ToyCyte sale!
We've slashed our prices for a lot of our toys to make room for more customs! Go get some amazing deals today at our store !
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Mon, Feb 2, 2009
Stay tuned for our next custoMONDAY (today!) for a chance to win another custom toy.
Dustin Cantrell crossed my radar when his interactive custom Mad*L (crossed with a Bleep Labs Thingamakit) joined the ranks of last year’s ME Mad*L show in San Francisco. While T.W.E.R.P. took third place in the juried competition, it was first on my mind. Now it blips, bleeps and alights in my house with me. I kept in touch with the California-based artist and got to meet him in December at Vinyl Toy Network, where he was distributing his AsterioDunnys. In Pasadena, Dustin planted the seeds for what would become the Plasma Dunny for custoMONDAY. I knew from a grainy cell phone pic that it was going to rule, and Dustin did not disappoint. If you’ve ever been to a hands-on science museum (or, alternatively Spencer’s Gifts at your local mall), you are aware of the fun of touching these plasma-globes and conducting the electricity within. Combine that with your love for designer toys and you’ve got Dustin Cantrell’s Plasma Dunnys. Or, more correctly: we’ve got them. Dustin made a limited run of just four metallic silver Plasma Dunnys for ToyCyte. We are currently offering three of them through ToyCyte’s new store. Click here to score one while they last. [Update: 2/5: There is only one left! -An hour later and they're all gone! Last remaining one goes for free to the contest winner!] But if you want to get one of these unique, interactive, awesome figures for free, you’ll want to enter…
If you want to get your hands on one of Dustin’s Plasma Dunnys (and trust me, you will), leave a comment below with your favorite gadget or piece of technology. It can be real or imaginary (from books, movies or comics). Dustin will pick a winner based on how cool/creative/interesting your gadget/tech is and how well you can back up your claim.Get your entries in by Sunday, February 15th at midnight PST. We will announce the winner on Monday, February 16th shortly before the next custoMONDAY. The contest is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. If you have already won a custoMONDAY in 2009, please feel free to share your creativity, but you are, regrettably, not eligible for the prize.
How did you get into toy customizing/modification?
I guess toys just never really stopped being a part of my life. When I was little, I was into the normal 80s kid stuff: Star Wars, He-Man, Transformers, Legos, etc…. For a while, I was really into customizing action figures. You know, repainting Transformers to look more realistic or adding an LED to an Iron Man’s chest. Simple tricks to, in my mind, improve a cheap, easy-to-get toy and make something “better.” Eventually, I met Adrian Pina, and he saw my stuff. He gave me a CI Boys Mini-Destroyer and asked me to customize it for him. I made the Hell-met, a tiny WWII battle mech, and had a great time doing it. That’s when I realized that I could focus on the “designer” aspect of customizing. Instead of trying to make a better version of somebody else’s idea, I could just do my own thing and put more of myself and my interests into my creations.
AsteroiDunnys and Cosmic Travellers, do I detect an interest in space travel?
Space is the place! I’ve always been amazed by the vastness of our universe – all the awesome stuff in it, everything we’ve discovered about it, and everything we still don’t know about it. It’s kind of mind-blowing and really gets my imagination going. I like including that stuff in my pieces when it’s appropriate.
In addition to some western designer toys, I know you collect kaiju, and you recently customized a Hedorah and Mini Skullbrain. Theoretically, there is overlap in western/eastern toy collecting, so why so much online animosity?
There’s room for eastern/western overlap in toy collecting just like people can appreciate different genres of music for different reasons. One isn’t necessarily better than the other by default; they’re just different kinds of toys. If a toy is cool, it’s cool. If it’s lame, it’s lame. It doesn’t matter where it came from. As for the online animosity, I’ve seen it but haven’t experienced it personally. This is kind of a sensitive issue, but I’ll give you my take on it. People get passionate about their interests and the Internet gives them a place to voice that in various online communities and share with other people. I think most of the perceived “animosity” comes from folks who want to simply maintain the boundaries of these communities and keep their discussions focused on their interests.
Nice diplomacy! Your T.W.E.R.P. remains one of the most prized art pieces in my collection. Tell our readers a bit about how you turned a blank Mad*L into bleeping, light-up GID awesomeness.
It’s kind of a long story so bear with me. My girlfriend knows I’m into weird stuff and that I like to make things. She bought me a Thingamakit for my birthday back in August. Well, when it did arrive, in the box, along with all the resistors, capacitors, and potentiometers, was a hand-written note from Dr. Bleep thanking us for our purchase. I thought this was fantastic. After assembling the kit and playing with it for a few hours, two things happened. One, I was inspired to put the circuit in a Mad*L for the Delicious Drips ME Mad*L contest, and two, I e-mailed Dr. Bleep to thank him for the note and to ask him if he’d be interested in donating a Thingamakit to me for the project. It turns out, Dr. Bleep is as awesome as I thought he was: he knew of Delicious Drips and was planning on heading out there to peddle his Thingamagoops. He was very supportive and gladly donated a Thingamakit to the project. From then on, he was super-helpful and continued to support me throughout the build. Throughout the process, he sent me an additional speaker and some extra wire. Dr. Bleep is one solid dude. That’s the back story. From there, I just soldered up the thingamakit, added two additional switches to toggle on and off a couple of bends I found in the circuit, and mounted it in the Mad*L.
Care to comment on the genesis of your custoMONDAY Plasma Dunny?
The Plasma Dunny is kind of my way of exploring our relationship with technology. The science of the plasma globe comes from Nikola Tesla’s observations and experiments with finding ways to use evacuated glass tubes to observe high-voltage phenomena. I think it’s interesting that his work and discovery, which at the time must have seemed like some kind of magic, has been reduced to cheap, Chinese-made novelty toys to be sold in malls at stores like Spencer’s Gifts.
I agree. Another interesting Tesla factoid I just learned from the history channel: he was repulsed by women with pierced ears. Like Tesla, is it the challenge of making something new that appeals to you?
That’s definitely part of it. When I decide to commit to a project, I try to be conscious of the fact that I’m still making a toy, you know? With that in mind, sometimes it seems appropriate to not only add paint, but to include a whole new play feature…something to give the piece some “life.”
What music are you listening to when you’re, say, conducting electricity through Plasma Dunny’s head?
My musical tastes are all over the place so I tend to sum it up like this: I like music that either perfectly exemplifies its genre or drastically defies it, preferably both…at the same time. With that said, I’ve been revisiting my Clash albums pretty frequently. L.A.M.F. by The Heartbreakers is one of my favorites. When I really need inspiration, I go with Bowie. I’ve also been pretty into Guitar Wolf for a while now; they’re great for keeping my energy up.
What are some of your favorite toys? Artists?
Man, there are so many great toys and artists out there right now. Let’s see, for artists I’d say Bwana Spoons‘ stuff is consistently awesome. Mike Sutfin has been doing some great work with the Bop Dragons from Rumble Monsters. Paul Kaiju does an amazing job on pretty much anything he decides to put paint on. For toys, I think Gargamel has been putting out some really beautiful stuff. I also like the robot toys that Yamato makes, their Scopedogs and Valkyries are awesome, and it’s great that they put out accessory packs to make ‘em even better.
What are you working on now? Any upcoming shows?
Right now I’m working on pieces for three upcoming shows, DrilOne’s I.W.G. show, the Illazilla tour set up by TNES, and a Skullbrainer show at Super7. They’re all really exciting, and I’m very happy to be a part of them. I’ve got a few more ideas in the ol’ brain-pan but they’re going to have to wait until the summertime.
Stay tuned to ToyCyte for news on those shows!
Jeremy Brautman - who has written 1965 posts on ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected.
Jeremy Brautman joined ToyCyte in 2008 and has been writing about toy culture ever since. You can currently find him contributing to a variety of blogs, artkiving doodles at Doodlesplatter.com and cataloging artistic ephemera at ARTkivers.com.
[...] naar deze site en laat een reactie achter met je favoriete gadget of een stukje techniek wat je fascineert. Je [...]
[...] More pics + info [...]
[...] made by Dustin Cantrell for custoMondays. Right now you can win these dunnys in a contest over at custoMonday or you can purchase them later this month over at toycyte. I just thought it was a pretty neat [...]
[...] with a novelty favorite: the Tesla-inspired Plasma Globe. But even crazier, he’s letting ToyCyte give one of these amazing creations away for [...]
[...] with a novelty favorite: the Tesla-inspired Plasma Globe. But even crazier, he’s letting ToyCyte give one of these amazing creations away for [...]
[...] with a novelty favorite: the Tesla-inspired Plasma Globe. But even crazier, he’s letting ToyCyte give one of these amazing creations away for [...]
[...] toy customizer Dustin Cantrell has recently created a hybrid between technology and toys for ToyCyte. His latest creation is an amalgamation of Kidrobot’s staple Dunny and a plasma globe. Dustin [...]
[...] Toy customizer Dustin Cantrell has recently created a hybrid between technology and toys for ToyCyte. [...]
[...] mezclar algo de tecnología sci-fi ochentera con una figura de vinyl es el restultado que presentó Toycyte como ganador de su último concurso de [...]
[...] to create this interesting piece dubbed, the Plasma Globe Dunny. Oh and the good people over at Toycyte are giving one of these away for free and, if your not so lucky, three more up for sale in the [...]
[...] more about it and enter the contest here at Toy Cyte There is also a great interview with the artist [...]
[...] Qué grande esta versión del muñeco Dunny de Kidrobot, con un globo de plasma tipo Tesla en el interior de su cabezón. En un post publicado por su autor, Dustin Cantrell, en ToyCyte, el artista explica que le daba pena ver el legado de Tesla reducido a productos escolares. Lo mejor del Dunny con globo de plasma es que… ¡Sortean uno! Y además puedes participar en el concurso desde cualquier lugar del mundo. Asómate al enlace para descubrir qué debes hacer para participar (yo lo voy a intentar y si lo gano, os ofreceré una exhaustiva review). ¡Pero hazlo antes del 15 de febrero! — Rafa M. Claudín [ToyCyte] [...]
[...] made of hundreds of little pins that makes an impression of your hand and lose all interest. Well Toycyte has taken a smaller version of those plasma globes and used it to replace the head on a Dunny toy [...]
[...] The good news? You can enter into a contest for a chance to win one that will be given away. Head here to [...]
[...] best comment post on this blog wins a limited edition custom created Plasma Dunny created by Dustin Cantrell. Help me come up with [...]
[...] (image source | ToyCyte) [...]
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I’d have to go with the house from There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury!
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Btw, you said you’d announce the winner JANUARY 16 instead of february!
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
See what happens is, when you touch Plasma Dunny, you go back in time. Also, I haven’t had enough caffeine. Thanks for the catch. It’s February 16th!
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I really think there can be no greater piece of technology in the history of humanity (past, present, or future) than the self-slicing bread featured in that one episode of MST3K.
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
the best piece of technology would have been the hover board from “Back to The Future”
i mean come on! who doesn’t need one!
great customs too!!! would definitely want one in my collection!
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I’d have to go with a classic and say Transporter(teleportation machine) mostly known via Star Trek fame. To be able to dematerialize a person into an energy pattern and then be able to transport(beam) them anywhere and rematerialize.
Physicist Michio Kaku predicted in Discovery Channel Magazine that a teleportation device similar to those in Star Trek will be invented within 100 years.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
The best piece of technology was Glitch from “Reboot” (http://reboot.wikia.com/wiki/Glitch). Glitch is a keytool that can become almost any object, project energy shields, and be used as a communication device. It was always something I wished I could have myself.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Boy that is a tough one. Favorite tech including fantasy? Wow. I’m going to go with the invisibility shield that the Predator uses. That would come in mighty handy some times (and no, I’m not talking about girls locker rooms!…maybe). Now if you could combine that with a lightsaber and the Master Chief’s armor, hoo boy!
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
The sonic screwdriver! If you could make anything sonic why not a screwdriver. And it’s handy if you forget your keys and it fixes anything.
For the unenlightened, the sonic screwdriver is property of the Doctor (who? exactly!).
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
The Greatest piece of tech would be the from quantum leap the tv show. ( that is if it was used correctly) but then again by it no working right it helped lots of people.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
What a great question!
If there was one piece of technology I wish we had it would have to be Rosie the Robot Maid from the Jetsons. How great would it be to have a robot maid/housekeeper to do all the little things we hate like vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the bathroom, etc.
Plus then we’d have more time to do the things we love…like customizing!
February 2nd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I think one of the coolest pieces of technology imagined is the replicator from the star trek series. This machine is able to take sub atomic particles abundant everywhere and turn them into atoms and from there create more complex proteins and cells. This object could end world hunger. On top of this huge achievement there are many other smaller benefits as well.
Although I don’t think it’s shown as portable in any actual Star Trek episodes I think one could easily be made. This would relieve at least one of basic human needs of survival when becoming lost marooned or otherwise separated from civilization for long periods of time.
Another bonus of this technology is it can easily introduce people to food of different cultures cross the world. Often food is a very important piece of a given culture and by trying these new dishes it can give some entry into those other cultures which we otherwise might not have even seen a glimpse.
Lastly it would help people regulate calorie intake and create a healthy diet customized to each users specific body composition.
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
The best piece of technology ever is bubble wrap, everyone loves to play with it and pop it, it even has an appreciation day! (01/26)
Without bubble wrap, where would we be today?
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
My favourite piece of technology is the Guide itself from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Never before has such a repository of useful information been collected— it’s like Wikipedia without all those pesky notability guidelines. Planet guides, recipes for Pan-Galactic Gargleblasters, you name it— and all neatly cased in a reminder:
DON’T PANIC
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:20 pm
I think im going to have to go with the Hoverboard from Back to the Future 2! I remember all the rumors as a kid about these boards really coming out and leaving me with many restless nights of dreaming of this thing popping up in like the Sears Holiday Wishbooks..haha
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
I’m going to have to go with rotocasting machines from reality (and mostly China). Without them we wouldn’t have this wonderful world of toys to spend so much of our money, attention, and time on. Money, attention, and time that I’m sure judging by the aesthetic of our vinyl revolution, would definitely have been put towards evil.
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:38 pm
The best piece of technology is obviously WALL-E. He is cute, compassionate, rechargable, environmentally friendly, and just wants to hold my hand.
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:01 pm
The Flux Capasitor, its what makes time travel possible.
That or my slow cooker, its what makes my 5 alarm chili possible.
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I think the greatest piece of technology is the spear
I think tools originally are what separates humans form other animals.
and I think that this is one of the first pieces of technolog,
and we might not be alive without it.
also it is one of the worst becuase it is the start of weapons.
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Power laced Nikes from Back to the Future2. One, because they were clean and two, who doesn’t like power laces haha.
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I’d have to agree with Autin’s pick for the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s the perfect example of the technology of the future; far more advanced than anything we have now, but full of half-useful information. It’s fundamental problems irritate anyone who uses it, but nobody can live without it. Gee, this sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Those same flaws allow for a buisness to exist, employing untold numbers of people working ’round the clock to update the information and refine the design, not to mention those employed by the manufacturing and widespread distribution of such a product.
If everyone had a replicator, there would still be the need for power – lots of it. It wouldn’t solve any problems in the long run. The basic natural concept of competition (war and conquest on a larger scale) would still exist, they would just be lusting over the next big thing that will make them rich.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
My favorite gadget has to steampunk goggles that flip and magnify with the many lenses over one eye.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I think one of the best gadgets or technologies is the hyperdrive. It makes the exploration of space not only possible, but highly efficient and effective at the same time. This will allow us to one day come to find a planet full of creatures that just might resemble the plasma-headed dunnys, if we are lucky. we just have to hope that they’d be friendly.
also, i think my blackberry bold is probably one of my favorite pieces of technology ever.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Okay everyone… I have read your comments and I think you all are forgetting something. GLH. I am sure many of you are wondering what exactly GLH is. GLH is short for “Great Looking Hair” which happens to be the spray on hair system invented by Ron Popeil. That’s right ladies and gentleman, the same man who brought you the Showtime Rotisserie, Pocket Fisherman, and 5 Level Food Dehydrator is also responsible for the GLH spray on hair system. Replicator you say? Hoverboard? No says I! A bald man would be too lonely and miserable to replicate or hoverboard! It’s GLH that will save the world. Now buy a can, and get out there and tag your city and your bald friends!
