Tag Archives: remote control

This fully functional DIY mini-television is the size of a coin! (And it has its own remote)

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Now I’m not really a small-screen person. The idea of watching Netflix on a mobile phone is cringeworthy to me, but there’s something just uniquely charming about the TinyCircuits TinyTV. Designed to be roughly 24 millimeters in width (that’s about the size of a quarter or a dollar coin), the TinyTV is a real, functioning, DIY television that even comes with its own remote control!

The TinyTV comes as a DIY kit that assembles easily in less than 5 minutes with no soldering or special tools required. It runs off a MicroSD card, allowing you to play back up to 5 hours of content (in MP4 format) on the TV’s ridiculously small screen. The TinyTV also comes along with its own TinyRemote with 6 adorable little buttons to power the TV on, change channels, adjust the volume, and even mute the television (I wonder how loud the speakers on the TV are). The TV’s 3D-printed enclosure is designed to resemble old-timey cathode-ray tube tellies from the 70s… and even though it’s printed in white filament, you can easily give it a quick paint-job with some acrylic paints. Don’t use a spray-paint can though, you might just blow the damn thing away!

Designer: TinyCircuits

PowerUp 4.0 Is a Remote-controlled Paper Airplane on Steroids

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When it comes to paper airplanes, they usually don’t stay airborne for more than a few seconds. The guys at PowerUp weren’t satisfied with that, so they set their sights on making motorized paper airplanes. We’re now on the fourth-generation of the PowerUp, and it’s the most capable version yet, enabling paper airplanes to fly better and further than ever.

The PowerUp 4.0 consists of a lightweight airframe, along with a pair of motors at the rear and a sophisticated flight control computer in its nose. Working in concert with a smartphone app, it can automatically smooth out flight thanks to the use of both a gyroscopic sensor and an accelerometer. It can even stabilize flight in windy conditions.

The kit includes a design for a basic, reliable paper airplane, but it will work with your own custom designs too, and the motors are powerful enough to fly models made out of cardboard, styrofoam, or balsa wood as well. While the app and computer smarts aboard the plane should keep your flight stable, the frame’s durable nylon and carbon fiber construction means it’ll survive in the event of a crash landing.

Flying is easy – simply tilt your smartphone to steer, and pull the on-screen throttle control to accelerate. Depending on conditions, the weight of your plane, and your flying technique, your plane can fly for up to 10 minutes on a charge. The PowerUp 4.0 also has the best control range of any model so far – up to 230 feet.

You can get your hands on the PowerUp 4.0 smartphone-controlled paper airplane kit over on Amazon for just $79.99. They also sell a companion book with a variety of paper airplane designs for another $19.99.

How to make sense of Logitech’s universal remote lineup

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When I was a kid there were two devices attached to the television in my family’s living room: a VCR and a cable box. And we had a universal remote to tie it all together. These days, the amount of gear in my home theater is far greater and it’s all...

Mattel’s Baby Yoda toy sports a remote control that lets it wiggle its ears and waddle around the house!

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With the Season 2 of The Mandalorian hot on its heels, Mattel and Disney have launched perhaps the greatest toy ever made… a Remote-Controlled Animatronic Baby Yoda that wiggles its ears, struts around like a baby penguin, and reaches out for objects with its adorable baby hands, as if it’s summoning the force!

The Star Wars: The Mandalorian the Child “Real Moves Plush” (I wonder how Yoda would say that name) stands at less than a foot tall, and looks almost like the real deal. The Baby Yoda Plush comes with perfectly tinted translucent skin that’s almost see-through around the ears, and large glossy eyes that can look directly at your soul. The plush comes clad in its khaki robes, along with an optional Mythosaur pendant that you can make it wear (just like the one Din Djarin gifted him at the end of the first season). While the Child possesses its own mystic mind-control powers, it is, in fact, operated by a tracking fob-shaped controller that resembles the one the bounty hunters in the series use to locate their targets. The controller allows you to make Baby Yoda look left and right, up and down, and occasionally wiggle its ears with a level of realism that feels uncanny for a $60 toy. The remote controller also allows the little green alien to waddle around on its two feet, and occasionally reach for objects with its adorably tiny 3-fingered hands!

Season 1 of The Mandalorian saw Disney struggling to develop Baby Yoda merchandise to keep up with the heavy demand once the audience fell in love with the character. It seems like they’re not making that mistake again with the second season, partnering with Mattel to release this plush just a few days short of the Season 2 premiere on Friday. You can grab your own remote-controlled animatronic Yoda at the shopDisney webstore, or even at any of Disney’s parks. Beware though, with its adorably good looks and that $60 price tag, it may just magically disappear off the shelves.

Designer: Mattel

This 4 input smart remote control + set top box’s interface speaks with each other!

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Long and sweet, short, and cute; curvy and elegant, thin, and broad – remote controls are available in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and designs. They usually come paired with a new set of television but are also sold standalone for their charm, convenience, and elegance. Not many remotes really fall in that category but we can spare a thought for Tech4Home’s expertise in the domain. Now the brand has commissioned Pedro Gomes Design to conceive a cutting-edge remote control that offers a state-of-the-art user experience. And boy isn’t what the latter has pulled off worth grabbing instantly?

Tech4Home supplies remote controls to major brands worldwide. Now the idea here is to design a remote control and set-top box that is tailored to overcome the challenges in the content-driven interface. The solution is aesthetically appealing and almost unique in its own way yet apt to meet the evolving needs of worldwide Smart TV providers. This longish remote control has an ergonomic design, soft and welcoming shape that fills within the hand. It features a touchpad, a joystick, and also accepts gestures and voice commands. The accompanied round STB features detailing LEDs around its face and touch control buttons on the top. While the microphone on the remote lets you control the TV via voice, the touchpad allows you to swipe through menus very smoothly. Keeping in line with the present-day aesthetics of having your devices react to your commands, the remote’s interactive LED’s reacts to your voice command, and the action of the voice command is replicated on the set-top box’s LED’s – after all, getting a response to our actions is a basic pillar of our everyday communication.

In addition to offering four discrete ways to interact with the Smart TV – touch, button, voice, and gestures – the wirelessly chargeable remote and STB come meticulously packed to make a mass appeal.

Designer: Pedro Gomes Design for Tech4Home

SpongeBob SquarePants Krabby Patty RC Car Doesn’t Drive Underwater

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Ohhhhhh! Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants! Absorbent and yellow and porous is he! SpongeBob SquarePants! You’ll wish you could shrink down to sponge size and drive through Bikini Bottom in this official Krabby Patty remote-controlled toy car.

I like to imagine a world where all vehicles look like food. Not just cars that look like Krabby Patties, but SUVs that look like strawberries, pickup trucks that look like pineapples, buses that look like bacon, and minivans that look like marshmallows. I could live in that delicious world. But I digress. SpongeBob’s car is rocking all the proper ingredients: fresh lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickles, mustard, ketchup, sea cheese, and that Krabby’s secret-formula meatless patty. It’s also got a spoiler.

The battery-powered RC offers all of the typical movements: forward, reverse, left, right, and stop, but if it really was designed to drive underwater it should have had a dive and ascend mode buttons too. Oh well. You can’t have everything. SpongeBob fans can grab the Krabby Patty RC Car over at Urban Outfitters for just $25.

[via Gadgetsin]

PlayStation 5 accessories include a camera and ‘3D’ headphones

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Sony’s PlayStation 5 won’t launch by its lonesome — there will also be a host of official (not to mention matching) accessories to go with it. To start, you can expect an HD Camera that, like its PS4 predecessor, will include dual cameras (1080p). It...