Eclectic Electronics » Amazingly Cool Stuff

The only Star Wars saga poster you’ll ever need

blued888 — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 20:00:01 +0000

In anticipation of Star Wars’ Blu-ray release, I remembered seeing this nice Star Wars saga poster a few years back and decided to share it. Good work SimonZ (the author)!

Please use the following file sharing sites to download the poster in order to save resources/bandwidth. Poster author’s website is linked below the gallery.

New Star Wars logo:

Old Star Wars logo:

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Star Wars R2-D2 droid fitted with eight retro gaming consoles, sound system and projector

blued888 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:00:46 +0000

A PopSci reader, probably out of boredom, decided to convert a life-size Star Wars R2-D2 droid cooler into the ultimate mobile retro gaming system — complete with its own sound system and video projector.

The R2-D2 houses a Xbox, PlayStation 1 & 2, Sega Genesis, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, GameCube and Dreamcast (I may be wrong but those are the controllers I recognize). The other peripherals are probably for specialized game genres.

While it’s a cool looking idea, I frankly can’t imagine where the game media would go. I mean, all I see are controller ports on the front. The R2-D2 droid has also been fitted with a sound system along with a projector on its top dome (pretty much the same as the real Star Wars counterpart).

It would’ve been nice to see the thing in video, actually working.

[via PopSci]

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First hybrid car in the Philippines: Toyota Prius

blued888 — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:30:03 +0000

Sales of the the Toyota Prius in the Philippines started almost two months ago, June 22, 2009. It carries a hefty price tag of P2,250,000.00 or approximately $46,000 USD, which is more than twice the price of the same vehicle in the United States (Base price starts at $22,000 USD for the USA).

You would certainly think that going green or lowering emissions would be easy on your bank account or pocket but apparently, that is not the case. Hopefully, importation tax and tariffs would be lowered in the near future to lower the price of the Toyota Prius in the Philippines.

Mileage is reportedly around 30 kilometers per liter which is definitely a huge leap compared to the nominal 10 kilometers per liter or less on 1.6 to 2.0 liter engine vehicles.

Visit your nearest Toyota dealer for more information or head on over to www.toyota.com.ph

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Star Wars lightsaber chopsticks, hitting Japan on November 2009: The force is strong with this one!

blued888 — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:00:05 +0000

These miniature lightsaber chopsticks surely won’t cut through your food like they would in a movie. But if you’re a Star Wars geek or fan, these things definitely have some place in your kitchen or household.

The Star Wars lightsaber chopsticks pay particular attention to detail on the grips, along with the length of the colored blade, Yoda’s green lightsaber is a tad shorter than Darth Vader’s or Luke Skywalker’s.

These Star Wars lightsaber chopsticks are set to invade Japan on November 25, 2009 for ¥960 or approximately $10 USD. They will be officially available via Amazon Japan in red, blue or green lightsaber blade colors.

Japan has these amazing looking detailed chopsticks while the US has those deformed bobbleheaded Star Wars USB flash drives, fair enough.

[via Technabob]

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Fraunhofer Institute develops fruit sniffer/sniffing device using metal oxide sensors

blued888 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 20:00:29 +0000

Researchers over at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME in Schmallenberg and for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM in Freiburg (Germany) have developed a fruit sniffing/fruit sniffer device which is able to detect if a particular fruit is ready to be consumed.

The device uses metal oxide sensors in order to detect the ripeness of the fruit. The fruit sniffer will supposedly fetch for a four-digit dollar price and will be marketed to supermarket suppliers.

The researchers are also trying to find out if they can use a simliar technology to inspect pork:

The researchers are also investigating whether the equipment could be used to test pork. The male pig produces hormones and certain odorous substances necessary for reproduction. What the female pig finds attractive, however, smells anything but pleasant to human noses. It’s true that most pigs are slaughtered well before sexual maturity – before any odorous substances have formed in the majority of pigs. As there is the risk, however, that some boars could produce odorous substances prematurely, all boars are castrated when they are young piglets. Castration may not be necessary in the future if the pork could be tested on-line before it is packaged.

