Geek is chic.
This weekend marks the fifth annual Maker Faire, where crafty geeks from all around venture to Silicon Valley to show off their handmade goods. One such person is Tom Padula, who crafted these enchanting electronic fireflies — that attach to your plant leaves — from tiny LED lights and solar-powered batteries. Each light is the size of a quarter, and turn on and off for about two hours before Read more
I'm counting the minutes until the grill gets fired up for my family's annual Fourth of July barbecue! Grilling is one of my favorite pastimes, especially since I'm an apartment dweller, but as I discovered earlier this year, that doesn't have to stop me from enjoying a nicely grilled meal. If you're having a celebration this weekend and don't have a patio to park a barbecue, no worries — the Read more
Happy April Fools' Day! April is definitely a month that's bursting with exciting and new games, gadgets and accessories. One of the hottest new cell phones, cameras, and video games is featured in this month's lineup of Must Haves. So if you're looking for something to add to your tech toy collection, you've come to the right place. Read more
New York City-based nonprofit Kids of Kathmandu, whose ongoing mission is to support 49 Nepalese orphan children, has just launched the enLIGHTen Project. Seventeen renowned lighting designers from all over the world (including Lindsey Adelman, David Weeks, Jason Miller, David Trubridge, and Rich Brilliant Willing) will design a piece of unique statement lighting that will be auctioned to fund Read more
In grade school, studies of space are often limited to the eight (that was nine in my day, Pluto fans) planets of the solar system. Discover the mysteries that lie beyond our own planetary backyard on the iPad app Journey to the Exoplanets ($10), which examines the outer planets that continue to be discovered. Created by Scientific American magazine, the app includes audio, video, illustrated, Read more
Diamonds may be forever, but a meteorite, well, a meteorite that once flew thousands of light-years from the edges of the solar system is forever ever. The Meteorite Heart Pendant ($85) from Etsy shop ThePolkadotMagpie is made from real meteorite chunks discovered in 1967. Composed of iron and nickel alloys, iron meteorites are believed to be made up of the core of planets that broke apart Read more
There may not have been any human exploration of Mars this year, but there certainly were plenty of galactic milestones in the last 12 months from NASA and international space programs. From the end of the space shuttle program that once had kids dreaming of becoming astronauts to the launch of a space robot to a possible planet twin, which of these 2011 headlines was your highlight of the year's Read more
Unless you have an external battery pack for your mobile phone, the fact is there are those days you are stuck without any juice. Enter your saving grace: the Diffus solar-charging bag. Of course, there are a number of solar bags on the market already, but this one seems like the first one that infuses fashion with charging technology. The designers have integrated 100 little solar panels into Read more
Check in to the Hampton's newest hotel, Ruschmeyer's. — ShelterPop These inexpensive solar lights are a fab Summer find. — Shelterrific One artist's portraits crafted from junkmail are absolutely incredible! — Craftzine I'm blown away by this DIY pendant lamp made from an umbrella. — ReadyMade How much is too much to spend on a kid's room? See for yourself. — Hooked on Read more
Good news, hopeful future space travelers, the European Southern Observatory announced the discovery of over 50 planets outside our solar system and currently in orbit around stars of their own. One of these planets, named simply HD 85512 b, has scientists excited, as its orbit location in relation to its star offers the possibility of an Earth-like environment. Though HD 85512 b is 35 Read more
