Archive for January 2023

Want to really stand out at the next masquerade ball? How about donning one of these food-inspired masks from Archie McPhee instead of a traditional mask? Currently available in pancake, ham, and pizza varieties, they’re sure to get the other guests chatting!

Made by MSCHF, Smells like WD-40 is a cologne that smells like everyone’s favorite penetrating oil, WD-40. I love that smell. Smells like… loosened bolts. Now, if they could just combine it with the smells of cheap beer, skinned knuckles, and cursing, they’ll have captured the entirety of a typical Saturday afternoon spent in the garage.

Developed by researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology’s (KAIST) Department of Mechanical Engineering, the RaiBo quadruped robot was designed to be able to tackle any terrain. The robot is even capable of traversing loose sand at around 7 MPH.

Because who hasn’t dreamed of driving a giant shoe, New Balance has teamed up with Nissan to advertise its new 327 sneakers with the specially designed Nissan Kicks 327 Edition, an SUV all dressed up just like the shoe.

The future: it’s undeniably going to be a terrifying place. If you thought today was scary, just wait to see what tomorrow brings. Case in point: this sea cucumber-inspired shape-shifting soft robot developed by researchers at Carnegie Melon and Sun Yat-sen University can melt, escape a prison cell, and reform itself outside the bars just like a T-1000 Terminator.

Want to draw attention to your ears? Just add one of these glass octopus tentacles crafted by Japanese glass artist Genki Hirano. The tentacles, created for a sea life-themed design festival, are sure to be a conversation piece.

Because dream it, and with enough welding experience and money to throw at it, you can achieve it, Hawaiian eBay seller turboraven1 modded a 2007 Chevy Silverado 3500 Duramax dually into this custom ‘Razorbak’. A vehicle that, from the looks of it, turboraven is really hoping will be bought for use in an upcoming Batman movie.

Because car decals are the most genuine expression of the owner’s personality, Etsy shop AndreValoisShop is selling these window decals that make it appear as if an animal is breaking through the glass of your back window.

By feeding the original polygonal images from a Sega Saturn emulator into an image-to-image mode of the Stable Diffusion text-to-image deep learning model, artist Colin Williamson was able to turn 1993’s Virtua Fighter characters from polygonal people into much more realistic versions of themselves.

Created by Fred, the Desk Dumpster is a desk organizer designed to store your pencils and notes, all in the relatable form of a dumpster fire. Available on Amazon (affiliate link), its note cards are even flame shaped for added realism!

Because there can never be enough new ways to create, VOXART is a building toy that consists of 16 different colors of Clixel “tiles” that can be combined to form colored cubes. Each tile makes one side of a cube, so it takes six tiles to make a cube, then you use those cube shapes (or partial cubes) to make, well, whatever you want!

Built by Ryan Lademann and his team, a rocket-shaped quadrocopter recently set a new Guinness World Record for the fastest ground speed of a battery-powered RC quadrocopter, hitting a max speed of 257.25 MPH and an average speed (used for the record) of 224 MPH.

Styled after the first-aid sprays found throughout Resident Evil games, GameFlavor has collaborated with Capcom to create the Resident Evil First Aid Drink Collector’s Box, a box of canned beverages inspired by the in-game health items.

Because what good is a robotic housekeeper if it can only clean the ground floor, engineer James Bruton challenged himself to build a robot capable of ascending and descending stairs. It accomplishes the task via its three sections, which it can lift and lower individually, making stair-climbing possible.

Because where we’re going, we don’t need roads; Hot Toys is releasing a highly detailed 1/6th-scale replica of Doc Brown’s time-traveling DeLorean DMC-12 from Back To The Future II. Available at Sideshow Collectibles, the large 72cm (~28″) model includes functional gullwing doors, and the wheels even fold up when it’s time to fly.

Just when you thought you’d heard it all, Shiftall has announced the release of the Mutalk, a mouth-covering Bluetooth microphone that digitally amplifies your voice online while muffling it to those around you. Plus, it makes you look like you’re being held captive by robots.