Boing Boing » Gadgets

Modified Liberator 3D printed gun made with cheap printer, fires 9 shots

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:46:24 +0000

Joe, an engineer from Wisconsin, modified the (now censored) designs for Defense Distributed's 3D printed gun, the Liberator, and printed a working model on a Lulzbot A0-101, a $1,725 consumer printer that is much cheaper and more widely available than the Stratasys Dimension SST printer used by Defense Distributed.

The gun printed by Joe, which he’s nicknamed the “Lulz Liberator,” was printed over 48 hours with just $25 of plastic on a desktop machine affordable to many consumers, and was fired far more times. “People think this takes an $8,000 machine and that it blows up on the first shot. I want to dispel that,” says Joe. “This does work, and I want that to be known.”
Eight of Joe’s test-fires were performed using a single barrel before swapping it out for a new one on the ninth. After all those shots, the weapon’s main components remained intact–even the spiraled rifling inside of the barrel’s bore. “The only reason we stopped firing is because the sun went down,” he says....
...Still, Joe’s cheap homemade gun isn’t without its bugs. Over the course of its test firing, Joe and Guslick say it misfired several times, and some of its screws and its firing pin had to be replaced. After each firing, the ammo cartridges expanded enough that they had to be pounded out with a hammer. “Other than that, it’s pretty much confirming that yes, Defense Distributed is correct that this functions,” says Guslick. “And it’s possible to make one on a much lower cost printer.”

$25 Gun Created With Cheap 3D Printer Fires Nine Shots (Video) [Andy Greenberg/Forbes]

How to get cinematic video from a point-and-shoot camera

Rob Beschizza — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:29:43 +0000

The first step, unfortunately, is that you have to have Sony's remarkable but rather expensive RX100, whose larger sensor makes much of the difference. Fortunately, the rest is all menu settings to get a flat image profile and 25fps. Guides from Run, Gun and Shoot and from EOSHD have the technical goods, but you'll need to cough up your own mise en scène.

Printing a gun is hard

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:38:33 +0000

Caleb sez, "The Department of Defense ordered that 3d printed gun removed from the Internet. That didn't work out. You can still download it and print it. I did, and found that the files are a mess and not really functional. I also took a cool timelapse video of the printing."

1. the scale on the individual files was way off.
I suspect this has something to do with the printer it was designed for. It seemed very close to being 1 inch = 1 mm. Not a completely uncommon problem. Manually resizing got some files to look right, but I found many simply wouldn’t resize.
2. Almost every single item had errors.
If you’ve done 3d printing, you’ve found that a model can have all kinds of issues that will stop it from printing correctly. I found every single item for the gun had errors. I actually learned a lot about how to repair non-manifold items from this exercise, so it was good in the end.
Some items, like the hammer and the hammer springs simply would not print. I ran them through systems to repair them and fix errors. It would say that everything was fixed, but when I tried to “slice” them for printing, the software would crash. This means that my gun is incomplete. It has no hammer. Not really that big of a deal to me.

Timelapse of the 3d printed gun being printed. (Thanks, Caleb)

Haunted Mansion wallpaper and fabric

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 17 May 2013 02:19:50 +0000

Kristen sez, "The DoomBuggies website has released a version of the Haunted Mansion Corridor of Doors wallpaper in fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap, and according to the DoomBuggies facebook page, it's the same graphic that has been used by Disney. 'This is created from the same artwork that we created for Disney's official Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary CD box set and CD insert,' according to Jeff Baham, the owner of DoomBuggies.com."

DoomBuggies Eye Fabric

Hilda (from the kids' comic) as an 8" vinyl toy

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:05:06 +0000

The good people at London's Nobrow Press have done an 8" vinyl toy for the outstanding kids' comic Hilda, created by Luke Pearson (reviews: Book 0, Book 1; Book 2). The Hilda toy is grownup-collector-expensive, but it's also a very nice piece -- I saw one in person last night when I brought my daughter and her friend to the Nobrow store on the way to our weekly daddy-daughter pizza dinner.

