The Vostok 3KA-2 was shot into space on March 25, 1961, exactly 18 days before Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. Gagarin used an identical capsule to go into space. 3KA-2 didn’t have an astronaut, but it did have a mannequin and a dog named Zvyozdochka, both of whom returned safely to Earth from orbit.

Sotheby’s in NYC will put the capsule on the auction block on April 12, and it’s expected to fetch between 2 and 10 million dollars.

[via GearLog via DVice]

Hein was inspired the “block” housing he lived in on the streets of Berlin – as well as his childhood block home in Latvia, and decided that the rigid construction style was the perfect subject for a Tetris tribute.

Insert your quarters now, and enjoy…

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Sergej created this amusing short animated film through the magic of Adobe After Effects.

[via PSFK]

You won’t find any Donkey Kong, Pac-Man or Space Invaders in this arcade museum. Nope. Games had names like Магистраль (Magistral), Городки (Gorodki) and Морской бой (Morskoy-Boy).

The early machines featured at the museum mirror some of the earliest U.S. and Japanese games with simple racing games, shooting gallery, a sub hunt game, and mechanical tabletops like basketball and ice hockey.

The museum currently has 37 different types of retro arcade machines in its collection, with 20 of them now restored to full working order. But even if you don’t get a chance to get to Russia any time soon, you can see many of the details of these oddities thanks to the excellent, detailed photography and descriptive overlays over on the website.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the site is that the designers over at Art Lebedev Studios went the extra mile by building playable Flash versions of many of the games.

Be sure to check out the online versions of Magistral, Gorodki, Morskoy Boy, and Autorally. You can even see the old 15 Kopek coins used to play these machines.

The Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines is located at the Moscow State Technical University, and you can find out more details about their amazing time capsule of retro games over on their English language page here.

This amazing transformation started with a 1961 Soviet REKORD tv set and turned it into a modern Windows PC. A team of talented casemodders recently built a complete computer system into the antique wooden TV case. The design kind of makes me think of what the original Macintosh might have looked like if it was made out of wood instead of plastic.

The system is fully self-contained, with the computer, monitor, subwoofer and speakers built into the case, and a wireless mouse and keyboard for controlling the PC.

There are plenty of nifty details in the design, including motion-sensitive LEDs which imitate the flickering of an old television. Old style toggle switches turn the system on and off, and the LCD monitor is switched by pushing on the metal REKORD logo on the front of the set. Very nice.

[DarkRoastedBlend via GizmoWatch]

The Lomo Meccano Erector set is a complete kit that lets you build five different photographic devices. In addition to the classic LOMO camera, you can assemble a negative film viewer, film enlarger, a slide projector and a magnifying glass (though I don’t think there’s much “building” involved in that one.)

The Lomographic Society has a limited stock of just 100 of these very rare pieces that date back to the late 1980′s Russia. While it won’t keep up with today’s digital marvels, it’s a fascinating piece of history that’s well worth the $125 price tag.