Archive for June 2008

When I think of Origami, I usually think of little paper swans, or maybe the unicorn that Edward James Olmos made in Blade Runner. But who says that video games can’t get in on the paper foldin’ action?

I have no idea what the story is behind this set of numeric keypad/calculator chairs is, but I do know I think it’s super cool! I wish so badly that I could explain the rationale behind this or tell you whether or not it’s concept art or a commercial product, but I still haven’t learned how to read Japanese characters.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s a bad idea to strap a live hand grenade to your wrist (or any part of your person, for that matter). I’d especially be wary of one that’s making a subtle ticking noise.

Now don’t get me wrong. Other than the stupid analog controller, I really like the industrial design of the Sony PSP. But I’m not sure it warrants other gadget manufacturers going out and making their devices look just like it.

How’d you like one of these organic glowing orbs hanging from your ceiling? The intricate Laluna chandelier uses brightly lit, intertwined strands of fiber optics to light up your room. Designed by German artist Steffen Bauer for Crescent lighting, the Laluna fiber optic lamp connects to a bright halogen (which changes color with a turning color wheel) or color-changing LED light source which can be mounted in the ceiling or in another room.

The Poplight is the latest LED lighting fixture to come from Mathmos, the same guys responsible for the original Lava Lamp back in the 1960s. Each Poplight is made from handblown glass and gradually fades between shades of blue, purple, violet, magenta, red, and back.

At first glance this just looks like a nice, stylish button-down dress shirt. But upon further examination, you’ll notice that its shading isn’t just some sort of abstract pattern. It’s actually comprised of tens of thousands of little 0’s and 1’s.

WowWee’s new FlyTech Bladestar is a crazy looking flying machine which lifts itself using a helicopter-like spinning rotor, hovering through your living room with ease. But the real cool factor is a special autopilot mode which lets the Bladestar atuomatically avoid ceilings and other obstacles.

This bold all-in-one computer borrows its combo concept from the iMac, but is actually a gaming PC. Modder Ville ‘Willek’ Kyrö always liked the idea of small-form-factor computers, but wanted the expandability and power to run his PC games.

Dunh-Dunh, Dunh-Dunh, Dun-Dun, Dun-Dun, Du-Du-Du-Du. Those pesky Space Invaders are coming to your town to help you party down. Or at least they’re ready to help you keep warm on a windy day with this spiffy Invaders-themed hoodie.

I was buzzing about over on the wonderful world of Etsy today, when I came across these absolutely awesome plush versions of popular portable electronic gadgets. French textile artist Kmila Rodz handcrafts these super special soft systems using felt, needle and thread, with a just a dash of love thrown in.

The cassette tape is probably just a fuzzy memory for those of you who grew up with Compact Discs and MP3s. But for us born before the 1980s, we have to figure out what to do with all of those old tapes.

These official R2-D2 and Darth Vader USB hubs from Japan’s Cube-Works are a must for any serious Star Wars fan with a computer. Whether you’re pro-Jedi or have a serious Sith streak, they’re the perfect desktop companion for connecting your USB gadgets.

These amazing video game images by digital artist RETROnoob take familiar bitmapped sprite characters and marry them to real world photographs. Through creative and generous application of digital blur tools, each of the images does a brilliant job blending 2-D and 3-D worlds into one.

I’ll just start out by saying this: I’m a sucker for cool digital clocks. And this one is a real doozy. UK designer Duncan Shotton’s Digimech clock may look like an LED or LCD timepiece on the surface, but it’s actual a complicated mechanical contraption that creates a 7-segment digital illusion.

The other day, I came across this Cold war-era Geiger Counter PC casemod, and passed along the erroneous notion that it was created by some Russian modder. In fact, it was built by a guy named Andy over at widefault, right here in the good old US of A.