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Posts Tagged “

Ball

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chinese earthquake

How a 730-Ton Ball Kept the Second Tallest Building From Falling During the Chinese Earthquake

The recent Sichuan Earthquake in China was so intense, tremors were felt all the way over in the tallest completed building in the world—the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan—a whole eight minutes after the quake originated. (The title of tallest building period was taken by the Burj Dubai back in May.) What's interesting about the 101 is that it has a gigantic suspended tuned mass damper, or hanging ball, which takes up four stories and works like this to prevent the building from falling over and tragically crushing office workers. This 730 ton sphere looks intimidating when still, but wait until you see it in motion during the earthquake. More »

Feature

10:00 AM on Tue Jun 24 2008
By Jason Chen
65,123 views, 101 comments

Latest by n/a: Cool. That's my photo at the top. It was taken during the Wikimania conference in Taipei last year. more »

catch

TosPom Ball-Camera Catches You Catching It, Confuses Us

Take a ball, pop some digital cameras in it and you've more or less got TosPom. It's a ball-camera gizmo that automatically snaps a picture of you the instant you catch it. Or, if you're like me, a picture of you looking on in dismay as your hand misses, and it hits the dirt. You can see your strange "in action" mugshots on its built-in screen. It sounds like a fun device, but for the life of me I'm not sure how it works. Does it have some kind of weighted insert? The video, complete with horrifyingly catchy electro soundtrack, doesn't add much info. More »

11:05 AM on Mon Apr 7 2008
By Kit Eaton
5,405 views, 23 comments

Latest by deusdiabolus: Whatever happened to the Satugo? more »

fore!

Giant Golf-Labyrinth Game For Sale

Do you like golf? Do you like Labyrinth games? Do you have a HUGE house? If you answered yes to those three questions then you might just be in the market for one of these. Its a scaled up version of a Labyrinth game, and was created as a mini-golf hole that used golf balls rather than ball bearings—if you managed to complete the game in one go you got a hole-in-one. More »

6:57 AM on Wed Aug 1 2007
By msparkes
3,230 views, 8 comments

macgyver

DIY Ping Pong Ball Gun in 30 Seconds



Ping Pong Gun - video powered by Metacafe
This is a friendly warning to all Gizmodo employees. You will never feel safe while on the job ever again. Why is that? Because while you watch this video on how to quickly make a very effective ping pong ball gun, one of us is already finishing ours and is hiding around the corner. Good luck, and keep your senses sharp.– Benjamin Longo More »

7:28 PM on Tue Jun 19 2007
By blongo3
16,734 views, 30 comments

not filled with blood

USB Plasma Ball Melds the Best of 1970s Technology With USB

You know those plasma balls you had when you were a kid? The ones that arced electricity to your fingertip when you touched it? Well, this is just like that, except smaller and USBier. More »

11:20 AM on Sat May 26 2007
By Jason Chen
2,712 views, 6 comments

this blows

360 Degree Table Fan Looks Like Bird Torture

There are two reasons why we think this 360 degree tabletop fan is great. One is obvious: It's a 360 degree table fan that can cool everyone in the room (just about) at the same time. More »

4:00 PM on Fri May 11 2007
By Jason Chen
3,331 views, 19 comments

robots

Monty Robot, Plays Ball

We just fawned over Anybots' dynamically balancing robot (Dexter) earlier this week, and (his brother?) already has a new trick. It might not look like much, but according to Dexter's developers:
Throwing a ball to someone is difficult, but even more difficult is using visual information of a ball in flight to put your hand in the right place within a few hundred milliseconds, and then actually -close- that hand within a few tens of milliseconds.
There is no information on their website about how this throwing/catching process works, or whether or not the robot is capable of tracking a subject, say carrying groceries, and hurling a ball in their direction. More info on that development as we get it. – Mark Wilson More »

12:35 PM on Sun Mar 4 2007
By Mark Wilson
1,272 views, 7 comments

Latest by tlbtlbtlb: The purported quote from me makes it sound like Monty is catching the ball autonomously. It isn't. He's a completely teleoperated robot, controlled by an operator wearing a "waldo" suit. (I was driving when Martin took this video.) -- more »

gadgets

USB Massage Ball

Much like the USB Eye Massager, except, well, in a ball form, this USB device loosens up sore areas wherever they may be. Just plug in the USB cable, place the USB ball in the affected region, and presto, instant massage. More »

6:00 PM on Fri Dec 29 2006
By Jason Chen
1,318 views, 5 comments

robots

Tennis Ball Robot Hits With a Racket

Unlike traditional tennis ball launchers, this tennis robot hits with an actual racket. This makes judging when the ball is hit and where it will land a whole lot easier. More »

3:44 PM on Fri Nov 3 2006
By Jason Chen
867 views, 3 comments

portable media

Gizmodo Japan: Elecom's Ball-Shaped Speaker for iPod

Elekom presented a series of ball-shaped compact speakers last year, but unfortunately none of the colors (blue, pink, etc.) really made it look cool with your iPod. Finally at the beginning of February, two new colors (or absence thereof), black and white, are going to be on the market. About two inches in diameter, it has a stereo mini plug for your portable audio player. The plug and cable can be stored inside. More »

11:14 AM on Tue Feb 7 2006
By gizmodo.com
480 views, Comment