[Firebox]

Unless you go about acquiring these boxes by purchasing a bunch of MacBooks, this would be a fairly cheap piece of furniture—kind of like those cardboard dressers you had as a kid. Remember those? Man, those things sucked. [Imageshack Thanks Brian / Kristin!]

…Still, I didn’t want you people to miss out! More pics over at BGR. [Boy Genius Report]

Witness the magic of US Patent 7,051,919: The Pizza Box that Comes From the Future! It tears, it converts to plates, it folds, it saves the planet! Or something like that.

Called the Green Box, the top is perforated so it easily breaks into four plates in which you could serve everyone’s favourite food. Meanwhile, the bottom is also perforated so you can fold it into a new box that conveniently fits in your refrigerator. This can’t come soon enough, even while it will never serve any purpose in my home, where we fight to the death for the last slice.

Here’s another clue to uncover the huge box mystery: The new Star Trek TV spot. In it, Kirk is kicking arse and Uhura’s bra—unlike bra-less Betty—is armour plated. (I’m partial to yellow lace.)

Don’t get impatient. The mystery will be revealed soon.

If a box is held in front of its screen, the German-only (for now) Digital Box will scan the bar code and present an animated model of the completed set on its screen. Apparently it uses the same tech used by camera phones to scan bar codes and present product data, but obviously much better because the result is always a 3D Lego model. [DVICE]

That seems far more convenient than carrying around a key or remembering a passcode, but couldn’t you just take the whole thing with you and smash it open later on? I mean, it only weighs 4.5 kilos. It’s more like a high-tech deterrent when you think about it. Plus, the damn thing is $US579—so if you buy it you have already been robbed. [RCG Store via Everything USB]

UPDATE: Received an official comment from Madman about this.And if that wasn’t bad enough, the packaging included a scrunched up ball of paper to “pad” the DVD, and the invoice was, in Kieran’s own words, “scrunched up in a ball along with the packing paper to form part of the ‘insulation’”.

Fail, Madman Entertainment. Fail.

UPDATE: So here’s the official comment from Madman:

To whom it may concern,

Appreciate your feedback regarding the packaging of your recently purchased Madman product. We welcome feedback of this sort and are committed to continual improvement in all areas of our business, most particularly in the manner in which we package and dispatch our product.

Just wanted to offer the following response which may assuage some of the comments.

All of the packaging we use is recyclable and is made from recycled materials. The box in question is actually the most efficient and environmentally friendly packaging we have that still ensures security of product in transit and is much more environmentally efficient than utilising bubble wrap or padded plastic to securely transport product to our customers.

Madman is committed to using sustainable packaging and we are constantly reviewing our dispatch and packaging procedures to ensure they are compliant with business and environmental requirements. Our carbon footprint is something Madman takes extremely seriously and as a business we regularly engage in activities that support the environment, such as company tree planting days, a company wide recycling policy on all paper, plastic and associated products including ink cartridges etc. We also enlisted an environmental consultant throughout the first half of 2008 who worked with the company for 6 months to put in place a series of procedures that have allowed us to run a more sustainable and environmentally sound business (I am happy to specify if required).

Again, we thank you for your feedback as it aids and informs our commitment to continual improvement.

If you’ve got an entry for our Shipping Hall of Shame, let us know at tips@gizmodo.com.au.

[Thanks Kieran!]

[Planet 3 Studios via The Design Blog]