Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Laptops

Imagine if you could attach a physical knob, slider, or switch to any application which called for some tactile interaction (say a music app like Live or Logic). That concept is exactly what led Lyndsay Williams to create the SenseSurface — a modular system that allows you to literally stick a controller onto a display when you need it. The devices use an X/Y matrix on the backside of a typical laptop display coupled with custom designed movement sensors. Lyndsay claims that the apparatus is multitouch and low friction, leaves no marks, is programmable, scaleable, and limited only by the size of the screen. The cost? Less than $100 in production. Take a look at a prototype of the system on video after the break, and hit the read link for more detail.

[Via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Continue reading SenseSurface sticks knobs onto screens, turns virtual controls physical

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Now here’s an instrument you wouldn’t have minded practicing as a tot. Alle Meine Klänge’s AMK is a modular recorder (you know, those plastic flute wannabes) that pack an array of individual blocks which can hold any sound you like. Simply transfer homegrown beats / notes / tunes / etc. over to each block, connect ‘em up and you’ve got yourself a instrument of cacophonic delight. ‘Tis a shame it’s still a concept — Fisher-Price, you seeing this?

[Via BoingBoing]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Peripherals

Ultra Products, Inc. is trying its hand at that most glorious of corporate traditions: suing the pants off one’s competition. The maker of computer components is taking 22 — yes, twenty two! — of their competitors to court, claiming to have a patent for modular power supplies since November of 2006. Ultra says they sent several warnings to the companies about the violations and is asking for the legal maximum of three times the damages. The suit actually doesn’t accuse the companies of violating the patent, but of being an accomplice to end users who are violating the patent. Oh, and unless we’re missing something here, Hewlett Packard filed a modular power supply patent in 2000 — we certainly recall Screen Savers covering the devices way back in ‘99.

[Thanks, Mack]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Household

From what we can glean, Sung-hun Choi’s Free Lines are merely a concept at this point, but any DIY’er trying to run power from the garage (or your neighbor’s crib) to the home could appreciate the vision. Essentially, the design consists of a series of snappable cables and modular outlet blocks which can be strung along to just the right length, and better still, the artsy type could even use it to dress up a bare wall. Thinking there’s just too much promise in this for it to stay stuck at the drawing board? Yeah, us too.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Filed under: Cellphones, CES

While wandering around the “International” wing of this year’s CES, we stumbled upon a number of questionable (and familiar) items. One line of products that stood out, however, was a company offering a modular solution for adding GSM capability to a wide variety of devices. Using what appears to be a proprietary type of connector, the SIM-ready card can imbue an assortment of gadgets (phone, e-book reader, GPS… teddy bear) with GSM functionality. It’s unclear whether this technology is being deployed overseas (or at all), and whether or not we’ll see it Stateside (doubtful), but it does take a novel approach to cell-ing up your gear.

Permalink | Email this | Comments