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Get a Blue Wii Before Black Friday

Conner Flynn — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:34:54 +0000

Have you been dreaming of adding a powder blue Wii to your gaming arsenal? If so, you are in luck Nintendo fans. Walmart is bringing the new limited-edition blue Wii to the US this Thursday, and you’ll be able to get one for the low price of just $99.96 (USD).

For that price you get the console, a matching Wii Remote Plus and a Nunchuk. These powder blue versions were previously only available in other parts of the world, but now we get our chance to buy them. They will start selling at 10:00PM on November 24th, which of course, is Turkey day. So you can go ahead and stuff yourself, undo your belt and make the drive to Walmart while fighting that post-turkey lethargy.

If you want one, you better line up early, because they will sell out fast.

[via Engadget]

Nintendo Outs Blue Wii with DIY Sonic Stickers, Doesn’t Call It DI-Wii

Conner Flynn — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:30:19 +0000

Back in my day, you were either Atari or Intellivision. The lines were clearly drawn. You chose your allegiance and you were loyal to that brand. Then at some point it was Nintendo versus Sega and so on. Nowadays, there’s no loyalty. We just love to play.

You have Sega games on Nintendo consoles, you can even play old Atari games on any console. Many of us have both a PS3 and an XBox 360. There’s no brand loyalty, just the love of games. However you can’t help thinking back to those days when something like this shows up. A Sega themed Wii? If you would have told me back then that this could happen, I would have laughed. But here we are.

This Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games bundle had to happen eventually. In case you’re wondering, this is the new version of the Wii. The Wii-Lite. (There’s no wi-fi and you can’t play Gamecube games).

They even make you do all of the work, providing a sticker sheet so that you can create your Sega themed Wii. Thanks Nintendo. I can already put stickers on things.

You get a blue Wii, a blue Wii Remote Plus, a blue Nunchuk, the game, and a sticker sheet. If you’re interested in this oddity, you can get it in Europe on November 18th for an unknown price.

[via Siliconera via Techcrunch]

Sith Series Laser: Double the Laser, Double the Danger, Double the Lawsuits

Lambert Varias — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:15:07 +0000

Wicked Lasers nearly got burned by Lucasfilm because one of their lasers looked a lot like a lightsaber. It seems that they got the upper hand in that legal battle, and now they’re tempting fate again with the Sith Series laser, the “world’s first double handed laser”, a device as jaw-dropping as it is impractical.

The Sith Series (sheesh, might as well change their name to Lucas Lasers) is made of two Class 4 1-watt Spyder 3 lasers – the same lightsaber-ish laser that got them a cease-and-desist letter from Lucasfilm. You can use each end separately or go Darth Maul on your Powerpoint and hold two presentations at once. Seriously though this thing is very dangerous. Both a direct hit or a reflected beam can result in permanent blindness, cause dark surfaces to catch on fire and may ignite skin, hair or clothing. Yikes. That’s why buyers will be required to ~~apprentice under a Sith Lord~~ review Wicked Lasers’ safety training video and pass a Laser Safety Test.

The Sith Series double handed laser can be ordered at Wicked Lasers’ website for $600 (USD). Let’s be honest – even if we all had $600 to spare most of us don’t need a laser, let alone a two-headed one. Still, I’m sure some nerd out there can wrangle a couple of legitimate excuses to possess such an amazing tool, so I’ll just wait for the cool videos of their projects and exploits. Wicked Lasers, you wicked.

[via Uberreview]

Arctic Laser Popcorn: Overkill Exemplified

Technabob — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 02:51:59 +0000

So you’ve got a couple of high-powered Arctic Spyder III blue lasers lying around. You’ve got to do something more impressive than aim them at a PowerPoint slideshow with ‘em, right? Actually, if you’re not careful, you might burn a hole through the screen if you try that. So why not do something a little more productive, and use them to cook some food. To put a finer point on it, let’s use some lasers to pop some popcorn. Yeah!

That’s exactly what this YouTuber WorldScott did with a pair of these 1000mW, 45-nanometer bad-boys. He perfectly lined up two Spyder III blue beams on a kernel of popcorn, and let it sit there on a turning saucer until the kernel went blammo. All in all, it takes about a minute for a single kernel to pop.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

At that rate, he should be able to pop a full bag of Orville Reddenbacher’s in about 2 to 3 hours. Okay, it’s not very efficient, but it sure looks cool.

