Brickit is an app that uses your phone’s camera, augmented reality, and machine vision to do one really cool thing: help you make cool LEGO toys out of the bricks you already have.
(more…)Author: Victor Marks
Steam deck, a handheld Steam gaming console
SteamOS is a Linux-based OS that loads a full screen steam interface and plays Steam games. It was meant to work with the Steam Controller, and be its own platform, supported by the Steam store. That didn’t take off, and it seemed to be abandoned for a while. Now it’s back, and on a Steam Deck Console handheld with serious hardware to support it.
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Re-living computing history with a PDP-8 (Raspberry Pi)
The Raspberry Pi is a great tool for re-living and learning from the past, whether it’s emulating classic video games, emulating an IBM System/370 for learning JCL and COBOL, or, in today’s example, emulating a PDP-8, one of the early computers, and the first to run “Adventure”, among other early games.
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Robots for the home are difficult sci-fi dreams. Even when they make breakfast.
People say, “we were promised flying cars,” and “where are all the household robots we were promised?” The truth is, it’s really difficult to make a household robot. Our homes are more or less similar to the homes of 60 or 70 years ago, with better insulation and heating and cooling, generally. There are no cubby holes in the walls for floor cleaning robots to come out of and return to. There are no robot maids. What gives?
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Shine launches portable wind power, for adventurers
Aurea Technologies have made a compact wind turbine for charging your electronics when you’re out exploring. The turbine has a 12,000 mAh lithium ion battery, suitable for charging all kinds of devices, like a phone or GPS. And, it’s on kickstarter.
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Rare.Market makes NFTs better because you actually get something physical
NFTs have gotten a bad reputation. Like collectibles, but with nothing tangible to actually collect or enjoy, they’ve made a few artists some good money, but not many. Rare.Market changes this up a little.
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AirTags: How do they work, an FAQ
I’ve been watching your questions pile up on AirTags, and how to keep from losing your stuff.
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Cellebrite, the machine used to take data from your iPhone, is taking software from Apple
The Signal blog has a post which details security vulnerabilities in a Cellebrite device. Among the details they noticed? Cellebrite is using DLLs that are distributed with iTunes for Windows.
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The best summary: Making sense of the Apple products just announced, April 2021 version
Apple announced a lot of things yesterday: new iMacs, new Apple TV and remote, a new iPad Pro, and a purple iPhone. What should you get, what will actually help you, and what’s better than the last version? Buckle up, I’ll help you make sense of it.
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Nintendo Amiibo cards are bullshit
Nintendo, in partnership with Sanrio, released cards for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Basically, they sell cards with NFC chips in them to make the game attract villagers in the appearance of the Sanrio characters to your island in the game. Why are they bullshit? Because it makes no sense to program chips, print cards, packaging, and ship them around the world for what is essentially a 540 byte file for an Internet-connected game console.
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