For many of us, LEGOs are just plain cool, or at least they were when we were kids. Now brickfans can add another item to their collection of blocky stuff with these cool LEGO wallets.
These LEGO wallets are pretty nifty, and the ones with the baseplates on the side can actually be customized with any bricks you care to attach.
While I think these are fun, I don’t know how comfortable they are since they look pretty bulky and stiff. I’ve actually stopped carrying a wallet anyhow. I don’t like having them in pockets and leaving a wallet in a backpack seems like a bad idea.
LEGO wallets will set you back between £15 to £20 (appx. $24 to $32 USD) depending on the style, and are available from ColorByNumbers.
[via Oh Gizmo!]
Written by range on February 4th, 2010 with no comments.
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Designer Ingrid Brandth was inspired by her grandfather, “based many of his ideas on excitement, humor and secrets,” to create this neat piece of furniture.
At first glance, it may look like the plainest of tables, but there is more to it than meets the eye…
Build one of these for your kids and they will love you forever.
Click to View Embedded Video Clip
Better yet, build one that transforms with a push of a button, complete with the classic Transformers transforming sound. They won’t be able to decide which one is more awesome: the table, or you.
[via Boing Boing]
Written by lambert v. on January 18th, 2010 with no comments.
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These tiny little crocheted Mario and Koopa Troopa figures are just dying for a home on your desktop.
Handmade by EnemyAirship (who also gave us the awesome Racoon Mario rug and Question Mark Block ottoman), these miniature Mario and Koopa Troopa are perfect for anyone with a fondness for the Super Mario Bros. series.You’ll notice that Mario is once again donning his Raccoon suit, while Koopa Troopa has hidden inside his shell, ready to be tossed at other enemies.
If you want these guys, you’d better start punching some blocks, gather up $26 bucks in gold coins and rush on over to EnemyAirship’s Etsy shop, since they’re the only ones up there at the moment. And if you don’t get there in time, you’ll just have to settle for one of these…
Written by technabob on January 16th, 2010 with no comments.
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It is widely believed (by the writer of the Wikipedia article on cross-stitch) that cross-stitch was traditionally used merely to embellish household cloths like tablecloths or dishcloths. Cloths cloths cloths. What a weird word. Anyway the structure of the aida cloth used in cross-stitching made it easy to form floral and geometric patterns, but eventually people began making all sorts of images using the style, and not just for adding a bit of life to ordinary linen but also to make decorations meant to be displayed and appreciated on its own. Fast-forward several hundred years, and marvel at how far (out) cross-stitch has come:
It’s the perfect finishing for my tomb.
[via Craftster via Geek Crafts]
Written by lambert v. on January 14th, 2010 with no comments.
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Technabob fave Big J.W. is at it again. The guy who brought us all of those wondrous little arcade cabinets has this time created a tiny little version of the classic sit-down Star Wars arcade game.
The miniature system is a precise replica of the original, only, much, much smaller. You’ll need some really tiny quarters to play this machine. Actually, I think you’ll need two miniature quarters from what I recall. Damned 50 cent arcade machines!
The cabinet is part of J.W.’s latest wave of handcrafted arcade miniatures, which also includes Donkey Kong Junior, Centipede, Street Fighter 2, and Mortal Kombat 2. Prices start at $22 (USD) for the basic cabinets, but the Star Wars cockpit will set you back $50 bucks. You can check out all the details over at Big J.W.’s flickr album.
Written by technabob on January 13th, 2010 with no comments.
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Unless of course the bullies in your area are gamers as well, in which case they’ll just ask that you hand this vest over to them. Or else.
For those too young to know, the vest features a screenshot from World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. Super knitter sister Happy Seamstress made the vest for her husband, who apparently is the 10-year old version of John Hodgman. I’m kidding, Mr. Happy Seamstress (and Mr. John Hodgman).
Happy Seamstress has been asked for a knitting pattern as many times as Mario has abused that poor World 3-1 turtle’s shell for extra lives, so she’ll be posting said knitting pattern soon. Meanwhile check out her site so you can gather the materials and practice her instructions.
[via Sprite Stitch]
Written by lambert v. on January 12th, 2010 with no comments.
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The Evil Mad Scientists are at it again, flexing their brains and soldering stuff in their lab-or-a-to-ry. Their latest creation still does not make them evil or mad, just creative, resourceful and geeky. They’re trying to make a real world version of one of the oldest video games, PONG. Did they succeed? Yes and no. Read on to find out.
Before they came up with the working prototype you see above, the Evil Mad Scientists did a brief analysis of what the hell PONG really is: it’s “a game somewhere between pinball and ping pong: Two players each have a single knob that controls the position of a paddle along a short track.” So they got a couple of tracks, and laser-cut plywood pieces to make two paddles, which would be moved back and forth by a timing belt.
“Using the paddles, they bounce the ball back and forth and try not to miss the ball, lest the other player score a point. The paddle surfaces are curved, so that the ball reflects in different directions depending on the position of impact.” For the curved paddles, they attached a quarter-section of a 1-inch thick PVC pipe to the plywood pieces.
Hardware nerds will notice the pusher solenoids attached to each plywood piece. They’ve been modified and installed with a spring so that they’ll bounce back. The solenoids are needed because the third element of PONG is the pair of powered paddles: “the paddles are powered, so that the ball keeps a fairly constant velocity between the two sides, and the speed gradually increases as the game is played.”
The next element of PONG is the playing field, which “is level and has a dotted line down the middle, and the scores are displayed on either side of that line.” So they made the field, and created a score wheel out of engraveable plastic:
Finally, the top and bottom walls of the PONG playing field are “springy”, so that the ball can bounce off of them. To achieve the elastic wall effect, the Scientists glued beryllium copper finger strips (yeah, I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about anymore either) along the border of each wall. For final touches, they added a rubber grip to the knobs, and of course got a ball – in this case, a 1-1/4″ steel ball bearing.
I imagine that was a fun afternoon! Scrounging for materials, laser cutting, hacking and modding, sawing and drilling, and just plain nerding out with their hands. That’s what they live for. But what about tabletop PONG itself?
Click to View Embedded Video Clip
That was freakin’ pathetic, and the Scientists knew it. They forgot about the fourth element of PONG: the level playing field. That ruined everything. Also, either the force exerted by the solenoids was too weak, or the ball was too heavy. Bottom line is, that prototype doesn’t look fun to play with at all.
I know that the Evil Mad Scientists will tweak their design until they come up with something worth playing, so before you check out their full walkthrough and Flickr photoset, let’s try to help ‘em out and give them suggestions okay? I’ll go first: make the playing field a bit larger, and come up with a way to automate the scoring; maybe you can install an IR detector on the left and right edges (that’s the only way to score anyway, when the ball goes past the opponents’ side) and motorize (or better yet digitize) the score wheel. And maybe use a ball and/or surface made of different materials to see what the best combination would be like. Finally: Air Hockey. That’s what PONG is like.
Written by lambert v. on January 6th, 2010 with no comments.
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