“Hello?” “Hi.” “Who is this?” “Mum, it’s your son.” “Oh…I thought this was going to be a joke or something.” [sourcingmap via Crunchgear]
For those who don’t like the floating steering wheel of Mario Kart Wii (because it lacks the realism of driving around a banana-spewing bulletmobile), this wheel mount by JTT isn’t a bad solution. Using a suction cup to attach the wheel to any flat surface, the top tilts 120-degrees so you can compete old-lady or bus-driver-style. But for US$28, we really wish it had the famous Chinese-girl-driving-wrong-on-one-way setting. Oh well. I guess good old fashioned psychotic “don’t-cut-me-off”-motherfucker-Caucasian will still serve me as well as it always has. [JTT via GoNintendo]
Did you know that science has made it possible to turn milk into a plastic by solidifying the casein it contains? Well, you do now. But I bet you’d never think of using the technique to turn human breast milk into a “jewel” of sorts, and then use that to make a necklace. But that’s exactly what French design team Duende are suggesting. Titled “Perle de Lait” their jewelry range is part of a bigger upcoming art exhibit that celebrates birth and explores “sharing of food between mother and child.” It’s a pretty amazing idea, though I’m not sure I know many people who’d wear it. Also to be exhibited is a set of “placenta coffins.” Weird. There’s a detailed preview over at Dezeen if you’ve got the nerve. [Dezeen]
This transparent, glowing USB speaker is either missing one glowing arm to make it look like a flux capacitor, or has one arm too many to be the light on top of the TARDIS. It’s weird. But if you’re into EL-wire PC case modding, then I suppose this blue LED-lit USB speaker from Brando might be up your street. Measuring 15cm long, it takes power from USB, has an audio-in socket and costs US$22. [Brando]
This is the All Star Tailgating Trailer. Or as I like to call it, the The Get-Drunk-n-Stuffed Out of the Stadium Party BBQ Trailer. This thing–which you can order with custom paint, I’ll take naked women in naughty positions and flames on a black background, thank you very much–has all the stuff you need to have a party anywhere, from a beer tap to a giant 60″ LCD projection TV with surround sound to a full barbecue and grill, all in a compact 6 x 12-foot space:
Scientists at University of Pennsylvania have been tinkering with germanium-tellurium nanowires and have figured out how to make them store data in three states. Yup, that’s 0,1 and 2… binary seems passé now doesn’t it? According to the team, storing trits instead of bits “could allow for a huge increase in the memory density of potential future devices,” meaning higher capacity storage in the same size. And using nanowires is a particularly good way to make memory chips because it may be possible to make them self-organise, making “top-down” silicon-chip fabrication seem clunky. The team’s busy perfecting their understanding of nanowire size and chemistry, so don’t expect to see results from the tech too soon. [Physorg]
It doesn’t take long for kids to learn that when it comes to Tic Tac Toe “the only winning move is not to play.” But there’s something iconic about the game that means it keeps coming back. And designer Shahar Peleg has crafted such an unusual version I’d be tempted to pop it on my desk: it’s mirrored, so the pieces are halved until you place them on the grid. Not as high-tech as cloaked chess, but simple, and surprisingly eye-catching. [Peleg Design via Yanko design, DVICE]
At Impress they’ve posted a review of a recent show titled Anima Machines by artist Choe U Ram that contains some of the most bizarre robotic exhibits you can imagine. Choe’s work includes things like sophisticated glowing robotic flowers that respond to each other’s behaviour, and whirling bladed sculptures that look organic in their complexity and spin up when people pass nearby. It’s pretty hard to describe actually… the metal, electronic and LED structures that were shown at the Japan’s SCAI The Bathhouse Gallery are best ogled at in the photos below, and in the video that follows them.
A forum poster over at Macrumors has posted photos of a fake iPhone that’s close enough to the real hardware that you might believe it at first glance. Its proportions are off, the screen’s not wide-sized and there’s a mini-USB connector instead of an iPod dock one, but even the packaging is mocked-up to look Appleish. The UI is glossed-up to look very real, with some differences of course. And sure, you can imagine it would be not so sweet to operate… but you can’t argue with the look of the thing. Steve’s famous “start your photocopiers” call has gone a lot further than Redmond. Wonder how soon we’ll see photocopy iPhone 3Gs? [Macrumors]
