Shark Beer Cozies: Drink up, or Be Eaten!

Sharks can be menacing creatures, and beer can be a frequent target of party theft. So it only makes sense that if you don’t want people to mess with your beer, why not protect it with a shark? A shark beer cozy, that is.

shark beer cozy

These amusing handknit shark beer cozies help keep your beer bottle cool, your hand less sweaty, and might scare off those who have eyes on swiping your brewski. Ok, they’re not particularly imposing. In fact, they’re pretty cute, so you might want to keep an extra eye on it so you don’t lose both your beer and your awesome shark cozy while you’re not looking.

purple beer cozy

They’re available in traditional shark grey, and other unlikely shark colors like purple, blue, red and green over at HandaMade’s Etsy shop for $20(USD) each.

blue red beer cozy

Iron Throne Smartphone Dock: Game of Phones

Whether you’re a fan of the Game of Thrones TV series or the A Song of Fire and Ice novels or you’re just willing to admit that your smartphone rules over your time and attention, you’ll love this dock made by Instructables member mstyle183.

game of phones 1

mstyle183 – for this is the manner in which the kingdom’s future blacksmiths are named – originally made the dock for himself, but rightly decided that other people might want one. Whereas he made the original using 3D printing, the docks he’s selling are made via injection molding. Each order is individually painted, though I kind of like its vanilla look.

game of phones 3 175x175
game of phones 2 175x175
game of phones 4 175x175

You can order the dock from mstyle183′s website nuPROTO for $70 (USD). It’s compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4/4S, iPhone 5 and phones that have micro-USB charging ports at the bottom. Although I’m not sure if fatter phones like the Galaxy Note are fit to sit on this throne.

[via Instructables via Nerd Approved]

Chase Down Some Power Pills with a Ms. Pac-Man Latte

I like my lattes with plenty of sweetener in them, but I think that I’d be fine with a dose of power pills instead of sugar or aspartame if that’s what they’re serving these days.

ms pac man latte

This Ms. Pac-Man latte was carefully composed by expert barista Andrew Alcala (aka MonkDrew), who clearly knows his way around a cup of espresso and some foamy milk.

While he hasn’t made a whole lot of other geeky lattes, he does have a nice Triforce and a couple of awesome dragons among his many other creative beverage designs. I can only imagine such artistry slows down the line at the coffee shop a little bit.

DIY Doctor Who TARDIS Model Actually Made Bigger on the Inside

Next to its modest exterior, the second most notable thing about the time and space machine in Doctor Who is that it’s way bigger on the inside. It’s relatively easy to make a model or even a life-sized replica of its facade, but a clever fellow has managed to make a tiny TARDIS that looks bigger on the inside.

tardis augmented reality replica by greg kumparak

The replica was made by writer/DW fan/clever fellow Greg Kumparak. Initially he just wanted to make a small model of the TARDIS out of wood. After adding a working light on its roof, Greg thought he was really done with the project when an idea came to him: add an interior. Which is why he ended up not making an interior – at least, not a real one. I don’t want to spoil Greg’s neat handiwork, so just watch the video below to see what he did.

Teleport to Greg’s website for more details about his cool project.

[via TechCrunch]

Merrio Christmas!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to one and all! While here on Earth, your presents should have been delivered under the tree by a fat, bearded man who came down the chimney and ate your cookies (boy that sounds a bit creepy when I say it that way), if you happen to live in the Mushroom Kingdom, Santa has a unique way of delivering presents.

merrio christmas

He’s also much skinner than I remember him. I wonder what’s in the box? I sure hope it’s not another lousy gold coin. The value of gold isn’t what it once was in the Kingdom. I blame King Koopa and his economic policies. I was really hoping for a Fire Flower this year. Or maybe a Tanooki suit.

Thanks to Metin Seven of Seven’s Heaven for sending along this Merrio Christmas illustration. Be sure to check out his site for more great graphic design and illustrations.

Holy Crap, This Nixie Clock is Cool

There’s just something so cool about the design of Nixie tubes – I think it’s just that for such an old technology, they’re still sort of timeless. It’s been a little while since I saw a really good looking Nixie clock though, but this one was definitely worth the wait.

lamina nixie clock 1

The extraordinary Lamina Nixie Clock was handcrafted by artist Zoltan Acs using walnut and maple woods, along with brass gears and disks to give it a look all its own. The designer says it’s a combination of Art Deco, Industrial and Steampunk, and I think he nailed the description. He forgot to mention that it’s just freakin’ good looking.

lamina nixie clock 2

This thing looks just as cool from the back as it does from the front.

lamina nixie clock 3

The clock uses antique Russian Nixie vacuum tubes, along with a cool blue LED glow to make them look like they’re floating in some sort of test chambers. And even better yet, it’s got an alarm function, so you could put this thing by your bedside and wake up to it every morning.

