It’s the ’70s, and arcades are packed with bell-bottoms, shocks of fluffy hair and brightly colored game cabinets. There are pop references everywhere you look, games of adventure, games of skill, and the high score is king.

Then the ’80s roll around and arcade cabinets start to evolve. Some of them even have seats, and advances in technology allow for even more immersive gaming. The difference between each game widens and a joystick isn’t the only way to play.

This is the trip down memory lane that a website called “Art of the Arcade” is paving with its tribute to vintage arcade art. Check out more examples in the gallery below, or head on over to the site for more.

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This must be the craziest bar ever. The semicircular Phantom Bar features four real ejection seats restored from an F-4 Phantom fighter jet. The bar itself is made from a restored engine cowling of a C-119 “Flying Boxcar” bomber. Handcrafted by a company called Phantom Works, each bar takes 1000 hours to create and restore.

Its stratospheric $225,000 price apparently isn’t quite enough for the four seats’ ejection jetpacks to remain intact, and that’s too bad, because a quick exit might come in handy when one of your bar guests gets too obnoxious for comfort.

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When it rains, you’re really down to one hand when you whip out your umbrella. Then you’re left trying to juggle any number of things: cellphone, briefcase, slice of pizza, keys to your battlesuit.

In Japan, however, there’s another way. The Umbrella Shoulder Holder is a snake-like tube you can wrap around your arm, with a hole for you to stick your umbrella into. (We’re not sure, but it’d be interesting to see how it deals with J-shaped handles.) After that, just secure it to your body and — bam! — no need to hold that umbrella.

Amazon Japan has ‘em for around $26 (not including the cost to import).

Amazon Japan, via Likecool

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If you’ve been waiting for the PlayStation 3 to get cheaper before you jumped on board, your wait is over. Sony just announced the new PS3 Slim, a 120GB PS3 that slims down the form factor of the console while also slimming the price down to $299. It’s 33% smaller and 36% lighter than the original, and it’ll be available the first week of September.

Don’t need a smaller console? The old, fatty PS3s are still available while supplies last, with a price drop on those guys to be announced tomorrow. All PS3s still stand up as the best Blu-ray players around, so now seems like as good a time as any to upgrade your movie discs.

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NASA says that life was delivered to Earth on a comet. The NASA Stardust spacecraft flew past Comet 81P/Wild 2 in 2004, collected dust samples on four tiny pieces of aluminum foil, and then returned them to Earth in 2006. It’s taken three years for scientists to determine exactly what is on those samples.

After some clever laboratory work, scientists announced the discovery of the amino acid glycine in the comet’s dust. Such amino acids are made by mixing organic carbon-containing compounds with water. Zap them with energy by way of commonly available photons, and suddenly you have amino acids, then DNA, and ultimately, people.

Add this discovery to previous finds of amino acids on meteorites, and scientists say this confirms the building blocks of life were delivered to Earth from extraterrestrial travelers such as comets and meteors. And here we were thinking life was delivered to Earth in seven days. So we are stardust after all.

New Scientist, via Kurzweil AI

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In Most European palaces and castles, it is common to find the ceilings decorated with ornate gilded woodwork and elaborate frescoes. In Brussels, Belgium, one particular hall in the Royal Palace has a very peculiar ceiling that is decorated with very strange items.



The hall’s ceiling, which has r…


By: Skyfinity

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I’ll be honest, I don’t get this thing. It’s a gigantic mobile stand for a computer, but it doesn’t seem like the most convenient thing in the world. I mean, I thought the trend was to make computers smaller, right? This thing is enormous!

But hey, if you’re looking for something that really stands out from most desks, doesn’t fit in with the decor in your home and looks vaguely futuristic, the Iropod should fit the bill just fine.

Iropod via Engadget

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Now that Internet service providers are showing signs of opening up more upload bandwidth, maybe now webcams will finally find their way into mainstream acceptance. Microsoft will be doing its part when on September 9th it rolls out this gorgeous LifeCam Cinema 720p, the first consumer webcam to support 720p video at 30 frames per second.

Microsoft gives you a lot for your $80, including an autofocusing glass lens, noise-canceling mic and sturdy aluminum construction. Now all we need to do is get Skype to catch up to this high standard and start allowing 720p/30 webcams on its network.

For now, Microsoft says this LifeCam Cinema is compatible with Windows Live Messenger (as well as Windows Live Movie Maker and Windows Live Photo Gallery), so maybe we can get used to that instead of Skype for now. That said, the days of commonplace 720p/30 webcam conversations are coming, and the future is looking sharp. Take another couple of peeks at this glamorous cam:

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What do you get for someone who’s both a sci-fi nerd as well as an audio nerd? This USS Enterprise record player seems pretty close to the perfect choice, no? The huge model of the famous starship plays records and looks awesome, although I’m not quite sure where it would look appropriate in someone’s living room.

And since it’s just a concept design at the moment, that’s probably not a problem anyone will be dealing with anytime soon. Instead, we can just admire the genius of coming these two items into one superitem without having to debate coming up with the inevitably large sum of money to procure it.

Star Trek Model Gallery via Geeky Gadgets

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Seen District 9 yet? If not, don’t worry — I won’t spoil anything for you — but if you have you know that hulking robotic suit featured in the trailer shows up and stuff gets nuts. So that got us thinking: What other awesome powered armor, exoskeletons and battlesuits from science fiction have left a similar lasting impression?

We’re not just talking movies here, either. Books, videogames and even tabletop gaming — it’s all in there. Click Continue to see the top 10 most badass sci-fi battlesuits.

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That’s right, I said sexy. This new portable USB hard drive from Verbatim, available in either 320GB ($100) or 500GB ($140) capacity, adds quite a bit of style to a normally boring accessory. Even more notable, though, is the Always On display that shows the customizable name of the drive and available free space. No computer handy? It will even show this when it isn’t connected to a computer. It’s compatible with Mac and PC.

Verbatim’s bringing back sexy with the new InSight drive, all dolled up with a glossy piano-black finish on the curvy 6-inch by 3.5-inch by 0.7-inch chassis. It features Nero BackItUp Essentials to make it simple to backup your computer. The system also has data encryption with password controls to keep your backups safe. You do regularly backup your computer, don’t you?

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Now that Japanese iPhone fans are celebrating the recent news that the device was the number one selling phone in Japan in July, they also have a high-dollar item available to commemorate the event. The Japan Texture Special Edition for iPhone has been introduced by Softbank and brings a distinctly Japanese flavor to the wildly successful smartphone.

The lacquer cases feature five different designs that pay aesthetic homage to the days of samurais and shoguns and come with elegant presentation cases with details regarding the crafting of the cases. The irony here is that the case itself costs far more than the iPhone, retailing for a staggering 99,800 yen ($1,057) here.

Via J-Cast

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There’s not much info about this sexy little device, but there’s just enough to get our saliva glands working. It’s a little touchscreen that’s running Android. Looking to be about 4.5 inches by 4 inches, it looks like a larger-than-normal iPhone. Who makes it? Will it be for sale? What else can it do? All mysteries. But hopefully we’ll learn more about this little guy in the not too distant future.

Pocketables via Gizmodo

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