<![CDATA[Gizmodo: douglas adams]]> http://tags.gizmodo.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gizmodo.com.png <![CDATA[Gizmodo: douglas adams]]> http://gizmodo.com/tag/douglasadams http://gizmodo.com/tag/douglasadams <![CDATA[Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Typewriter Up for Sale]]> See that battered old Hermes Standard 8 typewriter there, in a fetching shade of institutional brown? I'd practically saw my own leg off to own it. Why? Because I'm a huge Douglas Adams fan, and that battered old thing is the very typewriter DNA used to bring The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to the world. A surprisingly analog gadget, for such a self-avowed technology fan as he. And get this: it's actually on sale by a British bookseller, as part of a package with a "fine" condition first-edition copy of Hitchhiker's. The package, complete with autograph on the typewriter lid, will set you back over $25,000. A vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big sum. But, boy... wouldn't it be worth it? [Abe Books via BBG]

]]> http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5025757&view=rss&microfeed=true <![CDATA[LeaveMeAloneBox is Douglas Adams-esque in Its Simplicity]]> Inspired by Claude Shannon and Marvin Minsky's Ultimate Machine, the LeaveMeAloneBox is made of a couple of hobby R/C servos, a switch, a microcontroller, and a battery pack, all contained in a little box and with a sprinkling of code. "I get a pretty consistent reaction," says Michael, the guy who made it. "First no one wants to touch it. Next, someone reaches out tentatively and flips the switch. After that, all you hear is laughter and everyone's trying it out." And this is how it reminds me of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Arthur listened for a short while, but being unable to understand the vast majority of what Ford was saying he began to let his mind wander, trailing his fingers along the edge of an incomprehensible computer bank, he reached out and pressed an invitingly large red button on a nearby panel. The panel lit up with the words Please do not press this button again. He shook himself.
Its slender hands remind me of my childhood ghoulish coffin bank, out of which an emaciated hand would snake, and avariciously grasp my pocket money before returning from whence it came. [LeaveMeAloneBox via MAKE]]]> http://gizmodo.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=383556&view=rss&microfeed=true