Hilda Toy

Robot made from recycled scrap

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:17:23 +0000

Chinese inventor Tao Xiangli tinkers with a hand-made robot at his house in Beijing, May 15, 2013. Tao, 37, spent ¥150,000 ($24,400) to build it out of recycled scrap metal and electric wires found at second-hand markets. The robot, which took a year to complete, is 7ft tall and weighs about a quarter of a ton. [Photo: REUTERS/Suzie Wong]

Record Eater: 1967 record player that ran in any orientation

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 16 May 2013 02:46:31 +0000

Every single thing about this ad is great: the illustration, the typography, the industrial design of the gadget, the copy. What a beauty.

The Record Eater ‘45 rpm’ record player ad, 1967. (via BruceS)

Book-and-record set for the League of Space Pirates

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:09:58 +0000

Noah Scalin sez, "Thought you might enjoy this little video I made to promote the latest release from my science fiction project League of Space Pirates (yes, apparently they still have As Seen On TV commercials in the future). It's a return to the classic book & record format of the 70s/80s. In this case the 16 page comic book features illustrated stories based on the lyrics of two original songs from the League of Space Pirates band"

Book & Record single now available throughout the galaxy! (Thanks, Noah!)

Sheet-metal Millennium Falcon model

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:50:56 +0000

The Millennium Falcon Metallic Nano Puzzle looks like a delight. It's one of those puzzle/models that you punch out of thin, laser-cut pieces of sheet metal and assemble with tweezers and pliers, and the finished model is quite a beauty. It's $15.30 plus shipping from Japan. It looks more complex than the models I've done to date (most took less than an hour to complete), so be prepared to spend some time on it.

Star Wars Metallic Nano Puzzle (Millennium Falcon) (via Geekologie)

Kickstarting solder-it-yourself junkbot kits

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:45:24 +0000

A group of engineering students (with no stated manufacturing experience -- caveat emptor) are kickstarting a series of cute assemble-it-yourself junkbots called "D.Bug"s. You get a kit full of electronic components, instructions for soldering them into cute robots, and a display box for your complete project. They're on the pricey side ($35 for the cheapest), especially since they don't come with the tools you need to assemble them, but they're a cute and potentially fun entree to soldering and working with electronic components.

To assemble the kit, you solder together electronic components to form the body parts of the D.Bug. Easy to assemble!Easy to assemble!
The manual includes step-by-step photo instructions, the background story for each D.Bug, a guide to identifying electronic parts, a tutorial for soldering, a harvesting guide for where to find the best parts, and insider tips on how to make your D.Bug look awesome.

D.Bug Model Kits - Art hacked from electronics (Thanks, Sophie!)

Kickstarter for a multifunction wrecking bar with crowbar/hammer/angle measuring tool

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:00:35 +0000

The Cole-Bar Hammer is a multifunction wrecking bar on Kickster ($65 gets you an earlybird tool, with shipping). It unfolds and locks into place to serve as a crowbar; it also can be used as a hammer and as an angle-measurement tool, and it has a lovely, brutal elegance:

The Cole-Bar Hammer is essentially a hammer... ...with a full crow bar built in! Using it's patented locking gear mechanism, the Cole-Bar can be opened and extended from 0-180 degrees and locked in place at 15 degree increments. The only hammer in the world that turns into a full crow-bar! A patented gear/ratchet system that locks into place at every click! Further more, the Cole-Bar can be separated with a button release turning it into a demolition tool.

As mentioned previously, I love multifunction wrecking bars -- they're just the right blend of apocalyptic and functional. This looks like a promising addition to the genre.

The project looks exciting, but as with all Kickstarter projects, you should be prepared to get nothing for your money; the project founders' bios don't list any directly applicable manufacturing experience.

The Cole-Bar Hammer (via Core 77)

US State Department orders removal of Defense Distributed's printable gun designs

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:00:15 +0000

The US State Department has ordered Defense Distributed to take down the designs for a working 3D printed gun, citing export control rules set out in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Defense Distributed's Cody Wilson is appealing, and says that ITAR does not apply to "non-profit public domain releases of technical files designed to create a safe harbor for research and other public interest activities" -- though this carve out is for works stored in a library. Wilson's appeal may turn, then, on whether the Internet is a library for the purposes of this regulation. In the meantime, the designs are still up on The Pirate Bay, and are for sale in printed form in an Austin bookseller. More than 100,000 copies of the designs were downloaded from Defense Distributed's servers in the brief time that they were online.

