A Cool Gadget

I was surfing around in search of this desktop R2-D2 mini USB can fridge that I recently read about, when I happened upon something much, much cooler than that cooler.

Turns out that this awesome R2-D2 compact refrigerator was apparently made back in 2002 as a promotional prize for an Attack of the Clones contest held at 7-11 Stores in Japan. Word has it that just 1000 of these rare refrigerators were ever made, and now this one can be yours (assuming you’ve got the dough). Even rarer than the elusive Google mini fridge, this is definitely a serious über-geek collectible.

The guys over at ToyEast managed to get their hands on one of these rarities, and it’s in pristine condition. Priced at $1070 USD, it’s not exactly cheap, but if you’re a serious Star Wars fan, you might not be able to pass this up. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, I could overdraw my my checking account for this one.

I was tooling around over at Chicago’s Bucktown Arts Fest this past weekend, and thought to myself, what are the chances that I’ll actually stumble onto any good geeky crafts? But lo and behold, the first booth I step into had these great handmade robot ceramic cups.

Designed by artist Amy Allison of Soda by Amy, each porcelain robot vessel features the likeness of a robot man, woman or child. Since each one is hand built, they’re all slightly different shapes, sizes and textures. Thanks to their simple design, you can use ‘em for sipping coffee, organizing pens and pencils or as a flower vase. And yes, they’re lead free and dishwasher safe, so drink up!

Amy’s robot cups range in price from $16 to $20 each. While they’re not shown on the Soda by Amy Etsy shop at present, I’m sure she’ll be happy to accept your orders if you drop her a message. Think of it as a secret club that only we know about.

Maybe I’m just too geeky, but I have a tendency to be drawn to ultra-modern digital watches. But sometimes there’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned analog dial. At least the guys over at Nixon are thinking a little outside the box with their latest analog watch design, the fashionably geeky R1G1.

The R1G1 ($150 to $200 USD) features a set of four mechanical hands to keep track of time and date. Two hands rotate around the middle of the dial, one displaying seconds and the other showing minutes. A pair of speedometer-like gauges display the current hour and the day of the month.

Each watch is powered by a quartz movement housed in a sleek brushed stainless steel case. All four hands live beneath a sturdy hardened mineral glass crystal to keep them safe and sound. They’re available in several different color ways, all with stylish leather bands.

You can find all four R1G1 designs over at NixonNow.

Do you remember the oh-so-low-low-tech game Snake? Now it can be played on a monome with an accelerometer. You don’t even need a controller, since the tilting motion is all you need to control the snake’s movements.

Check out the video here, which demonstrates how intuitive the game becomes when all you have to do is tilt the board to make the snake slither and slide around the pixelated board.

In case you’ve never heard of a monome, it’s a device that has a grid of backlit buttons that can be used for a variety of things, including games. They don’t make a whole lot of them, but you can check availability and try to convince them to make more at the monome website.

Even with the fancy device, though, this game doesn’t seem all that action-packed. And yet, on the faster levels, I’ve been known to blow through large chunks of time playing Snake on my cell phone without being able to stop…

[via Make:]

Looking for a nice digital alarm clock that you can dock your iPod or iPhone in, but don’t have room on your bedside table for anything decent? Then look no further than this nifty contemporary digital clock radio which can be mounted easily on your wall.

The CVT i3101 media center alarm clock is slim enough to hang next to your bed, and is especially nice if you have a narrow room without space for a table. The clock offers a bright 3.5″ blue LED display and sleek touch controls for changing channels and controlling your media player. And when your significant other walks off with your media player, you can always listen to the built-in FM radio or any tunes you’ve got saved on an SD memory card.

And if you do happen to have some table or counter space to spare, a kickstand lets you use it without wall-mounting. It looks like the clock’s Hong Kong manufacturer, CVT is also working on another version with an LCD video screen, but I haven’t found anyone retailing these yet. For now, you’ll have to settle for the version shown above, which is available from 100milligrams for $99.95 USD.

