Gadgets, Gizmos, and Games for Geeks

NASA, the International Space Station, and DoubleTree by Hilton made a giant leap for snacking in outer space by challenging engineers, astronauts, and bakers to build and test the first zero-gravity kitchen to cook cookies in space.

Do you like creepy, crawly stuff? Then this LEGO construction should give you quite the thrill, as it’s about as gnarly looking as anything we’ve ever seen built from bricks. This awesomely creepy black widow mech was created by LEGO artist Markus Rollbühler, who put it together for Creations for Charity, a non-profit organization that raises funds for underprivileged children during the holidays by selling LEGO builds donated by its community.

Japan sure loves their classic monster movies, so it’s no wonder that Godzilla is always showing up all over the place. Now, it turns out that a theme park is building a life-size version of the scaly kaiju, and unlike some previous Godzilla statues, this one is going to be a permanent installation.

Fire up the replicator this Thanksgiving and invite all of your friends and family to eat from this classy Star Trek Dinner Set. Of course, you should get several sets so everyone can eat off them. 

Despite the fact that they’re not actually potato chips, but are some kind of smooshed up potato mush, Pringles are still pretty tasty. As you know, these crispy snacks come stacked in a cylindrical can, with Pringles’ iconic mustachioed mascot on front.

I recently attended the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, and among the numerous displays of production and concept cars, I came across the booth for the Toyota Boshoku Corporation, who makes seating, interior, and exterior components for vehicles.

Between the endless candy, the artful pumpkin carving, the creepy music, the decorations, and the costumes, Halloween is the best of the holidays. There’s just so much more creativity in Halloween than most other holidays, especially when it comes to the costumes.

Look at this crazy thing. Some super Nintendo fan has gone and turned this 65 inch TV into a giant Nintendo Switch. He goes by the name Suprman9. This Nintendo fanatic has created what he calls “Nerdvana”.

With Halloween just a couple of days away, I wish I had come across these a little earlier. But should a rave be in your future, you still might want to pick up a pair of these glow-in-the-dark eyeglasses from Zenni Optical.

Back to the Future is a classic. It’s packed with humor, adventure, great characters (Great Scott!), and has a fun time-twisting plot. But beyond the questionable time travel, there are other things in the movie which might be just as implausible.

While wandering the expansive show floor at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, I came across a pretty interesting technology which could someday find its way into vehicles. Basically, it’s a projection system that would allow vehicles to cast moving images onto the ground in front of them.

I’m here in Tokyo this week for the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show, and while here, I stopped by the new headquarters for the Toyota Research Institute – Advanced Development (TRI-AD) to check out some of the technologies the company and their partners are working on.

If you grew up any time in the latter half of the 20th century or later, you’ve been promised that flying cars (and personal jetpacks) would someday take to the skies on a regular basis. While there certainly have been a number of concepts and prototypes over the years, living like the Jetsons has yet to materialize.

Do you love retro arcade games? I certainly do. While the pixel art character sprites get a whole lot of love, the fonts used to display your score and life status deserve much more appreciation. Typeface designer Toshi Omagari’s book catalogs dozens of the chunky pixelated fonts used in arcade games from the 1970s through the 1990s.

I don’t smoke, nor do I advocate filling your lungs with tar and nicotine. But if you must reach for a cigarette, let it be this one. This whimsical lighter is designed to look just like a cigarette, but you can use it to do healthier things like lighting candles, or starting a campfire.

If you’ve ever encountered a sasquatch, you know how rancid and rank all that damp fur can get. What you need to do next time you see one is hang one of these Bigfoot air fresheners around his neck to try and cover up his odiferous ways.