The Boing Boing Gadgets Friday Linkswap
Their eyes met across a crowded internet. He was a tall, dark, chiseled PC gaming site. She was a long-legged, auburn-haired gadget site. The attraction was immediate, a frisson of electricity palpable in the air. People turned, stopping their conversations to watch as the two websites made their way toward one another. They were magnificent, meant to be. The hush gave way to murmurs of tense excitement, everyone aware they were witnessing something extraordinary. A foot from one another the two websites stopped, their eyes locked. The room froze. They embraced.
Make like a Cylon. BBG says: "Toriton Plus is a musical instrument that reacts to fingers dipped in a bowl of water. How does it work? Lasers over the face of the deep, interrupted by ripples. Only a few inches deep, but still." RPS says: We're only minutes away from one of those watery Cylon computers that project all the pretty colours on your face. Minutes.
New New York City BBG says: "Sightseeing in Liberty City is a fantastic Flickr gallery dedicated to contrasting locations from Grand Theft Auto 4 with their real-world NYC counterparts." RPS says: Any implications that I desperately wanted to post a link to this all week but couldn't because GTA isn't on PC yet so am including it here will be frowned upon with extreme severity.
ACME Inflatable Website. BBG says: "Who can forget their many technological triumphs? ACME Brand Dehydrated Boulders, which — with a single drop of water — would granoblastically engorge themselves from small pebbles? Or the ACME Brand Indestructo Steel Ball, which beat Volvo to the punch with the first nigh-invulnerable passenger vehicle?" RPS says: There's an Arnie film that no one's seen called The Villain in which Cactus Jack (Kirk Douglas) attempts to kill Hansome Stranger (Arnold Schwarzenegger) in order to get to Charming Jones (Ann-Margret), using a variety of ACME style devices, including painting a tunnel on a rock wall. No, I'm not kidding. Yes, you have to see this.
The Treadmill Bike. BBG says: "It's stupidly impractical and inefficient, but it makes up for that with goofy charm: the video on the official site touts "you can bring it on the bus" as a major feature, yet cuts away just as the handle bars smack into the door frame." RPS says: The only right thing to do is ride this on a larger treadmill going in the opposite direction.
Wakey wakey! BBG says: "At $40, it's a little more expensive than a Tomy toy, too. Wake me up when there is a 20-move Japanese puzzle box version, or one inside a Rubik's Cube." RPS says: If BBG can complete tasks like slotting shapes into the correct holes while maintaining sleep, then they're more powerful men than us. Although we imagine it would probably stop if you threw it at the wall hard enough.