Monthly Archives: June 2008

Flying dildo drone says: Loose lips won’t sink ships

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Joel Johnson

Noah Shachtman reports on the “Voyeur” drone, a 27-inch flying drone designed to protect our ships at sea. Drone-maker Lite Machines is working on a similar machine for land-spying. And the company informs us that the Voyeur boasts “near-silent operation” … Continue reading →

Retro Famicom business card holders

Posted on June 30, 2008 by John Brownlee

The picture’s terrible — a photograph taken through a lens slathered in Vaseline by a half-blind astigamtic — but even in colored blob form, these Nintendo NES Business Card Holders are pretty neat. The holders themselves are based on old-school … Continue reading →

ASUS’ new MATRIX GPUs are like (but not to be confused with) The Matrix

Posted on June 30, 2008 by John Brownlee

This may be the strangest wording I’ve ever seen in a press release. From the $10-per-hour corporate copy monkeys of ASUS’ PR department, to announce their new MATRIX series of graphics cards: Taipei, Taiwan, June 26, 2008 – ASUS, producer … Continue reading →

Cartivision: ’70s home tape system had physical DRM

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Joel Johnson

Dan Rutter has a wonderful retrospective on the first wave of home video recording systems, casting his wistful eye on 1972 and the launch of the “Cartivision.” Like all dabbling attempts to release media, it appears that Cartivision also had … Continue reading →

Gallery of retro German cameras, sawn-in-half

Posted on June 30, 2008 by John Brownlee

Wired’s notorious Charlie Sorrel — who was the only one of us who managed to bicycle home from boozing on Friday night without being detained and breathalyzed by German police officers — nursed his weekend hangover in a most wonderful … Continue reading →

Ex-EA exec founds iPhone gaming publisher ‘Ngmoco’

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Joel Johnson

When news that “longtime” Electronic Arts’ employee Neil Young had left the videogame giant, there was little speculation about where he’d end up. It turns out he’s formed his own new company, the gutturally named “Ngmoco,” a mobile gaming producer … Continue reading →

Time Harp gurgles its way to musical genius

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

The slurping dissonance of Larnie Fox’s Time Harp is the antidote for Omer Yosha’s Air Piano. Whereas that instrument produces notes of sylphid and sublime beauty on diatonic scales, this thing sounds like the workings of a randomly-generated digestive system. … Continue reading →

AirPiano strikes an ethereal note

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

In the grim meatclef future, where it is illegal to operate a musical instrument, the semi-legal AirPiano will be song’s final hope. By hovering one’s fingers lightly above the device’s flat, IR-sensing surface, no note is actually plucked; and yet … Continue reading →

The Ladybug of Unexpected Utility

Posted on June 30, 2008 by Rob Beschizza

This charming ladybug has a memory card reader, flash memory, USB charger, an LED flashlight and a counterfeit money detector. One imagines an uneasy silence in Project Ladybug‘s coffee-filled conference room. A junior executive stands up, thumps her hand on … Continue reading →

WowWee Elvis Robot becomes T-800 Elvinator

Posted on June 30, 2008 by John Brownlee

WowWee makes many fun robots of limited but clever articulation and affordable price. It’s a cool company, but ultimately, the novelty of a singing Elvis robot wears out about just as fast as one of those Wal-Mart brand singing mackerels. … Continue reading →