Awesome Etc

These flexible gadgets add a splash of light wherever you have a spare USB port. Each one packs six bright LEDs behind a diffuser and can be plugged into your computer, a battery pack, or a USB wall charger. Sold in a pack of eight lights so you can put them everywhere.

It’s easy to float a ping pong ball above a diagonal stream of air thanks to the Coandă effect. Mark Rober of Crunchlabs wanted to see what could be lifted with a stronger wind source than a blow dryer, so he subjected various household items to a high-pressure jet of compressed air.

The Q is here to fix another problem we didn’t know needed solving – mechanically wrapping things with tape. To build his single-purpose machine, he gathered up some spare bike parts he had lying around his shop and linked them together to spin a reel of tape as he moves an object through its open center.

Magnets can be quite useful, but sometimes they’re just fun to play with. Magnetic Games is back with another series of setups that demonstrate how the vibrations caused by magnetic fields can make music, and how moving one magnet can set off a chain reaction between others.

The classic Volkswagen Type 2, aka Microbus, offered a cheerful way to carry passengers and their gear. Now this iconic van can hold your pens and pencils too. This 3D-printed desk accessory from SculpNude has dozens of hex-shaped holes in its roof and interior, making it perfect for organizing a set of colored pencils.

Despite its intense pace, the track Sandstorm really isn’t that difficult to play. Always up for a challenge, musician Charles Berthoud took Darude’s hit to a whole different level, using his bass guitar to add a bunch of complexity, nuance, and flourish to the 1999 trance track.

JBV Creative has engineered all kinds of neat mechanical devices, including an overcomplicated candy dispenser and a robot that types. This time, he built a pair of machines that endlessly toss tiny basketballs into each other’s hoops. You can purchase a 3D printable model of the Roboballer on JBV’s website.

In the Avengers movies, Iron Man’s armor packs laser gauntlets powerful enough to cut through steel. Hacksmith Industries wanted to know if they could make a real-life version that works just as well. The heart of the build is a 1500-watt fiber laser from a laser welder. They also used lasers to do all the fabrication.

This unique chess set has LED lighting inside each of its pieces. Its acrylic board uses induction to send electricity wirelessly to the pieces so they glow only when placed on the board. The board has a built-in storage drawer for pieces, and there’s an optional acrylic cover that doubles as a stand.

The world record for highest vertical jump by a human is 47.1″. JLaservideo wanted to see if it was possible to break that record with the help of engineering. After playing with off-the-shelf spring shoes and some terrifying explosive prototypes, he ended up building a pair that uses compressed air to provide lift.

MK Timelapse GmbH recorded the entire construction process of the AIDAnova, an 1105-foot-long cruise ship that carries 6600 passengers. The footage from Germany’s Meyer Neptun and Finland’s Meyer Turku shipyards starts out with massive engines being built and takes us through the fascinating modular assembly process.

Wearing a Kevlar bulletproof vest is a good idea if you’re in a place where bullets might be flying. But Ryan Kung wanted to see if you could provide a similar level of protection by curving bullets around a body with a vest made out of bent pipes. It holds up reasonably well to handgun fire, but bigger ammo is a bit more of a problem.

The physics of Star Wars aren’t the same as our reality, so you have to take this video from RED SIDE with a grain of salt. But they did their best to convert science fiction to reality and calculate the relative speeds of various vehicles and spacecraft. Place your bets now on the fastest way to travel in a galaxy far, far away.

Viljami and Herman Morander are two of the most talented accordion players we’ve ever heard. After their explosive performance of Through the Fire and Flames, they’re back with an impressive accordion arrangement of Metallica’s Master of Puppets with a few other Metallica references woven in for fun.

Photographer Jens Heidler of Another Perspective points his macro lens at the business end of a snail to see how it eats. For today’s lunch, the little dude is downing a tart and tangy bit of strawberry. We love the little nibbling sounds.

This miniature V8 engine is the perfect desk accessory for any gearhead. GT Scientific uses a 5-axis CNC mill to machine the mini engine from aluminum. The center of the LS3-inspired block holds business cards, while the cylinders each hold a pen or pencil. They also make a smaller version for your keychain.

This teensy multitool can easily hang from a pendant, zipper, or keychain while packing several useful features. Its spike tip can open packages, remove staples, and open can lids, while its reverse end is an inkless, everlasting pen. As is the case with every multitool, it’s also a bottle opener. Made from grade 5 titanium.

The Science Channel’s How It’s Made takes us inside a factory that makes stainless steel forks, knives, and spoons. There’s much more to it than pouring molten metal into molds, which is what we had always assumed. We’re guessing the hollow handles cut down on raw materials cost.

This pocket-size rigging tool is a must-have for smartphone photography. Edelkrone developed the PhoneCLIP to mount a phone to a standard tripod screwthread. It’s made from CNC-machined aluminum and clips around the edge of your phone with padded grippers. It works with any phone in any case up to 13mm thick.

The whole point of a safe is to secure its contents from being accessed without a key or combination. But How Ridiculous reminds us that brute force is an effective safecracking method. You just need a 2-ton axe you can drop on your target. Is there any safe that can stand up to the Aussies’ mighty axe?

Can you truly be Rickrolled if you know it’s coming? Well, either way, we enjoyed listening to Algal the Bard’s arrangement of Rick Astley’s classic Never Gonna Give You Up, performed on traditional instruments straight out of medieval times. We also recommend his bardcore take on Fear of the Dark.

It’s doubtful we’ll ever get another sequel to the Back to the Future films. But this fan-made trailer for BTTF Part IV makes us want one. Smasher put together this imaginative teaser trailer using footage of Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox as Doc and Marty zoom even further into the future on a grand new adventure.

Given the vastness of the universe, it’s almost impossible to fathom that there aren’t other life forms out there. In this video from Kurzgesagt, they explore the hypothetical idea that aliens are just a few steps behind us, and will soon catch up with technology that allows them to explore space and visit other planets.