table

You're lounging on your couch watching "Star Trek" reruns. You need someplace to set your sleek new MacBook. How about on your Crunching Numbers G4 coffee table, where its ancestors can keep it company while you're gone?

Reform Designs is recycling old Macs in a creative way by turning them into coffee tables that will match your geeky decor. The whole table is made from up to 70 percent reclaimed materials, so you can feel green about your purchase.… Read more

With Microsoft's unveiling of a laptop today carrying the "Surface" name, the company has bestowed a new name on the product that formerly carried the Surface moniker.

The table-top, multitouch computer that Microsoft unveiled in 2007, which was largely relegated to retail outlets, hotel lobbies, and museums, has been rebranded as PixelSense. The original Surface, which resembled a 1980s sit-down arcade machine, wasn't much of a gadget for consumers, thanks largely to its $12,500 price tag.

But the new name is a bit of return to the product's roots. The device's panel features … Read more

They say the shoes make the geek... or something like that. You don't have to wear a GameBoy dress or glowing Tron T-shirt to radiate your geekiness, however. Just throw on the right pair of shoes.

Geek Sneaks from geek outfitter KlearGear.com are designed for code monkeys, scientists, astronomers, and engineers. The shoe design is a simple slip-on, but it's the patterns that really stand out.… Read more

It goes without saying that food is important to our ability to function. Despite this importance, planning and preparing meals often falls on the back burner, with things like work or school taking priority. If you find yourself often forgetting to purchase key ingredients, or are feeling uninspired in your meal planning, check out Food on the Table for Android and iPhone. Here's how to get started:

Step 1: Download and install Food on the Table on your Android or iOS device.

Step 2: The app requires some basic setup to function. Get … Read more

Forget any other uses for LEDs; the only place they really need to be is in the bar.

LEDs are everywhere. They are used in everything from remote controls to giant wall displays and televisions. The little lights are a ubiquitous part of everyday life: signs tell us where to go, clocks tell us what time it is, control panels let us know the state of our devices. Lately, they have been showing up in everything from DLP projectors to streetlights.

The first LEDs in practical use had very little light output and would be often found in alphanumerical displays … Read more

I had a desktop Zen garden once, then the cat stepped on it and sent granules of sand flying everywhere. I'd be willing to take a chance on a new inside Zen garden, but only if it's a Zen Table.

The Zen Table is a Kickstarter project that successfully reached its funding goal earlier this month. It's a glass-top table filled with tiny silicone beads so that the whole creation has the appearance of an enclosed Zen garden.

Zen garden coffee tables have been done before, but not quite like this one. Beneath that sea of silicone is a system of electronics and robotics that carves images into the sand. Load up an SD card with bitmaps, and let the machine do the rest.… Read more

Forget the flowers this Valentine's Day. Go for a lightsaber-lit dinner, the open-source iNecklace, and the flirtatious Fingle app. Bridget Carey shows off tech to woo the nerd of your dreams.… Read more

The Interactive Periodic Table of Swearing speaks both to the giggling inner 12-year-old and stressed-out adult in all of us. It's a big, electronic table with push buttons that prompt a rainbow of cuss words and phrases.

The table is rife with variations on F-bomb expletives. You can guess what phrase pushing the "Mf" button triggers. There are also some milder insults like "silly bastard" and "stinks like piss." The table is a British creation, so some of the curse words feature charming Briticisms like "arsehole" and "bollocks."

Heavier swears are to the left while lighter and more infantile interjections are to the right. This would certainly spice up your next chemistry lab.… Read more

Here at Geek Gestalt, every day is different. The world of geek culture is broad--sometimes bewilderingly so. A typical year's coverage can easily include stories on everything from Burning Man to Lego, aviation to 3D printing, NASA to tech startups, MythBusters to Pixar movies, and so on.

That makes coming up with predictions for next year in culture a difficult task--but we're here to serve, so that's just we're offering. Of course, trying to settle on just five ideas for 2012 means leaving a lot of things out.

Still, prognosticating culture's next steps meant talking … Read more