Which is exactly how my next wedding would be, mind you. Check his blog for the step by step instructions. When I see these overachievers in action I just want to go downstairs, grab a carrot cake, a latte, and spend my evening reading a book. [Cockeyed via Make]

It May Be The Best WoW Costume Yet, But It Makes Me Cry

Right now this kid is probably thinking that he's the coolest MMMORPG player on the block with his costume that comes with a LED health bar, mana bar and spell casting glove, but I have the feeling that he'll be haunted by the glowing fairy companions of Halloweens past one day. I, on the other hand, already feel haunted by the misguided costume ideas of this particular Halloween. [Make]

Cupcake Frosting Robot Takes The Fun Out Of Licking Up Messes

The MakerBot Frostruder MK2 is the second prototype of a computer controlled cupcake froster. It looks kinda cool, but is it really necessary to build a robot for consistently frosted cupcakes, cakes, and toast? I'd rather use the time saved to nibble on the "defective" inconsistently frosted treats. [Makerbot via Make]

Palm Will Not Be Having A Very Merry Christmas

Things worse than creepy commercials loom on the horizon for Palm as analysts at Citigroup and CL King are predicting a rough winter for the handset maker. Part of the reasoning is the release of several Android handsets including the much discussed Motorola Droid over the next few months. Is it really surprising that people would flock to the new and shiny toys of the season? [All Things D]

Personalized Google News Pages Appeal To The Narcissists In Us

Google News now allows for personalized pages with multiple queries (rather than the single query sections of the past) which are publishable in a directory. Not really all that exciting, but as Techcrunch suggests, the best use for this feature is as the ideal vanity search, rounding up everything you didn't even know was online about yourself. [Google News Blog via TechCrunch]

Come on, Señor Damon. A girl brings us beautiful elegance, extraordinary cleverness, and perfect execution with her 8-bit pixelated makeup and what do the hairy people from Mars bring her? A censored pixelated penis. Did I say that there was no need to look like a dork or a slut to enjoy Halloween? I was wrong.

Matt, we bow before your creativity, sir. Just not too much. [Thanks for the photo, Ryan]

The costume uses an Arduino system connected to an Adafruit WaveShield. Sensors trigger the sound with different moves. It only needs a soundtrack, but you can always do it with your mouth, which is how I go around in life: Singing the Super Mario theme, dressed on my Mario raccoon suit. It doesn't make any sound, but I can fly with it. [Adafruit via Make]

Seen here is a magnetized iPod bookmark. If you were a little guy or gal making the rounds in Bellevue, Washington Saturday evening, you got one of these in your candy sack.

Eat less candy? Read more? Indoctrinating America's youth against the the Kindle? We can't be sure what Apple's true intent was here, but what we do know is the kiddies seemed to love it. The bookmarks were all gone by 7:30 p.m. [iPhone Savior - Thanks, Seth]

• This Is Why You Shouldn't Put Drunk Ewoks On Live TV
• Next Year, I'm Time Travel Trick or Treating
• Scientifically Haunted Room Shows That Ghosts Are Only In Your Head
• Twelve Beautiful Jack-o'-Lanterns
• Ghostbuster Proton Pack Uses Real Lasers, Can Probably Hunt Real Ghosts
• 10 Of Your Geekiest Halloween Costumes
• A Spider-Bot Pumpkin Is the Scariest Way To Dispense Candy On Halloween
• Build The Spirit Radio That Creeped Out Tesla Himself
• The iMac Cylon Mask Is Both Trick and Treat
• "Working" Apple iPhone Costumes Just Plain Win
• Craigslist Ad By A Horrid Excuse for a Human Being
• Sword Illuminates a Pumpkin by Impaling It
• Ideas for Tech-Themed Halloween Pumpkins
• 10 Robot Halloween Pumpkins Provide Artistic Inspiration
• Scare the Crap Out of Trick-or-Treaters With a Rovin' Pumpkin
• Ruin Halloween For Everyone by Going as Brian Lam or Jason Chen

And please, be safe!

According to the Warming Glow, there's confirmation that the people inside Ewok costumes were genuinely drunk, but whether that's true or not, this is bound to turn into a Halloween classic. [YouTube via Warming Glow]

To conduct the experiment, infrasound and electromagnetic wave producing speakers were hidden inside the "haunted" room, to simulate the frequencies associated with paranormal experiences. Volunteers were then sent inside and asked to report any "strange feelings" as soon as they felt them. If there was something to the business of paranormal experiences being genuine, then there would be a correlation between the speaker zones and the sensations reported.

As you can guess by now, all the sensations of dizziness, tingling, disembodiment, dream-remembrance, and arousal had no correlation to the volunteers locations within the room. Researchers concluded that the responses were due to suggestibility and the fact that the volunteers were expecting to feel something.

They did leave some room for skepticism and said that it is possible that some individuals may sense things that others can't see, but frankly I don't care either way. I'm still going to keep on believing in fairies. [Wired]

The winner picture above is Pumpkin Carving Night. Jeremy Champion did a great job in the composition and creating the atmosphere, shooting with a Nikon D90 with Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 D, 1.3 sec, ISO 200.

