The current economic crisis in the US means that most people are tightening their purse-strings and trying to avoid the seemingly inevitable move towards bankruptcy. But really, that just means that there are some bargains out there for the rest of us!

Like this house in Michigan which sold for $US1.75. Sure, it has a whole heap of taxes on it, and the building is condemned, but that just adds to the allure of the bargain. From what I've read on the internet, the town it's in sounds like it might be a bit of a hole, but that still doesn't change the fact that this is a bargain.

Even with the taxes on the property, the whole thing cost the lucky buyer about $US1000. Take out a 30 year mortgage on that, and you'd be paying what? 20 cents a month? Not too shabby.

Now we just have to hope that someone in Australia will offer something similar. Preferably in QLD - I need a holiday house...

[ebay]

Pac-Man-like padded seats, kitted out in leather and with accompanying power-pill-like stools...sounds like a fabulously retro way to pay furniture-y homage to the '80s arcade game. The Poufman seating sets come in a bunch of colours, but retro gamers keen to dot them about their homes had better have made lots of dollars in the time since the '80s: the price of these things is unknown, and not listed on the maker's website. And we all know what that means. [Product via Technabob]

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The world's first variable-angle uplight is apparently what Motorlight from designer Jake Dyson represents. Twist the wheel on the side, and you adjust the geometry inside the lamp so the beam it casts is a broad splash on your walls, or a neat spotlight. And it can cycle from one to the other automagically. Lighting fanatics, like me, will be thinking "neat! dynamic moodlighting," and will admire the simplicity of the design. Since Motorlight is made in limited batches of 500, though, its high-quality design is matched by its high-quality price: US$980 each. It comes in five colours though, with special colouring on request. [JakeDyson via Dezeen]

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Back in 1922, a mechanical engineer began building his summer home in Rockport, Massachusetts out of paper. Originally used just as insulation, Elis Stenman soon began to make furniture and decorations out of paper as well. What resulted was Rockport's Paper House, which is remarkably still standing after 80 years. Stenman's grandniece is now in charge of the house, which was turned into a museum in the 1930s.

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We were setting up our wireless router in this our new house when we made a startling realisation. Our wireless hotspot doesn't need to be limited to boring names like LinksysN or 2Wire1969, they can be messages to our neighbours that they see every time they connect to their router. Here are some that our crack team of jerks have come up with.

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It may not be crazy high-tech architecture, but there's something about this Chilean home hanging over the Pacific that has me glued to the screen with a mixed feeling of complete awe, peace, and envy. The materials, the clean design, the floor plan, the breathtaking views, all of it, make it the perfect place I want to live in.

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Ages ago I admitted to being a floor-lounger, and it looks like Thanko has come up with a solution that'll let me combine lazing around and blogging for the Giz at the same time. I might rename it from Lazy Geek's Cushion to "Relaxed Blogger's Desk" though. Looking a little like a massage table, it's 78 x 48 cms across, and can be propped up at a variety of angles from flat to about 30 degrees so your arms reach your notebook... and see that little space for your chin? Looks comfy. No info on pricing, but I'd love to import one. I'd just have to persuade my wife that it's a good idea, and not ugly at all. [Akihabaranews]

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Designer Billy May has come up with his Torn Lighting concept as a discreet way of adding some light to your apartment. The installations conceal LED lights, and look like you've got some kind of weird space-time holes torn into your walls and leaking light into your room. Pretty neat, and a nice way of getting mood light from LEDs without the risk of you being dazzled by their exposed faces. Now if only there was a way to animate the walls to get a proper rippling effect... [Yanko Designs]

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Install one of these "See Me TV" Security Cam mirrors in your home and give your guests something to think about on their next trip to the bathroom. Naturally, there is no actual camera in the mirror, but something tells me that visitors won't find the "Big Brother" message all that amusing at first—and neither will you until the police get everthing sorted out. The See Me TV is available in a range of colours and pricing is available on request. [Thelermont Hupton via Apartment Therapy]

There's plenty of room left to build in the world's major cities; we just have to be MacGyver about it. Because when one group of architects looked at an alley, they saw the perfect lot for a five-story building that's less then eight feet wide.

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