Lifestyle

File this one under "useless but awesome."

If your bookshelf just isn't haunted enough for your liking, 25 bucks can make it happen.

Things You Never Knew Existed is hawking some faux antique books that slide out and make creepy noises whenever anyone walks by.

Watch the video to see the haunted volumes in action. Halloween is quickly approaching, kids.

[Via Geekologie.]

Sick of dusting off that Kid Icarus cartridge and blowing on it 80 times before you can play it? Maybe it's time to make the ultimate sacrifice and turn that cartridge into a speaker system.

Morte Moya, he of the NES MP3 controller mod, has created the perfect complementary speaker system.

Modding an old-school Rush 'N' Attack cart, he made a nice NES-themed speaker set to go along with his controller-turned-player.

Cool as this MP3 player/speaker combo is, I've still got a soft spot for Donald Bell's Little Professor MP3 player. All it needs is a … Read more

Does the curse of the mummy begin with bunions?

Jacky Finch, a researcher at the University of Manchester's KNH Centre for Biomedical Egyptology, is testing to see whether two large wooden toes from the era of the Pharaohs were ornamental or actual medical devices.

If the wooden toes turn out to be prosthetics, this will mean that the art of making fake body parts for practical is centuries older than believed. The oldest prosthesis yet discovered is an artificial leg dating from 300 B.C. The toes are from between 1,000 B.C. and 600 B.C.

One … Read more

It takes German engineering to figure out how to make a heart rate monitor without one of those chest belts that can get pretty irritating during a workout.

From German company Beurer GmbH, this heart rate monitor is based on a technique called Plethysmography. It uses a sensor to measure light that is reflected by the bloodstream from an artery in your finger. Not only can this be used to measure your pulse but it can also be used to keep track of your blood pressure.

The LCD screen provides constant feedback that makes it ideal for athletes on the … Read more

Yes, Crave looks all new-wave and fancy and youthful, but did you know it just turned 5,000? That's right.

On Friday, July 27, Crave celebrated its 5,000th post. With this monumental occasion, it gives us an opportunity to look back on the magic we've experienced since last October.

So here we go: the best and worst that Crave has to offer. We may even add new awesomeness and atrocities as our collective memory bank kicks in.

Best convergence of Crave obsessions: Hello Kitty pirate cell phone charm Cravers Mike Yamamoto and Caroline McCarthy … Read more

Junior's artwork looks great on the fridge, but it would look even better next to a full-on light show.

If you've ever wanted to turn your fridge into a big ol' Lite Brite, you're in luck. Thanks to this tutorial on the excellent and addictive Instructables site, it's easier than ever.

Using some surface-mount resistors, conductive nickel paint, LEDs, a 4.5 volt power supply, and some other parts, you can recreate the Aqua Teen Hunger Force LED hoax or whatever else you want. In marquee style. On your fridge.

The entire tutorial is available on … Read more

As a wise woman once said, "Socks rock." Most people never leave home without a pair of socks, at least if they're wearing shoes.

But just in case, the Gallo stockings vending machine allows anyone to protect their feet from the inside of their shoes in a pinch.

The psychedelic Italian vending machine dispenses a wide array of absorbent footwear, perfect for yuletide emergencies, ad-hoc puppetry sessions, or avoiding fashion police busts.

Unfortunately, seeing and using the machine could lead to a frustrating infinite loop.

1. You see the machine.

2. It blows your socks off.

3. … Read more

When I was a kid, we had those gadgets sold in the "well-being" section of Bed Bath & Beyond--you know, alongside foot massagers and home-spa kits and other things that I never thought anyone actually bought--and their whole schpiel was that they'd play you the soothing sounds of forests at night, crashing waves, chirping songbirds, or something else that was supposed to block out your neighbor's annoying dog. Or kids. Or garage chemistry lab.

But now, apparently, the Digital Age of Excess 2.0 demands that everything be a little bit fancier and more ridiculous than … Read more

As strange as it makes me, I love fonts. The same way others spend hours YouTubing and eBaying, I frequently spend sleepless hours ogling OpenType. (You can check out my favorite fonts at Myfonts.com.) Ever since I started using a computer I've gravitated toward fonts; my logo designs are always text intensive, to compensate for my complete lack of artistic talent.

Collecting fonts can be quite expensive, however, so any project always begins with a search through the free zones. Which I usually have to find first, since I never remember to bookmark all the sites. Thankfully, Macworld … Read more