Category: Strange + Wonderful

If you’ve ever walked along a carpet in the wintertime, you know all about how you can generate electrical shocks without ever plugging in to an outlet. Now it looks like your body movements could be harnessed to provide electricity for your mobile electronics.

Ever wonder what to do with your old cell phone when you’re ready to upgrade to the latest and greatest? Why not bury it in the ground? That’s what a group of scientists will have us doing if they have their way.

If you’ve ever seen the movie Castaway you know that Chuck Noland, the character Tom Hanks played, existed on coconut meat for quite some time before getting back to civilization. When I look at this cool amp with coconut shell cover created by Steve Lodefink it makes me wonder what parts of the movie they edited out.

Ever had such a bad game that you wanted to throw your controller at your TV screen? How about a gaming system where chucking your display itself is an integral part of the action? Philips recently filed a patent application for a video game system which uses a monitor that you can actually toss.

Having seen my share of weird Japanese robotic animals, I was actually pretty impressed by the fact that this one doesn’t look like it’s going to attempt to murder you in your sleep. SEGATOY’s new robotic dog is a heck of a lot less creepy than their hollow-stared robot cats, and actually seems to act quite a bit like a real pup (sans the poop).

In what could be the final death-blow to the floundering HD DVD format, Hollywood actors can now cover up all their nasty facial flaws with this new makeup line, specifically designed for hiding imperfections on high definition video shoots.

Why print on boring old paper, when you can get your message across on some nice bouncy ping pong balls? The appropriately named PingPongPrinter can print dot-matrix messages directly onto the spherical surface of ping pong balls.

This might look like a curtain of randomly assorted lighting fixtures. But it’s actually an interactive video display that can detect movements of passersby and mimic them using light. Entitled Space Invaders 2008, the light installation uses a grid of 176 unique lighting fixtures to work its magic.

You may think you know Mario and Zelda, but you’ve never seen them like this. Artist Jimi Benedict (a.k.a. “Jimiyo”) created these 8-bit game inspired images which combine the pixel-blocky forms of the game’s original characters with a surreal mix of natural textures and literal illustration styles.

Just the other day, I showed you guys a really crummy PS3 knock-off, but I think this videogaming oddity surely trumps that one. This strange little console can’t decide whether it wants to be an Xbox, a PlayStation 2, 3, or something else altogether.

Back in the day, I did my stint designing lighting and sets for community theater companies, so I’ve seen more than my share of wooden acting. But this is the first time I’ve ever seen metal acting.

No, these striking images weren’t made using Photoshop trickery. They were actually taken using a unique process which involves placing photographic paper onto an object, placing them both on a high-voltage plate, then cranking up the juice.

Taking a page out of The Pirates of the Carribean, these speakers look like something you might find lying around in Davy Jones’ Locker at the bottom of the sea. These skulls may look olde and crusty(e?),

There’s nothing quite like a delicious virtual donut and a hot cup of paper coffee before parking it in front of the fake TV to get my day going. This off-the-wall creative project takes items seen in the 3D virtual world of Second Life, and transforms them into real-world (paper) objects.

Remember the Robosaurus? Let me refresh your memory. The gigantic robotic dinosaur looks like a metal, fire-breathing Tyrannosaurus Rex, and might be just about as fierce. Capable of picking up cars, then crushing them with its razor-sharp jaws, I certainly wouldn’t want to run into one in a back alley.

This has got to be the oddest looking computer monitor I’ve seen in a while, but it’s a surprisingly good idea. The 22-inch Samsung SyncMaster 2263DX has a mini 7-inch display that snaps onto the edge of the screen providing just a little extra real-estate.