Category Archives: Electronics
Firefly And Serenity Blu-Ray Case
ANNOUNCEMENT: Be sure to check my other blog as right now the third run of Browncoats hockey jerseys are being offered for a limited time (as well as another surprise jersey). Original post as follows:
An obscure but fitting choice for a Blu-Ray case: the media player seen in the film Serenity that River Tam uses to see the plight of Miranda. The size of the player looked perfect, making this case almost a prop replica.
I also want to say right off the bat that this would be ideal for a Blu-Ray player too; might do that another day. For now I decided to make it a case, because the glass casing had this ‘layered’ look in the film, making it appear like a bunch of cases stacked on one another.
A few manual clasps at the side would lock the case shut. With the clasps pried loose, four trays would be accessed, holding a total of 6 discs, enough for the complete television series and the feature film. This can be expanded to 8 discs if needed (added discs could go on the bottom of the 4th tray and the case stand itself). Once opened the trays turn like pages in a book.
A nice touch would be the illumination of the case via a single blue LED light, which would be activated on demand. This is a feature that would be better for the aforementioned Blu-Ray player idea, but still possible for a case. The light is housed in a detachable module that is plugged into the top disc tray (the two side clasps plug into the module as well); it can also remain affixed when accessing discs. This module functioned as the data storage device in the film, so if you’d like to carry it around with you as a prop that is also an option.
What could arguably be a bigger pipe dream than this case is getting FOX and Universal to cooperate and release the television series and film together in one package. FOX owns the TV series while Universal owns the film. To date they’ve done their own respective releases. One possibility is FOX releasing the complete TV series with a few empty slots for the film’s discs, which would be a nice gesture. But then again this media player design is proprietary to the film. *Sigh!*
Wii U Peripheral For Playing DS and 3DS Games
Between the television and the gamepad on the Wii U, the dual screen experience is now akin to that of the DS and 3DS, Nintendo’s acclaimed handhelds. So can we expect a peripheral that would allow people to play their DS/3DS carts on the Wii U?
We’ve already seen two instances of Nintendo releasing a device that would allow a console to play handheld games: The Super Game Boy for the Super Nintendo, and the Game Boy Player for the GameCube.
And looking at the hardware DNA of the Wii U, it is very conceivable that a third device is possible. The Wii U’s GamePad has a touchscreen, camera, microphone, and all the basic controls that would allow for the DS/3DS experience to be played on the console.
The only feature that probably wouldn’t make the leap to the Wii U is the 3D ability of the 3DS. There are glasses-free enabled 3DTVs on the market, but compatibility could be an issue. Seeing as 3D was always an optional feature for the handheld, I don’t think this would be a deal-breaker for consumers.
The allure of having a device that would allow an install base consisting of nearly 174 million handhelds (152 for DS, 22 for 3DS) to play their games on a console would be too great for Nintendo and consumers to ignore. On the fence about the Wii U? A device like this would certainly seal the deal.
It looks like an external device would be warranted as opposed to an adapter or hardware expansion like the aforementioned Super Game Boy and Game Boy Player devices. More than likely a small device that plugs in via USB, unless the DS/3DS handhelds themselves got a firmware update that allowed them to plug-in directly to the Wii U, which is another possibility.
I put together this basic design and named it the “DS U”. Its silhouette is that of the ‘U’ from the Wii U logo, so it could sit beside the console in a complimentary fashion. The ‘U’ opening also prominently displays the game cart label, giving it an old-school cartridge vibe.
Really hope Nintendo does something along these lines, as it would certainly expand the Wii U’s potential.
Criterion Collection Blu-Ray Player
I usually design Blu-Ray cases here, but for fun I thought I’d design a Blu-Ray player. The best theme for a player in my opinion is the Criterion Collection, something I’m sure many Cinephiles would agree with.
