Gadgets – Page 8 – Geek Crafts

I Love Lamp

ohiodiygirl, from oddly enough, Columbus, OH, posted a lamp she recently made, over at Craftster.

She came across this lamp at a thrift store a few years ago and decided what it needed to be: the Mayor from “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The lamp shade is painted one both sides so you can change his face. The hat is built out of cardboard and covered in fabric.

This could be a super quick project with almost any of the characters from TNBC. I’m thinking a Jack Skellington lamp might be a great housewarming gift for a friend that’s getting ready to move.

Way Cooler Than Rocking Horses

I wasn’t able to track down any info on these wonderful rocking tauntauns, but I want one in an adult size for myself! They were posted anonymously to Geek Universe.

Geek Covers – They got you covered

The crazy black weekend is upon us. You shop online, opting to avoid the rush all together. Don’t know what to get your friends for the holiday season? All your friends have cell phones? Let me point you in the right direction; GeekCovers.

GeekCovers, as you can see, make awesome phone covers

I always liked how sassy he was. The Merc with the Mouth

And the best part? They are having a black Friday sale, 50%! Just enter turkeyday13 to get in on the deal!

Continue reading Geek Covers – They got you covered

Fibre Optic Star Map

I seem to keep posting rather high-tech geek crafts lately, but there are just so many good ideas out there that need to be shared. So today I bring you a hand-made Fibre Optic Star Map, created by Imgur user, krid7.

Bringing this wonderful Milky Way panorama to life is a beautiful idea, and I’m really impressed at how well krid7 was able to pull this off. All those fibres would have driven me bonkers! Krid7 has documented the process on Imgur to be sure to click here to see how the Fibre Optic Star Map was created. And the best part is, real star maps were used, meaning that thing is not only beautiful, but it’s also scientific, yo.

Have an Astro-geek craft of your own? I would love to see it – post in the comments!

DIY Ambilight: Because your TV isn’t big enough already

You’d think that a 55-inch, full-HD LCD television with surround sound system connected to an enormous media pc, XBox 360 and a PS3 would be enough for a man who actually mostly plays PC games in a different room and watches TV on his phone on the train trip to work. But you’d be wrong.

Dave of DaveNewson.com is the latest of major nerdy tinkerers to take on the DIY challenge of Ambilight – a TV enhancement where the colours from your TV are projected onto the wall behind it. There are some sane reasons for doing this – improved immersion and less eye-strain when watching in the dark being the main ones. But mostly, Dave did it because it looks “cool as hell”. Click here to see it in action.

Want your own Ambilight system? There are a few different ways of setting this up apparently, but essentially you will need a strip of colour-changing LEDs, a micro controller, a PC to play media from, a 5 volt power supply, a TV, and a way better understanding of electronics than me. Click here to read the really quite detailed How-To on DaveNewson.com.

Tony Stark Would Approve

“This was a real launch of a life-sized duct-tape iron man at Leonardo’s Basement.” I just wish I could find more information about this online, so I can give credit where credit is due.

Leonardo’s Basement is a one-of-a-kind creative learning environment for kids of all ages to design and build from their imagination. Since 1998, Leonardo’s Basement has worked to inspire over 9,000 people to learn critical thinking & technical skills and to become enthusiastic, creative problem solvers.