Hasta La Gadget!

It looks like modded rocking chairs are getting more popular this year. First, it was Damien Ludi and Colin Peillex’s Rocking-Knit chair that knitted while you rocked. And now it’s the iRock.

If you’re not into knitting but love rocking anyways, then maybe the iRock is more up your alley.

Using the energy produced by your rocking movement, the iRock charges up your iPad up to 35% for every hour of rocking. It’s also got a pair of speakers built into the headrest and a 25W-per-channel amp.

The chair itself is made from Swedish oak and pine and is available in five colors, including white, black, green, cyan and magenta. The iRock is pretty pricey at $1,300(USD), but what did you expect from a chair with a built-in iPad dock and sound station?

[via Yanko Design]

Falling asleep while studying is a rite of passage for students of higher learning, so why shouldn’t college libraries install desks that made the occasional nap a bit more comfortable? Everyone from MIT to NYU should be calling up Russian designer Yaroslav Misonzhnikov and asking to buy his wonderful work desk with a secret spot for snoozing. More »

In the days before Sky Mall and Hammacher Schlemmer, Americans had just one option to purchase their gimmicky gadgets—late night TV. Whether you needed a vacuum-equipped razor, an in-the-shell egg scrambler, or the best damn rotisserie $19.95 could buy, all you had to do was pick up the phone. Our friends at Oobject have collected nine of the coolest products you never knew you couldn’t live without. More »

3D printing is the bee’s knees, but we’re not printing our masterpieces yet – 3D printed essays! Yeah! – because 3D printers are still quite expensive, and of course 3D modeling isn’t exactly common knowledge. Virginia Tech has a solution for the former problem: the Dream Vendor.

The Dream Vendor resides in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. It doesn’t sell its services because anyone can use the machine for free. The Dream Vendor is made up of four Thing-O-Matics, an old model of 3D printers from MakerBot. Instead of money, users insert an SD card containing the 3D template and the Dream Vendor – which we now realize is misnamed – will print the object.

I wonder if it’s possible to print another Dream Vendor part-by-part.

[Virginia Tech via Reddit & Gizmowatch]

A little bit goes a long way, and a little bit of loose change adds up. But what if you’ve got a handful of coins in different currencies that you’ve accumulated from your travels, just sitting in a jar at home?

That’s one predicament the Add Up concept wants to try to eliminate. It’s basically a tiny exchange box with a lot that you can drop all your loose change in, whatever the currency. It then converts the amount to your domestic currency, which you can then add to your online accounts to get phone or Skype credits. Think CoinStar, but multicurrency.

Now this is an awesome way to put all that loose change to good use. The Add Up concept was thought up by Fan Cheng Kuei, Deng Pei Chih, and Hsieh Tsai Ni.

[via Yanko Design]