Home / 2011

• Retro Mouse Has Modern Functionality

  In Computers, Gadgets, Geeky

  

  Ah, the old three-button mouse of yore… Things were simpler back in the days when games came on 5.25-inch floppies. This retro mouse looks the part, but comes with an optical sensor instead of an annoying, dust-collecting ball. Price: $19.99

   

• Ridekick Makes Any Bike Electric

  In Transportation

  

  If you want to ride a bike without having to exercise too much, you might want to check out the Ridekick. It works with just about any bicycle: you hook it up to your back wheel and let it trail behind you – and enjoy a 1hp boost thanks to its 500 W, 1 hp motor. The Ridekick comes with a handlebar-mounted control system that lets you adjust the amount of boost, so you could [...]

   

• Eat a Horse, Can You? This Spaghetti Measurer Has You Covered

  In Housewares

  

  If you find figuring out how much spaghetti you need to cook for a meal, you might want to take a look at this Icelandic spaghetti measurer. It starts with a kids’ portion and ends with a horse-sized portion. Available in green plastic, white plastic and stainless steel. Price: About $17 [Book of Joe]

   

• R2-D2 Does Hanukkah [Droidel]

  In Geeky, Toys

  

  All you need to make this cute papercraft R2-D2 dreidel is some glue, tape, scissors, card stock and a pencil or straw. It looks like fun for everyone; regardless of religion or lack thereof. [StarWars.com [pdf] via Chip Chick]

   

• The Large Hadron Collider Scaled Down in Lego

  In DIY, Science

  

  Sasha Melhase, a physicist at Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen put together this 1:50 scale model of the Large Hadron Collider in order to promote it to students. The total build time was 81 hours, 48 of which was spent in planning. That’s fast for a project of that size. He had some help from his wife and a few students, who helped him sort the 9,500 bricks and put them all [...]

   

• The Biggest Eye of Sauron Back Tattoo You Will See All Day

  In Geeky

  

  The tattoo that you see above is on the back of the husband of Boards.ie member whoopsadaisydoodles. We can agree that it looks pretty awesome, let’s hope that whoopsadaisydoodles and spouse still feel that way in twenty years. [Geekologie]

   

• Fedex Package Thrower Caught on Tape [video]

  In Videos, Wired Madness

  

  For know apparent reason, the Fedex delivery guy in this video delivers a flat screen monitor to its intended recipient by throwing it over a fence. Luckily for all concerned, except maybe the delivery man in question, the incident was caught on tape. There is no word on any aftermath from the incident in question but I’m guessing that the guy who bought the monitor will get a new one, courtesy of Fedex, and the [...]

   

• Anti-SOPA Plug-ins Let You Prepare for the Worst

  In Internet

  

  While the SOPA legislation is worrying to say the least, there are a couple of Firefox workarounds that will allow you to visit the sites you want to see regardless of whether big brother believes you should be there or not. The first, DeSopa, allows users to bypass a US-based DNS restrictions and access a site through foreign DNS servers using the target site’s IP address. The second, the provocatively titled “The Pirate Bay Dancing”, [...]

   

• Nerf Bow Tooth Extraction [video]

  In Toys, Videos, Wired Madness

  

  This little kid proves his bad-ass credentials by removing one of his (loose) teeth by tying it to a Nerf arrow and firing it across the room. While it is not quite as spectacular as the rocket-aided tooth extraction we saw a while back, there would seem to be more potential for things to go painfully wrong so probably required more in the way of guts. [Geekologie]

   

• The Least Healthy Christmas Tree You Will See All Day [Bacon Tree]

  In Videos, Wired Madness

  

  The folks at Epic Mealtime have created a 216,960 calorie meat tree, just in time for Christmas. The tree was built from over 2000 strips of bacon, and is decorated with cheeseburger ornaments and chicken nugget tinsel. I would say that I hope that their creations don’t just go to waste, but judging from the expanding waistlines of the assembled cast and the unhealthy pallor of their leader, I’m guessing two things: that most of [...]

   

• Google Advises Caution on Walking to Mordor, Gives Directions

  In Geeky, Internet

  

  Everyone knows that one does not simply walk into Mordor, but did they know that Mordor was to be found in London, in a rocker and goth-friendly club called The Intrepid Fox? Well, Google did, and they were kind enough to point out that the route has tolls – unless you take the bus. Hit the link to check out what happens when you type “The Shire” into the A box, and “Mordor” into the [...]

   

• IQ Test in a Box

  In Geeky

  

  If you ever wanted to know your IQ but were too afraid to sit down and take a supervised test (and don’t trust all of those Internet-based testers with your personal details) you might want to take a look into this home test kit. In addition to the sealed test it comes with some practice puzzles and brain trainers – which are handy if you have never taken an IQ test before. Price: $19.99