The TheO Foam ball is a thick, protective foam ball with a cutout allowing you to cradle your iPhone or Android phone inside of it. It’s designed so that you play some games with the people you know IRL, not just online. The three games that are currently available are Hot Potato, Interrogo, and Bowling. The apps all use the phone’s accelerometer to function, though it’s unclear how they provide feedback while the ball is rolling along the ground or being passed around the room.

Price and availability haven’t yet been announced, but it sounds kind of interesting. The project was initially slated for funding on Kickstarter, but was unsuccessful. From the Kickstarter page, you can deduce that it will cost at least $25 with the three apps once it’s released.

[via Ubergizmo]

What you’re staring at here is a giant Scrabble board, which measures in at nearly 49 square feet. It’s made by artist John Kahn, using Russian birch plywood, covered with galvanized steel and vinyl game graphics. Each one of the game’s 100 tiles is made from wood with a strong magnet inside, and measures a whopping 4-3/8″ square. The board also comes with two wall-mounted tile holders, and a pair of tile racks for game play – though it would have been nice for them to include two more – in case you want to play a four-player game.

Only nine of this gigantic Scrabble set are being made, and with a price tag of $12,000(USD), I can’t imagine they’ll all be snapped up quickly. But if you have enough enough capital to afford one, you can check it out over at Hammacher Schlemmer now.

[via SUATMM]

By the time the console arrives sometime in 2012, hopefully this app store will be up and running. So far, Nintendo has no comment, but if they are going to compete, I think they need to just do it and run with the idea.

[via Ubergizmo]

You get together with the boys on Wednesday nights and play a couple of hands of poker and lose all of your money. All in all, not that great of a time. (Except for the time when there were four Princess Leia cosplayers who were invited. That – that was fun.) With the Star Wars Poker Set, you’re guaranteed a good time, since anything that involves Star Wars memorabilia is automatically exciting.

This limited-edition set normally costs £70, or (~$109 USD), but is on sale at Firebox for just £35, (~$55 USD). For this awesome holiday price, you get 200 Star Wars chips that feature greats such as Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, the saggy version of Obi-Wan, and Yoda. There’s also a metal Death Star dealer chip included.

The Star Wars Poker Set also comes with a carrying case etched with the Star Wars logo on front, and equipped with 72 LEDs inside. Why are there 72 LEDs? To make your poker chips look like lightsabers, of course! The chips are transparent, so the light shines through and gives a cool effect.

The set also includes two decks of geeky Star Wars cards and two standard decks, so you’re getting a whole lot of bang for your buck. Though not as much as if you were to buy the Exploding Minecraft Creeper Plushie – then you would get your revenge plus an explosion. You know what they say – EXPLOSIONS ARE AMAZING. “Do they really say that?” No, but I do – FIRE IN THE HOLE! *Blows up a watermelon*

If you’re looking for more Star Wars stuff, check out the Needle-Felted Star Wars Ornaments or the Darth Vader Rorschach Thing.

These video game urinals were created by Captive Media, which is a good name. As long as you are slinging wiz, you’re not going anywhere, therefore you’re captive to their entertainment. The games have names like you would expect: Clever Dick, On The Piste and so on, and they are entire controlled by peeing.

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Just aim your stream in the proper direction, and you control the game. If you are proud of your score, you can also post it on the online leader board and Twitter.

Once they market the hell out of this and add advertising, the novelty will wear off and then guess what? Prepare for pooping games. Although I suppose those high scores will be more geared to the largest of humans. I can’t wait. That’s sarcasm. I can wait. Please never make this happen.

[via TNT Magazine]

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you, our readers and fans for all of your support over the years. Without you, we wouldn’t be here. I started Technabob out as a side project while I had a full-time “real job” and literally no budget – working all hours of the night and the wee hours of the morning scrounging for cool stuff to write about. Over the years, we’ve managed to grow the site enough that I was able to quit my full time job, focus 100% on blogging, and actually make a decent living at it. It’s thanks to your readership and loyalty that I can feed and clothe myself, pay for health insurance, and our small, but dedicated team of writers. I know many of you dream of working for yourself some day, and this little blog here is proof-positive that if you put your mind to something, you can really achieve your dream.

As a result of our success, I even have been able to expand our tiny blogging empire, with the launch of The Awesomer (shameless plug time) – which features all tons of cool stuff, like smokin’ fast cars, slick industrial design and art, funny videos, action-packed games, movies, and even a smattering of gadgets and tech. It’s a true showcase for creativity and generally awesome things. If you haven’t checked it out, you should. It’s pretty addictive if I must say so myself.

You’d think that with 10,000 posts under Technabob’s collective belts, there wouldn’t be much else to say, but we’ve only just nicked the surface on the world of cool gadgets, gizmos, games and weird science. Thankfully, there’s no end to the creativity and ingenuity of mankind.

Thanks again. Geeks reign supreme!

Paul Strauss (aka technabob)
Owner, Editor, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Technabob | The Awesomer

The game moved about 6.5 million copies in those two areas alone. The game that MW3 beat out to take the record was Activision title from last year, Black Ops. That game made $360 million in the first 24 hours. The game proved so popular that Xbox Live set a record as well. There was so much launch demand for the game, prior to its release thieves hit a truck with 6,000 copies of the game inside worth more than a half million dollars.

After two days of the game being available, a record was set for simultaneous players on Xbox Live for a new peak concurrency record. “We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc. “Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.”

