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Ben Heck makes a Zelda lamp by upcycling laptop screens
Humans by nature can be a little bit wasteful. Recycling helps, of course, but some things are too good to throw away. That's where upcycling comes in. Karen has the idea to repurpose laptop screens to create a Legend of Zelda-inspired lamp. However, not just any laptop screen will do. As the team rips apart old hardware they soon discover the different types of panels that have been used in various laptops over the years. With the optimal screens identified, Karen gets down to business with Adobe Illustrator and designs suitable laser-cut frames. Watch the episode to find out tips and tricks to make the perfect design. Have you upcycled any old hardware? Think you could enter your project in a design competition? Find out more on the element14 Community.
ICYMI: Bulletproof origami shields and hoverbikes
Today on In Case You Missed It: Finally, the best part of Return of the Jedi is becoming a reality. Hoversurf Inc. is building actual hoverbikes for folks to ride. Well, not right away. It'll be a few years before you can buy one. But at least we can start saving all your nickels and dimes for a time when we can go barreling through the Redwoods like Luke and Leia.
SodaStream recalls 51,000 bottles because they might explode
Your greatest SodaStream fears have been realized: tens of thousands of SodaStream's plastic bottles may not be able to withstand quite as much pressure as the company thought, causing the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a recall because they pose an injury risk to carbonation-happy consumers. Some 51,000 bottles sold in the US and another 7,600 bottles sold in Canada are included in the recall because they could potentially explode under pressure -- either while pumping them full of CO2 or simply by shaking a full, carbonated bottle.
IBM and Indiegogo are bringing Watson's smarts to the masses
IBM sees a big future in the Internet of Things. The company unveiled its $200 million IoT headquarters in Munich this week as part of its planned $3 billion investment in the connected devices industry. So far, however, the tech behemoth has mostly lent Watson's brains to larger companies and research projects. That's about to change thanks to a new partnership from IBM, Indiegogo and Arrow Electronics that promises to give independent developers and entrepreneurs access to those same machine learning tools.
3Doodler's new kits help kids craft their own robots
It used to be that if you gave a 3Doodler Start to a child, you'd have to throw them some stencils or otherwise pray they were creative enough to make something neat. Not so anymore. Eager to empower a new generation of Boston Dynamics engineers, 3Doodler is releasing a new robotics kit that lets kids — what else? — create their own moving machines out of melted plastic and sheer moxie.
ICYMI: Transient luminous events and bipedal robots
Today on In Case You Missed It: We get a much closer look at electrical discharge phenomena courtesy of a video filmed from the International Space Station. Called "Transient Luminous Events", the phenomena are notoriously hard to study as they occur 25-60 miles above thunderstorms. Even satellites have had little luck at capturing images of the upper-atmosphere lighting. However, viewing angles were less of a challenge for ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen who was able to a highly-sensitive camera to snag video footage of 245 flashes of blue lightning while he was stationed on the ISS in 2015.
Lego launches a safe social network for kids to share their creations
If your child is a budding Lego genius yearning to show off her creative constructions to the world, then Lego has just the place for her to do it. The company behind the iconic bricks has just launched a new social network made for kids under 13. Called Lego Life, it's designed to let kids connect with a community of their peers. They can look at what other children have created and also share what they've built. Lego Life is made for tablets, with iOS and Amazon Kindle Fire versions available today in the US, UK, France and Germany.
Right to Repair bills introduced in five states
Anyone with a cracked iPhone screen knows what a pain it is to go through Apple to get it repaired. You have to make a Genius Bar appointment, which may or may not still require you to wait around for a service technician. Then it could be hours before you get your precious back into your possession. Or, you could use one of the repair kiosks found in nearly every mall in the United States and be back in business in about 45 minutes.
Obama's legacy: The most tech-savvy president
When Barack Obama moved into the White House on January 20th, 2009, the federal government was in the digital dark ages. Even as late as 2011, he was complaining that the White House was 30 years behind. Among other things, Obama was the first president to carry a BlackBerry, and even so, it wasn't until 2016 that the leader of the free world was finally able to trade in his aging RIM device for a modern smartphone. And, as the president was quick to point out in an interview with Jimmy Fallon, the unnamed phone is so locked down, it's like one of those "play phones" you'd give to a 3-year-old. Despite these hurdles, Obama made it one of his priorities to modernize the federal government on everything from telecommunications policy to White House IT. He tackled infrastructure, STEM education, net neutrality and climate change in serious and substantive ways. Of course, the president's efforts weren't always a rousing success, and on issues involving privacy, spying and drone usage, he faces lingering criticism from both ends of the political spectrum. But, love him or hate him, for better or worse, when it comes to science and technology, Barack Obama has had a bigger impact than almost any president in history.