“Until the Department provides Defense Distributed with final [commodity jurisdiction] determinations, Defense Distributed should treat the above technical data as ITAR-controlled,” reads the letter, referring to a list of ten CAD files hosted on Defcad that include the 3D-printable gun, silencers, sights and other pieces. “This means that all data should be removed from public acces immediately. Defense Distributed should review the remainder of the data made public on its website to determine whether any other data may be similarly controlled and proceed according to ITAR requirements.”
Wilson, a law student at the University of Texas in Austin, says that Defense Distributed will in fact take down its files until the State Department has completed its review. “We have to comply,” he says. “All such data should be removed from public access, the letter says. That might be an impossible standard. But we’ll do our part to remove it from our servers.”

Wilson's project is raising some important legal questions, such as whether design files can be considered expressive speech under the First Amendment, and whether the Internet is a library. The question of code-as-speech was famously considered in the Bernstein case, where strong crypto was legalized. However, as we discovered in the 2600 case, judges are less charitably inclined to code-as-speech arguments when they're advanced by non-academics, especially those with counter-culture stances.

Impact litigation -- where good precedents overturn bad rules -- is greatly assisted by good facts and good defendants. I would much rather the Internet-as-library question be ruled on in a less emotionally overheated realm than DIY guns.

State Department Demands Takedown Of 3D-Printable Gun Files For Possible Export Control Violations [Andy Greenberg/Forbes]

(Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

Othermill: kickstarting a desktop 3D computer-controlled mill for circuit-boards, jewelry and more

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:04:29 +0000

McArthur Genius Grant winner and maker hero Saul Griffith and his friends have a fully funded Kickstarter on the go for the "Othermill," a computer-controlled mill for creating your own custom circuit-boards -- and for milling decorative or functional shapes from "metal, wood, wax, and plastic." It's a compact desktop tool designed for home use.

With our mill, you can produce custom circuit boards quickly and cheaply. You can make all your projects light up, beep, and move. Wearable circuits, custom guitar effects pedals, and quadcopter electronics are all within reach - without waiting for boards to come back from the manufacturer. Even though the Othermill is optimized for cutting circuit boards, it can also cut metal, wood, wax, and plastic. It is great for engraving and milling 3D shapes for jewelry or mold making.
The Othermill was designed with PCBs in mind, and they were the very first thing we tested when we had a working machine. The precision and accuracy of the Othermill allows you to reliably cut 10 mil trace and space on FR-1 PCB stock. You can create custom circuits that fit into odd 3D printed parts, seamlessly integrate electronics into your clothing, and free up your Arduinos for other applications.

The Othermill: Custom Circuits at Your Fingertips (Thanks, Alice!)

Selection of Etsy Haunted Mansion tchotchkes

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:58:58 +0000

I've just had a deep trawl through Etsy's selection of weird, handmade Haunted Mansion (and hauntedmansionesque) gewgaws and gimcracks, and I herewith present my picks of the lot:

Master Gracey Haunted Mansion Miniature Halloween Dollhouse Decoration

HAUNTED MANSION Full Collection- Cutie Putti Paperie

Miniature Haunted Mansion Library

Red Velvet Open Coffin 1-inch scale dollhouse miniature

Miniature Books --- Mansion Library Collection

The Gorgon - A Certain Famous Changing Portrait - In Homage - Tribute

Miniature Victorian Library

Apple's man behind the camera

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:17:10 +0000

Peter Belanger reveals the technical complexity behind Cupertino's cooly minimalist advertising. [Michael Shane at The Verge]

NeoLucida: kickstarting a new version of the Old Masters' favorite drawing gadget

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:13:55 +0000

Pablo Garcia and Golan Levin, two celebrated art profs and dead media specialists, have launched a fantastically successful kickstarter to recreate the Camera Lucida, a gadget much favored by the Old Masters. It uses an optical trick to superimpose the scene in front of you on a sheet of paper that you can trace in order to produce highly realistic drawings. They're producing a limited one-time run of them (a $35 pledge gets you one) (assuming, as with all Kickstarters, that this actually gets made -- caveat emptor!), and then the designs will be released as open source hardware for anyone to make.