[via The Daily What]

DIY Lightsaber is a Work of Art

Technabob — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 07:00:13 +0000

Sure, you can buy a toy lightsaber prop just about anywhere, but if you really want to look the part, you have to go the way that Bradley Lewis did with his gorgeous handmade lightsaber and build your own.

Based on Obi-Wan Kenobi’s saber, this impeccable build has a rugged metal body, along with a intensely authentic blade, courtesy of a set of bright blue LEDs. He’s even taken bits and pieces from a Hasbro Force FX saber along with a high-quality speaker to provide authentic saber humming sounds, and a vibrating rumble pack too. Lots of luscious lightsaber pics in the gallery below:

Check out the full build log over at Slothfurnace. Amazing job, Bradley!

[via Hack A Day]

Abyss LED Watch is About as Minimal as You Can Get

Technabob — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:54:39 +0000

While many of the unusual electronic watches coming out of Asia feature complex displays that border on insane (you hear us Tokyoflash?), this LED watch is about as simple as we can imagine.

The ABYSS watch has no hands. And no, it doesn’t emit blue smoke. And despite its name, I don’t think it has anything to do with the James Cameron movie. There’s just a single ring of LEDs dotting the circumfrence of its face. White dots indicate hours, blue dots indicate… um… we’re not exactly sure what the blue dots indicate.

Best we can tell from the pictures, they’re parts of an hour. But since the product details say the watch’s touchscreen face is used for “changing hour and minute data,” it’s possible that you look at hours in one pass, and minutes in another. On second thought, this is starting to sound complicated. Either way, the ABYSS probably looks pretty cool in a darkened room, even if you can’t tell exactly what time it is.

The description refer to the ABYSS as “Japanese-inspired,” meaning it’s probably made in China. While the ABYSS watch doesn’t look like it’s got the build quality of a ToykoFlash watch, it is a heckuva lot less expensive. The ABYSS sells for just $48.09 (USD), and you can grab one over at Chinavasion.

New Xbox 360 Gets First Official Casemod

Technabob — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:03:50 +0000

While cutting holes in the side and installing interior lighting in the original Xbox 360 has become pretty much the casemodding norm these days, it took a little while for the first original 360 to get modded in this way. Not so much with the new 360.

It took just a couple of days after the release of the slimmed-down New Xbox 360 for Solomods to rip open their shiny new black Xbox 360, cut a hole in the side of it, and install cool blue LED lighting inside the case. You can see all the guts of the 360, as well as your game DVDs spinning around inside, thanks to the see-through panel included in the casemod.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Sure, I suppose it’s not the most unusual mod we’ll ever see on the new 360, but it does really look cool, and you have to hand it to the guys for their rapid time-to-market. Best of all, if you like what you see, you can order this mod for your own new 360 for $129 (USD) over on the Solomods website.

[via Ubergizmo]

Spyder III Pro Arctic Laser is Perfect for the Militant Presentation Giver

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:39:24 +0000

Over the years I have reviewed a couple of the lasers from Wicked Lasers and there aren’t things that you would call laser pointers, unless you like the ability to burn those who talk during your presentation. You can catch stuff on fire and blind people if you aren’t careful. Naturally, a couple of my friends were using them in an epic Lightsaber battle of geek versus dork last time we had a fight night at my house. I didn’t bother to tell them not to shine the lasers in each other’s eyes; I figured survival of the fittest and all.

Wicked Lasers has a new laser that is much more powerful than those other ones I have. The Spyder III Pro Arctic laser has a 445nm blue laser that was built using the diode from a home theater projector. Wicked claims that the beam is 4000% brighter than the blue beam in its Sonar laser, which was involved in that geek throwdown I mentioned before.

The best part about the $300 laser is the warning; you actually have to sign a waiver to buy it! You can read the full warning at the link below, but if you’re like me the important parts that will make you want to buy it are – extremely dangerous, instantly set fire, extreme caution. Yep, I’m sold.

[via Wicked Lasers]

The Only Sonic the Hedgehog T-Shirt You’Ll Ever Need

Technabob — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:54:33 +0000

For those of us who grew up during the video game era, I think we all know that hedgehogs are blue, and thrive on a steady diet of shiny golden rings. Now you can show off your astute knowledge of the animal kingdom with one of these t-shirts.

The Hungry Blue Hedgehog Shirt was designed by the warped minds of Sam & Fuzzy, and is available in a wide variety of sizes over at Topatoco (which might just be my new favorite store), for $18.25 (USD).

