Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.
Jake Hildebrandt, best known for his steampunk mods (and his pugilistic arch-rivalry with fellow gentleman fabricator Jake von Slatt) has put up a piece on turning a Wild Planet toy video display into a head-mounted display for any typical video source (VCR. DVD, iPod, etc).
18 thoughts on “Super-cheap head-mounted video display”
vonSlattsays:
pugilistic? Heavens no! Our battles are fought in the lab and workshop not the ring!
JvS
kryten007says:
He’s probably talking about Chapter 23, The Helsinki Incident: In which the two Jakes don mechanized musculature-enhancing apparatus and give each other the what-for in a ring of organized combat. Didn’t you read our book?
garethb2says:
The Helsinki Incident. Exactly.
(Actually, I was just trying to think of some excuse to use the word “pugilistic,” and I figured rival Victorian gentleman-inventors was about as close as I was going to get.)
vonSlattsays:
Curse it, Hildebrandt! you know full well I’m not allowed to discuss Helsinki due to the guild decision!
JvS
WP_HACKsays:
Thanks to Jake, for the great hack! So sorry the website is out of stock. Our engineering group has a bin of extra headsets (pre-production samples, engineering test units, etc.) we’d like to make available to 10 clever hackers.
Email us with a one-paragraph proposal of what cool thing you’re going to do with your own cyborg headset. Best 10 answers we receive by 5PM tomorrow (Oct. 10) receive a headset. No guarantees-these aren’t production samples, but they’re free, right?
email us: hack(at)wildplanet(dot)com
Much love,
Wild Planet Engineering Team
garethb2says:
>Curse it, Hildebrandt! you know full well I’m not >allowed to discuss Helsinki due to the guild
>decision!
Oops. Maybe I’ll get to use “pugilistic” again. Or “fisticuffs.” Please give me a reason to use “fisticuffs.”
garethb2says:
Cool, Wild Planet! I’ve posted a separate item about the contest.
abendsays:
I’m a huge fan of wild planet for their maker-friendly approach to building things like this. Notice how the cable attachment points have silkscreen labels, the pads for the NTSC/PAL setting resistors are left easily available, and none of the chip or part markings are obfuscated.
They also make very high quality products. I don’t work for them, just a customer (and maker).
garethb2says:
I agree, Abend. I’ve always been impressed by Wild Planet. They seem to push the envelope on what’s possible in the toy market in terms of integrating new technologies. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but they take the risks.
As a tech journalist, I’ve also always been impressed working with them on stories. They’re really friendly, available, send out samples (toys!), and have generally left me with that feeling that there are humans, not soulless androids, working there.
And look in the contest posting item, they even signed it “Much Love” from the Engineering Dept. Now THAT’s something you don’t see every day!
Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.
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pugilistic? Heavens no! Our battles are fought in the lab and workshop not the ring!
JvS
He’s probably talking about Chapter 23, The Helsinki Incident: In which the two Jakes don mechanized musculature-enhancing apparatus and give each other the what-for in a ring of organized combat. Didn’t you read our book?
The Helsinki Incident. Exactly.
(Actually, I was just trying to think of some excuse to use the word “pugilistic,” and I figured rival Victorian gentleman-inventors was about as close as I was going to get.)
Curse it, Hildebrandt! you know full well I’m not allowed to discuss Helsinki due to the guild decision!
JvS
Thanks to Jake, for the great hack! So sorry the website is out of stock. Our engineering group has a bin of extra headsets (pre-production samples, engineering test units, etc.) we’d like to make available to 10 clever hackers.
Email us with a one-paragraph proposal of what cool thing you’re going to do with your own cyborg headset. Best 10 answers we receive by 5PM tomorrow (Oct. 10) receive a headset. No guarantees-these aren’t production samples, but they’re free, right?
email us: hack(at)wildplanet(dot)com
Much love,
Wild Planet Engineering Team
>Curse it, Hildebrandt! you know full well I’m not >allowed to discuss Helsinki due to the guild
>decision!
Oops. Maybe I’ll get to use “pugilistic” again. Or “fisticuffs.” Please give me a reason to use “fisticuffs.”
Cool, Wild Planet! I’ve posted a separate item about the contest.
I’m a huge fan of wild planet for their maker-friendly approach to building things like this. Notice how the cable attachment points have silkscreen labels, the pads for the NTSC/PAL setting resistors are left easily available, and none of the chip or part markings are obfuscated.
They also make very high quality products. I don’t work for them, just a customer (and maker).
I agree, Abend. I’ve always been impressed by Wild Planet. They seem to push the envelope on what’s possible in the toy market in terms of integrating new technologies. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but they take the risks.
As a tech journalist, I’ve also always been impressed working with them on stories. They’re really friendly, available, send out samples (toys!), and have generally left me with that feeling that there are humans, not soulless androids, working there.
And look in the contest posting item, they even signed it “Much Love” from the Engineering Dept. Now THAT’s something you don’t see every day!