Awesome Tech

We’ve seen machines that can draw patterns in sand, but this is the first time we’ve spotted one that was built using LEGO Technic components.  Brick Machines created this sand art machine with a magnetic assembly that moves along a set of custom aluminum rails using corkscrew gears driven by a Mindstorms controller and tech from PyBricks,

Make your new festival staple the ENO Islander LED Blanket and you’ll never get lost in the crowd. The colorful, quick-drying-nylon ground tarp is trimmed with a string of LED lights that stake your personal acreage in three lighting modes: bright, dim, and flashing. Travels small in its own stuff pack and runs on three AAA batteries.

For the 2023 YouTube Makers Secret Santa, Sam from Look Ma No Computer drew Ali Spagnola’s name out of the gift-giving hat. Given her passion for music and fitness, he got to work building a unique drum machine that changes rhythm based on her heartbeat. Sam received a similarly awesome gift from engineer James Bruton.

While they’re not exactly state-of-the-art, mechanical displays can be quite fascinating to watch in action. In this video from Japan’s Karakuri channel, they show off a 3D-printed machine that displays digits on a pair of 7-segment units by pushing its keys. It has 213 parts in all, and no electrical components. Turn English captions on.

In 2015, Mixtela built a tiny synthesizer directly into a MIDI connector with a piezoelectric buzzer. 8 years later, technology has progressed. But the maker decided he’d to recreate the same buzzy instrument, only using a modern USB-C connector to reduce its size. It only produces a simple square wave, but with multiples and a hub, they can play polyphonic tunes.

The spherical S1 Circle speaker from UB+ offers impressive sound in a small package. It’s about the size of a softball and packs a pair of 2.5″ woofers and 28mm silk dome tweeters for crisp and clean audio, backed by 40-watt and 20-watt amps. It has a strap for carrying and a flat base to keep it from rolling. Available in six colors.

The Cybertool M is a 32-in-1 pocket tool from the exclusive maker of Swiss Army knives. It packs blades, bit wrenches, hex sockets, torx, hex, pozidriv bits, screwdrivers, a pen, pliers, and wire tools, making it the perfect EDC for anyone who works on electronics. It also has tweezers, a toothpick, and a key ring.

ChatGPT is one of the most talked-about subjects of the decade. Despite its questionable accuracy, it does an amazing job of creating human-sounding text. Squirrel Monkey set their time machine to 1988 to see what the AI might have been like had OpenAI released the tech 40 years prematurely. Offline mode would have been particularly awful.

With the front-facing Nextbase 622GW, the world’s leading dash cam maker delivers the best ride-along ally for 24/7 on-the-road protection. High-def 4K recording captures crystal clear images, and it doesn’t miss a detail thanks to advanced image stabilization to eliminate playback shakes and blurs.

Having a wrist rest at the base of your keyboard is a must for protecting your arms from carpal tunnel syndrome. OUSI’s ergonomic wrist rests offer an elegant solution to this problem. Each one is handmade from full-grain leather and wrapped around a supportive structure. Price shown is for the 18″ wide version.

It’s been a long time since we needed floppy disks to store data. But we still enjoyed watching this retro factory video posted by StirlingEngineering, which shows how they used to produce 3.5″ floppies. It’s a satisfying 5-minutes sequence of mechanical ear candy.

Moment Motors updates classic cars with modern electric drivetrains. Their latest Signature model is this restored Mercedes-Benz 280SL. The roadster now packs an electric motor with 300 hp and 370 lb-ft. of torque, with a 62 kWh battery pack. Its steering, brakes, and climate control have all been modernized while retaining the car’s original style.

There’s a good reason that pinball machines are so expensive. These hand-assembled games incorporate multiple circuit boards, complicated wiring harnesses, and hundreds of parts. Technology Connections starts with a brief look at a 1990s pinball machine, then dives in deep to explain the amazing engineering of a vintage electromechanical machine.

A while back, we checked out Engineered Arts’ expressive humanoid robot Ameca. In this short video, the recently upgraded bot takes a look at herself in the mirror and seems quite happy with her new capabilities. It makes us wonder if someday a robot will look in a mirror and question their reality.

Many modern microwave ovens have a popcorn button, but microwave popcorn bags have a notice saying not to use that button to cook their product. Technology Connections offers an entertaining explanation of the issue, the rationale behind the warnings, and how to know if the forbidden button is okay to use on your particular microwave.

The blasters in Star Wars supposedly fire bolts of plasma energy held together with a magnetic field. This sounds like pure science fiction, but Jake Makes wanted to see if he could create the same effect with a real-world weapon. While he came up with an approach that looks pretty accurate, it’s not technically the same idea at all.