Hasta La Gadget!

When my son was really small I probably pushed him 1000 miles in his red and yellow Little Tykes Cozy Coupe. I also flopped over the top of that little car a few times when the front wheels randomly stopped working at speed. If you have fond memories of these little toy cars, you might want to check out the street-legal version you can ride in now that you are grown up.

The car was made by a guy named John Bitmead. The builder says that he spent 1000 hours and about £4,000 (~$6m500 USD) on the project. The car started out as a Daewoo Matiz, has an 800cc engine inside of it and is street legal. It has a top speed of 70mph.

I don’t see how this thing can actually be street legal. I wouldn’t want to be in an accident in this thing, even though it has airbags. Check out the videos to see the car in action.

[via Daily Mail and Geekologie]

Growing up my grandmother had a round rock inside her flowerbed. She had carted around that rock for eleventy billion years, otherwise known as her childhood. My brother and I used to bowl with it because it was round and pissed off our grandmother. Once day we broke the rock in half, which wasn’t as hard as it might sound, and realized it was a geode.

I have had a soft spot of wonder for geodes since then. An artist named Skullis creates life-size hand-carved skulls out geodes and they are awesome. It looks like a prop from an Indiana Jones flick. Each skull is intricately carved and is open on the top showing the crystals inside the skull.

Someone already bought this particular geode skull for $1560(USD), and I would say that is money well spent. If you’d like a carved skull of your own, be sure to check out Skullis’ online shop, which has many other stone and crystal skulls available for purchase in a variety of sizes and price points. The black obsidian one is especially impressive:

[via Lost at E Minor via Laughing Squid]

Can you believe that it has been 30 years this June since the release of Ghostbusters? Nowadays, we can’t imagine a world without them. LEGO likes them too and has agreed to produce video game artist Brent Waller’s LEGO set after it got over 10,000 supporters on LEGO Cuusoo.

That is amazing news for LEGO and Ghostbusters fans alike. However, it’s a good news, bad news kind of thing. Only the Ecto-1 and the minifigs are being made for now, not the awesome firehouse HQ.  Also, I’d doubt that the final version will light up like the awesome mockup shown here. Well, you can’t have everything.

At least we will have some kick ass Ghostbusters minifigs. Although Spengler does look a bit like Harry Potter, as others are saying. Still, it’s a win for geeks everywhere.

Now all we need is a Stay Puft marshmallow man set…

[LEGO Cuusoo Blog via Gizmodo]

I have always thought swords were pretty cool. In fact, I used to take fencing, if only because no one taught kendō in my area. If you have ever picked up a stick and started a mock sword fight with someone, you know that your foes tend to become liars quickly. Even if their knuckles are bleeding, they will deny being hit by your sword/stick.

Sabertron is working on a new sword fighting system that takes away the ability for your opponent to lie in this way. The swords keep track of hits and can tell the difference between a person and another sword. According to its makers:

Sabertron uses wireless communications to determine when two swords have clashed. If a player strikes the ground, the microcontroller can ignore the strike because the sword is tilted down at an angle. If a player strikes a tree, a bystander, or the player’s self, the microcontroller will detect those objects as the opponent. This is a limitation and players must agree to be honest. This limitation will be removed in follow-on products that support Melee Mode, by utilizing proximity detection circuits. It is possible that the initial reward product supports this mode, depending on the production changes to bring Sabertron to the masses, but is not guaranteed.

Each sword comes complete with sound effects and LED lights that count down the points until victory or defeat. Initially, you’ll only be able to get versions looks like a lightsaber, but if they should exceed $500,000 in orders, they’ll also offer a medieval blade. Down the road, they hope to release accessories that allow for multiplayer melee battles.

If you want a pair, you’ll need to pledge at least $125(USD) over on Kickstarter to get in on the sword-swinging action when they launch. Delivery is estimated for Fall 2014.

This LEGO model of the Motorized Patriot from Bioshock Infinite is a testament to the technical prowess and power of Carl Merriam. He made it as part of his Iron Builder battle with Pepa Quin, who if I remember correctly is another famous and talented LEGO enthusiast.

Fukui-san! Sky-Hook to Carl’s Flickr page to see the LEGO Motorized Patriot in all its glory.

[via The Brothers Brick]