{"id":873457,"date":"2025-12-19T09:16:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T09:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/VQd8SS8vmUYzsL6aZV9gLT"},"modified":"2025-12-19T09:16:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T09:16:49","slug":"an-origami-usb-connector-and-a-games-console-thatll-fit-in-your-wallet-two-entries-in-a-contest-to-make-business-cards-exciting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/an-origami-usb-connector-and-a-games-console-thatll-fit-in-your-wallet-two-entries-in-a-contest-to-make-business-cards-exciting\/","title":{"rendered":"An origami USB connector and a games console that’ll fit in your wallet\u2014two entries in a contest to make business cards exciting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Business cards are a dying art\u2014in the West, anyways. Most of us may never come to appreciate a finely crafted card capable of making a slick-haired serial killer wince with jealousy. But this business card competition over at Hackaday<\/a> hopes to change that. Or, at the very least, get creative with what constitutes a 'card'.<\/p>\n

There are some guidelines for business cards entering into the contest: the card has to be roughly 3.5 x 2-inches and should “fit easily in a pocket”. Beyond these few basic guidelines, the rules are open to interpretation. Though there are a few categories to strive for, including for the thinnest cards, utilitarian cards, and best-looking cards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The contest runs until July 2 but we've already various excellent entrants to gawk at.<\/p>\n

One project, crafted by LambertTheMaker<\/a>, ditches the usual information you'd expect to find on a business card, such as a phone number, email address, or any discernible company detail, for a basic 8×8 LED matrix screen, on which to play Snake. The business card, nee black PCB, also contains directional and A\/B buttons to control it.<\/p>\n

So, a games console, then? That's my kinda card.<\/p>\n

There's one more like it, too. This card from Edison Science Corner<\/a> is a mini tic-tac-toe console.<\/p>\n

Another is a couple sheets of paper\u2014seriously\u2014and between which creator Lincoln Uehara<\/a> has stuffed a circuit. With the correct cuts and folds, it's possible to fold the pieces of paper into a usable USB Type-A connector. In theory, it's then possible to use this to create some sort of usable flash drive, though as far as I can tell, the WIP project lights an LED.<\/p>\n

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\"Lincoln<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Lincoln Uehara)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This card from Martynas<\/a> is handy in emergency situations. Well, sort of. It's a circuit able to generate an SOS signal in morse code.<\/p>\n

Adam Billingsley's entry<\/a> is a card capable of delivering a text-based payload to your PC when connected via USB, sharing your key information (and ideally not something nefarious), and which also sets off an awesome rainbow animation. One of the best bits about this entry, however, it reportedly only costs $4 to make.<\/p>\n

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