Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

Garden gnomes: they live hard lives. They constantly have to be on the lookout for hungry cats and other wild animals. Apparently including dinosaurs, as is the case with this t-rex eating garden gnomes sculpture made by SOWSUN and available on Amazon (affiliate link).

I was just thinking the other day somebody should combine a donut and a drone, and apparently Boston-based Cleo Robotics was already on the case, developing the $9,800 Dronut X1 – the world’s first bi-rotor ducted drone that can operate in much tighter spaces than traditional drones.

Do you know what my garden has been missing? More gnomes. A person can never have too many garden gnomes, despite what my wife says, and she says the 20+ I already have are enough. Enough!

I’ve always wished I was better at woodworking but I can’t even make a livable birdhouse out of those easy-to-assemble kits. French woodworker Olivier Gomis is basically the opposite though, woodturning and crafting this absolutely incredible Lord of the Rings glowing One Ring lamp from maple and maple veneer over the course of 53 hours.

Because Japan is famous for developing products long before we recognize the need for them, this is the steak candle from century-old Japanese candle manufacturer Kameyama. It looks like a steak dinner and smells like a steak dinner, leading me to question whether or not it really is a steak dinner.

Genius: you know it when you see it. And I saw this motorized piano BBQ grill crafted by YouTuber Handy Geng, and I knew instantly he was ahead of his time. Did he travel back from the future to showcase this marvel of modern music and grilling technology?

Let’s face it, a good book and a nice cup of coffee or tea go together like peanut butter and bananas. But where do you rest your beverage? Personally, I rest mine on my open laptop because I like to live dangerously.

Just when you thought the perfect Star Trek ugly Christmas sweater already existed (see: this ‘Trek The Halls’ ugly Christmas sweater), Numskull Designs returns with an even gaudier one in the form of this ‘Beam Me Up, Santa’ sweater.

Released by the New Zealand Mint, these 1-ounce Death Star Coins are engraved with an image of the Empire’s moon-sized superweapon on one side and Queen Elizabeth on the opposite. A nice combo. Personally, I would have gone with an Ewok on the other side to commemorate the Battle of Endor, but I wasn’t asked.

Are you a huge Nissin Cup Noodles fan? Big enough to buy a giant inflatable likeness of the product for display in your home or office? Well if you are, you’re in luck (also, a rare breed), because Nissin is selling this giant inflatable Cup Noodle through their fan store for $35.

Makers of the entirely unnecessary but absolutely wanted, Archie McPhee is selling these giant ant toys for $8. Available in a package of six, each hard vinyl insect measures 2-3/4″ long from antennae to ant butt and is sure to get a rise out of my wife when she finds them in the pantry.

Created in the likeness of the iconic characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Numskull is releasing this set of Star Trek CosCups, drinking cups cosplaying as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Worf, Deanna Troi, and Geordi La Forge.

Look Mum No Computer (aka Sam Battle) clearly has some sort of strange obsession with making musical Furbys. You may recall his previously posted electronic organ created using 44 singing Furbys. I think we can all agree that is entirely too many Furbys in the same place at the same time.

Inspired by the command division’s red uniforms from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Numskull Designs has created these officially licensed ‘Trek The Halls’ ugly Christmas sweaters. Available from Just Geek for $42, the 100% knitted (not printed!)

For those of you unaware, there’s an ongoing challenge in the computing and gaming community to get Doom to run on less and less sophisticated hardware, pushing the limits of what was ever thought possible. In the near future, someone will hack an abacus to run the game.

You know what your Google Home smart device has been missing? Muscles. Mine? Mine has been missing ever being taken out of the package after I received it as a gift because I don’t like being listened to all the time.