Small spaces are difficult to live in, and while we usually are only regulated to these small hidey holes while we’re in college or university, there are a lot of things we can do to maximize that living space cheaply and effectively.
The point is that it’s not what you have, but what you do with what you have. And this guy is my hero for organizing his living space in such a way that the whole apartment is essentially just one average sized 258 square foot room.
This is just incredible. His room is an Ikea Transformer! I should apply this kind of organization to my mancave and it would double the amount of space my wife allows me!
Christian Schallert may not be able to entertain more than 3 other people into his apartment, which is kind of ironic since everyone he knows should most definitely see this place!
One of the great things about being a geek is no longer having to make excuses for why you buy toys. I personally own more Transformers than my kids.
But also, there are some toys that are made for adults that use science in a very fun way. For instance Buckyballs.
If you don’t already know what these crazy things are, they are the simplest and most basic in concept, but are just so versatile and crazy fun. A heaping pile of powerful, magnetic, chrome ball bearings is an unlikely toy, but it turns into the most amazing things when piled the right way.
However, by the deep wisdom of the Consumer Product Safety Commission these amazing building products will soon be pulled from shelves, citing that 20 cases of children swallowing them.
Yes, swallowing magnets is bad. They could cross paths in different parts of the digestive track and never become dislodged creating bigger problems. Bad.
Well this is very unfortunate for Craig Zucker, founder and CEO of Maxfield & Oberton who feels that the CPSC is “targeting” their firm and goes as far as to say “and magnets in general”.
I might find that last part to be a little silly, if it was not for the fact that the CPSC is banning a toy because children ate them. The toy is marketed on the box to those of age 13 and over. While the CPSC requires magnetic toys of this power to not be sold to under 14 year-olds, they are splitting hairs. The point is calling it unsafe, and this single year is not exactly going to change the outcome.
There were 20 incidents of misuse of the product by an unintended demographic. There is a warning that it contains (really consists entirely of) small parts. And over half a billion magnets in the market really puts things in perspective.
I personally see this as a parenting fault, and not at all the responsibility of Buckyballs. I mean honestly, with all the existing dangers on toys we willingly give our children, why ban something that was never intended for them.
At this point they should ban bicycles, skateboards, Lego, or any toy that can be ingested or hurt using. But no. They ban a toy meant for teenagers and adult kids.
Is this an issue of poor parenting? Do you think Buckballs are really dangerous?
I kinda wet myself a little bit when I saw this. I mean how awesome would this be on your bedside table? Or on your coffee table at a party? I’m quite sure I’m not the only one with geeky enough friends to appreciate how cool it is to have Tetris blocks that you can stack up – and have them light up as you do!
At the very least, it’s a lamp with loads of different ways to arrange its light, making it the perfect ornament for those who are like me and enjoy changing up the design of their room occasionally. You know, so that it looks all new again.
Twitter has a really varied clientele, from well communicating social media junkies right down to those very same social media junkie’s dogs. But now an inanimate object hopes to communicate with its followers with the gift of music.
@StanleyPiano is a unique Twitter account connected to a piano. A player piano.
A Player Piano is an automated self-playing piano that was invented in the late 19th century.
A digital creative agency in Seattle Washington called Digital Kitchen has refurbished an old player piano with modern technology, and thanks to the power of Twitter, you can send it requests and the piano will oblige!
You Tweet your requests to @StanleyPiano and Stanford, a custom moderation tool filters out twitter comments by song titles and adds them to the request list. When that song is about to come up, the requester gets a Twitter response letting them know its on deck.
Stanley is stocked with midi files of songs (and hopefully he has yours) and a controller translates that midi into a set of commands. Boom. Piano playing itself, just for you!
Unfortunately Stanley doesn’t have a permanent home, so to enjoy the fascination of issuing commands to a piano in far away lands (or just up the street depending on where you live) you will have to keep tabs on the lonely fella for upcoming appearances.
This guy has set out to make a fully street legal replica of the Batmobile, as featured in the 1989 Michael Keaton Batman flick. For his base, he has gutted a 1996 Chevy Caprice and replaced the body with a custom kit on top. Of course, it’s not as easy as just putting a new body on a chassis, but take a look through Matt’s site and see some of the crazy work he and his buddies are doing to make this a reality.
His goal is to have the car finishing on November 18, 2012, as a birthday present to himself.
