Author: Navneet Alang

If you are at all familiar with the early nineteen-nineties, then you know that kids really liked three things: Super Mario; cool sneakers; and rolling other kids for their stuff. Well now, in a rather stylish nostalgic mash-up, you can relive the time and crime you may or may not  have ever experienced with these spiffy Super Mario sneakers. Nike has created these custom shoes featuring everyone’s favorite Italian plumber (who, for some reason, looks rather angry, right?). Rather than using a pixelated Mario or the design from, say, Super Mario Galaxy, these kicks have a nice meta touch and…

Fans of Starcraft – many of whom poured hundreds of hours into battling South Korean teenagers in the real-time strategy game – might look at this collector’s edition of Starcraft 2 with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. After all, though the $100 set includes some pretty nifty stuff, it might also mean that, for some, it’s time to once more kiss daylight goodbye. But assuming that you have either grown as a person since the first game – or that you’re a true fan and are willing to sink more of your life into Blizzard’s admittedly brilliant stuff, let’s take a look at what comes in the collector’s…

You know, non-techies will often deride users of Twitter or Facebook and other social media for ‘having no life’ – and we know how wrong they are. But cheating at Foursquare? Yikes, that’s sad. I mean, let’s break it down: using an app designed to encourage you to get out, you instead sit on your couch and pretend you went somewhere? Suddenly, my life seems way less lame. But thankfully, Foursquare have figured out a way to prevent some very pathetic people from cheating. Essentially, they’re only going to hand out points, badges and mayorships when your phone can verify you’re in the place you say…

Going strictly by the chatter on the North American web,  you’d be forgiven for thinking the iPad is going to save the world. But there are also, oh, about a couple of billion people around who, instead of thinking about how the iPad is going to revolutionize media, can’t rely on having small, insignificant luxuries like water and constant electricity. That’s kind of a big deal if you want to do something radical like charging your cell phone, a device that is often a lifeline not just for individuals but sometimes for whole villages. That’s why the Solar Pebble seems like such a step in the right direction….

Imagine it: two fitness buffs take a break from their rigorous exercise regime to get totally blitzed. Six drinks in, one of them suddenly sits bolt upright and says: “you know what would be awesome? A bike that was a treadmill!” K, that’s probably not how this treadmill bike came about. But still, you gotta’ wonder… Of course, the idea is actually much less crazy than it sounds. By putting an inclined treadmill on what is basically a large scooter, you get the workout and resistance of an uphill run without having to be cooped up indoors – and you can get where you need to go to boot. And really, who wants…

I can’t decide what’s more impressive about this video:  ‘Applegirl002′s’ skill in using iPhone apps to create music; or the fact that she sings Lady Gaga’s famous track while making an appropriately badass face. The techno-friendly musician got buzz a couple of weeks ago for her rendition of Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” and has now set her sights of Gaga’s Pokerface. She spends the first part of the video breaking down how she goes about using iPhones and specific apps to create her songs, and then she goes on to use her impressive skills and voice to sing that song you won’t admit to liking but will…

Often, when we think of innovative approaches to design and living, we often look to highfalutin conceptual renders and abstract futurist thinkers. But the Hakka Tulou “apartments” in in Yongding county, Fujian province suggest that different ideas about organizing living space can from any time. The buildings were constructed with defense in mind, and they not only have solid walls up to six feet thick but their massive size also allows them to store weeks’ supply of food and water. They contain a mixture of private apartments and shared communal space. Perhaps most fascinating, however,…

If you’ve ever wandered the streets of Berlin or Munich, then you know that shwarmas (or doners as they call them) are a kind of big deal there. So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that German company Alkadur has invented a robot for cutting those delicious chunks of flesh that make for some of the world’s tastiest street food. The robot uses a combination of a pressure sensor, a robotic arm and a razor sharp blade to safely slice and collect tasty meat shavings for your enjoyment. Beyond safety, the robot can obviously work all day for very little cost – 10 Euros a day – and doesn’t have to stop take bathroom…

While 50GB on one disc seemed pretty incredible just a few short years ago, some enterprising scienticians are set to make your dual-layer copy of Click look downright quaint. A new version the Blu-Ray disc called BDXL (get it!?) is on the way and promises 128GB of storage space for writable discs. The new tech, which uses three or four layers instead of one or two, is aimed mainly at corporate users looking for a robust backup solution and lonely geeks with terrabytes of smutty films. Okay fine, only one of things is true. Before you get too excited about having all three Lord of the Rings movies on one…

Thank God! Finally, we can talk about something else Apple other than the iPad! Even though the tablet just launched to a veritable torrent of reporting, Apple have said that we’ll get a sneak-peek at the next generation of their mobile operating system at 10am, April 8th at Apple headquarters in Cupertino. The big rumor for months now has been the arrival of the ability to multitask. The lack of multitasking has often been seen as a significant knock against the iPhone – and now the iPad – so it’s possible Apple will be looking to address those concerns. Other rumors have included an improved maps…