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Alan L. Haberman did not create the barcode, but he is considered by many to be the man who brought the technology to the marketplace. He sadly passed away this week at the age of 81. https://gizmodo.com/where-do-barcodes-come-from-5810333 Haberman was in charge of the selection committee that chose the barcode for the grocery industry’s new standard…
Who doesn’t like to swing? Whether you’re five or fifty, you can’t help but smile when you’re swinging. Jeff Waldman wants to share that joy with the world and is placing swings everywhere he can. Waldman’s passion for swings started in 2010 when he installed these playground staples throughout San Francisco. He looked for traditional…
You’ve as much chance of finding a golf ball on a darkened course as you do finding Hoffa. What the sport needs is bigger balls. Big, glow-in-the-dark, steerable robotic balls like these. The newly-revealed Sphero Golf app treats your phone’s touchscreen like a Golden Tee trackball; flick a finger to set the ball rolling, hopefully…
These iCufflinks are so cool, yet oh so nerdy. I secretly would like to buy them for Father’s Day, but would be slightly embarrassed if my man actually wore them to our next formal occasion. Crafted from machined aluminum, just like your MacBook Pro, the iCufflinks are shaped like the familiar Apple power button. They…
If you’re at all intrigued by the idea of making music on your iOS device, but don’t quite know how to make those sounds pop, you’ll wanna check out this set of iPhone production tips from two of the more inventive musicians in electronic music today. The electronic music know-it-alls over at XLR8R went out…
Turntable.fm is maybe the most fun I’ve had with music since I quit dropping acid. Okay that’s an overstatement. But it’s quite fun. Here’s how it works. When you enter the site you can go into one of several rooms. Some will be packed, others empty. You can also create your own room. Once in,…
The Photofast i-FlashDrive will transfer your music, photo and movie files between iOS devices, even without a computer. It might look like a plain, two-sided USB and 30-pin dock connector at first glance, but it’s more than that. The dongle works like your usual flash drive—it connects to your iDevice or computer, letting you store…
Look at this guy, whose name is probably Chad, and how excited he is for his “Omni-Shield” anti-bug mesh jacket. Unfortunately, seeing as this is part of Columbia’s spring 2012 lineup, you will have to wait a while before cramping Chad’s style. Until then we must continue suffering the choice between heat stroke and death…
Regardless of your views on skateboarding, it’s difficult to discount the beauty of these boards. Loyal and Dean are two friends with 25 years of woodworking experience between them and a penchant for art, sustainability, and longboarding. When most people think of skateboarding, they think of punk kids taking videos of each other injuring themselves…
Facebook is secretly working on an HTML5-based version of its social network that will target iOS devices. Internally, it’s called Project Spartan. The project’s goal is to undermine Apple’s App Store with a web application that can infiltrate millions of iOS devices. Forget the buggy Facebook app, iPhone owners could use a mobile version of…
This concept sketch of the entrance to Disneyland’s Tomorrowland is one of the earliest designs for Tomorrowland known to exist. Made in either 1953 or 1954, it’s not even known what Disney artist sketched this retrofuturistic gem. The image appears in the book The Art of Disneyland by Jeff Kurtti and Bruce Gordon with over…
If you’ve got a couple thousand British pounds in your pocket and are willing to watch your drink all night, cruise on over to eBay UK and bid for a spot at the table with Dr. WikiLeaks himself. For charity!* *Note: the charity in this case is WikiLeaks, which probably means it’ll just go to…
The Air Guitar Move is a neat little Wii-inspired Kickstarter project that combines a free iPhone app and a motion-sensing guitar pick. The two work together to create an experience similar to Guitar Hero or Rock Band. The pair behind the project, toymakers Ronald Mannak and Colin Karpfinger, are aiming for $25,000 to bring the…
Watch the creation of a can of spray paint in this video from Montana Cans. From paint mixing to final packaging, you will see it all. And hey, there’s even some somber soundtrack music that eerily fits the mechanistic theme of the clip. Enjoy! [Apartment Therapy]
Classroom warfare is tough. You have teachers hounding your stash, cute girls to impress, punk kids coming up with punkier ways to punk you—basically a lot to worry about. That’s why you need this rubberband shooting ruler. Designed by Sebastian Bergne, it looks like a regular ruler so you can avoid confiscation but delivers pain…
Columbia is working a new line of Omni-Freeze Ice clothing that will cool you to the core even on the hottest of days. The clothing is made of flat fibers that lay close to your skin and help remove both your body heat and sweat on a hot day. Columbia’s current line of Omni-Freeze clothing…
Poop Burger | Not as bad as Soylent Green, but close https://gizmodo.com/would-you-eat-a-burger-made-from-poop-5812276 The Government’s Gadget Habit Has Cost You Hundreds of Millions https://gizmodo.com/the-governments-gadget-habit-has-cost-you-hundreds-of-m-5812233 The federal government is just like you and me. Except it can legally kill people, and, instead of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on gadgets, it spends millions. More » A Complete…
Japan has built a pregnancy suit that lets people understand what being pregnant actually feels like. The fetus is recreated with a 4-liter bag of water, kicking is imitated by balloon contractions and wiggling is done with some crazy caterpillar motion. There’s 45 expandable balloons that line the suit and when they expand and contract…
What would happen if a fly landed on your touchscreen computer? It’s a question we never thought to ask but thanks to YouTube, we now know the answer. [YouTube]
Griffin, maker of a ton of Apple accessories, just released a universal remote system for iOS devices. It’s not the first iOS remote around, but we’re hoping it can be the first to not suck. Peel was kind of cool but it was a little too post-modern, stripping shows from their channels and placing it…
