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This awesome DIY railgun fires rounds with 27,000 joules of force
Used to be that if you wanted to fire off a few high-velocity rounds with an electromagnetic railgun, you'd have to land a commission aboard the USS Ponce. That is, until YouTuber Ziggy Zee went ahead and built one from scratch -- no 3D printing required. The 250 pound device utilizes 56, 480-joule capacitors driven by a 400-volt power source to launch its aluminium projectiles with a staggering 27,000 joules of force.
Picobrew takes a stab at automated counter-top homebrew beer
PicoBrew is hoping to do for homebrewed beer what Keurig has done for coffee. It tried previously with the Zymatic, but the $2,000 price tag, intimidating size and complexity limited its appeal. Really the Zymatic ended up being for professional brewers to experiment on and for people with deep pockets looking to dip their toe into homebrewing with the least amount of effort possible. The company's new machine, the Pico attempts to address some of those hurdles. First, off, it's dropped the price dramatically. If you move quickly to pick it up through the Kickstarter campaign launching today it will only cost you $500, though it will climb to $1,000 at retail. Second the Pico is roughly half the size of the Zymatic, and can actually fit on an average counter-top. Though, does still take up a significant amount of space and probably wouldn't find a permanent home next to your coffee machine.
Hack puts custom faces on your Apple Watch
You don't have to wait for a possible software update to put custom faces on your Apple Watch... if you're willing to throw caution to the wind, anyway. Developer Hamza Sood has written code that lets you load the watch face you want, such as a silly animation with variable colors. It's crude (you're modifying a hard-coded list of supported faces), and will most definitely void your warranty while you're using it. However, this might scratch the personalization itch if Watch OS 2's Photo face doesn't go far enough.
Become a mechanical centaur with this wild drill-walker
The best part about the Segway craze is that it's now over. It's time for a ballin' new form of personal transportation like whatever the heck this thing is. Created by fabricator Izzy Swan, this machine is a strange mix of Segway and AT-ST. It uses a cordless 20V drill and homebrew gearbox for propulsion. The leg motion was reportedly inspired by was inspired by Theo Jansen's Strandbeest. What's more, it can reportedly hold up to 370 pounds though, according to Swan, "You should see this thing get down and boogie with just one of the kids on it. It moves pretty quick."
Homebuilt laser shotgun is every bit as dangerous as it sounds
If you thought building your own laser weapon at home was hot stuff, you haven't seen anything yet. Do-it-yourself fan Styropyro has built a laser "shotgun" whose eight 5W beams are adjustable with lenses, much like you'd adjust the choke on a conventional shotgun to narrow or widen its buckshot spread. As you might gather, 40W of combined laser power is pretty powerful -- and unbelievably dangerous. The gun can destroy everything from balloons to ping pong balls, and there are reflected beams that could easily smack someone's eye. Don't try this at home, folks. It's still an impressive feat of homebrew engineering, though, and Styropyro is hoping to make something "even crazier" before long.
This superheated knife toasts bread as you cut it
Tired of having to slice up your fresh bread before you drop it in the toaster? Colin Furze feels your pain. The homebrew inventor just built a toasting knife that -- you guessed it -- toasts whatever you're cutting. It ultimately amounts to a modified microwave transformer sending loads of heat to a blade, but it singes your soon-to-be meal about as well as you'd hope. You can even use it to melt butter as you spread it, like a kind of culinary steamroller. Is this practical for your kitchen? Probably not, but there's no denying that it'd be convenient for those hectic mornings when every second of breakfast-making counts.
Here's how you make a 3D printing gun using Lego
What do you do if you want to 3D print in any direction, but can't buy a pre-made pen like the 3Doodler? If you're Vimal Patel, you build your own. He melded a hot glue gun with a powered Lego mechanism (really, Technic) to extrude filament in any axis. To call it bulky would be an understatement, but it works -- as you'll see in the video below, it can produce fairly complex objects as long as you have a keen eye and a steady hand. And if you want to try it, you can. Patel has posted his Lego Digital Designer file for the 3D printing gun, so it shouldn't be too hard to replicate the invention at home.
