Awesome Tech

Mehdi Sadaghdar was jealous of the views of an obviously fake video showing a magnetically-powered water cannon, so he decided to try and create something real that would approximate the same effect. Naturally, his experiments involved playing with dangerous electrical currents. Get ready to lower your expectations, folks.

Starting with the Maschinenmensch in Metropolis, robots have been a staple of science-fiction movies for a century. Using a series of AI-generated art, Stillskates explores the origins and evolution of on-screen robots and how they started as dangerous and powerful characters and gradually became comedic and helpful.

This unique macro keypad features an aluminum and acrylic case based on the shape of the Nintendo Gameboy Advance. It has nine programmable keys, six triggers that look like a D-pad and start/select buttons, along with two clickable scroll knobs. It’s also got RGB backlighting. Available in five color combos.

When it comes to 3D printers, bigger is usually better, so you can print large or multiple objects. But My N Mi went the opposite direction and engineered a 3D printer you might find in a dollhouse. Despite measuring just 18 x 31 x 41 mm, the palm-sized resin printer makes surprisingly good prints. Here’s another tiny print sample.

Learn about circuits, soldering, and writing code with this duo of CircuitMess electronic music makers. The Synthia is a digital beat maker and sampler, while the Jay-D is a miniature DJ mixer with audio effects, built-in speakers, and a sweet LED light show. Grab the bundle for a special price in The Awesomer Shop.

Anker’s sophisticated monitor stand might not be the cheapest on the market, but it’s incredibly useful. The sturdy stand has an aluminum alloy surface, and packs a USB-C hub that can power your laptop and multiple devices via two USB-C ports, three USB-A ports, and a wireless phone charger built into its top. It also has Ethernet, audio, HDMI, and SD/microSD ports.

Designer, writer, and engineer Marcin Wichary created this extensive visual history of keyboards and the people who use them. The two-volume set is packed with 1300 photos and numerous stories about the amazing mechanical device that changed the world in so many ways.

These desktop speakers are engineered to focus their sweet spot on their user. They use balanced mode radiation drivers and passive radiators to cancel unwanted vibrations. Inputs include a 3.5mm jack and Bluetooth, plus a subwoofer output. They work vertically or horizontally and can be outfitted with colorful magnetic grilles.

A useless machine is a contraption that’s designed to automatically flip its own switch off as soon as you flip it on. Fornax built a pair of 8-switch useless machines, then linked them up to flip each other’s switches, resulting in a perpetual battle for switch-flipping supremacy.

Enhance your 24″ iMac’s connectivity with INVZI’s USB-C docking station. It adds a pop-out enclosure for a compact M.2 NVMe or SATA SSD, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a USB-C port, SD and MicroSD readers, and a Gigabit Ethernet port. It’s made from sturdy aluminum and is perfectly sized to fit the current-gen iMac.

This roll-up electronic chess board connects with a mobile app so you can play with people around the globe and track their moves. It also helps you build your chess skills against the app’s AI. It has embedded LEDs with magnetic sensors to detect the positions of pieces and comes with 34 weighted chess pieces.

Marshall’s latest speaker cranks out big, 360º sound in a compact form-factor. It has two 3″ woofers, two tweeters, two passive radiators, and four class-D amps for clean, distortion-free sound. It runs for up to 20 hours on a charge and is IP67 dust- and waterproof. Connect multiple Middletons in Stack mode for added impact.

Upgrade your headphone audio with this audiophile-quality DAC/Amp from Creative. It connects via a USB-C cable to your PC or Mac and has optical and line-in ports. It outputs crystal clear audio to headphones from 1 ohm to 600 ohm and supports 32-bit / 384 kHz playback with an imperceptible ~0.00018% Total Harmonic Distortion.

This 15″ tall, outdoor-friendly speaker from Monster can run for up to 24 hours on a charge. It cranks out big volume with 80 watts of amplification, a 5.25″ subwoofer, and a 2″ tweeter. A full-color LED panel behind its grille offers six lighting effects that react to music. Connect two for stereo sound.

AceBeam claims its X75 is the world’s brightest power bank flashlight. It outputs up to 80,000 lumens and has a 4×21700 battery which can be used to charge portable gadgets. It has a smart cooling fan and is IP68-rated waterproof. Available in a traditional black anodized or a cool white micro-arc oxidized finish for $30 extra.

We used to watch TV shows and movies at home and understand the voices perfectly. But lately, we’ve had to turn the subtitles on much more often. At first, we thought maybe our hearing was just going, but Vox explains how changes in audio tech, acting styles, and filmmaking have made dialogue less intelligible.

Wednesday’s pal Thing is brought to life by magician Victor Dorobantu in a blue costume removed by VFX. Jamie and Jay from Wicked Makers made an animatronic version of the hand instead. They started with a cheap Halloween decoration, then sculpted and cast a latex glove and painted it to look like the character.

This slick computer desk is ideal for PC gamers with its stealthy black metal surface and legs. Its 59.1″ x 27.6″ desktop is large enough for multiple monitors and has plenty of room for mousing. It includes a covered cable management tray, and can be upgraded with RGB lighting, a magnetic desk mat, and other accessories.

The Air75 is the slimmest mechanical keyboard we’ve seen to date. It features a 75% ANSI layout, low-profile PBT keycaps, hot-swappable switches, RGB lighting, and an aluminum frame. It supports 2.4Ghz, Bluetooth, and wired connections, and is compatible with the NuFolio V2, a carrying case, tablet, and phone stand.

The latest LaserPecker is a tabletop laser engraver that can place designs on all kinds of materials, including wood, acrylic, stone, metal, ceramics, dark glass, and even food. It has both a diode laser and a pulsed fiber laser for working with different materials. With its slide module, it can engrave items up to 6.29″ x 11.81″

The Apple Pencil, Samsung S Pen, and Microsoft Surface Pen are all pretty great, but they’re also expensive to replace if you lose them. The ZoopLoop solves that problem. The 20.75″ silicone tether loops around your tablet’s case and securely grips styluses from 0.27″ to 0.37″ in diameter. It comes in black, teal, and grey.

Boston Dynamics’ ATLAS robot continues to amass new skills. We’ve seen how agile the bipedal automaton has become; now ATLAS has grippers, so it can pick up objects while walking and performing acrobatics. This demo video shows off some of the ‘bot’s newfound capabilities as it helps out on the job site – and does it with swagger.

Get ready for the most immersive gaming experience ever with LG’s enormous curved OLED display. The 21:9 ultrawide screen has a dramatic curve that surrounds you with action. It has a 3440 x 1440 resolution, a crazy fast 240Hz refresh rate, 0.03 response time, HDR, G-SYNC, 1,500,000:1 contrast, and inky blacks.