Of course, all of this intricate craftsmanship comes at a cost. The Lamina Nixie clock is listed for €1,100.00 (~$1500 USD), which means that most of us will just have to admire it from afar. But if you’ve got deep pockets, you can purchase this amazing work of functional art over on Etsy now.

Geeky Christmas Trees Through the Ages

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of fun and inspired Christmas trees based on video games, science fiction and other pop culture memes. So I figured that this holiday season, I’d put together a compilation of some of my favorites of all time.

pac man christmas tree 2

Pac Man Christmas Tree – Madrid, Spain – Wocka, Wocka, Wocka!

godzilla christmas tree

Godzilla Christmas Tree – Tokyo, Japan: Shoppers, run for your lives!

cthulhu christmas tree

Cthulhu Christmas Tree: I’m H.P. Lovecrafting it!

portal christmas tree

Portal Christmas Tree: Fruitcake and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test.

robot built christmas tree

Robots Build a Christmas Tree – Only Nieman Marcus could afford this rig.

dalek christmas tree

Dalek Christmas Tree: Your presents have been exterminated.

minecraft christmas tree

Minecraft Christmas Tree: Unfortunately, the boxes are filled with creepers.

tesla christmas tree

Tesla Coil Christmas Tree: Santa in his jolly red Faraday suit.

super mario 2 christmas tree

Super Mario Bros. 2 Christmas Tree: What ever happened to King Wart anyhow?

katamari christmas tree

Katamari Christmas Tree: Deck the Balls!

Pretty great, eh? Can you guys think of other geeky Christmas trees you’ve seen? If so, post them in the comments below and spread the joy this holiday season.

Great Scott! LEGO Back to the Future Set Gets Official

Despite numerous unofficial builds, fans have been waiting for an honest to god authentic Back to the Future LEGO set for years. And now it looks like we will get our wish thanks to LEGO crowdsourcing site Cuusoo. LEGO has announced that an official BTTF is now in the works.
lego bttf
The Back to the Future Cuusoo campaign was launched over a year ago by a team of LEGO builders, and since then the project has gathered over 10,000 supporters, and was selected by LEGO out of its Summer 2012 review of Cuusoo finalists. Three sets were proposed in the original campaign, including a standard DeLorean from BTTF with a Marty figure, skateboard, and a Doc figure. The DeLorean with hover modification from BTTF2 along with Marty, a hoverboard, and Doc in his future outfit. There was also a western-themed BTTF3 set. At this point, we don’t know which version LEGO will release. The set will be called the 21103 Back to the Future Time Machine.

I’m betting it will be the standard DeLorean, though it would be awesome if LEGO included parts for you to reconfigure it into different versions. The final model will become available sometime in mid 2013, so we’ll have to wait a while to see the final model.

One other cool tidbit about this model. Since Cuusoo contributors get a 1% commission on any LEGO sets sold that come out of the process, and Team BTTF has decided to donate their earnings to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

[via Geek]

Gingerbread Mars Rover: Candy Curiosity

I think we just made a huge discovery. Mars is made out of candy. It’s also apparently in a parallel universe where it is flat and in someone’s house, next to their stairs.
mars rover
This geeky cake was made by Kevin Isacsson, head chef of the Athaneum, Caltech’s fancy private dining club in Pasadena. I guess that means you have to be a big deal to even lay eyes on this thing in person. Well, I don’t want to be a member of any place that wouldn’t have me. Please, please let me in! I promise not to touch it – especially not with my tongue!

This edible Mars Rover features pinwheel cookie wheels connected with black licorice, sugared LEGO “gears” and gumdrop and M&M “buttons.” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab even loaned Isacsson a model of Curiosity to help him get all of the details right. It took him about 10 days to finish. If you look closely, you’ll see one detail that the actual Curiosity hasn’t discovered yet – Martians.

[via That’s Nerdalicious]

Darth Vader Gets Upcycled: The Junk Side of the Force

We’re so used to seeing Darth Vader dressed in all black, but his iconic helmet really works well no matter what color it’s done in. Heck, even Hello Kitty Vader was pretty imposing. But I think that this version of Vader, built out of old bits of reclaimed electronics and other junk looks really awesome.

recycled vader 1

I kind of wish that when they peeled back the helmet on Vader in Return of the Jedi, this is what they would have found underneath instead of Sebastian Shaw. I can’t tell for sure what all of the components came from, but there’s definitely some old adding machine and typewriter keys, circuit boards, gears and resistors on this handmade helmet.

recycled vader 2

It was created by Indiana artist Gabriel Dishaw, who has a love for making sculptures from found junk. The Darth Vader helmet is selling for $800(USD) over on Etsy now. While that may seem like a lot of money, I’m betting that Vader’s actual helmet cost him just as much.

recycled vader 3