Prototypes

Remember what life was like before your iPhone? Before there were palm-sized smartphones with seemingly endless features, there were phones like Motorola's RAZR that peaked with its embedded camera. Before that, there were simple flip phones with texting capabilities, bulky tw ...more

Microcontrollers are great. You can do anything from water your garden to catch wildlife trash diggers in the act—and on the cheap. I prefer to use the Arduino microcontroller because of the large and helpful community built around the website. Though it is my favorite, there ...more

If you want to get started sniffing Wi-Fi networks, you usually need to start with a wireless network adapter. But thanks to a Wi-Fi sniffing library written in Arduino and the ultra-cheap ESP8266 chip, you might not need one. For less than $10 in electronics, you can build a ...more

Welcome to Minecraft World! Check out our advanced tutorials and come play on our free server. There are many amazing redstone builds, but probably the pinnacle of redstone technology is the redstone calculator. The ability to turn simple game mechanics into a real-life calcu ...more

The USB Rubber Ducky is a well-known hacking device in the cybersecurity industry, but it needs to be preprogrammed before it can be used. That means it's not easy to issue commands to a target computer since you can't interact with it from afar after plugging it in. And if yo ...more

Ever wonder how all of those tiny chips and components can fit inside your laptop or smartphone? If you tried to squeeze them in there yourself, your laptop would quickly become too heavy for your lap, and your mobile phone would need wheels to stay mobile. The secret to mini ...more

There are many impressive accomplishments in Minecraft, too many to name in fact. Sprawling builds, complex machines, and massive servers are the hallmark of Minecraft and things keep getting bigger and better. No one doubts the epic scale Minecraft has reached, but every once ...more

The Mechanic character class is now live in Global MapleStory (GMS), the international version of Nexon's popular free massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Celebrate the release by building a super-powerful Mechanic to call your own! No idea how to invest your skill ...more

A lot of people think that TOR services are unhackable because they are on a "secure environment", but the truth is that those services are exactly the same that run on any normal server, and can be hacked with the same tools (metasploit,hydra,sqlmap...), the only thing you ha ...more

With just two microcontrollers soldered together, you can inject keystrokes into a computer from a smartphone. After building and programming the device, you plug it into a desktop or laptop, access it over a smartphone, and inject keystrokes as you would with a USB Rubber Duc ...more

A relay is an electrical component that works like a light switch, where it's turned on or off with an electrical signal. By connecting a relay to a Wi-Fi connected microcontroller like an ESP8266, you can build a connected switch that can be controlled from the web browser of ...more

Computer viruses are terrifying. They are undetectable, dangerous, and operate constantly right under your nose. For the average computer user, there are only a few repair options. You could buy expensive antivirus software that causes more problems than it fixes, you can wipe ...more

What would MacGyver do if he was stranded on a trash dump in the middle of the ocean? If he had the right supplies, chances are he'd come up with something very similar to this PVC and duct tape boat. C'mon, we all know MacGyver always has duct tape on him! A while back, Ben ...more

In many urban areas, GPS doesn't work well. Buildings reflect GPS signals on themselves to create a confusing mess for phones to sort out. As a result, most modern devices determine their location using a blend of techniques, including nearby Wi-Fi networks. By using SkyLift t ...more

As Google+ is still in its Limited Field Trial phase, joining can feel quite lonely. You can't exactly get all your friends and family in during the brief periods when the invitation system opens up. You can, however, add several interesting people to your "Following" Circle t ...more

CONTEST ENDED: WINNERS ANNOUNCED This contest has ended and winners have been announced. To see who won, check out our quick winners post. Thanks to everyone for submitting their ideas! ORIGINAL CONTEST Mad Science is back with another contest this month. This time, you've ...more

Last year, your iPhone's Weather app received some great features, but things are even better now with the latest iOS 17 version. Apple's Weather app has been around since the very beginning. In 2007, it provided little information, mainly consisting of the seven-day forecast ...more

While hackers know and love the Raspberry Pi, many don't know of its cheaper cousin, the microcontroller. Unlike a Pi, which can be used more or less like a regular computer, microcontrollers like the Wi-Fi connected ESP8266 require some necessary programming skill to master. ...more

