Category: Strange + Wonderful

One of the concerns about conventional CDs and DVDs is that they will eventually lose their data at some point in the future. In order to solve this problem, a Japanese recording engineer has developed the first compact disc made from glass.

Toshiba has shown us the future of television in the form of the most unwieldy contraption I’ve ever seen. Looking like a cross between a space helmet and some sort of industrial grade hair dryer, the prototype system is said to provide an all-encompasssing 360-degree television experience on its massive convex screen.

This may be old news, but since I never saw this commercial, I figured that some of you might not have either. The commercial is for Sony’s BRAVIA line of TVs and features a drop of over 250,000 multi-colored superballs down the streets of San Francisco.

Real Snail Mail is an art and technology project being conducted by the technological artists collective of Boredom Research. The project has real snails delivering electronic messages via tiny RFID tags attached to their shells. The messages are delivered literally “at a snails pace.”

Ever wanted to play detective? Are magnifying glasses too old school? Well now you too can own the high resolution digital microscope featured on CSI. The ProScope HR is a USB-connected handheld microscope that can capture images and video at a magnification level of up to 400x depending on the lense selected.

Somehow the idea of placing electrodes into a water-filled orb to seems like a bad idea. However, artist Scott J. Franklin has designed a series of glass lighting fixtures that do just that. The WET Lamp from NON Design is a glass orb with a 10-watt xenon light bulb in the center, then filled with water.

Looking for an exotic finish for your case mod or do you just want to pimp your ride? Look no further. The folks at ALSA have developed some amazing paint finishes including one that has the ability to change colors temporarily when heat is applied.

In the future, you’ll be able to customize more and more products to your own liking, and why should beverages be any different? This new technology from Ipifini, called “Choice-Enabled Packaging,” provides bottles of soda with multiple flavor “buttons,” which can be pressed to create your own customized soft drink flavors.

Artists Jonathan den Breejen and Marenka Deenstra developed the interactive artwork, Ping Pong Pixel, a machine which will take in a digital image, then render a huge image using colored ping pong balls. The installation contains a 2-meter by 3-meter display board which is injected with 2700 ping pong balls from a dispensing cabinet which contains tubs of 6 differently colored balls.

Not since the old Atari classic “Kool Aid Man” has there been such an odd video game / food tie-in. The Home of the Whopper has announced an promotion for the holiday season in which they will be offering three surreal Burger King themed games for the Xbox and Xbox 360.

Back in 2001, the artists’ collective Temporary Services started a project with a prison inmate named Angelo in which they asked him to document how inmates adapt to their surroundings while confined. The project, entitled Prisoners’ Inventions, resulted in this fascinating 119-page book of detailed drawings that explain exactly how prisoners build contrivances from all sorts of found materials.

Who said that robots needed to be all clean and shiny (or functional for that matter?) The Bennett Robot Works designs sculptural robots made from junk. Each (non-functional) robot is unique and handmade by Gordon Bennett and made from a carefully selected assemblage of old and new parts.

While NEC was showing off their cute little robot, capable of “tasting” wines (using its built-in) photospectrometer to the Associated Press, they got just a little more than they bargained for… When a reporter’s hand was placed against the robot’s taste sensor, it was identified as prosciutto.

If you ever wanted a little feline fluffball of your own but couldn’t deal with the sneezing and itching, your worries are over. For the low, low price of $4000, you can pick up a hypoallergenic cat from San Diego biotech firm, Allerca.

Ever wanted to annihilate your annoying office-mates? Tired of your boss giving you crap? Well you can now put an end to all that with the $54.99 USB-controlled desktop missile launcher. The rocket launcher fires soft foam missiles from a software-controlled platform that can rotate and tilt to aim at your target up to eight feet away.

Need to slim down, but don’t have the time or patience for diet and exercise? Hewlett-Packard’s latest digital camera technology can help! HP’s new digital slimming technique cuts unwanted pounds in seconds using the old funhouse skinny mirror technique on your digital camera.