Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

Because ghosts need busting and you’re just the person for the job, Reebok and the Ghostbusters franchise have collaborated to release these $150 Ghost Smashers sneakers. Obviously, I must have them and will throw a temper-tantrum when they sell out before I can get my hands on, and feet into a pair.

Want to own your own giant murder hornet (Vespa mandarinia) as a memento to remember 2020 by? Well, you’re in luck, because BicBugs has got some very nice specimens available. Sold with their wings spread, they’re available either unmounted ($47), or pinned and framed ($59), and are sure to be one of this Christmas’s must-have gifts.

Have you ever gotten stuck in traffic behind a funeral procession? Those things move so slowly. Perhaps they’d move faster if the hearse had more horsepower. Something like a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, with its 700+ horses, should do the trick.

This is the life-size Uncle Fester Lamp created by Etsy seller ShrewdApe, based on Jackie Coogan’s Uncle Fester character from the 1964-1966 television series The Addams Family. Obviously, I very much need this staring at me from the dresser while I get ready for bed every night.

This is the Amazon exclusive Monopoly Longest Game Ever Edition (affiliate link). The game doesn’t end for anyone when they go bankrupt; oh no, the game only ends when a single player owns every single property on the board – of which there are three times more than in a regular game.

This is the Mad Fly Sports Raptor Football, a toy football/plane hybrid that can be thrown over 100 yards. So maybe for once when my brother tells me to go long, he’ll actually mean it. The toy does require a unique throw (read: not a football spiral) for the creation of maximum lift and distance though, so there is a learning curve involved.

Because nothing says I’m a fancy gentleman from the future like a light-up bow tie, these are the Glow in the Dark LED Bow Ties created by Neon Nightlife and available on Amazon (affiliate link) for $25. 

The Tesla Cybertruck already features a bonkers design that looks like something out of a 1980s science fiction movie. The angular, all-electric pickup truck has a pretty intimidating presence as shown in factory form, but it’s definitely more of an urban assault vehicle than something you could seriously take off-road.

There’s something about creatures with more than four legs that creeps me out. The more legs, the worse the creepy factor. While spiders sit somewhere in the middle between an ant and a millipede, they can still be pretty terrifying, especially if you’re an arachnophobe.

When you think of Halloween, it typically conjures up images of dark and scary places. Trick-or-treating is generally a nighttime activity except for maybe the tots. One thing that I don’t associate with Halloween is sunrise and breakfast time.

Ohhhhhh! Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants! Absorbent and yellow and porous is he! SpongeBob SquarePants! You’ll wish you could shrink down to sponge size and drive through Bikini Bottom in this official Krabby Patty remote-controlled toy car.

Because I write thousands and thousands of words every week, I got myself a fancy $200 mechanical keyboard with good clicky switches and schmancy RGB backlighting just for fun. I’ve thought about getting some custom keycaps too, but I don’t think I’d be able to type very fast if all of my keys were made to look like food.

I’ve heard the old expression “I’ll eat my hat” when betting on something improbable. But I’ve never heard anyone say, “I’ll eat my shoe.” But I’d definitely eat my shoe if it were actually a delicious cake.

Dreams are weird enough all on their own. So the idea that technology could be used to influence your dreams seems like it could produce even stranger results. Now, researchers from MIT are developing a system that could do just that.

I’m at a point where I probably do 90% of my reading on some kind of digital device. But there are times it’s just nice to crack open a good old paperback. There’s just something that just feels right about flipping through actual pages rather than swiping on a touchscreen.

Who knew that garden gloves with claws were a thing? I sure didn’t. It turns out that they are, and they’re meant to make it easier to work in the dirt when you don’t have a shovel handy.