Awesome Tech

This battery-powered sound system from Sony provides immersive audio wherever you want it. It includes a base station with multiple drivers and a pair of wireless satellite speakers for surround sound. 360 Spatial Sound Mapping tech envelops you with sound while playing movies, games, or music. The one downside is that it only connects via Bluetooth.

Festo specializes in robots that utilize biomimicry, or otherwise machines that move like their animal counterparts. Their BionicBee is an ultralight flying robot that takes inspiration from bees and can fly in a swarm indoors or out. It flies by flapping its wings, which can pitch and roll. Where was this bee drone when Corridor made this video?

Kosmik combines a web browser with an infinite canvas where you can drag and drop images and text from websites as well as PDF files. It automatically tags the images you drag with the site where they came from. It’s a great way to start researching, get inspired, or just make sure you don’t forget that cool thing that you saw just on The Awesomer.

This custom build from Brick Machines combines two of our favorite pastimes – LEGO and candy. Built primarily from LEGO Technic and Mindstorms parts, the tabletop factory includes a mechanical candy hopper, an optical color sorter, a conveyor belt, color-matched lights, and an elevator to keep the sweet treats flowing in an endless loop.

PVMs are pro-grade CRT TVs highly sought after by retro gamers today. Retroldtech’s functional miniature replicas should be just as precious within that circle. These have IPS LCD screens, but the detail on their housing is impeccable. They have HDMI, VGA, and AV inputs. The Mini PVM has a 5″ display, while the Micro PVM has a 3.5″ display. Unfortunately, they’re already sold out.

Turn your space into an autocratic space station with the officially licensed Death Star Wall Panel Light from Entertainment Earth and Paladone. This half-scale replica of the hallway fixture from Star Wars’ iconic structure can light up in a static color or dynamically react to sound and music. It measures about 10″ W x 49″ H x 1″ D.

Microsoft and other Windows-based laptop makers are following Apple’s lead. The Surface Laptop 7th Edition is powered by the new Snapdragon X all-in-one ARM chip. Disregard all the AI gimmicks: for now, all you have to know is that it should be just as powerful but significantly more power-efficient than laptops running Intel or AMD’s x86-based CPUs.

Drawing on an Etch-a-Sketch is challenging due to its simplistic horizontal and vertical control knobs. With the goal of presenting at the Open Sauce convention, Every Flavor of Robot put their thinking caps on, engineered a motor drive unit, and programmed it to draw uploaded images. All of the demos at the end are in real-time.

Before VCRs went mainstream in the late 1970s, there wasn’t a way to record TV programs at home. But if you were an audiophile with deep pockets, you might have had the Sony VT-M5 audioscope in your rack. Techmoan takes a look at this cool-looking but almost instantly obsolete device that was designed to record only the audio from broadcast TV.

This coffee table book from author and video game expert Mike Diver and Numskull delves into the brief but wonderful history of electronic table-top games. The book features pristine photography and information about sixty such games from the 1970s and 1980s, each designed to bring the video arcade experience to your home. Ships 7.2024.

The Xperia 1 Mk. VI has an upgraded zoom camera with an impressive 85mm to 170mm (3.5x to 7x) optical zoom range. It also comes with the AI autofocus tracking from Sony’s Alpha cameras. Its 1080×2340 OLED display with variable refresh rate, 5000mAh battery, and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip should make for a phone that can last 2 days between charges.

We’d tell you the specs of the SL-1200M7B, but we all know what it’s all about. Technics teamed up with Lamborghini to create this slick-looking turntable. It comes with a Lambo badge slipmat and a vinyl record that contains engine growls of the supercar maker’s flagship models. The record is designed to look like a wheel from the Revuelto.

Hozo Design’s compact NeoRulerGO digital ruler can measure just about anything. Its tip rolls across straight, curved, or irregular surfaces, sending precision data to its built-in display. It also works as a scale ruler, with conversions for numerous Imperial and Metric scales. Pair it with the optional NeoPencil case for a longer grip and a long-lasting graphite pencil.

Anker’s upcoming Bluetooth speaker is for people who often make calls in noisy environments, such as at home or in public places. The S600 uses AI to learn the sound of your voice and prioritize it in calls. Anker claims the S600 recognizes and cuts down over 300 kinds of background noise. Lifehacker tried a demo unit and came away impressed.

YouTuber bijru reminds us of the passage of time and just how influential the iPhone has been. Watch him take an entertaining look back at the crazy form factors of cellphones in the early to mid-2000s. There were lots of hinges, odd shapes, and janky attempts at features that we now take for granted, like gaming or simply web browsing.

There are kits you can buy that add colorful ambient lighting behind or around your TV. We’ve played with a few, but none of them have the pinpoint color matching of Chris Maher’s DIY setup. In this video, he shows how he built his edge-lit system using addressable LED light strips, a WLED light controller, and the insanely powerful SignalRGB control software.

This premium USB-C controller provides a trio of programmable rotary knobs. The dual-direction knobs are machined from aluminum alloy and offer a click function. Atop its aluminum and acrylic case, you’ll find six buttons for assigning key presses or macros. It also features RGB lighting, an OLED layer selection screen, and compatibility with QMK/VIA.

This showy Bluetooth speaker has a cylindrical screen that displays song lyrics and other animations. The trick is a rapidly spinning LED bar that produces a persistence-of-vision illusion. Its see-through display can be viewed from any angle, and its audio system incorporates two full-range drivers and a subwoofer.

OpenAI’s new ChatGPT language model GPT-4o can respond to and with text, audio, images, and video. But perhaps more scarily amazing is that in Voice Mode – which allows it to respond using an AI-generated voice – it’s as snappy and natural-sounding as a human. GPT-4o is available even to free users, but using it in Voice Mode is limited to paid subscribers.

This handsome bamboo valet tray is the perfect spot to empty your pockets. The right tray features a built-in Qi-compatible wireless charger for your phone, while the left side offers plenty of space for your wallet, keys, watch, and other everyday items. It supports 15-watt charging, and its base has non-slip pads.

This mechanical keyboard from Das Keyboard helps you blend in – assuming your office is in a warzone. The DeltaForce 65 has a compact 65% form factor, a machined aluminum body, and keycaps in jungle, desert, urban, and cyber camouflage patterns. It comes with hot-swap Gateron red switches and RGB backlighting and is compatible with QMK/VIA.

Prior to this video, the fastest recorded flight speed for a battery-R/C drone was 224 mph. Luke Bell and his dad, Mike, built a custom drone that set a new Guinness World Record of 298.47 mph and an unofficial top speed of 317 mph. But the feat wasn’t without its challenges, including multiple battery fires. Stick around til the end for some cinematic shots.

Edelkrone’s StandPLUS is like a portable monitor arm but for cameras, smartphones, and anything you can mount with a standard tripod mounting screw. It’s easier to adjust than a tripod and makes more angles and positions possible. It also folds flat and has a built-in handle. The standard model holds up to 3 lb., while the Pro holds up to 6 lb.