Technolust

Another installment of all things electronic, geeky and cool. The Atari 2600 lives - Via Wired Gadget Labs, a report on the new Atari Flashback 2, remake of the original Atari 2600 on a single chip. For $30, it comes with 40 games (some originals, some new ones created by fans). It's the classic chassis, and all the old controllers work. (Nothing ever compared with the Atari joystick.) It doesn't have a cartridge slot, but have no fear, the creator has posted instructions on how to add a cartridge slot yourself. Some of the instructions are actually silk-screened onto the printed circuit board. (A clone of the original Nintendo is here) Grenades with eyes - The Firefly (PDF release here) is a disposable camera designed to be fired from a standard-issue M203 grenade launcher attached to M16 or other assault rifles. As it flies, it takes 8 seconds of video which it sends back to a wireless PDA. When it hits, well, it crashes down pretty hard -- they're calling it "single-use". Still, invaluable in figuring out enemy positions during a firefight. This really redefines the term "point and shoot". Suicide knife rack - It's twisted, but somehow kinda funny. This might just remind you how sharp your knives really are. Looks like it comes with the five knives shown. Flexible light panels - flat sheets of plasticy material which can be wrapped around anything, then apply a current and they light up. "CeeLite panels typically consume very small quantities of electricity relative to incandescent, neon and florescent lighting. CeeLite is essentially a light emitting capacitor structure with phosphor sandwiched between the electrodes." Flip through the pictures to see their standard sizes up through 4' x 8'.