think geek

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- In Jeff's words, April Fool's is a day for unfunny people to tell jokes. With that, I'm pretty sure this prank was posted two weeks early.

- The OPMOD/ThinkGeek Battle Mug: an elegant drink receptacle for a more civilized age.

- Boston police go undercover online to stop DIY punk shows.

- Latest Japanese schoolgirl trend: Fake Dragon Ball attacks.

- Walmart may get customers to deliver packages to online buyers.

- Sales of twin-size beds drop as Tweens demand bigger beds...for their tablets.… Read more

April Fools' is a big day for conceptual technology products. Big tech companies get to let their hair down and come up with gadgets that would earn them ridicule and criticism if they were introduced on any day other than April 1.

We have some real doozies for 2013 when it comes to prank tech gear. ThinkGeek, as usual, has an entire lineup of weird and wonderful items. There's a Play-Doh 3D printer that forms figures out of the famous squishy clay-like material. If you enjoyed listening to Bane's garbled and growly speech during "The Dark Knight Rises," you'll want your very own pair of Bane Mask Walkie Talkies. Other fictional products from the geek retailer include an "Aliens" Chestburster-in-a-Can, a Creeper Body Pillow, and an Eye of Sauron desk lamp.… Read more

Coffee in the morning is no small matter. Decisions get made while sipping the caffeinated brew, decisions that shape the day. Like an architect, we construct plans, piece by piece, layer by layer, until a form emerges. Of course, that usually doesn't involve the actual coffee cup. But then again, who is to say it cannot?

The ThinkGeek Build-On Brick Mug ($19.99) is a coffee mug designed to appeal to designers of all ages. The interactive mug invites users to fiddle with it, stacking popular parts onto their own creations. Exactly what those popular parts might be is, of course, of utmost importance; the last thing anybody wants to do is wrestle with their morning beverage.

Rest assured, the mug is compatible with Lego, PixelBlocks, Mega Bloks, Kre-O, or K'Nex Bricks. The mug itself doesn't come with any bricks; it's strictly BYOB.… Read more

ThinkGeek boasts that the HAL 9000 life-size replica is the "most movie-accurate HAL 9000 replica ever created." Let's hope it's only movie-accurate enough to be entertaining and not deadly.

If you're a fan of HAL 9000 and want to bring a little bit of that relentless robotic terror into your home, you can plunk down $500 for a sentient computer of your own (minus the actual sentience.) This HAL 9000 is better-behaved than the real thing. You still get the menacing red LED eye, but he won't try to kill you.… Read more

iTunes (HD) | iTunes (SD) | iTunes (HQ)

RSS (HD) | RSS (SD) | RSS (HQ)

On this episode of Crave, we check out the Burrito Bomber engineered by Darwin Aerospace that literally bombs burritos into geo-tagged locations. We also get some NASA reassurance that the world may not end this month, which means we may actually get the chance to wear Lacoste's awesome polo shirts of the future. Also, dogs that drive? Yep. … Read more

The single-purpose gadget is very much alive and well. Case in point, this USB tentacle. It squirms. That's all it does.

The USB tentacle is not a hub. It won't open a beer bottle. It won't fire foam rockets at your cubicle mates. It won't charge your smartphone. It just squirms. To improve the visual impact, you might want to invest in multiple tentacles to adorn each port on your computer. … Read more

Food generally isn't too big of a deal in the "Star Trek" universe unless you're talking about tribbles eating all the quadrotriticale or Picard ordering up a hot cup of tea to go with his space scones.

All those Enterprise crew members still have to eat and that means there's going to be some hot food coming out of the replicators. That also means you're going to need a space-worthy oven mitt. A Spock oven mitt. The $14.99 oversize Spock hand has just enough blue uniform on the cuff to designate its rank.… Read more

Iota Geminorum IV is one of my favorite vacation destinations. It's a pleasant planet full of small furry creatures with no discernible faces, feet, legs, or arms. Owing to certain issues with their reproductive abilities, ownership of these critters has been highly regulated here on Earth. Until now.

For $24.99 at ThinkGeek, you can pick up a pair of Tribble Slippers. There's no need to fear getting eaten out of house and home. These tribbles are sterile, so you won't wake up to find yourself smothered in heaps of the little fuzzy things … Read more

You have options when it comes to zombie-slaying weapons. Loud guns may attract unwanted zombie attention. Baseballs bats can require several swats to work. Chainsaws need gas. A tactical ax, however, is portable and effective.

ThinkGeek's Zombie Survival Kit features a stainless-steel SOG Tactical Tomahawk, suitable for close combat or hurling from a distance at the undead. Zombie crime scene tape helps you alert other survivors to danger zones.… Read more