Created by Dave Rollins of Digits (with the help of Ponoko’s laser fabrication services), these acrylic holiday gamer ornaments are the perfect addition to any game geek’s Christmas tree, Hanukkah bush, or Secular shrub.

Each set comes with 7 ornaments, including 2-dimensional cutout versions of Wii, N64, Xbox 360, Dreamcast, NES, PS2 and Sega Genesis controllers. The ornaments each measure between 3 and 4 inches wide, so they’re a bit smaller than the real deals.

They’re available in 6 colors, including red, white, yellow, black, clear, and red-tinted acrylic, and can be found over at Digits’ Ponoko or Etsy shops for just $20 bucks a set.

Buy a bunch and cover your whole tree. I’m hoping next year that Dave will make some matching console ornaments and maybe an Atari paddle controller or two.

The Ice Tube clock ($70 USD) gets its brilliant blue display thanks to an old-school Russian-issued VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) tube. It’s set inside of a spiffy clear acrylic shell, which lets you see its internal circuitry whenever you want. Each tube has 8 glowy blue digits, as well as a dot indicator for PM and an alarm on/off indicator.

While the Ice Cube kit includes everything you need to build a standard alarm clock with day/date functionality, both hardware and software are open source, so you can mod this to do something else if you want – say display text messages or run the time backwards.

Keep in mind that the circuit generates very high voltages (up to 70 VDC), so you’ll need significant electronics, soldering and kit-building experience if you want one of these sitting on your bookshelf (and not catching your house on fire). If you’re up to the build challenge, head on over to Adafruit and place your order.

[via LadyAda]

Berman’s Coil Lamp is one of those “why didn’t I ever think of that” designs. It’s so simple and elegant in concept, but striking at the same time. You see, the Coil Lamp is simply a table lamp made from a 100-foot orange extension cord, wrapped around an acrylic frame.

When fully-assembled, the Coil Lamp is a striking addition to any room, but when you look at the raw elements of the lamp, you’ll be scratching your head saying “that’s all there is?” This is truly a case where the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

You can order the Coil Lamp over at Craighton Berman’s website. The D.I.Y. version (B.Y.O. extension cord) retails for $75 (USD), while a hand-coiled edition, signed and numbered by the artist sells for $150 bucks.

Nice touch there with the coiled CFL lightbulb there!

TV Armor is a simple, yet ingenious invention that keeps your LCD or Plasma TV from getting cracked, scratched, dirty or otherwise slimy by covering the screen with a thin, but durable acrylic shield. A 1/4″ thick layer of optical-grade plastic is thick enough to keep your screen from getting damaged, but won’t interfere with picture quality. Just slide the TV Armor over the top of your TV, fasten the Velcro straps, and you won’t have to worry about flying Wii-motes smashing your precious investment.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

They’re available in a variety of sizes to fit whatever screen you have, and prices range from $69 to $289 (USD), depending on screen size. You can order yours over at the TV Armor website.

Remember, your kids’ wounds will heal, plasmas and LCDs won’t.

Carnegie Mellon University grad student Chris Harrison and CS professor Scott Hudson have developed a tactile interface that lets you actually feel and press virtual buttons that emerge from a touchscreen. The prototype uses a combination of rear-projected images, infrared sensors and a layer of flexible latex from which the buttons rise and fall.

A custom cut acrylic layer behind the buttons gives them their shapes, and air is pumped into and out of the chambers behind the buttons to automatically change the button states as the images change.

The system is capable of detecting more than one simultaneous press using readily available infrared multi-touch technology, and can even figure out how hard you’re pressing on the buttons by monitoring air pressure. To see the system in action, check out this video clip:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

While the prototype version is clearly not practical or cost-effective for real-world use, the overall concept is really cool, and I’d love to see them figure out a way to miniaturize the technology so it could be crammed into a mobile device some day.

[via Technology Review]

According to mrdecal37, the guy who makes these, the 8-bit Nintendo Controller License Plate is what he calls “The most important license plate ever made”, putting it somewhere on the continuum between solving today’s Junior Jumble and curing cancer.

If you happen to be the owner of this car, you need head on over to eBay and grab one of these license plates for $14.99 (USD)

Created by illustrator/designer Eric Pautz, the Rubik’s Lamp is composed of 26 interlocking colored cubes which can be rotated into an almost limitless array of color combinations.

By rotating the cubes, the lamp can produce forty-three trillion unique color patterns. Cool. I don’t even think I can count that high… 1… 2… 3… 4… eleventy… um, nope.

Now on to the bad news. Turns out that the Rubik’s Lamp is only a concept design, and has yet to be produced. From the looks of the colored acrylic panel design, it seems to me like something that someone over at fabrication-on-demand shop Ponoko should be able to bring to life. Eric, are you listening?