The NeoLucida is designed to fit in a purse or bag, and the creators want to create a gallery of art made with it -- each one comes with a postage-paid card for you to send in one of your drawings

NeoLucida - A Portable Camera Lucida for the 21st Century (via Beyond the Beyond)

Sony ditching terrible product names, but is new Vaio Fit laptop series any good?

Rob Beschizza — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:08:21 +0000

Engadget's Dana Wollman reviews the Vaio Fit, which replaces all models from the Sony E4359-DX93Ǽ034t81 to the T15-ZZSø3. It's a very attractive and well-made metal machine, for a relatively inexpensive $650.

the keyboard is a clear improvement over the one on last year's VAIOs, even if it is still a bit shallow. And hey, who can argue with that 11-second boot time? We already know the Fit 15 offers performance that's equal to or slightly better what you'll get from other machines with similar specs; we don't need to see HP's new systems to tell you that.

But it is no slam dunk: battery life is middling.

$10 gadget contains "the entire English Wikipedia with 3 million topics" (now $25)

Mark Frauenfelder — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:25:31 +0000

(UPDATE: They've jacked the price up to ~~$25~~ $29!) I don't have a WikiReader so I don't know if it's any good or not, but I love the idea of a $10 hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. I ordered one just because it has a "Random" article button. If you have one, please let us know what you think of it in the comments.

Palm-sized device contains the entire English Wikipedia

Pre-loaded content, no internet connection needed

Ready to go right out of box

Touchscreen controls and keyboard

Uses 2 AAA batteries

Get in the know with the WikiReader. This palm-sized electronic encyclopedia contains the entire English Wikipedia covering 3 million topics -- equivalent to more than 1,000 volumes. No internet connection is required, it comes preloaded with the entire Wikipedia and is ready to use right out of the box. Easy touchscreen controls and touchscreen QWERTY keyboard allow you instant access to a world of knowledge. Never be out of date, either, as the content can be updated quarterly via online download or via MicroSD card. Runs on 2 AAA batteries which will last approximately 1 year.

UPDATE: I'm going to do this when I get mine.

WikiReader Pocket Wikipedia $10

Review: Pebble e-paper watch

Brian Easton — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:05:33 +0000

With 68,929 backers pledging more than $10m, the Pebble E-paper watch is the highest-grossing Kickstarter project to date. The pitch, to fund an Android- and iOS-compatible smartwatch, was so successful that the campaign had to be cut short. With a 144 x 168 e-paper display, vibrating motor, 3-axis accelerometer and Bluetooth connectivity, the Pebble promises to let you use your smartphone without it ever leaving your pocket.

Style-wise, the Pebble isn’t going to turn many heads, but it isn’t an eyesore. Sleek but chunky, the rectangular looks are vaguely reminiscent of Casio calculator watch, albeit one from a minimalist future. The comparison is appropriate, since both products are trying to return the wristwatch from fashion-accessory purgatory to a place of utility. If you desire something a little more stylish, the default rubber strap can be replaced with a standard 22mm watch band.

Not to be confused with e-ink, the Pebble’s e-paper display is actually a low-power memory LCD. The high contrast screen is readable, even in direct sunlight, but unlike e-ink it has a 30 fps refresh rate. This quick refresh rate allows for smooth animations in menus and watch faces. The drawback is that continually refreshing the screen drains power fast. Watch faces that feature moving second hands severely impact battery life.

If you don't use a heavily animated watch face, the battery life of the Pebble is quite good; in the month I've owned it, I've averaged at least seven days between charges. However, there have been reports of significantly reduced battery life in Pebbles paired with iOS devices.

The iOS/Android dichotomy carries over into smartphone connectivity, which is presumably the main draw of the product. Aside from being a watch with fancy customizable faces, the Pebble functions as a second screen for your smartphone by connecting to the Pebble application on your iPhone or Android device via Bluetooth. Out of the box, with just the official Pebble app, the iOS version comes out ahead, as it allows you to forward all system-wide notifications to your wrist. The Android app only supports a handful of default applications. Unfortunately for Apple users, this is where the advantages end.

