Vubx Coolest Gadgets

Previously, I have introduced you Bathsheba Grossman and her charming geotmetric metal objects which are a perfect combination of symmetrical art and mathematics.

Today, I have discovered another great master who is very active in this field. Prof. George Hart at New York States University has a lifetime hobby of constructing geometric sculptures and assembly puzzles from any material you can imagine; plastic, wood, paper, metal etc. He is also a very active education volunteer arranging workshops worldwide to give young people curiosity about geometry and construction.

Here are some of his works and photos from workshops with students.

A large Zome construction built in Princeton University Math Club

Attractive Red Assembly Puzzle

Another Big George Hart Geometric Construction

Visit George Hart’s HomePage here

George Hart’s book about Zome Geometry available at Amazon – Illustrated

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Poker players with smartphones powered by Windows Mobile no longer have to be apart from their favorite game, as more and more online poker sites and third-party developers are designing a wide variety of poker games for Windows Mobile like RealDice Texas Hold’em. The trend will likely only increase in the future, too, as poker apps continue to be one of the most popular apps for a wide range of smartphones and operating systems, for more about iPhone poker apps check here.

Not only can you get Windows Mobile apps that let you play poker (including games against multiple players on a shared network as well as against computer opponents) but there are also a ton of poker utility apps as well such as poker training tools to sharpen your game, odds calculators, and other utility programs for running and managing poker games and tournaments.

Online poker sites are also developing and rolling out their own Windows Mobile poker apps, which enable players to use the same account they play on PCs and laptops with to play poker from their mobile devices, including game for real money. While the look and feel of the graphics are slightly different and optimized for mobile devices, the basic game play is very much the same, enabling players to enjoy their best poker site from anywhere in the world.

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I remember how I had passed my geometric origami lesson in university by just creating the shape you see below by paper years ago.

I am a bit surprised that now this object is everywhere including Youtube. In 1999, all we had a bunch of amateur geocities pages for such things. Anyway, this is called as five intersecting tetrahedra and can be done using origami techniques in a few hours without using any glues. The beauty of this just impressed my professor that he gladly gave me a pass mark even though I missed most of his lessons preferring laying under trees

Mathematics can be easily used as a language of beauty and charm. Bathseba Grossman uses her mathematics knowledge excellently by creating 3D sculptures which have geometrical and topological meaning using CAD systems and bronze. Maybe, you have already seen some Mobius strip or Klein bottle inspired objects which have simple dimension tricks. But, I am sure most people didn’t see or hear about the following structures. Here are a few of them :

Borromean Rings :

The connections between edges and surfaces are naturally appealing to us since it looks so organic and soft.

The Gyroid :

Another innovating object which uses the principles of minimal surfaces and repeat themselves in 3D.

Ora :

A complicated looking but actually simple double-tetrahedron. It is also playing with our symmetry obsession.

You can see lots of other sculptures at Bathseba Grossman website and read the mathematical explanations if you are further interested in the subject.

Bathseba with her cool mini sculptures

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I had written about what are the silent mouse options in the market in one of previous posts. Thanko is one of the most known manufacturers of silent mouse and keyboards. Their silent mouse model was 5 times less sound producing. This time they have developed a better silent keyword version.  Actually, many new laptop and netbook models already have much silenced buttons but Thanko Keyword EX emits only 44.5 DB noise beating all of them.

Since DB is a logarithmic measure (Calculated using power of tens), small changes can effect the noise level highly. For example while a normal conversation provides around 60 dB, whisper does 20 dB. A mosquito buzz is 40 dB.  Decide yourself. I have found a useful page which explains decibel and properties of sound waves with samples if you are further interested.

Product Page

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While I was considering buying a high quality Onyx Chess Set for playing and home decoration as well, I had noticed several interesting chess sets at Amazon online store. If you also enjoy small figures and chess, be sure to look at the following items.

Ottomans versus Hungarians Chess Set

It is actually a good choice for a war themed chess set since these empires fought the bloodiest open field battles in the middle of Europe. Hungarians kept Ottomans real busy invading Europe more. Anyway, it is written that each piece is 3 inch tall and made from handpainted cold cast resin. A 15 inch wooden chess board is shipped for free.

Product Page

Medieval Chess Set

It looks quite unique and attractive. If you are also an admirer of fantasy art, 32 pieces of medieval knights chessmen is waiting for you. The dragon themed case looks especially extraordinary and carved in detail. Material is polyresin and wood.

Product Page

Isle of Lewis Chess Set

Did you know that there are a few complete medieval chess sets survived until today? Isle of Lewis Chessmen (also known as Lewis or Uig Chessmen) is one of them discovered in 1831 in Scotland. They were made from beautiful walrus ivory (some pieces are made from even whale teeth !) and also featured in Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone.

These are the exact replika of Harry Potter’s chess set. The pieces are from ceramic and have antique ivory and chocolate finish. Set is made from composite resin and stone making it resembling more to a medieval original Lewismen chess set.

This set perfectly combines history, chess and Harry Potter magic !

Product Page

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Who says that remote controlled cars are just toys for children? 46 year old Nic Case designed a R/C car which reaches the top speed of 161 mph (257 kmh approx.) Its name is Pocket Rocket and holds currently world record for a R/C car but I think it is really a competitive area amongst the fans and we can see faster cars.

Nic puts his next target as well. Achieving a speed of 200 mph. I think they should start a R/C Formula 1 car race.

Seen on GearFuse

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In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned about Mind Controlled Wheelchairs developed by Toyota. This time a tongue controlled wheelchair (and a computer) was approved to be very promising device as a solution to Quadriplegia for the future after several clinical tests.

Quadriplegia is the medical term where a person loses his ability to control all of his limbs. It is generally a result of severe spinal cord injuries. A grain of rise sized special magnet is attached to patient’s tongue. There is an wireless headphone worn by patient which captures the movement signals from the magnet wirelessly and this information is passed to the computer on the wheelchair. This way, the patient can control both computer and wheelchair. I hope there will be affordable mass production of such useful devices.

via MedGadget

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This unique map created by Shulze & Webb (A London based creative design studio) is not something regular we are used to see every day. All Manhattan in a bent 3D (without a horizon) is just under your investigation. A realistic bent in the map makes this design as a real GPS product idea. Just imagine to have this in your Garmin device. It would be much intuitive and easier to locate the target building. By the way, S&W sells 1000 limited edition of the map as a big poster at their own website in two bending variations.

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Cuboro is a 3D wooden building and marble track system which is as creative as famous Lego and Kapla toys.

There are individual wooden blocks which have holes and carved channels. The idea is to build a structure where the marbles will pass through the tunnels and holes by falling several levels with only help of the gravity.

After a simple start, children can challenge building more complicated structures. There are several sets varying on number of pieces, functionality and difficulty settings.

There is a youtube video below showing how a completed Cuboro structure works.

The wooden toy blocks are ecologically safe and suggested by experts for creativity stimulation of kids 3 years older. A high quality wooden Swiss made toy.

Cuboro Toys at Amazon

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I guess most people including me didn’t know about Walt Disney had a strange museum namely as Hall of Presidents. There are ongoing multimedia presentations and most importantly an audio animatronic show of all 43 US presidents. Did I count right? Anyway, Barack Obama robot also made his first appearance in the hall with his special recorded speech at Walt Disney Studios. I put two videos below. The first one is official from Walt Disney and the other one is an accidentally left open camera from the show, possibly will be deleted by youtube soon.

Via Engadget

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