Hasta La Gadget!

You may or may not know that this past weekend, people of the LGBT community took to the streets in major cities across the U.S. to show their pride and support Gay Rights. This particular parade took place just days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage. So the people had plenty of reason to celebrate.

Image: Sarah and Ryan

It wasn’t just members of the LGBT community who showed up either. Many companies were there to show their support as well. One of those was Microsoft, who attended in style in the Seattle Pride Parade, showing up with a Warthog and Master Chief himself.

Image: Conor N. Wilson

What do you think of the Warthog’s rainbow decoration? Maybe it will show up in the next game. It sure is awesome to see companies like Microsoft support people’s right to essentially just love one another – and then frag them.

[via Kotaku via Ubergizmo]

deviantART member João Victor G. Costa aka JINNdev wondered what the 1985 classic Super Mario Bros. would look like if it was made today but still based on the game’s original sprites. Then he stopped thinking and started making moves. Here’s what JINNdev came up with.

The colors and the hand-drawn look are nice and remind me of Braid. At the same time in my minds eye I always see the game with blinking lights and accents, like with the question mark blocks, the coins and the star power up, so I also feel like something was lost in JINNdev’s drawing.

I wonder how it would look like in motion. Check out JINNdev’s deviantART page for the original image.

[via it8bit]

When the Sun comes out, it’s time to slather on the sunblock. It’s also time to put on your Wearable Solar outfit – because while it’s not the most conservative looking clothing, it’s definitely one of the most functional, avant garde pieces you can wear.

The Wearable Solar project is headed by Christiaan Holland and Pauline van Dongen. With their team of researchers, they’ve created flexible solar cells that can be sewn into clothing and worn.

These cells essentially turn its wearer into a living, breathing power plant of sorts.

The Wearable Solar suit was designed not only with functionality in mind. No one would want to walk around in such a bulky suit all day, so the shoulder flaps easily fold in to hide the panels when the wearer is done soaking up the sun for the day.

Whoever said you can’t be fashionable but still be eco-friendly obviously hasn’t heard of the Wearable Solar.

[via Design.nl via Dvice]

A few months ago we saw an awesome tie with a built-in equalizer. Bill Porter is working on a more interactive necktie: one that plays Tetris. Bill made it to trump his usual geeky teaching attire, a lab coat with lots of LEDs on it. Even in its unfinished state I think we can all agree that the Tetris Tie is much better than the lab coat.

The tie is made of a DigiSpark microcontroller, 80 RGB LEDs and two Li-ion batteries in a custom 3D-printed housing. Bill originally used the batteries for his wedding suit. Don’t be afraid of clicking that link; it’s much better than the lab coat.

All in all Bill only spent four hours and about $50(USD) to make the tie, but as I said, it’s still unfinished. Right now the tie only displays random movements. I’m pretty sure he’s also going to trim the cardboard overlay or perhaps get rid of it altogether. Bill is also planning on adding A.I. that can actually play the game as well as a Bluetooth module so that it can be played using a smartphone as a controller.

[via Bill Porter via inStash]

Ever wondered how much money in video games and science fiction movies would be worth in our world? Well, thanks to the Intergalactic Exchange Bureau, you can now convert between a number of fictitious currencies.

Developed as a promotional stunt by Money in Advance, the Intergalactic Exchange Bureau can convert currencies from Star Wars, Star Trek, Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire and a couple of others. Whether you’re paying in Gold dragons, Septims, Creds, or Galactic Credits, you’re covered. Though don’t try and pay in Rupees. They don’t take Rupees.

Of course, they didn’t have actual exchange rates to work from, and they came up with their own estimates based on their independent assessment of the value of objects in the various fictional universes. That said, real-world currency relationships were based on actual market values. Though what the price of frozen concentrated orange juice in New York has to do with the price of lightsabers in the Dagobah system, I don’t know.