Jan 05

ThinkGeek Unveils the JOYSTICK-IT iPad Joystick Controller

Posted in: controller, gaming, ipad, Miscellaneous Tech, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games
Likely the result of an April Fool’s joke turned serious, the new JOYSTICK-IT iPad Controller from ThinkGeek addresses a problem that a number of iPad gamers have with their games: that virtual thumbsticks on the iPad screen aren’t that much fun to use. The JOYSTICK-IT controller looks and feels like a real arcade joystick, it just sticks to the iPad’s display right over where the virtual joystick is positioned, and you can play like normal. 
The JOYSTICK-IT isn’t the first iPad controller we’ve seen this week: yesterday TenOne Designs unveiled the Fling controller for iPad at the Consumer Electronics Show with a much different design. Alternatively, the JOYSTICK-IT actually looks and functions like a joystick, and is completely removable and replaceable depending on where the virtual controls in your game of choice are on-screen. 
While you can’t pre-order the JOYSTICK-IT, you can sign up to be notified when the JOYSTICK-IT is up for sale at ThinkGeek’s Web site. The company says it will be available in late January for $24.99 retail price.
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Jan 04

Duck Hunter Toy Ups the Ante With Shotgun

Posted in: Tech Toys, Today's Chili, Toys

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Interactive Toy is back at CES, bless its heart. This year the company has topped its Duck Hunter game, which proved a pretty big splash at the show a couple of years back. How does one top a thing, you ask? Simple–add a shotgun.

The latest version of the Duck Hunter game–Duck Hunter: Launch and Load–features a small orange shotgun that, cleverly, actually launches the little duck toy itself. Once launched, the duck will flap around a bit, until, hopefully, you get a good clean shot with the gun.

Duck Hunter: Launch and Load is due out this fall for $34.99. It’s recommended for ages eight and up–but really, is it ever too young to start shooting fake animals?

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Jan 04

New LEGO Stop-Motion Short Film

Posted in: lego, Miscellaneous Tech, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, videos

The Brick Thief! The new LEGO stop-motion promo video is just plain cute. Mustaches, music, stop-motion, robots, monkeys, LEGOs… It really makes me wish my LEGO bricks built themselves on their own. Click!

Watch and enjoy!

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Dec 28

Gibson Scores Win in Paperjamz Guitar Battle

Posted in: guitar, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, Toys

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Okay, so it’s not one of the greatest guitar battles of all-time, but it’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s, so we’ll take what we can get. Guitar maker Gibson has scored a win in its fight against PaperJamz manufacturer WowWee.

Gibson got an injunction after suing WowWee and a number of high profile retailers, including Walmart, Amazon, eBay, Target, K-Mart, Toys “R” Us, and Walgreens, arguing that the musical toys are much to close to Gibson’s iconic guitar body shape. The defendants in the case are, naturally, set to appeal the decision.

A win for Gibson, whom TechDirt refers to as being “notoriously litigious.” The company has pulled in a good deal of money over the years licensing its decision to third-party companies. Of course, it’s got to sting that the decision came right after the Christmas holiday. The damage (that is, if one can really successfully argue that promoting the Gibson icon really constitutes “damage) has already been done, right?

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Dec 27

Photoshop Salt and Pepper Shakers Tell Dinner Guests You’re a Designer

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Tech Toys, Today's Chili

PhotoShop Salt and Pepper Shaker

Hilariously named Frack Design decided that the blue, block-shaped logo for Adobe Photoshop introduced in CS3 made for an equally entertaining double entendre. Taking the block-shaped icon and splitting it into a smaller “P” block for pepper and “S” block for salt lets Frack make a PhotoShop salt and pepper shaker set that designers everywhere will recognize immediately as the desktop icon for PhotoShop. 
Admittedly Frack Design isn’t selling the set, it’s just a design and is designed to be more of a talking point than an actual product, but you never know, you might see it on store shelves someday soon, or someone may just take it upon themselves to make one. Still, if you’re a graphic designer and proud of it, this could make a fun DIY project.
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Dec 22

