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We’re looking for you to share the best, brightest, funniest, and generally most creative Nintendo-inspired memories. The grand prize winner will receive a super-cool original Nintendo collage by artist Chris Lange, while five runners up will get a high-quality digital print of one of Chris’ collages. And if we get at least 100 entries (we’re getting close now), a random entrant will win fifty bucks to spend on a Nintendo game of their choice over at Amazon.

To enter the contest, just submit a comment on the original contest page.

Flickr contributor Lividfiction came across the display at his local Target store, and managed to snap a couple of pictures before anyone in the department got smart enough to realize the gross inaccuracy of the signage.

Heck, even Target’s PS3 & Xbox 360 game reservation cards list the release date as “03/2008″. Now either somebody really screwed up here, or GTA IV is coming out much earlier than expected. I’m going with the first one.

All this thing needs now is a pop up dutch oven and a recorded lesson in how to discern the difference between brown bear vs. black bear attacks, and I am so buying this thing.

Available for US $33.26 at DealExtreme.

The charging station lets you charge up to three mobile gadgets at once, and can be even be wall mounted with just a couple of screws. It’s got plenty of room for AC adapters, cables and up to a 10-inch power strip (not included) hidden behind its sliding front door.

The box measures 13″L x 3.75″D x 5″H and the slots can hold most mobile phones, PDAs, media players and other small electronic devices. It’s available in solid white, black and dark blue finishes from KangaRoom, and retails for $40.

The latest Open Source creation from Evil Mad Science Labs, “Peggy” gives you the parts you need to make a pixelated grid of LEDs in any design your little heart desires.

Peggy is named for her 25 x 25 pegboard which can hold up to 625 LEDs in place for your custom signs. It’s able to drive just about any LED you’d like, and can be run off of 3 ‘D’-cell batteries or on an optional AC adapter. The kit includes the pre-populated circuit board, battery pack and a photosensor which lets you automatically turn off the display in daylight. And yes, the whole thing is driven by a fully-programmable micro-controller, so you can create animations, blinking and flashing displays if you know what you’re doing.

Keep in mind that you’ll need to buy your own LEDs, and will need some basic soldering skill and a soldering iron to create your own signs. The kit is available from the EMSL Shop for $80 USD. You can also pick up a batch of LEDs while you’re there. (For those more adventurous, there’s a bare-bones version of the board without the electronics already installed for $50).

While it may look slightly like a real PlayStation 3, under the hood, this Mini PS3 is completely incapable of playing anything resembling real video games. Instead, you get a single crummy LCD game that displays on this PS3′s pop-out screen. Here’s a humorous hands-on review and look inside the “console” by British gadget reviewer Dr. Ashen.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Thankfully, this battery-powered device is much tinier than an actual PlayStation 3, so it’s doubtful that even the most gullible parent will mistake this awful clone for the real deal. Even if you wanted to buy one, they’re nearly impossible to find.

Referred to as Kirlian photography, the technique dates back to a 1939 discovery (by a man named Kirlian, of course) that when an object is placed on an electrified plate, tiny coronas around the item can cause photo paper to expose in unusual and beautiful ways. Over the years, the effect has been co-opted by various new-age charlatans and snake oil salesmen with claims that the images were indications of some sort of paranormal “aura”. What a bunch of hokum.

Up until now, there wasn’t a good way to produce your own Kirlian images without building your own homebrew high-voltage rig, risking life and limb in the process. The $250 Kirlian Photography Device lets you to make your own electrified images without having to hack together your own. The metal imaging plate can be used with any 4X5 color or black & white sheet film and paper or even Polaroid film. Different film types and frequency adjustments create a virtually limitless array of image effects. You’ll need a 4×5 camera to use this out-of-the-box, or you can spend an additional $99 on a transparent plate which lets you capture the images with a standard 35mm or digital camera.

Now keep in mind that this thing isn’t a kid’s toy. It’s a serious electrical device, and you actually have to sign off on a disclaimer form before you can buy one. For some reason, I doubt these things are UL-approved.

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I can hardly believe that almost 1.7 million people decided to check out Technabob this year. Thanks for all your support throughout the year. I can’t wait to see all the gadgety and gamey goodness that 2008 brings.

Happy holidays!

The minuscule speaker has a built-in rechargeable lithium battery which will give you about 4 hours of play time on a single charge from your computer’s USB port. A cleverly concealed 3.5mm audio connector folds out from the side of the speaker so you can plug it directly into the jack on your portable media player. There’s even a hole that lets you easily hang it from your keychain. Amplification is rated at 0.8 Watts, which is actually more than I would figure from something quite this small, but it’s certainly not going to make any eardrums bleed.

You can get your hands on the fingertip cube speaker from gadget shop USBfever for just $9.99 USD.