When the Pebble disconnects from an iPhone, you have to go back into the app and re-toggle all of your notification preferences. On Android, third party apps like Pebble Notifier allow you to send notifications from any application to your Pebble. These restrictions are more the result of restrictions Apple has placed on apps and Bluetooth devices than issues with the Pebble itself—jailbreaking your iPhone can offer greater functionality.

Notifications received on the Pebble are simple, if not elegant. The watch gently buzzes on your wrist, a continuing pulse for phone calls and a single buzz for other notifications. Text messages display the name or number of the sender followed by the message, emails are similar in showing the sender and email subject before a snippet of the message. Both of these options allow you to use the top and bottom buttons to scroll through content. With voice calls the name and number of the caller is shown along with the option to outright reject the call with the bottom button. If you do happen to answer a call it will display the call length.

It’s with this kind of functionality that Pebble shines. It serves as a sort of message and notification triage, allowing you to keep your phone in your pocket unless it’s absolutely necessary. The functionality of Pebble serves to augment the functions of your smartphone rather than replace them. The only bi-directional application is the music app using AVRCP.

If you're looking to send messages from a Dick Tracy watch, look elsewhere: that functionality isn’t in the Pebble, at least not yet.

“Not yet” is common phrase when dealing with the Pebble, a 1.0 product with incomplete features. Promised golf range finder functionality has only recently been released, and RunKeeper support only exists in beta software. The full API, promised before launch, isn’t available yet either. Still, if the enthusiasm evident with just the proof of concept watch face API is any indication, many eager developers are waiting to expand functionality.

The result is a lot of ifs. If you have an Android smartphone (or don’t mind the iOS limitations), if you want a supplementary screen for your phone, if you are willing to wait for expanded functionality, and if you are interested in tinkering and general mucking about, then the current Pebble might be for you. If you don’t care to deal with slowly emerging functionality or tinkering, wait for the next iteration or until the watch ecosystem sorts itself out. For now, the Pebble delivers on its premise, but it doesn’t deliver very much. It's an impressive piece of hardware—the software just needs to catch up.

Pebble E-Paper Watch [Amazon]

VR helmet Guillotine simulator

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:42:16 +0000

Disunion is a guillotine simulator that uses the Oculus Rift VR headset to bring you a realistic experience of being beheaded (this experience is enhanced by a strategic neck-chop!). It was created in two days at the Exile game jam by Erkki Trummal, André Berlemont and Morten Brunbjerg, who clearly enjoy making people feel like they're had their heads lopped off just a little too much.

Disunion

3D printed gun fires

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:47:43 +0000

Yesterday, I wrote about Defense Distributed's 3D printed handgun, and asked whether it would fire, and how many rounds it could fire before experiencing stress fractures, melting, etc. Now, Forbes's Andy Greenberg follows up with a report of the successful firing of the gun -- though not its longevity -- and says that Defense Distributed will publish the CAD files for printing your own gun on its site today, along with videos of the gun in action.

Unlike the original, steel Liberator, though, Wilson’s weapon is almost entirely plastic: Fifteen of its 16 pieces have been created inside an $8,000 second-hand Stratasys Dimension SST 3D printer, a machine that lays down threads of melted polymer that add up to precisely-shaped solid objects just as easily as a traditional printer lays ink on a page. The only non-printed piece is a common hardware store nail used as its firing pin...
Even Wilson himself says he’s not sure exactly how that’s possible. But one important trick may be the group’s added step of treating the gun’s barrel in a jar of acetone vaporized with a pan of water and a camp stove, a process that chemically melts its surface slightly and smooths the bore to avoid friction. The Dimension printer Defense Distributed used also keeps its print chamber heated to 167 degrees Fahrenheit, a method patented by Stratasys that improves the parts’ resiliency.

Meet The 'Liberator': Test-Firing The World's First Fully 3D-Printed Gun [Andy Greenberg/Forbes]

(Thanks, Andy!)

When hairdryers looked like mind-control devices

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:23:29 +0000

Every now and again, Dark Roasted Blend busts out a super-set of vintage photos of some gadget, technology, or system from yesteryear that is so surpassingly fantastic that it stops you cold.

