Brilliantly Bad Weekend Edition
Drone flame throwers, stair-climbing robots, wireless charging through glass, parrot video games, laptop car dashboards and more!
Mike’s List of Brilliantly Bad Ideas
1. Finally: A flame thrower for your drone
The TF-19 WASP Flamethrower Drone Attachment works with a wide range of drones, including any DJI drone that can handle carrying five pounds or more. Just fill the tank, launch, then shoot a stream of fire 25 feet long for up to 100 seconds. Surprisingly, according the company, the flame thrower attachment is actually legal. It’s perfect for that special arsonist in your life.
2. This robot vacuum climbs stairs
The Roomba is one lazy bastard and won’t even climb stairs to vacuum the upstairs rug. Not so the MIGO Ascender, a stair-climbing robot vacuum. The device packs an HD camera, LiDAR module and six Time-of-Flight sensors. It maps your home and self-adjusts for cleaning carpets and floors, vacuuming the former and mopping the latter. And it’s smarter than your dog, sporting a 5-teraFLOP computing engine to power its onboard AI. This vacuum really sucks.
3. Wireless charging gadget connects outdoor devices to indoor outlets
The Power Mole, from Acqua Industries, transfers up to 10 watts of power wirelessly through glass windows, wood boards or anything else that isn’t metal and is within 1.18 inches thick. (It works like a wireless phone charger.) That means you can power outdoor lights, doorbell cams and other devices by plugging them in indoors.
4. Video games for parrots. Who says there are no new ideas in tech?
Geniuses at Northeastern University have figured out how to make parrots happy: touch-screen video games. They created a game where birds can chase and pop on screen balloons by pecking at the screen. Why? Researches have the answer: “Cognitive enrichment is a crucial component for parrot health and well-being, and tablet games are one method of providing this enrichment.” Wait ‘till they try Angry Birds.
5. New adapter turns your car dashboard into a laptop
AutoPro X is an adapter from Mayton Motion that connects to your Samsung Galaxy Android phone, and taps into the pre-installed DeX software. From the dashboard screen, you can use all the apps on your phone, and download more from the Google Play Store. Browser the internet, use email, connect your keyboard or game controller and play a game or watch a movie. Because otherwise driving is boring…. and safe.
Mike’s List of Shameless Self-Promotions
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Mike’s Location: Silicon Valley, California
(Why Mike is always traveling.)
The flame throwing drone will certainly add some life to "fun" team building outings.
Thanks, I think I going to swap out that leaf blower I've been lusting after for the flamethrower drone. I'm sure it will come in handy at rapture times.