I think that most people will agree that charcoal grilled burgers taste better, but getting those little briquette bastards to light can be more trouble than it is worth. Fortunately, there are dangerous man-tools out there that can help get the job done. Hammacher has just such a device—in fact, they claim that their starter can ignite charcoal in 60 seconds without lighter fluid using air that is heated to 1,290 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, that kind of power requires an AC wall outlet, so you will be on a short leash when grilling outdoors. Available for $80. [Hammacher via Uberreview via DVICE]
andreseet | Tech, Cool stuff | Friday, February 15th, 2008
Oscilloscope hacks are generally reserved for the most extreme gaming geeks, but this version of “Scopetris” is something that any Tetris fan can appreciate. Running on an oscilloscope decked out with custom hardware, the creator actually drew each piece, giving the board an interesting juxtaposition of the physical and the digital. And it beats the hell out of Pong. Here’s a vid of the gorgeous creation in action:
Since the images refresh at 100Hz, the game runs as smooth as a baby’s…Scopetris. [Project via technabob]
This stunning 1:36 scale B-1B bomber is made of about 8,000 LEGO blocks, beating the Millennium Falcon’s 5,195. Created with no special pieces, it has movable wings and retractable landing gear, just like the rest of its companions: one Russian plane, the SU-27 Flanker, and two classic US aircraft, the E-2C Hawkeye and the now infamous F-15. We talked with Ralph Savelsberg, the LEGO master behind them (you asked for these interviews), about how he builds them. Read the interview after the jump, or check out the huge gallery.
andreseet | Toys, Cool stuff | Thursday, February 14th, 2008
This is petty cool! Everybody loves Elmo. The most expressive Elmo ever and does all sorts of cool things. Check out videos of Elmo in action. (Pity about the dweeb in the lab coat, who spoils the first video).
With the amazing LEGO Steam Wars contest over, here’s a new contest on LEGO Castle-based vignette story telling. One of the first entries is an instant classic: the “Bring out your dead!” skit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (video after the jump.) The obvious question, which may tear apart the site apart and probably destroy the whole time-space continuum too, is: LEGO Monty Python or LEGO Star Wars?
andreseet | Tech, Cool stuff | Monday, February 11th, 2008
This fan-made PSP concept design is pretty much the coolest thing ever. It’s got a big beautiful screen and an iPhone-like home button on the front, but when it’s slid open it reveals all the necessary buttons for gaming bliss. Needless to say, I want one. Hit the jump for high-res shots of the concept open and closed.
andreseet | Hilarious! | Monday, February 11th, 2008
Today, in a display of the poor prioritization of science projects in Germany, German scientists will launch 60 fish in to space, presumably to figure out how to make fish sticks taste better.
Actually, the poor fishies will experience six minutes of weightlessness in order to see how they handle motion sickness. Apparently, they get motion sick just like people, and it’s easier to study the effects on them than it is on people as you can, you know, kill the fish and fiddle around with their insides when you’re done with them. After which you can sauté them up and serve them with fresh country vegetables, which is the perfect way to end any long day of ridiculous experimenting.
andreseet | Photography | Friday, February 8th, 2008
Polaroid is closing its last remaining film plants in Mass. so the oh so fun instant Polaroids will soon become a thing of the past. Well it’s already a thing of the past, but this time it’s serious since no more instant film will be produced.
Over the last two years Polaroid has stopped production on the instant cameras and now it’s the film, which will be available till around next year. It was only a matter of time till Polaroid killed off the film since it was obviously a declining / nonexistent profit. So for all those Polaroid users out there, were sorry, looks like you’ll only have another year left to take random pictures at house parties. [Washington Post]
Ackman Devoured 140,000 Pages Challenging MBIA Rating By Christine Richard and Katherine Burton
Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) — It was the $109,000 photocopying bill that hedge fund manager William Ackman says made him realize how much he’d read and underlined before betting against bond insurer MBIA Inc. in 2002.
His law firm charged him for copying 725,000 pages of financial statements and other documents, 140,000 of them about MBIA, to comply with a subpoena. Following New York and U.S. probes of his trading and reports, Ackman persisted in challenging MBIA’s AAA credit rating for more than five years, based on his own research.
Ackman may soon be proved right. MBIA, the largest provider of insurance against defaults in the global credit market, today reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $2.3 billion because of the declining value of mortgage-related securities it guaranteed. The independent research firm CreditSights Inc. this week said MBIA’s credit rating may be downgraded. Ackman had warned that MBIA was magnifying its risks by backing instruments such as those based on loans to the least creditworthy homebuyers.
The LEGO brick turns 50 at exactly 1:58 p.m. today, January 28, 2008. This timeline shows these 50 years of building frenzy by happy kids and kids-at-heart, all the milestones from the LEGOLAND themed sets to TECHNIC and MINDSTORMS NXT, as well as all kinds of weird curiosities about the most famous stud-and-tube couple system in the world. (check out the best LEGO sets in history article.)
(Click on the image to access the huge version—remember to zoom in if your browser auto-scales it.)
It all first started in 1947, when LEGO bought their first plastic injection machine. The brick was not invented then but took final form in 1958, when the shape of the stud-and-tube brick was patented. Since then, LEGO sets have been going through dozens of iterations, from the younger version, DUPLO, to the most sophisticated LEGO TECHNIC and LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT sets, going through all the different themes of LEGOLAND and, of course, the most successful line of all times according to LEGO, LEGO Star Wars.
