Art and Design

How LEDs Light Up Your Life in Ways You Never Imagined

by Gadgetry Inc

So you might have taken one look at the title and went, "LED lights? What does that have to do with me?" Well, if you're well aware of what it can do and what people around you have been doing with it, then you'll agree that it has a lot to do with you.

Bizarre Burger-Eating Doll Will Supersize Your Nightmares

by Steve Levenstein

The “X-Ray MC Super Sized in Humberger, Devil version” clown doll from Japan's Secret Base store looks like Ronald McDonald... if the fast-food mascot was reimagined by Tim Burton. The extremely disturbing, evilly-grinning doll features transparent skin exposing a pair of undigested burgers and a garish green glow-in-the-dark skeleton.

Bizarre By Design: The Top 10 Weirdest Japanese Buildings

by Steve Levenstein

Japan may be the place where conformity is king but their architects never saw the memo. These 10 weird, wild and even wooly Japanese buildings take the concept of multistory strangeness to a higher level, albeit one that the elevator will still stop at.

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Restored Fresco Curry: A Tasteful Tribute to a Terrible Touch-Up

by Steve Levenstein

Japanese artist, blogger and curry cook Takeda Take has taken the disastrously (but hilariously) botched restoration of the Spanish fresco “Ecco Homo” to a new, delicious level.

Dogstar Portable LED Searchlight Shines at RISCON Safety & Security Trade Show

by Steve Levenstein

Have light, will travel? With the Dogstar handheld portable LED searchlight blazing a 68,000 lumen trail, you'll go (or at least see) far indeed. Demonstrated at the 2012 RISCON Safety & Security Trade Show in Tokyo, this is one mean photonic bazooka!

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Lady Gaga Synthetic Leather Smartphone Pouch is Nothing Shocking

by China.new

The Lady Gaga Synthetic Leather Smartphone Pouch from the pop superstar's Mobile Collection is as bland as the flamboyant mega-hitmaker is shocking... in fact, we're shocked at how plain-jane this $55 universal phone case is considering whose name is on the cover.

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Field Of Bad Dreams: 13 Bizarre & Creepy Japanese Scarecrows

by Steve Levenstein

Scarecrows are supposed to be scary... to crows. Japanese farmers take the age-old crop protecting concept to a whole, new, terrifying level with scarecrows so weird and disturbing they freak out anyone or any bird who sees them.

3D Printed Resin Clock Radio Features Retro Nixie Tube Display

by Steve Levenstein

Japanese designer electronics manufacturer Inter-Culture has introduced a trio of retrofuturistic nylon resin clock radios that combine cutting-edge 3D printing technology with the warm Cold War-era glow of high-voltage Nixie tubes.

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“Wall Story” Removable Silhouette Stickers Turn On Your Light Switch

by Steve Levenstein

“Wall Story” removable wall stickers add personality to outlet cover plates, light switch covers and more. They stick without using permanent adhesives and peel right off when you're moving or redecorating.

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BOSS's Drive Shot Canned Coffee Contains 120% Caffeine

by Steve Levenstein

Stay awake like a boss with Drive Shot, the new 120% caffeinated canned coffee from Japan's BOSS. Designed for commercial commuters and others who drive for a living, Drive Shot comes in specially ribbed red 200ml cans featuring an old-school caffeine meter... whatever that is.

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Students Make Transportation Energy Efficient In Viet Nam

Solar vehicle invented by Vietnamese students

by Myra Per-Lee

Many international universities are fostering students' natural curiosity and ingenuity to create new products to help their fellow citizens. Such is the case at HCM City University of Transport where, as the name implies, Vietnamese students focus on developing new, efficient forms of transportation. Recently, they revealed prototypes of the students' solar-run scooter and a new battery-operated wheelchair that can be produced at a much lower cost that those produced in western countries.

Brass Knuckles iPhone Case: Tough Love for Your Smartphone

by Steve Levenstein

The Knucklecase for the Apple iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S cushions your smartphone from life's hard knocks while helping callers get a grip on any situation. Sure it's as subtle as a punch in the nose but if you don't like it... tough!

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Human Brain Can Control Robot, Even At Great Distances

by T Goodman

What was once science fiction is becoming a reality faster than you might have thought thanks to the work of internationally-supported applied presence and applied cognitive neuroscience research. Just ask Tirosh Shapira who recently, from a laboratory in Israel, commanded a humanoid robot in a French laboratory to walk and pick up objects simply by imagining that he himself was walking and picking up objects.

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Bandai's Magic Pets Populate & Personalize Your Water Bottle

by Steve Levenstein

Strangers won't mess with one's personal portable potables thanks to Bandai's Magic Pets, plastic critters who “live” in your water bottle, personalizing it and keeping owners entertained all the while.

DARPA Designs New Robots After Cheetah And Pack Mule (Videos)

by T Goodman

Biomimicry is almost a byword of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Indeed, if any group has discovered that 'nature does it better,' it's DARPA, and you have to admit the Agency is pretty adept at imitating it. Here, are two of DARPA's latest robotic tributes to nature's designs: the Cheetah Bot and the Pack Mule Bot.

Gulliver's Plate Dish is One Big Lovin' Spoonful

by Steve Levenstein

Yo dawg, I herd you like spoons, so Japan's Village Vanguard made a plate like a spoon so you can spoon your eats from a spoon-shaped plate!

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Love You LONG Time: China's Nettled Netizens Mock the iPhone 5

by China.new

Apple's highly-anticipated iPhone 5 is finally here and what do China's fanatical fanboys & gals get after their long wait? A longer iPhone... Really? Less than impressed with this critical post-Jobs product, China's clever, creative and critical netizens have logged into China's social media matrix to call Apple out.

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Oh Snap! The $35K, Limited Edition, Japan-Only White Leica M9-P Camera

by Steve Levenstein

Only 50 Limited-Edition White Leica M9-P digital full-frame rangefinder cameras are available for sale, and all 50 are exclusive to the Japanese market. Priced at an astounding 2.625 million yen or around $35,500 each, these white Leica M9-P cameras sell at five times the price of standard Leica M9-P cameras.

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Folding iPad Stand Puts Your Tablet on Hold

by Steve Levenstein

iPad owners everywhere are raising their voices about raising their iPads. It may be the latest First World Problem but fear not, Apple Fanboys (and Fangirls), Shanghai Donya's got a first-rate solution: the Folding iPad Stand.

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Hold The Mao: 8 Revolutionary Revised Chairman Mao Posters

by China.new

The late Chairman Mao Zedong, founding father of the People's Republic of China and global revolutionary icon, is still revered in China though the country has taken a radical turn down the capitalist road since his passing in 1976. These 8 revised and reimagined Mao posters reference the Great Helmsman's impressive pop culture presence to sell consumer goods and more to today's well-washed & wealthy proletariat.

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