Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

These little dektop toys feature bite-sized reproductions of a couple of classic arcade games. Each machine features authentic arcade sound effects and a color LCD screen with a stylized remake of either Frogger or Space Invaders.

Logitech’s unique NuLOOQ navigator has been available for over a year now for Mac OSX users, and now software is available for use with Windows XP too. The NuLOOQ plugs into your USB port and provides quick access to frequently used functions in popular graphic design and multimedia applications, with the greatest productivity enhancements available for Adobe’s Creative Suite products.

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.

The new Onkyo CBX-Z1 AERO Sound System is an all-in-one stereo system featuring a built-in iPod dock. The system will offer a feature set and look that’s very similar to the popular BOSE Wave Sound System.

You can now pre-order the MadCatz ArcadeStick joystick for the Xbox 360 from Gamestop. While not cheap at $59.99 USD, the controller looks like just what the doctor ordered for playing all the classic arcade games that are available for download on Xbox Live Arcade.

Samsung has shown the sweet looking new X838 mobile phone for release in China. In addition to being a GSM phone, there’s an onboard MP3 player with an iPod-esque click wheel interface and 1GB of memory for storage of tunes.

[UPDATE 10/31/2006: The Kondo KHR-2HV Robot is now available from importer AudioCubes.] For those adventurous types, the Kondo KHR-2HV is a complete kit to build your own autonomous walking robot. The robot features 17 servo motors to control arm, leg and head movements and a lightweight aluminum alloy frame.

While there are plenty of hard-disk based music streaming systems available these days, none is quite as schmancy as the Sooloos. The Sooloos is a complete home media management system in a very elegant package. There are three components to the system, the Store Series, The Control Series and the Source Series.

Can’t wait to get your new Nintendo Wii so you can download and play classic NES games? Over at vNES, you can get a head start by playing 395 games from the old Nintendo online, right now. Although it’s a little annoying that the site requires Java (v.1.5

PLEN, the Desktop Hobby Robot is a little (9-inch tall) robot from Japan which is capable of balancing itself on a mini-skateboard or to skate on its own included rollerskates. Here’s a video of the robot in action: PLEN’s 18 joints can be controlled remotely using a Bluetooth phone and can run for about 25 minutes on a single charge.

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 a portable radio with some real style? Check out the Dolmen Mini Radio by LEXON. The radio channels retro style but modernizes it with electronic tuning and an LED band indicator which changes color from red to green when you switch from AM to FM.

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. Their Eclipse paint is a special spray-on basecoat that can change colors from black to white or blue to white.

At this week’s CEATEC show in Japan, Toshiba showed off their TDP-ET20 front projector which is capable of projecting a 100-inch diagonal picture from about 4 feet away from the screen, or a 60-inch diagonal picture from just 2 feet away. The DLP-based projector is ideal for small rooms with limited space.

These 3D cubes by James Clar & Associates display 3-dimensional images across an array of 1000 LEDs arranged in a grid structure. Previously, the designs were only shown at galleries and exhibitions such as Wired’s NextFest.

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.