The best home 3D printer for beginners (so far)
By Signe Brewster This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here. Though 3D printers have until recently been too expensive and complex for curious beginners, it's possible to find a relatively inexpensive and approachable model to use at home. We spent 20 hours researching and testing three of the best beginner-focused 3D printers we could find and think the Tiertime Up Mini 2 is the best choice for most people just starting out with 3D printing. It has the best combination of reliability, features, and style. It was the easiest to set up and produced the highest number of great-quality prints of all the printers we tested.
Technology helped me through the emotional roller coaster of CES
Humans love to control how they feel. Booze and coffee have been perking us up and lubricating social situations for millennia. Mood-enhancing technology, on the other hand, usually tries to emulate a cup of joe or a glass of wine but without the need for rinsing your liver. I'm generally OK with pumping chemicals into my body, but with a few mood-changing gadgets catching my eye in the run-up to this year's CES, I thought I'd give some a go. The hope was that I could avoid the usual uppers-and-downers routine that a week in Vegas demands.
GM and Girls Who Code partner for after-school STEM program
As technology jobs continue to rise in importance, a troubling statistic shows that the number of women in the computing workforce dropped from 37 percent in 1995 to only 24 percent today. That's a staggering drop, and one that the education program Girls Who Code is hoping to reverse. Today automaker GM announced it's giving Girls Who Code a $250,000 grant to help bring after-school STEM clubs to thousands of underserved areas.
Circuit Cubes make engineering basics a snap for kids
Kids who fall in love with technology and engineering have never had it better. There's no shortage of websites and tutorial videos and hardware kits meant to teach them the fundamentals of crafting their very own gadgets, but I'd argue few are as elegant -- or as fun -- as Tenka Labs' Circuit Cubes. They're tiny modules laden with magnets, batteries, sensors and other fun little components, but since they're cubes, they allow players to build complex, multifunctional structures in three dimensions. Imagine a mash-up between LittleBits and Lego and you're on the right track.
Nick Offerman on why sometimes the best tech is low tech
Nick Offerman -- star of Parks and Recreation, author of Good Clean Fun and carver of emoji -- made his first trip to CES this year. And no trip to the biggest tech show of the year would be complete without a stop at the Engadget stage. Offerman came by to share his thoughts on technology's pitfalls, working with your hands and the power of greeting cards. No, seriously. As part of American Greetings' new #DeviceLikeNoOther campaign, he is reminding everyone that sometimes an email or a text message isn't the best way to communicate how you feel. Sometimes there's just no replacing a physical card.
Ben Heck's sound-switching headphones
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){} You might not have wondered what Felix was like as a baby, but you're about to find out. Ben hacks apart a VTech baby monitor so that it's possible to listen to your favorite music with headphones, with interruptions when your little one needs attention. After breaking open the baby monitor, Ben finds the perfect place for the digital logic level control and 555 timers needed to latch onto the audio signal and switch over from music and back again. What devices do you need to make your life easier or more comfortable as a parent? Let the Ben Heck Show team know over on the element14 community.
'Wolfenstein 3D' ported to Game Boy Color on turbocharged cart
Yes, that's a Game Boy Color cartridge sporting the Wolfenstein 3D logo. It's not just cosmetic, because a modder named Anders Granlund has built a playable version of the classic FPS for the ancient handheld console. To give you an idea of the degree of difficulty, Granlund designed and built a custom ARM-powered board to power the graphics, and built it into the cartridge. The final result is playable on any Game Boy Color.
Six DIY gadgets that improve life in the developing world
By Cat DiStasio Around the world, inventors are coming up with amazing DIY gadgets perfectly suited for use in rural and off-grid areas. These gadgets translate into a huge improvement in quality of life for those who use them, by paving the way for affordable housing made from mud, effective energy-free lighting where there was previously darkness, and easy access to clean water. A 14-year-old Indian inventor even created a clever way to quickly launder clothes without electricity. With each of these innovations comes a story of true creativity triumphing over necessity, resulting in a simple, low-cost product that leaves a lasting impact on the lives of people who use them.
Learning and STEM toys we love
By Courtney Schley This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. When readers choose to buy The Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that supports its work. Read the full article here. We don't think there's a right or wrong way for kids to play. For this kid-oriented gift guide, we focused on open-ended games, kits, toys, and crafts that promote lifelong skills like critical thinking, problem solving, logic, and even coding. To choose from the hundreds of toys available, we spent more than 30 hours trying 35 recommendations from experts, educators, and parents, including a reporting trip to the Katherine Delmar Burke School's tinkering and technology lab in San Francisco. And, of course, we spent some time playing with our picks at home with our own kids.