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
i think my favorite would have to be ipods/mp3 players/cd players. i think these are the gadgets that have actually changed the world, and made it more appreciative of music. back way back when, not many people really listened to music, only in discos, or clubs, or in the elevator. but now, people can hear whatever music they like from these gatgets
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I would have to say my favourite piece of technology Large Hadron Collider (LHC) It makes something out of nothing. …it spins 2 protons around a BIG tube then they hit and make antimatter. If you want more info look it up.
Or a Time machine … come on who doesn’t want one??
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:50 pm
One of the coolest pieces of technology imagined is the “ORGASMATRON” from the movie “SLEEPER” featuring Woody Allen. No muss no fuss, wham bam thank you mamm! Your in and out! Love that movie and love your customs!
Thanks!
-SCAVE
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Awesome figure, and I have a plasma ball at work, would love to add this baby to my collection!
My entry would have to be on the imaginary side of the spectrum and being a gamer…this was a no brainer when I read about the contest, my entry is the “Gravity Gun” from Half-Life 2!
When the creators of Half-Life 2 invented the Zero-Point Energy Manipulator (or Gravity Gun) they transformed every loose piece of material in the game into a weapon…hurtling exploding barrels into Antlions, or flinging detached rotary blades through the abdomens of mumbling Headcrabs, are the priceless moments that every gamer savors.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:54 pm
The flux capacitor of course from back to the future For many reasons. A.Whenever you say it you get a tingle inside and you know anyone as geeky as you will to. B. You can travel in time in a stylish Delorium. ,but as fun as time travel is, the best part about it is. C. You get to say things like 1.21 gigawatts and, your not thinking fourth dimensionally, in everyday conversation.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:20 am
My favorite piece of technology would be the SDF-1 (Super Dimension Fortress) from Macross. It’s a massive fortress that maneuvers through space folds and subspace. With a Super Dimension Energy Cannon, it can wipe out pretty much everything. I want one!
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:56 am
Favorite piece of technology?
Well, I’m still holding out for the Orgasmatron (or really, anything with a “atron” suffix) from the 1973 Woody Allen film “Sleeper”
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:09 am
Doh!- read the comments and got scooped on the Orgasmatron….
2nd choice- the personal computer!
Too many hours spent copying BASIC programs from Compute! into my TI994/A to word processing in college to the glory of the Internets! I don’t think any other piece of technology has unified so many disparate people and viewpoints.
How else would I ever learn about the magic of plasma headed vinyl toys?
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:24 am
The best piece of technology is obviously Duct Tape. I mean, seriously, have you seen what MacGuyver could do with that stuff!?!?
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:52 am
Favorite piece of technology is the time machine. Yup, time machine, go back in time to see how other technology or inventions were made – priceless.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 am
i like to find theramins and synths made by random people listing there creations on ebay, my favourites are by a guy called “delfy” these are the coolest piece of technology due to the sound they produce and i like the fact that people with a bit of knowledge are able to make there own yet there are so many variations.
i have yet to make my own, i am a collector really though so no real desire to make my own.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:36 am
Fantasy technology? Pshaw! The Dremel 400 XPR is my new favorite piece of technology. Lets me cut apart, drill, disassemble, shape, and otherwise tinker with nearly everything. What’s not to like?
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:29 am
Hmmmm..I’d have to say that looking at this my Favortie piece of technology has to be the Daleks (form Dr. Who) armour or shield or whatever it is. It really rminds me of this dunny and it’s super powerful and can destroy all with it’s laser, plasma
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
One wo–er, two wor— well, sort of a compound word.
The Keytar.
I mean, come on, where would we be without the Keytar? Not only would the sonic wisdom of bands like Devo, or Spyro Gyra??
And lest we forget the most important question to be asked is: Would The Misfits songs have TRULY been better than Jem and the Hologram’s if it weren’t for the keytar?
I think not. For they are they misfits, and their songs are better.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
edit: that was supposed to read “We would be bereft of the sonic wisdom of…”
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:10 pm
My favorite piece of technology would definitely be Shamwow. Is there anything it can’t soak up?
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Sonic Screwdriver? Daleks? You can have them, I’m going to take a turn around the universe in the freaking TARDIS. The time machine is one of the last great pieces of technology that still holds mystery – that we’re not even close to inventing. Add a space ship in there.. be still my beating heart!
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
The Sheepinator from Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando.
Why is it awesome tech? Everyone loves sheep.
Plus, you know there’s some people you dislike in life and want to turn them into sheep.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:39 pm
favorite piece of technology?
i would have to say phones or computers. not for their literal sense but because people today have abused what was once a commodity but are now used as exclusionary devices to avoid social interaction.
think about how many people walk into a room and are on their cell phone. why? because they are uncomfortable so they grip onto the only device they feel completely comfortable with.
computers were once used to find information and to communicate faster and more globally and now they are used to check how many friends you have on your myspace account or to look at a woman having sex with a horse who’s having sex with a man.
i dont discredit technology these days. but i think people are abusing the privilege that was given to them. thats why these toys are so fucking great. because you are using technology for an ACTUAL purpose and the outcome is always fantastic.
even i dont win one of these, i would like to thank you for what you are doing with the technology that you were given. instead of flipping through 1276 television channels six times, only to settle on a saved by the bell rerun.
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 pm
My favorite piece of technology was fiction when I first saw it, and now is rapidly becoming reality.
When I first started watching Star Trek as a child, the words ‘Beam me up Scotty’ became second nature to me. Now as an adult, the evolution of cellular communication has in many ways actually surpassed the Star Trek communicator, my favorite piece of technology.
Or silly putty
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I’m gonna go with the electronic ankle bracelet monitor. This device was inspired by a Spiderman comic strip in which the Kingpin was tracking Spiderman with this (in that era) fictitious device. I think it’s awesome writers had the foresight to come up with a device like this, that it actually got produced and is still in use. Plus, Spiderman is awesome period! They should make Spiderman brand ankle monitors.
February 3rd, 2009 at 5:24 pm
The best piece of technology created is very simple. The snuggie is the best invention, period. Time machine and light speed are just plain weird. If they were ever invented, they would cause a space time paradox in which the invention would have a chance of not being invented in the first place, thus preventing the prevention of the device being stopped. In other words, they can’t be invented because if they were, they couldn’t exist in the first place.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Pretty sure Al Czervik’s golf bag from Caddyshack takes the cake. Loaded with a remote-controlled club-ejector, built-in stereo (that sadly blares only Journey) and a tapped beer keg, the bag pulls off the amazing feat of making golf seem fun.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:44 pm
The copter hat from Inspector Gadget- The power of flight, man! Not to mention the fashion of a sweet fedora.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:47 pm
How about the “Click” remote- the remote control with unending possibilities. Pausing real life, going back in time, muting people you don’t want to listen to and runs on double A batteries.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:24 pm
The best technology? Piss on technology unless it facilitates art, give me art – the art experience – the *old* art experience.
Grandpappy’s eyes used to sparkle when he’d talk about the church’s stained glass windows – I was real young then, but I got it. He was a farmer, and if it weren’t for those stained glass windows whos mention would send him gazing into the horizon in what I always took for a true reverence, i doubt the old man would have made it to church at all (especially after reading his diaries).
If I’m voting on technology, I vote stained glass. That or the future-sci-fi-tech that will enable me to stick grampa’s eyes in my skull and experience, first-hand, his subjective awe at such sights.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I would just have to say transparent aluminum from star trek 4, the same construstion abilities as 6″ of industrial construstion grade plastic yet only 1″ thick. Think of all the weight construstion problems solved as well as the additional safty of using it vs glass but 10X the strength and usability. Not to mention how it would make solar pannels less expensive and wind enegry generators lighter in weight so less air is needed to move them thus producing more enegry.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:26 pm
The coolest piece of technology, in my opinion, is the cloning machine that Tesla made in The Prestige. The possibilities are endless.
Besides, David Bowie as Nikola Tesla just sells any product.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Everyone else has it all wrong. The best piece of technology would be: The Pencil (or pen). Just think, without it, we would have nothing that we do today. We would know nothing of the past. Inventors wouldn’t be able to write down their thoughts, blueprints, whatever. Nothing could be improved or redesigned because there was no way to easily see how it was currently designed. We wouldn’t know who we are, where we are, where we are going, anything like that.
Long story short, without the pencil (or pen), we would never be where we are today.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I must say it’s a tie between the finglonger and the What If? machine. With the ability to poke things from great distances, you can have hours of fun! However, you can find out what might be fun to poke in first place with the use of the What If? machine.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:33 pm
The coolest piece of technology ever was the time machine in the movie “Primer.” It worked on principles of time travel from other films, but never in the same way. It begged the question that if you could change things in the future, would you, and what would the consequences be. I always wonder what that would be like.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
In its simplicity hides the complexity of a world that you think you know. The Matrix is all you think is real. It is nothing and it is everything. You don’t move an inch but you exist, trapped in its illusion. I ask you is there anything bigger? anything more encompassing than that which is all? Fictional tech or the world we live in? Are your memories real or manufactured…our experiences, all part of a plan to feed the beast or do you really control the outcome? Does it matter? What’s the difference…?
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I would have to say the Dictabird from The Flintstones. It is easy enough for anyone to use, and frustrating enough for everyone to avoid. Much like an alarm clock, but that’s a different story.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:39 pm
The washing machine. Seriously. Orgasmatron 3000, anyone?
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Seeing as I’m further down on the list, I have the luxury of reviewing some gadgets already posted — and while Back to the Future is definitely cool, and the Flintstones in particular was a pretty inspired (if not techy) choice, I can’t believe no one has chosen the one gadget that we would give up everything for:
the lightsaber.
go ahead, try to compare it with something else. teleporter? KITT? the dick tracy watch? those little hamburger shaped robots from “batteries not included”? no matter what you think of, the inevitable conclusion is: “man, I could cut that in half with a lightsaber.”
there’s nothing cooler than that.
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Everyone knows that the best piece of tech ever made is the Pip-Boy 3000 (from Fallout 3). It’s like a computer attached to your arm that tells you everything like what you have in your pockets, how agile you are even how lucky you are. That makes it winner by default, nothing else measures your luck. If only someone could make a full functioning Pip-Boy today…
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Swiss Army Pocket Knife. Have an older one, real tiny, and like MacGyver, you really can do most anything with it. Moped breakdown on the way to school? no problem. Car wigging out? no problem. Splinters? still no problem. Usable just about everywhere, and darn near impossible to break. The farthest I’ve ever gotten was taking a micronick on the blade, after numerous rough and tumble situations. Sure it’s lo-tech, but it sure does a lot!
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I think that my most favorite gadget would be a time traveling machine
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
My personal favorite fictional piece of technology would be the lightsaber. I know it seems dumb but theres pretty good reasons. For one this thing can cut through just about anything. Picture this you find yourself trapped in a burning building with no doors to exit due to fire but there is a wall leading to the outside, what do you do? cut yourself a way out! Or say you’re somewhere at night and is pitch black and you need to see where you are going? Turn on your lightsaber and you can now see your surroundings! Not only this but you can change its color whenever you want. Wouldnt it be awesome to have a device thats lethal and helpful that you can change depending on your mood? Rough day at work? Go red and show people you mean business? Happy? Try blue on for size! Its a great defense mechanism too! You can block any knife coming at you or incernerate bullets that are coming at you! Also when you touch two of them together they spark, its like your own personal fireworks show, thats pretty sweet! Light as a weapon I mean come on how can you pass that up? That there alone is enough to sell me on it! This is the best way to combine medieval warfare with futuristic technology.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Coolest tech?
My vote goes to the Large Hadron Canno- Collider. Seriously, there are probably other tech out there that maybe be better. But, as of right now and in reality, the Large Hadron Collider is awesome. Shame it’s down at the moment.
Besides what other tech do we have now can make people tremble in fear of doomsday from a black hole? Or the discovery of the god particle? I qwould definitely love the LHC to discover something that can very well let humanity progress significantly.
Besides, if the LHC does cause doomsday. We can always say that we were awesome enough to cause said doomsday whether it makes us all weird or suck us up in a black hole.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:11 pm
The Splicer from Resistance 2…I mean who wouldn’t want to cut some one in half with a richosetting saw blade?
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
My favourite piece of technology has to be the thermos bottle.
I mean…it keeps cold liquids cold, and hot liquids hot….- HOW does it know?
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I gotta go with those seashell things from Demolition man. I don’t care if they never explained what exactly they do or how they work. Man has been using toilet paper since the Dark Ages! Seriously, think about it. We have satellites orbiting the earth, transmitting untold amounts of data through space, robots that can do just about anything but feel, and automobiles that can do just about anything but fly, but we’re still using a small, flimsy piece of biodegradable paper to wipe our own waste from our posterior.
Forget holograms, forget teleporters, forget jetpacks, I want a better way to wipe. Pass me some seashells!
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
My favorite piece of technology is the Fender Stratocaster. No musical instrument has influenced music in the way that it has. It’s been defining rock, blues, and etc for over 50 years. America. Hell Yeah.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Minority report style browsing and interface! It’s near, with multitouch tech and stuff like Microsoft’s Surface. Can’t wait!
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I’m pretty sure you made my Dunny dreams come true! I’ve been collecting them for a few years and I’m pretty sure you’ve blown me away.
Ok so the most awesome piece of technology I can come up with is Dr. Manhattan because the man can teleport anything and anyone. That is the one thing that the world is missing. Teleportation. Let me tell you, if they figure out how to bring Dr. Manhattan out of the comic books I would be up for “hanging out” with him if it meant I could go anywhere at anytime I wanted.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:28 pm
I have worked mostly in retail settings and I would love to have a wireless local area neural network. Imagine being able to query your coworkers and find out if the debit card system is back up, or the super being able to send a quick message warning that a suspected quick-change artist just entered the store!
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Microsofts (not the company) from the William Gibson Sprawl series, they were a combo hardware wetware installed in a port behind the ear that allowed you to gain temporary knowledge instantaneously
i.e. Speak French fly a helicopter understand circuit design
I think being able to have a pocket full of new languages or various skills would make a job hunt easier as well as pulling off complicated projects.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
The only piece of tech that I want are the “in-ear wireless headphones.” Is asking for a wireless headphone system for my iPhone enabled Tesla-inspired Dunny too much to ask?
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
my powerchair. why is it my favorite gadget, because without it i cant get anywhere.
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
What would be the coolest technology? I envision a time when processing power and network connectivity advances to the point where we begin to see an emergence of (forgive the overused phrasing) “digital sentiences”. Not a new idea, it’s true… but I’m thinking of a whole electronic culture of digitalized individuals which isn’t limited to today’s machines, but takes advantage of future capabilities in such a way that they become truly enmeshed with our own physical (or linear?) life. You thought the challenge of accepting equal rights for women and minorities was difficult? Now think of going through all that and more for the rights of these virtual individuals to live, work, love and exist equally with the rest of us… to become a part of our shared experiences.
Now that would be cool technology…
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Hrm. If I have to choose, I’d say mp3 players… I think those new netbooks are kinda spiffy, even if the moniker sucks.
~
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:55 pm
The best gadget ever would/will be *either* a gravitational manipulation device or a instantaneous communication device.
