All posts from technabob

I love tiny pendants, cufflinks, barrettes, and other small, innocuous ways of geeking-up an outfit, so Plastic Paradox’s Etsy storefront is, for me, pretty much the place to be. But, really, could any Halo fan resist these Master Chief cufflinks?

You could get away with those almost anywhere. Does anyone really spend that much time studying your cufflinks, unless you make a point of showing them off? See, they’re subtle yet showy–in the right moments.

But there’s all kinds of stuff to be found in the store, from mainstream to the more obscure, to the absolutely adorable… and by that, I mean these moogle earrings:

If you have a semi-geeky favorite franchise, it’s likely there’s something related to it in this store.

Blue Microphones’ Eyeball USB webcam aims to  provide “HD-quality” audio and video in a relatively small package. I found it a bit confusing that a product named “the Eyeball” would have a more prominent microphone, but the tiny lens was made to be retractable to make it easier for users to know whether the camera is active or not. Nice.

Here’s some sexy specs for audiophiles: the microphone is a condenser with a wide frequency response, from 35 Hz to 20 kHz, and a 16-bit audio sample rate of 44.1 kHz. Yeah. Awesome. I don’t know what we’re talking about.

Non-techie users should also consider the Eyeball because it’s easy to install – it works out of the box with both Mac and Windows systems, no drivers needed. The Eyeball’s stand also doubles as its compartment, so it’s quite portable as well. Here’s Mark from Coolest Gadgets‘ review of the Eyeball, taken using the Eyeball itself.
Click to View Embedded Video Clip
Convinced yet? You can get the Eyeball for $140 (USD) (or less; I could have bought it for $70 as of this writing, just click “add to cart” to see the discount) at Amazon.

This beautiful pair of ceramic speakers, designed by Joey Roth, “are designed to leave the sound untouched, warm, dry, and detailed.” The handcrafted 4″ speakers are made of porcelain and cork, which the product’s page calls “acoustically dead.” I think that’s a good thing.

I’m seriously  wondering if the speakers will break if it plays stuff like Children of Bodom or Lamb of God.

But if by “acoustically dead” it means that porcelain and cork don’t absorb sound, then metalheads can enjoy their favorite bands with these babies. Can someone explain the acoustics of porcelain to this poor writer?

gSelect sells the porcelain speaker set for $500 (USD); unfortunately it’s out of stock as of this writing. You may want to head on to its product page anyway so you can leave your email address and be notified when the product is available again.
[via likecool]

Here’s a new and different idea for a DIY iPod case: use pages of old comics. A little masking tape, a few pages of killer images, and the ability to cut a straight line with scissors is all it took to assemble this chic custom case.

The blue-tinted case, shown above, was the first, made from a found box of vintage French comics. The black-and-white case? That was the second project by Craftster member julibooli, who found the first project so easy that she immediately followed it up by repeating the process for a friend. I wish more of my friends would make me gadget cases from nifty artwork. Or that they could use scissors.
Think they look good from the front? Check out the back!

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that look the coolest.
[via RockPaperScissors]

You know what goes really well with Left 4 Dead? The Mushroom Kingdom. It’s genius! How did it take so long?

Bright colors, blocky environments, and hordes of raging infected running around among the zombie-like goombas. This custom set of Left 4 Dead maps is based on the familiar scenes from the pantheon of Mario-associated games (and levels), but unfortunately, the only screenshot that shows a lot of zombies is the one above. I want to see zombies boiling out of a castle.
Recently, Valve has been talking about bringing user-generated content for Left 4 Dead to the Xbox 360, but of course, anything that steps on copyright won’t be allowed, so no Mushroom Massacre for those of us who are restricted to the console. Ah, tragedy.
[via GoNintendo]

The recent Muramasa: The Demon Blade has been well received amongst Wii fans and critics alike–so well received, in fact, that Muramasa has already joined the ranks of such games as BioShock. By that, I mean someone’s modeling their lunches after the action RPG.

An excellent likeness, which makes it a perfect homage to an excellent and beautiful game. Haven’t played it? Have faith–Muramasa is probably worth your time. After all, if someone is willing to eat (a likeness of) it, it must be good… and tasty.
Though, uh, and maybe I’m wrong here, I’m thinking Momohime may be wearing more clothing in the official artwork version than she is in the lunchbox rendition. Maybe the official Momohime can lend the other a few layers of fabric.
[via TinyCartridge]

Pimpin’ yourself up can now be more action-packed with the Western Dryer, a hair dryer shaped like a (huge) revolver. Its high-wattage drying element will take care of moisture, while its butch looks will appeal even to alpha males. I think.

