Whyfore

Design Inspiration for the Inventive Mind..

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How to Levitate Objects With Your Mind (open Thread)

A few things I took note of recently:

Upon going through my logs, I was amused note how highly I ranked for the search term “how to levitate objects with your mind”. I’ve never written about any such thing, but it reminded me of a couple of recent products. For all of you aspiring psichokinetics out there, here are a few tools to help with your brain exercises:

  • Neural impulse actuators are an emerging technology which begins to the gap between electronics and the mind. The first consumer versions are geared towards games, but can be hacked to do other things.  is a new (out soon) video game controller headset that reads brain waves in order to perform game functions. It isn’t going to replace your old controller in the short term, but may be handy for things like switching weapons and function keys. If I were severely handicapped, I would be filled with a lot of hope by these devices. I bet Stephen Hawking  would dominate with this (get well soon man).
  • The Mind Flex (made by Mattell) Is a new game with a sensor that reads your brain waves and uses them to control a fan that flies a ball around an obstacle course. I’m not sure how much this gives you for those ‘real’ telekinesis skills, but it looks like a good party game after a few drinks. You can find the the Mind Flex on amazon.
  • The Force Trainer works along the same lines, levitating a ping pong ball in a tube.
  • On the levitation front, we have already posted the FunFlyStick, and the Levitating Coaster, which can levitate objects up to two pounds.


Develop your powers of concentration, you will.

On another note:

Rubik’s pepper mill.

This guy built an awesome mousetrap out of delicately balanced kitchen items and a strobe shutter camera to capture the whole escapade on film. Cute pictures.

Is someone always one step ahead of me? I plotted here to build a portable pathway out of moss to follow me around, but this guy did it.

Please consider this to be an open post as well. Feel free to post a link to your blog, throw up a link to something you think should be featured on this site, or talk about what is on your mind. All comments will be moderated, so don’t be spammy.

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Honorable Mentions for Jan 09

A few things that caught my eye but didn’t merit a post to themselves:

How to use butane and fire to mount a tire that has come off its rim

The Ibex has now set two huge scientific records. It was the first animal to be cloned after extinction, and subsequently the first animal to ever become extinct twice. Better luck next time guys, this has great promise.

USB drive that masquerades as a floppy drive for those annoying things like bios updates that still tend to require them.

Salad Sunrise: Oil and vinegar container that takes advantage of their relative weights to serve them from a single container.

Flashlight hose nozzle. Why you would garden in the dark is beyond me. Most people have lights in their yard. This thing needs to be water powered at least.

Washing machine built to take the whole basket. It looks great, but the more I think about it the less impressed I am.

Toaster Trebuchet catapults your toast with great accuracy.

Please consider this to be an open post as well. Feel free to post a link to your blog, throw up a link to something you think should be featured on this site, or talk about what is on your mind. All comments will be moderated, so don’t be spammy.

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2008 Honorable Mentions

Until further notice I’ll be putting up a post at the end of each month with the items of interest I’ve come across that just didn’t quite merit their own post. They will only be listed under the compilation tag in the Ideas category, so if you remember seeing something here and can’t find it, check there.

Yoshimoto Cube transforms into two stellated rhombic dodecahedrons (video). This cube transforms into two cubes the same size as the first, among other tricks. (via Gizmodo).

Fun laptop concept from Kyle Cherry. The top slides apart and flips up, doubling your screen size.

Manapotions has hacked a nerf gun to fire 500 rounds per minute, painted it up, and added a digital round counter. Watch it in action.

A team of students has hacked a cellphone and a webcam to screen for HIV and other blood disorders. I’m sure there are a ton of disclaimers that need to come with this thing, but it is truly a design inspiration (via WIRED).

The keyboard for blondes (via Geekologie).

Color e-paper that adjusts the distance of two layers to create color from the interference of reflected light.

Skateboarder having way too much fun skating in a swimming pool filled with turquoise balloons (video).

Someone hacked a Super Nintendo into an alarm clock (via Engadget).

Microsoft surface application keeps an eye on your glass and gives your bar a HUD telling drinkers when they should drink more or less to optimize drunkenness (via Engadget).

DARPA invents a gun scope that uses the long term average of the wavering images in heat waves rising off of the desert to magnify distant tagets (via TheFutureof Things).

For the advent calendar loving crowd, a  calendar with a bubble wrap bubble to pop for every day of the year (find it here).

A nite lite fore kids that changes from a glowing blue moon at night to a cheerful orange sun at a specified time. It helps tell them when it is ok to get up and be noisy (via Crunchgear).

Please consider this to be an open post as well. Feel free to post a link to your blog, throw up a link to something you think should be featured on this site, or talk about what is on your mind. All comments will be moderated, so don’t be spammy.