Geek culture

Much ado has been made about Marty McFly's self-tying sneakers from "Back to the Future Part II." What's been forgotten is his groovy hat of the future...until now.

That's right, McFliers, you can now dress even more like your hero thanks to the Marty Hat Replica at ThinkGeek. At $24.99, it's a lot cheaper than the $37,500 a British rapper paid out for a pair of McFly replica sneakers.

The hat is made from a super reflective fabric that shimmers and glimmers with swirls of color. It looks like a herd of unicorns upchucked some rainbows all over it. The hat is one-size-fits-all-geeks with a Velcro closure at the back.… Read more

Pop quiz. You have 12 piezo sensors, Arduino Uno, two speakers, lots of wire, and plenty of duct tape. There is an umbrella nearby. What do you make? How about a musical umbrella that translates raindrops into song?

Two creative Germans, Alice Zappe and Julia Lager, built an umbrella that detects raindrops and interprets them as 8-bit music. This could turn a regular walk down the street into a personalized retro gaming adventure.… Read more

What could make an awesome $35 bare-bones Linux system even more awesome? Sending it on an excellent, solar-powered trans-Atlantic journey, of course!

The FishPi project is one man's dream to use the Raspberry Pi microsystem to pilot a tiny craft across the ocean.

The idea is not just to redefine the term "budget cruise," but to prove that the inexpensive system can successfully guide and control a trans-oceanic vessel. The visionary behind the project, Greg Holloway, is currently working on a proof-of-concept vehicle for the project -- dubbed Fish Pi. Here's how he describes the plan on the project site: … Read more

- Durex Facebook app pairs couples with just the right song...The 404 recommends "True" by Spandau Ballet.

- Do yourself a favor and download Google Chrome for iOS right this second.

- SWAT team throws flashbangs, raids wrong home due to open WiFi network.

- Here's the Braun tape recorder that inspired Apple's new podcast app.

- Don't forget to set your clocks a second faster this weekend.

- Meet up with The 404 at Comic Con 2012 for happy hour (5PM) on Saturday, July 14th! It's … Read more

The dark side of the Force offers many benefits, including the power to electrocute those who oppose you. Unfortunately, force lightning remains a skill only available in the "Star Wars" universe, but YouTuber Nighthawkinlight dreamed up a static-electricity generator device that gives aspiring Emperor Palpatines the ability to shock someone (or something) with 7,500 volts through their fingers. … Read more

The Fourth of July is coming up next week. It's a good time to take stock of where the country stands in the world of technology manufacturing.

We've been hearing quite a bit lately about how feasible (or not) it is to make tech products right here at home.

Manufacturing plants in Asia pretty much have the cell phone and gadget market cornered, but there are some blips on the U.S.-made tech radar. Google has managed to design and build the Nexus Q streaming media player in America.

Is this a sign of a reboot for technology manufacturing in America?… Read more

- Rounding up Google I/O Day One: Hands on with the Nexus 7, seeing the world through Google Glasses, a closer look at the Nexus Q, and all the goodies from Google Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean."

- How major media outlets confirm celebrity deaths.

- Food porn pictures are making you fat.

- Pictures of Asians taking pictures of food.

- Back to the Future hoax separates the fans from the posers.

Video voicemail: St. Paul from Kevin brings hackers into Google's self-driving cars.… Read more

Google's latest sweet tooth obsession has been unveiled on the Google campus in the form of a giant jelly bean jar shaped like the Android mascot. It's a multicolored homage to the next rev of the Android OS -- version 4.1, Jelly Bean.

The sculpture didn't just download itself into place. It had a remarkable journey from conception as chunks of Styrofoam in New Jersey to its current spot among the pantheon of dessert-inspired Android operating system yard art.

The Jelly Bean sculpture was built by prop-building company Themendous over the course of one action-packed week during a heat wave that left workers covered in sweat as they churned out 160 individual beans to go into the Android-shaped jar. … Read more

Popular apps like Instagram spit out highly stylized images, but what do you do when you simply want a portrait to look nicer? I put Portrait Professional 10, a $39.95 automated airbrushing software package for Windows and Mac, through its paces.

I dug through my photo archives, looking for portraits in need of some TLC. My top candidate turned out to be the fortune teller animatronic from an antique machine at Tinkertown in New Mexico.

The fortune teller suffers from an overwhelming makeup job, lots of wrinkles, and a ruddy complexion with visible pores. Time for some magic.… Read more