Not to be outdone by the handheld NES in an NES cartridge that popped up a few weeks ago, another modder on the BenHeck.com forums with the alias of ‘G-force’ has crammed a famiclone (a Super Joy III) into an NES controller. While the famiclone already came with about 70 built-in pirated games, this NES controller NES goes one step further with an actual cartridge slot on the bottom allowing you to play any old NES title you can get your hands on. Here’s some more info on the mod:
-Came with built-in pirate games, including the 2 player version of tetris, and a level select hacked Contra, among 70 or so more games. Nearly endless supply of old-school-nes there. I didn’t even get to play every one before I gave it away, lol.
-Ca(r)tridge connector on back for playing those NES games that aren’t built in. Just switch the power switch over to the left and it disables built in games, and the ca(r)tridge is playing. I wasn’t going to add this at first, but thought about how she had a weird pirate game with a guy who threw rocks, and it wouldn’t work on her blinking NES. I really wanted to play it, so thats why I added it. A bit selfish maybe, but I don’t think anyone will complain.
-Nintendo logo is backlit! Looks insanely cool in real life. I’m going to do this to all my NES controllers when I can get around to it! It’s that cool. Only thing that bugs me is that one LED is too close to the logo and unblablances the light. Something only a perfectionist would notice.
Something tells me if G-force found a way to produce a limited run of these Mini NES’s, he’d make himself a small fortune.
If you’re a fan of classic portable gaming then check out this handheld NES that’s been built into an actual NES cartridge. The NESp was created by the BenHeck.com forum member ‘darkeru’ and features all of the standard NES controller buttons (including start and select hidden on the sides) as well as a decent sized color LCD screen. It’s powered by 3 n-cell batteries which are located on the bottom of the cartridge where the game pins originally were, and since having an NES cartridge slot for loading games would reduce its portability, the NESp uses a 99-games-in-1 NES ROM instead.
I unfortunately missed Daft Punk’s Alive tour last year, so the first time I saw them wearing their awesome electroluminescent suits was at the Grammy Awards where they performed with Kanye West. And probably like a lot of other people, I realized my own wardrobe could definitely benefit from the electroluminescent treatment, but since I have no experience with glowing clothing I abandoned the idea. But it turns out that the person responsible for Daft Punk’s getup has actually put together a fairly in-depth tutorial on Instructables so anyone can make their own.
Finding the EL wire is not that difficult, nor is it particularly expensive, but the tutorial has some useful tips when it comes to designing an EL garment so that it lasts for more than just one night out on the town. And don’t expect this to be as easy as using your Bedazzler either, making your own EL clothing involves wiring, soldering and other areas where things can go terribly wrong. But if you pull it off I think the results definitely speak for themselves.
Personally, I can’t imagine that anybody would be interested enough in the minutiae of my day-to-day existence to justify a Twitter account. But if I did use one, I’d somehow mandate that it could only be accessed via teddy bear. All you really need is a sacrificial animatronic teddy bear, some basic electronic know-how, and the desire to create a soulless daemon. Using a Bluetooth connection and text to speech software, the bear will automatically recite whatever Twitter feeds you ask it to in a vaguely creepy sort of way. The hack is fairly simple, although you will have to sort of know your way around a circuit board.
Somebody should totally figure out how to get a Pleo to do this…
At the moment there are a few different tutorials on Instructables for making your own arc reactor as worn by the Tony Stark character in Iron Man. Of course by the time Hallowe’en rolls around I’m sure that number will grow dramatically, but this particular tutorial by Instructables member msraynsford will be tough to beat. Like with most of the cooler tutorials on that site, making your own arc reactor requires a bit of doing including molding some polymorph plastic as well as wiring up and soldering a set of surface mount white LEDs. But as you can see the final results are very convincing, particularly when hidden behind a shirt.
On a side note, given the amount of Iron Man merchandise that came out alongside the movie, I’m surprised no one has made a light-up shirt like the T-Qualizer that mimics the arc reactor effect. So if you’re a t-shirt manufacturer who makes those electroluminescent panel shirts, you’re free to use my idea, just send me one when it goes on sale. I’m sure Marvel will be cool with it.
I don’t dabble in the fine art of soldering. I’ve tried once or twice, but usually end up making a big mess and very little actual progress. I’ve thought about picking up a DIY kit for some practice, but I can’t really make up my mind on which one. I think I’ve finally found the answer: A DIY Decision Maker. Sure, it’s about as cheesy as my last two sentences, but it sure beats flipping a coin. If you ever do make up your mind, you can grab one for just $7.
Here’s a simple weekend project for anyone who’s ever dreamt of piloting a blimp, but miserably failed out of Goodyear University. You can easily build your own miniature version and all you need is some tape, a few binder clips, 2 24 inch dowels, 2 miniature RC helicopters and a helium balloon that’s large enough to keep the rest of the materials afloat. (And of course enough helium to fill said balloon.) The most expensive part of the build is the RC helicopters, but these days you can get a couple of the PicooZ or AirHog varieties for under $60. And what’s even better is that the project doesn’t require you to dismantle or destroy the helicopters in any way.
Basically the dowels are attached to the underside of the balloon with the choppers mounted on each end serving as propulsion. Since binder clips and tape are used to hold it all together, when the balloon inevitably runs out of helium you can easily disassemble it and swap in a new one. When it comes to controlling the blimp you need to use both remotes at the same time, but you only need to move one joystick on each which apparently makes it feel like steering a flying tank. As an added bonus the blimp is a lot easier to fly than the helicopters themselves, and crashing it into the wall or a piece of furniture probably won’t cause that much damage.
Normally when I hear about something being stashed inside a briefcase it’s either a bomb, a machine gun or even a miniature remote-control go-kart track. This time however it’s something considerably more practical. Using a standard hard-shell briefcase and a set of nylon straps, artists Joan Korbes and Denis Oudendijk designed this briefcase which can be attached to a rail or other sturdy object and used as a seat. The pillows seem a necessary addition for making the seat a comfortable place to sit, but they unfortunately also take away from how much other stuff you can carry inside. And while the Briefcase Seat isn’t available for sale, with a little bit of engineering know-how (you might want to reinforce those hinges) you can probably just make your own.
X-Men fan Everett Bradford has constructed a wrist-mounted flamethrower designed specifically to emulate Pyro, a superhero with the ability to control (although not create, hence the flamey little wrist toy) fire. The device is constructed of a remote lighter coupled to a pressurized liquid fuel reservoir. Somewhat remarkably, Everett has yet to suffer any permanent damage, and you can check out several more pyrotastic videos over on Everett’s YouTube channel.
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