We've been trying to Make Something Useless Useful since 2012. In order to do that we've been donating a percentage of past sales of the Useless Box to Plan Canada. In year 2013 $5,000 went to Plan Canada' Gift of Hope School Construction in Honduras.
Wednesday Cool Links: The Flying Stuff, ...
Solar botics
March 20, 2013
Solarbotics and the Useless Box have been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article "Looking for Something Useful to Do With Your Time? Don't Try This"! It is dedicated to the historical overview of the uselessness starting with its invention in the 1950s to nowadays. The useless box can take many guises, names and materials to be made of, but the initial impulse for pure purposelessness keeps on fascinating " tinkerers and thinkers alike". It's an interesting read, check it out if you haven't already. And now to our traditional portion of links:
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"Wings" by Dukno Yoon Not sure whether these would qualify as jewellery, mobile or art piece, I think - a little bit of everything, but definitely these look cool. By using this mechanical structure jeweler and metalsmith Dukno Yoon explores the nature of movement of the wing, and the interactive relationship with the body. |
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This is What Happens When You Run Water Through a 24hz Sine Wave First it might seem that the water stream is vibrating only because the hose is doing the same, but when you get to about 1:43 in the video, it gets almost eerie, as if the water is running upwards. |
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A Hovering Magnetic Cloud and Other Kinetic Sculptures by Laurent Debraux Kinetic sculptures by artist Laurent Debraux using primarily magnets, ferrofluid and metal objects with a touch of vintage. More stuff on his youtube channel. |
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A million times (Time Dubai) by Humans since 1982 What happens if you orchestrate 288 clocks to wave their hands in a specific fashion? Pretty mesmerizing, I say... |
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Retrotechtacular: flying foot-soldiers are coming for you (sixty years ago) Here's a remarkable piece of the 1950s experimental military technology- a single-rider flying platform. Two rotors are mounted underneath and provide enough lifting power to hover the platform above the ground. |
Also, according to the Wall Street Journal Useless Box has also been called a "green machine" as one of its inherent attributes is energy efficiency. Our links are also very… green! They last only until you click them, leave minimal environmental footprint, with the exception of, maybe, brain. But, you know, that regenerates, so grow some more neurons by the next time we'll see you here!
MORE POSTS
Sumovore rules Italy!
We just had word from our Italian distributor at Robot-Italy.com - it seems that he was victorious! Take a look at his website - they know how to make cool trophies in Italy...
LED Earrings
The idea of adorning oneself with glowing bits has been around forever, but instead of smearing ourselves with phosphorescent jellyfish or placing fireflies in ears like some uncivilized cavemen we went for simple LED earrings. We made a build that involves a simple slow-scroll RGB LED and a few reflective bits to bounce that pretty […]
Circuit: Stepper Motor
This is a neat little one-chip circuit we originally tuned for use with our "SM1" Stepper motors. We've presently sold out of the motor, but this circuit has proved to be a good unidirectional (1-way) driver for small stepper motors.
Solarbotics has been operating for more than 25 years, bringing electronics know-how and supplies to both the electronics professional and hobbyist. We'll be happy to help you too!
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Warning: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
Please visit www.P65Warnings.ca.gov for more information. This item was manufactured prior to August 31, 2018.