Technabob » Geek Art + Craft

Tiled Vespa Flower Pot Gives Plants a Ride to Nowhere

Conner Flynn — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:00:02 +0000

In general, it’s pretty hard to find a flower pot that stands out from the crowd. They all look the same to me. You can either go to Home Depot and get one like everyone else has, or if you happen to have a dead Vespa lying around you could always put some tiles on it and put a plant in it. Yeah, this is a much cooler flower pot than most.

It’s a great idea and a Vespa covered in tiles looks pretty awesome. It’s a work of art that is also functional, though no longer as a bike. Too bad they can’t take it on the road. It doesn’t run anymore. That’s why the people at Hotel Enfrente Arte took this ’55 Vespa, and gave it a classy makeover.

It would be awesome to see a tiled Vespa like this on the road though, plant or no plant.

[via Make: via Neatorama]

Hoth Cave Cake: Cut the Cake, Then Cut off a Wampa’s Arm

Technabob — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:00:59 +0000

One of my favorite scenes from The Empire Strikes Back is when Luke gets captured by the Wampa and is hanging upside-down from the ceiling of his icy cave. He then uses the Force to pull his lightsaber towards his hand, then slices himself down from the ceiling and proceeds to slash off one of the furry creature’s arms. Here’s that scene, recreated in CAKE form. What’s not to like?

The Planet Hoth Wampa Cake was created by Jill from Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons to celebrate her son’s 6th birthday. I sure hope that he knows what a wampa is at his age, so he can fully appreciate its awesomeness. The cake perfectly captures the Wampa’s ice cave, replacing the frozen bits with cookie frosting and white chocolate. The walls of the lair are made primarily from pretzel rods and graham crackers, with a cake forming the floor. Yum, I like sweet and salty together.

While Luke, his lightsaber and the wampa are just off-the-shelf action figures, it still looks great – though I would have liked to chomp on a bit of wampa arm if given the opportunity.

[via Geeks are Sexy]

Junkyard Robot PC Case Mod Dares You to Ask if It Can Play Crysis

Lambert Varias — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:00:55 +0000

Believe it or not, this sculpture of a robot actually houses a working computer in its body. While this doesn’t dethrone the weirdest or the prettiest case mods that I’ve seen, the man who made it says he finished the whole thing in just 2 days. I can’t even finish a bag of Lays in 2 days.

The case was made by bit-tech forum member WEHR-WOLF. He doesn’t have a name for his mod, nor did he talk about the specs or how exactly he went about making it or if he really is a werewolf. He only said that he made it from “parts of machines and tools” with a little help from “a liter of vodka.” Lucky bastard. A little help from vodka gives me vomit and regret, not a robot with a gatling gun for an arm.

Cover your PC’s eyes and head to bit-tech forums for more pictures.

[via Damn Geeky via Reddit]

Facebook Camera App Release Seems Puzzling

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 25 May 2012 19:00:01 +0000

I would imagine the people at Facebook weren’t happy when users of the social network began uploading huge amounts of photos using Instagram. Eventually, they gave in and bought Instagram outright for $1 billion to turn a competitor into an asset. You’d think with that purchase, they wouldn’t compete with themselves. You’d be wrong.

Facebook isn’t the type of company content to be outdone by other people’s apps, so the company launched a new app called Facebook Camera for the iOS platform. The new app promises to make using Facebook photos faster and easier. When the user launches the app, they will see the photos from the people on their friends list.

The app lets people swipe to see more of any album or an individual photo to enlarge it. It also allows you to share your own photos by uploading multiple images at one time rather than having to upload individual images. It also has basic tools for editing pictures and adding filters. It’s not as full featured as Instagram, but I still vote we call this app Facegram.

It’s just puzzling that Facebook would release this app so soon after buying Instagram. Perhaps this app was already in development long before the purchase was announced. If you want to check it out, you can grab Facebook Camera over on the App Store for free.