Avatar Na’Vi Cake Proves There Actually is Blue Food

Technabob — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:16:47 +0000

Sure, sure, the Na’vi people are kind, nature-loving folk. But they also have quite a dark side if you know what buttons to push. Clearly, this cute Avatar-inspired Na’vi cake was created before the RDA came along and knocked down Hometree.

This chubby little Na’vi was created for the That Takes The Cake cake competition (aka 2010: A Cake Odyssey) in Austin, TX last week. For those of you wondering what a Na’vi tastes like when you cut into it with a cake knife… it tastes… blue.

[via Great White Snark, photo: FlipImages]

Retro Thing Clear Classic Joystick Harkens Back to the Video Game Days of Yore

Technabob — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:59:05 +0000

We here at technabob are big fans of the guys over at Retro Thing. They’re always digging up the coolest blasts-from-the-past. Now, they’ve really outdone themselves, offering up a totally unique new product perfect for retro game fans.

Created with the help of Legacy Engineering (the guys responsible for the Atari Flashback 2 console), Retro Thing’s new Clear Classic USB Joystick ($29.95 USD) is based on the look of a classic Atari 2600 joystick, but comes in a super cool see-through package. In addition to its default clear mode, the circuit board lights up in a brilliant blue when plugged into your computer’s USB port.

The Classic Clear comes with a CD loaded up with a copy of Stella – the leading Atari 2600 emulator, along with 80 games for your retro enjoyment. And if you know all the proper rocks to dig under, you can load up all of your favorite game ROMs and play them with this classic stick. And since the joystick works just like any other USB joypad, it’ll work with other popular retro emulators such as MAME and MESS.

If you’re into retro gaming, you owe it to yourself to head on over to the Reflex Audio site and place your order for one today.

[via Retro Thing]

Guy Turns Himself Into One of James Cameron’S Avatars

Range — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 08:09:31 +0000

One designer from Copenhagen decided that he’d want his own Avatar after watching James Cameron’s epic film.

Peter Ammentorp Lund is a creative art director and just used his digital photo manipulation skills to create this effect. He’s done a really great job. As you might already know, some of the features of the Avatar stay the same, while others change.

And while the Na’vi aren’t really blue Smurfs, hopefully the following video is blue enough for you. In the movie, the Avatars are created by mixing human and Navi DNA. In this case, it’s human DNA plus Photoshop.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via Fubiz]

Bioshock 2 Eve Hypodermic Syringe: Sterilize Before Using

Technabob — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:55:25 +0000

While most everyone I know has been heading off to get a flu shot, I’d personally rather get injected with a dose of Bioshock’s EVE serum instead of a supposedly dead H1N1 virus grown in chicken eggs.

This Bioshock 2 EVE syringe is an exact replica of the nasty looking hypodermic implement found throughout the game. Not only does it look just like the decrepit genetic serum injector, but it glows an eerie blue when the lights go down. Extra-special-creepy there. Nice touch.

You too can get your hands on the EVE hypodermic prop over at UK retailer Play.com for £13.99 (appx. $23 USD). It’s not shipping until January 2010, just in time for the February release of the much-anticipated sequel.

Hooray for Plasmid power!

[via Nerd Approved]

Ice Tube Vfd Clock Kit: Time to Get Retro

Technabob — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:15:27 +0000

There are certainly a ton of different ways to tell time, but this retro-modern digital clock is definitely one of the cooler designs I’ve seen in a while.

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]

Xbox 360 Controller Sings the Blues in the Xcm Blue Blood

Technabob — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:05:30 +0000

Looking for an Xbox 360 controller that’ll really make a splash when you have your friends over to play some games? Check out this beautiful blue beast from XCM.

The cool thing about the XCM Blue Blood is that it’s actually a kit that you can use to mod your boring white Xbox 360 controller into a thing of true beauty.

Not only does the Blue Blood controller shell have the perfect electric blue finish, it’s super shiny, and comes with an improved D-pad design that’s larger and easier to move than the stock 360 controller. The controller also comes with a set of LED-illuminated replacement ABXY buttons, along with dramatic blue backlighting for the dashboard, select and start buttons. Sweet, indeed.

You can grab the XCM Blue Blood controller mod kit over at TotalConsole for $29.99 (USD).

Blue Microphones’ Eyeball Webcam’S Eyeball Hides Behind Its Ears

Lambert Varias — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:25:32 +0000

Blue Microphones’ Eyeball USB webcam aims to provide “HD-quality” audio and video in a relatively small package. I found it a bit confusing that a product named “the Eyeball” would have a more prominent microphone, but the tiny lens was made to be retractable to make it easier for users to know whether the camera is active or not. Nice.