Gravitational manipulation: A device that manipulates gravitational forces could potentially be used for a huge variety of tasks, a *ton* of the exciting sci-fi concepts could be accomplished through gravitational manipulation. If it was energy efficient, and so long as it is made up let’s assume it is powered by cold fusion, it could be used for a nearly unlimited number of tasks. Dreams such as levitation, force fields, mass acceleration, skydiving without a parachute, being the silver surfer, cars impervious from shopping carts, and allowing people in glass houses to throw stones.
Instant communication would be amazing because it would allow for further exploration of our universe – either remotely or manned, without any delay in information. Live video, audio and control would allow for us to take over mars! BUAHAHA…. umm…
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:04 pm
I always thought the idea of cyberization, and/or the use of a prosthetic body like those used in Ghost in the shell would be pretty neat…
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
The coolest piece of technology. It is my artificial heart. It never pumped. It never spoke. It never broke. It never pulsed. It never..It did fall in love. Love with many women. It was mechanical. The LOVE was still real.She broke my heart. It was mechanical. It broke down. I broke down. It is my artificial heart.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Of every piece of technology that I can think of, one of my favorites is probably pretty simple and usually often overlooked. And that is the QWERTY keyboard. Just look at it. It’s such an efficient and simplistic design, but we can do so much with it. One second we can use it to chatter away on a blog with quick and simple movements of our fingers. And in the next, we can pwn n00bs on our favorite MMORPG with a couple flicks of our fingers. And you don’t have to live with just a plain old keyboard either, there’s keyboards for every flavor of geek. For those of us with craptastic writing that simply doesn’t improve no matter how hard we try, the keyboard is a heaven sent. Finally people can understand what we’re writing without having to ask us what every other scribble is!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:10 pm
the Pyrotronicdisintegrator from Buck Rodgers days. Blasters, disintegrators, and just plain ray guns from the 1930’s fuels the imagination of young and old to this very day. Bulbous shaped, ribbed and angles seemed to epitomize what everyone thought was necessary to properly charge such a ray gun. The shapes were very dissimilar to todays military Halo styled fair.
If I have to be blasted, I want to be blasted by a piece of art!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:22 pm
i would probably have to say the telescope. yeah it might sound lame and boring but without that we would have no knowledge of what we know when it comes to the universe, space, all that good stuff. Seriously E.Ts UFOs wormholes black holes time travel, other dimensions alternate realities. its crazy but unbelievable. everything we know and want to know and would eventually know is all because of the telescope, yeah scientist play a huge role specially the one/ones who invented the telescope. all the other types of telescopes are also very great.
i wish i have gone to college and studied astronomy(i guess i could still go im only 23) but every time i look up at the stars i just wish i could go up there and travel and be the one to see everything before anyone else, take the risk of being lost in space. would suck to be lost in space but would be amazing to get proof of other life or travel through wormholes into other galaxies.
ok enough nerdy talk
but if i was going to pick something else i would say the invention of George Lucas, or should i say birth. for if it weren’t for him we wouldn’t have star wars, oh and Steven Spielberg for doing E.T
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:25 pm
By far my favorite and most coveted piece of technology is the Point-of-view gun from the movie version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – BECAUSE NO ONE UNDERSTANDS!
sniff.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Hmmm I must say that out of all the crazy gadgets I’ve either seen or made up myself, I’d have to say the best was, and still is, the pokeball. The concept of a pokeball has always been so cool: when you point this ball at a creature, a beam emits. Then, the creature becomes part of that beam and is instantly in the ball. Also, anything could fit in this ball, whether tiny or humongous, and the ball would fit right into your belt holster. When I watched this execution as a young boy, I thought it was real. Although I know better than pokeballs existing, it really makes me think…Real pokeballs will exist one day. One day we’ll be able to pick up anything from a distance and teleport it to a convenient ball in your hand. ONE DAY!
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:49 pm
Alright Let me preface this by saying that there is no greater Batman than Bruce Wayne, but of course Terry (Batman Beyond) would have the better suit because he is no match for Bruce Wayne in his glory days. I’ve dreamed about using this suit since I was 11. First of all, according to the Batman Wikipedia, it increases strength tenfold and is generally resistant to just about anything you could throw at Batman: Bombs, fire, electricity, etc.. On the tech end of it, its 18 years old at the start of the series but because it was built on Bruce Wayne’s dime its still state of the art. The lenses over the eyes have such functions as infared night vision, and digital binoculars. The fingers have a retractable password decoder and by placing the index and middle finger on a glass window the new batman can listen in on the baddies on the other side, incognito. The boots on the suit are awesome because not only do they cling to surfaces (magnets) but they also have rocket booster which allow for limited flight thanks to the AMAZING retractable wings. Just to highlight a few other things quickly, it shoots discs, a variety of batarangs, smoke pellets, flashbangs etc. Also, it can briefly cloak itself entirely. Above all, in the fantasy of say, being batman oneself, it would be the suit that allows anyone who wears it to protect Gotham. Alright, I’m done waxing nerdiness.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:56 pm
coolest gadget is definitely the US gov’t’s “auroral research machine” (i.e. the new age of weapons of mass destruction) HAARP. HAARP beams into the ionosphere, using high frequency and low frequency waves, can beam charged particles from the ionosphere to influence weather patterns or target and obliterate your house from a few thousand miles away..uses some technology that has something to do with the aurora borealis.
and TESLA INVENTED IT!
http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I think that the greatest gadget would be a giant retractable robotic arm that would strap to your back around your waist. You would be able to sit on the couch while simultaneously opening the fridge to grab a snack and kick back with. In addition, with the arm securely strapped to the back of the wearer one would be able to swing themselves spider man style from building to building. Thereby saving time and couch potatoes from actually having to move.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Lots of people have already mentioned so many awesome things, but for me there’s only one piece of technology that I’m super excited about. It’s the Space Elevator.
Once they’re possible, it’ll mean the next step of space exploration! Not only does it mean much easier access to the cosmos, but we’ll be building space ships and stations in outer space. Sending everything up the elevator instead of spending vast fortunes on rocket fuel to try to get our materials and equipment into orbit.
It’ll be a jumping point for mankind to begin it’s vast colonization of other worlds. It’ll help us realize there’s so much more to the universe than ourselves and our problems here on the ground. Instead of fighting each other we ought to be reaching for the stars! I could be living on the moon someday in a moonhouse built in an Earth-orbiting moonhouse construction station!
Other potential positives: A safe place to dump nuclear waste, the Sun. We’ll send it up the elevator and launch it away. The view from the ridiculously long ride up? probably ridiculously spectacular. Future astronaut movies could be filmed inside the space elevator on it’s way up, they’d be floating around for real!
I’m sure there’s more…. soo much more.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Honestly? My favorite piece of gadgetry is Severian’s sword in Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. It’s an executioner’s sword, so it has been specially designed with liquid in the core so that, as the sword swings down, the tip becomes heavier, ensuring a clean decapitation. Sick? Macabre? Sure, but it’s a damn cool idea, and it’s one that could even theoretically work…if the guillotine had never been invented and we still beheaded criminals.
I guess I’m a stereotypical guy. Take a book series filled with so much incredible future-tech that is so advanced it’s almost low-tech to the people using it and the thing that sticks with me most is the sword =D
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Replicator (Star Trek)
Make anything out of thin air.
Hot tacos anytime of the day,new pair of shoes right before you leave the house,free drinks,new Dunnys…SOLD!
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Metalhead (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Robot Turtle
I would totally have him do my laundry and make me pizzas…ALL THE TIME.
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
The greatest piece of technology has to be KITT from Knight Rider (original KITT). Think about it…This was a sleek, black, customized Pontiac Trans-Am that could do everything AND he was Michael Knight’s best friend. Don’t forget the fact that KITT could cruise at 300mph, had the weaponry of a flamethrower & smokebombs and best of all Michael Knight could activate & call KITT from his wrist watch!!!
one word can only be used to discribe this machine…AWESOME!!
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:55 pm
The coolest gadget EVER has got to be the invisibility cloak from the Harry Potter series. No one knows who made it. There’s only 1 in existence and Harry has it with him at Hogwart’s and… they have a regenerating buffet. Concerts, movies, amusement parks, and even parties, especially the ones with good food, would be right at your fingertips. Hell yes.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I have to say that my favorite gadget is the Mood Organ from Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. The Mood Organ give you the ability to change your mood when you feel like it. When you don’t feel like changing your mood, you can dial in a code to put you in the mood for using the machine! That’s just brilliant – scary but brilliant!
February 4th, 2009 at 1:19 am
The titanium spork. 2012-ready!
February 4th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Well not a gadget per se, more of a species though… But the babelfish (Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy) is definitely what I’d go for. It’s the small, yellow, leech-like, fish-alike species that translates from one spoken language to another. When inserted into the ear, its nutrition processes converts sound waves into brain waves, neatly crossing the language divide between any species you should happen to meet whilst travelling in space or not.
I’d hate it if I meet those evil aliens from mars to fool me with their translator machine into not running cause they are my friends, also I can have a decent holiday abroad without utilizing my uncunny skills in hand gesturing…. Babelfish rules (it’s also a very useful translation engine on the web
)!!!
February 4th, 2009 at 4:16 am
The greatest piece of combined technology IS! The Infinity Gauntlet and its endless amount of power and its ability to manipulate every little thing the possesor wishes >=)
February 4th, 2009 at 4:23 am
mmmm the best gadget may be is an cellphone with an internet application software that integrates the Internet with telephony through a new concept, a cellphone completely controlled by voice.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Oddly, my favorite “gadget” (though it barely deserves to be called this) was the Gameboy color. As my first handheld device, it introduced me into the world of gaming, and the potential it had.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:34 am
The best tech/gadget is an ebook-reader with a full color OLED monitor, that can also play videos. It’s also light and big enough to be comfortable while holding it in bed (above your head).
February 4th, 2009 at 5:36 am
My favorite technology is the LEGO system, it’s where a lot of people get their start in being creative, from the basic bricks to the more advanced Technic and Mindstorm sets it opens up a world where kids and adults alike can learn about mechanics, construction and expressing their creativity. Some kids go on to be architects or industrial designers, other kids grow up and just keep playing with LEGOs.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:42 am
Something I’ve had in my head now for some time and would like to find engineers to help me make a reality one day once I am able to fund it is a personal suit that enables flight. Think Iron Man, but something more like a jacket with boots and gloves that is easily wearable (or maybe even a full suit to address the issue of weather protection with certain aspects detachable or retractable for friendlier skies). The technology is in the fiber, that has the ability to manipulate the air around you to create thrust somehow while drawing power from a renewable source such as solar (like Superman) or hydrogen cells, or maybe even some mini form of fusion.
Obviously, this is not a technology that exists just yet, but using existing technologies like PAN (Personal Area Network), the components of the system would work together to protect the user and enable flight through will or subtle motion via a neural link. Add to that a visor or some sort of eye-wear protection that provides a holographic overlay using something like OLED to provide everything from weather, gps, to integrating with the user’s cell phone or ipod to enable in-flight music or phone calls, all voice activated, using the aforementioned neural link, and/or keypad located on the arm.
Of course, safety would be an issue with such a device, so some sort of mechanism would have to be worked in to break falls in the event of suit failure. Perhaps suit inflation mixed with a parachute or even subtler would be a way for the suit to detect an eminent crash and provide a last second emergency reverse thrust to slow the decent to a soft landing.
In a true act of philanthropy as well, this remarkable creation would be sold at an affordable price, so that every man, woman, and child cold own one, which will hopefully reduce fuel costs, reduce traffic on roads, and create a new generation of recreational activity and travel that will hopefully spawn a societal shift helping us all feel a little closer to Krypton.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Favorite item
Nothing that interesting… but i have purchased and repurchased laserbeak, one of the cassette decepticons… May not be technology, but if it was larger and could be played it wouldn’t suck.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Greatest Gadget/Technology ever: Deep Thought
Reason: 42
February 4th, 2009 at 5:55 am
The coolest technology has got to be the internet and all associated with it. Without it, I would not have known about this cool contest, this cool artist, and all the WAY COOL customization with his Dunny/Munny project! This totally makes me want to get out, cop a new DIY Dunny and strap on some LED’s and flashing/blinking, shiny stuff in and on him!! Very inspirational indeed! The Plasma Dunny is a great innovation. Thanks for sharing with the world and me!
February 4th, 2009 at 6:05 am
I would have to say the new KITT from the new Knight Rider. This time he’s a a Shelby (come on! Shelby!) Ford Mustang. He’s got a supercomputer for a brain, adaptive learning patterns, ridiculous amounts of memory, self-reparing nano armor (that also transforms shape and color!), a high power laser, a vertical boost, he’s able to tap into any camera on a network, and much much more (he can even tell jokes). Who wouldn’t want to drive that around?!?! And he drives himself!
February 4th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Definitely the portal gun from Portal. The ability to designate the locations of both ends of a safe, functional wormhole is undeniably one of the coolest functions any gadget has ever been created to perform. Besides, just think of all the brains you could explode with the spatial paradoxes! What if you shot a portal into outer space? At a black hole? At the ocean? At an elephant?
It just blows my mind.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:30 am
I think the Continuum Transfunctioner from Dude Where’s My Car is obviously the coolest piece of technology. It starts off as a simple rubiks cube, then once solved can destroy the universe! i mean the ENTIRE UNIVERSE. Oh and if that wasn’t sweet enough just incase you run into a giant alien woman you can activate the photon accelerator annihilation beam to destroy her as well!
February 4th, 2009 at 6:39 am
robotic prosthetics
Giving people with lost limbs the ability to function in that capacity is amazing.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:02 am
I think I am going to have to go with the internets, this thing lets me see these amazing dunnies and everything else in the world without having to take off my ghost pajamas, and that is a world changing experience.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:05 am
If I had to pick one, I’d want the gun from Transmetropolitan than makes people shit themselves at differing levels of violence. Gun that makes you shit violently! How useful is that? Think about the kind of influence on society you could have. I could use it right now! “GIVE ME THIS CUSTOMIZED DUNNY OR I WILL MAKE YOU CRAP OUT YOUR OWN RECTUM!”
You would give it to me if I could really make that threat. That’s why Spider Jerusalem’s shit-gun is my favorite piece of technology.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:18 am
I would have to say a microcontroller! They now provide such easy ways for computers to interact with the real world in ways no one’s ever imagined! They can be used to control any electronic device and allow devices to connect to the internet which empowers them even more!
If not microcontrollers, then the woodturning lathe, which can make an infinite number of useful products and is one of the only machines which can be used to make another lathe.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Well, my fav. piece of technology would be the “Voight-Kampff-Test” from Blade Runner, because this would actually mean that i could ask clones about their feelings on turtles laying on their back..as this itself isn’t funky enough, why should i want to do that?
Because: Hey, then we have clones and that would mean that i finally get myself a personal Jessica Alba (for $#x), a personal Steven Hawkin (conversations) and a personal George W. Bush Jr. (as a punchingball.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:44 am
The coolest, most creative, useful technology of all time is Wyatt’s (Ilan Mitchell Smith) computer from Weird Science (1985) which he and Gary Wallace (Ian Michael Hall) used to design their perfect woman and create “Lisa” (Kelly LeBrock), the smoking hot 80’s babe with Einstein’s IQ, David Lee Roth’s attitude, and magic powers! FTW
February 4th, 2009 at 7:52 am
(didn’t read all comments sorry if someone said this already) but my gavorite piece of tech would have to be those nanobots featured on a discovery channel show about the future they could like combine to form a couch and then you could change the color size look texture etc. or even change the way your phone looks if it was made by the nanobots just all together really cool btw my favorite piece of real tech is my ipod touch i love it!
