Archive for March 2018

I used to love building my own PCs back when I had the time to do it. As time has moved forward, they have become much easier to build too. I miss putting all of those components together and creating super powerful machines.

Coinciding with the 2018 New York Auto Show, luxury performance automaker Lexus showed off something highly unexpected – a new offering designed to offer the ultimate in automotive customization. Partnering up with DNA analysis company 23andMe, they plan to build cars catered to your exact genetic makeup.

Big surprise, there’s another version of Monopoly to add to the hundreds that are already in existence. Although this one is better than some of the versions out there, and should actually be in demand. Hasbro’s Mario Kart-themed Monopoly is for serious Nintendo fans.

Do you and your cat believe in conspiracy theories? Like that we never landed on the moon because Stanley Kubrick filmed the whole thing on a soundstage? Or that reptiles run our government? Hmmmm. Okay, let’s not count that second one out just yet.

Roll a critical hit for diabetes while you kill monsters with these edible candy tabletop gaming dice sets from Etsy shop SugarAndDiceCrafts. Each set includes one each of these seven dice: a d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and a d100 percentage die.

Buying a car is an expensive decision. So how can car manufacturers get you to pull the trigger and make a purchase? By making it fun. That’s what this huge car vending machine in China is all about. 

Rubik’s Cubes are way too easy for today’s nerds to solve, what with their simple colors on each side and all, so we need to make things harder for them. People (and robots) are solving these puzzles in a couple of seconds now.

Actually, what you are about to watch is a video from Agility Robotics of Cassie, a two-legged, ostrich-inspired robot and one of Boston Dynamics’ Spot quadruped robots. They are having a creepy little playdate. Awww. Isn’t that adorable?

This alarm clock looks exactly like the Game Boy you used to play on the go. It even has working buttons. The only difference is that instead of playing classic games, this version is all about waking you up in the morning.

There’s been a lot of buzz in the media this past week about the first ever pedestrian fatality involving an autonomous vehicle. While there was clearly some kind of failure to see the pedestrian by both the system and the safety driver, self-driving car systems are generally quite good at detecting pedestrians and other objects in clear weather.

Some of the most iconic objects in the history of video games have to be the barrels that Donkey Kong tosses at Jumpman as he climbs girders to rescue his princess. Jumping over those barrels and smashing them with a sledgehammer were the key gameplay mechanics of Nintendo’s breakout arcade game.

33-year old biohacker Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow (which is coincidentally what I call my cat) was recently charged $220 by transportation authorities in Sydney, Australia for implanting the chip from an Opal metro card in his arm and “using public transport without a valid ticket and for not producing a ticket to transport officers.”

If only more toymakers would take a page from LEGO’s book and let fans design potential new items. The LEGO Ideas site is responsible for some of the coolest sets in the past few years, and the new TRON: Legacy light cycles set is just one such example.

Hello Kitty has long been a staple of Japanese… everything. Then at some point, the phenomenon hit America and Hello Kitty invaded our shores. The adorable feline exists on lunch boxes, makeup, toasters, purses, cameras as well as a million other things and now it will decorate a bullet train.

Great. Here’s another thing a robot can do something that I can’t – splits. Robotics engineers at Guangdong University of Technology’s School of Automation in China have developed a new robot that has jet-powered feet. This improves the bot’s balance, agility, and capabilities.

Want someone to lick your face? Besides your dog, I mean. Well, now you can make your face completely lickable by anyone. I’m talking about a life-size, lickable, lollipop version of your face. This is made possible by Firebox’s new “Face Licker” service.