Marvel Should Steal This Avengers Helicarrier Blu-Ray Case Concept

Conner Flynn — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:00:32 +0000

Avengers is a massive box office hit, having already grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. People really love superhero flicks – so much so that some people are already thinking ahead to the Blu-Ray release. And for a hit movie like this, you know they are going to have a special collector’s edition.

Amazon.com already has a placeholder for a Limited Edition Collector’s Blu-ray Set which is rumoured to be a 6-10 disc set. Sadly it won’t be nearly as cool as this concept from Dave Delisle.

This is NOT official concept art for a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray Avengers set, but this is everything we would want from such a set. Dave’s concept envisions a giant 26″ long model of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s flying Helicarrier, with storage for not just the current Avengers flick, but extra disc trays for future releases. In fact, Dave says the Helicarrier could hold somewhere between 30 and 50 discs when fully outfitted.

Each engine/wing would even snap off to provide access to a subset of the discs. If only this were the set that we were getting. Oh well, we can dream. Anyway, I’m sure this would cost a fortune. Still, I know that I would be willing to pay.

[via Geeks Are Sexy]

Star Trek Voyager Cake Piloted by Captain Cakeway

Conner Flynn — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:00:29 +0000

Check out this amazing Star Trek Voyager cake. Voyager is my favorite Trek series, though it’s not as bad as Enterprise was. Even so, I really dig this cake. I mean I’d like to dig into it. With a fork.

It was made by JB Cada and Stephanie Santos of Regali Kitchen (who also made that awesome Game of Thrones cake.) Voyager actually lights up and is edible except for the illuminated part. The rest is completely edible, including the crew. A woman named Maya commissioned for her husband on their 11th wedding anniversary. It beats a cake from the replicator any day.

This delicious treat is dark chocolate with light caramel frosting. I’m sure it was enjoyed on their special day. Happy anniversary Maya and Barry. Live long and prosper.

[via Geeks Are Sexy]

Commodore 64 Guitar Has a Faster CPU than the NES Guitar

Conner Flynn — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:00:27 +0000

I love a good mod. The crazier the better. This one is crazy and all kinds of retro awesome. Some of you might know Jeri Ellsworth. She works for Valve and helped them start their hardware R&D department. Now she has yet another cool thing under her belt. She created this amazing Commodore 64 bass guitar/keytar.

She created it for last weekend’s Maker Faire. Apparently, it wasn’t a very difficult mod. She just went out and bought the cheapest bass guitar that she could find, took the neck off and the bottom part where the strings are attached and mounted them on a C64.

Okay it was a little harder than that. She set up a sensor on each string, which detect the sounds, then reproduce sampled notes through the original Commodore sound chip. The keyboard also produces additional synthesized sounds. Even though she thinks it could sound better, I think it sounds pretty great. This is definitely one of the cooler guitar mods we’ve seen in awhile – at least since the NES guitar.

[via Laughing Squid via Geeks Are Sexy]

Mechwarrior Cat Playhouse is Meow-velous

Conner Flynn — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:00:51 +0000

If cats ever wanted to lay waste to dogs they could do so. Yes, the war between cats and dogs is as old as the animals themselves, but it could come to an end tomorrow if our feline overlords so wished it. The proof is in the image below.

Cats don’t have little fingers and a thumb, so they can’t build weapons of war. But all it takes is one human sympathetic to their cause to build them their first mech. After that things will happen swiftly. Beagles will be beaten, collies will be cauliflower, pitbulls will be pitted, pelted and pummeled.

Yes, this war may finally have a victor and it will not be pretty. It will usher in a new age of feline domination. After the dogs are gone, they will take over the cat food factories. Once their food is secured, it will be our turn. You should have given fluffy more love… Lasers and string will not help you.

[via Obvious Winner]

Mad Max Motorcycle Built from Car that Broke Down in the Desert

Conner Flynn — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:00:16 +0000

For most of us, if our car broke down in the desert, we would have no choice but to just walk or pray for rescue. Most of are not so technically inclined to take our cars and build something else out of the parts. Well, Emile Leray is far more resourceful. When his Citroën 2CV car broke down in the middle of the Sahara Desert, he supposedly converted the car into a Mad Max style motorcycle.

