From developers to ironworkers, just about everybody knows to wear a hard hat in hazardous work environments like construction sites. Keeping your noggin’ covered with these helmets keeps workers safe from falling debris and the occasional negligence by their coworkers. But just how effective are these hard hats in a dangerous incident? And is there real security from wearing one, even when you don’t know rubble is falling straight for your head? To answer these questions, Matt Mikka over at the YouTube channel Warped Perception took three different hard hats—a $3 orange hard hat, a $12 yellow hard hat, and a completely transparent hard hat (price unknown)—and dropped a load of punishment…
It’s time for another round of apps that cover the spectrum of your beloved smart device(s)! The Weekly App Smack is the best of new or updated design and productivity apps (and maybe a couple of fun ones, too) for the busy design or engineering professional. This week we have a list sure to make you more efficient. Do you have an app suggestion that has made your life easier or changed up your workflow? Let us know in the comments below or send it into tips@solidsmack.com. Hit it! Bear (iOS — Free) Bear is a focused, flexible writing app used by everyone from bloggers and web developers to aspiring authors…
That Xometry, they’re just not satisfied to bring you nearly every mill, print, metal, and mold option available. They had to go and bag a partnership with Carbon — you know, the company that dropped jaws with their breakthrough CLIP tech that prints high-res parts 25-100x faster. Yeah, well, if you’ve seen a Carbon printer, drooled a bucket over the results, but are not quite ready to pony up $50k/year for a Carbon M2 DLS 3D Printer subscription, Xometry just made it possible for the cost of using their manufacturing on-demand service and hearing your boss giggle with delight. Teehee! From the press release: Customers can now get an instant…
You’ve been told time and time again how riding a bike can be beneficial for both the environment and your health. But if you’re not inclined to strap into the pedals for a pedal-pusher first thing in the AM, why not turn to an electrified solution? As Russian online power tool store Kuvalda shows in a recent marketing video, all it takes is strapping a Dewalt power screwdriver to the wheels of a conventional bike and voila, your commute is now 100%-exercise free. Taking a closer look at the DIY e-bike, you can see it is made from welded pipes and what I can only assume are recycled bicycle parts (the…
Kids today may never learn to appreciate how far technology has come in such a short time. They’ll never know the struggles of rewinding VHS tapes before returning them to Blockbuster, and video games can now be downloaded straight to their mobile phones instead of taking a trip to the video arcade for every quick gaming fix. For a maker known only as “Bob,” recreating that vintage arcade experience in a pocket-sized device was reason enough to pay homage to the classic video games of yesteryear in a modern(ish) package. The KeebCard is his pocket-sized device for playing vintage games including Pong and Snake. Using just three mechanical keyboard switches and…
Get that stretch out of your system with this week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist. It’s fashioned up, ready to make you pull your shoulder blades back and knock out another week of meaningful work while you bob your head to the beat. Whether you’re in the shop milling aluminum, sketching the latest product prototypes or modeling up a 3D storm, consider these tracks as a tool for your process. This week on SolidSmack Radio we’re kicking things off with “Catfish Kate” from the Pixies before diving into tracks from Surfer Blood, Ariel Pink, Lagwagon, Four Tet, and others before wrapping up “James Bond” from the Stoogiest Stooge, Mr. Iggy Pop.…