Created by Flexiglow, the xRaider gaming mouse pad plug into your USB port and comes in red, green and blue varieties to suit your current mood. An etched plastic border produces a bright glow along edge around the pad, making it really jump off of your desk surface. A dimmer switch on the USB cable even lets you adjust the intensity of the light to your liking.

You can find the XRaider over on Amazon, with prices ranging from about $19 to $26 USD, depending on the seller. (Flexiglow also makes a color-changing model called the Fx Game Pad, but I don’t think it looks as nice).

The Chimera bC16 is a miniature patch synthesizer that can crank out a cacophony of analog beeps, blips and bleets. Each of the sixteen rainbow-colored knobs controls a key sound function and up to thirty hand-placed wires interconnect the various synthesizer sections to complete the circuit.

The portable bC16 synth offers up a broad range of sound generators including VCO, LFO, ADSR envelope generator, VCA, VCF, noise source & ring modulator circuits. It’s even got a built-in headphone amp so you can get your electronic groove on without any extra gear. It’s all packed into a case that’s roughly the diameter of a compact disc.

The $229 synthesizer can operate on a pair of 9-volt batteries or using an optional AC adapter. Chimera is taking pre-orders now and expects to start shipping the bC16 in January 2008.

[via Music Thing]

At first glance, it’s hard to get over the ridiculously suggestive shape of the Torre Agbar (Agbar Tower), but it’s the cool light show that’s really the eye-catcher here.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The 474-foot tall, 38-story office tower has over 4,500 LED devices that can be computer synchronized to display massive, colorful images wrapping the entire building. The building was designed by noted French architect Jean Nouvel, whose designs include the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and Tokyo’s Dentsu Tower among others.

[photos via flickr]

Litrospheres are tiny self-luminous particles which can be injection molded or embedded into paints. Brightness is said to be about the same as that of a 20-watt light bulb, but I’d imagine that would depend on how much surface area is covered with the particles. The material is extremely cost-effective, covering an 8.5 x 11 surface for about 35 cents. The particles can even be customized to give off just about any light color. There’s a good description of how the technology works over on PESWiki.

MPK, the company that manufactures this glowing goodness expects Litrospheres to make their first appearance in safety gear, but I’d love to coat all kinds of surfaces with this stuff. Can you imagine how cool it would be to drive down the street in a luminescent car?

[via Treehugger via Neatorama]

Pasadena’s Eureka Aerospace has developed high-power microwave-based system that can be fired at a specific car and kill its electrical system in an instant. The prototype system can fire a targeted 50 nanosecond burst from as much as 50 feet away, completely frying the target car’s electrical systems. If the company can raise the funding to optimize the technology, they think they improve the firing distance up to as much as 600 feet away.

Imagine the fun you could have with one of these. Why not shut down that a-hole who’s been tailgating you for the last 5 miles? Or better yet, take out that annoying guy on the train who’s been yammering to his buddies on his cell phone.

[via Discovery via SlashGear]

Volume and power controls are concealed beneath a set of flaps reminiscent of a ladybug’s wings, but they can be used in the closed position thanks to perforations in the wings. They’ll run on either USB power or on AAA batteries, so you can take your sound wherever you go.

Purveyor of imported Asian curiosities, DealExtreme sells these for about $14.

Xenics Music Cube M speakers offer up some truly low-fidelity sound thanks to their flimsy cardboard construction. Heck, they don’t even come assembled. You have to carefully fold the paper boxes and insert all the little tabs to but them together.

Once complete, they’re not likely to crank out much, since they’re not even amplified. You simply plug them in to your MP3 player’s headphone jack, and that’s all the power you’ll get. All that, and a frequency response range that’s probably not much better than your typical cordless phone.

If you’re really dying for the novelty of paper speakers, you’ll need to do a little translation, since it looks they’re only currently available in Korea.

The LetterLogger is small enough to be concealed inside of a standard #10 business envelope, yet contains sophisticated GPS and motion-sensing technology which can record every movement along the letter’s travels. Not only can it record the precise position and timing of each location, but its motion sensors can detect the amount of time when the letter is sitting still, which could help ferret out wasted time during the delivery process.

They should slap one of these directly on every mail carrier too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some delays at the neighborhood bar, donut shop and strip club.

[via Engadget via NaviGadget]

Their square Audio Spotlight speakers easily mount in place of standard 2′ x 2′ ceiling tiles and project a perfectly focused tunnel of sound towards the people standing beneath them. Step into the beam, and you’ll be able to hear the sound. Step out, and you won’t hear a thing. Designed for applications such as in-store marketing and exhibit design, they’d also be pretty cool mounted in an entryway or hallway.

[via Coolest-Gadgets]

California’s Segway Junkyard takes the personal transportation devices and gives them new life with custom paint, metal trim and shiny chrome wheels. They’ve even made a version with a custom diamond plate trailer so you can haul your junk while you tool around town.

I’ve recently moved to a new office, and was debating how I’d get to work each day. I think have my answer now.

[The Red Ferret Journal via Engadget]