According to one anonymous developer, there is evidence that Nintendo is prepping the console to support two of its touchscreen tablet controllers. The unnamed source says there are “numerous indications” in the Wii U code base that suggest this.

We know that the touchscreen controllers will combine tablet functions with the original Wii‘s set of motion controls. The developer says that Nintendo almost has the kinks worked out to get two tablet controllers to work with the console. If you were hoping for more, for four player games, you can forget it. Some horsepower may need to be sacrificed just to get two to work.

[via Develop via Geek]

In Japan, you can expect the PS Vita to cost the equivalent of $390(USD) for the 3G version or $325(USD) for Wi-Fi, while the U.S. retail prices will be $299(USD) and $249(USD).

[via Andriasang and Geek]

I can imagine seeing these birds flying around in my backyard, only I’d keep my dog away from them, as it looks like they have a mean temperament and might try to fling themselves at us.

Thankfully/Sadly, these Angry Birds won’t starting trying to destroy homes filled with equally real looking green piggies anytime soon.

[via Rampaged Reality via Thaeger]

The new update landed this week, brings the game up to version 1.1.1, and adds in a new Toy Box that has 25 new levels with new game mechanics. It’s really cool to see the developer add in that many new levels at no charge.

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The update also fixes some bugs and optimizes the play. The game requires Android 1.6 or higher. ZeptoLab, the creators of the game claim that over 55 million people have played Cut the Rope to date. It continues to be highly rated with 4.5 stars  on Android and the iOS version has an average 4.81 rating.

What about the cards? Each one has a perk from Fallout 3 or Fallout New Vegas with a retro playing card image in back. It is truly a work of geek art. I wish Elizabeth were my girlfriend.

[via Geeks are Sexy]

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No one may hear you scream in space, but you can feel free to scream at the top of your lungs when you play this one in your own home. It looks like they took a lot of cues from the Dead Space games and merged them with the Alien movies. The result is a good looking game that seems to have great atmosphere.

You can expect the game to arrive in 2012. Right now it is still in development by Gearbox Software. It will arrive next year on the Wii U, PC, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

They gave no explanation as to why they decided to do this, but I imagine it won’t sit well with PC gamers. When asked why, game designer Alan Kertz said, “It starts up REAL fast.” Thanks for the in depth answer, Alex.

So basically console players will be good to go, but PC gamers will have to stop playing and leave the game to switch servers. That’s not how you make people want to buy your game.

[via geek]

This Angry Birds brazier by SceeneSchoes features a red bird on one cup, and a green piggy on the other. Clearly the bird boob is ready to attack the piggy boob – as is clear from the look of determination on its face.

Ready to don this sexy lingerie for your geeky sweetie? Head on over to Etsy, where you can find the Angry Birds bra for $35 (USD). It’s available in sizes from 34A to 38DD for small, medium and large birds. And despite any temptation you may have, I do not advise using this as a slingshot for launching birds.

[via sogeekchic via Fashionably Geek]

Exactly when Duke Nukem Forever will hit Mac computers is unknown. All we know is that the developer for the Mac version of the game is Aspyr and that the game will launch sometime in August. The game will be offered at a 10% discount for gamers that pre-order and will be shipped free too.

I would assume the Mac game would be the same – as far as content goes – as the Windows computer version will be. I would also assume that Mac gamers could expect the same shortcomings in the game as the reviews of the Windows version have pointed out.

Friskies says that the colors, movement, and game-play have been researched and tested for maximum fun for kitty. The games will run on the iPad and Android tablets. Friskies notes that the bare glass screen of their iPad stood up to cat claws with no problems.

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I would suggest before you hand your iPad over to Princess, you get some sort of scratch film on the screen, although sharp claws may damage the screen film though. Check out kitty smacking some fish and more in the video above.

The app is free to download and comes with one game – Pong. Pong isn’t exactly the retro game most of us want to play, so you have to buy the other 99 cool games in-app. Games include everything from Tempest to Battlezone to Missile Command, as well as Atari 2600 calssics like Yar’s Revenge. Some of the games let you play with other retro geeks via Bluetooth if they have the game too. From looking at it, most of the games use virtual joysticks and I hate that control method, but what can you do? After all, it’s a touchscreen.

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Individual games sell for 99 cents, but if you want the whole enchilada, the 100 games will set you back $15. That $15 price tag is not bad at all, if you are really into classic arcade games – assuming you can deal with the wonky controls. You can grab Atari’s Greatest Hits over at the iTunes store.

[via Touch Arcade via Kotaku]

The hack isn’t without it’s drawbacks though. First of all, as you’ll see in the demo video below, it takes quite a while to set up. Plus the servos make annoying squeaks when they move.

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ProtoDojo says he’ll put up more details and pictures of RoboTouch on his website (currently down) although it seems to be down as of the moment. If Apple released a complementary gamepad for the iPad I’m pretty sure it’ll sell, but then that would be tantamount to exposing the limitations of their touch-based UI.

[via Hack a Day]

But these retro games don’t quite seem right with these replacement sound effects.

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While I sort of enjoyed the loud metal footprints of Mega Man, and the realistic car crash in Out-Run, those Donkey Kong sounds really threw me for a loop, especially Mario and all his grunting. And what’s the deal with Pac-Man and all those Cookie Monster NOMNOMNOMNOM noises? On the other hand, the Zelda ones made me spit my drink out.

[via Switched]