Archive for September 2015

The weather – it’s that thing that you can easily confirm by looking out the window or literally typing “weather” on Google, yet somehow has a billion apps dedicated to it. There are so many free ways to get a weather forecast that paying $199 (USD) for it sounds insane.

China isn’t exactly known for its safety guidelines and building standards. It’s more known for cutting corners and having few protections in place for people and the environment. I’d be a bit nervous about walking on a bridge that was 590 feet in the air and had a glass bottom no matter where it was. Knowing that the glass panels probably came from the vendor with the lowest bid would make the trek even more terrifying.

Winter is coming. You are going to need some cool and geeky scarves to get you through the colder months. Trust Picard and crew to keep your neck warm with these cozy-looking Star Trek: The Next Generation scarves. Get ready for an encounter at Warm-point!

Star Wars already has a ton of great merchandise. There have even been a bunch of Star Wars themed candies over the years, but I don’t think they have ever released any Star Wars Gummies. This can only mean one thing.

A couple of years ago we checked out the PiePal, a Raspberry Pi device that let you order from Domino’s Pizza just by pressing a button. Brody Berson combined a couple of free JavaScript apps with Amazon’s $5 (USD) Dash Button to make a similar device for far less cost and effort. Brody’s pizzadash app was inspired partly by Ted Benson’s Dash Button baby tracking hack.

It had to be Snakes. Snake? Snake! is developer Virtually Competent’s entry to the Duplicade game jam. It’s based on the classic mobile game Snake except instead of the titular animal, players control Metal Gear Solids‘ Twin Snakes. Duplicade’s restrictions are simple: entries have to be 30-second PvPs, and they have to be a knockoff of another game, just “weird enough to not get you sued.”

I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that in the The Force Awakens, Carrier Fisher won’t be wearing her famous gold bikini. But if your girlfriend is willing to wear one, you’ll need a Jabba to go with it, and then you can play Luke.

You won’t see me swimming in the lake or the ocean. I’m not fond of putting my face where animals poop and might bite me. You certainly wouldn’t get me to go on a night dive near the Solomon Islands where you have to use bright lights to ward off crocodiles that might want to snack on your soft innards.

Nicola Pavan of Pavan Wood Works is a genius. He has singlehandedly taken the electric guitar to a whole new level. How, you ask? By building a guitar from LEGO. Pavan created this cool instrument in six days.

The Pooch Selfie is surely one of the signs of the apocalypse. Like the Selfie Spoon, it is a product that shows a society on the decline, and makes me want to run around freaking out, pulling out my hair.

In Back to the Future II, Marty and Doc jump forward by 30 years, and the date set on their DeLorean time machine was October 21, 2015. That date is nearly upon us, and to celebrate, a new Back to the Future Blu-ray box set is coming to a store near you. Among its many features, the box set will have something very interesting for fans of the franchise to enjoy.

All I know about the Russian culture I learned watching TV and movies. What that in-depth study tells me is that they all eat caviar, drink copious amounts of vodka, and wear hats with furry parts on the forehead.

You may have seen Zelf Koelman’s mesmerizing Ferrolic, a clock that uses ferrofluid to display digits and a variety of complex animations. Damjan Stanković and Marko Pavlović’s Rhei is a simpler but equally notable take on a ferrofluid clock. One of the main differences between Ferrolic and Rhei is that the former uses electromagnets while the latter uses neodymium magnets that are moved mechanically to manipulate the ferrofluid. That means the Rhei uses less power, but can’t quite match the Ferrolic’s precise control over ferrofluid.

This Star Trek shelf is a thing of beauty. It puts the Starship Enterprise right on your wall, which is pretty awesome if you live in a small space. Meaning that space is at a premium.

I know no one who actually likes to shave. I’ve tried everything from old school safety razors to electric razors to disposable razors with blades that cost $15 for three. They all suck and leave my skin burning after the fact. I’m totally down with trying the new Skarp Laser Razor.

A few months ago, we featured Instructables employee DJ aka Aleator777’s Apple II Watch. He recently shared another impressive retro watch, one that’s arguably more useful than the current Apple Watch. He calls it the Communicator Watch, because it’s also a GSM cell phone. DJ based the Communicator Watch’s retro design on the Pip-Boy, the smartwatch in The Venture Bros.,