Inventors are constantly pushing the envelope with their one-off builds that transform concepts into real-world tools. A recent example that caught our eye was a 260-watt laser mounted to an arm brace, much like an action hero in a sci-fi film.
Northrop Grumman has released a brief teaser that shows off its sixth-generation fighter concept, and what a look it is. For a few seconds, the camera circles the plane, displaying all of the important lines. The broad nose leads to a spacious cockpit, and the intake vents are tucked firmly up against the fuselage, making them difficult to see. The long, diamond-shaped wings emerge, their outer panels fully folded up. The strengthened landing gear is at the front, ready for a carrier catapult launch, with two wheels and a launch bar, and the curvy doors at the bottom indicate that there is plenty of space inside, even though you can’t see much.
High in the fields of Gwynedd County in North Wales, a seemingly ordinary LEGO set experienced an incredible day when it spent almost 8 hours hovering near the edge of space before slowly falling back to solid ground. Sent Into Space attached the entire Project Hail Mary model to a piece of kit driven by a balloon and launched it on a perfectly clear March day. The payload steadily rose to 114,790 feet before spiraling back down and landing safely on the surrounding grass.
People often talk about finding value when a product simply works for you and does not involve a significant trade-off in performance or cost. The Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 portable power station, priced at $799.99 (was $1,499), has a capacity of 2,048 watt-hours and is powered by lithium iron phosphate cells that can withstand thousands of charge cycles without trouble. With so much energy saved, you can power a conventional dual-door fridge for up to 32 hours on a full charge.
Modders Delca and Trxye have spent years pouring their hearts into a fan project that reimagines legendary Tomb Raider adventures in side scroller fashion, which is a tall job for anyone, but they’ve pulled it off with flying colors. They’ve created 11 levels inspired by the series’ first three games, and you’ll be guiding Lara Croft through reinvented places such as Peru, Greece, Venice, and the sunken ship the Maria Doria, all of which have been updated with a 2D twist.
NASA’s Curiosity has returned some interesting images from Mars, including shots of rock surfaces that have a striking similarity to dragon scales. Across the ground, dozens of interconnected honeycomb patterns spread as far as the rover’s mastcam can see. The rover captured these photos as it approached Antofagasta, a tiny crater with a diameter of around ten meters. NASA scientists refer to these interconnected patterns as honeycomb-shaped polygons, and what’s particularly remarkable is that they appear to be all over the place here, which we haven’t seen on previous rover trips.
Framework’s Laptop 13 Pro is a nice move in the right direction for users who want a laptop that won’t turn into a pile of outdated tech in a few years. Engineers took everything they learnt from the original, which is now five years old and still going strong, and transferred it immediately to the new model. So the aluminum casing is now carefully CNC machined to make it extremely sturdy without adding bulk. A new graphite finish adds a deep black tone to the exterior, which many users will prefer over the earlier silver option.
Bigme unveils the HiBreak Dual smartphone, a true game changer that features a full-size E Ink display on the front and a small but perfectly functional LCD display on the rear. The device is 80.9 x 159.8 x 8.9 millimeters and weighs 213 grams, making it as comfortable to carry in one hand as possible.
Rooms come alive as thousands of LEDs illuminate in perfect time over a large 50×50 panel. Chris Maher took on this task by converting regular light strips into that massive display without breaking the bank or requiring several controllers. His finished presentation plays well on a single 12-volt power supply and some pretty tiny gear, offering professional-looking animations, text, and patterns.