We’ve seen some crazy Nerf builds this year – from Adam Savage’s modified blaster which fires 1,000 paintballs from its magazine to a 3D printed Nuka Cola zapper inspired by the hit video game franchise Fallout. Now there’s a new game franchise that’s been picked up by toy company Hasbro, and that franchise is the ever-popular Overwatch. Falling under their more adult line of Nerf Rival guns (these shoot small, soft, round projectiles rather than the traditional foam darts), the first two guns in the product line feature baby D.Va’s blaster and Reaper’s handheld shotguns. In case you need a crash course in Overwatch lore, D.Va, who spends most of…

Let’s face it: the days when learning for kids meant going outside to play are dwindling fast. Instead of experiencing the outside world for themselves (or reading about it in a classic paper bound book), children of this generation are more content to sit in front of a screen for hours on end and absorb whatever is being shown to them. And though I wouldn’t say this is the best way for them to learn, at least they’re learning something. Plugo by PlayShifu is an AR gaming system which helps you keep track of what your child is learning. After downloading the Plugo app onto a mobile device, you can…

Epic Games’ Fortnite is a popular third-person shooter-survival game that pits up to four players who work together to fight off zombie-like creatures and defend objects by building fortifications. Players can choose a myriad of guns to do battle with, including an excellent double-barrel shotgun that can dispatch enemies rather quickly. Being a favorite of some players, the creative minds from ZaziNombies decided to recreate the shotgun using LEGO bricks and a bit of ingenuity. The double-barrel break-action shotgun is decked-out with a tactical pistol grip along with some wooden-looking furniture and weighs about 4-pounds. The shotgun was designed using approximately 1100 LEGO bricks along with a LEGO Technics’ hinge-pin…

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’ll get the groove going with “California English Pt. 2” from Vampire Weekend before diving into irresistible NEW tracks from Wild Nothing, Beck, NOFX, Blood Orange, and others before wrapping up with “No Real Friend” from…

These days, you can get just about any computer rig designed to your exact specifications. Whether you’re a RAM-hogging SolidWorks user, or simply just want a powerful workstation, there’s something for everybody. But no standardized hardware mod will ever replace the satisfaction of building your own rig from scratch. If you’ve ever wanted to create your own custom-built PC but didn’t know where to start, boy do we have great news for you. The How to Build a Computer Bundle consolidates five intensive online courses (a total of 126 individual lessons) ranging from how to create a blueprint for your desired desktop or laptop setup to how to overclock CPU…

Mondays might not be your favorite day of the week, but the good news is that we’re all in this together ladies and gentlemen. As purveyors of prime Grade A web content, the SolidSmack crew has done some of the heavy-lifting to make sure you get your Mondays started on the right track. Welcome to The Monday List. Every Monday, we link you up with some of the most insightful, informative, and socially-relevant stories to keep tabbed, bookmarked, reading listed, pocketed, or what have you to get your week started on the right foot. Be sure to check in each week for a new crop of freshly sprouted words curated straight…