Tetris lamp now at Think Geek for $40

[Rosti_LFC]

Check this out

I knew I'd seen it somewhere before...

I remember seeing this a few months ago and admiring how it was actually a pretty clever design with the way the current was conducted through the outside of the pieces. Means the voltages have to be low so people can't electrocute themselves but still a really innovative concept.

Don't know if that's only a problem with the UK version, but I think I'd sooner only be able to place the pieces in one direction than have them flicker.

The flickering will be more noticeable on a European AC mains connection than a US one because our mains supply runs at 50Hz instead of the faster 60Hz of the US mains supply. Given the boundary of the human eye is around 20Hz (IIRC), plugged into US mains it should run just fast enough to not be terribly noticeable (divide by two for the on+off cycle, and then probably take off a bit more for when the voltage isn't positive enough to light the LEDs), whilst in the UK and the rest of Europe it'll be just on the cusp of what you can and can't see. That said, given the Firebox page explicitly makes note of how they flicker (though the reasoning of them flickering "as with all low voltage lights" is bullshit), I wouldn't count on it being a steady light source when you're looking at it. Probably one of these things that comes down to the person using it and how susceptible they are to seeing that sort of thing. Or, like the Amazon review says, you can always swap the charger for a similar DC one, and you just need to be more careful about block orientation to ensure the LEDs are the right way around to light up.

[larrytetris]

i went on amazon to see if the lamp was there n found these awesome post its!
http://goo.gl/EG5GM

Those aren't real I-pieces!!  

[iphys]

How dare those triominoes sneak in there.  I guess they couldn't find post-its long enough.

[Sisu]

It keeps saying "any combination" but every single example has the I-piece on the bottom, flat. I wonder if this is required?

[!--ImageUrlBegin--][a href=\\\"http://i.imgur.com/3CVd2.jpg\\\" target=\\\"_new\\\"][!--ImageUrlEBegin--][img width=\\\"400\\\" class=\\\"attach\\\" src=\\\"http://i.imgur.com/3CVd2.jpg\\\" border=\\\'0\\\' alt=\\\"IPB Image\\\" /][!--ImageUrlEnd--][/a][!--ImageUrlEEnd--]

[Rosti_LFC]

I dunno if you're joking or not, but all you have to do is turn that J 180° out of the plane of the page and it's an L

EDIT: nvm, you mean the other J that isn't actually a J in that pic

Also, that photo suggests what I thought would be the case, which is that if the blocks aren't aligned pretty well they won't light up (note the green S piece isn't lit). It also looks really easy to knock over :s

[virulent]

also..not SRS colors D:
*oops didn't see the 2nd page tharr.

[iphys]

It looks like the I is blue rather than cyan, and so then they've decided to make the J magenta rather than blue.  Not sure if they just couldn't get the proper colours or if they changed them on purpose to make the pieces look more similar in brightness.

[Sisu]

also..not SRS colors D:

I would have thought you would appreciate the change. ;D

It looks like the I is blue rather than cyan

No, it looks like the I can be either blue or cyan due to variable luminosity.

[iphys]

Got my Tetris goods:

Action shot

The I piece is definitely not cyan, but blue, and the J piece I would call magenta.  Also, the Z piece is more of a dark orange than a red.  I can't actually see the lights dimming and brightening, but I definitely am psychologically aware that they are flickering -- not that it's really off-putting enough for me to want to do anything about it.

The alarm clock is much bigger than I was expecting -- feels very solid and nice.

Edit: Just noticed in the instructions for the lamp it says, "This is not a toy."  Lol, don't you dare try to monkey around and have fun with the Tetris lamp if you get one.  The Tetris lamp is clearly intended for serious business only, people!

[yellowjack]

I've been trying in my head to fit those pieces into a perfect 7x4 with the I-piece on the bottom, but can't come up with anything. The T-piece with the box are causing me fits.

[Rosti_LFC]

I've been trying in my head to fit those pieces into a perfect 7x4 with the I-piece on the bottom, but can't come up with anything. The T-piece with the box are causing me fits.

It's been proven that you can't tessellate all seven tetris pieces into a rectangular shape. Can't be bothered finding a link, so will briefly explain:

If you were to lay each piece down so that it covers four squares on a chessboard, every single piece would cover two black squares and two white squares, with the exception of the T piece, which either covers three white and one black, or three black and one white. Assuming it's the first case, this means that if you total up the squares covered, you have a total of 15 white squares and 13 black squares covered. This imbalance means they won't ever form a rectangle, because any rectangle on a chessboard that covers an even number of squares (has to, because tetris blocks are a multiple of two each) will always have an even number of white and black.

This applies to any selection of Tetris pieces with an odd number of T pieces.

[yellowjack]

Thank you for that explanation Rosti!

[Sisu]

It looks like the I is blue rather than cyan, and so then they've decided to make the J magenta rather than blue.  Not sure if they just couldn't get the proper colours or if they changed them on purpose to make the pieces look more similar in brightness.

http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2011/10/tet...neuroscienc.php

We have a new color scheme...and we're trying to get closer to the rainbow because that's the most natural color scheme. We're analyzing it and, it's so funny, because you shift one and they all have to be re-jigged a little bit because they kind of push each other around.

It all makes sense now.  

I want to know if the lamp will light in this configuration:

[Rosti_LFC]

It'll light in any configuration so long as the pieces are in a single 2D plane and touching. And aren't having to levitate like the S in that graphic (I doubt the reaction force from the off-balance Z would be high enough to keep it up). Could always use glue I guess.