I’m not much of a chess player. Thanks to my dad I know how the pieces move and I know the rules. Beyond that I’m a pretty hopeless case, but Paul Fryer’s vacuum tube chess set, dubbed Chess Set For Tesla (in honor of the eccentric and enigmatic inventor Nikola Tesla) could possibly inspire me to maybe learn a little bit more about this interesting and intricate game.

The set has electricity running through the board to light up the red and blue tubes, and the tubes actually maintain power for a short time when they are unplugged from the board as you move them. From what I can tell in the photographs each piece has an identifying symbol on the top to indicate which piece you are moving, since apparently only the King and Queen are of unique shapes.

Paul Fryer himself seems to be an interesting character as well. He’s gone from being an electropop singer to transvestite DJ to poet to contemporary artist. After only a few minutes research I discovered most of his art to involve light and electricity. He’s even published a book of poetry with artwork by the controversial Damien Hirst (whose $50 million diamond skull is probably one of my favorite pieces ever). He’s worth a look if you are interested even remotely in contemporary art.

Sadely it’s unlikely that anyone other than the few people Fryer made this custom set for will ever get a chance to use it, or purchase one for themselves. This is art after all, and not a commercial endeavor. Which is really too bad as I know my friend The Neon Cowboy would simply keel over if he ever got to own a chess set that went along with his Tesla tattoo.

Via Wired’s Gadget Lab

Finger Drums

I just love playing the drums. Unfortunately, it is probably the least portable instrument out there. What if we can just miniaturize the drum set. Well, my wish has come true. the Finger Drum Kit lets you rock out with the touch of your fingers. It comes complete with a bass drum kick, cymbal, and toms. You can also record your finger beats and also features a freestyle function.

The Finger Drums also give your fingers excercise burning tons of calories (ok, maybe not that much). Become a rockstar at your office. Too bad it doesn’t come with Finger Groupies. Hmmm…

Via http://www.bluw.com/finger-drums.html

 One of my guilty pleasures is medical shows.  Medical dramas really.  And I’m wondering just how long it will take for one of these gadgets to show up on one of them. 

 It’s called the PediSedate Headset.  It allows a child to play a Gameboy or listen to a portable CD player (?!?!) while simultaneously delivering sedative gas (like nitrous oxide).  Thereby distracting the child from the fact that he/she is being sedated and undergoing medical treatment.

While I think the idea is quite good (even though I have yet to have kids), I think maybe they need to update it to accept an iPod and a PSP.  Seriously, who carries around a CD player?  Do they even make Discmans anymore?  This product’s marketing department needs to get with it.

Regardless, I know I hated going to the hospital when I was a kid.  Fortunately it didn’t happen much.  And given my proclivity towards sci-fi I probably would have dug this thing.  It looks like some kind of underwater breathing apparatus ala James Cameron.

Come to think of it, if I could get a tank of nitrous I could probably think of a few adults that would be into this thing;-)

For details check out the PediSedate website

My girlfriend just got her hands on the new EA Active, a fitness-based game for the Wii that’s intended to provide you a guided workout in the comfort and privacy of your home.  She set it up tonight and gave it the college try.  I got to watch her do her first workout.  Sorry, she wouldn’t let me video it and post it to YouTube (I believe pain of death was mentioned).

The setup is typical Wii simplicity.  You start by creating a fitness profile.  The fitness profile allows you to track progress over time.  Part of the profile creation process is building an avatar that resembles your current body type.  Age, sex, weight, height, etc are all specified in your avatar.

Once you set up EA Active, you can choose from a number of workout options, including preset workout routines.  EA is currently pushing their 30 Day Challenge, which is built into the game.  Since she got the unit for free as part of a nationwide promo to push the 30 Day Challenge, that’s what she’s going through.  The game lets you pick an intensity level for each workout day and they recommend two workout days followed by a rest day.

The game comes with a thigh band and a resistance band.  The thigh band has a pocket that holds the nunchuck to allow the game to track certain activities.  (Hint – the nunchuck goes in upside down).  The resistance band is basically a strap of rubber and a couple of canvas handles that you knot the band into.  If you really get into this, you’re going to probably want to buy heavier bands.

Since it was late when she started, she chose the low intensity workout.  Activities included walking/running, squats, cardio boxing, inline skating, side lunges, shoulder raises, bicep curls, and upright rows.  With the 30 Day Challenge, you get an onscreen trainer to coach and motivate you.  I gotta say that I was ready to kill the trainer after just a few minutes and I wasn’t even doing the exercises.  It would be nice if the trainer’s motivation level could be tuned or even turned off.

Initial impressions of the workout were OK.  Her fitness level is pretty high, so the workout was hardly challenging.  But she’s going to be trying the higher intensity workouts in upcoming days so she’ll have a better idea of how much “work” is involved in the workout.  Also, she felt the amount of guidance concerning proper form and technique could be improved.

I’ll update this post as her 30 Day Challenge continues.

EA Active