Today is a day where such a set has been posted. The photos of Vintage Salon Hair Dryers that Avi Abrams rounded up here are nothing short of spectacular. Every single one of these demands to be dug out of the scrapheap of history, refurbished, and used as a prop in a low-budget science fiction movie. Especially the kraken-hair ones.

Sleek Vintage Salon Hair Dryers

Defense Distributed claims working 3D printed handgun

Cory Doctorow — Sun, 05 May 2013 13:09:31 +0000

Defense Distributed's Cody Wilson claims he has attained his stated goal of 3D printing a working handgun. There's no footage of it firing yet, nor details on how many rounds it fires before the plastic is worn out. And although this is a fascinating provocation, it is not (yet) a game-changer, especially in America where traditional guns (capable of firing thousands of rounds without melting down) are cheap and easy to get. You can even "3D print" a gun by asking different CNC shops to cut and overnight you all the parts to make up a working gun, breaking the job down into small pieces that are unlikely to arouse suspicion.

All sixteen pieces of the Liberator prototype were printed in ABS plastic with a Dimension SST printer from 3D printing company Stratasys, with the exception of a single nail that’s used as a firing pin. The gun is designed to fire standard handgun rounds, using interchangeable barrels for different calibers of ammunition.
Technically, Defense Distributed’s gun has one other non-printed component: the group added a six ounce chunk of steel into the body to make it detectable by metal detectors in order to comply with the Undetectable Firearms Act. In March, the group also obtained a federal firearms license, making it a legal gun manufacturer.

This Is The World's First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos) [Andy Greenberg/Forbes]

DroneShield: crowdfunded, networked drone detectors

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:58:39 +0000

DroneShield is an indieGOGO project from a DC aerospace engineer that aims to build a tiny, net-connected drone-detector/identifier. Based on a Raspberry Pi gumstick computer, it uses a mic to detect the audio signature of nearby drones, and then communicates about its findings over the Internet. The project promises free/open hardware and software specs on its main site. Ars Technica's Cyrus Farivar spoke to Chris Kyriakakis, a USC electrical engineering prof, who suggests the project is feasible, but believes it will need an array of mics for accurate identification. But John Franklin, who's running the effort, says the device will produce useful -- if imperfect -- output even with one mic.

The fully assembled drone detector costs at least $69 as a pre-order (as with all crowdfunded project, it's important to remember that you may never get your device). The project goal is to get them down to $20. For my part, I wonder how this would perform against active countermeasures: it's one thing to detect drones that aren't making any effort to remain hidden or fool detectors about which drone they are, but what about a drone that uses some technology (from playing a recording of a different drone to full-on modifications of its engines and blades) to sound different?

In any event, I expect that this is an intermediate step on the way to this thing disappearing into our phones and becoming an app that would make use of its open database of drone acoustic signatures. I can easily imagine a Drone Foursquare made by volunteers who upload drone "sightings" to realtime maps as they move around the world.

Meet Drone Shield, an ambitious idea for a $70 drone detection system (via /.)

Giant binder-clip handbag

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:04:07 +0000

Peter Bristol created this binder clip bag in 2007 and now he's looking for manufacturing partners: "The binder icon functions so well as a bag you can almost take it seriously. Constructed of wool felt and aluminum tubing."

Clip Bag (via Super Punch)

Review: Cenoire Eluo Sonic Toothbrush

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:52:21 +0000

Cenoire sent over its Eluo Sonic Toothbrush, for some reason. It's compact, looks like a candy cane-colored mascara stick, and vibrates.

Powered by one AAA battery, it has a proper on-off button to prevent accidental activation, a replaceable brush head, and claims 23,000 strokes per minute. In use, unfortunately, it's clearly not the same breed of gadget as leading-brand electric toothbrushes. The movement, while fast, is so delicate and underpowered that one hardly feels like a good job is being done.

I am no dentist, but even slight hand movements, while gripping it, provide much more friction than the vibrations of the head. One is tempted to use it just like a standard toothbrush.

It is very pretty, though. And I feel pretty for having used it.

Cenoire Eluo Sonic Toothbrush [Amazon]

Portable watermelon fridge

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:05:36 +0000

Tama-chan is a portable watermelon refrigerator on wheels. The Japanese device retails for 19,950 yen (about $200) and can handle watermelons or similarly shaped comestibles, such as poultry, roasts, or severed heads. The device itself weighs 6.3kg, and charges from a car lighter socket.

