It was invented in 1853 by the Scottish Gaelic scholar Iain Òg Ìle, known in English as John Francis Campell.  Perhaps unsurprisingly he was also the Secretary to the Lighthouse Commission at the time.  It was adapted and improved in 1879 by Sir George Gabriel Stokes (pictured left) a Cambridge University based physicist and mathematician known for his work in fluid dynamics, mathematical physics and, importantly, optics.  As president of the Royal Society and Commission he also investigated the causes of railway disasters during that period.

Campbell’s idea was straightforward but brilliant.  A glass sphere would be placed in to a wooden bowl.  The sun would burn a trace on the bowl as it the earth circled it – the above is a picture of the original now housed at the Science Museum in London.  It worked and would measure the amount of sunshine in a single day with some accuracy.  The downside, obviously, was the number of bowls which would have to be used to collect a significant amount of data – a year’s worth for example.

There are other versions of this simple device in use around the world. See pictures of them at Kuriositas. Link -via the Presurfer

(Image credit: Flickr user Science Museum London)

Colorsonic is an MP3 player that uses color indication to play music based upon certain moods.

Music is loaded to the Colorsonic like an ordinary MP3 player and converts the songs to color associations chosen by the user. Colors are assigned individual emotional states and playlists correlating to those states can later be accessed by selecting that color on the device.

As an added bonus, the hole in the center of the donut shaped product is used to magnetically store earbuds.

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whitespace.

Grab your barf bag and get ready to strap yourself into the Buzzball. Best described as a hamster ball for humans, the Buzzball delivers a unique rollercoaster ride where the pilot is in complete control of the ride experience.

The product is still in the development phase but looks like a blast. The Buzzball is a dual motor configuration that enables its pilot to control the motion and direction of travel via control triggers and provides power to the driving wheels. The amount of power each wheel receives determines the Buzzball’s direction of movement.

Link

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by whitespace.

I’m sure most of you know at least something about the mysterious Antikythera Mechanism that was found at the bottom of the sea in 1901 near the island of Antikythera (from where the device took its name) and is estimated to have been built between 150-100 BC by an unknown builder. Famed for its mysterious and significantly advanced gear mechanism and complex build the Antikythera Mechanism was eventually found to be a computing calender and clock of sorts for the planets. Which may have been useful to sailors as would be evidenced by why the device was found among the carcass of a sunken ship.

Fast forward to the modern age and we find curator Michael Wright with the first fully functional working model of the Antikythera Mechanism in the World. To imagine that such advanced and complex machines were being built so long ago has fascinated and helped reshape ancient history and knowledge. The mystery concerning this device has increased as archaeologists and scientists wonder why they have only found this sole machine in the past century and why there is no recorded information regarding its creator.