Alright we’ve seen some pretty cool USB drive cases, but this one has an old school cool that can’t be denied. You know, like Billy Dee Williams before he started shilling Colt 45. From those crazy DIY-ers over at Instructables comes the Cigar USB Flash Drive.

Made from a real cigar, this drive has all the sophistication of the cigar bar without the stench and hazardous materials being breathed into your lungs. There’s even an LED that lights up when the drive is plugged in giving the illusion of a lit stogie.

If you think you’re crafty enough to pull it off, check out the video at Instructables.com.

Via CraziestGadgest

Graphic design freaks rejoice! Jinsu Park, a korean designer, has designed this concept pen which enables the user to scan a color from any real life object, then use it instantly for drawing. The pen uses RGB inks mixed together by the sensor in order to create the right color. What’s next, the “clone stamp” pen? Actually, that would be sweet…

See more pictures after the break!

[via]

As a DJ, when I saw this gadget I nearly fell off my chair. Unfortunately at this stage, it is still a concept, but this record player would levitate records magnetically while the small red ball read them and played them back through a tiny built-in speaker.

The designer, Rhea Jeong, adds a little more on the technical specs:

“The record player uses a carrier and dock outfitted with a magnetic and auto-calibrating control system which carries the LP into thin air as it is playing music. A self-running record player shaped in the form of a red sphere, contains a needle, amplifier and speaker, spins around the record, bringing the music to life.”

More pictures after the break!

The new Transformers sequel hit theaters at midnight on Tuesday marking the beginning of June 24th and the official opening of the Summer blockbuster season of 2009. Unfortunately, even though the film raked in $16 million on that one day and has grossed more than $60 million at the time of the writing of this review there isn’t much to like about the film itself. It launches into a narrative about how the Autobots & Decepticons have been on Earth “from the beginning” then a Decepticon steps on a bunch of Africans/Aborigines. Black folks dying first in a Sci Fi flick before the goddamn credits even roll? Check. How many more cliches will we see before the film is up?

This drop will cover some of the essential anime series now available for purchase, rental, streaming online or through other means (it’s a truly wondrous thing, this internet!). In any event I present to the readers of Nerd With Swag “A Guide To Essential Anime (The Series Edition)”…

It’s about time I hit y’all off with a list of some jawns I consider to be classic as well as essential anime films. If you’re not that into anime and you just want to know where to begin these are some of the titles that should be the foundation for your introduction to anime. From here we can delve into the wide array of other anime films you may enjoy based on your reaction to these classic selections. This list could’ve been much longer but I don’t want to make anyone’s head explode a la Scanners (or Gucci Mane at the Scripps Spelling Bee). Here ya go…

Being that I’m a 70’s baby and a Cold War Kid I remember back when the whole giant robot craze really jumped off back around 1979 and ran through the mid 80’s before ultimately dying out. I’m not talking about the bootleg watered down plastic ass toy robots that kids had in the mid 80’s, mind you. I going back to the die cast metal heavy joints with the spring loaded fists and shoulder missiles that were puttin’ eyes out and causing swallowing hazards for young children across this great nation of ours.

For those of you that can only recall Voltron and Transformers let me tell you about the Golden Age of giant robot cartoons and toys since I was right there on the front lines (kinda sorta). Check this shit out after the break…

So if robots stealing your energy wasn’t innovative enough for you, a supermarket in Gloucester is now using kinetic plates embedded under the parking lot to generate energy. Apparently the energy generated by this system is enough to power all of their cash registers each day. This system uses the same technology as Formula 1 race cars do to convert energy generated during their breaking into extra speed.

[via]