All Entries in the "Featured" Category

Yes, You Can Now Order A Martin Jetpack And Fly It Soon

If you told me fifteen years ago that we still won’t have widely available jetpacks in 2010, I would have cried and then kicked you in the head. Its like telling  a little kid that Santa lost his pilot’s license and can’t deliver gifts anymore. . Of course, we’d have jetpacks at WalMart in 2010! Are you crazy?
Fast forward to the second decade of the 21st century and we still don’t have the personal flight system that sci-fi dreams are made of at WalMart. But, at least, we’re coming close with the Martin Jetpack, who are now accepting reservations for the first 500 they’re producing in the coming twelve months.
We first featured this commercial-bound jetpack last year, when they announced that the technology is about to be ready before the end of 2009. Well, it took a little while longer than that. After nine prototypes, [...]

Hoverwing Floats Your Boat…Literally

Hovercrafts are awesome.  Because they’re supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air, they can travel equally well on land, ice and water.  The Hoverwing, a DIY hovercraft by New Zealand mechanic Rudy Heeman, goes the extra mile, hovering well above the water at heights of up to five feet.
What’s so spectacular about this one?  As you can tell from the photo, it doesn’t just hover like a regular hovercraft – it soars.  Even better, it can perform the feat on both land and water.  Both the wings (it has a 23-foot wingspan) and tail (20 feet long) are detachable too, in case you want to use it as a regular watercraft.

Technically classified as a boat, Heeman says the Hoverwing is actually a WIG (a wing in ground effect vehicle) that’s been built in the form of a 13-foot long hovercraft.   Well, it works exactly like a traditional hovercraft [...]

Moshi Monsters MoPods: Call-Alerting Phone Charms With Cuddly Critters

Addicted to Moshi Monsters yet?  Fuel your monster-petting habit some more with Moshi Monster MoPods, which let you adopt an orphaned pet for use as your call-alerting mobile phone charm.
To the uninitiated, Moshi Monsters is a  popular online game that mixes elements from Neopets, Tamogotchi and social networking with cuddly monsters.  While designed for kids, we’ve seen adults hooked to this thing worse than heroin (okay, maybe not as badly).  MoPods, on the other hand, are a painfully cute, yet surprisingly practical, Japanese invention that puts caged pets inside a dome designed to hang on your mobile phone.
The Moshi Monsters MoPods combine the two together, sneaking a tiny monster from the game inside the plastic cage, in place of the kitten or pup you’d normally find.  Like other MoPods, the 6 x 2.3 x 2.3 cm charm does more than hang decoratively from your handset, alerting you to incoming calls [...]

Modular Tequila! Kayak Can Fit Inside Your Car

A modular kayak is an excellent idea for one obvious reason: breaking it apart makes it incredibly to transport.  The Tequila!, however, takes the modular idea one step further, allowing you to add components that extend the boat to carry more people.  Yep, it’s not only extremely portable, it’s extensible too.
Created by Swedisk kayak-makers Point65, the watercraft was built with the intent of making it easy to handle both in and out of the water.   Since it’s able to collapse into three different parts, you won’t need a roofrack to transport it.  Just clear the back of your vehicle, dump the components and off you go to the water.   Even if you live in an apartment building, bringing it in and out is downright hassle-free.

The Tequila! was designed by Magnus De Brito and is currently one of seven finalists for the ISPO (International Trade Fair For Sports Equipment and Fashion) [...]

T-Rex-14RR-Is-Part-Motorcycle, Part-Formula Racer And Completely Awesome

Bringing an unusual combo of frightening speed, future-worthy looks and three wheels, the 2010 Campagna T-Rex 14RR deserves to be on every thrillseeker’s wish list.  We’re not exactly sure what it is – Campagna calls it a “pavement predator” while the Department of Transportation calls it a motorcycle.  Official names don’t matter, though – you can tell it’s one blisteringly decadent ride.
Clad in a reverse trike-style frame, the T-Rex looks like the unholy union of a supercar and a sportsbike.  And that’s exactly what it is.  Production actually begins with a stock Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 that’s torn apart and used in various places throughout the Formula-inspired vehicle.  The seating position, sport steering and pedal assembly, however, should make you feel like you’re driving an extremely low-profile sportscar.

The 2010 Campagna T-Rex 14RR comes with a 197hp Kawasaki 1400cc engine, mated to a six-speed sequential transmission.  It weighs a light 1,040 lbs [...]