The most common Wi-Fi jamming attacks leverage deauthentication and disassociation packets to attack networks. This allows a low-cost ESP8266-based device programmed in Arduino to detect and classify Wi-Fi denial-of-service attacks by lighting a different color LED for each ty ...more

What can I say—it's amazing. Loaded with over 350 LEDs in a matrix, this Daft Punk helmet simply radiates awesomeness. Made by Harrison Krix of Volpin Props, this DIY project took four months to build (much shorter than his last helmet of 17 months). To see how he Krix built ...more

No matter if you've used one or not, you've got to admit that 3D printers are pretty darn awesome, especially the self-replicating ones that extrude molten plastic and the shoebox-sized versions that use mesmerizing stereolithography to build tiny objects layer by layer. But w ...more

One of the big hurdles when equipping vehicles with sensors for autonomous driving is the cost. For example, the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors that power many versions of self-driving car technology are pricey, currently ranging from around several thousand dolla ...more

Imagine walking into a store with your own personal model to show you how any clothing item you want is going to work. ObsessVR wants to make that a reality, and make the store you're shopping in come alive using Apple's ARKit. The company is a virtual reality shopping platf ...more

A development team in Silicon Valley is nearing early access release of a new hardware-independent augmented reality platform called Phantom AR. Compatible with Android and iOS-based headsets, as well as the Microsoft HoloLens and Meta 2, Phantom AR runs the entire augmented ...more

These magical beans can keep your coffee hot for hours. Not blazing hot, burn your tongue on the first sip, and not disappointingly lukewarm, but coffee fit for every baby bear—just right. Genius. But not really magic. The beans, called "Joulies" by inventors Dave & Dave, are ...more

Now that Vision Pro, Apple's mixed reality headset, has been announced, Apple can free up some R&D resources to commit to its upcoming foldable iPhone, which has been rumored for just as long as Vision Pro has. Will it be a flip-style or a larger foldable? Let's see what all t ...more

Download the Software Go to the Antiprism downloads page. Download and install Antiprism 0.20. Run the Programs You need a method of running programs on the command line. In Windows, that could be a DOS box, on other systems a terminal emulator (e.g. xterm). Start this up. ...more

Welcome to a tutorial on crypting technology. In this article, we will be discussing types of crypters, how they work and why they work. After defining these, we will then make our own basic crypter using the function I gave to you as a task to complete by yourself in the prev ...more

My name is Noah Hornberger. I'm a former Pixar artist (Wall-E, 2008) and Professor of Animation (DePaul University, Chicago), and I have recently invented a motion-activated musical toy called the Dub Cadet. One Substance TV blogger has called my light-up sphere that transform ...more

The world of augmented reality has seen a myriad of different products, from sensor-laden smartphones to robust holographic headsets, but Google Glass's failures nearly killed the middle ground. Based on our hands-on time with a prototype, LAFORGE Optical did what Google coul ...more

You've seen the felt mouse, which made computer clicking comfortable and chic, now brace yourself for something a little more interactive—DataBot. DataBot hails from the clever minds of Jan Barth and Roman Grasy, two Interaction Design students based in Germany who wanted to ...more

Sure, Tony Stark was able to build the original Iron Man suit in a cave with a box of scraps, but can the average do-it-yourselfer replicate the EDITH smartglasses from Spider-Man: Far From Home in a similar fashion? Evidently, the answer is yes, as YouTuber Jake Laser, whose ...more

The year 2020 was a pivotal span of time during which the word "virtual" took on a brand new meaning. Instead of referring to VR or augmented reality, the term was hijacked to describe meeting across long distances through a variety of software tools, most often through video. ...more

I have an absolutely wonderful time making projects and writing articles for all of you mad scientists! Today, I will bring you behind the scenes for a look at the workbench, tools, and software that make the Mad Science World possible. Above is my beautiful workbench! My who ...more

For enterprise augmented reality platform makers, remote assistance apps represent one of the greatest opportunities to show off the power of immersive computing. These apps enable experts to guide front-line workers or customers with AR prompts and other content in the field ...more

As the demand for realistic volumetric video for AR experiences begins to grow (along with the available facilities and services for capturing it), researchers at Google have figured out how to improve upon the format. The team has devised a system, called "The Relightables," ...more

Damn right, you don't just eat 'em. When you're done with your next Pringles can, you can turn it into a kaleidoscope, a pinhole camera, and even a solar hot dog cooker. But Instructables user TheSpodShed may have just created the most awesome way to upcycle empty Pringles ca ...more

