Geek In Me

by Evan Shamoon via switched.com

In what must be the best car mod we’ve seen since the DeLorian (in the background), vehicle modder Daniel Deutsch has outdone himself and built his own green-friendly Star Wars Landspeeder. The custom fiberglass ride is pimped out with an aluminum chassis, zips around at (not-quite-Landspeeder) speeds of up to 25 MPH, and can travel several miles on a single charge. Oh, and for those of you with a critical eye, the vehicle is even the same exact size as the Tatooine original.





by Luke Anderson via ohgizmo.com

Have you ever been at a party and went to grab a cold one, only to find nothing but ice in the cooler? Talk about a major buzzkill. Now if there were only a way to lay claim to several beers at once, to ensure you’d have plenty for later. Well that’s where the Beer Belt comes into play.

This handy utility belt allows you to store up to six ice cold brews on your person. While this may seem like a cool idea, you will look like an idiot, and everyone will be looking at you when they run out of beer. Honestly, I think whoever created this $18 gadget should lay off The Simpsons for a bit.

by Erik Davis via cinematical.com

Honestly, by now, I think we’ve all lost that lovin’ feeling.

It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to hear that folks were mulling a sequel to the 1986 romantic fighter jet flick. Not only are sequels to older films hot these days (see: Indiana Jones 4, Rocky 6, Die Hard 4), but Tom Cruise could provide a real boost to his rep if he were to revisit the character that kinda made him. Whether or not it would actually turn out to be a good movie is a whole different conversation. First off, according to those extremely reliable cats at The Sun, a script outline for Top Gun 2 is done and “movie bosses” want Cruise to star.

Apparently a source said this about the plot: “The idea is Maverick is at the Top Gun school as an instructor - and this time it is he who has to deal with a cocky new female pilot.” Ooohh, original … and spicy! It’s like Karate Kid 4 meets A Really Big Paycheck for Tom Cruise! And yet … we’d all still see it. Why are we such suckers? We currently have no idea how real this rumor is, so for the time being I wouldn’t exactly break out into song and dance. Maybe it’ll happen, maybe it won’t.

What say you? Could this be the sequel we’ve subconsciously been waiting for our entire lives?

by Luke Anderson via ohgizmo.com

Have you ever wanted to get your hands on the real shoes from Back to the Future II? No, I’m not talking about the Hyperdunks that Nike recently announced, but rather something a little more authentic. Up for auction on eBay is the prototype of the shoes used in the movie.

There is only one shoe up for sale, namely because there was only every one prototype made. It has cool features like electro-luminescent panels on the Nike logo and six randomly flashing LEDs on the sides. The back of the shoe has the words “Nike Mag” molded into it, as that was to be the name of the shoe.

Unfortunately the prototype doesn’t self-lace, then again neither did the ones actually used in the movie. If you’re wanting this awesome piece of movie history, you’re going to need some deep pockets. It’s already fetching over $2,500, and there’s still almost 3 days left on the auction.

by Richard Lawler via engadget.com

Buried under predictions that 2012 will bring dominance for Blu-ray over DVD and breaking news that the PS3 just may have had a hand in winning the format war the Entertainment Merchant’s Association 2008 Annual Report on the Home Entertainment Industry holds survey results showing 87% of PS3 owners reported they watch Blu-ray movies on their console. That’s a stark contrast to last year’s NPD survey indicating 60% of owners didn’t even know it played them. We don’t know what’s behind the jump, be it better marketing/consumer education, or something wrong with how one the surveys were conducted. You can mull that one over during the fast money round while also peeping results that say 22% of HDTV owners think they’re watching HD programming, but in fact are not — not like we haven’t heard that before.

by Joshua Topolsky via engadget.com

Like something out of Bizzaro World, word on the street is that hunky dreamboat Leonardo DiCaprio will play Atari uber-nerd Nolan Bushnell in an upcoming biopic. According to reports, the film will detail Bushnell’s life from his early work at amusement parks, through founding Atari and eventually building the Chuck E. Cheese’s empire in a “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington meets Tucker” fashion. We understand there will be a thrilling montage where Bushnell soundly defeats every Atari staff member at Pong, then builds the first animatronic Jasper T. Jowls with spare parts from a 1976 Impala.