Drivemocion LED Car Sign Makes Middle Finger Obsolete

During a fit of road rage, seeing middle fingers flying left and right is nothing new.  Other than that obvious sign of adulation (apparently, it means “You’re number #1″), though, it’s hard to communicate what you really want to say while driving in a busy highway.
The Drivemocion LED Car Sign saves you from that inability, allowing you to send crystal-clear, unclouded messages to other drivers on the road.  Want to apologize for cutting someone inadvertently?  Choose the SORRY signal, which displays an excusatory face, followed by the actual word “sorry.”  Guy behind almost rear-ended you at the stoplight?   Tell him off by getting your machine to display “idiot SLOW down.”  Awesome.

Designed to hang on your rear window using a suction cup, the Drivemocion comes with a total of 16 different expressions, running the gamut from friendly (like saying “Have a nice day”) to aggressive (such as showing an angry face, [...]

Launching Of Crayola Rockets In The Desert Doesn’t Create A Rainbow – Boooo

As it turns out, firing crayons into the air at the same time doesn’t create a rainbow.  My first-grade teacher so totally lied.  But it does make for one delicious looking spectacle, as evidenced by the photos of John Coker’s Crayola Rocket Pack, which he recently launched in the Nevada desert.
Launching rockets isn’t anything special.  Every engineering geek worth the eye mucus in his glasses has probably fired one.  When you take the time to make your rockets look like grade school coloring materials, though, we can’t help but pay attention.

According to John, he resumed work for the Crayola Rocket in 2004, after abandoning it shortly after he started in 1998.  It took six years of detailed handiwork to turn them into the finished product, which includes eight crayon-shaped rockets and a yellow-and-green Crayola box launch pad.
Each rocket measures 3.5 feet long and have been colored according to the exact [...]

Mugstir Lets You Have A Coffee Spoon Without Turning You Into A Pirate

I used to drop my stirring spoon on my mug when I’m drinking my coffee.  Then, I saw a movie where a guy did that and ended up poking his eye out with the end of the spoon.  Arrggh – he became a pirate.
Since then, I always stirred my coffee while standing in the sink.  After I’m done, I would simply drop it in with the rest of the dirty dishes.  Sure, it’s not an ideal solution, especially if you like to sip your coffee with a teaspoon while it’s still very, very hot.
Fortunately, Quirky’s community came up with a crowdsourced fix that’s actually about two brain cells better than what I’ve been doing.  They called it the MugStir and it’s a teaspoon that hangs steadily in your mug.

It’s basically a spoon with a bent rear end, so that it effectively becomes a hook that you can hang by the [...]

Get Your Valentine Kicks On With The Supra 413 Edition Skytop Heartbreaker

Sure, wearing red on Valentine’s Day sounds tacky.  When the shoes look as good as the Supra 413 Edition Skytop Heartbreaker, though, it doesn’t sound as bad.
Red as blood with white accents, the shoe is clad in the lines of the Skytop, their most popular model.  Sure, you can be a dateless geek on the one day of the year where it’s most awkward to be single, but dang it – these kicks should help dampen the resulting self-consciousness while you eat a dinner for one.

The 413 Edition Skytop Heartbreaker sports a canvas upper that’s as red as your bleeding heart, red laces, a clean white outsole and a white Supra logo around the rear.  A nice little hangtag of a  broken heart is tied around the top eye too, so you can show the world how you’re doing while strolling about the lonely streets.

They made it especially for the [...]

Say Goodbye To Sandbags, Soldier: McCurdy’s Armor Is A Portable Steel Fort That Sets Up Like Legos

I’ve never been to war, but stacking sandbags to set up a defensive line just sounds like a terrible way to spend the day.  A defense contractor finally did something about it with the McCurdy’s Armor, a steel-plated wall that provides equivalent protection while setting up within minutes.
Named after a Marine who died in the line of duty in 2006, the new military rig boasts assembly that requires no tools or equipment, with the company going as far as to call it a “LEGO-type system.”  Even better, it divides into flat, stackable pieces when not in use, allowing you to pile it in the back of a truck for carrying with you to the next mission.
McCurdy’s Armor houses soldiers behind a 6.5 feet tall structure using individual panels that you can arrange into U-, V- or J- shaped covers of variable size (depending on what the situation calls for).  Not [...]

Woof…Woof…Woofer: The Hi-FiDo Speaker

Like dogs, but don’t appreciate them damn sharp teeth?  The Hi-FiDo speaker is a sexy, little puppy that’s all bark and no bite, woof…woof…woofing your favorite songs from its unusually-distinctive canine shell.
The entire body is built out of ceramic, which creator Matteo Cibic claims has acoustic properties that the system uses “to diffuse the high-quality sound with a bass reflex system.”  Whatever that means, the thing should sound slightly on the high end, which is good.
Hi-FiDo is a 150-watt speaker clad in an all-white, 40 x 30 x 25 cm ceramic frame that looks like a toy dog with four short legs, a cute little tail and a giant mouth.  Sound pipes through that large gorge of a head, pumping out presumably excellent-sounding music from your favorite audio source (it can connect to your iPods and other media players via auxiliary cable).

