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Here’s a great demonstration of a levitating magnet with 2 high-speed rotating cylinders.

Maybe someone can take this idea further and make us some hoverboards please!

While working on science museum exhibits in 1990 I came up with the above idea: it is known that a spinning metal disk will lift and fling a strong magnet. Therefore, metal rods with opposite spin will lift a magnet but WON’T fling it sideways. It works! I used “sched-80″ heavy wall copper tubes about 1-3/8″ diameter, 12″ long, with 1/4″ wall thickness. I hammered aluminum plugs into the tubes, carved shaft-tips with a lathe, built endblocks and bearings, spun them with an AC/DC motor, and managed to levitate a stack of two 3/4″ diameter neodymium magnets. The spinning tubes must move at about 5000 RPM before the magnet starts floating.

via hackedgadgets, amasci

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I have once played golf with one of the executives at AMD and he was telling me that future of computer chips are in organic chips sorta similar to human brain.

Well, here’s one of the first signs of that, a robot controlled by rat brain!

The robot’s biological brain is made up of cultured neurons which are placed onto a multi electrode array (MEA). The MEA is a dish with approximately 60 electrodes which pick up the electrical signals generated by the cells. This is then used to drive the movement of the robot. Every time the robot nears an object, signals are directed to stimulate the brain by means of the electrodes. In response, the brain’s output is used to drive the wheels of the robot, left and right, so that it moves around in an attempt to avoid hitting objects. The robot has no additional control from a human or a computer, its sole means of control is from its own brain.

via ohgizmo

For Do-It-Yourselfers, making your onw multi-touch input device has never been easier with the DIY Multi-Touch Kit.

TouchKit is a modular multitouch development kit with the aim to make multitouch readily available in an open source fashion. It is a sister project of the CUBIT multitouch system and aimed at rapid implementation of multitouch projects.

via make, Product Page

Here’s a really cool DIY on how to hack your own RC hovercraft.

It looks pretty simple enough other than the RC parts.

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“The workings of a hovercraft are fairly straightforward: one high-power motor with an airplane propeller forces air down through the hole in the center, which pushes the bottom of the hovercraft off the ground. This greatly reduces friction, allowing the hovercraft to scoot around without much trouble. It also makes it much more difficult to control, however: when the hovercraft turns, it will keep traveling in a straight line unless more thrust is applied. Since we are used to controlling cars or boats, the newtonian behavior of a hovercraft is challenging indeed. The body of the hovercraft is made out of styrofoam, cut with a saw and sanded to smooth the edges. The skirt on the bottom is made out of pieces of a plastic GAP bag, attached with Scotch tape and hot glue. The radio control unit was scavenged from an old boat I had, along with the drive motor mounted on the wooden supports, while the lifting motor was from my physics teacher. The battery is 300 mAh 6V NiMH (or NiCd, I forget), and I have a pair of them. They were about $6-$10 each (again, forgot) and about $12 for the 2 1/2 hour charger. The servomotor for steering was from an old RC car I had”

via hackedgadgets

RoofRay is a site that let’s you calculate your home’s solar power potential using the power of GoogleMaps.

It’s very interesting as the site will caculate the solar power potential based on the roof area and the slope of the roof.

It’s probably pretty accurate as most data is using direct satellite images off GoogleMaps.

The greatest part about this site is that you can find out how much energy you will be able to make with new solar power cells.  Then you calculate how much it is to install new solar panels on your roof to see how long it will take you to payoff the panels itself.

The RoofRay site allows you to specify location, size and slope of your roof via Google Maps. It then uses this info to estimate how much energy can be generated from your available exposure.

via make

If you skateboard, snowboard, surf, or do any other board sports, you will know the value of having your own balance board in your home to practice.

Besides practicing your balance, the Balance Board can give you toned calves, thighs, and a great way to exercise in a small space.

this ible will show you how to build your very own balance board to almost the exact same dimensions of the leading brands product (think surfer nickname for indonesia). however instead of costing you GBP 80 or howaver many dollars that translates into it will only cost you the basic materials and a few hours of projecty fun.

via instructables

Here’s a really cool Photo Digital Converter that will conveniently scan your old photo album without taking up a large space on your desk.

Photo Digital Converter quickly transforms photo prints into digital images for modern archiving. Preserve memories in a digital format faster and more effectively than a scanner due to the same 5 mega pixel sensor capture found in most digital cameras. Features up to 1,800 dpi resolution, 10 bits per color channel images, auto exposure and color balance control for true to life image files. Simply place photograph (up to 5 x 7″) on tray, slide into converter and press button. Works with windows XP, SP2 and Vista PC (via a USB 2.0 cable). Edit, crop and resize images with included editing software. Plastic, 8 3/4 x 10 1/2 x 6 1/2″.

via giinii, ohgizmo, Product Page

With everyone in the industry and consumers going green, Samsung has no choice but to follow in people’s footsteps by introducing an Eco-Friendly cellphone made from corn.

Now, I kinda like this concept of making phones from edibles.  Will they make some new phones out of milk too?  Even better, maybe they can use barley, the same stuff used for making my favorite beverage.

The E200 features a 1.3 megapixel camera, video messaging capabilities and an MP3 player.

Although the device will be available in Europe next month, it doesn’t yet have a release date in the United States.

via keetsa

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I hate to be the one telling you this, especially if you own an iPhone 3G already, but it’s SLOW!

No matter how fast AT&T’s 3G network becomes, that will not change how fast the iPhone 3G runs as the iPhone 3G was never intended to run that fast.

Apple, however, did an amazing job of photoshopping their advertising to “fool” consumers.

But don’t forget the fact that the iPhone does still come out as the winner for the best mobile browser with YouTube support.  That’s one thing that might persuade consumers to buy but definitely not speed or the slow AT&T 3G network.

It’s plainly obvious all commercials exaggerate the greatness of their devices. And a YouTube user has produced a rather amusing (and well done, I must say) video to demonstrate that Apple’s iPhone 3G commercial is no exception.

via techeblog, wired