Here’s some sexy specs for audiophiles: the microphone is a condenser with a wide frequency response, from 35 Hz to 20 kHz, and a 16-bit audio sample rate of 44.1 kHz. Yeah. Awesome. I don’t know what we’re talking about.

Non-techie users should also consider the Eyeball because it’s easy to install – it works out of the box with both Mac and Windows systems, no drivers needed. The Eyeball’s stand also doubles as its compartment, so it’s quite portable as well. Here’s Mark from Coolest Gadgets‘ review of the Eyeball, taken using the Eyeball itself.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Convinced yet? You can get the Eyeball for $140 (USD) (or less; I could have bought it for $70 as of this writing, just click “add to cart” to see the discount) at Amazon.

Nintendo Dsi Goes Multicolor

Alisha K. — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:24:31 +0000

The Nintendo DSi has only been out in Japan since last November and already the line is expanding to include a new range of very bright colors: pink, green, and blue. Not, it must be said, the blue that’s coming to the United States this spring, either.

And in fact, these new models will be available in Japan even before the DSi debuts in the rest of the world’s major gaming markets. Japanese gamers will be able to pick up colorful DSis on March 20, while we in the United States, as well as folks in Europe and Australia, have to wait until early April for a DSi at a non-import cost.

Of course, that early release may tempt some to import a pretty DSi rather than waiting a few more weeks to pick up a local model. Is the extra money worth a little lime green?

[Nintendo of Japan via Crave]

Nintendo Dsi Goes Black and Blue in Us This April

Alisha K. — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:06:03 +0000

The next generation Nintendo handheld, the DSi, debuted in Japan last November to robust sales while the rest of the world looked wistfully on, wondering when we, too, could have a chance to take pictures with our game systems without spending $300 to import. At last, Nintendo’s set a date for the world’s other major regions: the first week of April. In the United States, the big day is April 5th.

The DSi is actually the third generation of the juggernaut DS, which has already undergone a transformation from a thick unit to a thinner, lighter model with a brighter screen and more battery power. The DSi adds a camera, SD card slot, increased RAM, and an application store similar to Nintendo’s WiiWare and Virtual Console, but at the cost of the handheld’s GBA slot.

In the U.S., the newly-dated DSi will retail for $169.99, which is less than the $179.99 that was previously predicted, in comparison to the DS Lite, which sells for $129.99. At launch, units will be available in black and blue. If you were looking for the white model, you’re out of luck, at least for now–while it will likely be released later, for now, the white DSi has not been announced for the U.S.

[via Tiny Cartridge]

Mathmos Wind Lights Powered by Tiny Turbines

Technabob — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:00:56 +0000

UK lighting maker Mathmos’ latest creation combines modern technology with eco-conscious wind power to create light without need for batteries or plug-in power.

These Wind Lights measure in at just under 8″ tall, but they work just like their bigger windmill cousins, generating electricity through the power of air. Each tiny light uses a 2.4″ propeller to power a pair of bright red or blue LEDs.

And if you happen to live in London, you can check out a massive installation featuring 1200 of these Wind Lights which illuminate as the winds blow in over the River Thames. The 45-foot tall “Aeolian Tower” was created by Jason Bruges Studio part of the onedotzero: adventures in motion show. The tower will be on display in front of BFI Southbank at the Waterloo Bridge from November 13th through 16th.

Individual Wind Lights should be available for purchase from Mathmos for £12 (appx. $18 USD) just in time for Christmas.

USB Heated Mouse Pad Keeps One Hand Warm

Technabob — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:40:35 +0000

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to myself: Self, your mousing hand gets so cold all the time; I only wish there was a way to keep it warm and toasty in between all that scrolling, pointing and clicking. (sarcasm.)

Thanks to this weird, wacky mouse pad from Japan’s Thanko, you can keep your chilly hand nice and warm while you crank out spreadsheets and surf the web. Just stick your hand inside the “mouth” of this oversize blue googley-eyed fish and an integral heating element keeps your fingers fiery hot (or maybe that’s its stomach acid dissolving your skin into a gelatinous goo).

Just plug the blue monster into a spare USB port, and it’ll reach a fiery 42° C (107.6° F) in about 10 minutes. I suppose it beats wearing ski gloves when you’re working on your PC.

You can get your hands on (or inside) one of these from USBGeek for $22.