Hasta La Gadget!

3D printing is changing how people make and build things these days. From printed guns to gowns, the sky’s the limit when it comes to 3D printing. This, you can clearly see, with the shoes that Alan Nguyen of Freedom of Creation has come up with using 3D printing technology.

The iPhone Mashup Shoe features an overlapping strap with an intricate heel that has its very own iPhone case. You can slip your smartphone snugly into the case so you can carry it with you wherever you’re headed in the most unconventional way possible. Each shoe comes with its own iPhone case, so you can carry up to two phones at a time.

While they look kind of cool, it’s not a very sensible design, since your phone will probably be worse for wear after a short while. But while the wedges won’t be so gentle on your iPhone, at least they’ll be kind to your feet.

The iPhone Mashup Shoe was exhibited last year at Milan Design Week and Maison et Objet Paris.

Nguyen explained: “They actually work. I heard they’re pretty comfortable but I haven’t tried them myself.”

[via C|NET]

The simple design of Converse Chuck Taylors make them timeless. It also makes them a tad plain and boring. Adafruit’s mod will make your Chuck Taylors stand out by making the logo on the shoes light up. It’s not as amazing as having self-lacing shoes, but it’s also way more affordable than Nike’s loot.

The mod makes use of Adafruit’s electroluminescent panel as well as its small inverters. Becky Stern of Adafruit shows a couple of ideas for the mod – a star-shaped panel and a round one. But the black star in the round design is just a vinyl cutout, so you’re free to make your own design. Like a Swoosh or something. Actually don’t do that.

Skate to Adafruit for the full instructions and parts list.

Waking up to go to work or school sucks. We all know it, and no one likes it. Except for your mean boss, he likes getting up and going to work because he’s mean. For the rest of us normal folk, getting out of bed is a chore – and if you have kids, you know firsthand that getting your kids up is an even bigger chore. This is where a cool alarm clock that’s on Kickstarter called tim-E comes in.

tim-E is an alarm clock that’s designed to dock your iPhone or iPod Touch into a robotic body. The screen of your iPhone or iPod becomes the face of the robot and it gives you several ways that you can be woken up. The device can wake you to a normal alarm in the form of buzz or using a song from your device, all the time dancing around and bobbing its head.

You can also be awakened to the weather report or the day’s traffic report. tim-E will also give you voice reminders to do things the next day before you go to sleep and can even wake you with a brainteaser to ensure you don’t fall back asleep. Of course, this is all done with a certain amount of attitude  waking you with phrases like “Hello, lazybones! Time to get up!”

If you want your own robot alarm clock you’ll need to pledge $60(USD) or more. It’s definitely kind of annoying, which is exactly what you need from an alarm clock.

The hidden-room-behind-the-bookshelf thing has become sort of a cliché because of how it’s always being used and featured in cartoons and movies. If you’ve always wanted one in your home but don’t have the time to draw up plans and work on its construction, then here’s some good news for you: you can now buy one.

Sure, you’ll still need to renovate your rooms and move your furniture around, but at least you can just install the bookshelf-slash-door instead of having to build it from scratch.

The bookcase is made from fine cherry wood with a clear shine finish and comes with a high-strength rail system. It measures 88” x 66” and is available at Fancy for $4,150(USD).

[via Gadget Review]

There are lots of games with virtual drawing mechanics. Okami and Max & the Magic Marker come to mind. But what if you could literally draw your own game from scratch? That’s the idea behind Pixel Press, a mobile app that will help you make a short platforming game without the need to code or even use a PC.

Pixel Press has two main components: a Sketch Kit and the app itself. The Sketch Kit is simply a sheet of graphing paper customized for the app. You can download the pdf template for free from the Pixel Press website and then print it together with the instructions. In simple terms, your goal is to make a platforming game with five stages. Your character can walk, run and jump on and over the obstacles you made.

When you’re done with your drawing, you then take a picture of it with your mobile device and the app will process it. You’ll then test the app, polish it with textures and sound effects and finally play it from within the app. You’ll also be able to share your game and play other people’s games.

Clearly it takes imagination, patience and discipline to make a good Pixel Press game, but these are traits that you’ll need before you can program a game anyway. Plus it gives you the chance to be a game designer! You’ll learn the ropes of creating games without grappling with much of the technical difficulties that go along with it.

Pledge at least $10 (USD) on Kickstarter to be one of the first to own the app. The Pixel Press folks hope to raise $100,000 for the iOS apps, but if they raise at least $350,000 they’ll make an Android version as well.

[via Gamezebo]