Hasta La Gadget!

When it’s your wife’s birthday, you don’t just give her a present you buy from the store. You make her a present that she can’t get anywhere else, because it’s her birthday and you want to make her happy and wow her with your creativity and thoughtfulness.

That’s not a generally-applied rule, of course, but it’s one that Reddit contributor XsimonbelmontX aka Brandon apparently lives by. Brandon knew that his wife’s favorite video game was Fallout. So he set out to create a customized and one-of-a-kind Fallout version of Monopoly.

He painted over a regular Monopoly board and added Fallout-inspired locations, replacing the coveted Boardwalk property with Tenpenny Tower. Instead of paper money, the official currency is a range of bottle caps, from a $1 Nuka-Cola Quartz up to a $500 Sunset Sarsaparilla Star piece.

The game pieces received a makeover, too. Brandon melted a bunch of superhero and Army men action figures to create Liberty Prime. The Pip-Boy figure, meanwhile, required over 20 different plastics to put together.

Even the ‘Chance’ and ‘Community’ cards weren’t left untouched, as Brandon created new Vault-Tec cards to add a number of twists and turns that a typical game of Monopoly wouldn’t normally have.But then again, there’s nothing typical about this game.

Obviously, Brandon’s wife loved it. She posted a comment on Reddit, saying: “This is the best present I have ever (and probably will ever) receive.”

Guys, the bar has been raised yet again.

[via C|NET]

Back in February, we mentioned some cool build-your-own iPhone remote control Brick Cars from Utico that had landed in Japan. These cars let you drive around using your iPhone or other Apple gadget as a controller and you get to build the car as well. When they first surfaced they were only available in Japan and were priced at about $43 each.

If you thought those little LEGO-style remote control cars were really cool, you’ll be glad to hear that you can now buy them in the United States via iHelicopters.net. The downside is that the price has increased with the little kits now selling for $59.95 (USD).

There is a Mini Brick car kit and a Mini Brick Van kits to choose from. Both allow you to customize the design of the vehicle to suit your style. While they’re too small to use with LEGO bricks, they’re actually compatible with Nanoblocks building blocks.

The kits use wireless connectivity with a control range of 20 to 30 m. Charge time for the transmitter is 60 minutes for 120 minutes of play and charge time for the car itself is 20 minutes for 10 minutes of play. The control app is available free on the iTunes app store right now.

It doesn’t take a computer engineer to be intrigued by the appearance of printed circuit boards, the foundation and highway for the hundreds of electronic components that make our electronic devices function. Thier cryptic yet functional arrangement – like an alien city viewed from above – inspired designer Lukas Scherrer to make the Memory Rug.

As with many carpets, the Memory Rug has repeating patterns and elements, only in this case its parts resemble processors, conductive pathways and the like. But unlike a real circuit board the Memory Rug is made of nothing but wool felt.

I wonder if it’s upgradable.

[via MOCO LOCO]

Everyone needs a place to stow the stuff that fills their pockets. As for myself, I tend to leave my keys in my pockets at all times, because I’ve forgotten them before, my smartphone is near me most of the day, and I usually keep my wallet on a cupboard in my bedroom. However, the Butler looks like a good centralized location for all of your stuff so you don’t lose track of it.

Designed by Curtis Micklish, the wall-mounted Butler will fit your wallet and keys in its top cubby, and your smartphone on the side slot, letting it do double-duty as a clock. There’s a concealed space for your charging cord, glasses, hats, scarves, or whatever other items you absolutely need to carry with you during the day. The backside has a section to route your charging cord and extension cord, in case your are mounting it farther away from an outlet.

While the default slot will hold any iPhone, you can also order it for a Samsung Galaxy if you’d like.

The Butler is available from Curtis’ Etsy store for $170 (USD).

[via FancyCrave]

While I’m sure most of you never had the *cough* pleasure of actually playing a game with the Nintendo/Mattel Power Glove, you can certainly pick a working one up over on eBay if you’ve got about $100 kicking around. But why would you want to play such a mediocre game as Super Glove Ball, when you can bake some Super Mario Bros. cookies instead?

With Fangamer’s Power Mitt, you’ll be cooking with gas! The searing heat of baking sheets stands no chance against this Power Glove inspired oven mitt, designed by Jon Kay. And just like the original, you’re pretty much SOL if you’re left-handed. Though Fangamer is at least considering a version for lefties if there’s enough demand. Or if you’re Fred Savage.

The Power Mitt is just $15(USD) over at Fangamer.