Yesterday I thought I had found the desk of my dreams. But it was not to be since this desk featuring Han Solo frozen in carbonite is just a one off custom job, not ever to be sold commercially to all of us envious Star Wars nerds.
But I have to say, this desk was done right. I especially love the glowing panel legs. I imagine that if Solo had ended up as a prize for the Emperor instead of Jabba, this is exactly what would have been done with him.
The only thing that would make it better would be if the access panels on the front actually came out and acted as drawers (everything for me has to be functional… I don’t know why).
While I was still lusting after the Han Solo desk I came across yet another welcome Star Wars item, though admittedly not on anywhere near as grand a scale (but hey, at least I can actually buy these)…
Star Wars cellphone alert charms! I love phone charms, an obsession I picked up in Japan (those guys are NUTZ with phone charms, seriously). These might be a little too cumbersome to actually connect to your phone, but there are plenty of other places they could go. Where there’s a will there’s a way.
These little light up do-dads respond to frequencies emitted by your cell phone (only for 800-1600 MHz GSM network handsets). So you can leave your phone on silent, in your bag, and these little guys will light up and spin around when it goes off.
Neat. Sadly I don’t think there is one with Boba Fette, but for use uber-nerds there is one with a Dalek!
Can be bought from Thinkgeek.com for about $10, batteries included
I recently came across Soomi Park’s LED Eyelashes on Gizmodo.
Without knowing anything about Ms. Park’s design philosophy it would be easy to dismiss these as just some weird Asian quirky accessory that a niche subculture would wear when going clubbing (think Japanese Ganguro). As several bloggers and commenters have stated, wearing these would be like a special form of torture for the fairer sex. And they would be. Which isn’t to say I wouldn’t find a way to design them into one of my own costumes. I could think of at least 2 events a year I could wear these to. As noted on Gizmodo, they are strangely hypnotic.
But then I read this on her website: “Her artwork utilizes the increasing banalization of plastic surgery in many countries around the world, including in Korea.”
I then remembered that the number one form of plastic surgery in Japan and Korea is the kind that makes the eye more round. And these LED Eyelashes very obviously change the shape of the eye, at least to the observer.
So it’s not about fashion. It’s art making a statement. So right on Soomi Park!
Here is a video for your viewing pleasure (note: no need to watch the entire video, it’s awfully long… you’ll get it after the first 30 seconds).
I came across these interesting little guys a few weeks ago. Solar powered water purifiers being used in Osaka Japan to keep the canals clean, as well as the moat around Osaka castle.
Trust me, they need it.
These Solar UFOs have been built by Tokyo-based engineering group NTT Facilities. They pump fresh oxygen into the water and spray clean water out of a nozzle at the top of the craft. They can purify 2400 gallons of water each day.
And at night they are lit up with LEDs. Some people may think they’re an eyesore, but they are way better than brown smelly polluted water.
Not very long ago, in a place relatively nearby, a guy named Brian De Vitis totally became my hero. He took his R2D2 cooler and converted it into the ultimate game console. It has eight consoles, a projector and a sound system. And one of those gaming consoles is the Atari 7800 (I totally used to have one of those).
Rad.
I’m not personally a gamer, unless you count the few times a year I find myself in an actual arcade playing Galaga or House of the Dead. It’s really the Star Wars nerd in me that this really speaks to. The only improvement I can think of would be to make some of those controllers wireless.
I just read on Wired’s GadgetLab about a Ramen shop in Nagoya, Japan that uses robots to make “perfect” bowls of ramen.
I never made it to Nagoya but am surprised I didn’t come across this elsewhere in the country. It’s pretty cool, and definitely a novelty to watch, especially the little shows they put on when there is no ramen to make. Though seriously, how hard is it to make a good bowl of ramen? It’s noodles and broth. Sometimes there are toppings. I never had a bad bowl of ramen the whole time I was there. And trust me, I ate a lot of it.
Not that there is anything wrong with pointless technology (or is there?).
TechCrunch points us to this wonderful YouTube vid on teh suck that is AT&T. Given that GadgetMETER’s head honcho is now experiencing the Visual Voicemail hell, it seemed appropos to post this.
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