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.
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A $79 mechanical keyboard? Why not
There are keyboards and then there are mechanical keyboards. Mechanicals are clacky monstrosities that sound like jet planes taking off in Zoom calls and they make you seem like a real hacker. So when you can grab one for $79 why not jump at the chance?
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This robot uses spider joints to wiggle around
As if robots weren’t weird enough, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and at the University of Boulder in Colorado have created a jointed robot that has no bulky components and connectors. Instead, the system uses hydraulics based on spider legs to actuate flat pieces of plastic. A liquid dielectric will harden and soften based on electrode activity, just like in a read spider. The robot can jump ten times its height and can be used to life objects far heavier than its parts.
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Introducing: mophie snap collection
For our phones, charging has become an area of some heated-up competition. First it was how many watts you could push down the cord to speed up charging, and then once the Qi wireless standard became, well, more standard, it was all manner of wireless charging (and how fast it charged). They’ve tended to be very Apple-focused, or generic (ie, everyone else), but the new mophie snap collection wants to correct that.
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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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Now Funding: Storm 2 Power Bank
Lately, it seems that you have no end of choice when it comes to battery packs to keep your stuff juiced up while on the go, or in the midst of an emergency. While choice is great, it can be a bit tricky to sort through it all and find one that meets your needs, and fits the look you go for in your gadgets. A rather unique one just hit Kickstarter, in the form of the Storm 2 Power Bank.
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