Author: John

Message Mug

Display mug
Oh man, if just figures that someone would figure out how to mass produce these. Here’s a little history. Years ago, back when I would frequent surplus yards in hope of finding cool crap to build things out of, I came across a small dewar flask. I figure it was once used to hold liquid nitrogen or something. It had a cool looking spun aluminum case and a wide mouth. I figured it would make an excellent glass for cold beverages. I was right, a little dry ice in there would keep something cold for hours. Anyway, I added a few doodads to the top and a few vents so the carbon dioxide vapor could escape in a dramatic way and for an added bit of flair I added a hook inside of it for a green glow stick. It went over quite well at the local science fiction conventions (yeah, I’m a nerd).
A friend of mine that was also a builder of odd things spotted it and decided to build one too. The light up mug race was on! This went on for a while, he made one with LEDs, I made one with an electroluminescent display… It ended with him trying to build one that would display messages. This was around 1990 so the electronics involved were pretty darn huge. No micro-controllers at all, nothing but logic chips. It never got off the drawing board even after getting my help with it. After than the great mug wars were officially called a draw and we got on to other projects.
Now I see that someone has done it, made a hug that will display messages. I can only hope that it is hackable and uses a real matrix display and not a shadow mask with a light behind it.
This is the sales blurb:

Light up your next conversation with the Message Mug. The Message Mug can be used with its special “pick-up ON / set-down OFF” power switch or use it with it’s “Continuous ON” setting. Complete with a frosted illuminated mug, the Message Mug is battery operated for complete portability.

Hold’s 16 oz of beverage. Requires 4 x AA Batteries (not included)

Featuring 8 interchangeable scrolling messages:

* Cheers Bottoms Up
* Happy Burp Day
* Single & Available
* I’ll Drink to That
* Happy New Year!!!
* Designated Drinker
* Got Beer? Got Beer?
* I’m a Party Animal

You know, because of the low price and the fact that it says “interchangeable” I doubt that this is the ‘holy grail’ of the old mug wars. Still, it might be fun to get and make a display mask thats says “I know I’m a dork”. 🙂

Message Mug

clever, hack, mug, cool

Flowers in a Can

Can Plants

I’d like a few of these to have around my apartment. I can’t seem to get anything to grow for long, the ivy I bought turned into a pot of dry twigs overnight. It’s as if my apartment if the plant equivalent of the Bermuda triangle. Perhaps these will last a bit longer.

Living in a closet has its drawbacks. Sometimes, there’s not enough room for greenables (aka plants). That’s why these Flowers in a Can are so great. They already come with everything you need (earth seeds), you just have to add water. A little while later, you’ll get fully functional Pansies, Dahlias, Geraniums or Impatienses.
On the side of the can come little pictorials: gardening tips on sunlight exposure, water volume, soil temperature, and germinating time. For $20, they make great gifts and you can get them here.

Flowers in a Can

flowers, plants, office, cool

I Want My Kei Car!

Japan-cars/dscn8131_tiny_car

Oh man! Why can’t we import these to the US???? (Ok, you can but the cars must be 25 years old or older. Right, I don’t think there are any cars that old anywhere in Japan!) I saw these cars in Japan and thought they would be the perfect solution to traffic congestion and lack of parking. You can see from the above phcture (that’s me by the way) that even a van has a tiny footprint.

These cars were never available new in the US or Canada, but Canadian law allows their importation if they are 15 years old and pass a safety inspection before leaving Japan and one when they get in Canada. US law also allows them to be imported, but only if they are 25 years old, so de facto they are banned.
Japanoid offers exactly that: 15 years old cars, usually with a low amount of kms (since the Japanese drive less than Canadians on average), many have souped-up motorcycle engines with sophisticated turbos, superchargers and dual overhead cams, and most get fuel economy in the 50 mpg range. Prices seem to hover between CAN$5000 and CAN$7000.

Importing K-Cars in Canada

micro, import, cars, Canada, Japan

Got The Time?

Humm… Not too sure if this would be a handy device or not. I’d think that if someone is trendy enough not to wear a wrist watch they are not likely to want to wear a paper clip with a built in LCD display on their lapel. Me on the other hand, I’d use one but I have a regular watch and a cell phone so I’m pretty much set for time peices.
Vessel Inc.’s Tempo Time Tags

time, clever, watch, fashion

The Flying Carpet

Giants!

Think of this as an analog Google Earth if you would like.

Alavi’s latest project is indeed likely to inspire a myriad of ideas from creatives all over the world when they see how he had an aerial view of the Sacramento River woven into a carpet for the floor of a pedestrian bridge connecting the Sacramento International Airport terminal to the parking garage. It is indeed, a “flying carpet”…

The level of detail that was captured is quite remarkable, I never knew that carpet could hold such an intricate pattern.

The Flying Carpet

cool, design, carpet, maps