Ever wonder why the World War II British slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On"
has surfaced some 70 years later to become today’s most ubiquitous meme? Not
only has the Internet been cyberventillating variations on the theme online for
over a year now, one can find t-shirts and other memorabilia easily
accessible for purchase in the real world.
Games are meant to take your mind off reality. People play games to distract themselves from the million and one problems they’re currently having at work or in their business. However, the Urban Renewal board game probably won’t be much of a game for you if you work as a city councilor or developer. That’s because the game is all about challenging and sometimes exciting world of urban renewal.
While it doesn’t sound like as much fun as SimCity, visual artist Flavio Trevisan’s game allows players to “do all the things that are done in a modern city’s cut-throat planning office.”
The game requires each player to take on a certain role, ranging from city councilors and the man on the street (aka the bystander) to the developer and the skyscraper enthusiast. Players can choose to demolish the failed urban experiments in their block in order to rebuild it to become the ideal city.
However, this is one game that will never end. According to Trevisan: “Continue playing until all players have left the game in pursuit of other interests.”
The Game of Urban Renewal was one of the pieces exhibited at this year’s Museum of the Represented City, which is an exhibition of Trevisan’s work. The cool thing is that the ‘Special Regent Park Edition’ of the game is available for purchase at the exhibit’s gift shop.
[via Pop Up City]
You’ve tried all sorts of cocktails and added all kinds of fruits, vegetables and tiny umbrellas to your drink. Why not add a shot of technology to the mix? LiteCubes are freezable nontoxic plastic 1″ blocks that light up. This has to be a rave party staple.
Each LiteCube contains an FDA-approved freezable gel. You can use LiteCubes to keep your drinks cool without watering them down. But the star in each cube is the LED. LiteCubes come in single or multicolored variants. You can set the light to glow steadily, flash slowly or at a seizure-inducing pace. You can also turn the LED off, which you should do after ever party. The lithium battery inside is not user-replaceable and is only guaranteed to last up to 12 hours.
You can order LiteCubes from a variety of places. Amazon has a 9-block sampler pack for about $19 (USD), but you can also order from OnlyCubes for $1.45-$1.65 per block or DirectGlow for discounted wholesale purchases.
It’s very rare that I print anything out from my digital communications today. I haven’t printed an e-mail in months and the last time I did print was because my insurance company e-mailed me new cards. One of the great things about all the digital communications we have today is we can save paper and be greener. If you’re not the green sort and you prefer to have printed versions of some your digital communications the Berg Little Printer is now available for pre-order.
The small square thermal printer will be on the market within 60 days and you can pre-order it right now for $259 (USD). We talked about this device last November when it first debuted, but the launch day and pricing details were unknown at the time. The software the device runs has been tweaked to allow users to print content and feeds from Google and Foursquare and a variety of other places.
I wonder if the thermal printer paper it uses has to be special ordered or if you can just pick it up at your typical office supply store like adding machine tape. It’s a cute concept, but I think the price is quite expensive for what amounts to a networked thermal printer.
I’m not a morning person. Never was one and probably never will be, but I began to doubt that (just a little) when I saw the Shoot to Snooze alarm clock.
The idea isn’t completely novel, but the execution seems pretty good, thanks to the addition of Nerf. Basically, what you’ll get out of the box is this black, cube-shaped alarm clock that’s got targets positioned on each of its faces. Set your alarm time, then stow your Nerf gun below your pillow so you can just grab it and shoot straight away the next morning.
Hit the bullseye to shut the alarm off and score a couple more minutes of Zzz’s. If you’re a terrible shooter, then fret not because you’ll still win in the end. After all, an alarm clock is meant to wake you up and get you out of bed, right?
Shoot to Snooze will be available soon from Gadget Grotto for £14.99 (~$24 USD)
[via Gizmodo]
It’s early on Monday so you’ll excuse me for getting excited about an HTML5/Javascript-based GameBoy Color emulator that runs entirely within the browser without plugins. While this sort of thing isn’t new – you’ve been able to play NES games in Java for years – and this emulator is a bit old, it’s still a cool proof of concept.
