Posted by on under alek komarnitsky, celiac research, maryland center, power demands, xmas lights, dease, mey, wind energy, january 1st, hulk, elmo, university of maryland, homer, web page | 
Like every year, the Controllable Christmas Lights for Celiac Disease are now live, tackier and wonkier than ever, with more than 20,000 lights, plus inflatable Santa, Elmo, Frosty Family, SpongeBob, Homer, and even Hulk.
Everything is controlled using a web page, which is connected to the huge setup using X10 power control systems. Alek Komarnitsky says that this year he's using wind energy too, helping with the power demands this thing requires. The system will be online until January 1st between 5:00PM to 10:00PM (GMT -7).
All is completely free, but Alek does it for a good cause, not just to showing us who cool he is and how puny we and our ACME instant tree-in-a-pizza-box are. If you like the show, consider donating some money to the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research. [Komar]
Tagi: alek komarnitsky, celiac research, maryland center, power demands, xmas lights, dease, mey, wind energy, january 1st, hulk, elmo, university of maryland, homer, web page
Posted by on under pedal music, guitar hero, ebay, astic, drum set, music games, rock band, rae, satan, peripherals, nyko, audience |
Someone give somebody at Nyko a raise, because they finally remembered the most important component of any pretend rock setup: Skeletons!
The Nyko Metal Pedal is a durable replacement for your Rock Band or Guitar Hero drum set pedal. Whereas Rock Band 2 upgraded their pedal from plastic to metal, many have cracked their old pedals with the force of their mighty rock. (I don't know if the GHIV set uses a plastic or metal pedal—anyone in the audience have a kit?)
Regardless, at $20, the Metal Pedal beats searching eBay for a replacement should your pedal break. It will be available this January.
Tagi: pedal music, guitar hero, ebay, astic, drum set, music games, rock band, rae, satan, peripherals, nyko, audience
Posted by on under wink wink nudge nudge, hockey puck, logitech mice, scroll wheel, mutant mouse, mx500, compas, prototypes, gadgets, creatures, wheel |
I love Logitech mice, so I actually dug their shameless mouse timeline. Even more awesome, though, are these amazing prototypes that never left their lab, like the three-scroll wheel monstrosity and hockey puck above.
They get wonderfully cheeky about them too, saying that the hockey-puck mouse "looked cool but turned out to be less than comfortable." (WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE.) Here are a few of the more ridiculous ones, but be sure to check out the whole run. It's hard to believe some these even made it off the page, much less into a polished, physical form in some cases. Of course, none of them will ever top my beloved, retired MX500.
Really fantastic. I wish more companies would show us some of their aborted lab creatures. [Blogitech (PDF) via BoingBoing Gadgets]
Tagi: wink wink nudge nudge, hockey puck, logitech mice, scroll wheel, mutant mouse, mx500, compas, prototypes, gadgets, creatures, wheel
Posted by on under space needle, fog, rain, sleep, seattle, photo |
Today was one of the foggiest days I can ever remember. The fog was there when I woke up, and it's still there now, just as I prepare to go to sleep. I drove in it for a bit, and the windows got wet without any rain. For further evidence, check out this photo of the Space Needle, taken earlier tonight (by Flickr user hobbes8calvin).
Tagi: space needle, fog, rain, sleep, seattle, photo
Posted by on under wood blade, nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp, sleep at night, locati, sand paper, anet, scraper, drywall, model number, margins, thief, columbus ohio, nb, all sorts, ace, amp, boxes, peoe, sleep |
Most people are aware the new Dremel Multi-Max tool is out and that you can buy it online but why bother everyone is selling it for around $100 might as well go to the local big box store and pick it up there for about the same price right? Ah but if you read the fine print the 6300-01 model which everyone else on the planet is selling is not the same as the box's 6300-02L (Wonder which store the L could indicate).
The regular 6300-01 kit is pretty lean on accessories in the first place, it comes with the MM610 Scraper, MM440 ¾” wood blade, MM450 3” round wood & drywall blade, MM11 sanding pad with several kinds of sand paper. This is just enough to get started and do a few projects. The 6300-02L looks identical in almost everyway to the 6300-01 except the different model number in the lower left corner. What’s the difference? The difference is the 6300-02L in missing the MM450 3” round blade, the most useful of the accessory in the original kit. The cost for this blade at a big box store $9.95 ($8.75 on OPT) that would make the kit 10% over everyone else price for the Multi-Max tool. I have no problem with the big box stores marking up their products and making bigger margins. They are convenient and you can go there for all sorts of junk and will pay a little more for things but don't lie to us. This is misleading and just plain old fashion shady. The intent from the start was to misrepresent this product as the same as everyone else and most people have no idea just as the box stores planed. If I went into all our 6300-01 kits and stole the MM450 blade then sold them as normal people would call me a thief right.
This happens all the time at the big box stores and nobody really says anything. I couldn’t sleep at night if I mislead and ripped off my customers like this. However that is probably why we have a single location in Columbus, Ohio and the Big Boxes are scouting new store locations on the moon.
Tagi: wood blade, nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp, sleep at night, locati, sand paper, anet, scraper, drywall, model number, margins, thief, columbus ohio, nb, all sorts, ace, amp, boxes, peoe, sleep
