Awesome Tech

Known for its graphical and sound abilities, the Commodore 64 personal computer was home to some of the best games of the 8-bit era. Engineer Linus Åkesson took advantage of its audio capabilities to build this unique accordion which consists of two C64 computers connected by bellows made out of floppy disks and tape.

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.

A Roomba has a top speed of about 1.1 mph. Electrosync knew he could do better. After cleaning out the dirt and dust from a Roomba’s vacuuming duties, gutted the robotic vacuum and installed two high-performance RC car motors. The two-wheeler can spin incredibly quickly, but how fast is it in a straight line?

Wood model maker Ugears was clearly inspired by robots when they engineered this mechanical marvel. Once assembled, the six-legged creature ambles along on smooth surfaces when you wind its spring. The 388-piece, flat-pack model takes about 8 hours to assemble.

Since the advent of flat screens, TVs are thinner than ever. But they also keep coming in larger sizes, dominating many living rooms. Matt from DIY Perks wanted to hide his big screen in plain sight. The wall unit he built conceals a 75″ LG QNED mini LED TV, a full home theater sound system, a PS5, a gaming PC, and more.

Bowers & Wilkins celebrates 50 years of James Bond with this special edition of their wireless Px8 headphones. They’re decked out in Midnight Blue Nappa leather, with a red power slider, a small 007 logo, and Bond’s gun barrel design. Audio is provided by carbon cone drive units and a high-res 24-bit digital signal processor.

Having more screen real estate can dramatically improve your productivity. This portable 15.6″ 4K touchscreen monitor doubles the size of your laptop’s workspace via a USB-C or HDMI connection. It has LED backlighting, 10ms response time, and built-in speakers. Another great deal from The Awesomer Shop.

A while back, Techmoan showed off the Atari Video Music, a device that produces colorful patterns from audio. YouTube channel Atari Video Music CRT Garage makes music videos with the 8-bit box, displaying its images on a roomful of TV screens. There are more than 40 videos in the series. Here’s a playlist of our faves.

1980s kids, Johnny 5 is alive! Adam Savage got to geek out over one of the original screen-used models of the friendly and inquisitive robot from Short Circuit. This particular Johnny 5 was never functional but it still looks amazing. It’s one of the many amazing props and artifacts headed to Prop Store’s 2022 London auction.

This arcade game is as small as they come. It runs on an Arduino-compatible 32-bit processor and has a tiny full-color OLED screen, a D-Pad, two pushbuttons, plus a built-in speaker. It comes pre-loaded with three homebrew games, and can be expanded with more games via a MicroSD card. Takes about 10 minutes to assemble.

These days, the military uses powerful computers and high-end graphics cards to simulate missions. But in the 1970s, one of the ways to simulate driving a tank was using a miniature city, a motion camera rig, and a remote screen that displayed the first-person perspective to the pilot. Tom Scott took this vintage sim for a ride.

These over-the-ear headphones from Sennheiser offer exceptional sound, comfort, and luxurious styling. They have an open-back design for an ultra-wide soundstage and detailed, natural sound with an outstanding 12 Hz – 38,500 Hz response. Softly-cushioned earpads mean hours of uninterrupted listening.

We’re not sure if we should be amazed by or terrified by Advanced.Farm’s wheeled robot that autonomously harvests apple crops. Its six mechanical arms are fitted with custom-built stereoscopic cameras to identify ready-to-pick apples, then pluck them off with their grippers. The machine can pick roughly 30 apples per minute.

This puck-shaped device plugs into an HDMI port on your TV set and lets you stream video from your smartphone, tablet, or laptop wirelessly to a bigger screen. It supports DLNA, Airplay, Miracast, Ezcast at up to 1080p HD resolution. (Requires Android for encrypted apps like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO MAX.)

The CyberOne is an adjustable standing desk for gamers. It adjusts 29″ to 47″ tall and has dual pull-out drawers, USB/USB-C ports, a wireless charger, and cable management. The upgraded Plus and Pro models add features like a perforated backboard, a storage bin with a cup holder, LED lighting, and a tower PC bracket.

This gadget can increase the speed of 3D printers from 200% to 500%. Incorporating Klipper tech, it connects to most FDM printers via their USB ports to supplant typically slow internal controllers with a fast new brain. It can preview models on its screen and connect to a camera to shoot time-lapse printing videos.

This portable power bank has an huge 40,000 mAh capacity with a 100-watt input and output. It can charge an iPhone 13 eight times and can also charge USB-C laptops. It has two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, and an LCD status display. It’s also IP67-rated waterproof and has a built-in 500-lumen LED flashlight.

Spotify’s Basic Pitch is free-to-use, Open Source software that uses machine learning tech to convert tunes you hum, sing, or play on a single instrument into a MIDI file that can be used to control digital synthesizers. You can download and run the software locally, or try it out right now on their demo website.

Duck Hunt is one of the OG light gun games. The NES game used a photosensor in its gun to detect its position as you aimed at the birds on screen. Atari Video Music CRT Garage rigged up the game so it could be played on the world’s smallest CRT monitor – just 0.5″ across. It looks like the zapper can’t hit anything at this size.

Thermal cameras can be useful for finding people in the dark and for conducting inspections, but would having heat vision as a full-time superpower be a blessing or a curse? Louis Weisz strapped on a thermal camera and head-mounted display and wore them for 50 hours to see what life would be like with thermal vision.

This small tabletop display lets you keep track of to-do lists, reminders, and other stuff you might normally jot on sticky notes. It uses NFC tech to sync notes from your phone and needs no battery or charging cord to update its high-contrast 4″ e-paper screen. It can also display images and quotes you send to it.

This engineering sandbox game lets players make their own working machines, structures, and interactive objects. It features a robust visual programming interface for controlling movements and encourages players to share their creations. Coming to Steam in early 2023. A PC demo is available now.

Marshall celebrates “60 Years of Loud” with this limited edition Emberton Bluetooth speaker. It has a black diamond finish, 60th anniversary badging, and a diamond-faceted control padd. Expect 20 hours of playtime per charge and crisp, enveloping sound from its dual 10-watt Class D amps. It’s also IPX7-rated waterproof.

It took 56 people four years to build Gremlin Symphony inside Convergence Station, Denver. The room is an art installation made from trash sculpted around instruments that play themselves using robotics or can be played by a human. Reggie Watts got together with co-creator Meason Wiley to give it a test run.

JGVision Media used AI image-generation technology to create the haunting scenes in this video, set to the music and lyrics of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. To add to the mood, they incorporated stretching and warping effects. If you’d like to hang any of these creepy images on your wall, you can order prints from RedBubble.

Could your winter jacket use an extra warm-up on cold days? The CALDO-X is an insulated puffer jacket with built-in heating panels in its upper back, collar, and front pockets. Attach an 8000mAh+ USB power bank (not included) to the USB connector, and the jacket will heat up. Offers three temperature settings.