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Remember the HarmoNESica? A brief refresher, then: it’s what happens when you’ve got a copy of Super Tecmo Bowl, a Pocket Pal harmonica, and the desire to create a unique musical instrument. But if you don’t have any of the aforementioned ingredients and just want the end result, eBay’s got you covered as usual — three HarmoNESicas have been gathering bids at the online auction house this week. Whether your pleasure be Dick Tracy, Super Mario Bros. 3 or The Legend of Zelda, there’s a harmonica to match; and if (for some reason) you want to actually play one of the games, you’ll find the ROM guts tastefully included. But before you make your bid, remember: there’s more than one way to skin an NES cartridge.

NES harmonicas hit eBay, three lucky gamers cheer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink GoNintendo  |  Dick Tracy, Mario 3, Zelda  | Email this | Comments

Remember the HarmoNESica? A brief refresher, then: it’s what happens when you’ve got a copy of Super Tecmo Bowl, a Pocket Pal harmonica, and the desire to create a unique musical instrument. But if you don’t have any of the aforementioned ingredients and just want the end result, eBay’s got you covered as usual — three HarmoNESicas have been gathering bids at the online auction house this week. Whether your pleasure be Dick Tracy, Super Mario Bros. 3 or The Legend of Zelda, there’s a harmonica to match; and if (for some reason) you want to actually play one of the games, you’ll find the ROM guts tastefully included. But before you make your bid, remember: there’s more than one way to skin an NES cartridge.

NES harmonicas hit eBay, three lucky gamers cheer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink GoNintendo  |  Dick Tracy, Mario 3, Zelda  | Email this | Comments

Remember the HarmoNESica? A brief refresher, then: it’s what happens when you’ve got a copy of Super Tecmo Bowl, a Pocket Pal harmonica, and the desire to create a unique musical instrument. But if you don’t have any of the aforementioned ingredients and just want the end result, eBay’s got you covered as usual — three HarmoNESicas have been gathering bids at the online auction house this week. Whether your pleasure be Dick Tracy, Super Mario Bros. 3 or The Legend of Zelda, there’s a harmonica to match; and if (for some reason) you want to actually play one of the games, you’ll find the ROM guts tastefully included. But before you make your bid, remember: there’s more than one way to skin an NES cartridge.

NES harmonicas hit eBay, three lucky gamers cheer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink GoNintendo  |  Dick Tracy, Mario 3, Zelda  | Email this | Comments

Remember the HarmoNESica? A brief refresher, then: it’s what happens when you’ve got a copy of Super Tecmo Bowl, a Pocket Pal harmonica, and the desire to create a unique musical instrument. But if you don’t have any of the aforementioned ingredients and just want the end result, eBay’s got you covered as usual — three HarmoNESicas have been gathering bids at the online auction house this week. Whether your pleasure be Dick Tracy, Super Mario Bros. 3 or The Legend of Zelda, there’s a harmonica to match; and if (for some reason) you want to actually play one of the games, you’ll find the ROM guts tastefully included. But before you make your bid, remember: there’s more than one way to skin an NES cartridge.

NES harmonicas hit eBay, three lucky gamers cheer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink GoNintendo  |  Dick Tracy, Mario 3, Zelda  | Email this | Comments

In 2007, steampunk musician Yoshi Akai wrote his master’s thesis on how to turn color into sound, and he’s been dreaming up unorthodox ways of producing music ever since. Case in point: the Lego Sequencer MR II, a contraption that uses three-dimensional Lego structures to emulate a three-channel, eight-step sequencer, where each differently colored plastic brick produces a different sound and complex combinations (including tremolo and overdrive) are possible when the blocks are stacked. Akai tells us it works using resistors embedded in each and every block, with parallel networks of resistors formed as the bricks pile up, equalling lower resistance and thus a higher frequency sound generated by the contraption. While the result certainly won’t back a techno track — Akai says he’s “building sound more than playing sound” — it looks like a good step up from the lethargic phaser noise produced by his Wireless Catcher, a lot of fun to play with, and much less expensive than hiring a team of hot models. Video after the break.

Continue reading Steampunk sequencer generates audio from Lego blocks

Steampunk sequencer generates audio from Lego blocks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MAKE  |  Yoshi AKAI, Interactive Institute  | Email this | Comments

Turning aged hard drives into clocks has been a common occurrence for years now, but there’s still something magical about this rendition. Designed and crafted by Svofski, the Strobeshnik relies on the stroboscopic effect to create the illusion of a persistent numeric display. The HDD platter itself has ten digits, colon and dash marks cut all the way through it, and by carefully timing the light strobes, the illusion is perfected. Check out a video of the startup just below the break — and be patient, the payoff is spectacularly sweet.

Continue reading Strobeshnik: probably the most awesome hard drive clock of all time

Strobeshnik: probably the most awesome hard drive clock of all time originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink technabob, Engadget German  |  Strobeshnik  | Email this | Comments