I just got invited to a formal wedding this Fall, and have been stymied as to what I would wear since it’s been about 15 years since I had to wear a tuxedo to anything. While I still might have to rent a tux and bow tie, at least I know what I’ll be wearing on my sleeves.

How could you resist going out on a night on the town with these great Pac-Man cufflinks on your wrists? Handmade by Sarah Lynne Designs, they feature the likeness of Pac-Man on one cuff and a blue ghost (presumably spawned after a tasty power pill) on the other.

Sarah makes the cufflinks from sturdy brushed aluminum and then coats them with a heavy-duty resin for that glossy sheen. The intricate character designs are made from hand sculpted wire and paint, while the dots are made from teeny, tiny beads.

You can find these and other cool contemporary jewelry over on Sarah’s Etsy shop.

You can cop a feel every single day with these bizarre computer mice shaped like hot women’s torsos. Unfortunately, since they have no heads or limbs, it will probably make you feel like a creepy necrophiliac serial killer type with each right-click.

There are two types available: lingerie torso and cropped World Cup t-shirt torso. All of the torsos are wearing lacy painted underwear which only serves to highlight their unfortunate limblessness.

To add to the perviness factor, the mice are given names like Francesca and Michaela, depending on nationality. Oddly enough both the French and Spanish torsos are named Luisa. Then again, I’m guessing if you are the type to buy a mouse of this nature then such trivialities will not bother you.

As far as a novelty mouse goes, I will grudgingly admit that a woman’s curves do seem like they would make for a pretty ergonomic mousing experience, and it’s clever to make boobs clickable, but that doesn’t make this any less creepy. And if you’re willing to shell out €30 ($45) for one of these, then you’re not only kinda pervy, you’re also pretty spendy. Get them here.

I think I have a new favorite video game artist. I’ve already got a set of Scott Campbell’s hilarious Pac-Man illustrations in my house, and now I’m totally in love with his new “Great Showdowns (of the 8-Bit era)” series that he did for the 2008 iam8-bit video game art show at the World of Wonder gallery in Hollywood, Ca.

Scott’s mini paintings (3″ x 5″ each) offer a whimsical take on the confrontations between classic video game characters and their various nemeses. Dig Dug tries to make friends with Pooka and Fygar instead of exploding their insides, while Frogger contemplates how exactly he’ll jump onto that damned log so he can make it home from work once again. Back in the day, I pumped so many quarters into Moon Patrol, that the moon buggy vs. happy rock scene is my personal favorite.

While the original paintings have already found good homes, for $100 you can get your hands on a set of 5 mini prints (limited to just 30 per edition), signed and numbered by Campbell over on A Paper Tiger If you want a set for your wall, you’d better hurry.

As much as I love the minimal design of the Nintendo Wii, sometimes I find the whole white plastic thing a little boring. That’s why I love this concept for a Wii woodgrain paneling update.

Currently just a concept design by Joe D!, his mod envisions a layer of woodgrain veneer (probably just vinyl decals) for all of his Wii controllers. From the Wii-Mote to the Nunchuk to the Classic Controller and even they Nyko Perfect Shot - they all get wood. Not only that, the controllers get some bright white backlit buttons and a nice black paint job to bring out the woody goodness.

It only leaves me wondering what sort of look he has planned for the Wii itself. No word on if or when Joe will bring his concept to fruition, but I’ll be sure to post photos of the real deal if and when he does.

Have you been alienating friends by over-twittering and now need a substitute robot friend to pal around with? Good news, because as of right now, making this talking robot head is well within your reach.

This nifty bot was made by L. Scott Hudson, who put a terrific how-to video up so that like-minded folks could make one too. What’s cool is that the video is narrated by the talking robot head, who explains how to make herself.

Basically, you install the speech API, such that the .net app sends commands that can be tied to voice events. Then you assemble the LED mouth, attach it to the head, and hook up the circuits. At some point you have to glue eyes onto a tupperware container, but I guess he figured you didn’t need a tutorial for that part.

The talking robot head was part of Make Magazine’s recent Dorkbot Austin event. You can learn about the other geeklicious projects from the event here.