Raspberry Pi has sold 5 million of its DIY-friendly computers
The audience for do-it-yourself computing might be larger than you think. The Raspberry Pi Foundation just revealed that it recently sold its 5 millionth mini computer -- not bad considering that the team had only delivered 1.75 million Raspberry Pis as of October 2013, or 16 months ago. The figure pales in comparison to what giant PC makers can do (Apple now sells over 5 million Macs per quarter), but it's impressive for a barebones board meant for schools and homebrew projects. In fact, the team notes that it could be the best-selling UK computer maker "ever."
You can make a 143-megapixel camera using a scanner
Scanners are really extra-large image sensors at heart, so it stands to reason that you could make a decent camera out of one. Right? Well, Dario Morelli just proved it... and then some. His homebrew medium format camera uses parts from an Epson V30-series scanner to take enormous 143-megapixel photos whose resolution puts even the better professional cameras to shame. Morelli went so far as to repackage everything in a custom enclosure, so the device is relatively portable and will sit on a tripod.
The Big Picture: Building an electric 'armored' car out of wood
If you think the coffee table you've been building in your spare time is pretty sweet, just wait until you get a load of what Liu Fulong has been making. The Shengyang, China resident recently finished his own electric armored car after four months of work, despite having no formal training in automotive design. As you might guess from the photo above, the "armored" label is based more on appearance than functionality. That wooden body probably wouldn't stop many bullets, and the missiles are purely cosmetic. But hey, the car underneath works -- Liu can get around at a respectable 30MPH (faster than his previous 20MPH project), and he factored in crucial elements like lights, mirrors and spare tires. Is this safe? Probably not, but it's proof that you don't need to be a wealthy entrepreneur to build your own eco-friendly ride. [Image credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images]
Brewie's smartphone-controlled system makes homemade beer easier
We've seen connected gadgets for homebrewing (and serving) beer before, and now there's another gadget looking to do the heavy lifting for you. This is Brewie: a self-contained brewhouse that will have your next batch started in minutes. For the novice beer maker, pre-portioned kits and an RFID card sorts all the settings and measurements -- all you have to do is toss in the ingredients, scan the recipe card and hit start. Of course, the machine also allows for more advanced tweaking, serving up 23 separate parameters (water levels, boiling temps, hop additions, etc.) for further fine-tuning. Once you've dialed in that Double IPA, Brewie saves the settings to produce the same results for the next batch. Looking for something new? There's 200 recipes programmed already, should that need arise.
Nintendo delists homebrew-enabling 3DS game in Japan
Nintendo has removed AQ Interactive's Nintendo 3DS puzzler Cubic Ninja from Japan's eShop (the only region in which it saw a digital release) after details regarding an in-game exploit were revealed earlier this week. The exploit, which requires a modified save file and a copy of Cubic Ninja, reportedly enables the use of homebrew games and applications on Nintendo's handheld. It does not currently enable piracy of commercial games -- a widespread issue that plagued the Nintendo DS throughout its lifespan. After the exploit was announced, used copies of Cubic Ninja shot up in price on eBay, Amazon, and through other third-party sellers. The North American version of the game currently fetches prices in excess of $40 on Amazon, while several recent eBay auctions have ended at over $30. A similar phenomenon spiked Lumines prices when a homebrew-enabling buffer overflow exploit was discovered for Sony's PSP in 2007. [Image: AQ Interactive]
Homemade exoskeleton lets a man lift big cinder blocks with ease
Think you need the budget of the military or a megacorporation to make an exoskeleton for heavy lifting? Nope -- all you need is some standard parts and the know-how to put them together. James Hobson (aka The Hacksmith) has finished a homemade robotic suit whose pneumatic cylinders let him curl 171.5 pounds' worth of cinder blocks with relative ease. While it's not the most sophisticated setup, it's only running at half pressure and could potentially double the load with a compressor upgrade. There's a work log at the source link if you're eager to see how this project came to be. With that said, you'll want to be cautious about trying this yourself -- there aren't any leg supports so far, and those blocks aren't exactly harmless. If you're like me, you'll probably feel safer watching Hobson's demo video below.
