Metropolis II Race Track for 1,200 Toy Cars

Check out this crazy looking track. It’s called Metropolis II and is a custom build road system that can carry 1,200 cars at a time along with 13 toy trains. Around the tracks is scenery built from Lego.

Each of the 1,200 cars has been custom designed. The track starts by lifting 5 rows of cars up a steep hill and then letting gravity bring them down to the bottom of the track where they get lifted up again. [Read more…]

Microsoft Kinect Hacked to Create Lightsaber Tracking

The Kinect has once again been made to work as something different to what Microsoft originally intended. This time, the Kinect is used to track a broom handle and with that tracking, displays a lightsaber blade on the screen along with the noises a Star Wars weapon would make.

The Kinect Hack comes from a guy named Yan this time. The software tracks the wooden stick and then real time software makes it glow on screen. [Read more…]

LEGO 3D Scanner Used to Create LDraw Parts

By combining some Lego parts and a computer, one particular guy has managed to create a system that can scan objects in 3D. These 3D objects can then be exported to use in the LDraw software to be used as parts in Lego projects.

The LEGO 3D scanner was built by Phillipe Hurbaine who took care of the software and Lego building to make this project work. To see it in action, check out the video embedded below. [Read more…]

Kinect Hacked to Create Digital Puppet

The Kinect from Microsoft is proving to be quite a cool hackable toy. The latest hack sees Emily Gobeille and Theo Watson creating a digital puppet.

The system works by capturing movement of a persons arm and hand and then interprets that in to puppet movement which is then projected on to a wall. When a hand is opened the pupped makes noises. [Read more…]

Microsoft Kinect Used to Capture 3D Video Depth Effect

The Microsoft Kinect has proved over the last week, to be a little more versatile than just connecting up to the Xbox 360 and playing games.

Thanks to the technology inside and some smart users out there, some crazy effects have been created with the Kinect. The latest comes from Youtube user okreylos who managed to combine the color and depth image created by Kinect in to a single image. Once combined, the live video can be manipulated in real time to rotate around a person or any object. [Read more…]

Minority Report Style Kinect Hack Demonstration

The open source drivers for the Microsoft Kinect were opened up a few days ago. Along with this, some unique ways to use the Kinect have started to show up.

One of these is the Minority Report style interface that can use the Kinect camera to detect movement of your hands and interpret that in to movement of objects on to a screen. [Read more…]

Table Connect for iPhone Demonstrated on Video

The video demonstration below shows the Tablet Connect for iPhone. The table computer is a 58 inch capacitive touchscreen laying flat. It has a dock connector built in and supposedly allows users to open up an app on the iPhone and have the iPhone pushed over to the table computer.

The demonstration shows the app loading up on the phone, and then the screen being transferred to the table where the photos app is loaded up. [Read more…]

MakerLegoBot Made of Lego, Prints Lego

The MakerLegoBot is a robot made of Lego that is capable of printing objects with Lego bricks.

The system was designed and built by the team at BattleBricks and uses Mindstorms NXT computer (three of them) to control the printer. A feed mechanism can be found attached to the side of the device that has the job of holding many bricks which are then grabbed as needed by the system. The bricks are then pushed in to the appropriate plans. The plans themselves are fed in to the NXTs via USB. [Read more…]

DIY iPad and iPhone Connector Clip

Geeky Gadgets has created another custom type stand for the iPad/iPhone. The latest device lets you connect both units together and allows you to use the two screens to surf on one while watching something on the other device.

The iPad/iPhone connector is made from some U shaped plastic. To built it you just need a 24 CM length of the plastic along with some glue, scissors, paint and a Dremel to smooth the edges off. [Read more…]

Apple Magic Trackpad Hacked to run on USB Power

If you think using an Apple Magic Trackpad with batteries is a waste of energy and time (as in charging time) then this USB power hack could work for you.

The hack uses a battery sized adapter that feeds the trackpad with the juice it needs to run. A cable runs out of the side of the battery compartment and on to a USB port to get 5V of power.

There’s a couple of problems with it though. First is that it seems a shame to hack up a Magic Trackpad like that. If you can get over that little design issue then the other problem is that a USB port provides 5 volts and the Magic Trackpad needs about 3. [Read more…]

MacBook Air Project Creates All-In-One Air

When you break an Apple MacBook Air the first thing you probably wont think of is chopping it up and making in to an All-In-One keyboard.

This is exactly what the MacBook Air Project is about. A MacBook Air user broke his laptop and decided to take all the insides out and cut them to size and attach them to the underside of a wireless Apple keyboard and Magic track pad. [Read more…]

Game Gear Converted to Portable N64

A user over at moddedbybacteria has managed to squash an N64 in to a Sega Game Gear case. The portable N64 also has the controller squashed inside the casing too making it quite a small portable games console.

The left of the screen is the home to the joystick and to the right of the screen a number of controls. On the back top of the device is an N64 cartridge slot.

It actually appears to work very well from what we see in the video. You can check out more pictures over here along with some details and more indepth pictures showing the insides of the portable N64. [Read more…]