Cassandra Khaw is an entry-level audiophile, a street dancer, a person who writes about video games for a living, and someone who spends too much time on Twitter. More by Cassandra Khaw
Turn a corner on the Internet and chances are you'll collide with some news about the Oculus Rift. Almost everyone seems to be working on some way to capitalize on this renewed love for virtual reality. As such, it was only a matter of time before someone (or a team of someones) took it into their heads to combine virtual reality with those coin-operated arcades your parents keep telling you about.
Enter VRcade. Described as the "first Virtual Reality Arcade for the 21st century," VRcade will essentially be a big, indoor space lined with optical motion-capture cameras. It's not open yet, but the VRcade team has constructed a facility of sorts in Seattle, Washington—a prototype for the finished VRcade. It will have sections dedicated to other activities, but all of the gaming will take place in an area known as The Grid.
Jacob Siegal spends a vast majority of his time surrounded with and invested in technology and media, so he decided he may as well start writing about it. You can find more of his writing at Game Rant and his topical tweets @JacobSiegal.
The past few days have been filled with anxiety for NASA scientists. Firs,t an ammonia leak threatened the long-term stability of the International Space Station, and now the team behind the Kepler mission has reported that the space telescope might have been dealt a fatal blow after inexplicably entering safe mode at the beginning of the month.
The Kepler telescope launched in 2009 to begin the search for exoplanets similar to Earth that might be able to support life. The telescope can monitor 100,000 stars at once, all while collecting data from the planets that orbit those stars.
Elizabeth Fish is a freelance writer who happens to run a hyperlocal news website in Lincoln, UK. She also covers all things geeky for TechHive. More by Elizabeth Fish
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona
If you thought space rocks used Earth for target practice, perhaps you should be glad you don’t live on Mars.
According to NASA, the red planets gets impacted by over 200 small asteroids or bits of comets every year, most of which leave craters at least 3.9 meters in width. Scientists have so far found 248 new impact sites on Mars in the last 10 years, thanks to NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera.
Elizabeth Fish is a freelance writer who happens to run a hyperlocal news website in Lincoln, UK. She also covers all things geeky for TechHive. More by Elizabeth Fish
cunning_fellow/Instructables
For those of you that like to show off with a big, flashy belt buckles, take a look at this DIY gaming-themed one—one that you can actually play. It will certainly grab people’s attention, but perhaps not for all the right reasons.
Instructables user cunning_fellow built a funky brass belt buckle that doubles as a playable handheld-style game console.,. His buckle uses an LCD screen wired up to a circuit board and battery that's fitted neatly into an etched brass case. It can also play Rock Blaster, an asteroid-shooting game.
Jacob Siegal spends a vast majority of his time surrounded with and invested in technology and media, so he decided he may as well start writing about it. You can find more of his writing at Game Rant and his topical tweets @JacobSiegal.
In case you missed it, Commander Chris Hadfield and his crew made their way back to Earth Monday night after two months aboard the International Space Station, and the Canadian Space Agency streamed it live. It was quite the homecoming—be sure to check out the recording.
Kevin is a small-time tech hound, amateur photographer, and a general know-at-least-something of all things geeky hailing from New York. More by Kevin Lee
Cormac Relf
Photography lenses can easily be really expensive. So if you’ve got an awesome camera body lying around but no glass to go with it, you could always try and build a lens of your own like photographer and student Cormac Relf did.
DIYer Cormac built his lens out of a glass reading puck—which your grandparents might have lying around as a magnifying glass for reading tiny print—along with some construction paper and pieces of cardboard.
Kevin is a small-time tech hound, amateur photographer, and a general know-at-least-something of all things geeky hailing from New York. More by Kevin Lee
Mark Haywood
Having a robot human companion isn’t just a dream anymore. For most people, there's just one fat check separating you from your ASIMO. But one retired Baltimore cop named Mark Haywood skipped the long trip to the bank and just built the dream himself.
HEX is a real humanoid robot that stands about four feet and three inches tall that Mark built out of all kinds of household appliances. HEX isn’t just a looker, either; it’s got fully functional hands, arms, and legs.
NASA
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona
cunning_fellow/Instructables
NASA
Cormac Relf
Mark Haywood