Awesome Tech

This kit lets you build a crude pinball machine using just about anything as obstacles. It includes mechanical flippers, as well as copper contacts which can be used to register scoring when connected to an off-the-shelf microcontroller, using a free smartphone app.

A great way to build foundational knowledge of several popular programming languages in a snap. You’ll go from 0 to 1 with Java, Python, C, C++, PHP, HTML, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, and Scala, in this great bundle for programming neophytes. Save 91% in The Awesomer Shop.

Electronic musicians and anyone who needs to combine audio signals will dig Bastl’s miniature mixer which provides five individual channels with up to 20dB gain each in a tiny box that runs on 4 AA batteries. It’s limited only to mono signals, but it’s still a nifty gadget. DUDE!

Apple replaced the 9.7″ iPad Pro with one that’s virtually the same size and weight but has a 10.5″ screen. The new iPad Pro’s display offers up to 120Hz refresh rate, increased brightness, and reduced reflectivity. It will ship with iOS 11, which has many enhancements for tablets.

A smartly designed aluminum case for DIY PC builders, designed by CRYORIG and built by Lian Li. The TAKU provides a home for a Mini-ITX motherboard and all of its components in a minimal, easy-to-upgrade enclosure that doubles as a monitor stand. (Thanks Ben!)

Apple’s wireless speaker uses an A8 CPU to adapt its acoustics to match your room. It’s got seven beam-forming tweeters, a high-excursion woofer, eight amps, and runs Siri to control your music collection, HomeKit devices, and more. Drops 12/17 for $349.

A sleek and minimal waterproof smartwatch with a round OLED touchscreen, fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, built in GPS, Wi-Fi, voice recognition, notifications, onboard music storage, and more. Save 15% in The Awesomer Shop.

It weighed 2.5lb, took 10h to charge and lasted only 30min. a time, but the first cellular phone was a hit, and paved the way for a technological arms race that continues to this day. ColdFusion sums up the origin of cellphones and the man behind our favorite gadget.

Nikon matches Olympus with its own affordable, rugged and 4K-capable compact camera. The Coolpix W300 has a 16MP sensor that can shoot 4K at 30fps. It also has built-in telemetry sensors, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for sharing, and 5x optical zoom.

Maker Roberto Correia shows off a neat build – a remote-controlled model tank which was built primarily from 3D-printed parts. He later added a moving gripper arm to its top. It’s based on a design by TimmiClark over on Thingiverse if you want to make your own.

At just 0.7″ thick and weighing only 4.9lb, the Zephyrus is the most portable laptop that can be equipped with NVIDIA’s flagship GeForce 1080 GPU. A massive front grill and a built-in stand that pops out when you open the laptop provides ample cooling. Drops 6/27/17.

A stock Android smartphone from Android co-founder Andy Rubin. The Essential Phone has a 5.7″ 2560 x 1312 edge-to-edge display, a titanium and ceramic body, Snapdragon 835 CPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage, a USB-C port, and magnetic connectors for accessories.

Researchers from Tokyo University and Keio University designed a pair of robotic arms and hands that are controlled with the user’s legs and feet. Called MetaLimbs, the extra limbs can be modified with different “hands” and even provide haptic feedback. Think Doc Ock IRL.

Ever needed to build something or estimate materials off of a set of blueprints? This useful measuring tool lets you quickly get accurate linear, area, and volume calculations by rolling it across prints, even if their scale has been thrown off via copying or faxing.

Keep your hands free and your eyes on the road while driving with this versatile universal in-car smartphone mount. It clips onto almost any air vent, holds your phone using magnets, and offers 360° rotation and swivel adjustments. Save 23% in The Awesomer Shop.

ASUS’ new productivity machine weighs just under 4lb and is only 0.74″ thick. But it packs the latest Core i7 CPU, a GeForce GTX 1050 or 1050Ti GPU, a 1080p or 4K screen, up to 16GB of RAM, up to 1TB SSD and a 14h battery. Drops 7/2017 starting at $1299.

While the majority of 3D printers melt plastic filament, this unique printer uses modeling clay as its medium, resulting in ceramic creations which would be difficult to sculpt by hand. If you already have an FDM 3D printer, you can purchase the extruder only for $399.

There’s something about the high-pitched sound of the scannner stepper motor that suits itself so well to Gorillaz Feel Good Inc., it now takes its place as our favorite cover track from Paweł Zadrożniak’s electromechanical orchestram, beating out The Final Flopdown.

It’s not quite for ants, but you can fit a couple of TinyCircuits’ DIY arcade machine kit in your hand. It’s easy to assemble – no soldering or special tools needed – and its games are free. You can also watch mp4 video files on it.

The Virb 360 action camera shoots true 4K 30fps 360º video, ready to be shared as soon as you stop recording. It can also output 5.7K, 5K and 3K unstitched raw footage. Its apps let you add stabilization and telemetry data. It also comes with a tripod-handgrip.

We live in a world where technological obsolescence is an everyday expectation. But is there still value in the old electronics we’d otherwise discard? Modern Classic decided to find out by dusting off a 20-year-old IBM ThinkPad to see if it could still be of use today.

The Rainer Hersch Orkestra performs a medley of tunes which will be awfully familiar to those of you with iPhones. Every time that marimba sound goes off we reach for our pocket. They also did something similar for Windows XP a few years back.

The 15.6″ ASUS ZenScreen MB16AC is the world’s thinnest and lightest portable 1080p monitor, at only 8mm thick and weighing just 1.8lb. It gets power and data via USB-C and can be used in both portrait and landscape modes as either a mirror or a second display.