There’s no surer sign that Summer is just around the corner than the stores filling up with beach and water toys. And what better way to have fun in the sun (or suns, depending on where you live) than with a collection of Star Wars inflatable toys? These come courtesy of Jakks Pacific and include everything from the Millennium Falcon, to an X-Wing, to Anakin’s and Obi-Wan’s starfighters from the prequels. (Not pictured.) And as StarWars.com asks, why has it taken 31 years to get an inflatable Death Star beach ball?
Sadly, that R2-D2 floating drink holder won’t be out until next year, but you should be able to find the rest of them at Target stores in the US, or Walmart stores in Canada, though I have no idea on the pricing.
While most of us would just leave a discarded V8 engine sitting on our front lawn until the grass grew high enough to hide it from the neighbors, Kai Grundt decided to use his to build the mother of all walk-behind snowblowers. Now you have to understand that not only is Kai a metal fabricator by trade, but he also lives in a small town called Muskoka (north of Toronto) where the winters can be particularly harsh. So having a V8 powered snowblower actually seems practical, instead of just insane.
Once it was built, Kai’s snowblower tipped the scales at over 800 pounds, so he opted to switch from rubber tires (which couldn’t bear the weight) to custom made tracks that are powered by a couple of hydraulic motors fed by a pump powered by the V8 itself. The massive auger on the front of the blower spins about twice as fast as those found on a conventional (translation: boring) snowblower, which not only allows Kai to clear more snow, but throw it farther too. How far? Try 100 feet easily, which is far enough to bury his neighbor’s truck under snow from two houses away. Almost makes me wish I had a driveway, or at the least, be thankful that Kai isn’t my neighbor.
Having neither the motivation nor the necessary real estate to set up my own over-the-top, synced-to-music Christmas lights display, I’m forced to rely on others who are kind enough to post clips of their setups on YouTube. This time, it’s over 54,000 lights synced to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s (who seem to be the unofficial soundtrack for Christmas lights)Christmas Eve In Sarajevo. Please to enjoy…
Now isn’t this what the holidays are really about? Cheaply produced USB-powered plastic novelty crap that will sit unused in your desk drawer for 11 months out of the year? I certainly think so. That’s why everyone on my list will be unwrapping one of these USB-powered X’Mas typing trees this morning. (Sorry to ruin the surprise.)
The tree features a collection of 10 red LED lights that will only glow whenever you’re typing at your PC. And the faster you do type, the more lights will illuminate, which I have to assume translates to an increased level of holiday cheer. The tree also features a speaker in the base that you can connect to your PC via the headphone jack allowing you to play your Christmas tunes through it, which once again can only lead to more holiday cheer. Though by this time of the year, I’m sure we’ve all reached our cheer quotas… and then some.
So on that note, all of us here at OhGizmo! once again wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and here’s to seriously hoping you weren’t one of the people on my shopping list this year.
The Star Wars universe is well represented in the land of nutcrackers, but oddly enough, it’s only recently that Trekkies have gotten their chance to crack open a walnut via their beloved Star Trek characters.
From What on Earth comes these Star Trek Kirk and Spock nutcrackers that each stand 12 inches tall. They’re hand-painted, crafted from real wood and even feature authentic trekkian details like a communicator in Kirk’s hand and Spock giving the “live long and prosper” gesture. But at $34.95 each, you probably won’t want to use either of them for actually cracking open any nuts.
I realize it’s probably a little late in the holiday season to be writing about a clever Christmas card idea, given there’s no way they could be mailed out in time for the 25th, so consider these 3D pop-out cards an inspiration for next year.
Designed by Jonathan Yuen, the cards feature a collection of 4 different Christmas-themed figures including reindeer, a snowman, Santa in his sleigh and a tree that can be punched out and assembled once read. The cards actually come blank (from what I can tell) which allows you to write your own personalized holiday message instead of sending out some generic, politically correct greeting. They were available in packs of 4 for just $9, but they’re currently sold out and I’m not sure when they’ll be available again.
Porsche Design has already tackled the world of sledding with their Kinderbob model that was featured in last year’s OGCC. But while the Kinderbob seemed to be targeted towards the younger ‘let’s have fun’ crowd, Porsche Design’s newest model, the Aluminum Sledge, appears to be targeted towards the ‘I have to always look stylish’ crowd.
The sled features an aluminum frame with stainless steel runners as well as a waterproof faux-leather seat that’s both durable and UV-resistant. In fact the sled can support a rider up to 220 lbs. in weight, so it’s perfect for grown-up kids as well as the young’ns. And to make the sled easier to transport and store it has a “practical” folding mechanism and comes with a high-quality carrying bag so it doesn’t get dinged up when tossed in your trunk. The Aluminum Sledge is quite literally the Porsche of sleds, and if you can stomach the $490 price tag you can probably order one from your nearest Porsche dealership.
Well, there won’t be any HD-DVD players under the Christmas tree this year. Although, with the price of coal, they could make for a cheap stocking stuffer for all those bad boys and girls… Anyways, Blu-ray won the war, and the fact that you can now get those virtual fireplace videos in hi-def is a sure sign that the format is catching on.
The HDScape Fireplace: Visions Of Tranquility Blu-ray disc features a real roaring fire and your choice of musical accompaniment (like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata or Pachelbel’s Canon) or the natural sounds of the fire crackling away. According to the HDScape website, the fire was actually shot on film and transferred to HD, but I think this is one of those times where the realistic ‘video-look’ of native HD might have been preferred. But I’m sure it still looks much better than the SD versions of yesteryear.
Fireplace: Visions Of Tranquility is available directly from HDScape for a special sale price (I assume just for the holidays) of $11.99.
Poet John Lydgate once wrote; “You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” And at no point in the year is that more applicable than the holidays.
So if you’re having a tough time keeping all your friends, family, co-workers and other associates happy with your ChristmasHanukkahKwanzaa holiday cheer, this generic winter advent calendar is sure to offend no one. Instead of the traditional 25 days counting down to Christmas, the calendar has just 6 leading to the holiday of your choice. And instead of finding a delicious chocolate every day behind those perforated paper doors, there’s a small plastic novelty toy that’s guaranteed to be 100% non-offensive. They’re just $4.95 from Archie McPhee, and I’d be tempted to pick one except that I find the color blue to be incredibly offensive, and intend to start an email campaign letting Mr. McPhee know just how disgusted I am with this product.
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Now isn’t this what the holidays are really about? Cheaply produced USB-powered plastic novelty crap that will sit unused in your desk drawer for 11 months out of the year? I certainly think so. That’s why everyone on my list will be unwrapping one of these USB-powered X’Mas typing trees this morning. (Sorry to ruin the surprise.)
The Star Wars universe is well 
I realize it’s probably a little late in the holiday season to be writing about a clever Christmas card idea, given there’s no way they could be mailed out in time for the 25th, so consider these 3D pop-out cards an inspiration for next year.
Porsche Design has already tackled the world of sledding with their 
By Andrew Liszewski
Well, there won’t be any HD-DVD players under the Christmas tree this year. Although, with the price of coal, they could make for a cheap stocking stuffer for all those bad boys and girls… Anyways, Blu-ray won the war, and the fact that you can now get those virtual fireplace videos in hi-def is a sure sign that the format is catching on.
Poet John Lydgate once wrote; “You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” And at no point in the year is that more applicable than the holidays.
