laser etching
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Gresso's Grand Premiere: an Avantgarde phone with a behind-the-times OS and a $50,000 price tag
Whenever Gresso's not crafting expensive new threads for iDevices, the company makes its own featurephones from the finest materials mother nature has to offer. The new Grand Premiere is the latest from the company's Avantgarde collection and carries on this incongruous tradition. Its frame and keys are made from more than five ounces of 18-carat gold, with numbers and letters laser-etched on its sapphire crystal skin. We don't know the internals of the 12mm-thin candybar, but we do know it's running Symbian S40 and is probably packing anemic hardware like other Gressos we've seen -- you're paying for exclusivity and the shiny stuff, not benchmarking abilities, after all. Only 30 Grand Premiere's will be made at $50,000 pop, so all you conspicuous consumers with money to burn better move fast. Wouldn't want to be the only luddite at the yacht club without luxury handset, would you?
Laser-etched Engadget keyboard combines narcissism with our unmatched touch typing abilities
What's better than wowing your friends with a triple digit WPM on a blank keyboard with your screen off? Why, the glorious Engadget logo shining forth from said blank keyboard. Our very own Yeager Yu over at Engadget Chinese took a murdered out Zippy "Dancing Light" backlit 'board and got it laser-etched with the Engadget logo -- a glorious sight to behold, if we do say so ourselves. Check out the etching in action after the break.
Design your own Kindle (and win it) with Engadget, Amazon, and Adafruit Industries!
Reading isn't just about the text that you're reading, it's an intimately personal experience in every sense of the word -- the way the book feels, the crease of the pages, the wear on the cover, it's all totally unique to your copy at the time that you're reading it. Put simply, it's an experience no one else will ever have. Between three models, dozens of accessories, and countless e-books, no two Kindles are alike, either -- but Engadget has partnered with Amazon and the DIY experts over at Adafruit Industries to hook up five extraordinarily lucky readers with truly unique reading devices. These guys are the laser etching experts -- see one of the Kindles they've done here!Here's the deal: we're asking you to think of a design that would look great on the Kindle's brushed metal back -- something that means a lot to you, something that'll make passers-by drool with envy when you casually hold up your new toy while reading The Economist from the comfort of your train, plane, or bus seat. Draft up that design (seriously, make sure it's awesome, because you'll be facing some stiff competition) and send it to us. We'll post some of our favorites as finalists and hand the reigns over to you -- our dear readers -- to select five winners who will each have their designs laser-etched into reality on the backs of their very own Kindles!The rules: Send your design to us by emailing it to contests [at] engadget [dawt] com with the subject "I want my custom Kindle!" (no quotes). Submissions must be in EPS or AI format, must be in black and white only, and must be composed strictly of vector graphics with all fonts converted to curves. We can scale your design as necessary, but keep in mind that you'll be dealing with an etchable area roughly five inches by seven inches. You can find a (very large) image of the back of the Kindle 2 here for your reference. We can't print anything you don't have the rights for, so to be safe, original work is the best! You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Five (5) winners will each receive one (1) Amazon Kindle 6" Wireless Reading Device customized by Adafruit Industries. Approximate retail value is $299.00. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Design entries can be submitted until Friday, July 24th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
NBA ballers get custom PS3s during NBA All-Star event
It must be nice to be a celebrity. Apart from the beautiful people you're no doubt surrounded by all of the time, you get showered with free gifts ... constantly. Like, a super badass PS3 that we wish we owned! That's just what a handful of NBA players received at a recent event, co-sponsored by Sony and the NBA, during the NBA All-Star Weekend, where Sony outfitted the official player's lounge with the latest PlayStation games. Attendees were able to score one-of-a-kind, customized Nike Air Force Ones and a PS3 laser-etched with a design of their choice. You can see Paul Pierce's choice above.There's also a pretty sweet system dedicated to Lebron James, which you can see here.
Laser-etched tattoos: don't try this at home, kids
It's not too often case mods cross over into the world of body mods, but when you think about it, it was kind of only a matter of time before people started using laser-etchers to give themselves immaculately detailed burn "tattoos." It's unclear what kind of lasting effects using an Epilog on your own skin will have, but don't be too stunned if it just peels right off and eventually becomes some weird, blurry scar. In other words, attempt this dumbass feat at your own risk. Oh, and you didn't think we would let this one off without a video, did you? It's after the break -- too bad there's no smell-o-vision to give off the nauseating scent of precision-burnt human flesh.
DS Daily: Laser Lites
Yesterday in our Show and Tell feature, we showed off a DS Lite owned by a reader who bravely decided to have Tarepanda etched permanently on the surface. Permanently. With lasers (probably). The major problem we have with tattoos applies here, though this is somewhat less permanent and painful: it's often difficult to think of a design that is so awesome that you'd consent to damaging your (skin/property) forever just to show it off. We could never take the plunge, but most of you are bolder than we are. Have you had something laser-etched or otherwise engraved onto your DS? Would you? If so, what? Llama or non-llama?
Laser-etching the iPhone
We're expecting to see Apple roll out an iPod-esque laser-etching service for the iPhone anytime now, but until then, New Yorkers can stop by Engadget pal Philip Torrone's shop to carve up their phones. Brave customer Dan was first to pony up, and PT set his 35W Epilog laser to 40 percent power and etched in these sweet old-school flying toasters. Interestingly, PT says the back of the iPhone is "nice plastic" and not aluminum, which is news to us. Peep a vid of the crazy-fast laser in action after the break.
Found Footage: Laser etching a PowerBook
Gina over at Lifehacker got her PowerBook etched with a Celtic knot, and she had the wherewithal to capture the process with her cameraphone. The video isn't that great, but head on over to Lifehacker to check out some photos of the finished product.
More laser etched Powerbooks
Philip Torrone is at it again. 3 more Powerbooks have received the laser etching treatment (read about the first one he did, or get yours done by ETCHamac). This time the Powerbooks get a NeXT logo, a bunny in a tsunami, and some tasteful blossom branches.I really want to get this done to my Powerbook, since new tops only cost $35 (for the 15 inchers). Would you do this to your precious Powerbook?[via O'Grady's PowerPage]
