The Best SolidSmack Stories of the Week — August 24th, 2018

Don your favorite bathrobe, cream that coffee and get comfortable with this week’s SolidSmack Weekend Reader.

The Weekend Reader features a handful of the most interesting articles featured on the ‘Smack over the past week ranging from tips and tricks to inspirational designs, processes, and more. So lay back, relax and take a load off while reading the top stories on SolidSmack this past week.

Oh and uh…don’t forget to shed some much-needed sunlight on your face, too.

This Build Crew Created a Fortnite Double Barrel Shotgun Using LEGO Bricks

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.

New Adventures in Toy Design: Overwatch Nerf Blasters Are Now a Thing

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.

Lenovo Ear Slaps Apple With New Ultralight ThinkPad P1 Mobile Workstation

There were scattered reports of Mackbook Pro users covering themselves in ash and eating gallons of ice cream earlier this week with Lenovo’s announcement of their new ThinkPad P1 ultralight mobile workstation. Ultralight mobile workstation. Yeah, I just used those words together in a sentence – TWICE.

Plugo Turns Your Tablet into an Immersive STEM Gaming System for Kids

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.

Opener’s Blackfly Vtol Aircraft Is Set to Turn Us All into Pilots

Silicon Valley startup Opener recently debuted their Blackfly VTOL aircraft at this year’s AirVenture Oshkosh airshow in Wisconsin. Touted as “the world’s first ultralight all-electric fixed-wing extreme short/vertical take-off and landing (ESTOL/VTOL) aircraft,” the single-seat personal aircraft doesn’t require a pilot’s license to operate or need any unique skills, although it will require you to take an FAA Privet Pilot written exam and Blackfly familiarization.

NASA Announces Winners of Their 3D Printed Mars Habitat Competition

NASA has awarded a piece of their $100,000 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge money to five teams for their entries in Phase 3: Level 1 of the contest. The competition is part of NASA’s ambitions to build a 3D-printed habitat for deep space exploration, including their endeavor to journey to Mars.

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