Geek culture

You could spend a lot of time and energy fashioning your own Iron Man armor, or you could just throw $8,500 over to Sideshow Collectibles and pick up a full-size suit right off the shelf.

The Tony Stark-size figure is a reproduction of the Iron Man Mark 42 suit from the upcoming "Iron Man 3." It's more than 7 feet tall and is painted with high-gloss automotive paint to give it that Iron Man shine. That's not all, of course. For your investment, you'll also get to enjoy LED light-up eyes, arc reactor, palms, and display base. That makes it a very expensive, but very cool, lamp.… Read more

Would you be more willing to buy a tablet if it had a slick sci-fi promo video? How about something that mixes "The Matrix" with Apple's iconic "1984" Macintosh ad?

That seems to be what Japanese app developer Ubiquitous Entertainment iss shooting for with a series of eerie, dystopian videos titled "Brave New World" that introduce EnchantMoon, a stylus-operated tablet that lets you easily create HTML5 games and apps without programming code. … Read more

I feel kind of sorry for any geek looking to propose to a partner these days. The bar keeps getting set higher and higher. We've had a 4-hour video game proposal, an elaborate "Harry Potter" Quidditch proposal, and a physics paper proposal. Now a romantic guy figured out how to have the engagement ring flown in for his proposal, adding a bit of "Air Wolf" excitement to the proceedings.

As do many successful proposals, Jason's proposal to Christina began with a ruse. He lured her to Alamo Square park in San Francisco under the pretense of doing a photo shoot. He got her to talk to the camera and share her wishes for the baby they'll be having together. All was perfectly normal until a strange whirring noise came from the sky.… Read more

Last month at SXSW, SpaceX founder Elon Musk showed off a video of the SpaceX Grasshopper rocket rising 24 stories into the air and returning safely back to the ground. For a vehicle that is 10 stories high, that's pretty good, but not enough to make your jaw drop.

This creation is called the Grasshopper Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle. It's so named because of its nifty parlor trick of being able to blast off vertically and then land upright. Now, the company has tripled the distance of the previous attempt and released a new video showing off the rocket's capabilities. … Read more

I'm taking spring cleaning seriously this year. I've already Craigslisted a good chunk of my furniture and hosted a massive yard sale. Now, I'm breaching the depths of uncharted waters in my closets and desk drawer. I'm going after all those old gadgets I've been hanging onto for years. What wonders will I discover?

I have old cell phones. I have old computers. I have sickening piles of cords tangled about each other in knots that may never be unraveled. Why do I do this to myself? Do I really think I'm going to need to make a call on that 2002 LG VX-10 with the extended battery pack? It's time for it to go, along with all the other dusty old tech that hasn't felt a surge of electricity in years.… Read more

NEW YORK--Guitars. Skulls. Bracelets. Colorful heads. And so much more.

That was what was on display at the Inside 3D Printing event here today, a celebration of all things 3D printing, and one of the first-ever professional events dedicated solely to the decades-old technology that has been taking the world by storm over the last few years.

Just about ever leading company in the field was on hand, from 3D Systems to MakerBot to Stratasys, and many others. And hundreds of people packed the event hall, eager to see the latest machines, and hear from some of the leaders in … Read more

If you wanted to impress on Earth Day, you could do worse than this all-electric motorcycle from Canada.

The Sora superbike from Quebec-based Lito Green Motion is finally hitting the streets after years of development and promos. The Canadian Ministry of Transport recently certified the firm as a motorcycle manufacturer, and the $41,000 bike is getting lots of attention.

The Sora, which means "sky" in Japanese, has a 12 kWh lithium polymer battery and a range of 185 miles on a single charge, which takes 8 hours, or 90 minutes with a quick charger. It can be recharged anywhere using a conventional plug. … Read more

From the moment I first looked at the Pebble Watch, it was clear that this was a device designed to be purely about apps. Unfortunately, none were really available until a week ago, when Pebble at last released an SDK, and along with it, updated firmware for the Pebble watch and a revised smartphone app.

Now, the number of user-made indie Pebble apps is steadily growing, and there are even places to go to browse them: Pebble's own watch face community message boards, and sites like My Pebble Faces.… Read more

Last week, lucky University of Wisconsin-Madison students (and staff) had a chance to hear the "Game of Thrones" theme song in a performance style uncommon to this century -- through the expertise of a carillonneur commanding the sheer musical might of 56 bells. … Read more