Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

If you’ve ever followed the Japanese anime series Doraemon, you know that the robotic cat’s primary means of transportation is a rather silly looking time machine. While we humans may never get a chance to take a ride to other points in time, your cat is ready to go right now.

So how do you eat your OREO cookies? I like to carefully disassemble mine, scoop the creamy filling out with my bottom teeth, then eat the two chocolate cookies individually. The way I figure it, it’s like eating three cookies for the price (and calories) of one.

Tying your shoes: what a hassle. You think you did it right but they always come untied or end up in knots. Well, now the team at YouTube channel Hacksmith Industries has created a pair of self-lacing shoes inspired by the Nike MAGs worn by Marty McFly in Back To The Future II.

As far as novelty desk lamps go, this is one of the better ones I’ve seen. The officially licensed Marvel Spider Man Streetlight LED Desk Lamp stands approximately 16-inches tall and features Spider-Man dangling from a miniature street light, which doubles as a desk lamp.

When I play Jenga, I’m lucky to get maybe 10 levels high before the whole tower comes tumbling down and scattering pieces all over the floor. But there are some serious Jenga experts out there who can do much better.

You know what the problem with Twinkies is? They simply aren’t big enough. Like who only eats just one ten-count box? Nobody I know, but admittedly I only truly know myself. Introducing the Hostess Party Size Twinkies Holiday Baking Kit, obviously one of only a handful of good things to come out of 2020.

When we die, some of us want to be cremated, while others want to be buried, and a select few people want their body parts to be used for medical science. But I’m not sure many people would raise their hands and say “yeah, please turn my bones into dice so someone can play D&D with them.”

The internet never stops turning. Case in point: this Device Orchestra cover of Smash Mouth’s 2001 hit “All Star”. I know, I know, it almost sounds too good to be true, but quite often the internet knows what you need to see and hear even before you do.

Are you the kind of person who likes making other people feel uncomfortable? Well, you’re in luck, because now you can pre-order one of these creepy ‘What’s your FACE?’ programmable LED masks from Neon Culture on Kickstarter (provided they meet their $15,000 funding goal).

Cocktails: sometimes they can help a bad time seem a little better. And unless you’ve been living under a rock this year (any room under there for me?), 2020 has been pretty much an eight-month-long bad time so far.

Tired of eating the same old boring dinners every night? Looking for something different to spice things up a bit? How about an up to 4-inch giant Asian scorpion? Mmmmm! Is your mouth watering? My mouth is watering.

I live in a 3-story, single-family house with my wife and two rather large, hairy dogs. So the amount of dirt, dust, and dog hair we accumulate around here on a daily basis is way more than should be permitted by law.

How do you remind someone to practice social distancing? Personally I just yell. LOUD. But maybe you’re a quiet person. Maybe you just want to politely remind someone with a 4.5-volt shock to the arm from this Socially Distancing Zapper from Firebox.

Now I know what you’re thinking, and I couldn’t agree more: the wait is finally over. Pampshades (“P” from pan, bread in Japanese, and “ampshade” from lampshade) are lamps made from actual bread loaves. Did anybody else just lick make-believe crumbs from their fingers?

While you might not shoot your eyes out, you could certainly melt your retinas sitting too close while watching scenes from A Christmas Story on this giant 8-foot inflatable television yard decoration. Fra-gee-lay — it must be Italian.

Pac-Man was the first video game I ever played in the arcade back in the day. I remember not making it very long because I was always trying to gobble up the power pellets and didn’t do a good job evading the ghosts.