Hasta La Gadget!

Growing up I always liked the action scenes in the Star Wars movies much more than I liked the romance parts. For instance, I do recall the scene in The Empire Strikes Back when Leia tells Han that she loves him for the first time. To whit, Han replies with the infamous “I know.” (Then Chewie howls and Han is lowered into a vat of carbonite.)

If you are a well dressed Star Wars fan that needs some cufflinks that show off your geeky side, ThinkGeek has them. They are called, appropriately enough, the I Love You / I Know cufflinks. As you might guess, the links have a black and white image of Leia on one with the “I Love You.” printed underneath. The other has a shot of Han, everyone’s favorite scoundrel, and says “I know”.

The cufflinks are officially licensed from Lucasfilm and are rhodium-plated on the base with enamel and measure 3/4-inch square. You can pick these cufflinks up for $59.99(USD).

I always wonder what became of paddle controllers. You know, like the ones that you used to play the Atari 2600 with back in the day. There are certain types of games – especially paddle ball and driving games – that lend themselves well to the single-axis analog control these primitive input devices provided. Well even if you can’t play your PS3 or Xbox 360 with a paddle, you can still have paddle controllers in your life, albeit as jewelry, not to play games with.

These nifty little Atari 2600 paddle stud earrings were created by Catrina’s Toybox as a follow-up to her equally nifty Atari 2600 joystick earrings. These tiny paddles measure about 1cm in length, and are handmade from polymer clay and resin – along with a tiny Atari paddle sticker for added detail.

They’re also available as somewhat larger (1″ long) cufflinks, so guys and girls can both get in on the retro paddle action. I always wanted to play Super Breakout in formalwear, didn’t you?

Perhaps the niftiest thing about these mini paddle controllers is that they actually turn from side-to-side. You have to be careful with them and not spin them all the way around, as they are delicate. Not that I didn’t break one or two actual Atari 2600 paddle controllers in my time.

Both the paddle controller earrings and the cufflinks go for $25(USD) a pair – which, coincidentally is about what you’ll pay for a pair of real paddle controllers. Be sure to check out Catrina’s Etsy shop for many more great geeky jewelry items to add to your collection – including some great Hostess Twinkie earrings, sure to last about as long as the actual snack cakes.

Wearing a pair of cufflinks makes you feel as though you are smarter compared to having a pair of buttons making sure the end of those sleeves remain close together. While there are plenty of cufflinks in the market, just which one suits your personality the best? I would say that if you are the tech savvy kind, then you might want to check out what the $127.99 iCufflinks offers – it looks absolutely gorgeous being made out of machined aluminium, where it will come complete with pulsating LED. The LED itself will be powered by a CR1220 battery which is said to last up to 72 hours, and it is also totally programmable to do your bidding.

Just what kind of “pulsing” pattern can you expect from the iCufflinks? It is said to be the same as that of the “breathing” LED pattern which can be found on majority of notebooks and desktops. The default pattern has been reverse engineered from Apple’s “breathing” LED which can be found on Macs, MacBooks, and iMacs amongst others, leaving me to wonder whether there is a possibility of Thinkgeek being served up a cease and desist letter from the legal eagles over at Apple.

[ iCufflinks make you look smarter than you already are copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]