Tacit is a wearable sonar system for the vision-impaired that communicates the distance of nearby objects using variable pressure on the wrist of the user. Part list, circuit diagram, and detailed instructions for building the ~$100 device included.
posted by BlackLeotardFront
on Aug 19, 2011 -
9 comments
In 1983,
Ken Hakuta's mother in Japan sent him some toys in the mail for his kids. They were octopus shaped, and when you threw them against the wall they "walked" down the wall. Seeing some marketing potential, he bought the rights to the toys for $100,000, and the Wacky Wall Walker was born. It became a HUGE success after a slow start, being offered as a
prize in Kellogg's cereals and even inspiring a
Christmas special on NBC. Eventually they ended up (according to Hakuta) selling a over 240 million units!
Sometime during this wildly successful period,
Dr. Fad was born. Ken wanted to everybody to invent and create. From 1988 to 1994, the
Dr Fad Show featured a Wall Walker-covered-sweater wearing Hakuta as "Dr Fad" in a kids' gameshow format, with contestants coming on and showing off their inventions, the winner being judged by an applause meter. The show also had a "Golden Gizmo" segment, honouring the great fads of the past - a
young Rodney Mullen accepted the Golden Gizmo for skateboarding, while other "famous" folks responsible (or in some other way related to) the fads appeared to receive the award in other segments.
[more inside]
posted by antifuse
on Jul 28, 2011 -
35 comments
A Day in the Future. "I don’t live in Philadelphia, but my friend has a machine that lets us see what’s happening there. I have one too. Almost everyone does. The sun won’t rise for another hour, but I don’t need to light a fire or candles. I have artificial ones, mounted on the ceiling. Hit a tiny switch and I can see everything, any time of day."
posted by WCityMike
on Jan 12, 2011 -
78 comments
Kolelinia is a city fly attempt. We are born to move, this makes us alive. The transport is not only a transport, it has to be an experience! (
via)
posted by mrgrimm
on Jan 13, 2010 -
41 comments
The Lumière brothers, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean, were among the earliest filmmakers. Their father,
Claude-Antoine Lumière, ran a photographic firm and both brothers worked for him. It was not until their father retired in 1892 that the brothers began to create moving pictures. They patented a number of significant processes leading up to their film camera — most notably film perforations as a means of advancing the film through the camera and projector, and the
cinématographe. Their first public screening of films at which admission was charged was held on December 28, 1895 in Paris. This history-making presentation featured
ten short films, including their first film,
Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon (Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory). Each film is 17 meters long, which, when hand cranked through a projector, runs approximately 50 seconds.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Oct 6, 2009 -
11 comments
"The
StringStation introduces a fresh and inventive playing surface allowing one musician to play in real time on an instrument that offers thunderous bass, compelling rhythm, 3-D orchestration and melody. It uses new ways to approach groups of strings that find amazing intertwined performance techniques. It opens and lays out new paths to evolve tactile music composition skills." It's the baby of engineer/inventor Jim Bartz, who is on a mission to bring his invention into the musical mainstream. Start your exploration of what the StringStation can do with
this video of Bartz playing his prototype model (actual performance comes in at 2:25).
[more inside]
posted by woodblock100
on May 8, 2009 -
28 comments
Explore the playful side of invention and the inventive side of play in
Invention at Play. Learn how play connects to the creative impulse of both historic and contemporary inventors.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Jun 1, 2008 -
1 comment
Reporter whacks man with shovel [video]. d30 (dee-three-oh) is a specially engineered material made with intelligent molecules. They flow with you as you move but on shock lock together to absorb the impact energy.
posted by nickyskye
on Oct 7, 2007 -
47 comments
Gizmo - using news footage from the 1920s to the 1950s, Howard Smith created an amusing 1977 documentary about contraptions made by the inventors, technophiles, and eccentrics of yesteryear. The last 7 minutes is Letterman interviewing Smith.
(Google video, 1 hr., 19 min. Via beans beans good for your heart)
posted by madamjujujive
on Apr 24, 2007 -
10 comments
Australian inventor
Chris Bosua, frustrated by the inefficiency of his air compressor, devised a method of recycling the exhaust air from air tools. His Exhausted Air Recycling System
(E.A.R.S.) improves efficiency by eighty percent. It runs cooler, almost halves the power consumption, extends the life of the compressor, provides a cleaner working environment, and reduces the noise of an air tool to that of a sewing machine. Happy
Earth Day, everyone!
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium
on Apr 22, 2007 -
31 comments
The Beer Launcher. From the starry eyed minds of the students of Duke University comes the next great innovation in humankind's continued struggle to stay sedentary.
posted by parmanparman
on Feb 26, 2007 -
69 comments
Yoshiro Nakamatsu aka Dr. NakaMats has invented everything, other than all the other stuff that the rest of us have invented. He has 3218 patents to his name. (Edison had
1093.) Among his many inventions? The compact disc, the compact disc player ('natch), the digital watch, a unique golf putter, the
floppy disk (!), and a water-powered engine. Besides being the founder of the
World Genius Convention (where the world first learned of ingenuity of
ADR ceramic disks, for instance),
Dr. NakaMats was voted by the US Science Academic Society as one of five greatest scientists in history - in the company of Archimedes, Michael Faraday, Marie Curie, and Nikola Tesla - and he plans to live until 144!
posted by humannaire
on Feb 23, 2007 -
27 comments
Some new gadgets, things and inventions:
solar bikini that charges your ipod,
paper soft wall,
waterproof laptop,
million dollar fishing lure,
Obvio hybrid micro-car,
needle-free injection,
hi-tech dummies that can speak, breathe, bleed, react to drugs & die,
dragon bag. Interactive sight, sound and physical
objects from the student artists of the NYU
Interactive telecommunications biannual showcase [video], including
Animalia Chordata and Botanicalls, building telecommunications between people and their plants.
posted by nickyskye
on Jan 7, 2007 -
22 comments
The Modern Marvels Invent Now Challenge named 25 finalists (selected from over 4,000 entries) in a competition to find the greatest invention of 2006. The winner will be named during
History Channel's Great Inventions Week (May 24-27th), but you won't have to wait to check out the finalists.
MAKE: Blog briefly profiled each invention in a series of posts this week:
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3,
Part 4, and
Part 5. The inventions will also be on exhibit at the
California Science Center in Los Angeles (April 7-15th), the
Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago (April 20-30th), the
Museum of Science in Boston (May 5-14th) and
Vanderbilt Hall in Grand
Central Terminal in New York City (May 22-27th), and finally, the
National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, OH (through August 2006).
posted by paulychamp
on Mar 22, 2006 -
10 comments
the simplest ideas are usually the best ones. Its easy to forget that the internet is a relatively new medium. Whats the bet that in the future that we will all be wishing that we still had all of our content that we contributed to "cyberspace" such as reviews, comments, posts... Who knows if 10 - 15 years from now, if the sites we post on will still be up, even stable sites such as MetaFilter may not exist in the future.
sites have shut down before, taking everyones content with it. Its a simple idea, why not just store your content, be it on your desktop or a web application? So who wants to start a
MeFi label over at
bulletin board buddy.
posted by omega
on Mar 16, 2005 -
30 comments