ポータブル温冷庫/The Portable Watermelon Fridge — Could It Be The Perfect Gift For The Person Who Has It All?

(via Digg)

Apple won't fix your computer if you smoke near it

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:21:10 +0000

Consumerist's Laura Northrup rounds up several years' worth of stories from Apple customers who say they were denied warranty support on their computers because they'd smoked around them. As an annoying ex-smoker, I can sympathize with a tech who doesn't want to work on a machine that smells like an old ashtray, but that's what painter's masks are for -- I've also serviced machines that reeked of BO and other less savory odors. This just feels like a way to weasel out of doing warranty service and forcing customers to pay for new machines. If the company has a policy of not fixing machines if you smoke near them, it should say so when it sells you the warranty: WARNING: IF YOU LIGHT UP NEAR YOUR LAPTOP, WE WON'T EVER FIX IT, EVEN IF IT IS MATERIALLY DEFECTIVE.

Dena set up an appointment at the same Apple store. They told me that they would take pictures of the computer – both inside and out before determining whether to proceed and that if the only problem was the optical drive, they’d probably just replace it. Dena called me earlier this week to deliver the “bad news.” She said that the computer is beyond economical repair due to tar from cigarette smoke! She said the hard drive is about to fail, the optical drive has failed and it isn’t feasible to repair the computer under the warranty. This computer is less than 2 years old! Only one person in my household smokes – one 21 year old college student. She said that I can get it repaired elsewhere at my expense. I asked why my warranty didn’t cover the repair and was told it’s an OSHA violation.

Smoking Near Apple Computers Creates Biohazard, Voids Warranty

HOWTO make a magnetic detachable stapler for center-stapled booklets and the like

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 19:14:40 +0000

On Instructables, DIYHacksAndHowTos has a great method for separating a cheap stapler and sticking magnets on both halves, enabling you to center-staple booklets and the like. Every year or two, I do something zine-like that requires this sort of thing, and I always end up wasting money on a long-reach stapler that's always lost by the time the next project rolls around. (Don't get me wrong, long-reach staplers are awesome, but if you only need to do booklets once every year or two, they're a lot of investment). This is what I'll do next time (and as a bonus, it'll be great for kid craft projects where we want to use a staple in th center of a large sheet of paper).

One limitation of a typical office stapler is that it only lets you staple about 3 1/2" into the paper. This isn't enough for a lot of projects. If you want to put together your own comic book or a large banner, you are usually stuck stapling your project onto a piece of cardboard or carpet and then bending the legs of the staple by hand. They do sell extra long staplers or staplers with swivel heads but they still have their limitations.
A better option would be to make a stapler with a detachable base. The base would be positioned under the paper and aligned to the top half of the stapler with magnets. This would allow you to staple any area of a project regardless of location. So in this project, I am going to show you how to convert a standard stapler into a two part magnetic stapler.

How to Make a Two-Part Magnetic Stapler by DIYHacksAndHowTos (via Lifehacker)

Chiller "Pucs" for your whiskey, etc on Kickstarter

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 03:23:35 +0000

An extremely successful Kickstarter project ($41K raised on a $2500 goal, with 36 days left) promises stainless steel chiller pucks to go in your drinks. They're rather nice to look at, and promise not to impart any flavors, nor water down your bevvy. These are rather similar to the (controversial) Coffee Joulies from 2011, and at #8 for 6 "pucs" in a walnut case, it's a somewhat pricey accessory.

Pucs are precision machined from solid 304 stainless steel - the same material used in most medical, dental and kitchen tools. For that reason they are 100% inert, will not add or subtract from the flavor your drink in any way, will not absorb smells or flavors from your freezer, will not rust, oxidize, degrade, discolor, leak, pit, chip, flake, crack or dissolve. They're impervious to every drink imaginable, can also withstand tons of pressure and have a melting point of 1450°F! Pucs are completely dishwasher safe - either clean them with soap and water or give them a quick ride in the dishwasher, then send them to the freezer to re-chill.

Pucs: rechargeable ice! (via Yanko)