Once upon a time we’d take fast fairground rides to get a sense of it, nowadays we can actually, you know, just do it: head off into the wide blue yonder of zero gravity sensation. Sensation seekers these days have this new option on their itinerary, for when those picnics and beach holidays get a little tired, why not get a sense of life on Mars? Space.com talks up the holidays offered by Zero Gravity Corporation, who are taking people up and out in a G-Force One airplane to experience weightlessness. These are all part of the many ongoing 21st-Century experiments attempting to assess the scientific…

IDEA TIME: Let’s stop talking about iPads and shit for a minute, yeah? Yeah. Let’s just rap about this and then I swear I’ll show you a cool case or something, alright? Just settle down, we’ll get back to your regularly-scheduled mobile-and-mobile-accessories in a second. Y’know the Large Hadron Collider, that thing that was supposed to kill us and end existence (and, depending on your school of thought, may have already done so)? As much as the LHC is all about quantum death, it’s also about beautiful music. Check it, and behold a series of pieces performed by the LHC’s Atlas detector, which, in…

How have you been making use of your time? PixelOptics have spent the last decade developing emPower, which is – get this – electronic spectacles that can change focus via an electrical current run through a layer of liquid crystal in the lenses, effectively rendering the bifocal obsolete. You tell me what’s not bad ass about that. Just tell me. I dare you. The specs have three modes: when off, they act as a regular progressive lens – not the greatest, but suitable for everyday activity. When in manual mode, the electronic layer is locked in the on position, and the glasses function more or less like…

Straight outta the Church of Obsolescence comes Dan Beville, stonemason and apparent architect for the Cult of Holy Tech. Having been donated a pile of old motherboards, Dan has paid tribute to Our Lady of Computing Eternal by constructing these totally opposite of not rad stained, uh… silicon windows, set in a sandstone frame. I can’t imagine he didn’t spend some long man hours on these. Big propers, Dan! Oh, I just noticed the devil’s playing a fiddle. Adorable. [Via Overclockers]…

Little is more satisfying to today’s Twitterwhore than the gathering of followers; I know I for one am certainly guilty. Lucky us – there’s now a means to stroke our titanic egos! Start up a wicked fat beatbox rhythm and click here to check out IS Parade, a service that quite literally puts you in control of an animated parade of followers, who declare their own recent tweets as they pass – all set to a totally infectious beat. Naturally, this is a Japanese invention, and only further proves they have way better ideas than we do. Assuming you have a few minutes to spare, check this out and feed your ego….

The hits just keep coming from Google I/O in San Francisco today – Google TV, Android 2.2, an iTunes competitor – it’s been an impressive day thus far. And while moments ago, I was content to sit on my ass here at home and do little more than muse and smile, I suddenly find myself cranky I hadn’t bothered to check out the event in person. Why? Google just gave everyone at I/O a free EVO 4G. It’s alright, don’t tear up. I feel the same: a crushing weight of sadness, as I sit here looking at my LG 8100 with no 6 key and a slightly broken screen. And MiniSD? Who the hell uses that? In any case, ‘don’t be evil’ truly seems…

If you ever wonder why some people do inexplicable things, don’t ask Jeffrey Stephenson. He’s won’t explain a damn thing. But, nevertheless, he shouldn’t have to. His work is jaw-dropping enough on its own. Jeff builds PCs based on classic radios. Now, I don’t know much about classic radios, or about Art Deco in general, but I do know that these are some truly sexy units, and Jeff has taken great pains to pay proper tribute to the devices upon which these are based. Seriously, these are all computers. Yes, even the microphone. Stephenson’s full portfolio is here. I don’t know if these are for sale,…

People of Techi, I have a confession: I’ve been keeping something from you. I’ve been hiding something wonderful, and the guilt is simply too much to bear any longer. I’ve got to get this off my chest, and into your hands. That sounds kind of gross. Anyway, Super Mario Bros is inarguably the most famous videogame of all time (actually, maybe it’s Pac-Man. I’m totally just guessing). Nevertheless, SMB has been the subject of countless tributes over the years, and this thing what I done been hiding from you is possibly the greatest of them all. Enter Super Mario Crossover, a complete recreation of the…

If only I’d had this as a frustrated kid, yelling over a half-completed Lego kit. Lego has teamed up with Metaio to produce a truly eye-popping concept – in-store displays that can give you an augmented-reality preview of a completed Lego kit. Just hold the box of your desired purchase up to the screen and the model instantly assembles itself on top. This is no foolin’. Seriously, I brought a video. Check it out. [Via Cnet]…

I’m not big on the whole 3D scene. Trying to fit awkward glasses over my regular ones isn’t exactly comfortable. Likewise, virtual reality is something I’m not too keen on (two words: Virtual Boy). But this, I like. The pCubee (yes, that’s “PEE-kyoo-bee”) is a new spin on an…uh…’old classic’. By utilizing five LCD screens strapped to a plastic cube and sensors worn on the head (think of your Wii, but backwards), the pCubee displays an interactive 3D diorama ‘inside’ the cube. The University of British Columbia, whose team designed this thing, are calling it FTVR, for…