Gadgets

Lunar-Resonant Streetlights Only Shine When the Moon Doesn’t

Streetlights aren’t really necessary when there’s a full moon out, what with it bouncing all that sunlight down at us and everything. But your average streetlight isn’t smart enough to know when it isn’t needed, so it sits there, dumbly shining away for no real reason. That’s not the case with the Lunar-Resonant Street Lights,…

Another Chinese Car Absolutely Failing Its Crash Test

Boy, China hasn’t been getting the best PR lately when it comes to its exports, eh? You might recall that we showed you a Chinese sedan “earning” its one-star crash test rating. Well, here’s another one: the Chery Amulet. Sold mostly to unsuspecting Russians for about $9,000, this thing is about as safe as a…

Why Universal Shut Out iTunes on DRM-Free Music

Click to viewUniversal Music’s decision to deliver DRM-free tracks to pretty much everybody but iTunes in its “test”—Amazon, Google, RealNetworks, Wal-Mart and other smaller stores—continues its wary, passive-aggressive stance toward Apple. Officially, a Universal rep told us in an email that it’s “a scientifically designed research study over the next six months” that’s using iTunes…

Omnidirectional Treadmill to Allow for Immersive Virtual Reality, Finally

The problem with all the crappy “virtual reality” equipment that’s been out there for so long is that you’re always stuck standing in place as you “virtually” move around an environment. If you really want to feel immersed in something, you need to be able to walk around it as you walk around a real…

Make Glowing Tomatoes at Home!

After watching this video, I had visions of my next rave, ripe tomato pulp covering my body…but you know…this time it would be glowing. [neatorama]

Happy 75th Birthday, Lego!

Today, Lego turns a ripe old age of 75. Founded in 1932 by carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen from Billund, Denmark, the company made wooden toys. The trademark name didn’t come until 1934, inspired from the Danish words “leg godt” (play well), and it wasn’t until 1949 that Lego began producing their now-famous interlocking bricks. The…

Japan to Wii – You are So Yesterday

While Nintendo’s Wii has so far been a 1,000-ft unstoppable super lizard invading Japan, the country is already losing its fever for the console/giant monster. Because over the past month, Japanese Wii sales have dropped nearly 50%. Four weeks ago Nintendo was moving around 110,000/week. Since, that number has steadily declined to just over 60,000.…

Flyswatter, Set to Stun

Flyswatters have a simple function, to kill flies. But what if you are crazy have an inherent respect for all living things? That’s when you need designer Erik Bagger’s flyswatter. Composed of 50 polyester fibers, it’s meant to stun both flies and neighbors alike, both confused by why you are battling insect infestations with kinky…

Vierti LED Dimmer Switch from Lutron

Anyone with a yen for hi-tech wizardry on the decoration front will want to get their hands on Lutron’s Vierti LED dimmers. Touch sensitive, you just run your finger up and down the LED display strip to get the lighting you want. Touch the bottom section of the light strip and your lights go off…

What the Hell Is a Moshi Monster?

Michael Smith, creator of the Perplex City puzzle game may be a little slow to deliver that second season, but it doesn’t mean that he’s been sitting around doing nothing. His next brainchild is Moshi Monsters, a mash of Tamagotchi, Pokemon and NintenDogs, with heaping helpings of MySpace and LeapFrog ladeled over it for good…

PicooZ Sky Challenger Laser Tag R/C Choppers Selling Soon

Remember those sweet laser-tag type R/C choppers we showed you a few months ago, the ones that fulfilled at least two of Adam’s childhood fantasies? Today, I saw them, or well, something ridiculously identical, both in and out of the box. That’s right, PicooZ is coming out with a $80 duelin’ chopper set called Sky…

Clothing Store “Butt Cam” Lets Shoppers Check Out Their Own Asses

As anyone who’s ever dated a girl knows, how pants make their butts look is one of the top considerations when purchasing a pair of pants. Realizing this, Hub Clothing in Scottsdale, Arizona, has installed a “Butt Cam” that allows shoppers to see just how fat those pants make their butts look. And you know…

People are asking for a boycott of Regal Cinemas after they began pushing for jail time for a 20-year-old girl who recorded 20 seconds of Transformers on her Powershot to show her brother. Come on Regal, don’t be dicks, that’s clearly not piracy. [Consumerist]

Microsoft Google Dell Coalition “White Space” Prototypes Get Knocked By FCC: Device Gallery and Details

When Dell, Earthlink, Google, HP, Intel, Microsoft and Philips got together to create a prototype “white space” device—that is, a box capable of two-way high-bandwidth wireless communication in the frequencies now occupied by analog TV signal—you would have thought the combined muscle would ensure success. But the White Spaces Coalition has failed its first test…

Butterfly Knife-esque CD/MP3 Concept

MP3s may be the wave of the future, but that doesn’t mean we’ve had the initiative to digitize our CD collection. This Dual Music Player concept is a both a portable MP3 player and a more portable CD player. Unfolding á la butterfly knife, the DMP concept spins your CDs while exposed to the world,…

Philips Aurea, the Luxury Ambilight

Philips has been cranking out LCD Ambilights for a few years, upgrading the line in relative moderation. But their new Aurea televisions (a prototype pictured here) are a more aggressive take on ambient television lighting. Fully LED back-lit, the Aureas will actually glow through the case border, creating a dynamic frame effect. To minimize visible…

Batmobile Tumble Case Mod, Bye Bye Mac

After finding himself bored by his Wal-Mart R/C Tumbler, one modder decided to do the only logical thing: make the toy into a badass case mod. While the specs are a bit on the lame side—AMD Sempron 2800+, 40 gig HD, 736 MB of DDR 400 ram and a CD/DVD drive—we’re still fairly certain this…

Dancing Robot Humiliates Robots Everywhere

Country of Japan: the next time you spend $4.5 million on a robot that uses motion capture to precisely emulate human movement, please teach it karate. Or at least a pasa doble. [telegraph via shinyshiny]

Giant Lego Man Bobs up on the Coast of the Netherlands

Holidaymakers in the Dutch resort of Zandvoort were joined yesterday by an enormous Lego man. The eight-foot-tall yellow figure was spotted bobbing around in the sea just off the beach and subsequently rescued. Although he would not give his name, the man, who is thought to be British, has been made to feel at home.…

Shadow Lamps Turn Your Friends into Live iPod Ads

Melding tradition and technology, shadow lamps are a new way of keeping up with your friends in Japan. Less intrusive than a web cam, the system pipes a live video feed from your friends houses via the internet, and projects their silhouettes onto a lampshade – rather like the iPod commercials. The inspiration, according to…