By Luke Anderson

It always fascinates me that you can take something, make it look old and it’s suddenly cool because it’s “retro.” Aside from the ability to create mix tapes, there wasn’t anything cool about the cassette tape that I ever saw. This Cassette MP3 player would probably be the closest thing to cool that the cassette tape will ever get.

What makes this device cool is that it can act as both a stand-alone MP3 player and as a cassette tape. If you actually still have a stereo that takes the old tapes, you can put this in and it will play just the same. It’ll set you back $40, which is a bit steep considering the fact that you’ll need to supply your own SD card to store the music.

[ ThinkGeek ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Luke Anderson

Most USB hubs you see are pretty standard, as they are a plastic shell (that may or may not look like something cool). They come in two categories; powered and unpowered. The former requires you to run a power cord to a nearby power outlet. At least that’s usually how it works.  This little hub is just a little different.

Instead of plugging into your wall, this little (and I do mean little) hub takes up two of your USB ports. In exchange you’ll have four ports which are powered, one of which is a mini-USB connector for your mobile gadgets. For $12 this really wouldn’t be a bad addition to one’s laptop bag.

[ Brando ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Luke Anderson

When I was a kid I loved Batman, heck he’s still pretty cool in my book. I tried a few times to make my own Bat Signal by taping some paper to a flashlight, but it just never really worked out too well. Thankfully someone has finally put together a working Bat Signal that you can buy.

Granted, this device isn’t going to light up the night sky, but it’ll at least make a good signal from across the room (around 16 feet).  You’ll need to have some Bruce Wayne-like funds though, as this light will set you back $309.

[ Bigbadtoystore ] VIA [ SlipperyBrick ]

By Evan Ackerman

Over on BotJunkie this week, we kicked things off in style and watched some video of a cute little DIY CrabFu SwashBot take on an equally cute kitty in a battle of weirdness, got a little misty hearing about how an RP-7 robot was used to introduce a soldier in Iraq to his newborn son in Texas for the first time, saw an incredible POV video of a Georgian reconnaissance UAV being allegedly shot down by a Russian MiG-29, got a chuckle out of a slightly dirty robot t-shirt, were impressed by the ability of autonomous robots to map a maze of debris and locate simulated babies, watched a live robot-assisted surgery that was webcast on Thursday night, got a kick out of a robot that looks like a little blue elephant with a little yellow hat designed to give your urinals a good scrubbing, saw some humanoid robots going to town on each other (and preparing for the future) in a game of laser tag, got introduced to the Clear Cut firefighting robot who has giant saws for arms, and wrapped things up with a clip of remote controlled Japanese robots running some plays of what they call American-style football.

[ BotJunkie ]

By Evan Ackerman

X-Men fan Everett Bradford has constructed a wrist-mounted flamethrower designed specifically to emulate Pyro, a superhero with the ability to control (although not create, hence the flamey little wrist toy) fire. The device is constructed of a remote lighter coupled to a pressurized liquid fuel reservoir. Somewhat remarkably, Everett has yet to suffer any permanent damage, and you can check out several more pyrotastic videos over on Everett’s YouTube channel.

VIA [ Gadget Lab ]

By Evan Ackerman

Practical? Of course not. Awesome? Heck yeah. Like the website says, it’s too funny not to share, and if you want a piece of the action, you’ll be able to buy a Leave Me Alone Box of your very own sometime soon for an undisclosed price… Leave your email at the site to be notified when it’s ready to go.

[ Leave Me Alone Box ] VIA [ MAKE ]

By Evan Ackerman

Goldfish are damn fast. According to the internet, they top out at something like 4mph, which is kind of adorable. But in conventional tanks, you never get to see them unleash themselves thanks to a plexiglass wall that’s never far enough away. The SpeedFish racetrack provides an uninterrupted sequence of straights and curves for your fishies to pit their swimming skills against in crazy nonstop fish-on-fish action with total disregard for safety precautions, water filters, or aquatic plants. It’s only a concept for now, though, so you’ll have to go back to watching cars do this instead.

[ R'Pure ] VIA [ OutNext ]

BTW, “fishtank” is a misspelling, isn’t it? Sigh. “Fishtank Friday” looked so much sexier. Oh well.

By Luke Anderson

For those Helio users out there (like me) that also use Gmail (again, just like me) you’ll be happy to hear that you can now get push Gmail on your Fin, Mysto or Ocean. Google has selected Helio to be the first carrier to utilize the service.

Setting this up is a breeze. If you’ve already been checking your Gmail with your device, just go to your inbox and hit send/receive. You’ll get a message asking if you want to enable new email alerts. Just hit yes and you’re good to go.

VIA [ Boy Genius ]

By Luke Anderson

If you’ve ever watched Star Wars (please tell me everyone here has) you’ll remember that the location of the rebel base was outed when Vader and Tarken decided to put a homing beacon aboard the Millennium Falcon. Well if you’re ever paranoid that someone might be tracking you in a similar fashion, you might want to pick up one of these GPS Tracker Defense devices.

This is quite simply a GPS jammer. You need only to plug it into your car’s cigarette lighter and every GPS device within a 5-meter radius will be disabled. This of course means you won’t be able to use your own GPS to guide you to your location, but that’s the price you pay for paranoia. Well, that and around $300.

[ TrackerShack ] VIA [ TFTS ]