February 4th, 2009 at 7:52 am
(didn’t read all comments sorry if someone said this already) but my gavorite piece of tech would have to be those nanobots featured on a discovery channel show about the future they could like combine to form a couch and then you could change the color size look texture etc. or even change the way your phone looks if it was made by the nanobots just all together really cool btw my favorite piece of real tech is my ipod touch i love it!
February 4th, 2009 at 7:55 am
I would have to go with Dahak. http://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233762704&sr=1-1
Not only is it a talking spaceship, not only is it freakin’ HUGE, not only does it draw power by tapping into a DIMENSION of power, it can maintain itself, it can cybernetically upgrade it’s human crew.
Oh and did I mention it’s the FRICKEN MOON?
The book is pulp sci fi to be sure, but, I’ll be damned if I didn’t want a spaceship like that.
It’s like having a dog, that can talk…and fly you around outer space!
February 4th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Best piece of technology…. I am going to go with the home version of Total Recall false memories thing….you know what I am talking about. Honestly if you could “remember” yourself in the winning this Plasma Dunny, in Africa on Safari, or every weekend, what it was like for you to be a spy on Mars, wouldn’t you want to? Besides you could tell cool stories and they would certainly feel real to you. Now that I think about it…doesn’t this kind of sound like being plugged into the Matrix? I digress; most importantly the home version of this comes with that awesomely hot nurse/assistant that was in the movie (a cutout will suffice) , and a copy of the movie!
February 4th, 2009 at 8:14 am
So happy I can use something from fantasy. Greatest tech gadget would have to be the Allspark from Transformers. Who can beat an object that makes any machine into a sentient Transformer? That is just the definition of the best tech gadget ever…
February 4th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Bio-Enhancement. As outlined in David Weber’s Dahak series. Imagine Battle Steel appliqués to your skeletal structure, enhanced muscules allowing you to lift hundreds of times your own weight, eye implants that will allow you magnify your vision and see in different spectrums, enhanced hearing, sense of touch, being able to generate a force field around your body, enhanced reaction time, neural implants that allow you direct access to computer feeds, and a built-in fold-space com capable of direct communications within 1 light-minute of your location.
How cool would that be? I mean, the direct neural interface is amazing enough even if nothing else was on that list. If I had only one wish, yeah, that might be it.
-dvsDave
February 4th, 2009 at 8:29 am
the life straw
http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw.htm
now we can drink urine without problems
February 4th, 2009 at 8:42 am
THE SNUGGIE
blanket with sleeves – need i say more????
February 4th, 2009 at 8:50 am
These are all incredible first of all! second of all my favorite piece of technology is called a Kaossilator or Kaoss Pad. They are made by Korg and are basically Touch Screen Synthisizer. I have 2 of each and they are incredible!
February 4th, 2009 at 8:50 am
The binder clip. Small, efficient, wonderfully designed and adaptable to an infinite number of applications. It holds paper, yeah, but also all the stray wires on my desk. I’ve use them to temporarily attach a magnet to a string to retrieve a lost screw. There’s one on the edge of my printer stand that serves as a hook for hanging my earbuds. They can be turned into an iPhone stand, a fashion accessory, a life-saving device, and a gazillion other things. MacGuyver would have never left home without a couple in his pocket.
Second best is the equally adaptable wire hanger, problem being that it’s too difficult to carry with you everywhere.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:51 am
To me the coolest piece of technology is a gundam. A gundam is cooler than a transformer because you cannot pilot a transformer and some gundams can even transform into spaceships making them cooler.
Gundams have beam swords/scythes etc. which will wreck the transformers little tiny “ax” Just look at deathscythe he will easily slice megatron in half making him awesomer and you can actually control and go inside a gundam making transformers obselete. And with the gundam unicorn you can go beastmode and go over double your original power. If gundams were real i would put my life on the line to be a pilot plus they also make nice toys and works of arts including the models and action figures.
basically you got a giant robot that you can pilot and kick some major @#$ what more do you need? this invention if invented would SH!% on any other invention.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I’m going to go with my TomTom One 920T. When I got out of college I hadn’t really traveled much. I grew up in NJ, went on vacation with my parents up and down the east coast. Fast-forward to post graduation and I was traveling to Georgia, Colorado, California, Utah. I still remember literally almost getting sick to my stomach lost on one of my first travel trips.
Now I just bring my TomTom with me and I still follow directions but should I get ridiculously lost or out of place it gets me back on track. Definitely one of the gadgets I’ve gotten the most use out of. A close second would definitely be my iPod. It’s always jacked in all the time in every car I’ve ever owned since the first time I owned a 2cd gen.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:06 am
The food replicator from Star Trek! I first saw it when I was a child and thought it was the most amazing thing ever! I mean, ANYTHING I wanted to eat or drink at the touch of a button? The future can never get any better than that! Now as an adult I have a bitter moment every single time I think of it or see it in the reruns of the series and movies, since no one ever invented one in real life (yet). Just THINK of the problems it would solve. No energy would be wasted on grocery shopping, meal preparation, or spoilage. Everyone gets to eat what they want, when they want. People would have more varied, nutritious diets. It would revolutionize the planet. It would be a heck of a lot easier to feed my family in peace, everyone eating what they like instead of the way things are now, with me slamming things around in the kitchen cursing out Gene Roddenberry and wishing they had never shown me 24th century technology only to rip it away. ‘Where no man has gone before’? Try the KITCHEN!
February 4th, 2009 at 9:11 am
The best Gadget ever is the Towel from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Galaxy.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc, etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Chapter_3
February 4th, 2009 at 9:13 am
the slinky, because everyone loves a slinky.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Hands down greatest piece of (real) tech so far to emerge this century is the 3D printer. The full use of the printer is still being developed, but it promises the ability to take pretty much anything from concept to creation in just a few quick steps. This will bring about a revolution in manufacturing of everything, from custom car parts to kitchware, jewelry to furniture, and most importantly, toys.
Already there are services on the web where you can design your own products and have them cast fairly cheaply out of a variety of materials. Soon that will be pervasive, allowing designers to create anything they like in quantities of 1 to 1m. Check out http://www.shapeways.com. It’ll blow your mind with the possibilities.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:24 am
The opposable thumb… so great, even Dunny has two!
February 4th, 2009 at 9:25 am
The best gadget in my mind is is the Subtle Knife from the Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman.
The Subtle Knife is a legendary knife with a blade so impossibly sharp that it’s edge can cut through space time itself, allowing it’s bearer to travel to an almost infinite number of alternate universes.
It’s also handy in a fight if the need arises.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:25 am
My favorite technology would have to be the Teleporter like in in Star Trek or The Fly. This would probably be the worlds favorite as well if it were a reality. Think of all the traffic that would be eradicated. Urbanites stuck in traffic would definitely agree with me. Also, the time savings alone would boost productivity for everyone. I hope some real life application to this technology before I die.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Have you ever heard of a guy named Eadweard Muybridge? No? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Muybridge) Well, no one really has, but everyone loves his gadget – the zoopraxiscope. Haven’t heard of that either? I don’t blame you. Check out this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoopraxiscope
Eadweard wanted to win a large (for the time period) sum of money. Some big wig dared him to prove that when a horse gallops, all four feet are off of the ground at one time. Eadweard, that eccentric little pimp, decided to get rich quick. Well, sort of. It took him something like four years to win that money. Anyway, he did it. His invention, the zoopraxiscope, pioneered motion pictures. MOTION PICTURES, people.
Without this funny looking genius of a dude, we might not have the movies we see today. A world without television or movies? It’s not a life worth living!
(Did I mention that he was aquitted of murder, too? He found a letter from some dude to his wife, and managed to track him down. He said “Good evening, Major, my name is Muybridge and here is the answer to the letter you sent my wife.” Then he shot him. They ruled that it was justifiable. Ahhh, the good old days.)
February 4th, 2009 at 9:32 am
The telephone, just think about this one.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:32 am
i know it sounds freaky and all that.. but as a child i allways thought what would ir be to have a pair of atomic flying boots such as the ones in super mario bros the movie! yes that old and creepy movie not everyone saw. cheers!
February 4th, 2009 at 9:33 am
ICE NINE
February 4th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Favorite piece of gadgetry: Either the warp engines from Star Trek, or the hyperdrive units from Star Wars. If they become real we can explore the galaxy.
Not to mention all the other gadgets that would invariably come about due to the technology used in them.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Well, going “futuristic,” I’d have to say Robby the Robot! He can drive a transport, cook a meal, disintegrate a tiger, and sew an evening gown.
If I’m going retro, I’d have to go with Dick Tracy’s two-way wrist radio. Ahead of his time, man!
February 4th, 2009 at 9:49 am
I would have to say if i could pick one piece of technology i would go with a set of titanium carbon fiber wings that would has a o2 system attached so i could fly really high, and of course it would some sort of nano technology for gps and flight guidence.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:08 am
the paperclip. thin, durable, maleable piece of metal, the limits are endless.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:17 am
My favorite peice of technology/gadget is totaly fictional. It’s the “Reflected Light Pulse Modulator” AKA the Hypnoshield that Came with the GI Joe figure Crystal Ball. It’d be like having a Hypno Toad that could protect you if it didn’t work…how cool would that be.
The Toy itself may just be a Lenticular Sticker on plastic…but the idea of a hypnoshield presents infinate possibilities.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:19 am
I’m going to have to go with the space ship. Without it we would bever have known about the AsteroiDunnys and Cosmic Travellers.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Wow, i want one for my room, incredible.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I’d have to go with the Star Trek holo-deck. Just way too many possibilities there. Although if it came to be, our streets would be empty…
February 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I would have to say the Time Machine from Terror From The Year 5000. I watched this bad movie on MST3K and have always remember how cool it would be to be able to teleport stuff from the year 5000. Now that you have the Plasma Dunny out of the way, can you work on making one of these time machines?
Thanks for the giveaway.
Art
February 4th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I think the best piece of technology would be the Sham-WOW, oh, what a great thing to behold and participate in the abundance of sucking vacuum power that sham-wow provides without even having to press down. Remember, it’s made in Germany; beware of impostors…LOL
February 4th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Wow, it was hard, but I came up with somethings (or a combination thereof). Ok, so, remember the scene from The Dark Knight where Batman uses sonar technology to locate everyone in Gotham with Morgan Freeman’s crazy machine? Yes, it was pretty damn cool. I’ll need one of those, a speeer bike from Star Wars, and Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak. Before you decry me as the antichrist, hear me out. Me and my ewok homies just want to be able to find out where the hoppin parties are on campus, and what better way than to turn drunken co-eds ceaseless phone “conversations” into tracking devices? The speeder bike is to get us there quick and in style, and the invisibility cloak is crucial for sneaking in undetected (room enough for me and a few ewoks, easy). If I don’t get what I want, I guess I’ll just have to use my plasma dunny to rob Fort Knox so I can finance the technology legitimately. This won’t be the last time you hear from me. Huzzah!
February 4th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I think the most important invention is the electronic Database, all the information now is going to be on electronic devices stored somewhere for you to keep. Without it we wouldn’t be where we are today. I know it’s a bit abstract but think of the technologies that make a database and so on.
Also this is our greater doom because we tend to be addicted to it and dependable on this kind of storage. Privacy will not be the same when we will all go digital.
Have fun…
February 4th, 2009 at 10:45 am
I’m going to have to go with the classic Web-shooter. First off:
Ergonomic design from hell: Fits on the wrist with an extending trigger that doesn’t interfere with fighting, however, at the barest touch, the trigger activates the nozzle. Webfluid is contained in pressurized cartridges that fit seamlessly onto the wrist unit. No loss of motion, no breakup of the design from the admittedly cheesy costume.
Complex internal over simple external: A single trigger works as both the activator and nozzle spray adjustment. The spray itself is a proprietary polymer that can do just about anything, depending on how it’s sprayed out, with the nozzle having multiple functions and requiring exacting engineering. However all this complexity comes down to ‘twirl your fingers and double-tap’. The double-tap is the mechanism that keeps Peter from accidental firings.
3. ridiculous ease of use: Pull cartridge off belt. Place cartridge on shooter. Double-tap. Rely on spider senses so as to avoid death.
4. It’s freaking spider-man! Swing froim the rooftops, ensnare your friends, kiss upside down, craft weapons, and all put together by a teenager from queens.
LOVE IT.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:04 am
How could our lives have ever been complete without “the Clapper”
February 4th, 2009 at 11:08 am
the gun. where would the action movie or western movie genre be without the gun?
“who needs courage when you have a gun?”-The Professor (Futurama)
February 4th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I think the most important bit of technology is the written word, without which nearly all of the gadgets and technologies that we take for granted today are impossible. It allowed cultures to keep records in a quantity and level of detail unlimited by the capacity of the memory. It allows the accurate exchange of ideas and concepts, even at a distance (whether a physical or temporal one).
February 4th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I Would have to say the best piece of technology would be the belt buckle “tobacco” pipe used by Jason Londans character in Dazed and Confused, when he is resting against the wall at the fast-food joint, what a great movie!!!!LOL
February 4th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I think that the most important piece of technology is an artificial heart. It’s been in development for over 50 years and should hopefully be able to fully replace a heart in a patient in only a few years time. I think that this is a much more important technological breakthrough than anything we have seen, as its sole function is to help save lives. Computers are nice, but without biomedical technology of this kind many lives would be lost. To a person who needs an organ transplant, this technology is completely irreplaceable.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Japanese people. i luh dem.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:25 am
My favourite (sadly nonexistent) tech toy was a tongue-lashing machine created by that fabulously decadent artist Geiger, I believe in the 1970’s. A deceptively simple device, it gave any human male a run for his money…
February 4th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Body hair is a natural part of your manly beauty – unless it’s on your back! This do-it-yourself back shaver will help you get back in the game.
nuff said
February 4th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Real would have to be my iphone. Not very original but it’s always with me. Imaginary would be the Tardis. Because, seriously, what’s cooler then a Tardis?
Nothing. That’s what.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:39 am
the the internet has to be favorite peace of technology. As simple as it may seem ;it is the greatest thing ever . I allows us to travel across the world and experience so many great things with the tapping of a few buttons!! how great is that !! Its the ultimate tool!!!
February 4th, 2009 at 11:49 am
While I do really love Douglas Adams’ Infinite Improbability Drive and Point-of-View gun, my personal favorite piece of such technology is the Stop That cannon from Phil Phoglio & Nick Polotta’s novel Illegal aliens. It’s a fairly simple device, in that what it does is project a very powerful telepathic message of “STOP THAT!” (The galactic president has a variation, the Shut Up gun, for media conference.)
February 4th, 2009 at 11:49 am
my favorite piece of technology: serato. as a dj, it not only has innovative features for performance, it has also saved my back from lugging around 50lbs of vinyl everywhere.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Hands down, if it’s undeveloped tech, teleporter mixed with portal device.
My reasoning behind this is (aside from the traffic problems everywhere) imagine a house with this kind of tech. you woudn’t need stairs at all, so no lost floor space aside from maybe a blank wall or doorway. Stairs take a fair chunk of space. It would also act as (for the paranoid) instant panic room.. someone trying to break in, you run through, disable from upstairs.. there’s no way for the guy to get up there. Hotels and office buildings could become far more streamlined.. no need for space-wasting hallways, no huge banks of elevators taking up valuable room.. It would revolutionize architecture. Streets and roads in cities would become giant *green spaces* imagine walking outside or your office tower.. to a park! The noise levels everywhere would drop to vastly lower levels (go to the country if you’re city folk, and imagine minus peoples voices that is, that quiet in a huge city…)…. think of all your tax dollars going to something useful, like health care or exciting like space travel, instead of fixing roads ALL the time. It would be a glorious day indeed.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I would have to say either the Tardis from doctor who just because of how many amazing things you could see, Or the Iron Man suit just because it’s awesome.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
to quote lyrics born – “that’s easy… vegetables. organic vegetables.” anyhoo… my real answer is digital ballasts. say you have a normal 1ooo watt high pressure sodium bulb (which happens to be any average street light). although that bulb is rated to run at a 1ooo watts, it actually is able to draw wattages up to 11oo. in order to power a 1ooo watt bulb from a normal 110/120v outlet, you must multiply (or transform) that charge via some sort of transformer (or ballast), in this case, a copper coil. so, when our 1ooo watt bulb needs to draw upon electricity in order to ignite itself, the charge goes into the ballast, through the copper coil, builds its charge somewhere near 1ooo watts and then is dispersed based upon draw. so if our bulb needs 1ooo watts, and there is only 95o watts stored in the coil that generates a lag in the electrical draw. becuase of this lag, the bulb senses it is not drawing a complete 1ooo watts and therefore, will draw more than a 1000 watts to compensate. so one minute you could be pulling only 9oo watts and the next, 11oo to make up for the lag.
