Awesome Tech

The first portable computers weren’t exactly compact or lightweight. DIY Perks’ briefcase PC follows in these footsteps, but the payoff for the heft is a high-end gaming PC with a wrap-around 144Hz triple display, a 16-core AMD Ryzen 5950X CPU, an NVIDIA RTX 3080 GPU, 64GB of RAM, and a premium audio system with a subwoofer.

Sick of digging through drawers looking for batteries? Keep them all in one spot in this briefcase-style organizer. It’s got foam cutouts for AA, AAA, C, D, 9V, and button batteries, along with zippered pockets for other sizes. It also comes with a battery tester, and its makers claim it’s fireproof, waterproof, and even explosion-proof.

Ever wonder how photographers capture those amazing images of lightning? It’s all about timing the shot perfectly. The MIOPS FLEX Bolt automatically detects lightning and triggers your camera’s shutter at the right time. The add-on sits in your DSLR or mirrorless camera’s hot shoe and connects to any standard trigger input.

Created by Jason Scott and a team of dedicated tech archivists, Discmaster provides online access to more than 91 million files from CD-ROMs and floppy disks collected by the Internet Archive. The retro-style search interface lets you directly view images and play video and audio files from the disks.

This small, programmable computer keyboard connects via USB or Bluetooth and provides nine mechanical keys and three knobs for controlling games and productivity applications. It’s available in a plain version and one with RGB accent lighting for about the same price. Note, the programming software is for Windows only.

Sony’s portable Bluetooth speaker is designed to produce maximum sound for its size. Measuring just 3.75″ tall and 2.99″ across, it’ll fit easily in a cupholder in your car or on a camping chair. It’s IP67-rated dustproof and waterproof, and offers up to 16 hours of battery life. Pair two for true stereo sound.

Given the environmental impact of making electronics, Apple wants to make more of its tech using recycled and recyclable components. Fully Charged Show host Robert Llewellyn toured an Apple facility to see its Daisy recycling robot. It can identify 23 different iPhone models and tear them apart to extract their materials.

The Kokoni Sota aims to improve upon three shortcomings of 3D printers: speed, noise, and color. Its makers claim it can output at up to 600mm/s at a whisper-quiet 30dB and can incorporate up to seven materials with the optional external filament tower. It’s also the first FDM printer we’ve seen that works inverted.

ElectroBOOM’s Mehdi Sadaghdar often makes videos about electricity and ends up shocking himself. But in this clip, he uses his powers to create something beautiful. His magical fairyland lantern is filled with LED “fireflies” that dance around on a cushion of air and are powered wirelessly via induction.

The app Duolingo is an easy way to learn new languages. It didn’t come out until 2011, but Squirrel Monkey lives in the past and imagines what it might have been like if it ran on 1980s IBM PC hardware and shipped on floppy disks. And yes, that Covox Speech Thing really was a thing.

We’ve seen some pretty neat Doc Ock cosplays, but most of them don’t have real robot tentacles. Engineer James Bruton wanted to not only build a working tentacle robot but improve on its flexibility. His prototype is impressive, but only part of a single tentacle. We look forward to seeing his progress as he refines it.

UST’s rugged gadget is the perfect addition to any adventurer’s kit. Not only does it contain a plasma arc lighter for starting campfires without butane, but it also doubles as a 3000mAh emergency charger for your USB-A or USB-C powered devices. It comes with a paracord lanyard with a red core that doubles as tinder.

Audio enthusiasts, Beveled Edge Studios handcrafts this elegant solid wood stand for headphones and personal listening gear. It can hold two pairs of over-the-ear headphones and has six small shelves for DACs, amps, and other small devices. They can also customize the unit to fit your audio equipment’s exact dimensions.

Machine learning technology has come a long way in recent years and continues to get better. In this video from AI Warehouse, they show how an artificial intelligence named Albert goes from flopping along on the floor to walking as it learns to coordinate its joints via positive and negative reinforcement.

This magical machine from China takes on the duties of a playing card dealer. Set it in the center of your table, tell it how many players you have and how many cards they should each get, and it does the rest. It can also deal community cards. Holds two decks and deals to up to eight players.

With tools like GPT-4 and Midjourney, there’s a lot of talk about artificial intelligence taking over creative jobs. But after watching Pizza Later’s AI-generated commercial for an imaginary pizza restaurant, we’re not ready to give up our livelihood just yet.

Isn’t this so adorable? This 9-key macro keypad looks like a tiny retro telephone. Steboards ships this USB macropad fully assembled with Gateron Red, Blue, or Brown mechanical switches. The keys come mapped to functions 13 to 21 but can be reprogrammed on request or using the included code and the Arduino IDE.

This low-cost gadget adds a heads-up display to any car. It uses your phone’s screen as its projection source, which reflects onto a see-through screen you can attach to your dashboard. It works with a variety of smartphone GPS apps to display your speed and driving directions, so you can keep your eyes on the road ahead.

Enjoy a complete vinyl listening experience with Mbeat’s turntable system. It has a solid metal platter with resonance damping and a factory-installed cartridge, comes with a pair of 18W speakers, and can also send music wirelessly via Bluetooth. Save 20% off the regular price in The Awesomer Shop.

After creating a robot that gives haircuts to humans, Shane from Stuff Made Here has bestowed one of his robots with a far more dangerous tool than a set of clippers. While his chainsaw-wielding robot arm is designed for carving shapes from foam blocks, we could see it taking off an arm if there’s any bug in his programming.

Lasers can do some pretty impressive things, and with the right computer-control system, they can be directed to produce incredibly precise engravings. This video from Triumphlaser shows a fiber laser as it engraves lines and digits onto a metal ring. The process is fast and accurate, and the sound it makes it even more satisfying.

Give your keyboard a small but playful makeover with these unique keycaps. They replace the standard arrow keys with cartoony lightning bolts, along with some goofy faces on the sides of the keys. They fit standard MX switches and let backlighting shine through. Made from ABS plastic with durable double-shot printing.

The Commodore Amiga was one of the most graphically-capable PCs of the 1980s. Stuart Brown of Ahoy dives deep into one of the greatest pieces of digital art from the era – a gloriously colorful cheeseburger designed by Commodore’s Art Director Jack Haeger. Sadly, the original file wasn’t saved, so Ahoy reproduced it from scratch.