Hasta La Gadget!

As iconic as Q*Bert was back in the 1980s, it was also one of the most difficult and frustrating arcade games I ever played. I never was able to master it, though I’ve done a little better playing it on MAME – without the fear of going broke feeding the machine with quarters. That said, I’m pretty sure I could beat this version of the game.

What you’re looking at here is a 7-inch-tall handmade Q*Bert diorama, complete with wooden cubes and clay versions of Q*Bert and Coily the snake to play with. It also comes with a glass bead (jelly monster) and a couple of those colorful flying discs mounted by the sides of the cubes. Though they don’t actually fly.

Artist Evan Gothelf of Gothelf Bros. Studios handmakes these nifty retro dioramas, and sells them over on Etsy. They go for $45.99(USD) each, and you can choose from a couple of different color schemes. You can also order additional characters if you prefer to take your game board to a higher level.

It sure would be cool if they made a whole series of retro arcade dioramas.

If Thor’s Mjolnir hammer wasn’t bad enough on its own, the heavyweight hammer is also capable of summoning lightning from the heavens. Caleb over at Hack A Day thought about this and decided he needed his own electrified Thor’s hammer.

Instead of standing in the middle of a field during a lightning storm, Caleb decided to go with something a bit safer. With the help of builder Staci Elaan, Caleb’s Mjolnir is outfitted with a working, battery-powered Tesla coil. Despite outputting 80,000 volts, the Tesla coil is actually quite safe – just zapping subjects with a tiny, tickly sensation, and not the full force of Thor’s mighty hammer. And since it’s a Tesla coil, it can even light up fluorescent bulbs placed near it.

That was fun, though I do wish the lightning bolts it emits would be a bit bigger. I guess you’d need a larger, plug-in Tesla coil – and Thor would probably have to wear a Faraday suit.

Check out more details on the build over on Hack A Day.

A couple of years ago we saw a concept for a diabolical alarm clock. The idea was that a desperate late sleeper would willingly place a banknote on the clock, knowing that the clock will shred the money if he doesn’t wake up when the alarm goes off. And now the concept has been turned into reality, by a tinkerer named – I am not making this up – Rich Olson.

Rich made the clock using a SparkFun ClockIt and a USB-powered paper shredder. Rich is quite merciless too – the clock waits less than 10 seconds after the preset time before it starts shredding your money:

Note that destroying money is illegal in many countries. So if you’re going to make your own shredding alarm clock, why not tape your pinky finger to it instead? That’ll be way more effective at waking you up. Just kidding.

[Rich Olson via Hacked Gadgets]

Lava lamp? Pfff. YouTuber bfayer made a life-a-lamp. His calls his invention the Liquid Lifebar. It reflects to the amount of health or mana of his character in Terraria in real time. If he has a lot of health, the lamp’s water level is high and it glows a healthy green. But if he gets hit, the water level drops and the color gets warmer. When it turns red, he’s dead.

Bfayer made a time-lapse video of his build process. You can see the Liquid Lifebar spring to life at about 3:50 in:

Check the video’s description on YouTube to see the complete parts list. It would be awesome if bfayer could make it work in reverse as well, i.e. the Liquid Lifebar dictates the amount of his character’s health or mana.

[via Tested]

A lot of parents find it difficult to strap their kids into the car seat because, well, the kids don’t really want to be strapped in for the ride in the first place. Safety comes first though, so the car seat is a non-negotiable issue.

One thing parents can do, though, is find ways to make being in a car seat more enjoyable and fun – like getting a Batman car seat that features everyone’s favorite Caped Crusader prominently.

The Batman car seat is designed with comfort and utility in mind. It’s got all the standard safety mechanisms in place plus a few little extras that’ll keep your little crusader snug and content in the backseat.

For starters, your kid will be wrapped in the cushy, protective embrace of Batman once he’s strapped in. Batman will also hold two cups in his hands, in case the ones already in your car aren’t enough, and his cape doubles as a blanket just in case it gets too cold or chilly for your child.

This powerhouse of a car seat is available online for $150 from Toys’R’Us.

[via Oh!Gizmo]