A digital ballast takes that charge and digitally monitors it… so that when your bulb needs to draw upon 1ooo watts… it constantly receives a 1ooo watts. what does this do? well a number of things. first off the bulb life is going to be extended. Less stress (or surges over 1ooo watts) means longer bulb life. Less peaks and lags means cheaper electricity (the electrical company charges peak dollars for peak surges). Lastly, less electricity is lost in the grid. I believe as it stands we lose almost 70% of the electricity we pay for in the grid. this would cut way down on that factor. we would save so much money in the long run… it shouldn’t even be a discussion. f*%# flourescents al gore…. go digital.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
My favorite would have to be the Primer from The Diamond Age.
But when I looked at these plasma-orb creatures, my first thought was that Dr. Who would totally sonic himself if he had to fight these things.
And by “sonic”, I mean ‘brown note’.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
The human hand.
If you have to question why its at the top of the list, take a closer look at what yours can do.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Amateurs, step aside.
The coolest technology is the 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake, CSX 3015. Twin four-barrel carbs, twin superchargers. 800 hp at 2800 rpm. 180 mph. $5.5 M at auction in 2007. There is no other.
But the Pokeball is cool too, whatever.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Voltron.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
China Mieville’s novel, Un Lun Dun, features an ingenious “species” of dust bin ninja. The “binja” are the perfect fighting machines who can easily clean up after themselves when they’re done kicking butt. How great is that?!
I would love to have one of my own to send after those evil dust bunnies in my house.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
not to be a luddite but: the opposable thumb?
really, it can be said that all tech, including the expansion of our brains, came from that bit of evolutionary tech.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Holodeck!
Don’t you guys remember how much time you spent thinking, “If I had a holodeck…” when you were younger? Sure, there are arguably more useful technologies already mentioned– the internet, phones, duct tape– but when it comes down to my *favorite*, the choice is clear. The replicator is rad, but you could just eat and drink whatever you want in the holodeck anyway. And as for all the votes for flux capacitor/time machine, the holodeck gives you all the awesomeness of experiencing other realities without the constant danger of f*cking up the space-time continuum. Seriously, with a holodeck, *you can do whatever you want*!!! A case shouldn’t even have to be made for this.
(2nd place goes to that modified Atari (??) that Eddie Furlong uses to hack the ATM in Terminator 2. Loses to holodeck because of (1) questionable morality, (2) ironic nature of its awesomeness, and (3) the fact that the holodeck is the freaking coolest thing ever.)
February 4th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
The future in lies nano technology that will heal a human body!
February 4th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
i may be alone here, but that incredible machine from the opening sequence of pee wees big adventure is one of the raddest inventions ever. i mean it cooks breakfast you in a totally unnecessary and time consuming way! youd have to have some love for gadgets and technology if your going to wait 10 minutes for a candle to burn a string and then drop a weight which then starts a ferris wheel. then an egg comes down a systems of tubes, only to be cracked by some weird chicken looking thing. then a pterodactyl swoops in carrying bread and drops them into a toaster followed by pancakes be made and flipped onto the ceiling, dinosaur bones squeezing oranges for a morning juice. thats some serious gadget making. pretty much anything pee wee owns in that movie is one of the coolest pieces of technology ever. (i.e. the bike, the garden hose, etc. etc.)
February 4th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Nevermind the hoverboard, sonic screwdrivers and all that jazz. Where would all these inventors be without the humble tea bag! That’s my answer to win the greatest Dunny I ever did see.
Yes, that’s it the humble tea bag………
February 4th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Probably my favorite piece of technology is the steampunk laptop done by datamancer. (warning link takes forever to load…seriously, just keep waiting)
http://www.datamancer.net/steampunklaptop/steampunklaptop.htm
Mostly because it is just a beautiful piece of work, that is also functional. I like the idea of something decorative enough that my wife wouldn’t mind it sitting out, yet still functional enough for real use.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I want this sooo badly. i love dunnies.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Superior German Engenering That is Audi 8 wins in the last 10 years of being in The 24 Hours of Le Mans lossing to a BMW V12 LMR(For those of you who dont know BMW is German as well) and lossing once to a Bentley and that Bentley car had a Audi Engine.
Vorsprung durch Technik
February 4th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
The greatest piece of technology is the movie camera. Its the invention that truly opened humanity’s eyes to the power of imagination. With it we can create things that we never imagined. You can create whole worlds and ideas. Without it, most of these inventions, wouldn’t even exist in the real world or in our imaginations.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Although it doesn’t appear to be very creative, Battery technology. Advanced minituruzation and data storage are definitely important, but nonetheless, useless in mobile gadgets when lacking a readily transportable energy source.
All gadgets are pretty much useless without them. The better battery technology that we develop the more capabilities our technologies will have.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I know this may be corny as hell, but nothing is more technologically sound than the human mind. I say this because theres alot of people that choose to do things on the left side of their mind (like reading, writing, etc. *yawn*) and get into those “usual suspect” careers (such as a doctor or lawyer *double yawn*), but it takes the right side of the mind to have the motives to execute creations that started as a small spark of your imagination. As a fellow artist, you and I both know that theres nothing more valuable and satisfying than creating something, that we thought of ourselves, out of nothing. How else could you make something as dope as the Plasma Dunny?
February 4th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
the greatest invention ever is the toilet, the greatest innovation ever is the self-washing electro-robotic toilets they’ve got in japan and wherever else can afford those big hunks of porcelain and steel.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
The greatest piece of technology in my opinion has never really been created. I think If it was, it would be a machine that can completely visualize thoughts and ideas in 3D images. On a Humanetarian note, Another great technological invention would be a machine that can analyze and cure all existing diseases
February 4th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
The best piece of technology in the Hitchhiker’s guide is clearly the towel.
But I think everyone can agree on the vibrator as the greatest technological development of all time. Admit it boys, you love them too.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Greatest piece of Technology…easy, the Brain. Now many may argue that it is not a gadget or “technology” it its proper sense, but I believe it is. Developed not by human hands but nature, through evolution. With the brain we have survived, built cities, religions, ways to improved and expand life. But with life the brain has also brought death and destruction. The brain allows us to feel a wide vartiey of emotions happy, sad, angry… in the snap of a finger. The Brain forms and shapes who we are and what we become. When damaged the brain effects can effect or sense of sight, touch, hearing, tasting. When enhanced the brain allows us to see colors, shapes, things that we only see in our wildest dreams… the brain allows us to dream, and not just literally but also figratively. If there is one thing that everybody wants is a fully functioning and health brain.. that is why I chose the Brain
February 4th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
A Tuner Methronome USB Memory Mp3 player alarm clock in an altoid case.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
The greatest technology is always the first: a pointed stick. For example:
Idle (Welsh): Like someone who attacks you with a pointed stick?
Sgt.: Pointed stick? Oh, oh, oh. We want to learn how to defend ourselves against pointed sticks, do we? Getting all high and mighty, eh? Fresh fruit not good enough for you eh? Well I’ll tell you something my lad. When you’re walking home tonight and some great homicidal maniac comes after you with a bunch of loganberries, don’t come crying to me!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
My favourite technology is simple. In-door plumbing. I can’t think of a single thing that makes such a difference in our lives. Access to a toilet adds 20 years to the average life (From “The Big Necessity; Adventures in the world of human waste” by Rose George). Lack of running water causes a massive number of diseases. Aside from the health aspects, we get to keep clean (important for attracting members of the opposite (or same) sex!), cooking is drastically easier, we can water plants, keep hydrated, make coffee and delicious mugs of tea, and ever so much more.
As much as time machines, holodecks, etc. would be great to have, I would never consider trading my access to clean, running water for them.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
my favorite piece of technology would have to be high-speed internet because how else would i be able to watch all this porno for free?
February 4th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Uh, MY favorite gadget is the Plasma Dunny. It’s like they’re ALIVE. When you touch its face and it reaches out to you inside its head with a glowy violet/blue arm of high-voltage LOVE there’s no doubt in my mind that there’s a little Dunny soul in there.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
One of the coolest pieces of technology is the Athena Multimedia Sofa with and Intergrated Computer… Most people would want to be comfortable while on the computer, whether it’s taking care of business to just surfing the web. I think it’s a great piece of technology that can be used everyday !! A very cool design as well.
I hope i win this because Dunny is really cool !!!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
hmmm, the best piece of gadgetry i would love to own…. no matter how corny this is….
is batmans untility belt… i mean it got everything, and seems to be able to hold an insane amount of items. i wouldnt keep batmerangs in it or anything, id use it for more practical stuff… dont exactly know what yet lol, but definetly more practical stuff!
the bat-belt would be the ultimate piece of gadgetry!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I’d have to up the ante on Deep Thought and respond that Earth is actually the most amazing gadget ever created to calculate the Question to Life the Universe and Everything.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
The knife is by far my favorite piece of technology.
Specifically, the X-acto knife.
I don’t think there has ever been such a versatile tool for an artist/crafter/creator/inventor. In it’s most basic form, it is a versatile tool that allows one to cut damn near anything. It’s essential for mat cutting, collaging, trimming, the list goes on and on. For those modifying existing commercial products, it can carve, cut, modify, and detail. It can be used to carve wax in jewelry making, wood carving, foam sculpting. The uses of a basic X-acto knife are limitless.
Blades aside, the basic, and heavy duty x-acto handle can be heavily modified, making it even more versatile. I have used it to punch hair in latex appliances, and put hair in Bigfoot’s finger. Just by inserting a cut needle. It can be used as a threader, with a small bit of wire.
I could go on, but it would just be more of the same. There’s not much you can’t do with an x-acto.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
the car from one of the really old “James Bond” movies. the license plates switch and there are tire slasher that come of the hub caps. also fitted with machine guns.
February 4th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
I’m gonna go with transformers as in the robots from the tv show and movie. I mean seriously, who wouldn’t want a robot that can turn into something it touched?
February 4th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
My favorite Gadget since I can remember liking gadgets is Soundwave of the Decpticons. Sure Megatron could turn into a gun and Starscream was a bit of a ruthless bad ass. But the laid back sneaky vibe of Soundwave spoke to me. Plus he came with his own built in posse.
February 4th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
use of wireless devices and signal! for example the internet, cell phones, tv, and nintendo wii!
February 4th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
The greatest piece of Tec gear ever, that’s easy. The gizmo with the power to not only let me predict the future, but completely create it before it happens and then watch it unfold. This is not a fantastical movie thing or just crazy talk, I know, I have one under my bed. Still working on a name though. It’s kind of funny that I am writing this because we both know that a Dustin Plasma Dunny is sitting on my bedside table some time in the future. I know this because I saw you smiling when you read this letter a week ago. I like your shoes by the way, not so much that guys though.
I guess I have to explain why my gizmo is the best in the world. It’s hard to sleep some time knowing the power I have but then again I can change though feeling. Your not taking me seriously though. Don’t worry, it’s not a biggy I wouldn’t believe me either. Turns out no one else reading this thinks it’s true, because “The Gizmo” would have been stolen from me next week if they did, and I wasn’t. There’s that smile again…. Again. Time travel banter gets so confusing.
Just for humor sake I will play along with the whole “not sure who the winner is game” I was going to put down my address to help you out but you thought I was too presumptuous.
Talk soon
All the best
Me
February 4th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
The coolest gadget is definetly love, because it can save your life. But if you play with it wrong, it might have to kill you. Pick me if you ever came close, pick person!
February 4th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
The Training Construct for the Matrix.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I’m not sure what technological advancement is the best… I’d have to say Gutenberg’s printing press because without it we wouldn’t have mass communication. And I would not have heard about this, too.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
My favourite gadget would definitely be some sort of device which can read your mind so it can tell you that word, date, moment… you seem unable to remember. It always annoyed me to know I’m forgetting something but not knowing what is it
February 4th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Originally i was going to mention the hoverboard from back to the future but since it has been mentioned i would have to go with..
The Copter Hat from Inspector Gadget.
This definately deserves it, i mean come on, eaasy and fast way to get to work, school, etc. Saves gas, pollution etc. lol.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
the delorean…with a hoverboard and nike mcfly’s in the trunk!
that’s everything you’d ever need in the past, present, or future.
February 4th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Best piece of technology for Contest Entrance:
The Planet Maker from Douglas Adams, the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
The book/movie showed the technology while giving the hero, Arthur Dent, a tour of the factory. The dolphins remade Earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy
Please keep recycling since this technology is not available to remake the Earth if it is destroyed!
February 4th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
The ‘clap-it-on and clap-it-off’ table lamp. I mean, how much fun is that?
Clap! – it’s light.
Clap! – it’s dark.
Clap! – Light again!
Clap! – Dark.
Clap! – Light.
(you get the idea)
I always wanted to put hundreds of them in an auditorium and wait for the end of the show!
February 4th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
The best gadget ever: those pens that light up in different colors. It’s like a tesla globe, led light-fest combined with the second greatest invention ever, the writing utensil.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
The little spaceships from the movie “Batteries Not Included.”
February 4th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Clap on, Clap on.
Beautiful work dustin.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
he best would be the lightsaber turkey carving knife, I mean really it has the best features of any tech. You get a really cool glowing knife, that hums as you slice that day old turkey for a sandwich.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I’ll take a crack at this, since this will be the last entry I do from Las Vegas before I move to Northeast Texas.
My favorite piece of technology is fantasy based, and is the robot dog “Goddard” from Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
Not only due to the familiar “Plasma Brain Matrix” thought processor as seen here in this amazing Dunny improvement/refit.
Claim Backup:
You’d have a pet/buddy, a partner astronaut/astro-dog, a jet powered sky-cycle, an anti-parental decoy, a personal history video recorder, a digital adviser/therapist, an anti-egg-alien device, a radio, a scrap metal eating/recycling machine, a personal defense device (when you tell him to play dead, and he explodes, then reassembles himself), and the worse thing you’d have to clean up would be a few nuts and bolts he drops on the front porch from eating too many Dr. Pepper cans…
Cheers to all yas, and great entries to everyone!
Wm. “Mac” McDonald Jr.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
i think the best invention is the japanese heated toilet seat. who wants to sit on a block of ice when you gotta do your duty? PLUS it sprays your butt with water so you never have to get poo on your hands again!
February 4th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I’m easily impressed … silly putty
February 4th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
ipod. it’s an ipod.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
my favorite gadget is non existant, i want a light saber
February 4th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
undoubtedly are the Dustin’s Plasma Dunnys
February 4th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Hi! Im from mexico, the best gadget for me, is one of my imagination, we all have lots of cuestions!, all the custions, i imagine, like a screen, that if you ask it something, i will answer you with a video, any cuestion, like who was the first human, and it shows a video of the first human, who really kill kurt kobain and see the video of his death, or what happend with bill clinton and monica, and shows the video, or like my question, i want to see my dead, jeje any kind of question, that i know that everybody has, we all have like 978329710497 questions, jeje well thats my gadget
Is really of my imagination, but i would like one!! jeje and offcourse!! one the dunnys!! Thnx!!
