Hasta La Gadget!

Life gets a whole easier if you have good friends by your side. By that I mean real friends, not fake ones that you can now rent for a fee from companies like Client Partners [JP].

The firm is based in Japan and offers ‘friend’ rental services to the lonely, bored, or curious. While it might sound pretty sad for the rest of us who were able to make friends and keep them without having to pay them for their time, the service is apparently a godsend for those who aren’t able to do so themselves.

As proof of that, here’s a testimony from one happy client who rented two female ‘friends’ to go out with him:

Last summer, one lonely 25 year-old named Kouichi (not his real name) rented two female friends to go to a dance club for ¥30,000 (~$341 USD). For a part time worker like Kouichi, that’s a hefty fee. But he ended up having a great time.

“There’s a feeling of security when you are accepted unconditionally,” Kouichi said, adding it was better to pay for friends than getting rejected.

To each their own, I suppose.

[Kotaku via Geekologie via OhGizmo!]

There’s literally tons of Angry Birds merch on the market, and most of it is pretty craptastic. But these Angry Birds characters that open up like Transformers are brilliant.

While I’m thinking that they’re neither official Angry Birds nor Transformers merchandise, that doesn’t make them any less awesome. They were spotted by “The Hong Kong Toy Man” Victor Wong, and they’re just perfect. Now somebody just needs to buy me some for my desk.

[Toy People via TOYSREVIL on Facebook]

Everybody loves bacon. This love has spawned the creation of dozens of bacon-themed foods and condiments, as well as bacon-themed art like the Baconsaurus and Kevin Bacon the Bacon. The latest addition to the Bacon Hall of fame is the Puff the Bacon Dragon.

This dragon-shaped piece of bacon is currently up for sale on eBay, where seller aboadon calls it a ‘highly collectible’ piece of pork. He’s also asking for a pretty hefty amount for the ‘naturally shaped’ bacon dragon: $1,000.

From his listing:

Attention Collectors, Bacon and/or Dragon Lovers! I Present you The legendary “Bacon Dragon” – born November 9, 2012 in Phoenix, AZ. One of a kind formation, The bacon has spoken! This bacon art has not been treated with anything nor manipulated to its form. This is perfect for your dragon or bacon collection!

While we have no doubt about the awesomeness of the dragon, we’re not fans of the crazy price tag. You’ll probably have more luck spending that amount buying 200 packs of bacon at the grocery store and cooking each piece until you find a cool shape. At least you’ll get to eat the bacon and maybe find a dragon or dinosaur-shaped one in the process.

[via Obvious Winner]

I think they had the right idea when they began making sporks and including these hybrid utensils in packs of instant noodles. However, they left a lot to be desired, especially since they didn’t really do a good job when it came to actually scooping up soup or noodles.

That is, until now.

Some folks finally saw fit to reinvent the spork and come up with a utensil that is actually useful. The spork you see here looks more likely to be able to perform its functions as both a spoon and as a fork, doesn’t it? While it was specifically designed for eating ramen noodles and soup, it could also come in handy for pasta and other saucy dishes.

The Ramen Spoon+Fork is available from Uncommon Goods for $14 (USD).

Now excuse me while I go fix up a bowl of instant noodles…

[via Bit Rebels]

As we already know, prisoners can be very inventive with all of that time they have on their hands. Now, it turns out that inmates at one prison have been using a very sly and clever way to sneak contraband tools and gadgets in – using a cat.

According to the Associated Press, guards at a medium-security prison in Brazil grew suspicious when they saw a cat sauntering around the prison grounds on New Years Eve. When the cat was captured, they found a cellphone, drills, small saws and other contraband taped to its body.

They don’t know which inmate(s) are responsible for the tom-cat-foolery, and they’ll probably never know for sure, since their cat conspirator isn’t saying a word. There’s no word on the status of the mischievous feline, who remains in the custody of animal control, but hopefully it will be put up for adoption.

[via Digg on Twitter and G1]