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Ben Heck talks about fitting custom 3D printer in briefcase, Q nods in approval (video)
The last time we ran into Ben Heck, the tinkerer extraordinaire was waxing poetic at Maker Faire about the Raspberry Pi and cheese curds. One more thing he also talked about, however, was his latest 3D printer project, which he now explains in greater detail in the latest episode of the Ben Heck Show. Improvements made to the device include use of a Birdstruder for easier access to the filament and the ability to print off an SD card if you don't have a computer handy. The 3D printer also sports an expanded 200-square-millimeter print area with a solid copper cover for added sturdiness and accuracy. As usual, size matters for Mr. Heckendorn so the device got a boost in portability, now neatly folding James Bond-like into a briefcase that measures 18 x 14 x 4.2 inches. Interested in a briefcase printer of your own? Well, Heckendorn mentioned during the Maker Faire interview that he's already working on an improved version and thinking about putting it up on Kickstarter so hope springs eternal. In the meantime, you can glean more details about the device by checking out the video after the break.
Fujitsu starts build-it-yourself PC service, lets you go homebrew without the electrical shocks
Big PC companies are often seen as being at odds with the concept of custom-built computers: apart from letting us tick a few checkboxes before we order, they'd rather we not fiddle with the internals. Fujitsu is breaking the mold and embracing some of that DIY culture with its upcoming Hands-on Custom PC Assembly Service. The Japanese can take classes that teach them how to install their picks (from a limited range) of processors, hard drives and RAM. While the program doesn't start completely from scratch -- the motherboard is already installed -- it takes would-be assemblers through many of the experiences of building their own PCs from the ground up. Builders can choose how many components, if they're not quite so ambitious, and learn smart practices like wearing anti-static wristbands. While there won't be as many unintentional jolts of electricity as the real deal, the courses should help PC owners feel comfortable working inside a computer -- not to mention save Fujitsu a few technical support calls. The variable-price courses start in Japan on August 9th for multiple Esprimo desktops and a LifeBook portable. We can only hope that American PC vendors take a few hints and encourage everyone's inner technician.
Ben Heck makes Super Glove mod for Kinect, takes strain out of gestures (video)
Sick of trying to control your 360 using Kinect, semaphore and advanced flailing? Modgod Ben Heck, deciding he wanted to be more Minority Report and less lunatic, has been working on Power Glove 2.0 to improve the console's navigation experience. The prototype glove is tricked out with Arduino, an accelerometer, a gyroscope and some fingertip buttons. With the addition of IR and a little coding magic, the 360's interface can be controlled via subtle gestures, with increased functionality / style points also apparent. Check out the latest episode of The Ben Heck Show after the break for a detailed walkthrough of the project and a demo of the glove in action.
VIA offers $89 processor and motherboard combo for custom HTPCs
If you're looking to craft a small form factor HTPC to an equally small budget, then VIA's own-brand internals deserve some serious consideration. The company's 1.4GHz dual-core Nano X2 CPU was recently put to good effect in Zotac's ZBOX Nano VD01 and is now available as part of a DIY combo called the VE-900, which puts the processor on a compact mini-ITX motherboard alongside a VX900 dedicated media accelerator for smooth video handling up to 1080p. The board has a single PCI slot, room for up to 8GB of DDR3, two SATA pin headers and four USB 2.0 ports. The rear panel adds to this with HDMI and VGA video outs, three analog audio jacks, Gigabit LAN, four more USB 2.0 ports and other standard fare -- but alas, it seems that the $89 price tag won't fetch you digital audio outs or USB 3.0. You'll find a full PR and promo video after the break, plus some Nano X2 benchmarks at the More Coverage link.
Photographer goes digital, blows half a million dollars on a 10MP sensor
Ever spent way too much on a luxury watch or handbag? We hear ya -- the Engadget closet is bulging with Balenciaga clutches we hardly ever take out any more. But do you know who we blame for these inexplicable lapses of consumer judgment? A professional photographer by the name of Mitchell Feinberg, who happens to own the world's largest digital sensor. He uses the $500,000 custom-built 8x10-inch camera back to help capture mouthwatering advertising stills for couture clients like Bulgari and Vogue. What's really loco, though, is that the sensor is only 10MP, which isn't remotely sufficient for printable art. Instead, Feinberg puts it to work as a replacement for Polaroid; grabbing full-size test snaps during a shoot before reverting to an old-fashioned sheet of 8x10 film for the final money-shot. Whereas he previously spent $50k per year on Polaroid stock, now he spends nothing. So, unlike those silly blue-tinted Ray-Bans we bought for our vacation, this block of light-receptive love should eventually pay for itself. (Oh, and speaking of summer breaks, Feinberg says he's currently away on his, but he promises to post some sample pics on his site when he returns.)
OS Xbox Pro is the hottest hackintosh ever
Warning: some NSFW lyrics on the music in the video above. What do you get when you combine an old Xbox with OS X and some Mac Pro level hardware? This monstrosity. Built by Will Urbina, the OS Xbox Pro is a hackintosh casemodded into an original Xbox dev kit, with some crazy hardware under the hood, including a pair of 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550s, an NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT card, 8GB of RAM, an 16GB solid state drive, and four traditional hard drives -- one boots Windows 7, the other one does OS X (Snow Leopard, we believe -- he bought a copy retail), a Ubuntu install in there somewhere, and two other sweet hard drives for video editing. And here's the wacky thing: Total material cost of the system is under $1500. That, combined with the video above, almost makes me want to spend a month of weekends trying to do something like this myself (aside from, you know, fitting it into a dev kit Xbox thing -- although fitting it into an old Macintosh might be a fun build, too). At any rate, awesome build for sure.
Puget Systems' $16K Windows 2008 server
In this world of netbooks, "mini" this and "pico" that, it's nice to see someone taking things to the opposite extreme. When folks at Puget Systems mentioned that they were working on a "high-end" custom build, Tom's Hardware asked the logical follow-up question: "how high-end are we talkin'?" Let's just say that we'd be hard-pressed find someone who wouldn't be content with this beast: four quad-core 2GHz Opteron processors (that's a lot of cores!), 32GB of memory, two VelociRaptor hard drives in RAID1, and six 1TB hard drives in RAID 5. Of course, this guy generates a lot of heat: the system boasts both liquid cooling and a ginormous side-mounted radiator -- with so much surface area, the fans can be run at a low speed to keep things nice and quiet. Additionally, a Koolance pump and reservoir unit was installed in one of the CD-ROM bays, allowing the user to adjust the pump speed based on desired performance and noise levels. Including Windows Server 2008 Standard, a one-year parts warranty, and a lifetime labor warranty, the machine went for a mere $16,338.89. Go ahead, treat yourself. You deserve nice things too. [Via Slashgear]
