This wort cooler looks beautiful. No, it’s not for removing warts, it’s part of the brewing process for the nectar of the gods. Even if it wasn’t meant to create alcohol, we would be drawn in by those pretty copper curves.
We’re not surprised at all to see this remote-controlled bowling ball. We’ve seen remote-controlled spheres several times and this just seems like the logical conclusion. We wish there were some build details though. [via neatorama]
When [Anthony Toth] an aircraft enthusiast, decided remodel his garage, he shot for the sky. He has recreated the first class cabin of a Pan Am 747 circa the 1970s. It took him nearly 20 years to scavenge the parts and over $50,000 to pull it all together. [via makezine]
This super cheap simple cable tester caught our eye. There’s nothing complicated here, pretty common sense really. Why didn’t we think of it?
Over the years, Asimo has become a household name. At least in geek households. We’ve seen him go from crazy looking walking microwave prototype, to giant scary space man monster, to the lovable little guy we know now. You can see the full evolution of Asimo in this picture series.
Got an old box camera? Want to use it with modern 35mm film? Here’s a guide to getting it to work. It mainly just involves making a simple mounting bracket.
We like LEDs a lot, but this is getting ridiculous. This dress has 24,000 LEDs. They power it with iPod batteries spread throughout the dress. This cuts down on the bulk and helps distribute the weight.
Coffee cup technology hasn’t changed much in the last bazillion years. We’re pretty sure cave people carved them from stone, and now they’re made from ceramic which really isn’t that different. Some researchers are changing all that, and designing a coffee cup that is supposed to regulate its temperature in a new way. This mug is manufactured with internal convection channels and is made from a material known for its temperature regulation called PCM. Interesting, but it will probably cost much more than a simple insulated thermos. [via neatorama]
I’m liking the links section being back. Thanks guys!
-Taylor
LOL, that UTP tester stinks… :P
I’m not sure I can really get behind the cable tester.
The biggest problem is that it doesn’t test sequence, only continuity. The reason that real cable testers step through each line individually is so you can tell if you have any pairs mixed up. In other words, if the LEDs on the tester don’t go through 1 to 8 in the proper order, something is wrong. That same cable would appear to be correct through this tester, as it only shows that the lines are connected, not what order they are in.
The other problem is that I am rather skeptical as to cost involved. From the looks of it, he got his parts at the Home Depot, and being in there quite a bit I know that the wall box, wall plate, and 2 keystone jacks cost him at least $15. You can buy a proper RJ-45 tester (that goes pair sequences, not just continuity) for $4 – $8 shipped on sites like DealExtreme.
@MS3FGX,
yeah, I see what you mean. Just buying this stuff would be more expensive than ordering a tester. I have found that after every wiring job I have stuff left over, but then again, if you do enough wiring you’re better off not wasting these. That’s a good point on the order testing. That saved my butt. regularly (apparently my shaky hands won’t hold the wires still enough when I shove them into the connector before crimping).
that 747 in the garage is pretty awesome. thx
The coffee cup is nothing new. PCM stands for phase change material. Essentially, it is a hot “ice cube”. It melts at the temperature you want to drink your coffee at. When your coffee tries to cool lower than that temperature, the material then dumps the heat back into the coffee and solidifies again. There are a few patents for this from the 90’s. The problem with the design comes from the fact that you end up heating up the outer most portion of the mug and lose heat rapidly that way. You are almost always better off insulating with air. Part of my thesis was on this…well, for space suits though.
I’m liking the links posts… much better than a bunch of full posts that aren’t incredibly interesting. Great job.
@normaldotcom,
yup, this is exactly why they were brought back. The bosses want us to post some simpler stuff. We just needed the right format. All we had to do was look back to the beginning to see that we already had it.
I agree on the cable tester, except if you were to just buy the jacks and place them into a small project box with 3mm LED’s you could make a comparably priced unit that worked well enough. Plus, you made it yourself!
Also, that is an awesome wort cooler. Now I’m pondering what I could use a gigantic cooler for, so I’ll have an excuse to build one.
those Asimo concepts have been done already :P :
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk5JNs7KO30&hl=nl_NL&fs=1&rel=0]
@that LED dress
It must be said. How did they get the batteries out of the ipods? :p
Way cool. Thanks for bringing the links back!
Alcohol? But Club-Mate is the nectar of the gods!