February 4th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
I live in fear of Ice-Nine but think someday it could be necessary…woohoo frozen pool-pah.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I really could use a desktop sonic shower (like in Star Trek) mounted like a web cam so I could surf the Internet and get clean at the same time — I’d never have to leave my desk!
February 4th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
the coolest technology would be a keyboard that appears as light but also have the feature that will allow the user to feel part of it. The keyboard will be exactly the same as regular keyboard except for additional addons that can create more features. The keyboard will be floating in air but right on top of your desk making it easy to access and consumes very little electricity because of its hybrid technology which can harvest power through the air powering the touch capabilities of the keyboard. The keyboard will be able to be portable as long as its attached to a computer. There is only way to make it appear, and that’s through a usb connected to the computer. The mouse will be a mutitouch gadget making all the task on windows much much easier.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
My favorite piece of technology is the implanted medical chip. It seems so Sci-Fi in the way that it gives you a digital history of yourself inside your own body. I see it as the first step towards cyborgs, which would be frickin’ awesome. The changes that could stem from the chips are endless. Soon, we could be paying at stores by waving your arm past a scanner or being automatically charged for things when you walk out. This could also help to save lives in emergencies. Say you need an immediate transfusion and the doctor needs to know what blood type. They could run a wand over your back and have AB- come up on a screen. We are becoming increasingly reliant on everything digital and soon medicine will need to catch up. This can be seen as a cool gadget in the sense that human beings are essentially going to become hybrids of both nature and technology. We are all going to be cyborgs.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
The best piece of technology that I have encountered is a pedometer function in a cellphone.
Living in a modernized society has its shortcomings: lack of intercommunal communication and obesity (especially for us Americans) being the two most common that I can think of. As a young teacher, I confront this every day; my job is to synthesize and communicate classical knowledge with culturally relevant/communal knowledge, while at the same time blend practical fact into everyday life – e.g. two of the biggest problems in my society.
Cell phones, as of late, are the #1 form of communication between people worldwide, and thus the key to intercommunal communication – if used properly.
Now, since walking is a great way to soothe intrapersonal woe – it releases dopamine hormones, increases serotonin, stimulates important muscle groups and jointures, while also being the most effective way to burn fat calories – in many ways it can be seen as the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle, which many individuals lack – especially political figures and the business classes (the rule makers and money makers). Lacking the fundamental basis for healthy communication – or, a healthy self-image – conflicts with mass communication technology (cell phones) and causes more conflict between people individually, spatially, and culturally, creating mass interpersonal conflict.
Therefore, by adding a pedometer to a cellphone, which can easily be kept in a pocket, people become aware of how much unconscious exercise they get each day, and thus take into account tangible evidence that they have done “something” healthy for their self – a feeling that everyone likes. Increasing positivity increases positive self – image, which directly and indirectly impacts others in a positive way. Mirror neurons fire, positivity is reflected, and the world becomes a safer place!
February 4th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I think that it would have to be the MJOLNIR Mark IV Powered Assault Armor from halo. That’s the suit Master Chief wears.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Fire. Can you imagine when someone learned to start one? Steve Jobs be damned, that was genius.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
awesome contest and thanks for the chance to win something in times like these.
February 4th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
My favorite gadget would have to be the “penis mightier” as coined by Sean Connery on Celebrity Jeopardy.
You’re sitting on a gold mine, Trebek!
February 4th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
i would have to say my favorite gadget is this
February 4th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
i’d prolly say that the g-speak is my favorite gadget.(as seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ubb9ZkC4VA) simply because the ingenuity of it all and how they mirrored the movie minority report’s version to a T.
February 4th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Cloak of invisibility would be the best invention and we are almost there too you can move around like solid snake in metal gear http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28679694/
February 4th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
There is discussion on the exact model # that “Cameron” from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is. But whatever model she is, I want one. I’d have to update her some “sexy-time” programming.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:45 am
One of my favorite pieces of technology, granted it’s very old school is a victrola. It’s like the olden days’ stereo system. Except without the base and subwoofers. I just think it’s a beautiful piece of equipment and being a classical music fiend I love hearing symphonies come out of the horn. That and it has withstood the test of time. RCA still uses one in their logo.
February 5th, 2009 at 1:01 am
The best piece of technology is the illuminated keyboard.
No more turning on the lights to type!
February 5th, 2009 at 1:31 am
the MILLENNIUM FALCON! what other ship in the galaxy could make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs?
February 5th, 2009 at 1:32 am
The everlasting gobstopper… Very analog tech but tech the same.
February 5th, 2009 at 1:33 am
The best piece of technology ever is “The Time Machine”. I would like to go to the past and discover lots of things that history have forgotten.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:30 am
I think the coolest piece of tech that has stood the test of time is the theremin. It has touched everyone at some point in life. The sound effects used by this device has penetrated society via T.V., film, music, and theatre. I believe it will still be used in the year 3030.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:51 am
The best peice of technology.. has to be the internet… its so amazing so i can find stuff like this and other stuff.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:21 am
Cheese of course. Cheeseheads of the world unite!
February 5th, 2009 at 4:54 am
heck yes! plasma robot bunny! currently i enjoy my g1 and soon to be made arcade stick for the ps3.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Peltzers Bathroom Buddy! Even though it still has its kinks and faults. Imagine going to a convention and you’ve forgotten to brush your teeth and have a two day old stubble… not a problem anymore!
Also, Torgo’s Executive Powder. Made of the ground-up remains of Fox network executives, Torgo’s Executive Powder is great for whatever ails you.
In the same traditional I would love to see a Finger-Longer. Imagine being able to reach those places you’ve never been able to reach before with this amazing extended prosthetic digit. Your finger can be as long as 50 cm! Simply awesome.
February 5th, 2009 at 5:57 am
The Vibrogirdle from the book The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear, a book by the German cartoonist and novelist Walter Moers. When you wear it, your molecules vibrate to the point that you can walk through walls, rocks, and other matter. Crazy and amazing.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:11 am
I love my Mimobot rayd80.
He’s only little – but he crosses too many boundaries to ignore him. Art and fiction, real and virtual, character and technology, style and electronics. He’s not going to jump though time, or save the world, or bring peace…
…but he speaks to me when I plug him in and he guards all my secrets.
And I’ll never lose him, because he glows in the dark.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:22 am
Where are the flying cars ? I was promised flying cars ! Ah well, if we don’t have the actual tech, at least we have the hyper-cool rant from everyone’s favorite spaceman, Captain Sisko.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:41 am
I have a long standing love affair with watches. They’re the perfect gadget. Any attempt to improve upon the modern watch just seems to make it overly complicated. Still, I like complicated things. Thats why my favorite gadget is my great-grandfather’s railroad quality pocket watch. On the surface, its incredibly simple, showing the time in beautiful electric blue arms on a white and black face. But when I open the back, is a memorizing system of cogs and springs. Its perfectly ironic to me that something so complicated can create something so simple and useful. It still keeps time!
ps. id be happy to share some pictures.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:43 am
My favourite has to be binary clocks.
They’re useful, look cool and show off your geek creds.
Also, they’re pretty much useless to anyone wishing to rob you up.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:23 am
best gadget would be the computer terminal from minority report
February 5th, 2009 at 7:41 am
By far I would have to say that HAL 9000 is one of the most prolific and powerful technological tools developed, as well as one of the greatest villains conceived.
Hal is not only capable of speech recognition, facial recognition, and natural language processing, but also lip reading, art appreciation, interpreting emotions, expressing emotions, reasoning, and chess, in addition to maintaining all systems on an interplanetary voyage.
Personally, if the human species were outlasted and intelligence exceeded, it would be by taken over and followed by Hall 9000.
At least, this is what I think.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:19 am
I would have to go with the lazer comb. Its not really a comb, and it doesn’t seem to have any real lazers on it. It actually approved by the FDA and it allegedly helps you grow hair. Its like the perfect light saber for hair stylists.
Millions of balding men are using all their jedi dreams to try and stem the tide of a receding hairline with nothing but some red lights and some hopes that they will switch on their mitichlorians… thus using the force to go from Yoda To Luke.
If that’s not the coolest thing .. I just don’t know what is.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:35 am
The Wheel. Plain. Simple. Genius. Everything in todays world uses the wheel in some form. From tires on your car, to gears in a watch, to the scroll wheel in your mouse. They have become a necessary, yet under-appreciated, part of life.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:45 am
I’m coming back with a strong rebuttal. The greatest gadget ever is the mouse trap. Now we can stop this whole damn thing from happening!
February 5th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Best piece of tech? The Sharpie Pen. All the awesomeness of a regular Sharpie…but won’t bleed through paper.
February 5th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Easily the pet rock. Best toy ever.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:16 am
access to the usphere like in peter hamiltons books..
February 5th, 2009 at 9:29 am
My fave piece of Imaginary Technology has got to be Felix the Cats MAGIC BAG OF TRICKS! Okay so It wasn’t so Hi Tech, A Polka Dot Bag, But how cool was it when Felix needed a Boat or a Helicopter or Car or even a 4 Course meal, Felix would just shape the Bag into what he needed. I swear that I carry a Backpack to this day because of that Magic bag.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Aside from the pump espresso machine, the light bulb, the telescope, and the AC induction motor, surely the microscope. It enabled the human race to understand the mechanisms of disease and formulate most of the concepts associated with modern medicine.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I know it has been said, but since not everybody said it, it requires repeating
Gotta be the lightsaber. Orange please
February 5th, 2009 at 9:49 am
My absolute favorite piece of technology is my towel. Never leave home without it.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:06 am
The entire island of Lost. It’s a time traveling island for fraks sake! side note: also features smoke monster, hot castaways, crazy old man, polar bears, dead people, oh and Richard Alpert.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:22 am
I have to say, the coolest bit of technology I’ve ever heard of has been the Mozarting console from the 1986 interactive novel “Portal”, by Rob Swigart.
The console gets its name from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, purported to have been able to hear and compose full on orchestral compositions in his head, and then transfer them note for note to paper. In Portal, “Mozarting” allows an individual to experience this first person, when it transforms the thoughts in their minds into music and visual art, which are relayed not only to their eyes and ears, but optionally to those around them.
As an avid musician, who dabbles a bit in composition, I think that this piece of technology is easily one of the most exciting ideas I’ve heard. It is at once an incredible boon to composition and an intriguing new performance art. Not only would it allow those who have inspiration, but may not have raw talent, to make real the dreams they have floating around in their heads, but it would allow those who are truly masters of art to extend their ability, probably even farther than we could possibly imagine. I can only hope something like this device will become a reality.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Zarniwoop’s office (from the Hitchhikers guide series)… Who wouldn’t want to be able to go on intergalactic cruises from the comfort of a room in your own house…?
February 5th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Man hard to pick just one..
Id have to go with the Big Golden Sphere, the movie Sphere
the adaptation from the Michael Crichton novle
No one knows who made it but it makes real any thing you think of
and since we has humans can Imagin the most wonderful beneficial things. We also fear and and create the most horrific and evil things in are imagination.
Love to see something like that but are we ready I don’t think we ever will be.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:02 am
My gadget was invented by myself and also named after me.
The Diabolical Monkey Siren transmits a frequency not unlike a common sneeze. Transmitted via a banna shaped dog toy, containing modified speak and spell parts.
Hidden within the audio signal is a subliminal message instructing any nearby monkey to act in a diabolical manner.
Ever wondered why a moneky at the zoo throws his poop at you? Now you know.
DMS
February 5th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Of course the coolest gadget would be the knife that toasts bread while you cut it, from Hitch Hikers guide to the Galaxy. It could only be cooler if it left a trail of jam. Awesome, warm crunchy toast all in one fail swoop.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
LIVE Streaming video via mobile phones.
IE.. if I am video recording coverage of comic con in san diego, anyone else I give permission to will have access to stream the same video in real time via their own phones, tv, and/or internet from anywhere in the world. Im not sure if this exists, but I know the technology is readily available through bluetooth/wifi/3G/etc..
Imaginary:
Tony Starks suit in the motion picture, IRON MAN, has to be hands down the best piece of technology ever created/thought of. A one man suit to be able to fly and take on a whole city with mass destructive weapons was incredible and pure genius (as well as very entertaining to watch)..
February 5th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
I would have to say MIKE or”Mycroft” from Heinlein’s Mhe Moon is a Harsh Mistress”
He becomes sentient and helps the people of Luna with some of the most amazing ability’s. When reading it is amazing how detailed Heinlein wrote the ability’s of Mike. He learns to use phones, controls all of the money, and basically anything on the surface of the moon. He becomes the rebellion’s friend and for no reason but it was something to do.
he then creates a catapult that launches asteroids to earth that cause nuclear blasts…
now how awesome is that?
February 5th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
I would have to go with the digital camera, yes it really changed the way we took photos, not in the sense that the process is different, but, we have an almost endless amount of pics to take, moments that can be shared and stored for others to behold. otherwise, without a digital camera, the process of admiring those art dunnys would take a bit longer. something happens, we capture it, the world knows it.
February 5th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
A device that plays background music for your current situation, like in the movies. Struttin’ your stuff on the streets = funky slap bass rifts. Romantic encounter = smooth, sultry jazz. Benny Hill-style women chasing = upbeat kazoo banter. Fast forward moving device sold separately.
February 5th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
my favorite gadget EVER is from The Simpsons.. Its professor Frink’s bicycle time machine..
Come on – how much cooler can something get… not only are you burning calories getting the thing to work but you also get you travel through time! Past and future!
that has to be perfect for this plasma dunny!
thanks for the contest
chris
February 5th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I’d have to go with nano robotics. Near microscopic machines that can diagnose and deliver targeted drug treatments for cancer, perform surgery, combine in large masses to carry out manufacturing processes, self-replicate and build bigger robots, become autonomous, take over the world…
February 5th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
My favorite piece of tech/gadgetry would have to be the Poké Ball from the Pokémon games. Now wait, hear me out…
The Poké Ball is actually a lot more complicated and awesome than people think and than it seems.
The Ball could not contain a Pokémon, because that would either require converting a living being into data–which is completely impossible–given the sheer quantity of data required, or the shrinking of a Pokémon, which is also impossible. The Ball is also not a teleporter–transporting a Pokémon from a ranch somewhere–because that too requires the conversion of a living being to data and the reconstruction of that data.
The Ball is instead a gate from this dimension to another dimension wherein the Pokémon naturally live. Once caught, a Pokémon will be sent to that dimension and will stay there until called back. That is why light is always attached to the release or capture of a Pokémon. The energy of such a transfer has to go somewhere, and it is translated into light. In the case of the Dusk Ball, more energy is used from the other dimension, and so we see it here as darkness, rather than light.
February 5th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I always wanted a magical pair of glasses, that let you view any ancient ruins in all their glory (Darius II’s Tomb, the Sphinx with a nose, etc.)
I’d also take one of those sweet Batman-esqu belts in the book, A Tale of Time City, has anyone read that?
February 5th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I’m rather fond of paper. Just paper. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my computer just as everyone else who isn’t a luddite does. Think about it though, there is no better means of holding information for a fraction of the time and effort as anything else. Ever since the advent of vellum and papyrus (both significantly harder to make) people have used some form of paper as a means of retaining information. Sure we have carved stone and bone, but that takes time and true talent to work with. Paper is for the masses. Without it, we’d have nothing. So yeah, I vote for paper (preferably in a moleskine notebook).
