Metal Blinking Search Results

How To: Perform a magnetic salt shaker magic trick

Have you ever wished you had super powers? Well, Ryan Oakes is going to show you how to make it look like your whole body is magnetized! You will need a salt shaker (with a metal lid with holes), and a toothpick (preferably wooden or light-colored). Sometimes we use materials that require adult supervision... like scissors, so make sure you have friends and family around whenever you do magic tricks. 1. Break off about a third of a toothpick and hide it in your left hand by clipping it with y...

How To: Perform a rising ring magic trick

Spooky Magic tricks are so much fun! So grab a rubber band and metal ring and learn how to do the rising ring!You will need a finger ring or key ring and a thin medium-sized rubber band. Sometimes we use materials that require adult supervision... like scissors to make sure you have friends and family around whenever you do magic tricks.

How To: Change Your Bicycle's Tire, Inspect for Damage, and Detect Hidden Problems

Many things cause a bike tire to deflate. Glass, sharp rocks, tacks, and nails can pierce the tire and puncture the tube within. A tube can be pinched between the rim and tire causing the tube to split when inflated. If a tire has a hole in it, the tube, which is filled with air pressure, will bulge out of the opening and pop. As well, the valve holding the air pressure in the tube can be damaged or faulty.

How To: Make Your Very Own Blinding Sunbeam with a Lithium AA Battery

Taking apart batteries is one of those things that every adult you've ever known has warned you against. Today, we break the taboo and dive into a lithium battery. Lithium has some pretty cool properties—it burns instantly in water and glows blindly bright under flame. And with just one AA battery, you can make a blinding light beam inspiring supernatural awe in all dictatorial adults who doubted you.

News: Hideo Kojima and Fox Engine Make Special USC Appearance

Hideo Kojima is one of the biggest names in Japanese game design. He's the man behind every Metal Gear game, each of which has been beautiful but divisive. He's an auteur, a rarity in AAA game design, managing business, design, and programming for Kojima Productions. Last week he made a rare public appearance at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, which contains the school's video game programs, and gave a 90-minute talk about his career, influences, and the specifics of his new Fox game design...

How To: Make Jim Lahey's No-Knead Pizza

Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough is more time consuming than Jamie Oliver's "cheat's pizza", but it's quicker and simpler than the more traditional dough recipes. The rise time is only two hours, and the kneading is minimal. I still prefer Jamie's pizza, but I sense this is because I haven't quite mastered Lahey's recipe yet.

News: Parking lot beat down

Have the victim park their car in a normal parking spot. While they are in the place they parked at have another car (the prankster) drive up and swipe the back of the victim's car, leaving huge dents in both cars. Have the prankster wait, hidden, outside for the victim to come out leaving his car parked behind the victims. When the victim comes out he will see his car smashed and the pranksters car sitting behind also smashed up. The prankster will come running out of "the building" and star...

Red Wine: The Secret to Superconductivity

We've all heard of the power that red wine holds. It can help lower risks of heart disease, boost your brain power, and can even recharge your car battery. But last year, a group of Japanese physicists made headlines when they announced that they could induce superconductivity by soaking metals in red wine. But why red wine?

How To: Build Your Own "Pogo Mo Thoin" to Flash Any Xbox 360 DVD Drive for Under $5

The biggest struggle with flashing DVD drives on Xbox 360s has been the price tag of the probe to extract keys on some drives. The probe and kit is required to extract the DVD key, which is needed to perform a drive repair, flash, or backup of any kind. Who wants to pay big bucks for the "pro" kit and then get added to a huge waiting list behind a million other people looking to buy the same product? We can hack the same thing together at home!

How To: Make a Mini Cannon From a Lighter

I love this project. It involves fire, projectiles, electricity, and is easy to put together from commonly available parts. This mini cannon fires airsoft pellets, is fueled by alcohol, and is made almost entirely from parts found in a standard BBQ lighter. The total cost is under $5. About half of the BBQ lighters out there have a divide in the gas reservoir which makes them not work for this project. In case you have trouble finding a suitable lighter, the exact one I use in this video is a...

News: W.E.L.D.E.R. Blends Bejeweled, Boggle and Scrabble into Word-Building Addiction

There are tons of mobile apps out there for the gaming logophile, but there's a new word building game taking over iPhones and iPads, and it not only wants you to have fun, it wants you to fight back in the "war against words". It's the Word Examination Laboratory for Dynamic Extraction and Reassessment. But you can just call it W.E.L.D.E.R. Since its release earlier this month, W.E.L.D.E.R. has developed quite a following with its addicting mesh of Bejeweled, Boggle and Scrabble gameplay. It...

News: Pokemon + Jabbawockeez + YouTube = Kusarine Project

Japan has a tendency to produce things that boggle the Western mind. Its citizens are already responsible for without a question the weirdest music video in the history of the medium. With that said, here is a video reenactment of several Pokemon (Pocket Monster in Japan) games released by Japanese performance art troupe Kusarine Project: Kusarine Project and their amazing YouTube channel first became known through the Japanese video sharing site/meme originator NicoNicoDouba. Their white mas...