Hoverit claims that being on a Lounger feels “like floating on a cloud”. How’d they know how that feels like? Anyway as you can see the Lounger consists of 2-pieces, the lounger itself and a base. Obviously, the base contains magnets which repel those located underneath the lounger. Remember Professor Xavier’s Anti-Magneto plastic wheelchair in the X-Men movie? The Lounger is also made of plastic, specifically acrylic, chosen by Hoverit because they want customers to “see every component”. I normally wouldn’t want to see a chair’s innards, but if I had a Lounger, I’ll be staring at it the whole day.

Each Lounger is hand-made in Britain. The Lounger is easy to move because of the built-in caster wheels. It also comes in different colors and in different chair designs. By chair design Hoverit means “the holes at the backrest and on the seat”; customers can choose from slots, circular holes, droplets, or hearts. Hoverit, kindly remove that last chair design.

The Lounger sells for a whopping £7, 500 ($10,509 USD); final price may be higher depending on chosen color scheme and design. While it isn’t widely available yet, you can already order the Lounger directly from Hoverit. Each Lounger comes with a limited edition certificate and serial number, user guide, safety notice, comfort cushion and outdoor cover. The Lounger is delivered already assembled, because there are only four people who can put this thing together: Magneto, Polaris, and this Taiwanese man and his son.

If you can afford the Lounger, I suggest you order it now because the company is offering the Lounger at a discounted price of £5,875 ($8, 232 USD), plus they’ll throw in an anti-scratch mat worth £225 ($315 USD). Hoverit says that the Lounger is but the first of a whole line of hover furniture. Hoture. Furniver.

[via Neatorama]

Designer Tobias Wong’s On/Off light switch will remotely control anything you can plug into an outlet. It’ll work up to 100 feet away from whatever you’ve plugged into the remote receiver.

When you want to turn your lamp on or off, open the magnetized lid on this clear Lucite box and flip the switch. And while it’s perfect for turning lamps on and off, it’s also nifty as a control for launching your nuclear arsenal.

Priced at $150 (USD) for the standard chrome version, and $250 for the limited-edition 14-karat gold version, they’re definitely not cheap. But if you happen to have been smart enough to take the deal from the banker, you can pick one up over at the A+R Store now.

Perhaps inspired by the oh-so-awesome Ms. Pac-Man bathroom, this piece entitled Perpetual Pac-Man would look great in any game room. Or if you’re a serious retro gaming geek – hanging in your bedroom. Of course, it might freak me out to see Blinky staring back at me with his googley eyes in the middle of the night; “Don’t eat me, man. Eat the cherries! Eat the cherries!”

Created by Donna over ArcadeArt, Perpetual Pac-Man measures in at 20″ (w) x 8″ (h) and is handcrafted from acrylics and urban ink on canvas, then hundreds of individual colorful tiles made by the artist herself.

It’s just one of many fun old school arcade-inspired pieces over in ArcadeArt’s Etsy shop. Be sure to swing by and check it out.

That’s because these glasses aren’t actually filled with milk. Instead, they contain a white light-emitting diode and some AAA batteries – which I’ve been told have just as much nutritional value as dairy, especially if you’re a robot. The glasses light up when upright, and switch off when turned upside-down, and you don’t have to worry about crying over anything when you knock one of these over.

Even if you’re lactose intolerant, these whimsical light-up milk glasses are the perfect accessory for your kitchen or dining room. Okay, so they’re not actually made of glass (acrylic), they don’t contain milk (lights), and they’re actually a little too big to be a regular glass, but what really is what it says it is these days anyhow?

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Ready to down your recommended daily dairy allowance? Head on over to the Wholesale Forums and buy a batch for just $4.50 a piece.

[via Toxel via TechEBlog]

With their ear-like appendages, these Green House SPA-214ct speakers do look a little bit goofy (or like some other Disney character with big ears), but they do put the speakers in just the right location to provide decent stereo sound.

When not in use, the speakers rotate out of site and hide on the back of an acrylic case that envelops your Touch. The speaker also acts as a stand for your device thanks to a clever hinge mechanism that swings into action when the speakers are stowed.

A built-in rechargeable battery can be juiced up via your USB port, and you’ll get about 8 hours of sound on a single charge.

While the speakers are officially designed for the iPod Touch, you might be able to get it to work with an original iPhone too, but you’ll need to flip into Airplane Mode to use them. Originally available only in Japan, the guys over at Dynamism have brought these to the States for $59.99 (USD).

Inside the transparent red plastic orb of the Zumreed Flash Beat is a downward-firing speaker, surrounded by a rapidly spinning pink light. As your tunes kick in, the light reacts instantaneously to the beat of the music.