The desert he was in was somewhere in northwest Africa. He got stopped and was told to go any further due to some military conflicts in the area. He decided to go around, through the desert. It wasn’t long before he snapped a swing arm on his vehicle, leaving him stranded. He did what any manly man would do. He disassembled his vehicle and created a motorcycle from the parts.

This guy is officially the real world MacGyver. Unless this is some kind of a hoax, he did this totally un-prepared. It seems like he managed to drill holes by bending metal and sawing at it, then un-bending it to be flat again, which makes sense. It took him twelve days to construct this vehicle. Sure, it sounds fishy, but like Fox and Mulder, I want to believe.

[via Reddit via Hack A Day]

Minecraft Mass Effect 3 Machinima: Mine Earth Down

Lambert Varias — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:30:32 +0000

The Take Earth Back trailer for Mass Effect 3 was kick ass, although in light of the controversy about how the trilogy ended some would say it was misleading. Then again, pretty much all videogame trailers are misleading. Perhaps even this machinima version of the trailer is misleading. The squid in Minecraft are not that big. Or are they? I’ve never actually played the game.

Here Commander Steve, Play Video Back:

Which did you choose? The 240p, 360p, 480p or 720p version? Were you satisfied with the diversity of choices or enraged at the fact that you got the exact same video regardless of your choice? Should we sue Avemagnadude and YouTube for making the video that way?

[via Kotaku]

Iron Man Xbox 360 Case Mod: Blue Ring of Life

Lambert Varias — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:00:31 +0000

I don’t think I need to elaborate on this one. It’s just an Xbox 360 with a case expertly modded with an Iron Man theme. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to brace myself for the deluge of “Where do I get one?” comments. And by deluge I mean like 3 comments. Wait how exactly does one brace oneself? Should I hug myself? Or fix my teeth?

The mod was done by one Zachariah Perry Cruse. In case the old Xbox 360 model didn’t clue you in, Zach – can I call you Zach? – made this ages ago, 2010 A.D. to be exact. As you can see it has ~~Famicom~~ Iron Man’s colors, a 120GB hard drive marked ‘Stark Industries’ and its own light-up arc reactor. Because this is an old model let’s just imagine that the reactor is the only thing preventing the console from RROD’ing.

So where can you get one? From the guy who bought it. This kick-ass console was sold just a couple of days ago, which is as unbelievable as it is unfortunate for the rest of you who would’ve wanted to own one. I also saw a similar mod for the slim version of the Xbox 360 made by Major League Mods, but it seems that one’s been bought as well. I guess you’d be better off pulling a Tony Stark and make your own case mod. Or maybe not.

[via Zachariah Perry via GameTyrant]

Need Help Identifying That Thing? There Are Plant Tags for Urban Objects Now

Hazel Chua — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:00:41 +0000

Okay, so these plant tags aren’t really for identifying what these common urban objects are, but they sure add a lot to the flavor of the town or neighborhood.

At least, that’s what the folks from Carmichael Collective are doing in Minneapolis. The tags they’ve placed beside objects you can pretty much find in every other lawn are slightly larger than the ones you’ll see beside plants in pots, but they pretty much contain the same elements: the common name of the object, its “scientific” name, care instructions, and the object’s placement.

As you can see, there’s one for hydrants, one for mailboxes, as well as No Parking and STOP signs. Be sure to check out the full collection over at the Carmichael Collective.

[via Laughing Squid via Neatorama]

Daleks Land on Top of Wedding Cake

Conner Flynn — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:30:15 +0000

Nothing says “Exterminate!” like a wedding. And it is you who is being exterminated. Your free time will be exterminated, hanging out with your friends on the weekend will be exterminated. That huge Star Trek Enterprise replica you have displayed on your kitchen table? Exterminated. All gone. You may as well have some Dalek Cake toppers on your wedding cake.

