Have Laptop Will Travel

Robotic Beer Launching Refrigerator

Originally posted on March 4, 2007 @ 4:45 pm

Have you ever got up off the couch to get a beer for the hundredth time and thought to yourself, “What if instead of me going to get the beer, the beer came to me?”

Well thanks to the brain child of John W. Cornwell, there is now the Robotic Beer Launching Refrigerator.

About 3 months and several hundred dollars later John has created a fully automated, remote controlled, catapulting, man-pit approved, beer launching mini-fridge.

It holds 10 beers in its magazine with 14 more in reserve to store a full case. It is controlled by a keyless entry system.

Pressing unlock will start the catapult rotating and when it is aiming at your target, pressing unlock again will stop it. Then the lock button can be pressed to launch a beer in the selected direction.

I want one. This thing totally rocks. The only drawback is the cost.

According to John, he put at least a hundred hours into the build, as well as several hundred dollars worth of parts. He estimates that the price would be about $2,500.00 USD to build another one.

He should put the plans and parts list online. I’m sure he could sell them for a fair price. I’d buy them.

Folding Like a Pro

Originally posted on March 1, 2007 @ 1:01 pm

Have you ever wondered how to fold things like a pro?

Well thanks to Ben Zweig, self proclaimed folding expert, we learn how to perform both the “simple fold” (the industry standard) and the “Japanese fold” (folding magic!).

Ben also shows us how to make an automatic folding machine from a few pieces of cardboard.

I’m really liking the automatic cardboard folding machine.

Since I have a bunch of laundry to do, I’m going to make one of these later today to help in the folding process.

Thanks Ben for this very informative video.

Change A Bulb – Change Everything

Originally posted on February 23, 2007 @ 12:29 pm

Yahoo! in collaboration with AC Nielsen and a group of companies and government entities has launched a campaign to raise awareness about energy efficient light bulbs.

18seconds.org

18Seconds.org is the location of the attractively-designed campaign, complete with a Yahoo! Maps mashup that lets you see how your city and state rank up in terms of CFL purchases.

The site is filled with energy conservation facts and tips with the site’s name stemming from the average amount of time it takes to swap out a light bulb with a CFL-variant.

Be sure to spread the word about the site and campaign. This is a really good cause and can help everyone around the world.

Pixar “Cars” Photoshop fun

Originally posted on January 1, 2007 @ 11:32 am

Back in 2006… it’s so funny to be saying that now since we’ve just barely come into the year 2007… the movie Cars by Pixar was released.

It’s a cute animated film about a hot-shot race-car named Lightning McQueen that gets waylaid in Radiator Springs, where he finds the true meaning of friendship and family.

It’s definitely a fun movie for kids but also for adults as well. Pixar is good like that adding in a little adult humor which can also be seen and heard in Pixar’s 1995 classic Toy Story. Yeah, Buzz Light Beer…

Anyway, I love animation and of course PhotoShop projects, so I went looking for some tutorials on how to take a picture of a real car and make it look like one of the cars from the Pixar movie Cars:

Pixar Cars

So if you’d like to learn how to do this, here is a link to the tutorial on making your car look like a Pixar Car. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The car pictured above is not my own car but I’ll be doing a picture of that soon.

Welcome to the year 2007 by the way :)