And even though it’s under 9-inches tall, it’s powerful enough to fill a large room according to the product description (Caveat Emptor, of course). Just connect the speaker to your iPod or even a video game system, and you’ll have yourself a self-contained audiovisual extravaganza.

Originally available only in Japan, the guys over at Audiocubes have brought in a limited number of these for you to enjoy stateside for $189.99 each.

This handmade Tetris resin bracelet is embellished with a scene from the classic block-stacking puzzler. Created by Warsaw artist Sylwia Calus (a.k.a. “Sisicata”), its painstakingly detailed with tiny colorful bricks, infused into a clear resin cuff.

Unfortunately, it looks like somebody didn’t do a very good job fitting all the blocks together, so the game is already over. I know you would have done much better. If only this cuff had an LCD screen and tiny little joystick on it, you’d show ‘em!

You can find the Tetris bracelet and many of Sylwia’s other accessories over on her Etsy shop for $70 USD.

Rainbow Star lamps are minimal, modern lighting fixtures, which can be set to any of 7 different colors. You can toggle between solid colors, or set the light to gradually cycle between hues.

Each colorful, low-wattage light source is encased in a glossy, hard acrylic shell, which floats on a durable square metal pedestal. Total height of each fixture is just under 10″.

In addition to the primary light source, each light has a subtle nightlight built into the base, which automatically illuminates whenever the room goes dark.

Each light has a hidden AA battery compartment which lets you run them without being tethered to the wall all the time. A single charge should give you about 4 to 5 hours of run time (using NiMH batteries – longer if you use Lithiums).

So far, I haven’t been able to find these outside of Taiwan, but if you happen to speak the language, or you’re just feeling adventurous, head on over to PCHome and see if you can order a few.

What makes the Block Light really cool is the fact that you can rearrange the pieces into pretty much any configuration you’d like.

The kit comes with 219 small, 16 medium, and 4 large heat-resistant clear acrylic blocks which can hold up to the heat of a 40-watt lightbulb. Of course, if snapping all those blocks has you intimidated, you could always buy one of these giant LEGO block lamps instead.

Ready to build your own custom lamp? Head on over to RED5 and plunk down your £25 (appx. $45 USD) for the kit. Keep in mind that RED5 is located in the UK, which operates on 240-volt power, so you might need to swap out the plug and lightbulb for use in North America.

The blocks have a snap-off top layer that’s designed to hold pens, pencils and other office items. Each brick measures in at appx. 6″ × 4″ × 2.4″, making them about 100 times larger than a 2×3 peg standard LEGO.

While they don’t actually show multiple lamps interlocked, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t stack a bunch of these lamps to create large, illuminated sculptures.

At this point, the lamps are available only through 25togo’s online shop, and sell for 1600 Taiwan Dollars (appx. $50 USD) each.

The artists of Brazil’s Meninos design studio first started out making these custom pop art hard drive cases for their friends. Now they’ve had the brilliant idea to release their wares to the rest of the world for us to enjoy.

Each one of their external USB hard drive cases is hand-assembled at their studio, using a custom acrylic case (complete with dual cooling fans) covered with a precisely applied vinyl wrapper of one of their designs. They’ll also make custom designs if you upload Adobe Illustrator art using their custom template.

While I love all of their designs, the Samuel L. Jackson Pulp Fiction model has to be my favorite (vinyl blood splatter not included).

While the cases aren’t cheap ($250 US without a drive, $400 to $620 US with one), I’ll forgive these guys since the designs are just so cool. Head on over to the Meninos Shop to see the complete collection.

There’s something just so right about the contrast of the sleek modern acrylic box which serves as a home for the intricate retro display tubes. As an added bonus, these special tubes gradually cross-fade between digits as the time changes. Cool!

And unlike many Nixie clocks, this one isn’t a kit. It’s pre-assembled and ready to go. If you’d like one for your desk, just head on over to eBay and plunk down your $118.

Digital Cowboy’s Acrylic Cowboy computer cases sort of remind me of those old “visible man” anatomical models, spilling the guts of your PC all over the exterior for everyone to see.

Cases are available in several different styles, ranging from the beautiful, minimal orange platform design of the ACPC3 and the hot pink ACPCD, to the dramatic smoke grey/black ACPC4 which places your motherboard at an extra special 25 degree angle.

All models can house an ATX or Micro ATX logic board, and provide open bays underneath for mounting hard drives and optical storage devices with ease. As an added bonus, the open air designs make adding and removing cards, memory and storage about as easy as it gets too. Also, thanks to a pure acrylic motherboard shelf, it’s much less likely that you’ll ever short out the solder on the bottom of the board.

Acrylic Cowboy cases are now available from Hanwha Japan, with prices ranging from ¥3,980 (Appx. $37 USD) to ¥10,800 (Appx. $101 USD). And of course, there’s that small problem of trying to get one here from Japan.