Criterion would look minimalistic and somewhat luxurious, so I enlisted wood paneling and aluminum for the main body. Gone are the electronic LCD panels, instead are a few printed card displays that are illuminated with bulb or LED lights. Buttons are also scarce here, only the power and eject buttons are on the face (the rest could be buried behind a panel elsewhere, I didn’t include it here).
One cosmetic feature is a single-hand clock that would display the progress of the film in lieu of a quartz timer. I personally think it looks really classy, especially with the Criterion ‘C’ on the face. For those who want to see specific time information, that could be displayed onscreen (via remote press - remote not shown).
There are two individual disc trays; for loading the feature disc and special features disc, or two completely different movies. I think this would be better than those 3 or 5 disc trays, allowing you to replace discs without interrupting one that is currently playing. Also you can quickly toggle between the two discs, because they would be loaded simultaneously.
And one feature that I think is really neat is a perch for parking your (empty) movie case. This perch has dramatic lighting to illuminate the case, showing off the case art and making this a theater marquee of sorts. The lights dim when the films plays, and come back on when the film is stopped.
This was just a fun exercise. In all likelihood such a player would look very conventional (cobalt black, LED display, single disc tray). Personally I’d like to see a flat design, something I pitched a long time ago.
Wii U External HDD Cases Part 2: Metroid
Enlisting the Save Station platform from the Metroid Prime series seems like a fun way to designate an external drive if I may say so. Metroid has one of the more ‘showy’ saves in all video games, ideal for a device that stores games and save files.
When a save or data transfer occurs, the LED lights on the platform would pulse (sorry no GIF this time). Samus could also have an LED in her visor, but that might be tricky to do with her being so small.
I feel the Samus figure could be sold separately. Some people might prefer different eras of the character or different colors even.
Other variants: the drive case could also the Gunship which Samus could stand on. Samus could also stand in a glass capsule a la Super Metroid. The HDD could be jettisoned altogether, so you could have a Metroid figure on a stand that intercepts a USB feed to the external drive.
Wii U External HDD Cases Part 1: Super Mario
I haven’t been following the Wii U too much these past several months, I figured I knew all there was to know about Nintendo’s new console. But then recently I learned the system is allowing for external storage (either SD Cards or external hard drives) to help with capacity. How great is that? No proprietary hardware and easy-to-maintain data. Kudos to Nintendo.
What got me excited about this storage system are the possible external hard drive enclosures we could be seeing, be it from Nintendo or a third party (like Mad Catz). I think we could be seeing some pretty cool cases to park our hard drives in, because they’d enlist video game themes as opposed to looking like drab bricks.
First up is this really simple Mario block design. I have a few more designs in the pipeline, but I wanted to start with this one because it would compliment the Wii U console in appearance.
It features a Mario question block that operates as the power button (illuminates when powered-on). Above it are coins that animate in a light sequence to denote data is being transferred or a write is taking place (like saving a game). It would play the coin chime sound when the device is turned on, in sync with a single coin animation.
I’m 99.99% sure we’ll see a few fun HDD cases like this, because they’d appeal to both Wii owners and those who would want a geeky external case for their desktop computer. And that kind of market reach would be difficult to ignore from electronics companies.
Doctor Who Shakri Cube Clock
If you’re a Whovian you probably recognize this Shakri Cube, featured in a recent episode. Because of their countdown timer feature and small size, I thought they would be ideal for a clock. These cubes also open, so an iOS device dock might be a worthwhile addition. This could be a normal clock or alarm clock.
The only drawback would be needing a cord for power, which spoils the appearance of this looking somewhat like a prop replica. All the LED lights are not very optimal for battery operation. Instead it could be solar-powered or maybe sitting on a wireless charge pad/mat, allowing you to pick it up and juggle it or throw recklessly at co-workers.
I’d also include a couple of plain black cubes, should you want to stack them. Power could be re-routed through all the cubes, much like this neat Tetris light from Thinkgeek.*
*Speaking of Tetris and clocks and Thinkgeek, have you seen this?
