Designed by Charles Mercader and Sam Dominguez, the Square Hoodie is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a protective case for your Square payment reader – which can be hung around your neck on a lanyard. It’s made from durable silicone, and has a handy loop on it which can also be attached to a carabiner if you’d rather not hang the thing around your neck. If you’re wondering how you can still take cards with it on, the top of the Square Hoodie flips back to provide access to the credit card reader without removing the case.

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I know it seems like a small invention, but for artists and business people working tradeshows or even small retailers, I could see this being a very convenient little add-on for your Square reader. If you’re interested in getting one, head on over to the Square Hoodie’s Kickstarter page. A pledge of $15 or more will get you one – and $20 or more will include a matching lanyard.

The concept is very cool, taking the roundish 20-ounce coke bottles we’re used to, and making then into rectangles that take up less space and are stackable. From eyeing the things, I am betting that if the bottles really went square, you could fit more of them into the cooler at the store too.

The downside is that the bottles obviously wouldn’t work in vending machines where the drinks roll out the trap door on the bottom. According to the designer, the square bottles would be made of 100% recycled sugar cane byproducts and the cap would be 25% slimmer. The bottle also collapses down when empty to 66% smaller than its full size.

The compact K-Touch X90+ features an unusual twist-out keyboard that hides behind the screen of the square phone display. While it’s not totally decked out with features, the X90+ does offer built-in Bluetooth, dual SIM slots, dual cameras, and a touchscreen interface. The phone is available in three colors: black, white and a sort-of sparkly plum color that’s targeted at the ladies.

Unfortunately, the phone only works on 900/1800MHz GSM bands, so it won’t work in North America. Oh well, it’s not like I was going to buy one anyhow. It should work for the rest of the world, though. I’m also pretty sure this isn’t the official K-Touch X90+, rather some sort of knock-off (the photos seem to have misspelled K-Touch as K-Tcouh). But it’s not like you ever heard of K-Touch anyhow, right? If you still want one, you can find them over at ChinaGrabber for about $139 (USD).

I’m not sure I could bring myself to gut a copy of Final Fantasy III, but goteking, the modder behind this project, never played the game, and so felt no connection to the beloved RPG. He can be forgiven, however, because the game makes a pretty good-looking camera.

The BenHeck.com forums are jammed with people fascinated by the idea of turning things into other things, but goteking is apparently an old pro. He posted pictures of and links to a number of projects, including a DS Lite redone with Sony Vaio branding,

Apparently, he has a knack for taking good-looking items and making them even more interesting.

[goteking's blog via BenHeck.com forums]

Each coaster is made up of 110 individual 1cm square “pixels” which are perfed in a way that lets you selectively remove blocks from each square. Through what sort of amounts to “pixel sculpting”, you can create your own personalized designs.

They come in a stack of 50 coasters, which start out conjoined into a 500cm (almost 200″) long chain which can be broken apart into individual pieces. Each square has a random arrangement of color shades, so each coaster is just a little different from the next one.

They’re made from a resilient paper fiber that should hold up to the condensation you might get on the bottom of your cup, or the occasional spill. In addition to the blue palette (which I prefer), there’s also a hot pink version if you’re looking for something a bit more girly.

At this point Pixel Coasters are only available from Taiwanese design retailer 25togo, I’m hoping somebody eventually imports these to the States. A pack of 50 coasters sells for 260 Taiwan Dollars, or just about $8 bucks.

Case in point, these Boynq Blox speakers. They feature an innovative design that looks more like a sculpture than a pair of speakers. Each orange and silver speaker can slide up and down along a track that also happens to control bass and treble levels. Slide the left speaker up, and up go your low frequencies, slide the right one up, and treble goes up.

The whole thing is powered by dual 5-watt amplifiers, which should be enough for desktop audio needs. A 3.5mm stereo “mini” audio jack lets you hook up your computer or media player with ease. They’re also USB powered, so they don’t need an AC adapter.

I was able to find these speakers for just £17.99 (appx. $35 USD) from U.K. outlet MyMemory, but I haven’t been able to find them from a North American outlet so far.

[via Stylehive]