Diorama111, a DIY maker from Japan, has spent many hours squeezing motors, lights, and controllers into models that no larger than a matchbox. His latest project is a 1/48 model narrow-gauge battery locomotive on 9 mm track that has its own power, lighting, and enough onboard electronics to perform a short shuttle without the need for a remote.
Xiaomi opened sales of the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max in China today, pairing Qualcomm’s new 2nm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chips with two 200-megapixel Leica cameras, a second OLED on the back, and a hardware privacy layer on the front glass. Base 12GB plus 256GB units start at 5,999 yuan for the 18 Pro and 6,999 yuan for the 18 Pro Max, about $895 and $1,045. Steps up through 16GB plus 1TB land at 8,999 ($1,343) and 9,999 ($1,492) yuan. A transparent special edition sits higher. A global run is promised later this year after last year’s 17 Pro pair stayed in China.
Matty Benedetto of Unnecessary Inventions just found a new way to turn a quiet night with a cold can into something that stares back at you. Out of his Burlington, Vermont studio he just finished invention number 469, a little digital pet he calls the Buzz Buddy that perches on top of any standard beer can and matches you drink for drink. The unit is a compact, egg-shaped screen housing with a pixel character already seated at a tiny desk, waiting. Once you crack the tab the figure stays put until the first tilt.
NYU Tandon assistant professor Nana Obayashi and Ph.D. student Daniil Filimonov built WorMa so one undulating machine could inspect a coastline, a flooded street, or a wetland without extra limbs or a second gait. WorMa blends “worm” and “mass,” and that mash-up is the entire plan. Five 3D-printed segments form a body about 50 centimeters long and a little over one kilogram. Four servos at the joints send a traveling wave down the length. Silicone pads under the belly give directional grip on dirt or pavement. Foam disks along the sides keep the robot from sinking once it enters water. An ESP32 runs the servos and the pump.
A three-and-a-half-minute video released this weekend made an N64 first-person shooter look like it belonged on the Super Nintendo, a 16-bit machine that many grew up with. Bond stands on the Arkhangelsk dam, the gun is in the lower corner of the frame, and the concrete bunkers pass by in chunky polygons while fog eats the far cliffs.