Computers & Mobile

The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for digital gadgetry, open code, smart hacks, and more. Processing power to the people!

Glass lens doorknob gives preview of room beyond

Glass lens doorknob gives preview of room beyond

Probably not all doors should offer previews, all the time, but this is undeniably wonderful. As it is, the knob offers bi-directional viewing; I wonder if you could half-silver one side and make it one-way? Johnny Strategy at Spoon & Tomago writes:

In conjunction with Design Tide Tokyo, architect Hideyuki Nakayama – a protégé of Toyo Ito - has teamed up with UNION, a manufacturer of door handles and levers, to create a glass globe doorknob. As you approach the doorknob you catch a glimpse of what appears to be another world, waiting for you to enter and join, but in fact is a reflection of the room on the other side of the door.

[via Gizmodo]

Free downloadable Mentat training calendar for 2011

Free downloadable Mentat training calendar for 2011

A month ago, I blogged about Ron Doerfler’s beautiful Age of Graphical Computing calendar for 2010, lamenting the fact that it’d only appeared on my radar at the end of the year. Well, I’ve been keeping an eye peeled, and Ron just released his 2011 calendar. It’s not about graphical computing, but about what is perhaps an equally interesting mathematical curiosity: Techniques for doing fast mental math. And it looks to be just as beautiful.

Touchscreen made of ice

Touchscreen made of ice

We’ve seen some pretty interesting touchscreen hacks over the past couple of years, but this one definitely stands out for it’s unique surface. A group of Finnish hackers from Nokia substituted the standard opaque white screen used in most rear projection touchscreens with one made of blocks of ice.

Online dice collections

Online dice collections

Shown above is a small sample of Justin Michell’s meticulously-documented dice collection over at Kevin Cook’s DiceCollector.com. Justin’s is one of six collections, besides Kevin’s own, hosted at the site, which makes for fascinating browsing. Most folks’ experience of dice is limited to the simple Platonic-solid dice, but of the first 20 integers, only 1-, 17- and 19-sided dice are not represented in Justin’s collection.

Disclosure: I got wind of Justin’s collection when he contacted me about putting my old design for an alphabet die up on Shapeways, which I did. His print in stainless steel is shown uppermost. I make two bucks for each one they print.

More controversial posts!

More controversial posts!

My choice of updates to include in last Thursday’s round-up of controversial posts turned out to be somewhat, ah…well, you know: Starts at “c” and gets to “l” by way of “ontraversia?” In the interest of shameless click-baiting fairness, here’s a few that didn’t make my initial cut, as well as a couple that escaped my attention altogether. And–what the heck–I’ll arbitrarily format it as a Top 10 list.