Offbeat posts

Welp, Tron: Legacy is out on Friday, and if you currently exist, chances are you’re going to see it. In the event you don’t exist, there’s probably a hypothetical quantum world where your un-self will see it anyway. This movie’s moistening the loins of geeks the world over, and I’d be hard pressed to imagine you’re not one of them. You’re reading Techi, after all. With the advances in computing in the last 28 years, you’d have to think that writing Tron 2 would be quite a task – y’know, now that the internet exists and all, the world of Tron would seem to be limitless. But that’s just what Legacy director…

One could argue that it takes latte art up five levels. In this video by rnzohar, the concept of putting drinkable images on the foam of your latte or cappuccino goes well beyond flowers and seashells. While not the first mechanical “java printer” it is definitely the most detailed that we’ve seen. For non-coffee-drinkers, it also works on the head of pint of beer. For non-beer-, non-coffee-drinkers, perhaps a bubble bath would do. Either way, the creator has a dilemma: I can not figure out a reasonable way to turn into anything except for a temporary curiosity. Any ideas? Here is one of the predecessors…

Remember the days when nearly all of your Christmas gifts were clothing or accessories. Sure, there were a few household appliances sneaked in there, perhaps cologne or perfume, and an occasional piece of jewelry, but aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, and parents would fill the underbelly of the Christmas tree with sweaters you’d never wear and underwear that sort of felt uncomfortable getting as a present. Those days are closer to being behind us as the digital age makes more of an impact on the holidays. As this graphic by our friends at Savings demonstrates, more and more people are turning…

Star Wars creator George Lucas has been busy of late, pulling together the makings of his grandest special effect to date: resurrecting the dead. But it’s not exactly what you think. Or, maybe it is. You didn’t honestly believe Lucas was drawing a big pantagram on the floor and sacrificing lesser farm animals, did you? Either way, it’s considerably less metal than that. I’ll let Lucas’ friend, director Mel Smith, fill you in. George has been buying up the film rights to dead actors in the hope of using computer trickery to put them all together, so you’d have Orson Welles and Barbara Stanwyck alongside…

Santa is so sick of this toy delivery thing, guys. Not because he isn’t passionate about showering the well-mannered children of the world with gifts; on the contrary, it’s the only way he gets down. But let’s be real: Santa’s been doing the same damn thing every Christmas for like 200 years now. The guy just needs a change. And change he has brought to his otherwise predictable nightride, trading in his legendary sleigh for… a hovercraft? Powered by air and the smiles of children the world over, Santa’s new ride looks like a rad time if I’ve ever seen one, but let’s be honest: this has got to be less…

To the best of my knowledge, the Techi crew has let fly with a number of interesting Rubik’s Cubes in the past… or maybe it’s just been me. Either way, this one pretty much takes the cake in my opinion, as it’s made of movable type. Being a nut for both typography and Rubik’s Cubes, I’m tickled shades of pink not found in the visible spectrum of light. But the catch, as you’ve no doubt noticed by the photo, is that this Cube is in Chinese type. Only Cube you’d have to learn a new language before solving. Unless, of course, you already know Chinese. Designed by fellow type enthusiast Shaun Chung, I don’t think…

This may be done tongue and cheek, but it’s not only possible but sadly it’s something that is, in one form or another, likely. As we (d)evolve as a society towards integration of the most mundane facets of our daily lives into our social stream, what’s next? Will many start auto-tracking every move they make on Foursquare or Facebook places? Will every food that we order or cook find its way onto our Twitter stream? Will it become more commonplace to post pictures of every activity on our Tumblr? “A view from the bathroom stall at Red Lobster: (Link). Clean, not a lot of graffiti.” Sigh. Our friends…

No one ever accused Alicia Keys of f***ing around when it comes to philanthropy, and if you ever felt like you wanted to, she’s about to prove you seven shades of wrong. The singer, along with a host of other celebrities, are about to pull the plug on their online selves for charity. Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Seacrest, Usher and others are among the celebs who are taking part with Keys in a campaign called Digital Life Sacrifice for Key’s charity Keep a Child Alive. The campaign involves basically what it says on the tin – the participants are going to remove themselves from their Twitter and…

A new survey conducted by Japanese ad agency Dentsu has revealed the ‘hit recognized products’ in Japan for 2010. And hoo boy, what a list it is. Smartphones, of course, have more or less been grouped into one category as they would dominate the entire list of separate. Twitter has come in at second place, narrowly eking out munchable chili oil for the silver. Yes, that’s right. Munchable chili oil. The top three ‘hit recognized products’ in Japan for the year two thousand and ten are, in order: smartphones, Twitter, and MUNCHABLE CHILI OIL. No iPads. No gadgetry. Munchable chili oil. Oh, Japan….

I can’t remember the last time I swallowed a foreign object on purpose. I think I was, like, six, and it was a Micro Machine. Remember Micro Machines? They were great for swallowing, among other things. Anyway, Fredrik Hjelmqvist, CEO of Pause Entertainment, is about to swallow a custom-made sound system for… well, probably for no other reason than that he can, turning himself into a human jukebox. Users will be able to log onto the official website to beam their song selections to Hjelmqvist’s stomach, where they will be able to continually annoy the crap out of him whilst he goes about his day,…