The Best Geeky Christmas Tree Decorations

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Star Wars, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games

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One of the best parts of the holiday season is visiting all your friends’ houses and checking out their Christmas trees (or Chanukah bushes) covered with unique ornaments that make you ooh and aah. To keep with the holiday spirit, we decided to make an imaginary Christmas tree full of the nerdiest ornaments we could find. Why cover your tree with normal Christmas lights when you could have Yoda lights? And why buy those regular, ol’ ball ornaments, when you can buy a Star Trek Enterprise one?

After the jump, we rounded up some of the best geeky Christmas ornaments on the Web. Feel free to share your own nerdy ornaments with us in the comment section below.

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Dec 13

Valve Offices Get a Team Fortress 2 Sentry Gun

Posted in: Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games, videos
If you’ve played Valve’s fun and funny first-person shooter Team Fortress 2, you’ll recognize the subject of the video above: it’s a level 1 sentry gun, hand-crafted by designers at WETA Workshop and sent to the staff at Valve, makers of the game. Team Fortress 2 has been one of the most popular Steam games for well over three years now, and fans will get a laugh out of this. Even if you’re not a fan, you’ve got to appreciate the workmanship that went into it. 
The sentry gun can track movements and follow you as you move across its path, and it lights up and makes sounds like it’s firing when it has a lock on you. When idle, it’ll move from side to side, looking for targets. Granted, a level 1 is nothing a Pyro can’t make quick work of -it would behoove the engineer that built it to upgrade to level 3. 
[via UberGizmo]
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Dec 13

Coloud’s R2-D2 Headphones are Perfect for Star Wars Fans

Posted in: headphones, Miscellaneous Tech, MP3 Digital Audio, Star Wars, Tech Toys, Today's Chili

Coloud R2-D2 Headphones

If you’re shopping for a Star Wars fan and have already been through The Best Gifts for Star Wars Fans but need more suggestions, these R2-D2 Headphones from Coloud would look nice on anyone’s head while they’re relaxing by the pool in an R2-D2 Bathing Suit. The headphones are part of Coloud’s Star Wars product line, which features other headphones with Imperial Stormtroopers, Darth Vader, or an X-Wing fighter on the earcups. 
The headphones have a foldable hinge for portability, and have a microphone and volume remote in-line with the audio cable so you can use them with your mobile phone as well as your music player or laptop. The headphones will cost you $49.90 list price, and are available directly from Coloud although they’re currently sold out.
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Dec 10

NES Controller Coffee Table has a Nintendo Inside

Posted in: gaming, nintendo, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games
If you’re looking for the ultimate accessory for that NES Guitar we mentioned earlier, try this Nintendo controller coffee table, which actually has a functioning Nintendo Entertainment System built into it. The controller is 10:1 scale and looks exactly like the original controller for the NES, and even includes the screw-holes and etching carved into the bottom of the table to match the ones on the actual controller. 
The whole thing is a custom job, but the clincher is the fact that built-in to the table is a fully functional NES, with cable that stretches up to your television if you want to connect it up and play some old school classic video games. Oh, and when you do start playing: the buttons, d-pad, and the start/select buttons all work, so the coffee table is its own controller. 
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Dec 10

Electric Guitar Made from Old School Nintendo System (Video)

Posted in: diy, nintendo, Tech Toys, Today's Chili

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You know who rocks more faces than anyone else?! Zelda, that’s who.

And now, thanks to one gamer musician, you can rock out all 1991-gamer stylee. For a mere $150 ($20 shipping) you can purchase a functioning, custom-made electric guitar cobbled from a classic NES system and miscellaneous used guitar parts.

This is the kind of instrument that can only be used by two people: the developmentally arrested at the fringes of society and the ultra cool ironic hip. There’s no room in the middle here.

Video after the jump.

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