popular science

12 POPULAR SCIENCE

selected consciously by ANTHONY FORDHAM

The world is full of amazing and possibly not very useful

gadgets, and this is the page that celebrates them (or

at least mocks them with gentle fondness). This month

we’ve found everything from a 3D printed camera to a 3D

printer (but not the kind you can use to print this particular

camera). Plus a new thing for making coffee that will

amuse your friends if you can’t get it to work.

State

of the

Art

Obsessed

The Standard 4x

http://www.nikonowicz.com

FROM US$

Digital cameras are so passé. Everyone’s

into going back to super-primitive pinhole

lens cameras, you know with the

magnesium flare flash and the cloth over

the head, all that. To get the kinds of

results only 5-10 minutes of fiddling with

Instagram filters can replicate, you need to

3D print your own 4x5 format camera.

Film? Nah mate, photographic plates is

what this is all about. On the other hand,

the Standard 4x5 is reasonably cheap and

might give you a new appreciation of how

convenient digital really is.

XYZPrinting Nobel

Superfine

http://www.xyzprinting.com

US$

Most 3D printers sacrifice smooth

resolution for simplicity and cheapness of

materials. Digital light processing (DLP)

printers like the Superfine give a much

better result, and now they’re not too

insanely expensive. The resin is messy and

toxic, sure, but if fine detail matters to you

then all the sponging up after each print

will be worth it.

Roidme F8 Vacuum

http://www.roidmi.com

$US

No we didn’t leave off the word “Dyson”,

this is a cordless bagless vacuum cleaner

that isn’t a Dyson, they do exist. The

Roidme F8 did get a big campaign on

Indiegogo which was a bit cheeky since

Roidme is owned by Chinese megacorp

Xiaomi. Who cares right? It’s not a Dyson,

its way cheaper than a Dyson, and it

generates 18.5 kilopascals of centrifugal

air pressure! No, that’s a real thing, it is!

Modal Electronics

SKULPT

http://www.modalelectronics.com

$

We love analogue synthesisers here at

PopSci and we’re open-minded enough

to give some of the digital ones a go

too. Modal’s says this is a “virtual

analogue” synth. Okay. It’s a four-voice

synth with all the esoteric synth

features you’ve forgotten about since

the rats got to your Telstar EP. Still

Modal’s has rep and the SKULPT has

many, may knobs to twiddle. Funk on.

NOTE ON PRICING: Prices, where appropriate, are given in currency of origin

because the USD is on a bit of a tear right now. Also, we can’t figure out the

import rules anymore, like do you always have to pay GST on top of everything

now, or what? Still, at least it means we don’t have to go to a shop. Ugh!