Cassette decks from Crosley take aim at tape-hoarding nostalgia-seekers – Rare Norm an hour ago Crosley, makers of the “good enough” record players you see in Urban Outfitters and Target, have turned their retro novelty eye on the next obvious format: cassettes. These two new decks from the company have all the latest features from 1985, but also a handful of modern conveniences. Let’s get one thing clear at the […]
E3 slouches towards irrelevance again as Sony announces it’s skipping the show – Rare Norm yesterday I like E3 . I really do. But it’s also monumentally dumb: game companies spending millions to show off essentially faked content to an increasingly jaded audience. And it’s increasingly out of step with how the gaming industry works. So it should come as no surprise that Sony will be skipping the show more or […]
Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ is a compact yet powerful Raspberry Pi – Rare Norm yesterday The Raspberry Pi Foundation just announced a brand new model. The Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ is basically a flagship Raspberry Pi on a smaller printed circuit board, with a few compromises. It costs $25, or $10 less than the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. The lineup is getting slightly confusing but bear with me […]
Google is closing its Schaft robotics unit after failing to find a buyer – Rare Norm a day ago Sad news for anyone into giant robots: Google is closing down Schaft, its secretive unit that develops bipedal robots aimed at helping out in disaster efforts and generally looking badass. The news was first reported by Nikkei, but Google confirmed to Rare Norm that the business will be shuttered. It said it is helping staff find new […]
No display for your Mac Mini? No problem. – Rare Norm a day ago Astropad’s Luna Display isn’t just for your MacBook. It turns out that you can take advantage of that tiny little red dongle to turn your iPad into your one and only Mac Mini display. The Luna Display was designed to extend your laptop display. Many desktop users who travel tend to feel limited with a […]
The Da Vinci Drawmaton is a blast from the Renaissance – Rare Norm a day ago Robert Sabuda makes mechanical books – pop up books with mechanical features that make them move and change while you read them – and he’s made it to the top of the New York Times best seller list multiple times. Now he’s taking on a new challenge: rebuilding and selling a version of Leonardo da […]
This $199 PS4 and ‘Spider-Man’ Black Friday bundle has my bargain-sense tingling – Rare Norm a couple of days ago I’m calling it — this is the best deal of this year’s Black Friday season, for gamers anyway. It’s amazing. It’s spectacular. Sony is selling a PlayStation 4 Slim with the new Spider-Man game for $199. That’s way too little money. The 1TB PS4 slim currently retails for $300, and that used to be the […]
How machine learning systems sometimes surprise us – Rare Norm a couple of days ago This simple spreadsheet of machine learning foibles may not look like much but it’s a fascinating exploration of how machines “think.” The list, compiled by researcher Victoria Krakovna, describes various situations in which robots followed the spirit and the letter of the law at the same time. For example, in the video below a machine […]
These antique phones are precious, private Alexa vessels – Rare Norm a few days ago Amazon’s Alexa may be in ten thousand different devices now, but they all have one other thing in common: they’re new. So for those of us that prefer old things but still want to be able to set timers and do metric-imperial conversions without pulling out our phones, Grain Design is retrofitting these fabulous old […]
Sony filed a patent for a touchscreen-equipped PlayStation controller – Rare Norm a few days ago According to a patent application continuation filed in 2017 and published recently, Sony may have tentative plans to build out a touchscreen-equipped PlayStation controller. Whether the value added from having a touchscreen right on the controller will be worth the added cost is not yet clear. Right now, PlayStation controllers have a touch-enabled center button […]