News: World's First 3D Printed UAV Takes to the Skies

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been widely used by the military for surveillance and reconnaissance missions—even armed combat. But there are other beneficial applications of an unmanned aircraft, such as search and rescue operations, scientific exploration, locating mineral deposits, transporting goods and even filming bikini models. But drone development can be pretty pricey, unless you just happen to have a 3D printer...

News: E3 Sneak Peaks of Sony's Next Generation Portable

In just a few days, the biggest expo in the video game industry will unleash the newest games and hardware from all of the major companies. Nintendo is set to unveil its Wii-replacing Project Café and Konami will showcase its upcoming lineup, including new Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid games. But what will Sony be presenting at E3 in Los Angeles this year?

News: Thirsty Plants Text for Water

Can't remember when to water the plants? Wish they could just tell you when they need watering—just call you on the phone or something? Or maybe text you, "Help I'm desiccating!" Telecommunications researcher Kate Harman has come up with the device of an absent-minded plant owner's dreams—Botanicalls. It hooks up to your plant and sends you a short text message when the plant is too dry. Each kit costs $99 and includes metal sensors connected to a microcontroller. Insert the sensors into the ...

How To: Get Rid of All that Space Junk

How about a laser? One that is strong enough to nudge debris out of earth orbit. That's what NASA contractor James Mason wants to do, and his lab simulations suggest that the idea is possible. Mason wants to use a 5kW ground-based laser and a ground-based 1.5 meter telescope to spot potentially hazardous space waste and shove it off, by about 200 meters per day of lasering. It's kind-of like air traffic control for near earth orbit.

News: Trade in Your Grill for Japanese LED Teeth

In the far away land of Japan, gold is out, glow-in-the-dark is in. LED "grills" were recently conceived of by two Japanese designers/hackers for a winter advertising event at clothing store Laforet Harajuku. The LED teeth attachments quickly became a hot item. Foreseeably, one of the two designers demonstrating the teeth in the video above is the familiar Daito Manabe (our favorite "self-electrocuting" mad hacker). Manabe's partner, Motoi Ishibashi, came up with the idea when "he saw a video...

Do Not Try This At Home: The Human Torch

PopSci's Gray Matter demonstrates again and again what the layman should absolutely Not Try at Home. Which is precisely what makes Gray's experiments so fun. Remember when the mad scientist fully submerged his hand in liquid nitrogen? Today's demonstration also plays with what is (quite reasonably) assumed to be extremely dangerous and painful: torching the human hand.

How To: Make a torched yellowfin (or ahi) tuna and pea salad with anchovy vinaigrette

If you're a tuna lover, but aren't really fond of the raw sushi tuna variety, this could be the perfect blend of both worlds. Tuna enthusiasts no longer have to have it one way or the other… go in-between with a lightly torched tuna meal. Lightly torched tuna (yes, a blowtorch is used) joins a sweet, salty and tangy vinaigrette with fresh herbs and anchovies. Piled atop vibrant radishes, scallions and peas, the dish was beautifully assembled and presented to an appreciative farmers' market cr...

News: World's First Bionic Cat

Oscar the cat is one lucky feline. After losing his two hind legs in a combine harvester, his loving owners had Oscar outfitted with two prosthetic paws, or metallic pegs to be more specific. This revolutionary veterinary procedure is nothing to scoff at - biomedical engineering experts and a neuro-orthopedic surgeon were both called in to create the world's first bionic cat. Via BBC:

News: Advertising in Alan Wake

These are great times. It is about time advertisers invaded our video games in the same way they do our driving (billboards), walking (fliyers, posters), and our private home (emails, bulk mail, text messages).

Connundrum: Sunscreen Addiction

Is Daily Sunscreen Application Dangerous? Since birth, I've been lathered in the sunscreen anytime I venture into the sun. It's what comes with being the freckled spawn of two parents with (benign) skin cancer. Always a fan of the outdoors, my skin has seen lots of sun. You can tell, too. From the lifeguarding, surfing and soccer tournaments, I've definitely notched dozens of sunburns. To protect my skin daily, every morning I apply a moisturizer that includes an SPF 15 sunscreen. 

News: Rockers 'OK Go' Deliver Another Viral Music Video- Rube Goldberg Style

With an impressive series of viral music videos to their name, it is no surprise that the latest video from indie rockers OK Go is another hit. The video is directed by James Frost, in collaboration with Syyn Labs, a collective of engineers that work on elaborate art projects. A huge Rube Goldberg machine was built in a warehouse, for a one-take video for the song This Too Shall Pass.

News: Pentagon Funds Real Life Spider-Man Technology

Chemical engineers at Cornell have created a small device that may one day turn troops into real life spider-men. The device would cradle in the palm of the hand, allowing troops to scale walls. It uses an adhesive inspired by the Floridian leaf beetle, an insect that "can adhere to leaves with power 100 times stronger than its own body weight".