These cake toppers come courtesy of Geeks Are Sexy reader, Lee. These Daleks were originally pencil toppers and are the newer versions of the Daleks. The veil was made from a piece of old lace ribbon. The top hat comes from the middle of a cotton reel. The colors of the Daleks matched the color scheme of the wedding.

I hope they live geekily ever after.

[via Geeks Are Sexy]

NYPD Arrests Designer for “Planting False Bombs,” But He Was Just Putting Up Art

Hazel Chua — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:30:58 +0000

The name Takeshi Miyakawa might be familiar to you if you’re into contemporary art. Miyakawa is a huge name in the art scene with his unusual installations and thought-provoking works of art.

Unfortunately, some people from New York and the NYPD don’t agree. Miyakawa was arrested last Saturday (May 19th) for putting up some new illuminated sculptures in the city.

So here’s what happened: Miyakawa was putting up his art installations (which were inspired by the “I Love NY” plastic shopping bags from the NY Design Week 2012) when a resident complained about how he was going to get the lights down from his tree. The call got redirected from 311 to 911, and the police eventually came and arrested Miyakawa for “planting false bombs.”

Do these look like bombs to you?

A lot of people were outraged that this happened to Miyakawa. He’s currently being held at Rikers Island without bail, and a judge has recommended that he be held for mental evaluation.

A Facebook group has since been started to show support for the artist. Its wall is flooded with words of support and encouragement for Miyakawa during his detainment.

[via Spoon Tamago]

DIY Star Wars Toys from Old 3.5″ Disks: The Floppy Strikes Back

Technabob — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:27:54 +0000

Got some old floppy disks lying around? How about a little spare time? Are you a Star Wars fan? If you answered yes to all three of those questions, here’s the perfect project for you – a Millennium Falcon, X-Wing Fighter and Death Star cobbled together from old floppy disk parts.

Instructables contributor Jetpack5 has put together a tutorial showing how you can make these fun desk toys using old 3.5-inch floppies, and a couple of everyday tools like needlenose pliers, a hammer and a nail. Oh, and the Death Star requires a bunch of rubber bands too. Both the Falcon and the Death Star are made identifiable by the round metal floppy spindle, while the X-Wing is comprised mostly of those metal shutters which used to protect the delicate floppy disk innards.

I think these little models manage to capture the spirit of the originals, despite their relatively primitive shapes. If you’d like to make some for yourself, use the Force and head over to Instructables for the full instructions.

What other Star Wars creations do you think you could make from old floppies? I think you could probably make a pretty cool Darth Vader helmet from old black 5-1/4″ floppies. Any volunteers?

8-Bit Pop Up Cards Invade Birthdays and Other Special Occasions

Conner Flynn — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:00:48 +0000

Hallmark cards are fine, but they usually aren’t very geeky, so stop giving them your hard earned money. Make some cards yourself like these 8-bit cards instead!

These pixel art cards were created by Kate Lilley, a blogger and author of crafting books for kids. Obviously she loves retro video games. After getting a ton of positive feedback for an 8-bit heart popup that she created, she was inspired to make these cards. There’s the alien from Space Invaders and the skull from The Legend of Zelda. These beat store-bought cards any day and besides, I’m a sucker for all things Space Invaders.

If you want to make these yourself all you need is a sharp crafting knife, and be prepared to supervise your kids if you plan on letting them help. A sharp knife is being used after all. Check out Kate’s blog for the templates and directions.

[via Geek via Geeky-Gadgets]

Toy Story 2 Once Deleted by Accident (and Again Because It Sucked)

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:00:48 +0000

Anyone who uses a computer long enough eventually deletes a file by mistake they really wanted to keep. If you ever had this happen at work on a corporate network things get ugly really quick. I can only imagine when Pixar was working on Toy Story 2 and a bunch of the files were accidentally deleted, sphincter tone went up greatly within the studio.

