Hasta La Gadget!

TigerDirect has been teasing for a while that Bitcoin payments would be turning up. That day has come with the retailer announcing this week that it is now accepting Bitcoin as payment for any of the items it sells.

TigerDirect sells a wide variety of computer hardware, displays and gadgets among other things. The payment processor for TigerDirect is BitPay and Tiger is now the largest customer for BitPay. TigerDirect is only accepting Bitcoin online, retail stores aren’t accepting the virtual currency at this point.

TigerDirect also has a bunch of hardware that you can purchase aimed specifically at Bitcoin mining. That opens the possibility of being able to pay for items with the Bitcoins mined using hardware you bought with Bitcoin.

[via CoinDesk]

A new online service called Greeting Games lets you attach a mini-game to a digital greeting card. The hilarious thing about the service? The recipient has to beat the game before he can read your message. Which means you can send Greeting Games to both loved ones and sworn enemies.

The mini-games involve the usual suspects, including match 3, Sudoku, word hunting, mahjong as well as Fruit Ninja clones, just given a different coating. The games are playable over any fairly modern device, including tablets and smartphones.

According to Polygon, aside from the prize message you’ll also be able to “add in-game messages as well as set the difficulty level, customize any attached messages within the card’s email and link their Facebook profile picture to the card.”

Greeting Games is free to use until the end of January. After that you’ll either have to pay an as yet undisclosed amount per card or sign up for a subscription to get discounts and other bonus features, such as “the option to send the same Greeting Game to several people.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes a hit, but I think it would be much better if the games were intentionally silly, easy to beat and ripped off game titles and aesthetics for more laughs. Like, there could be a Card of Greeting: Birth Ops 2. As it is I’d rather send an actual game to my loved ones.

[via Polygon]

A small robotics company called UFactory is working on the uArm, a small version of the industrial robot arms we often see tirelessly moving about in modern manufacturing assembly lines. The uArm is about the size of a desk lamp and is controlled through an Arduino-compatible board.

The current build of the uArm is made largely out of laser cut wood or acrylic and uses four off-the-shelf servo motors. It also has three different “hands”: a gripper, a suction cup and a small circular platform.

uFactory currently has a Windows program that lets you control the robot through a mouse or a keyboard. They’re currently working on Android and iOS apps too.

The company also wrote an Arduino library for uArm, so if you’re familiar with the language you can program the robot through that as well.

uFactory promises to make its design files, hardware and software open source after its Kickstarter campaign ends.

Pledge at least $185 (USD) on Kickstarter to get a uArm assembly kit as a reward. I’m waiting for Iron Man fans to reenact this scene with their armored pets.

[via Gadgetify]

Earlier, we showed you a way to use an actual DualShock 4 controller with your jailbroken iOS device. While these are only DualShock 2 controllers, they will plug directly into your smartphone. Unfortunately, that’s where the similarity ends.

These teensy inch-wide PlayStation 2 DualShock 2 controllers are simply designed as decoration for your mobile device, but they are pretty cute and quite detailed. It’s too bad they’re not functional. Though if anyone out there can manage to hack one so it works, I wouldn’t be surprised.

They’re being made by Japan’s Union Creative, and are available for pre-order in sets of six from NCSX for about $27(USD). Buy a set, and share them with five of your closest friends.

A while back, I came across a remote-controlled flying version of the Starship Enterprise. Now, the guy behind that build is showing off the next member of his flying fleet, a Klingon D7 Battlecruiser.

This awesome paper model from SG Ideas flies perfectly and would definitely give Kirk and his Starfleet crew a run for their money if they ever did battle. Here, check it out on its maiden voyage:

About the only thing this thing needs is a battle-scarred paintjob, photon torpedoes and the ability to cloak.