February 5th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
The Roland TB-303 is my favorite piece of technology. Roland started producing it in 1982 and stopped in 1984. It was meant to be used by musicians playing “real” instruments to fill in for a missing bassist. The sound was so unrealistic and unappealing to the original target audience that it more or less fell on it’s face with the original target demographic. The reason I love it is what happened with it next. Pioneers of early house and techno music adopted the basslines put out by the 303. They pushed it in such harsh ways that its sounds no longer came close to resembling a bassline. They made this little machine so desirable, that it forged it’s own sub-genre of music (acid house) and influenced sounds in different genres for the next 20+ years. The target buyers for this machine rejected it, and another group of people took someone elses garbage and turned it into a treasure. This machine that used to be sold for under $400 is now an ultra rare item that sells for well over $1000… IF you can even find one 20+ years later.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I’m going low-tech here, but I’ve been citing this for years as my favorite invention ever, so I decided that’s what I’d share with you. The ice maker. Yep. Little pieces of frozen water any time you want, in convenient ready-for-your-glass-of-tea portions. I’m a southern girl, and I love my iced tea. It’s so common these days that people don’t give it much thought, but it sure beats the days of twisting that plastic tray to try to force out that one last stubborn cube (and cracking the tray!) or using that antiquated metal torture device of an ice tray that ends up stuck to your skin if you’re not careful. The ice maker. It is, hands down, the best invention ever.
February 5th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I was poking around a second hand store a couple summers ago and came across a magical device. It was a big, green, metallic case, and when I opened it there were beautiful dials, buttons, lights, flips and switches. What could this marvelous contraption possibly be? Is it an old 2 way radio? Can I receive signals form outer space? Looking for any indication of its purpose I found on the side, painted in a brilliant old font:
‘Fish-lo-K-tor’
fishlocktor? Nope. Fish locator. Apparently this marvelous piece of human ingenuity was used on a boat to locate fish. I laughed so hard I cried! So for $15 I bought it for my friend in phoenix Arizona, in case he ever has to locate any fish
February 5th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
The Arc Reactor from Ironman’s suit. If that little thing could power his suit to make him fly that far and do all those crazy things, it could a car pretty easily. If this thing really existed, you could say goodbye to global warming. All of our energy problems (which are indeed huge problems) would be solved. No more worry about gas guzzling green house gas emitting cars. No more fossil fuel burning power plants.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Best piece of technology?
This was really a hard choice.
I would have to say the blasters from Star Trek
Nothing else could be as awesome as blasters.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
The gadget i chose is the power detector in dragon ball
February 5th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
I definitely think the simple rocket has to be one of the coolest gadgets of all time. Both the reality, and the fiction. Rockets allowed us to break speed barriers, go to the moon, propel Batmobiles, inspire a thousand science fiction writers. There is a dark side to it too. ICBMs, missiles, and other weaponizations of the idea. It’s combustible propulsion in it’s simplest form.
February 5th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Click pens
No need to worry about the cap-just click and insert into pocket
Thumb exercises
Flip it upside-down, see how high it jumps
Write my brains out
First step into making ideas tangible, by sketching
Fuel my imagination
Scribble scribble
February 6th, 2009 at 1:17 am
I know… my favorite piece of tech/gadget would have to be the “Imperial Speeder Bikes” from Star Wars ROTJ. I have three reasons for my selection:
1. The lightweight bike can attain speeds in excess of 500 kilometers per hour.
2. Two shoulder-level handgrips control elevation and direction;
a pair of rocker-pivoted pedals controls acceleration.
3. Beneath the speeder’s frame is a single laser cannon for those long commutes home!
February 6th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I just putting it out there… the toilet destroys them all. The fact that I don’t have to poop in a bucket and toss it out a window is mind blowing. My vote is for the toilet and modern day plumbing.
February 6th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Carbon Nanotubes!
A very real technology today that will undoubtedly effect future gadgetry for generations.
On the small scale they will allow us to make even smaller microprocessors (nanoprocessors!) allowing us to extend Moore’s law bringing in a new generation of smaller/faster computers.
On the large scale the carbon nanotubes unmatched strength properties could make the space elevator a reality within our lifetime. Once we can put things into orbit on the cheep a whole new era of space exploration/living/tourism wont be far off.
Carbon Nanotubes FTW- faster/smaller computers, and a key component in space elevator construction, not to mention everything in between (lighter/stronger planes, ultimate bulletproof cloth, better solar cells). These little guys will truly be one of man’s greatest creations.
February 6th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
My fave piece of technology would have to be the Pip-Boy 3000 from Fallout 3. It’s like a watch with a status indicator showing your damaged limbs and radiation poisoning plus it has all your stats lined up for you. Along with that it has your own world map, inventory, quest/data log and best of all it can stop time and help you target the enemy with V.A.T.S (Vaut-Tec Automated Targeting System) and the best part is the happy little guy icon that shows up everywhere smiling.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
you might thinkim just kissing your ass, but im not! the plasma dunny is by far the coolest piece of toy technology that has ever been made. its not fantasy, its not in everyones house, but holly sh.t is it cool!!!!
February 6th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
My favorite piece of technology is the Transmogrifier, as popularized by Calvin and Hobbes. Here is a box that can turn anything into anything else, limited only by your imagination (and maybe not even by that). It is created from recyclable material, can be upgraded with a marker, and, when you’ve reached a certain age or mindset, can be easily converted to a storage container for the rewards of youth. Unlike many other devices, it doesn’t make the user lazier or dull the senses, but instead relies on the user’s ingenuity and imagination, even while it expands them.
February 6th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
The coolest piece of technology must be one that created itself!
I offer the “Skulloctopus From Outer Space”
The “Skulloctopus from Outer Space” is a menacing bio-mechanical creature that was created by the on board computer of a space craft from a secret 1960’s Soviet manned Mars mission that lost communication just before landing on the red planet.
With no way back to Earth and a limited amount of food and water, the on board computer seeks a way to survive the death of the crew and gain mobility.
Using its robotic arms the computer builds the “Skulloctopus” by joining the skull and brain of one of the cosmonauts with the tentacle legs of a creature that the crew had collected from beneath the surface of Mars. Then by incorporating parts of the landing crafts systems and downloading all of its data and programs, the on-board computer becomes the self sufficient solar powered mobil brain called “Skulloctopus”. The prime directive of this other world Frankenstein is to find a way to return to Earth.
February 7th, 2009 at 4:54 am
Oh I have a large love for plasma balls, and I know that Plasma Dunny would look great on my lab bench in grad school, so thanks for the contest Dustin and Toycyte. I also have a large love for the technique I’m going to describe next, technology quite close to my heart, so I hope you’ll enjoy reading my attempt at an easy to understand explanation.
So my favorite piece of tech is actually a fairly simple device, but also the basis for much of modern molecular biology, PCR. PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) was created in the 80s by a man named Mullis (who eventually took home a Nobel Prize for the work) and allows for the selection and replication of segments of DNA. PCR is actually the technique, with a thermocycler being the machine itself, however the terms are generally thrown around interchangeably. Basically you create 2 primers (or use common ones from a wide pool) which are a small number of nucleotides in a single strand that are on either side of the area you want to amplify in the genome. You thrown together a bunch of primers, your DNA sample, DNA polymerase (the enzyme behind DNA replication for all life and in the case of PCR one which comes from a bacteria that likes to live in hot hot climates in order to ensure stability during the reaction), nucleotides (building blocks of genetic material) and some ions, then the thermocycler takes this material and goes through a process of heating and cooling. The technique relies on the fact that the bonds between strands of DNA are actually fairly weak as a means for DNA replication to function. When the thermocycler heats up, all the double stranded DNA separates. The thermocycler cools and your primers start to attach to their complementary spots on the DNA strands, the polymerase comes in and starts replicating the strand by adding nucleotides. The machine heats up again, strands separate. It cools, primers reattach, polymerase starts to copy. Now, 2 cycles in, you’ve got some replicated DNA that is just of your sequence in question (from one primer location to the other). Another 2 dozen or so cycles of heating and cooling occur to amplify this sequence so you have enough material to use for any number of genetics studies.
I’ve spent a lot of the past decade running PCRs, and I have to say that it still amazes me how well such a simple idea works. It really is an integral part in so much of modern molecular biology. And the simplicity of it all is its elegance. I love it. Also, other scientists love it enough to make musical videos about it, which I encourage all to watch. Thanks for your consideration in the contest,
http://bio-rad.cnpg.com/lsca/videos/ScientistsForBetterPCR/
Ryan
February 7th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Definitely the lightbulb. Without it, I’d have to stop doing my design work at like 5pm every day. BOO
February 7th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
My favorite technology was Nikola Tesla’s “Weapon to end all wars” which may have been test fired hitting Tunguska, Russia. Precision targeting of any place on Earth and the threat of instantaneous destruction equals the best thing evar
February 7th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Sam Fisher’s gun that shoots little whistling devices from the Splinter Cell series. I guess it seems like something that could exist (maybe it does) but my only experience with it is the video game.
February 7th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
An invention that I’ve wished was real ever since I read the book Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson: the ‘poon, or harpoon, utilized by the Kouriers in the book. If you haven’t read the book (I assume you have, but if not) a ‘poon is an electromagnetic disk/”suction cup” on the end of a retractable cable, controlled by a switch in the handle. The Kouriers use them while riding their planks (supercool futuristic skateboards) to latch on to vehicles in traffic and hitch rides and gain speed.
February 7th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
It’s a toss up for me. It’s between Lumasol and the guys behind PIPSLAB.
Check it:
http://www.pipslab.nl/
Or the voice responsive weapons/Still Suit from the Sci Fi flick Dune.
As described in Dune, a stillsuit is a “body-enclosing garment” of Fremen design which performs the “functions of heat dissipation and filtering bodily wastes,” as well as retaining and reclaiming moisture. As the planetologist Liet-Kynes is assisting Duke Leto Atreides with the fitting of his stillsuit, he explains it in this manner:
It’s basically a micro-sandwich — a high-efficiency filter and heat-exchange system. The skin-contact layer’s porous. Perspiration passes through it, having cooled the body … near-normal evaporation process. The next two layers . . . include heat exchange filaments and salt precipitators. Salt’s reclaimed. Motions of the body, especially breathing and some osmotic action provide the pumping force. Reclaimed water circulates to catchpockets from which you draw it through this tube in the clip at your neck… Urine and feces are processed in the thigh pads. In the open desert, you wear this filter across your face, this tube in the nostrils with these plugs to ensure a tight fit. Breathe in through the mouth filter, out through the nose tube. With a Fremen suit in good working order, you won’t lose more than a thimbleful of moisture a day…
February 7th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Nanotechnology: Here’s a concept video….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zto6aTZM9t0&eurl=http://thedenveregotist.com/article/1513/morph-from-nokia&feature=player_embedded
February 7th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
My piece of technology is called the Archie Bunker. The Archie bunker is everything you need it to be. It will wash your cloths, put gas in your car, explain to your girlfriend why you missed your anniversary dinner and brush your teeth at the same time. It will be your friend when you gain too much weight to have freinds and your your cake that you eat because of your freindlessness. The best part of the archie bunker is it is about the size of a penny and you don’t even have to touch it, it reads your mind. The Archie Bunker has a set release date of approximately 2:30am when i go to sleep and take that trip to dreamland. It will cost approximately 2.8596 dollars and can be found at the china express up the street from my house. The Archie Bunker is not suitable for small children as it may get lodged their air passage. Thank you for your time and remember to look twice.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:00 am
The greatest piece of technology I can think of would have to be ozella’s orb. Used in the newest episode of a show called “Legend of the Seeker” It is a orb that lets you take memory’s and give them to another, like they where you when it happened. Using this orb you could let people have memory’s of things you have done.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:33 am
My favourite Gadget/Toy would be one of those Sentinels from the Matrix, but in miniature format, fully functional and programmable. Isn’t that the coolest “pet” one can imagine?
February 9th, 2009 at 12:03 am
I can’t believe this hasn’t been mentioned yet, but what about the Proton packs and ghost traps from Ghostbusters? That’s an entire business idea right there, and one we probably could use in a recession to help clean up those haunted houses for people to rent. So it’s win-win.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:45 am
the Orgasm Gun — Just point and fire. An invisible ray is
emitted and affects only the pleasure center of the brain.
I’ve been trying to get a patent on it, but I must continue
testing the device to uh.. make sure the device is truly
safe for everyone.
Once on store shelves Valentines Day will never be the same.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:04 am
My favorite piece of technology would be the pencil Kururu gives Saburo-senpai in Keroro Gunsou, the anime series.
This pencil allows one to create objects or alter one’s environment by simply drawing it. A door through a wall, a zipper through space, but one would have to be quite good at drawing to convince others that your doodle Ferrari is real…
On second thought, maybe the 3D printer in the latest incarnation of KITT will suffice instead. At least the money he creates would pass at the dealership!
February 9th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Damn, what a great idea. My thumbs are nearly brokes ´cause of crossing them to win one of these dunnies.
Here is my Gadget #1:
It´s called the Piep-Egg. A plastic egg which you cook with your “normal” eggs. If your eggs are fine, the piep-egg starts to peep a melody. Now your eggs are eatable at perfect point. Have a look at: http://www.brainstream.de/
By the way: the main reason to get th last Dunny is our website itself: called HASENFARM. It´s German for “Rabbitfarm”. We work in the sign of rabbits. That´s why you´ll find also a posting about this great gadget there.
Peace out from Germany!
Henning
February 9th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
The coolest gadget IMHO is the time machine. It makes all other gadgets redundant. If I had one I would have been able to pop back in time and buy one of these amazing Dunnys (with the money I won on a horse race I knew the outcome of) instead of entering a contest. Alternately, I would also have been able to go back in time to wipe out all records/consciousness of the concept of time machines so that I would not have to compete with the other 40 or so people in this contest who thought that the time machine was the coolest gadget ever. They would have come up with something silly (like the wheel, for example) paving the way for my easy win.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
The best gadget (fortunately) (n)ever invented is the house Prof. John rink invented in the Simpsons. You know, the one which runs away if the burglar trips the alarm. Unfortunately it explodes afterwards but come on, this episode was funny
February 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
My favorite piece of technology is..the Copic SP Multiliner Pen. You can re-fill it, it comes in multiple sizes, it’s sleek and its the best futuristic styled thing that I could ever use. It’s simple but to an artist it opens up so many doors for creation. The quality is supreme and for design, I recommend nothing less.
February 9th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
The best gadget or tech to me was the condom. Do I even have to say why?
February 9th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Sexbots ftw. Nice dunny there.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
‘go-go-gadget extendo-arms’
February 9th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Forget it… I am going simple with this one… I think it is the compass… I mean honestly, yeah gadgets are fresh, but what fun is a gadget without the action that comes along with it… I mean, a compass is something which can help you find your way whenever you are lost, and the freshest thing… it is something which receives its path directly from the earth… yep definitely a compass… preferably vintage 1950’s… for style points…
February 9th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I have to say: chopsticks
If you think about it, they are one of the simplest technologies out there with so many uses! What can you do with sticks-o-chop? You can pick things up, poke things, scratch itchy spots that are ever-elusive on your back, make walrus-toothed faces, carve them into totems, use as walking sticks for Smurfs and even file down to a point to have a shiv! And if you ever lose one all you need to do is find a tree and you essentially have a thousand more chopsticks in-waiting.
Very few technologies have withstood the test of time like these wonders!
Now I am hungry again…
February 9th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I think the greatest gadget in my mind would be from the cartoon series “The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest” Dr. Quest had invented the VR (virtual reality) Memory Probe.
