Swedish artist Love Hulten built the Sputnik 0667 as a labor of love, giving it a retro 20th century feel inspired by old wooden “hi-fi” radios. Actually the more I look at it, it feels like the love-child of an old radio and a Commodore PET computer, with those sharp angular lines and its trapezoidal display housing. The wooden keyboard and mouse surface folds up when not in use, and the back of the system even has that old-school perfboard ventilation found on older electronics.

Hulten refers to the Sputnik 0667 as a “concept computer”, but from the looks of the screen there, there is a complete PC lurking somewhere inside there. As a matter of fact, under the hood is a Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Mini-ITX mobo, an Intel Core i3 550 3.2GHz CPU, a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 GPU, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB WD hard drive. Here’s a screen of it running what surely looks like a Windows XP screensaver. Retro, indeed!

Perhaps my favorite thing about the Sputnik 0667 is the accompanying retro advertising campaign that Love took the time to create, echoing the style of the computer perfectly. If this were an actual system you could have purchased, this is exactly what the ads would have looked like:

Gotta love that typeface and the old game of Asteroids on screen. Sure, Asteroids wasn’t around during the days of Sputnik, but that’s okay. The vector graphics are a perfect fit anyhow. And the Pièce de résistance…

“Bye baby, I’m going space hunting!” And that goldfish bowl helmet? Priceless. Love, kudos on a brilliant job on the mod and it’s accoutrements. More details about this excellent mod can be found over at Sweclockers (in Swedish, of course), with the build log here.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Back in the late 1960s, GE created the Cybernetic Anthropomorphous Machine (CAM). The so-called “Walking Truck” robot was controlled directly by an operator inside a cage, who used a series of levers not dissimilar from those you’d find in construction equipment to control the ‘bot’s movements, and mimicking his own movements. Apparently, driving the CAM was so challenging for the operator, that he’d have to take a break after about 15 minutes. I wonder if those Imperial Walker pilots had to stop every 15 minutes too.

Check out CAM in action in the archival footage below:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Developed for a U.S. Army experiment, the CAM never saw the light of day, but at least at the time the footage was shot – it was sitting in an Army warehouse in Detroit. I wonder if it’s still there, or if some lucky sucker picked it up at an auction at some point.

[via VideoSift]

BrionVega’s RR227 is a modern-day update of Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper’s classic RR127 radio, which they created over 44 years ago. The updated model comes with AM and FM radio tuners, and the ability to play MP3 or WMA digital audio files. Just drop an SD card into the slot and connect your computer via USB to load it up with your tunes. There’s also an AUX jack for connecting your iPod or other media player too.

The RR227 features a unique design that lets you place it either horizontally or vertically and still make sense out of the tuning dial. The radio comes in white, black or red ABS plastic, making it both lightweight and sturdy. Sound is provided by a 3-watt amp, and there’s a headphone jack for listening to the radio in seclusion. While the radio comes with an AC power pack that probably won’t work in the U.S. without an adapter, you’ll be happy to know it runs on batteries too.

While I first found the RR227 over at French retailer Singulier for €199 (appx. $262 USD), you can also find them over on eBay Italy for around €150 (appx. $196 USD) with a little digging.

Imagine the phone rings when your friends are over for dinner. You saunter on over to your desk, where you proceed to pull this candy apple Batphone out of the drawer and answer the call. Just be sure to end every call with “we’re on our way,” to keep them wondering if you’re living a secret double life as a superhero. Need to make an outbound call to Commissioner Gordon? Just press the button on the face of the phone, and the cover flips open to reveal a push-button dial.

When you’re ready to run out to your garage Bat-Cave for some crime-fighting action, dash on over to this replica of Bruce Wayne’s famous Shakespeare bust, flip open his lid, and activate the switch inside to activate the door to your secret Bat-cave. What, you don’t have a secret door? Then maybe you can plug it into a set of Christmas lights, or maybe your stereo so they turn on when you activate the remote power outlet that’s connected to the Bard’s bust.

The guys over at RED5 sell the Batphone for £50 (appx. $77 USD) and you can find the the remote-control Shakespeare bust over at Red Hot Phones for (holy credit card, Batman!) $312 bucks.

This new design for a Humax LCD television was envisioned by UK industrial designer Tej Chauhan. Combining the curvy lines of an old 1950s television with the modern technology of today’s flat screens, the set is a real stunner.

It’s not been revealed if the set will ever see the light of day as a production model, or if it’s just a conceptual prototype. Either way, it’s good to see something different, and I’m hoping that it does make its way to stores some day. If you happen to be in Milan, Italy between April 16-21, you can check it out in person at the Zona Tortona design show.

[via MoCo Loco]

The modern-day replica offers up blinking lights and sounds just like the original Starfleet-issue communications gizmo. It’s even got a cool moving moire effect, making it even more retro-fabulous. I also love the “Hailing” feature, which lets you press a button on the face, flip the metal grill closed, and receive a call back from the Enterprise a few seconds later.

It’s loaded with over 20 phrases and sound effects from the classic Trek universe, including original sound samples from the TV show. While it’s not actually functional for two-way communications, it would be cool to crack one open and stuff your cell phone inside of it. I’d love to walk down the street making a call with one of these in my hand. After all, who needs Bluetooth headsets when you’ve got one of these?

The Star Trek Classic Communicator is available now from ThinkGeek for $29.99.