Revitalize your computer experience with something new and eccentric, possibly even more comfortable—a felt computer mouse. Joey Roth's design strays from the conventional hard plastic body seen in most computer mice produced today, replacing the ABS plastic with felt, teak a ...more

We've shown you the best augmented reality headsets, and now it's time to show you the rest. These are the AR headsets you've probably never heard of or even seen. The AR headsets that, in some cases, have a shot at the big time, and may one day reach widespread adoption, and ...more

Over the past decade, Marvel Studios has been a dominant force at the box office, raking in more than $21 billion dollars. Averaged out over that span of time, the yearly earnings of those movies outweigh the gross domestic product of some countries. And while those films hav ...more

Wheels of Steel is a virtual browser-based turntable emulator created by Scott Schiller, a Canadian developer who works on Flickr at Yahoo. This project will appeal to those who A) dig turntablism and B) are knowledgeable in web development. I know nothing of the latter, but f ...more

It's been about five months since Google first unveiled their prototype future computers running Chrome OS, and the time is nearly here for the Chromebooks to be unleashed on the public. But there are a lot of qualms over the release of Chromebooks, with most criticism coming ...more

Microsoft Research and Carnegie Mellon University have teamed up to to create an armband that projects a touchscreen interface directly on to your skin. The best part? Skinput knows which part of the body you've tapped, based on the sound that's matched against skin, muscle or ...more

With the nation facing a shortage of ventilators for COVID-19 patients and no apparent ramp-up in the production of new ones, engineers, medical resistents, and do-it-yourselfers are sharing plans for homemade versions. But before you go online to start ordering parts for any ...more

A macOS computer can reveal a lot of information about the owner, including which Wi-Fi network they have permission to access. With an Arduino-based attack, we'll use a five-dollar setup to inject a rogue Wi-Fi network and steal the list of trusted Wi-Fi networks, allowing us ...more

As expected, Apple revealed today at the WWDC keynote that ARKit 2.0 will support multiplayer gaming support and persistent content, which will arrive this fall with iOS 12. In addition to persistent and shared experiences, ARKit 2.0 will bring improved face tracking, more re ...more

In the last couple of days there's been a lot of speculation about the powers of Microsoft's HoloLens 2, but few have had a chance to get their hands on one to see if the company's claims live up to what HoloLens inventor Alex Kipman showed off on stage. Nevertheless, amid th ...more

Fool your friends, scare your cat, play a game while also admiring your physique! This "magic" mirror lets you do all that and more by letting you display words, pictures, videos, and even some games—all controllable through a mobile phone. Video: . It works by rigging an LED ...more

What if, back in 2013, Google Glass had launched not as a Star Trek Borg-like eyepiece, but as a pair of seemingly normal shades, with the augmented reality lens and camera hidden within the frame? Google Glass has been almost permanently tagged with the "glasshole" moniker, ...more

This demo made with Apple's ARKit is 13/10 and features a very good boy. Since the ARKit was announced, there have been rumors going around about what it could mean for pet lovers who want to see augmented reality dogs. The popular Twitter We Rate Dogs has created a Good Dogs ...more

The Digispark is a low-cost USB development board that's programmable in Arduino and capable of posing as a keyboard, allowing it to deliver a number of payloads. For only a few dollars, we can use the Digispark to deliver a payload to a macOS computer that will track the Mac ...more

If you liked the idea of cutting duplicate keys from a personal 3D printer, then you might be interested to know that researchers at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria have successfully designed the smallest 3D printer to date. The prototype device is smaller than ...more

"Necessity, not novelty," is a phrase I use often when it comes to HoloLens development. It would be fair to call it my mantra, or mission statement, as I prototype and explore software creation on this new frontier of mixed reality. "What kind of experiences will keep people ...more

While Microsoft dominated the augmented reality news at this year's Mobile World Congress, a small AR startup we've covered in the past arrived in Barcelona, Spain, to unveil the next phase of its mission. This week, China-based Nreal made the potential mass adoption of its N ...more

Architect Enrico Dini is an innovator in the world of 3D printing. Dini is racing to produce the first marketable printer that can print full scale structures on site. Development has been seven years in the making (which has left him nearly bankrupt, and cost him his marriage ...more