In short, the Javascript emulates a Z80 processor and runs the GameBoy ROMs fast enough that the user experiences no lag. The HTML5 handles the display itself, managing animation speed for the browser. You can even download the source right here. It’s no cure for cancer, but it’s pretty cute.
Who has two thumbs and wants to play some Megaman on a summer morning while you should be working on your TPS reports? All of us.
Almost everything can be turned into a weapon. I think that much is clear if you’ve seen footage of prison brawls, where anything from spoons to toothbrushes can be deadly objects. How much more if prisoners somehow manage to grab an officer’s pen?
Of course, they came prepared: with these Stab-Resistant Prison Pens.
I’m not sure if these are the exact same ones that they use in prisons, but I’m pretty sure their pens have the same ‘stab-resistant’ feature. Which is, they bend this way and that when someone tries to use them to stab somebody.
So if you have some sort of phobia that has something to do with getting stabbed by a pen, then you’d better carry only these types of pens in your home and in your office.
A pack of five Stab-Resistant Prison Pens are available from ThinkGeek for $5.99(USD).
[via The Green Head]
If you’ve lived where you’ve lived your entire life, then things could start to get boring. There are no new places left to explore anymore and you’ll feel like you’ve been everywhere and done everything there is to do in your hometown. If you feel this way, then you need Drift.
All you need is an iOS device and this app, and you’re all set to “get lost” and immerse yourself in your familiar surroundings in a totally new way.
The app basically works like a scavenger hunt of sorts, as it directs you to go this way and that to find random objects, based on the descriptions it’s giving you. In other words, you’ll be drifting along with Drift to explore and really “see” places you’ve been looking at your whole life.
Go ahead and start exploring your own little world today. You can go get lost here.
[via Pop Up City]
You won’t see phone booths as creative or as colorful as the ones you’ll find in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Typically, phone booths are made to look plain so they’ll blend in with the surroundings, and only the people actually looking for them will be able to really “see” them.
Well, not anymore.
Brazilian telco Vivo decided it was time to cast these telephone booths into the spotlight once and for all. To do so, they launched the Call Parade public art project, where they paired off 100 phone booths with a hundred artists.
The result is crazy amazing, and the phone booths are literally transformed into public displays of art.
Personally, I like the one with the pencil the best. Check out the full gallery of phone booths here (along with maps of their locations,) and tell me, which one’s your favorite?
[via This is Colossal]
I am a huge fan of The Walking Dead on AMC. I think this is one of the best shows on TV and Universal Studios Hollywood has just announced an epic new Halloween adventure that will kick off in late September. Universal Studios Hollywood has announced the “Terror Tram Invaded by The Walking Dead.” Passengers aboard the tram will get to scoot around the famous Universal Studios back lot as Walkers wander around.
The Terror Tram isn’t the only attraction besieged by Walkers. Universal Studios will also unveil an immersive maze called “The Walking Dead: Dead Inside.” The maze is based on the series and presumably, there will be Walkers rambling about inside a maze as visitor’s attempts to get out. This sounds so much better than a haunted house.
The back lot scene for Terror Tram is a rural setting with a small town that has been devastated by a horrific plane crash. The maze for the Dead Inside attraction are described as movie quality. There are other mazes include “Welcome to Silent Hill” based on the popular video game franchise and a maze by rock star Alice Cooper called “Alice Cooper Goes to Hell 3D.”
The event will also have a maze based on a Latin American legend called “La Llorona: Cazadora de Ninos.” Halloween Horror Nights starts on Friday, September 21 and goes on during select nights through Halloween. If you’re a fan of The Walking Dead, the season premiere is set for Sunday, October 14.
Universal Studios Hollywood Terror Tram gets invaded by The Walking Dead is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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