Check out the gallery for the second and third places, and the rest of the entries. All of them were great, so thank you very much for sending them.

Have a happy and safe Halloween tomorrow. I'm off to start with the other Jack.

Wait, maybe I'm not that lazy.

That ghostbuster costume—which includes a flight suit, Arduino-controlled proton pack, fake trap, and fake goggles—was all made over months of planning and hard work.

My Wolverine costume—battered leather jacket, t-shirt, jeans, dirty just-woke-up hair, scars, and some beard trimming—took an entire life of suffering and bleeding to create.

(By the way, anyone knows where I could buy the actual Wolverine jacket replica in NYC? Let's do this stupid thing properly). [Instructables via Dvice]

Nikola Tesla's Spirit Radio is built with a simple crystal radio circuit, but it has the ability to generate spooky sounds from all kinds of electromagnetic interference. Some, like Tesla himself, believed that it had the power to pick up on supernatural forces. It actually creeped him out:

"My first observations positively terrified me as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night."
- Nikola Tesla 1901

Hit the folowing link to learn how to build one yourself. [Instructables via Link]
Cameras with infrared night vision are often used in ghost hunting to detect hot spots in darkened rooms. The Vivitar DVR 150 includes this capability in a convenient pocket-sized form. [Vivitar via Link]
In addition to looking for hot spots, ghost hunters almost always employ some sort of EMF meter to detect sharp fluctuations in the surrounding magnetic field—supposedly a sign of a ghostly presence. Oh hey, Amazon is selling a two pack Gauss Master and K-II Deluxe EMF meter set for $85! How convenient. [Amazon]
If you can't capture a real ghost on film, you can always turn to the Ghost Finder disposable camera. It inserts an ghostly image in every photo you take—saving you time and effort with Photoshop. It's all of the fraud without all of the work. [FindGift]
Not only does this keychain claim to detect ghosts, it also has a "safe mode" that can be used to shield your body from becoming possessed. [Strapya]
Contact the spirit of the internets with this specialized ouija board t-shirt. Just place a wireless mouse on your chest and let the spirits guide you to the next big internet meme. [Wildilocks]
Dowsing or "divining" rods have been used for thousands of years as part of religious ceremony or to ascertain the location of water or precious metals. Some modern investigators still believe that these simple rods can be used to detect the presence of ghosts. [Divining Mind]
Trisaksri was a short-lived ghost repellent concept that would detect ghosts in the home with a low level magnetic field and a camera. Once discovered, the unit would emit a "Wave Killer" Radio wave blast to eliminate any unwanted, otherworldly intruders. [Link]

Here is the complete list of costumes, in order of awesomeness. Thanks to everyone for participating and congrats to mdg357!

UPDATE: We've added a bonus late entry at the end of the list from our old friend Nick McGlynn—a truly kick ass Inspector Gadget. The contest may be over, but given that many of you might also be arriving late to the party, feel free to add your costume in the comments of this post. We would still love to see 'em.

It runs C on an Axon microcontroller. It uses all digital servos and can lift over twice its body weight. The software (soon to be given out open source) allows for 6 synchronous degrees of motion. Future additions will include foot sensors and a remote control option.

Based on that info, and other nuggets gleaned from the Trossen Robotics forums, you might be able to have a bot of your own ready for next year. Or, better yet, put a Santa head on top of that thing and march it out in the living room on Christmas morning. Your kids are sure to have suppressed memories of it that will bubble up to the surface years and years from now causing a dramatic and crippling meltdown. Priceless. [Trossen via DIY Drones via Boing Boing]

All you need to do is drop a photo in the comments of you actually wearing the costume. And let me just say, if it's Star Wars, it had dammed well better be unique somehow (like the Lego Star Wars costumes pictured above). And no, we don't need to see a pic of you as a kid in the '80's dressed like your favorite Ghostbuster—keep it recent. Show us a truly creative geeky costume and you could win that extra large pizza with toppings of your choosing. Better get on it as soon as you get home though—we'll be posting the best ones tomorrow. Good luck!

[Image via WTF Costumes]

"My first observations positively terrified me as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night."
- Nikola Tesla 1901

"The sounds I am listening to every night at first appear to be human voices conversing back and forth in a language I cannot understand. I find it difficult to imagine that I am actually hearing real voices from people not of this planet. There must be a more simple explanation that has so far eluded me."
- Nikola Tesla 1918

Is it science or the supernatural? Check out the video to see what the radio is capable of and, if your are so inclined, build one and decide for yourself. Needless to say, this would be a hit at a Halloween party. Hit the link for a complete set of instructions. [Instructables]

The official challenge: "Jack-o'-Lanterns." As always, interpret the theme however you'd like to give us the best shot that you can.

And for a little inspiration, check out the photos of "fall leaves" we received last week.

The Four Rules:

1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos need to be taken the week of the contest. (No portfolio linking or it spoils the "challenge" part.)
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings and technique used to snag the shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com.

Send your best entries by the end of Thursday at contests@gizmodo.com with "Jack-o'-Lanterns" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs or GIFs at 800 pixels wide, and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention using whatever name you want to be credited with. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) in the body of the email.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to everyone here showing me up (again) by the end of the week!