Use the dryer’s hammer to switch bullets between the 3 settings – low warm, high warm, and cool. I think the nozzle is removable as well, as with the more modern dryer guns featured in The Presurfer, but the product page doesn’t say. What the product page does have is a picture of a woman with a 1000-watt armpit, whatever that means.

Nodaya-net is selling the western dryer  for ¥4,725 ($52 USD). Ironically, it might only be available in Japan.

…That is, if the people around you haven’t seen – or finished – any of the movies that it refers to. From The Usual Suspects, to Donnie Darko and even Citizen Kane, the Spoilt shirt design offends people from all walks of life.

I think some of the spoilers don’t deserve to be included with the other juicy ones – Neo is the ONE? Really now. – but overall it’s an awesome collection of WTF-inducing revelations.

The design is available at Threadless; shirts sell for $18 (USD), while the hoodie sells for $40. Or you can just be a dick and post the design on a blog, potentially ruining the referenced movies for thousands of people. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
[via Fashionably Geek]

If you’re going to go custom, you might as well go all the way with it–at least, that seems to be the philosophy this modder embraced for this Gears of War-inspired Xbox 360 controller. Not content simply to slap on a custom design, velocitti added the franchise’s logo and brightened up the blood-red skull with a nice LED glow.

Add a few artful paint spatters for that oh-my-god-there’s-blood-everywhere affect (hey, it’s a violent game) and this has got to be the perfect controller for Gears of War. Just hope the paint can stand up to the sweaty-handed concentration that comes with, say, Horde mode.
You’d hardly guess it from the finished product, but this was velocitti’s first controller mod! If it was me, I might stop there. The problem with coming out strong is that sometimes the sophomore effort just can’t rise above, and this one sets quite the standard.
[via deviantART]

You can always count on modder Ben Heck to outdo himself, and this time, he’s built his best Atari 800 laptop yet.

This is the third revision of the Atari 800 laptop that Ben has built, and this one captures the spirit of the original 8-bit machine the best. I have a special place in my heart for the 800, as it’s really the first “serious” computer I had when I was growing up. Sure, I got to play with an Apple ][ for a while around the same time, but the first code I ever wrote was in good old Atari BASIC.

The design of the console is very reminiscent of the classic 800, complete with that dirty beige case color, and a real Atari 800 clicky keyboard. Check out the wonderful details like the front-mounted cartridge slot, and the flat Reset/Start/Select/Option buttons in their original hues.

While the hardware isn't actually from an original Atari 800 (it's an XEGS motherboard), it still looks like an 800 and plays all the original games, so that's good enough for me. The machine has also done away with the need for storing programs on cassette tape or floppy disk by getting itself a nice little 2.5" PATA hard drive under the hood. Heck managed to work that magic using a custom-programmed MyIDE circuit. The luggable system even owes a nod to Nintendo. That's because it's power supply came from a Gamecube. Go figure.

The pop-up angled keyboard is a really nice touch that makes it much more like the original 800 too.

Here's the 800 laptop in action, playing Lucasfilm Games' 1984 classic Ballblazer, one of my favorite 8-bit games of all time:
Click to View Embedded Video Clip
And how about a little Buck Rogers for those of you into that scene:
Click to View Embedded Video Clip
Want to get one for yourself, or just want to see how he built it? Head on over to Ben’s website for more details.

Imagine the next time you have friends over to dinner, you bring out a delicious chocolate cake on the table, then proceed to hack it apart with a hand saw.

Now you can slice and dice cakes and other tender foods with the Table Saw, a serrated kitchen knife that looks just like a hand saw. Designed by Winnif Pang for Fred & Friends, you can pre-order one over at Amazon for $7.99 (USD).
Or you could just head down to your neighborhood Home Depot, and grab a real saw.

Who says your speakers have to be made out of wood, plastic or metal? These retro mini speakers prove that papercraft speakers look just as good.

Each one of these miniature speaker kits from Japan’s Princeton is a DIY papercraft project. You’ll need glue, scissors, and X-Acto to assemble these models for yourself (assembly manual here). There’s three different designs to choose from, including a red boom box, a bookshelf stereo and an old cabinet hi-fi system.

Each one has a compact USB-powered NXT (mono) speaker module that sits inside to give you decent quality sound out of a paper box. To give you a sense of the size of these things, the old fashioned stereo console measures about 6-inches wide, and it’s the largest kit.

For those of you in Japan, you can order from Princeton Direct for ¥1980 each. Worldwide orders are available from the Japan Trend Shop for $35 (USD) each.
[via Chip Chick and Paperkraft]