Tag Archives: Retro

Cassette Tape Power Bank Keeps Your Music Playing Longer

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Because retro is always in, tech company Remax has created a portable power bank in the form factor of a cassette tape. That sure brings back memories, doesn’t it? I wonder if you have to stick a pencil in the reel to rewind it. I’m joking, there is no rewinding – it’s a power bank. In that case, I’d like to make a withdrawal. Joking again, different kind of bank.

Available through AliExpress, the power bank cassette is available in red and yellow, packs a 10000mAh battery, and features 18W USB/USB-C ports for fast charging, and a 22.5W USB-C for super-fast charging, allowing for a full charge in around 60-minutes. That’s not bad. Granted it’s not instantaneous, but we’re not living in the future just quite yet.

Now they just need to make compact disc and 8-track versions and the holy trinity of bygone media power banks will be complete! And if they were smart, the 8-track power bank would be oversized and powerful enough to charge the car battery and vibrating bed in a shaggin’ wagon. Groovy!

Guy Mods ’90s Hot Wheels PC Into High Performance Gaming System

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The 1990s Hot Wheels PC: it made the top of my Christmas list three years in a row, and I never got one. But enough about how expensive therapy is now, below is a video of Shank Mod’s journey to pack a top-of-the-line gaming PC into the body of one of those bright blue PCs with the flame job. And what a journey it is! You know they say every journey starts with a single step, but I’ve started many with a stumble and skinned knees.

The original Hot Wheels PC came with an Intel Celeron 333MHz processor, 3GB hard drive, 32MB of memory, a 56k modem, 32X CD ROM drive, a 15″ CRT monitor and ran Windows 98. It retailed for $899 and was worth every penny as far as I was concerned. Of course, it’s basically an electric-powered rock by today’s standards.

All said and done; Shank managed to stuff the old case with an AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor, Gigabyte X570 Aorus Mini-ITX motherboard, ASUS X570-I ROG Strix Mini-ITX motherboard, an EVGA NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 XC graphics card, G.Skill Trident Z Neo Series RGB 128GB (4 x 32GB) RAM, a Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD, and an LG WH16NS40 16x Internal Blu-Ray Rewriter.

Interestingly, he uses three original Hot Wheels CRT monitors for the display, citing the frame rate benefits of CRTs and the ability to crank all game settings up to max without hindrance. It’s so beautiful I could cry. I could also cry remembering 10-year old me opening a box I thought was a Hot Wheels PC but turned out to be a popcorn maker. Now I can’t even smell popcorn without getting nauseous.

[via Gizmodo]

Giant Boxing Gloves Sectional Sofa Delivers a Knock Out toYour Wallet

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Are you a professional boxer? Or maybe you’re the world’s biggest boxing fan. If you’re one of the two, then this vintage Boxing Glove Sectional sofa may be for you. If you’re not, it probably isn’t. Produced by Swiss design house De Sede in 1978, the sofa is available through 1stDibs for the knock-out price of $31,500. I don’t know about you, but I’ve tapped out already.

Constructed with an all-leather exterior complete with glove tie accents, you can also separate the sofa into two individual lounge chairs in the event you can’t watch television with your roommate without arguing and eventually throwing punches. I know exactly what that’s like. We have to wear mouthguards just to get through an episode of The Book of Boba Fett.

So, for the price of a new car, you can be the proud owner of a boxing glove sectional sofa. Alternatively, you could spend a tiny fraction of that cost to pay me to knock some sense into you. Just FYI, if you want me to wear gloves, though, it will cost you extra.

[via DudeIWantThat]

Mini 1980s Macintosh Computer Keycaps: Nostalgia at Your Fingertips

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Drawing direct inspiration from the Macintosh 128K of the 1980s, this mechanical keyboard escape and tab keycap set brings the nostalgia back to your own modern computer. Gosh, they sure don’t make them like they used to, do they? No, they don’t, because they used to make them with a ~6MHz processor, 128kB of RAM, a single-sided 400kB floppy drive, and no internal storage. Even my toaster has more processing power.

Handcrafted by Etsy seller CCcoolArt and available through their store for $24, the escape key features the Macintosh computer body with a translucent screen and five interchangeable screen stickers (Apple logo, light face, dark face, Tetris, and heart). The tab key features the likeness of the old Macintosh keyboard and mouse. Could you imagine trying to use one of these computers now? People go nuts when the internet is slow; what if everything was slow? It would be a total global meltdown.

