Floyd Steinberg spotted a bargain in the Colmi R02, a smart ring that discreetly tracks your everyday health data. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, as this little device also features a motion-sensing accelerometer, Bluetooth connectivity, a small battery, and a slew of sensors that track your daily steps, sleep, as well as heart rate via a companion app.
The guitar strings hover there, kept in place solely by magnetic force. They are not being held in place by any pegs or bridges. That’s the work of Swedish maker Mattias Krantz, and it’s a really incredible sight.Traditional guitar strings require some form of physical point of connection to stay in place and under tension; without it, they go slack.
A small record player has stepped into the 21st century, collaborating with Spotify in an unexpected way. The mastermind behind this project, AKZ Dev, has managed to breathe fresh life into a novelty coaster set built like a little turntable, combining old-school elegance with modern audio streaming. They’re designed to look like real records, complete with printed labels and all.
Maker Electron Impressions created a really useful contraption that can spit out sound in a very tight beam, similar to how a laser fires a beam of light. The name sound laser is quite fitting, as you basically point it at someone, and they will hear music or conversation, while everyone else is completely unaware.
Sony debuted the PS-F5 in 1983, just as cassette tapes and the first Walkmans dominated portable music. Vinyl looked to be confined in living rooms, tethered to weighty platters and delicate arms. Sony engineers decided to change that. They created a portable turntable that plays records standing upright, runs on four AA batteries, and weighs so little that it can be carried anywhere.
Sony released the PS-FL99 in 1983, just as compact discs were changing the way people listened to music. Vinyl records still held strong appeal for many listeners at that time, and Sony crafted this model to keep the format fresh with clever engineering. Collectors these days are looking for any surviving PS-FL99s they can find since, let’s face it, after more than four decades, most of them aren’t functional.
Julius Makes, a YouTube creator of some fairly weird electronics projects, recently attempted to build something that combines old-school cassette playback with ultra-modern streaming technology. He calls it the Cassette Streamer, and it has all the hallmarks of a vintage portable cassette player, including knobs, buttons, and a large clear front panel that allows you to view the tape as it moves by.
Fans of the Blue Man Group have frequently found themselves tapping their toes to the characteristic pounding sound of their PVC pipe instruments, which are essentially just slapping pipes of varying lengths with paddles to produce these rhythmically resonating tones that fill theaters. Ivan Miranda, a Spanish maker known for his ambitious 3D-printed creations, decided to take it a step farther. He decided to take the whole pipe-slapping thing and build a version of the slapophone that connects to MIDI, allowing you to control it electronically while still producing the physical slap sound.
Cellos have always relied on wood to produce rich tones through labor of love construction, rather than just meticulous cutting and assembly. Forte3D takes an entirely different approach; the firm’s founders, Alfred Goodrich and Elijah Lee, as well as cellist Mike Block, who currently co-runs the company, created the world’s first 3D-printed carbon fiber cello.
Toast, a YouTuber who turns crazy ideas into real gadgets, decided to master one of the most complex machines in music. He wanted a piano that could be printed at home with a normal 3D printer. No strings or heavy wood frames – just layers of molten plastic that form keys, hammers and resonant tubes. The end result plays actual notes, fits on a desk and doesn’t cost much more than a few rubber bands.