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Michael Jackson’s arcade/toy/statue collection

blued888 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:30:58 +0000

Check out this insane arcade/toy/statue collection belonging to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

The huge room contains a vast assortment of life-size statues/figures, including but not limited to: Darth Vader, C3-PO, Bruce Lee, Han Solo frozen in carbonite, a Power Ranger, Boba Fett, Batman, Spider-Man and others. The room will give any nerd a raging hard-on!

Aside from the life-size stuff, there’s also arcade games and pinball machines.

[via Gizmodo]

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Michael Jackson tribute performance by Filipino prisoners from Cebu, Philippines (CPRDC)

blued888 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:40:08 +0000

This video is a tribute performance for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, by Filipino prisoners (1,500 of them) from the Cebu Provincial Rehabilitation and Detention Center (CPRDC) based in Cebu Philippines. I guess they couldn’t do a “Smooth Criminal” performance since they don’t have those patented shoes that Michael Jackson used. In this video, they dance to various Michael Jackson tunes such as “Ben”, “I’ll Be There” and “We Are the World”.

These Filipino prisoners have previously performed “Thriller”, which can be seen below.

Again, R.I.P. Michael Jackson.

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Michael Jackson leaned forward, using patented shoes, during Smooth Criminal performance

blued888 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:50:14 +0000

Did you know that Michael Jackson used extremely special, patented shoes during his Smooth Criminal performance? His shoe, along with the performers, has a v-shaped notch on the heel part of the shoe. The shoe and Michael Jackson’s weight, is held stable by steel pegs that are not seen by the public. Notice how the performer on the right, in the video below, had a hard time disengaging his right shoe from the floor.

I actually thought they really had the ability to lean forward that much! Until today, of course.

The patent can be viewed here and includes detailed illustrations of the heel of the shoe that Michael Jackson used for his very Smooth Criminal performances.

R.I.P Michael Jackson.

Abstract
A system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface. The shoes have a specially designed heel slot which can be detachably engaged with the hitch member by simply sliding the shoe wearer’s foot forward, thereby engaging with the hitch member.

[via CrunchGear]

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First ever airline for pets only, Pet Airways

blued888 — Sat, 02 May 2009 21:00:53 +0000

When I was in the United States, I noticed most people truly love their pets. In fact, some of them probably consider pets as companions, rather than pets. Pet Airways is pioneering the pet airline industry by being the first ever (and probably the only one), to offer pet-only travel.

From Pet Airways:

For the safety and comfort or our pawsengers, pets fly in turbo-prop airplanes. The plane we have chosen to use is the Beech 1900. The Beech 1900 has been and continues to be flown by many of the major airlines throughout the world and is recognized as safe and reliable. It is a 19 passenger plane that has had the “human” furnishings removed; like the seats and overhead bins. Pets are placed in their private pet carriers which are secured using our proprietary restraint system especially designed and created by Pet Airways.

Introductory fare is $150 for a one-way ticket. Pet Airways will initially be servicing a number of cities. Pet Airways starts taking off on July 2009.

New York (NJ,CT & Philadelphia)
Washington DC/Baltimore Area
Chicago
Denver
Los Angeles.

Go to the official Pet Airways site for more information regarding the service.

[via Laughing Squid]

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Some carriers not pleased with Skype on Apple iPhone

LEGO USB flash drives and other small gadgets made using LEGO blocks

blued888 — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:00:43 +0000

Tired of those boring, conventional looking USB flash drives? While not as flashy as the limited edition Canon EOS 5D Mark II 4GB USB Flash Drive, these LEGO USB flash drives are certainly eye-catching! They come in various colors and thickness, as well as different LEGO block sizes.

What’s nice with these LEGO USB flash drives is that you won’t easily loes the cap since you can merge it with the body while it’s being used. They’re quite pricey compared to your usual USB flash drives though.

Check out Etsy and Firebox for more electronics made using LEGO blocks. Etsy has a wide selection of gadgets ranging from a USB hub, Bluetooth dongle, paper clip holder and others.

You can also DIY one for yourself. Pretty horrible photos showcasing the final product though.

[via Geeky Gadgets and technabob]

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