One of the best things about the set is that if you have an RGB light-up keyboard, the monitor will glow thanks to the translucent screen. How about that! With an escape key like that, you’re sure to be the talk of the town. Or at least the talk of anybody who sees your keyboard. I mean, I’d definitely say something. Probably something along the lines of, “Hey, cool keys, I’m going to take them.”

Super Mario Bros. Warp Pipe Can Koozie: Don’t Drink the Piranha Plants

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Keeping your drink cold: it’s a necessity. Unless you’re drinking coffee or hot chocolate, then it’s the exact opposite of what I said. Besides, there’s already a coffee mug warp pipe for your hot beverage needs. But this is about beverages of the canned variety. And what better way to sip an insulated cold one and pledge your allegiance to old-school gaming than with this Super Mario Bros.-inspired warp pipe can koozie? Luigi would be so proud.

Made by Toynk and available on Amazon (affiliate link), the officially-licensed koozie looks just like an 8-bit warp pipe from the original Super Mario Bros. game for the NES. It will undoubtedly keep my Monster Energy nice and cold while I spent countless, infuriating hours trying to set a new speedrun record for the game, smashing controller after controller and unsettling the neighbors with my screaming.

I can never think of Super Mario Bros. and not think about how when I was a kid I’d convince my brother that the pits on the water levels were actually warp zones, so he’d swim down them and die and it would be my turn again. He still doesn’t trust me to this day.

[via The Awesomer]

This Keycap Looks Like a Teensy Nintendo Game Boy

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Recently, I wrote about the Thumby, a teensy Game Boy-inspired gaming system that you basically need to be Ant-Man to play. If you like the idea of a miniature Game Boy, but your thumbs aren’t small enough to play that thing, you might want to consider the ZMKC Pocket Game Console Artisan Keycap instead.

These unique keycaps have an awesome retro look that apes the Nintendo Game Boy but stretched into the shape of a truncated pyramid, also known as a frustum. Yep, we all learned a new word today. If you’re typing on a mechanical keyboard, you have a whole bunch of frustums sitting there right in front of you. But I digress. These awesome artisan keycaps come not only in a retro beige color but in bold egg yolk yellow, a muted black, and several other hues in case you don’t care for the classic Game Boy color scheme.

Another neat thing about this keycap is its see-through window, which lets a keyboard backlight shine through like the old Game Boy Light screen.

The keycap is available for pre-order for $35 over on Drop, which means it’s actually more expensive than the playable Thumby game system. But I wouldn’t try gluing one of those onto your existing keyboard. It’ll start playing every time you type, plus you’ll probably get Krazy Glue stuck to your fingers when you’re doing it. Just think, for $35 each, you could replace all 85 of the 1U keys on a standard 104-key keyboard with these things for just about $3000!

This Life-Size Bubo the Owl Figure from Clash of the Titans is Kraken Battle Ready

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Everyone needs a faithful companion, and Perseus really lucked out in Clash of the Titans when Athena refused Zeus’s request to send the hero her own pet owl, instead offering a brass-and-iron version of Bubo she had Hephaestus construct. Sure the mechanical Bubo was clumsy, but he came through in the end, and I think we can all agree the end is the most important part to come through in.

Bubo is one of legendary visual effects creator Ray Harryhausen’s most beloved creatures, given life in the movie using Ray’s own ‘Dynamation’ form of stop-motion model animation. Available for pre-order from the BigBadToyStore for the godly sum of $250, this 30-cm Bubo replica was faithfully recreated from the model used in the movie. Unlike the model in the film, though, this Bubo is made of soft vinyl, featuring eight points of articulation for posing how you see fit. I see fit to pose him on my shoulder and pretend I’m a steampunk pirate. Yarrrrr!

Will I be buying one myself? Unfortunately, I don’t have the $250 required, but I will be crafting my own Bubo out of Progresso soup cans and parts I can scavenge from the hot water heater. Sure all the cold showers will suck this winter, but can you really put a price on owning your own poorly constructed mechanical owl friend?

