A Cool Gadget

Planning a geeky wedding? Here’s a tip for you- create super-detailed, individualized video game avatar name cards for each guests.

This couple took this project very seriously. The Mr. lovingly designed individual placecards for 77 guests, assigning each person his or her own specially chosen avatar. The Mrs. came up with themes and appropriately assigned each guest to the appropriate game table.

Each table included characters from one game, with retro games like Pac-Man and Zelda represented, as well as newer faves like Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft.

I know people stress about their weddings, but I can’t believe the incredible amount of effort and artistry that went into this! You can see all of the pictures and get the details here.

[via GeekSugar]

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For the past couple of days, I’ve been holed up in a tiny country cottage with spotty, catch-as-you-can WiFi access. More often than not, I had no connection, and I started to think that figured the wireless router was intentionally messing with my head. Perhaps it was this plush evil wireless router that was disrupting my connectivity.

Sewn from felt and embroidery thread by Flickr contributor craftytails, it’s not clear if it’s a Linksys, Netgear or some other evil router lurking beneath the angry (but soft) exterior, but given its fabric construction, it’s unlikely that it’ll ever connect to the Internet at anything faster than 802.11b speeds.

Then again, my experiences this weekend prove that just because your wireless router is packed with actual electronics doesn’t mean that it’ll actually work.

[via Craft: - thanks for the tip RoadsideScholar!]

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These sweet pixelated Dig Dug pillows are completely rocking this couch! Talk about a fruit bonus.

Dig Dug was one of the first games I mastered, so if anyone wants to make these for me, feel free. In fact, seeing these inspired me to fire up my Firenes app and check out how accurately these pillows were rendered. Of course, I ended up playing a few rounds. The verdict: I am no longer a master. So I’m gonna have to wrap this up and get back to practicing.

Flickr user manicmaiden made them for her brother’s birthday. What a sweet sister!

[via Craft:]

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The guys over at Crabfu Motionworks have been responsible for some weird and wonderful robotic creations over the years, and their latest is no exception.

The Crabfu R/C Tortoise ‘bot crawls along the ground like a turtle, with a set of 4 sub-micro servos controlling its pokey little legs.

I just love the clever usage of cable ties to keep the tips secured onto his little legs. Each leg is tied to an independent channel and axis on the remote joysticks, which let it move around by wildly gesticulating your thumbs.

The way it ambles about, I don’t think this tortoise will be beating any hares in a race anytime soon.

[via MAKE:]

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This retro-look wooden casing houses a plasma TV. It combines mid-century modern aesthetics with modern technology to give you the best of both worlds.

At first glance, the TV looks like it belongs in one of yesteryear’s living rooms- until you realize how thin it is. The case can be made in custom sizes and a variety of woods. The panels in front are designed to look like old TV speaker boxes.

Designed by Wilkerson Furniture in LA, it’s not in production yet so pricing info is not available. I’m guessing, um, expensive. But even though this design looks great, it’s got a major flaw- where the heck does the TiVo go?

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Before all you budding nuclear physicists attempt to correct me, I know this isn’t truly a Geiger Counter. It’s actually one of those Cold-War era Ion Chamber radiation detectors. But that’s not what most of us think, so I’ll stick with the more familiar Geiger name. Regardless, this computer casemod won’t actually detect radioactivity, but the nuke gauge will kick in when you power on the PC with a flip of the original sensitivity dial.

Because of the cramped quarters inside the box, the Russian-built Civil Defense computer isn’t very powerful — running an anemic 300 MHz CPU, 256MB of RAM and a 4GB Compact Flash card for storage. Heck, it probably isn’t even powerful enough to play the original Fallout or Half-Life. But with the proper Atari 800 emulator installed, it might be able to play a game of SCRAM (Remember gaming genius Chris Crawford? Ah, memories.)

[via Modding.ru]

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Oh, Rickrolling, aren’t we finished with you yet? Apparently not, since there is now an Instructables post on how to make a sneaky Rickroll birthday cake.

The cake was made by one Papersatan (a pretty fitting name for a perpetrator of Astley-based crimes, eh?) for her boyfriend’s birthday. She made a fake cake-like covering out of a hatbox, which when removed reveals a real cake with Rick Astley’s (sort of) likeness and those catchy lyrics etched in icing.

It’s bad enough to be Rickrolled on your Internets, but on your birthday? Now that’s just mean.

[via Craft:]

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It’s just what you need: a memory stick and camera studded with hundreds of diamonds!

The accessories are a collaborative effort between Dalumi, LG, and Ricoh. They’re made with white gold and more than 200 diamonds each. The camera is a mere $25,000 and the memory stick a reasonable $10K. Which, of course, is SO worth it. What a great use of thousands of dollars! I mean, why buy a car when you could have this?

[via BornRich]

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Hot off the presses is the A.M.P.Bot, a unique roller-bot that moves around using a gyroscopic balancing system that works much like the Segway Personal Transporter.

A.M.P. stands for “Automated Musical Personality”. That’s because the wheeled robot can follow you around and play your tunes wherever you go. When set to tracking mode, the robot will even keep tabs on your location and keep the speakers facing you at all times. The self-balancing 29-inch tall robot rolls along courtesy of a piezoelectronic gyroscope which keeps it from tipping over on its narrow 2-wheel base. There’s also an obstacle avoidance system to keep A.M.P. from bumping into walls or tumbling down the stairs.

As the ‘bot moves around the room, it’ll “dance” (more like wobble) to the tunes on your connected MP3 player, keeping with the beat - with a bunch of synchronized LEDs blinking all the while. A built in 12-watt amp and a set of three speakers pump out the music. You’ll be able to control the audio mix and a variety of sound effects by interacting with A.M.P.bot’s touch-sensitive mixing pad “hands”.

The A.M.P.Bot will be coming to the States courtesy of Hasbro’s Tiger Electronics this October (it’s available from SegaToys in Japan). Expect it to retail for about $500.

[A.M.P.Bot via SlashGear and Toyology]

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Parappa the Rapper has got to be one of the greatest rhythm matching games of all time. From its whimsical 2D cartoon character designs to its hysterical lyrics, it’s a true classic. Now you can pay homage to the paper-thin Parappa by donning the same hat that the eponymous paper-thin dog wore in the game.

Handcrafted by worthysoycandles, the bright orange crocheted skullcap is a perfect match to Parappa’s original, complete with the goofy green frog. The hat is the perfect accessory for those all-night Guitar Hero III and Rock Band jam sessions. After all, most of today’s music games owe at least a little nod to the square-headed rapping canine.

But you’d better kick-punch-chop-block your way on over to Etsy if you want to cover your noggin with this cap. There’s no telling when she’ll crochet another one.

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