This to me would be the greatest thing because who doesn’t/wouldn’t want to remember that dream you had a month ago or childhood memories and be able to not only see them but almost relive them through an alternate reality.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I think the rice cooker is one of the coolest piece of technology ever created. Aside from cooking rice in it, you can bake in it, steam in it, boil in it, make soup in it, and deep fry in it. So far that all that i can think of you can with a simple rice cooker. Not that I’s Asian and all. +)
February 9th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
The most interesting gadget that comes to my mind (because of its potential social impact) is one I’ve written about on the above-noted TMP2 wiki site and expect to see created by the cell phone industry within the next few years. An evolution of the BlueTooth headset that might come to be known as the PsiPhone. Combining the now emerging technology of sub-lingual voice recognition (where myoelectric signals from the muscles of the larynx generated when we think of words but do not actually speak them are decoded into digital text) with speech synthesis and more advanced voice-over-WiFi networking, PsiPhone would allow people now commonly in perpetual cell-phone conversations to converse completely silently, their thought but not spoken speech converted into a digital re-creation of their normal voice in digital audio sent over the network. The social ramifications of this would be subtle but immense as cell phone use would no longer be the public nuisance it commonly is today while allowing people to maintain silent conference calls with innumerable people throughout the day.
But PsiPhone’s potential wouldn’t end there. With the addition of a mostly server-side all-audio computing interface which not only operates conversationally but with the use of ‘audicon’ and ’soundscape’ interface elements, one would be able to silently converse with machines and computer software much as one would with people, approximating many of the capabilities of the imagined neural interfacing of SciFi without such far-off technology. This could further combine with a variety of wireless pocket peripherals, such as WiFi linked flash drives, wearable displays, and cell-phone like PAD units reduced primarily to the role of graphic touch displays. This could radically alter the market for portable computing and communications products and would offer tremendous new application potential in personal communications, gaming, and audio entertainment (imagine radio theater as choose-your-own adventures) while opening up a whole new world of computer use and communications to the disabled. And if my guess is right, all this could appear within 10 years as an almost inevitable evolution of the contemporary cell phone.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
La mejor pieza de tecnologia, es la biotecnologia, como por ella se puede ayudar al hombre, al mundo, en la medicina, los animales, y todo lo que nos rodea, mas en estos tiempos donde lo natural es lo mas importante, recuerden que si no tubieramos lo natural lo que nos rodea nada de esto fuera posible, un saludo y gran concurso…
February 10th, 2009 at 2:09 am
You gotta love the tricorder from Star Trek. One gizmo, does almost everything. Cool thing is, is that smart phones and medical tech are getting smaller and more powerful all the time in real life. So its just a matter of time before we get a real tricorder!
Great work Dustin, you rock!!!
February 10th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Hmm, tough one, but I’m pretty sure I would choose The Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser from the Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. It’s basicly a drinks maker that analyzes what drink you would like the most at the given moment. I would love having that in my room, it happens way too often that I’m thirsty but don’t know what I should have.
Oh and btw. it has one flaw, it can’t make tea, only something that, according too the book, “delivers a cupful of liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.”
Whatever that means.
February 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I have always been a big fan of the powerloader in Aliens. Regardless of whether I am picking up cars or the days mail I just think such a device would make life easier.
February 10th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Naturally the greatest invention ever is the Tesla Coil. While AC power ranks high on the list of cool stuff the Tesla Coil trumps all.
First, let us pack our bags and go on a history trip. Tesla is arguably one of the greatest inventors period. No, I am not saying this because of the dunny either (although this dunny would sit high atop my shelf next to my huck gee signed AP fig
). If you ever took a history class you would know that Tesla is a bad ass. He was someone that was not limited by his mind but could conceive things that we still aren’t able to utilize to their fullest today. In a time when Edison was king and Tesla respected that (key point when talking about Tesla he was humble and classy) he came over and worked for him. Edison, well basically screwed him. Not to say Tesla did not get the last laugh, heck we still use AC power today. Now I am not speaking badly about a great inventor [Edison] but for the time, on intellectual prowess, he was trumped. Tesla’s idea reigned supreme and it stopped us from having, the [power lines] block out the sun” as he saw when he looked up into the sky.
Now, the Tesla Coil…Ok my knowledge on this subject is no more than anyone else that has taken a general physics course, but you hear about these types of inventions and it sticks with you. We have seen these towers in action in most notably many of the Command and Conquer games. This coil always kicks ass and tears up enemy troops. Also, not too shabby against vehicles ( ha!). First off, anything with high amounts of power is awesome. Secondly, Tesla believed that this was a more efficient way to create power. My mind can continue to race with possibilities or think of images of cartoons that have showed this or even the Mario Brother themed YouTube video. All I know is what I can picture, in my head: cold steel, towering above all, energy so thick you feel it in the air, your hair stands up a bit, you can hear generators hum. A pinnacle of power. Maybe we can take it as far as were a person to wear a suit of say a certain medal that had other medals around that resonated at the proper frequency, might that person be able to direct that energy. Maybe even concentrate it and focus it to blow things up
(I have an active imagination too aside from being well versed in pop culture). Yes sliced bread is neat, but conceptually this is much cooler. Plus, if you can conduct pure energy, shouldn’t you only be at the whim of light speed making teleportation an easy feat.
Again, I by no means know much of this subject. What I do know is that Tesla was beyond his years and even though he couldn’t make it, it makes sense to me. I think it will one day be used in a larger capacity than we can fathom at this time. Maybe I should start patenting my idea…. Cheers…I know this will find a loving home.
February 10th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
the sexy hot and deadly fem-bots from austin powers
February 11th, 2009 at 7:12 am
The most amazing technology that I know is the ability to build a house above an active mini-waterfall adjacent to enormous rocks. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater located in Bear Run, PA is the most astonishing house that I have ever seen, and probably will ever see in my lifetime. The brainpower it took to figure out how to build the foundation for the house isn’t even imaginable to me; how to get the engineering perfected in order to actually start the project took years. Wright designed the whole house himself; from the thick exterior stone and concrete walls, to the interior stone floors giving the illusion of flowing water, to the boulders which stand up big and tall inside the house, and to the actual layout of the house. Fallingwater’s interior is beautiful in that it contains many natural elements that Wright purposefully incorporated into this home. There are tons of huge glass windows which bring in a great deal of natural lighting, the boulders in which the house was built around, the gorgeous wood trim finishes all around the interior of the house, and the number of built-in furniture made out of wood. He wished to bring nature inside, yet he also wished to lure the home’s inhabitants outside for he built the house with less-than-standard ceiling heights to try and draw them out to explore nature’s beauty. Today, Fallingwater, now a landmark, is one of the most famous of Frank Lloyd Wright’s achitectural projects, if not his best. Just by looking at the house, it is obvious that Wright spent a gargantuan amount of time figuring out the details in which to perfect Fallingwater.
Check it out:
1)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Frank_Lloyd_Wright_-_Fallingwater_interior_5.JPG
2) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Frank_Lloyd_Wright_-_Fallingwater_interior_7.JPG
(Sorry to use wikipedia, they had great pictures!)
Thanks!
February 11th, 2009 at 10:17 am
Re Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater:
It is of course an architectural masterpiece, familiar to every architect student.
It also has numerous technical issues, both in design and construction. As a piece of engineering, it is nothing special. The particular style of construction, cantilevered reinforced concrete, was apparently new to the contractors, so they made some fairly serious mistakes in the execution (like not allowing for sagging once the forms were removed.) Wright also had no experience with reinforced concrete, and also had no engineering training, but he took offense whenever anybody tried to improve or even review his plans. In fact both the building owner and Wright made some structural modifications without telling the other. It is kind of a miracle the thing even stands up. But if it been built as Wright designed it, it would have fallen under its own weight.
Also, the materials and construction methods are entirely wrong for the site. With walls made of massive stone and masonry, the house is cold, damp and mildewy inside. Since the windows are single-glazed steel frame, they need to be maintained carefully to prevent condensation from rusting them away.
The house also leaks like a sieve.
As an example of the art in residential architecture, it is one of the greatest ever built. As a piece of engineering, it is miserable.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
The greatest technological release will come in 2012 and end the world as we know it creating peace and universal harmony in mankind.
The Universal Teleprompter (UTP) is worn by the user allowing the person being spoken to to be able to see the speakers inner most thoughts. The UTP was originally created to be worn by women so that men could better understand them and meet their needs. It was soon found though that ALL thoughts came to the surface of the UTP and nothing could be hidden. The UTP became the greatest biofeedback machine ever invented and was soon worn by the masses so that everyone everywhere would take control over their bad thoughts sending them into regression until they appeared no more. In just a few months the world was changed into a humanity that thought only positive, peaceful, and helpful thoughts.
Thank goodness thats what the Mayan calender was talking about.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Rosie, the Maid from the Jetsons. Most awesome thing ever.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
The most amazing technology is the pogo stick. Useful like a sport, play with friends and save the galaxy, or not commander keen?
February 12th, 2009 at 8:30 am
I think a rolling machine dunny would be a very good idea for the stoner crowd and also woulndt be very hard to incorperate into one and would be very funny and also functional very nice conversation piece
February 12th, 2009 at 9:01 am
RE RE: Frank Lkoyd Wright’s Fallingwater:
It doesn’t matter who helped Wright. The house is still his design; any idea that anyone had was to be shown to Wright first in order for it to be incorporated in the house. Yes, he was extremely stubborn, but it doesn’t matter how stubborn he was. Any architect would be stubborn to have somebody tell him what to do in a house he was building. At least he had the balls to try something new, even if he hardly knew what he was doing. The most important thing is that Fallingwater is still standing.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:12 am
The Quicklink Pen (http://the-gadgeteer.com/2000/05/14/quicklink_pen_review/) rocks my world more than I ever expected. Need to quote someone and afraid you’ll have a typo? Scan it in and get it going. Also, historical analysis has become a thousand times more enjoyable with the ability to scan old documents and save money on photocopying. Yes, yes, the academic geek in me loves the functionality of a device that lets me quote at ease and save up information from documents. What can I say, it’s the things which make my life that much simpler that I love. Make’s the highlighter a waste of money.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
The coolest gadget hands down is the “clockstoppers” watch. Preferably a sick g-Shock or what have you, any watch that can stop time for the wearer and whomever else they are holding onto is the coolest concept i’ve ever come across. And that’s saying a lot considering all of my years having subscribed to Popular Science/Popular mechanics.
February 12th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
I’ve always been intrigued by the “Wall” systems from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. These huge, interactive, television-like systems that could take up entire rooms. Hell, you could have more than one and link them together to take up the entire room.
I’m sure we’re not too far off from seeing these actually emerge as a high-end technology… let’s just hope the whole “book burning” part is way off.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:20 am
the best piece of technology ever has to be the plasma dunny, i mean it can light up your room with a ghostly purple light, it can make you kiss ass to the webmasters and designers of our times, it even can be affordable to your miserable pockets for the awesome ammount of zero if you are creative enough!!!! is there anything you wouldn’t do for a plasma headed dunny???? (honestly not… wink, wink >_O and i mean anything…lol hahahahahaha!!! ) anyhow morbid promises aside i really wanna win one of those awesome dunnys!!!!! you guys rock!!!
gabe
February 13th, 2009 at 6:41 am
My fave gadget of all time has to be Paradise Islands Invisble plane used by Wonder Woman in the comic Wonder Womans Secet Files #1. The Jet was originally a “morphing crystal” that was developed scientifically by an alien race called the “Lansinarians”.
The Lansinarians were a blind alien race and could not react quickly enough to changes in their environment. So they developed a life support device- the morphing crystal that catered to their needs. The crystal is a shape-changing device that can take many forms. It was a gift from the lasinarians to Wonder Woman in gratitude for saving them. . The plane possesses a sophisticated artificial intelligence that responds to Wonder Woman’s thoughts. It is able to render itself invisible as well as alter its shape, transforming into any form of vehicle its bearer desires, be it a jet, submarine, motorcycle, or horse-drawn chariot. This my friends I think is the coolest gadget ever made!
February 13th, 2009 at 8:48 am
I would have to say the greatest piece of tech is vinyl. I know of no other material that can be applied to such an absurdly wide range of uses. Records, insulation, raincoats (& raincoats
, boots, shower curtains, water infrastructure, auto & areospace components, food wrapping, and life saving medical devices just to name a few. But beyond all those possibilities, there is the most important use of all – toys. All the star trek phasers, star wars creatures, flux capacitors, Geordi La Forge visors, hoverboards, gloomys, munnys, dunnys, labbits and so on are made possible by the material whose form is limited only by imagination – humble and glorious vinyl.
February 13th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
the best piece is the plasma dunny.
February 14th, 2009 at 3:43 am
I feel the greatest piece of technology has to be HAL 9000 from 2001!
Everyone knows him, and has made reference to him, you have to be nice to him around airlocks, and he has a great singing voice…
Think of it this way, add one letter to HAL and you get what? IBM!
Brilliant!
February 14th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Probably I would say an iPhone. It does everything people in the current world need at the moment. It helps us communicate, keep up with diets, send files [perfect work], write down ideas, and of course listen to music. The sheer mulitultide of things we can do and ability to carry it around makes it a great gadget.
My second thing would probably be a cross-communication device that types as you speak and can translate things into any language. It would make doing business extremely easy and free of misinterpretation.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
My favorite gadget or piece of technology would be the time-traveling DeLorean DMC-12 from the Back to the Future movies. This car looked and still looks awesome even though it’s from the early 80s. It was really ahead of it’s time, and the movie version was in every part of time lol. Having the ability to travel trough time in this excellent vehicle must be one awesome experience. You can change any mistakes that you’ve made or just execute the greatest pranks with the flux capacitor. A plus is being able to leave your marks on the road with the flaming skid marks
.
February 15th, 2009 at 3:17 am
i want to say a watch so that i’d actually be on time and qualified for the competition, but i’m going to leave a comment anyways because that dunny is awesome!
i’m a pretty big fan of the old polaroids/polaroid cameras. unfortunately, since kodak doesn’t make them anymore, they’ve pretty much become extinct. i loved the anticipation, waiting for the picture to develope and hoping that the film wasn’t overexposed/shaken too much.
February 15th, 2009 at 10:11 am
With so many innovative and inspirational gadgets/technology out there, it is difficult to narrow it down to one. I have realized that my favorites come from movies that I have taken a liking to. Thus, the top are the guide and point of view gun from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, full of information which is invaluable and allowing people to understand different viewpoints, again invaluable; the flux capacitor in Back to The Future for time travel, and a wand from Harry Potter along with a book of spells. As a non-tangible object, imagination is the best piece of technology.
February 15th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
My favorite piece of technology is actually two inventions (you can’t mention one without the other as they go hand-in-hand), taken from a book I’ve just finished writing entitled 2492. The first is the Struse Recycler, which uses a combination of lasers, intense magnetic fields, centrifuges, and other, wicked complicated tech-type-stuff to take your trash and break it down into its component elements. The elements are then neatly separated and stored for future use. The second half is the Struse Generator which allows you to make anything you can possibly imagine…provided you have a pattern and the necessary elements. Not only is trash no longer a concern (actually, refuse is highly sought after as it’s a free source of elements), but the economy as we know it radically changes when people can make whatever they want at home. Just make sure you have enough elements and plug in a pattern (both are available from StruseCorp) into the Struse Generator, and voila.
February 15th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
My favorite current piece of technology? I’m excited about the direction that rapid-prototyping and 3D printing is moving in. There are applications for this technology everywhere – the ability to create parts to fix machinery in the field. Perhaps more importantly to this audience the ability to create one-off custom toys on the quickly and efficiently. I long for the day that this technology progresses further and anything your imagination can dream up can be held in your end just a few short minutes later.
February 16th, 2009 at 5:16 am
This wont be the best but its my favorite gadget.
The 3d scanner, its just impossibly good!
https://www.nextengine.com/indexSecure.htm
check out the spawn scanning in the gallery.
When i get one im just going to scan everything i own.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Looking for the winner…we just announced the winner of Dustin Cantrell’s custoMONDAY Plasma Dunny here: http://www.toycyte.com/dustin-cantrells-customonday-plasma-dunny-goes-viraland-the-winner-is