[via Nerdist]

Super Mario Bros. Build-A-Light Level Is a Definite 1-Up

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The original Super Mario Bros. changed the course of video games as we know it, and arguably the most influential game of all time. And what better way to celebrate that than with a Super Mario Bros light with stackable, interchangeable, light blocks? Okay, I’m sure there actually are better ways to celebrate that, but this article isn’t about those. This is about the light.

The Build-A-Light level, available from FireBox, includes a lighted base and 16 double-sided light blocks to stack as you see fit, constructing the perfect level and lighting ambiance for your gaming room. Or your bedroom. Granted my wife said there will be no Mario light in our bedroom, but she also said the same thing about food, and I keep a stash of OREOs in my bedside table.

But do you think they’ll also release a Super Mario Bros. 3 version if this one is a financial success? Because I’d buy one of those too. And a Metroid one! And The Legend of Zelda! Actually just take my wallet already, Nintendo, you win.

[via The Awesomer]

From Bitcoin prices to the weather, to even calendar alerts, this lo-fi LED Smart Display handles it all

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A retro display for your rustic mid-century tabletop, the Tidbyt gives you the best of both worlds – a cutting edge IoT display that lets you see the weather, news, stock and currency prices, images and album art, inspirational quotes, etc. in a steampunk-ish display that uses a matrix of LEDs to supply you with your info in a lo-fi 8-bit style.

Designer: Tidbyt

Conceived as a Kickstarter project earlier this year, Tidbyt brings information to you in a uniquely pleasing format. Unlike Amazon and Google’s smart displays that come with clear bright OLEDs, the Tidbyt has a retro charm of its own, with a walnut-wood enclosure on the outside, and a matrix of 2048 LEDs on the front, arranged in 64×32. The layout lets you pretty much display anything on your Tidbyt, as long as it fits on the 64×32 resolution screen.

The Tidbyt can be controlled/customized entirely through its companion smartphone app. The team behind Tidbyt is constantly upgrading the app with new widgets for the Tidbyt, and if you’re a bit of a coder, the display’s open-source API lets you customize your experience. The app lets you cycle through different screens for your Tidbyt too. You can choose multiple apps to be displayed on your Tidbyt at the same time. It will cycle or rotate through, displaying each of them for either 5, 10 or 15 seconds (which you configure through the app). This allows you to easily cycle through multiple stock tickers, time and weather in different cities, multiple subway stops, a bunch of fun messages, or all of the above.

Each Tidbyt comes with a set of controls to help you adjust the brightness of your display. Based on where you’ve kept it (on your work table, your mantelpiece, or bedside), the Tidbyt’s LEDs can be dimmed or brightened for clarity. The app even comes with an auto-dimming feature that follows the sun, and a night mode that kicks in around bedtime, keeping the display running at its lowest brightness so you can sleep with your Tidbyt on.

Post a successful campaign on Kickstarter (which got fully funded in just 2 hours), the Tidbyt is now in its production stages as it prepares to ship to its backers. For people who missed the campaign, the Tidbyt’s up for pre-order on its site for s price of $179 with shipping in November.

Store Your Floppy Disk Coasters in a Wooden Floppy Drive

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Do you long for the days when software shipped on a bunch of floppy disks? Yeah, me either. But I do have a soft spot in my heart for collecting retro technology and art that celebrates it out of a sense of nostalgia. A while back I used my laser cutter to make myself some wood coasters that look like 3.5-inch floppy disks, but they just end up sitting out all over the place. I think it would be better if I had a disk drive to keep them in. Well, thanks to Lazerjammer Studios, that’s now a possibility.

This wooden coaster storage box looks like a vintage disk drive, with a slot in the front where you can deposit up to four wooden 3.5″ coasters. The box has a hinged top for retrieving the coasters, and its interior is lined with felt to protect them. Now I’ve tried inserting my floppy disk coasters in a real 3.5″ drive and they just get stuck, and I need a bunch of tools to yank them back out. And never mind what happened when I tried jamming four of them in there. This is a much better solution.

As I mentioned, I made my own wood floppy disk coasters, but the ones that Lazerjammer sells look much more professional than mine, and will definitely fit inside of the storage box/disk drive. So I recommend buying those to go with. They’re sold in a set of four for $24.95. The disk drive also sells for $24.95, so you’re looking at a great gift for under 50 bucks. And don’t forget to flip the write-protect tabs so your important files don’t get overwritten when you put your coffee cup on top.