Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

Designed and custom built by a company called Bad Ass Golf Carts this miniature Hummer H3 known as The Royal Cart was created for a client who intends to use it on their own private island, which is a good thing since I can’t imagine too many golf courses being thrilled with the idea of this thing roaming their greens. It actually cost $55,500 to build and includes a long list of features that will probably leave you shaking your head.

This cart has BY FAR the best sound system ever installed on a golf cart. Pioneer AVH-P6000 DVD player with 7” touch screen display, 7” visor monitors (2 pcs.) and 7” headrest monitors (2 pcs.), Image Dynamics IDQ10D2V3 (12” subwoofers, 2 pcs: 1 piece mounted under hood in enclosure of fiberglass, 1 piece mounted in a custom box behind front seats), Image Dynamics Q700.2 Amps (2 pieces) AND Image Dynamics Q1200.1 Amplifier (1 piece) mounted in a custom box behind front seats, Dynaudio Esotec System 220V (3 component sets), 5 TV’s, Full Security system, Remote opening hood, Remote Stereo controls, and remote Strobe light control. 4 Extra Batteries AND charger to power Stereo and lights…

[ Bad Ass Golf Carts - The Royal Cart ] VIA [ Hummer Guy ]

By David Ponce

Go to Google.

Type “I like”.

Enjoy.

VIA [ Geekologie ]

P.S. Who doesn’t do this?

By Andrew Liszewski

I can’t imagine anything funnier than the look on someone’s face when their home is burning to the ground and they realize that the fire extinguisher they just grabbed is actually a novelty phone! Priceless! You get that on tape and you’ve just won yourself $10,000, no question. Not too mention the fact that this phone appears to set a new benchmark for unergonomics. Are you supposed to stick the nozzle to your ear or something? $22 from Gadget4all.com.

[ Fire Extinguisher Phone ] VIA [ Pocket-lint ]

By David Ponce

This seems to have been around since 2008, but it’s only now making the rounds on the blogs, so we thought to let y’all know about it too. The video we’ve embedded after the jump shows a creation by Japanese artist Mio I-zawa. It’s a rubber (or latex, we’re not sure) bladder shaped and painted to look like a tumor. It’s connected to a series of motors and pneumatic actuators, and the whole apparatus is controlled by a piece of software on the PC to which its attached. When the load on the CPU is low, the tumor gently pulsates. But start doing something CPU-intensive, and it’ll grow, giving you a direct, organic connection to the current load on the PC.

We’re not entirely sure why the use of a tumor, as opposed to say a fake lung. We get the whole bridging the gap between inorganic digital stress and biological stress; kind of anthropomorphizing the most inanimate of objects. But heck, even a heart would have made more sense… Why a tumor?

Hit the jump for the creepy video.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Andrew Liszewski

So what if it turns out that all those Super Mario games created by Nintendo were actually based on real events? And what if Mushroom Island was actually a lost chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean that were recently discovered by a team of archaeologists? Well that’s exactly the idea that author Logan Zawacki is proposing with his book, The Excavation of Mushroom Island, which is supposedly a detailed account of what the archaeologists found.

In ‘The Excavation of Mushroom Island,’ archaeologist Logan Zawacki and his team uncover the greatest archaeological discovery of the century and document their entire experience. This book comes complete with a detailed chronology of the cultures that inhabited the islands between the Arcadic Period and the Early Snesolithic Period, as well as detailed maps of the landscape and site locations of each marvelous find. There are over 30 documented fossils to view within this 76-page softcover book. Each fossil comes complete with a map of their locations, scientific names, dimensions, and informative comments provided by the lead researcher, Logan Zawacki.

It sounds like the perfect addition to any geek or gamer’s coffee Mountain Dew table, and while softcover versions of the book are available from Blurb for $50, a limited edition signed and numbered hardcover version is also available by contacting Logan directly (details can be found on the Blurb site) but you’ll want to act fast since that run is limited to just 100 copies.

[ The Excavation of Mushroom Island ] VIA [ ALBOTAS ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s too bad Valentine’s Day is still many months away, because this Plush Beating Heart from ThinkGeek ($17.99) looks like the perfect way to creep out your significant other. With a simple shake the heart will start beating and pulsating just like the real thing, and let’s be frank, a gift is always more appreciated when it’s anatomically correct.

[ Plush Beating Heart ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I don’t think Halloween can quite topple Christmas when it comes to being the holiday with the most themed crap filling store shelves, but it’s a close second. If it’s any consolation though, Halloween crap seems to be far more inspired and creative. Like these haunted, animated books. Stick ‘em on a bookshelf hidden amongst your other real tomes, and whenever someone walks by they’ll come to life, sliding in and out making “eery” haunted sounds. Will they actually fool or scare anyone? No. For $24.99 should you be disappointed if they don’t? Absolutely not.

[ Animated Moving Books ] VIA [ The Green Head ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Backlit keyboards have become rather popular over the years, especially with gamers. Why? Because we tend to sit in the dark and game until the sun comes up. Sure, we know how to type without looking at our keyboards, but sometimes after grabbing a drink, we need to be able to quickly see where a specific key is without first finding home row. Oh, and it just looks awesome. Well fancy keyboards such as these can be rather expensive, so someone crafted a way to make the keys glow on any old keyboard.

Glow in Dark Keyboard Stickers are the perfect solution. Of course by “perfect solution” I mean “worst idea ever.” Take a look at your current keyboard, with careful detail to your home row keys. If you’ve had it for a while, you’ll probably notice that either the letters have started to wear off a bit, or there is at least some visible signs that your fingers spend a good bit of time resting there. Now imagine if you put stickers on those keys. How long do you think they’d last? Oh, and don’t forget the tedious task of putting them all on straight. Even at $9, I’d rather have a plain boring keyboard than one with glow-in-the-dark stickers.

[ BaronBob ] VIA [ FoolishGadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m quite fond of my parent’s dog who’s basically another member of the family, but I’m not entirely sure if I’d be willing to spend $475 on this evacuation jacket that’s supposed to make him easier to handle in the event of an emergency. Firstly, he’s almost 100 pounds and these look like they’re designed for little yap dogs, and secondly, in the event of an emergency like a fire or earthquake, I don’t want to waste valuable time trying to wrestle him into this thing.

Now granted, the jacket is made from the same flame-retardant material that firefighters in Japan wear, and it comes with pockets stuffed with everything from sealed water packs, to nutrition bars, to first-aid materials, to rubber booties and even a water bowl. So in the event of a worst-case-scenario it does seem that your pet will be prepared, but $500 (including shipping) from the Japan Trend Shop still seems like an awful lot.

[ Pet Emergency Evacuation Jacket ]