Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

Chairs: they make a terrible noise when you pull them out from under the dining room table because they’re heavy and you’re too lazy or not strong enough to pick them up (both in my case).

The past year has put video conferencing tools in the limelight, and in my opinion, they are sorely lacking. But technology marches onward. Just check out this mind-blowing prototype that Google claims is already in use in a few of its offices.

Thanos’s Infinity Gauntlet: I wish I had it. I’d only use it for good though, I swear. Well, mostly good. But considering the power glove is entirely fictional, I may have to settle for this 590-piece LEGO set is due for release on August 1st.

If there’s one thing the pandemic taught me, it’s that webcams are a scam, right up there with printers. Even a mid-range smartphone can beat $200 webcams. All you need is a mount, like this upcoming one from the folks at Rolling Square.

Presumably inspired by the Titanic (which also had four smokestacks and sank), this is the Sinking Ship cocktail glass available from FireBox. The $19 drinking vessel has a handblown glass ship inside, so you can pretend you’re Poseidon releasing his wrath upon humanity by swirling the glass to create a whirlpool and making a mess all over the living room carpet.

The Float ‘N’ Grill is a portable propane grill that attaches to a flip-resistant buoyant plastic raft so you can grill out on the water and not set your deck or raft on fire. The unit is available in patriotic red or blue and can be found on Amazon (affiliate link).

Tropical tiki drinks: I daydream about them often, usually when I’m stuck at work under horrible fluorescent lighting watching the time pass at a snail’s pace. Enter this $70 X-34 Landspeeder tiki mug set crafted by Geeki Tikis and available from Tonyk.

Looking for the perfect bookend to display alongside your Stephen King horror novel collection? Well, look no further than this Jack Torrance ‘Here’s Johnny!’ bookend handcrafted by Etsy seller KomenzaSculpture. I’ll be honest though, I wouldn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night and see ol’ Jack here staring back at me with that unhinged look of his.

Reading: it’s fundamental. And for those of you who can’t get enough and feel the need to read multiple books at once, there’s the Wisdom Tree, an illuminated plywood tree that can hold up to five books, keeping the page you’re on for quick and easy access to all those delicious words to fill your brain up with.

Keyboard accessory maker Omnitype’s latest keycap set features the dull gray base color of the original PlayStation, along with the colors of the OG PS logo. You can almost hear the startup sound when you look at it.

Mario: he could never commit a crime and get away with it because absolutely everybody would be able to pick him out of a police lineup. I mean unless he took his hat off and shaved his mustache, then nobody would have any clue who he was.

Candy: it maintains my sugar high at a suitable level, so I don’t have to take a nap at my desk midday. And you know what’s better than regular candy? Candy, you’ve won. Enter the $44 Rocket Candy Grabber available from Firebox, a desktop claw machine you fill with candy, then empty with skill.

Satire site The Hard Times and its sister site Hard Drive have a merchant who tirelessly hawks their wares to everyone, anywhere, and anytime using its arcane web powers. One of the vendor’s latest offerings is the Basic Cotton Armor tee.

Because nothing says ‘Honey, I’m home!’ like the delicious smell of sizzling bulgogi wafting from the living room, this is the Korean BBQ coffee table sold by woojuCorporation on Etsy. The table costs $650, has a removable grill and collapsable legs for slimline storage, and is quickly going to become my new favorite piece of home furniture.

Mechanical keyboards have exploded in popularity in recent years, including swappable keycaps. You can easily find mass-produced keycap sets online, but if you truly want to stand out or have trendy or niche designs, your best bets are limited run or artisan keycaps.

The Tail Company is running a successful Kickstarter campaign for its latest animatronic accessory, the miTail. This is their third animatronic tail, and as such comes with several major improvements, such as USB-C charging, a clip that makes the tail equally easy to attach and detach, and a no-phone mode, which lets the tail resort to random movements if you don’t have its companion app.