Speakers rarely get me excited, but a 150W doggy [...]

Heinz Dip & Squeeze Reinvents The Ketchup Packet

I hate ketchup packets with a vengeance.  Why bother producing a container with so little ketchup in it?  That’s just ridiculous.  Heinz has finally decided to do something about it, turning out a packet that both contains more of our favorite french fries companion and offers more flexible use.
Called the Dip & Squeeze, the redesigned packet lets you use your ketchup in two different ways. You can choose to squeeze it out by tearing off the “cap” or dip on it by peeling back the lid.  Either way, you’ve got a choice – something traditional packets (which have been in use since 1968) don’t exactly afford you.

Even better, though, the new ketchup packaging carries three times the contents of existing tear-off packets.  That means I only need ten of these to get through my large fries, instead of 30.  It’s not a perfect solution (seriously, I need to carry a [...]

Heat-Changing Arcade Mugs Spice Up Your Morning Coffee With Pacman And Space Invaders

Want to down your morning coffee with a little Pacman or Space Invaders on the side?  Now you can with the Heat-Changing Arcade Mugs, which go from bland to grand after pouring hot liquid beverages down its mouth.
Your mug may have a funny joke on it, but it’s the same lame attempt at comedy every time.  These mugs may look just as trite, clad with generic lines and shapes while sitting on the cupboard.  Pour down that freshly-brewed coffee, however, and it changes into an awesome arcade scene straight out of 1982.   Pair it with an Atari USB controller and you can live like it’s an 8-bit world all over again.

Two designs are currently available for the Heat-Changing Arcade Mugs – Pacman and Space Invaders (technically, it’s Pac Boy and Space Intruders to avoid nasty lawyers from coming into play).  Without hot coffee inside them, the Pacman one just shows [...]

Gabriel Dishaw’s Junk-Metal Sneaker Sculptures

Motherboards and sneakers are quite the unlikely combination.  That’s why these sneaker sculptures, which uses old circuit boards and other throwaway materials to create replicas of popular kicks, look way awesome.
Created by junk-metal artist Gabriel Dishaw, the growing collection now numbers five pieces, with names such as the Air Jordan Colossus, Junk Dunk and Blazer Pentium 1.0 (which should give you a hint about what shoes they’re based on).  They’re all made to an exact size of 9.5 inches, although they’re unwearable (you can try, but I’m sure it’s “you break, you buy”).

Each sculpted shoe weighs anywhere from five to 20 pounds, with plenty of details to make them easily identifiable, from accurate stitch patterns to movable shoe tongues and laces.  He uses discarded materials – such as wires, staples, bolts, screws, old typewriters and motherboard scraps – to produce every single one.  Individual parts are bent into shape and [...]

Apple’s iPad Tablet Gets Unveiled To Mixed Reactions, Surprising Price Point

Apple’s tablet iPad finally received its unveil yesterday and it’s a bit of a mixed bag.  I know what you are thinking,  the device is essentially a blown-up iPod Touch.  Steve Jobs says it’s “so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smart phone.”  Translation: it’s a device without a built-in category and we think it deserves one.
First, some things you were probably expecting didn’t quite make it into the actual gadget.  There’s no camera, no multi-tasking (beyond Apple’s built-in tools, but I am pretty sure OS 4.0 will have atleast some multi tasking), no Flash support and no microSD card expansion.  Heck, you even need an adaptor to get a USB port onto it.  There’s also no kickstand, so it won’t be your glorified picture frame right out of the box.

What it does fit in, though, sounds mighty cool, despite the omissions.  The [...]

Massage Me Controller Lets You Get A Massage While Someone Else Plays

Think gaming isn’t productive?  You’re right, it’s an absolutely stupid way to spend your life on Earth (Shhhh…I am just saying that cause my wife reads this blog too).  The Massage Me Controller should ease the utter futility, though, allowing you to give me a massage while you feed your digital addiction.  Huh?
That’s right, it’s a custom-built, wearable controller that ably doubles as a massage suit.  Wife wears it, you play your Modern Warfare 2.  You enjoy a great game, she gets a  massage of sorts.  Everybody wins.  Now, she might finally get off your case about wasting your life on those damn video games day and night.

How good of a massage will you get with the Massage Me?  Considering it’s going to be the electronic sort, it’s probably bad.  Still, a bad massage trumps no massage any day of the week.  It will do.
The system uses a vest with [...]