We're not in a position to say whether Samsung's new 0.08mm PCB is truly a world record, but damned if that thing isn't unbelievably thin. (For comparison, your average piece of copy paper is supposed to be about 0.1mm thick.) Of course, things become a bit thicker when you actually start adding components to the mix, but won't you just let us revel in our dreams of cheap, flexible, powered e-newspapers for a few minutes?

Although the Wiimote (and the SIXAXIS, under certain conditions) already enjoy the luxuries that tilting can bring, it looks like those sticking with Microsoft's console will now be able to get in on fun as well. Thanks to a partnership with "specialist peripheral makers" Talismoon, the highly-regarded tiltBoard is reportedly getting an commercial makeover as it readies itself for "mass production." Details are admittedly scant right now, but the forthcoming product -- "which will bring tilt sensitivity for the Xbox 360 to the masses" -- is said to be "worth the wait" from its presumably jovial creator. And if you can't visualize just how spiffy it'd be to control your 360 titles without touching the analog or D-pad, be sure to click on through to see what the tiltBoard can do for you.

If you're curious about just how many hits your blossoming website is receiving on a moment to moment basis, but don't feel like fiddling with those questionably accurate electronic types, the Mechanical Hit Counter could be just the project you've been yearning for. As the name implies, the kit combines a vintage counter, lots of cabling, a few relays and transistors, an Ethernet interface board, a Basic Express BX-24, power supply, and an eagle-eyed webcam for spreading the excitement all over. This geeky (albeit beautiful) display of "overengineering" accomplishes a useful task by going around the proverbial elbow to reach the thumb, but even more shifty than the creation itself is its connection to the internet. The networked webcam snaps a photo of the counter every five or so seconds, giving bored surfers quite a bit of novel entertainment to pass the time. You know the drill, tap the read link for a detailed description and a killer time waster.

[Via MAKE]

Some behind-the-"screens" work just completed by Samsung will soon enable many of the portable devices you enjoy to offer thinner and lighter touch panel displays. The Korean electronics giant has announced a new LCD technology called hTSP (Hybrid Touch Screen Panel) that will allow manufacturers to incorporate touch screen functionality directly into the TFT fabrication process, whereas most current touch-sensitive applications require a separate, sensor-laden printed circuit board (PCB) attached to the top of the display. So far the company is able to create LCDs as big as 3.5 inches using the new method, meaning that you can expect to see hTSP-sporting smartphones, PMPs, and nav devices on store shelves in the near future.

We're back again with our continuing iPod super dock how-to series (see parts one and two, if you need to catch up). Last week we layed out the schematic for the board, and today we'll do a check up on the schematic, and design the PC board that we'll make for our super dock. We're getting close now, can you smell it? It's solder.

In part 1 of our iPod super dock how-to, we created a new mount for the iPod dock connector on a printed circuit board using EAGLE. Now that we have the connector layout in EAGLE, we'll design the schematic for our custom iPod accessory. Read on for part 2 of Design your own super dock! If you're an iPod owner you'll be glad you did, this thing does it all, and we're almost there!

Look for resident hackers Will O'Brien and Eliot Phillips (plus many other crazy projects) April 22-23 at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA!

This one goes out to everyone that has an iPod or two laying about and an itchy soldering iron and thinks that the standard USB or Firewire dock just isn't quite good enough. The tiny thirty pin dock connector on the bottom of later model iPods contains quite a few connections and we want to take advantage of all of them: audio, video, serial, USB and Firewire. Today, we're bringing you part one of a How-To series on designing and building your own iPod super dock.