Uma Mascote Cantora, Baterias com Açucar(!), e um, Sofá para Engenhocas, pois então!

Passemos sem demora a este uso genial e festivo dum Arduino, que nos mostra a Designspark, porreiríssimo!

Merry Christmas from Sergei the Arduino Singing Meerkat 

It's Christmas, and what better way to keep up the Christmas cheer at the RS Components & DesignSpark HQ in Oxford UK, than to modify a Singing Meerkat with an Arduino !

Sergei used to be a dull stand alone singing Christmas Meerkat, but now he's been connected up with an Arduino / Zigbee transceiver.  Sergei talks to a laptop over the Zigbee link.  The laptop also has an Arduino / Zigbee transceiver connected up to it via the USB port.  The laptop is connected to the Wifi network and is running a Google email API.  Sergei reads his mail every minute, if he gets an email from you he’ll dance and sing Christmas carols, which every one in the office loves.... ;0)

http://www.designspark.com/content/merry-christmas-sergei-arduino-singing-meerkat

Baterias com Açucar, eis algo que parece meio chanfrado, mas atenção, é bastante sério, pois as baterias ficam mais robustas, com maior capacidade, e sobretudo, mais baratas, que as actuais de Lítio:

The battery of the future might run on sugar

Dario Borghino

Researchers at the Tokyo University of Science have turned to sugar as part of a continuous effort to control Japan's growing import costs associated with building lithium-ion batteries. It seems that sugar may be the missing ingredient for building rechargeable batteries that are more robust, cheaper, and capable of storing more energy.
Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in portable electronics, but concerns over rapidly growing demands for lithium – a metal that is mainly found in politically sensitive regions such as Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and China – have pushed countries like Japan to try and develop viable alternatives for a cheap, high-performance rechargeable battery.
Sodium-ion batteries have been put forward as one of the possible successors to lithium-ion technology. Among their advantages, they promise to be more durable and cheaper to manufacture. However, being in an early developmental phase, their performance isn't currently quite up to par.
Associate Professor Shinichi Komaba and his team have been working on narrowing this performance gap and recently discovered that sucrose – the main constituent of sugar – can be easily made into a cheap and effective material for the anode of a sodium-ion battery.

www.gizmag.com/sugar-sodium-ion-battery/24348/

Um Sofá para os Engenhocas! porque é que ninguém se tinha lembrado disto?

Com mais bolsos que sei lá o quê, eis algo que nunca desagrada à malta, para ter toda a tralha guatrdada!

Eastpak Sofa has more storage than you'll know what to do with

Dave LeClair

For anyone who has a ton of stuff in their house that they just cannot find a place for, this new Eastpak sofa might be right up their alley. It's sort of like a backpack and couch combined into one piece of furniture. It has pockets for your tablet, laptop, remote and almost anything else you could want to store in your couch.
This couch might look a little odd, but for people in small spaces where storage is at a premium, it could be a useful fix. It has pockets in a range of sizes, so you can fit all kinds of things in it – the fact is, only so much stuff can be shoved under the couch and in the closet.
The couch is made of polyurethane foam and Cordura, which are similar to what you would find on most backpacks. This makes it durable and able to withstand an active lifestyle without ripping. Of course, it might not be the most comfortable thing to sit on, but sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

http://www.gizmag.com/eastpak-sofa-backback/24359/

Eis como fazer algo de impressionante, transformar um Cubo de Rubik-Cofre, em algo tirado dos filmes do Indiana Jones! 

Mayan Rubik's Treasure Box

BrittLiv

In this Instructable I'm going show you how to turn a plastic Treasure Chest Rubik's Cube into a wooden one.

This cube reveals its inside once it is solved. Just hide your secret message and a fragile glass vial with a poisonous gas which will be released, should someone decide to break the cube out of frustration (Please, please don't poison anybody, I'm just kidding ;-)).

http://www.instructables.com/id/Mayan-Rubiks-Treasure-Box/

E para transformarem os  vossos Skates na solução para aquele kilómetro final de, e para, o Emprego, eis como instalar-lhes um Motor, e transformar assim um Skate comum, num Skate eléctrico!

LaGrange L1 truck motorizes existing skateboards

Ben Coxworth

With the current surging popularity of electric bicycles, it only makes sense that we’re seeing an increase in something else getting motorized – the skateboard. Just in the past couple of years, Gizmag has featured electric boards such as the Fiik, Gnarboard, ZBoard, LiquidRoam, and the Boosted Board. While all of those come as complete skateboards, Florida-based RedRock Boardshop is offering something a little different – the powered LaGrange L1 truck, that turns any board into an electric vehicle.

http://www.gizmag.com/lagrange-l1-electric-skateboard-truck/24364/



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