Apparently, someone mistakenly ran a command on the company server to delete all files in a directory and subdirectory. The catch was the command was executed in the main root directory for Toy Story 2. Pixar then found out its backups were incomplete leaving it with months and many, many hours worth of lost content. Luckily, a worker who worked from home had more recent copy of the film stored locally on her computer. The result was a loss of some data but nothing as catastrophic as originally thought.

The Pixar team is able to look back at the story with a sense of humor in the short animated clip below:

Ironically, once the film was recovered and nearly complete, Pixar decided they didn’t like how it turned out, and eventually reshot much of the film with just months before its theatrical release.

[via TheNextWeb]

World’s Tallest LEGO Tower Stands Nearly 105 Feet Tall

Shane McGlaun — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:00:47 +0000

I could never build a gigantic LEGO creation like this world record-breaking tower. I tend to get bored after building a couple of LEGO cars or houses with my kids. That didn’t stop a group of LEGO fans in South Korea from constructing this 104-foot, 8-inch tall LEGO tower, breaking the previous world record. The previous tallest LEGO creation stood at “just” 103 feet, 8-inches tall.

The tower reminds me more than a bit of the Washington Monument. The tower is larger at the base in the tip and uses supporting guide wires along the way to keep it from toppling over onto the crowds. The project used over 500,000 LEGO bricks when all was said and done.

Among the builders were 4000 local kids conscribed into LEGO ~~slave~~ labor. By that, I mean the children won a contest and were allowed to help build the massive tower. Don’t expect to see LEGO release this tower as an off-the-shelf kit any time soon.

[via Huffingtonpost]

Nintendo Characters as Ukiyo Woodblock Prints: Very Creepy Turtles

Jack Kieffer — Mon, 21 May 2012 17:00:18 +0000

Nintendo Characters are awesome, and Japanese representations of things are awesome, so why not combine the two? “Nintendo Characters are Japanese.” Not like this – a guy named Jed has decided to make Ukiyo Woodblock Prints showing all of his favorite Nintendo characters as they appeared back in the age of dragons and those round hats with the carts that were pulled in the streets. This just in: ethnocentrism is not a rampant issue in today’s society, we are educated about other countries and their cultures. Germany: Audi. Japan: Nintendo. Italy: pasta. Lots and lots of pasta.

This is one of the first Ukiyo pieces that Jed created, and it depicts our favorite wore-green-every-day-until-he-was-seventeen hero: Link. I particularly like how the Master Sword was redone – still recognizable, but not the same. Overall, a good mashup of ancient Japan and the Legend of Zelda in this wooden print.

I like the Samus ukiyo print more than the Link one simply because there’s an explosion and more women. The dragon was definitely a smart way to pull off the fact that Samus shoots electric balls of death all of the time. To see all of the prints, go to the newly-created Ukiyo-Nintendo Facebook page.

Above is the newly released ukiyo sketch of Mario Kart, which is just a draft that was just posted on the Facebook page – he’ll add color, among other things. I wanted to share it though, because the Koopa and the squid were too good not to put into the post. Creepy turtles!

If these prints are right up your alley, then check out the Zelda Fireplace Art and the Bathroom Filled With Nintendo Art!

[via Geekologie]

Jack Kieffer owns Cool Gizmo Toys, a blog that tailors to geeks

Videogame Ear Plugs Almost Make Me Want to Get My Ears Pierced

Lambert Varias — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:45:17 +0000

…but because I’m fine with my body’s aerodynamics as it is, I think I’ll just admire these plugs from a distance. No actually it’s because my tolerance for pain is so low – in fact I’m crying right now because of the terrible pain induced by typing. How can anyone endure this?!

These ear plugs were made by deviantART member Marcus Hermansson. For those of you interested, unfortunately he’s not interested in selling them. Maybe you can one-up him and plug actual parts from consoles into your lobes. +1 if you can fit an entire console in there.

Head to Hermannson’s gallery at deviantART for high resolution images, including a picture of his LED plugs, which lets him see in the dark as long as he swings his head from side-to-side.

[via Sprite Stitch]