Retro

We just couldn't pass up showing you this how-to video from Carnegie Mellon University's Robot 250 program.

As part of the lead-up to Pittsburgh's 250-year anniversary--a city with strong roots in robotics--the Heinz Foundation, Intel and the Grable Foundation are sponsoring a series of events from Carnegie Mellon to educate citizens on robotics and their city's robotic heritage.

In addition to opening up robot-building to students for education, average citizens and artists have been invited to participate in various events that will run through 2009.

The robotic cucumber hand comes from an event hosted by a … Read more

One of the tragic victims of the cell phone's widespread popularity are good, old-fashioned timepieces. Everyone has a do-it-all, pocketable device that makes calls, tells time, and surfs the Internet, so clocks and watches have fallen by the wayside.

Thanks to these retro Nixie Tube Clocks and DIY kits, you can reclaim time-telling in the name of the clock. Not only that, you can also bring your desk's fashion sense back to the glory years of the standalone timepiece.

These hand-made clocks and clock-making kits display the time with old-fashioned glowing orange numbers in Russian Nixie tubes. According … Read more

For bored campers accustomed to whiling away those tedious nature-filled hours downing cheap beer or playing Scrabble, we've found the perfect reason to never leave the tent.

Trevor Baylis, creator of the first wind-up radio, and the amazing electric shoe, has introduced the first wind-up MP3 player. Available at the end of August with a price tag of $350, the Eco Media Player seems like an attention-deficit camper's dream come true. The wind-up media player has a 1.8-inch color screen and a lean 2GB of memory that can be expanded using an SD memory card. Like a … Read more

Maybe it's a function of getting older or frustration with bad design (probably both), but some of us at Crave have been drawn increasingly to retro looks of late, as long as they're done right. But we don't often see the concept applied to cameras, which is why we were especially taken with the "Rolleiflex MiniDigi."

On the outside, this throwback item is almost a dead-ringer for the Rollei's "Twin Lens Reflex" models made in 1920s Germany, according to Technabob, but their innards have gone digital with 3.1-megapixel photography. And although … Read more

Happy Friday, yet again.

Nary a day goes by when I don't think about eating my computer, or at least biting it out of frustration. I hope I'm not alone.

This week's audio/video weekend starter is straight from the brains of Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Enjoy watching the Cookie Monster's green brother do what we all want to do from time to time: eat the hell out of a computer.

Ever since we were kids, Crave has always been fascinated with blimps. To this day we still idolize the dirigible, though the atrocious Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow did its best to ruin the image forever.

That's probably why we're partial to the "Zeppelin" from B&W Loudspeakers, the first of its kind for the iPod that's shaped like the airship of yesteryear. SCI FI Tech says the 2-foot-long system backs up its design with some impressive acoustic muscle--"five drivers including a 5-inch woofer, glass-fiber cones and those sweet tapered … Read more

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were nowhere near as many in-car distractions as there are these days. However, unlike cell phones and DVD players, here's one almost anyone will welcome with open arms.

The Star Wars Talking Dashboard Statues (take your pick from Darth Vader, Yoda, and C3PO) are one of the latest offerings from ThinkGeek. The awesomeness is priced at $9.99 per statue.

Part hula girl, part spiritual GPS guide, the statues blurt out famous Star Wars quotes every time you press a button on its base or hit a pothole. … Read more

Ah, if only all your pals could display a limited range of emotions, sit silently on your desk, and draw power from a USB port.

Yes, these dreams can come true with Mr. Tengu, the latest USB toy sold by Japan's Solid Alliance.

Mr. Tengu reacts to various noises with light-up facial expressions. Just like normal human beings, Mr. Tengu's facial "emotions" include large block-mouth, narrow block-mouth, oval mouth, and mouth-that-turns-into-a-secondary-face mouth. A full chart of Mr. Tengu's multiple moods can be seen here.

Of course, you may know Solid Alliance as the retailers of … Read more

Finally. After almost 30 years of waiting, there's a perfect tech solution for breakdancers: a boombox you can break down into a flat cardboard mat and cold bust windmills and headspins on.

The cardboard, AA-battery-powered Mini Boombox for iPod, designed by Suck UK, folds into an iPod speaker system. It can also be used with other MP3 players.

Pricing info is unavailable for the Mini Boombox for iPod. The system is slated for release in September.

We don't expect the speaker system to rival Klipsch's iFi in terms of sound quality or DLO's HomeDock Deluxe in … Read more