing season. …Continue reading: Casmobot Lawnmower Controlled With A Wiimote (video)

If you’ve seen a Wallace and Gromit cartoon lately, chances are you’re familiar with at least something vaguely like what I’m about to point out today–the Breakfast Machine.

Breakfast Machines aren’t exactly new.  There was one in the old Pee Wee Herman movies.  Doc Brown had one in Back to the Future, even if it didn’t work right.  But now, thanks to two design artists at the Royal College of Art, there is now a real live Breakfast Machine.

The Breakfast Machine cooks omelettes, toast with butter and / or jam, coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice all within the confines of its own framework.  Even better, the Royal College of Art folks claim that this project can actually be replicated, at home, for less than two thousand dollars.

The device is currently disassembled, but its creators are hoping to take it on a world tour for exhibition and then bring it to London.

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Chances are you’re going to wonder why I’m even bothering to talk about a Sega Saturn joystick at least ten years after the system went the way of the dodo, but I tell you that there’s a very good reason.

Because, you see, in the grandest old tradition of original Nintendo belt buckles, someone’s taken that old device and made it into something new and interesting: art.

James Ian Killinger took apart an old Sega Saturn joystick and noticed that, if he just added a few extra screws–three, to be exact–we’d get the thing you see above, a giant space bug.

Let that sink in for a second.  That’s a big bug sculpture made from only the parts of a Sega Saturn controller and three extra screws.  No extra parts were brought in, nothing was taken out.  That thing is just a Sega Saturn controller with three screws.  It’s easy to wonder what Killinger could’ve done if he’d had a FOURTH screw.

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