Hasta La Gadget!

The Lego minifig thumb drive is the ultimate evolution of the form

All USB thumb drive makers should stop what they’re doing right now. Go home, update you resumé and start looking for a different line of work. The perfect USB stick has finally been made. The zenith of novelty storage technology has been reached. Behold: the Lego® Minifigure 2GB USB Flash Drive.

The genius of this drive is that it us a regular Lego minifig, with detachable hands, head and legs. The only difference comes when you pull down the little chap’s pants and find that he, for once, is wearing underwear. Not boxer shorts, either, but a pair of briefs in the shape of a USB plug, ready to be slotted into a computer port up to his waist, like a horror-movie victim sinking into quicksand.

Actually, there is one other difference in this industry-shaking figure: his normally bald head now sprouts a pair of thick dreadlocks with a keyring at the end.

The Lego minifig thumb drive will cost an expensive but oh-so-worth-it $25. Available now.

Lego Minifigure 2GB USB Flash Drive [Lego store via Oh Gizmo!]

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This is the Stealth, and arcade emulation cabinet for anyone whose significant other won’t allow then to have an arcade emulation cabinet. It comes in gorgeously glossy black or white finishes, packs 60 retro games and sits in the middle of your living room looking more like a piece of high-end furniture than the gaming rig that it is.

The screen is an LCD panel, with a rather poor 89º viewing angle, and somewhere inside is a “Space” bass speaker, to make sure those 8-bit bloops and tweets really thump.

There are two problems I can see. One is the lack of anywhere to safely stow a couple of pints of beer as you play. The second is the price. Even if you can get the design to pass the Spousal Approval Test, the $3,300 on the ticket might ruin things before you begin. Game over.

Stealth product page [Arcade Tables via Engadget]

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This rifle-mounted golfball launcher is either a great way to spice up yet another pitifully dull round of golf, or a Darwin Award waiting to happen. It’s impossible to know which way it will go.

The flared tube, fashioned from “solid stock”, fits onto your rifle barrel in the place of a muzzle brake. Pop a golfball into the tube and load up the gun with blanks and you’re off. To illustrate just how lively it can make every Pringle-junkie’s favorite waste of time, take a look at the comments from the product page:

[T]his is just too much fun! I had to make my own blanks to try it. The golf ball still went a healthy 280-290 yards into a stiff wind. This is just a great add-on that is heavy, but who cares. Golf has never been more entertaining. – Brad M

Absolutely awesome. I put it on the end of my M4 and just looks awesome. This thing launches a golf ball a good 400 yds. It only drops about 5-10 feet at 200yd for me. flies like a knuckle-ball. but fun as can be. – k2

Today I shot my first golf ball. How far did it go? Don’t know, went out of sight at about a 45 degree angle. – USAF Prior Service

Pretty awesome, right? Who needs stupid clubs? (well, maybe a putter). And it doesn’t just fire golfballs. If you’re worried about removing your flash suppressor just to play a round, then don’t be. “No-Noveske” explains:

I bought this and guess what? It works just like a Noveske KX3 Flash Suppressor except it doesn’t have the name, the flaming pig or the price tag. It is a bit longer but it works nonetheless, directing all the blast and concussion out the front of the barrel. […] The one bonus about this is I can shoot golf balls and the KX3 cannot.

This formidable accessory costs just $20, and fits AR-15, M4 and M16 rifles. Like I said – what could possibly go wrong?

AR-15 and M4 and M16 Golfball Launcher [Cheaper than Dirt via Geekologie]

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This HEX iPod Nano case may look like any other iPod Nano watch-style case, but it has an extra little function that makes it much more suitable for the runner than most other options: There’s a slot in the side for a Nike+ dongle.

The latest, squared-off touch-screen Nano already has a pedometer built-in, but if you want to use it with the Nike+ shoe widget, then you can plug the Nike+ receiver into the Nano’s dock connector to count your steps and distance.

The HEX comes with one other neat addition: an armband (which costs another $9). This wraps around your upper-arm like a junkie’s vein-popper strap and has the sole purpose of channeling the headphone cord away from your flailing hands. It could easily be argued that the armband alone would be perfectly capable of holding the clip-on Nano, but that would just be picky, right? $30.

HEX Announces Sport Watch Band Compatible with NIKE+ [Press release. Thanks, Valerie!]

HEX store [HEX]

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Look out Angry Birds, there may soon be another suite of addictive smartphone games battling for gamers’ attention. Global electronics giant Sony is said to be planning its own game-playing smartphone release, to be debuted at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona come February.

It’s only been about two months since Sony CFO Masaru Kato hinted at the company’s continued push into mobile gaming, but according to Bloomberg mobile development sources, that push will bring the gaming phone as well as an updated version of the company’s previous mobile gaming product, the PSP (Playstation Portable).

“The PSP being a proprietary platform was more concentrated I’d say on the core gaming segment than the light game,” Kato said in last November’s earnings call, “but now we are addressing that market as well.”

Also on Wednesday, Nintendo announced the upcoming March 27 launch of a 3-D mobile gaming device, the Nintendo 3DS. Like Sony’s PSPgo, the 3DS will cost $250.

Although we dug Sony’s PSP and PSPgo in terms of gadgetry, sales have been lackluster compared to that of Nintendo’s mobile gaming platform, the Nintendo DS. Research group NPD says Sony trails Nintendo in U.S. sales by tens of millions of units.

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sony’s original PSP used games launched on a proprietary storage system developed by Sony, the universal media disc. Like Sony’s previous attempt at proprietary storage cartridges with the MiniDisc of the 1990’s, widespread adoption of the UMD failed due to the format’s proprietary nature as well as the lack of read/write devices available. Sony’s follow-up device, the PSPgo, tried to improve upon this system with an on-board hard drive on which gamers could store media, and no optical disc. Instead, Sony distributes all games digitally, and customers download them over Wi-Fi connections.

Stronger emphasis on Sony’s push into the smartphone gaming space signals the company’s willingness to take on competitors like Apple and Android OS-based manufacturers. Still, the cheap prices for games in Apple’s App Store or the Android Market may be difficult to beat. And if Sony were to launch its own app store with the device, differentiation might prove to be an issue as well. Who the hell can keep up with all the app stores out there today anyway?

Photo: The Sony PSPgo/Sony Corp.

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