Old console, new tricks: Getting the most out of your Wii
It's not a great time to be a Nintendo fan. Forecasts are falling; profits are down; and Nintendo's new console just can't bottle the lightning its predecessor left behind. The faithful may believe that the Wii U will pull through (after all, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. are just around the corner), but even diehard fans need something to play in the meantime. Look backward, friends: The Nintendo Wii still has some life in it. Dust off your Wiimotes and don your protective jackets -- we've found four ways to revitalize your old Wii.
Build your own robotic bartender with Arduino and a 3D printer
You can certainly buy a ready-made drink mixing robot if you're flush with cash, but wouldn't you rather spend that money on the drinks themselves? Yu Jiang Tham thinks so -- he recently designed Bar Mixvah, a robotic bartender you can build yourself with $180 in parts. The key ingredient is an Arduino Nano microcontroller that takes your requests through a web-based interface. After that, it's mostly a matter of 3D printing the frame and wiring up the pumps that will make your beverage a reality.
Wii and DS online play lives on through homebrew server
Pro-tip for life: Don't tell the Internet it can't do something. Case in point, Nintendo shut down its official servers for Wii and DS online play just three days ago, and already there's a community running their own service in its stead. While it may take some extra work and tweaking on your end to configure a DS or Wii system to be compatible with the unofficial server, it is theoretically possible to still get in a race or two of Mario Kart. We say "theoretically" because, being unofficial and all, the server isn't as stable or reliable as Nintendo's was. Not every game with online play has been tested for compatibility, and even those that have been tested could crash under server stress. Still, the project's wiki page notes that it is being actively developed, so it's possible things will improve. In the meantime, wear a hard hat and watch for falling goombas. [Image: Nintendo]
Homebrew server keeps Nintendo DS and Wii games online
Nintendo may have pulled the plug on internet multiplayer services for the DS and Wii, but that doesn't mean that you'll be stuck playing their games offline from here on out. Enterprising fans have launched an unofficial Wi-Fi Connection server that lets matchmaking and other core services work (almost) the way they did before the cutoff. In many cases, it's relatively easy to set things up. The DS usually works just by changing the handheld's connection settings; Wii owners, meanwhile, have to run some software from an SD card for the magic to happen.
Neo XYX joins the Dreamcast's library next week
Mere weeks after Redux: Dark Matters made its Dreamcast debut, yet another game is scheduled to launch for Sega's surprisingly healthy 15-year-old console. German studio NG:DEV.TEAM announced that it will release its arcade-style shoot-'em-up NEO XYX for the Dreamcast next week via its online store. NEO XYX (pronounced "Neo Zaikusu") is a vertically scrolling shooter in the vein of Truxton, Batsugun, and other arcade standouts developed by Toaplan. NEO XYX previously launched as a homebrew release for SNK's Neo Geo console in 2013, though the upcoming Dreamcast edition will be available at a fraction of the Neo Geo version's original price. NEO XYX will be released on February 17 in standard, limited, and collector's editions. [Image: NG:DEV.TEAM]
Adafruit shows how to make your own touchscreen camera using Raspberry Pi (video)
Do you like the idea of building your own digital camera, but want something a little more sophisticated than Ikea's cardboard cam? Adafruit will be happy to help you out. It has posted instructions for making a point-and-shoot using little more than a Raspberry Pi, its matching camera module and Adafruit's PiTFT touchscreen. The resulting device won't rival any modern point-and-shoot for quality, but it's truly usable -- you can even slap on a WiFi adapter to upload shots to Dropbox. Whatever your experience with DIY photography, you'll find everything you need to know at the source link.
Super Hexagon shrinks to 16kb in Commodore 64 demake
Terry Cavanagh's endlessly vexing action game Super Hexagon travels back a few decades for its latest port, arriving mostly intact on the Commodore 64 via the fan-made tribute Micro Hexagon. Homebrew enthusiasts Paul Koller and Mikkel Hastrup created 8-bit version of Super Hexagon as part of this year's RGCD C64 Cartridge Development Competition, following up on Koller's previous C64 ports of Super Crate Box and Canabalt. It's an impressive piece of work considering the hardware (dig that rotation effect!), and comes complete with a SID rendition of the original game's thumping soundtrack. Micro Hexagon is available as a free download, and is playable on emulators and original C64 hardware.
