Oh sure, all the glitz of E3 might make the latest games look like tons of fun, but are they really? Probably yes. But in my old age I’ve also come to appreciate the simpler things in life, even when it comes to electronic gaming. And although it looks almost too simplistic, I think this ‘Thumb Stadium Electronic Game Kit’ available from ThinkGeek could actually be quite a bit of fun.
The build-it-yourself kit is just $19.99, and that’s probably because you don’t have to pay for some assembly line worker to put it together. But that also means it comes with the satisfaction of a job well done, if and when you actually get it to work. And besides a few wires and chips, the Thumb Stadium only has 2 buttons and a set of 3 red and green LEDs which allows you to play 1 of 4 different games including;
Game 1 – ThumbWar™
The object of ThumbWar is simple: press while the other player is pressing. If you do, you get a point.
Game 2 – SlapJack™
During SlapJack, Thumb Stadium randomly flashes the center LED red or green. Be the first to press when center is green and get a point. Don’t press if it isn’t green or the other player gets a point.
Game 3 – Jai Alai™
Center lights up ~ quickly press to “catch” your color. Press again to “throw” to the other player who has to catch on time and throw back. The time to catch gets shorter each throw.
Game 4 – Reflexy™
Reflexy is a one-player game. The object is to quickly press the button that matches the color in the center LED. You go until you miss or are too late. The time to react gets shorter each turn. After the game, your score is flashed ~ Center = x10, Red LED = x1. Press the Red Side Button three times to restart.
Now I’m not sure why it needs 3 x AAA batteries, that seems a bit much given what little it does, and no matter how entertaining you find it I would caution against bringing it along on your next flight because I guarantee you won’t be making your plane.
This, I guess, is why they call it a “Universal Cereal Bus.”
Now that USB drives have gotten as small as physically possible, you can get creative and make some DIY USB drives of your own with little more than a tiny drive, some glue, and whatever crap you feel inspired to kludge onto it.
I’ve never read the rule book, but I assume the addition of an electric motor to your bike during the Tour de France is not allowed. But if you opt to cheat using the Gruber Assist, no one will know you didn’t really earn that yellow jersey. That’s because the Gruber Assist’s electric motor is designed to hide inside a bike’s seat tube (minimal diameter of 31.6mm required) and provide a bit of extra help with the pedaling, instead of powering the back wheel. So not only is it almost impossible to tell it’s installed, but the Gruber Assist can be retrofitted to any bike, as long as the seat tube is large enough.
However, I say “almost impossible to tell it’s installed” since you’ll still have to carry a set of NiMH or LiON batteries (good for about 1.5 hours) which are somewhat hidden inside a saddlebag. So if someone starts poking around your ride, your secret might not be safe. But lying and cheating aside, the Gruber Assist is definitely a very clever way to retrofit your bike with an electric motor, even if the complete NiMH version will set you back about $2,400.
Sometimes I miss the days when I was a kid. Sure school was boring, but it was perfectly normal to run around and shoot your sibling with Nerf guns all day long. Actually I have a Nerf gun sitting on my desk, and I shoot my brother whenever he comes over, so nevermind. Heck, now that I’m an adult I have the resources and intelligence to to take things to the next level and create my very own remote control Nerf tank.
A guy by the name of Travis Schmidt decided to put his robotic skills to good use by creating this cool little R/C Nerf tank. It’s got just about everything you’d want including a laser sight, wireless camera and on-board speakers for “psychological warfare.” Head over to the Instructable site for directions on how to build your own. Oh, and if you’ve got a girlfriend that will actually let you build an R/C Nerf tank, here’s a tip: Don’t shoot her with it!
Now that Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale have shown us how Batman movies are supposed to be, it’s hard to watch the previous 4 films without cringing. And that’s why I’m a bit confused as to why sculptor Bob Causey has put so much time and effort into creating a drivable replica of the Batmobile seen in Batman Forever, arguably where the original series of films first took a turn for the worse. Now I’m not knocking his craftsmanship or attention to detail, since this replica has a full working interior and a retractable hard top, but given the choice, I’d definitely go with the homebrew Tumbler instead.
Light switch covers aren’t usually something that I find myself very interested in. They aren’t very exciting, and if you try to replace them with a novelty cover, they just look cheesy. Of course everything looks better when steampunked, so it didn’t come as too much of a surprise when I saw these DIY light switch plates.
These are cool not only because they are unique, but some of them even add functionality to the otherwise boring switch. A candle holder, bell and even a hook for your keys are pretty cool ideas. The best part is that they aren’t too hard to make. Just a brass plate, some gears, solder paste and a few tools are all you need. Of course you’ll actually need the time and patience to make one, since it’s not something you can actually buy in a store.
I don’t know what I find more surprising here, the fact that someone thought they could make a playable version of Donkey Kong on the Meggy Jr’s 8×8 RGB LED display, or the fact that someone succeeded in making a playable version of Donkey Kong on the Meggy Jr’s 8×8 RGB LED display. That ’someone’ would be software artist Steven Read who mentions on his site that the 3,000 lines of code that went into Super Monkey Kong compiled down to a mere 14K, which is the maximum size for the Meggy’s AVR microcontroller.
And while the screenshots I’ve included give you a rough idea of what it’s like to play Super Monkey Kong, you’ll want to head over to Steven’s site where he’s included a video of the game in action.
It’s not actually powered by steam in any way, and according to the creator ‘bdring‘ it can’t really turn very well, but if you’ve been looking for an extremely cheap DIY alternative to the Segway, head on over to Instructables where you’ll find everything you need to build your very own Legway. It’s even eco-friendly since there’s no emissions (unless you count sweat) and the original model pictured above was constructed from mostly found materials.
If you were hoping to catch someone in a lie, this less-than-subtle truth detecting wristband probably isn’t the best tool for the job. But if you’ve always wondered if you could beat a lie detector, for just $44.95 from Maker SHED you can order one of these Truth Wristband Kits which comes with everything you need including an etched PCB, a finger strap with sterling silver plates and even that fancy laser-cut TRUTH face plate. The wristband simply measures your skin’s galvanic response to ‘evocative’ questions, and turns from blue to red as the victim becomes emotionally aroused, revealing their true response to the question.
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