The main reason you bought a Playstation 3 was probably due to Killzone 2 or Playstation Home, Sony’s new online service that’s supposed to be something like Xbox Live meets Second Life. You and your friends can meet up with your avatars, talk, chat, shoot the shit and so on. Oh, and more importantly, you can play games together too.

As of today, Sony is accepting applications for the closed beta test of the Home service. Right now it only looks like Japan is lucking out but the US market could soon follow:

Applications are initially being accepted from Thursday until Aug. 11 from users in Japan only. Sony expects to offer access to about 10,000 gamers during the beta, which will begin in late August.

During the beta stage users will be able to play the games that make up Bandai Namco’s “Namco Museum” package, which include PacMan, in the service’s “Game Space.”

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Check it: a chandelier made up of milk crates. You thought kitchen lights made up of cereal box designs showed off how much you truly love breakfast? Think again. This milk crate chandelier is the first kind we’ve seen and it appears some effort went into making it. And no, this wasn’t some 20 minute project like a chandelier made up of CDs. Time and hard work was invested into this thing and the final project is surprisingly as visually stunning as milk crates hanging from your ceiling could ever possibly look. Nice job, DIY Maven.

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This 52 home community is taking the next step in solar power communion in Alberta, Canada. Yea, Canada is a cold place but for these houses, which can provide over 90% of the annual heating and hot water needs, the cold is the last of their worries. However, the slaying of baby seals is another story for another day.

It’s called the Drake Landing Solar Community and as the name implies, it collects solar energy through an array of solar panels on the roof of each home. The heat is stored in the earth as a heated fluid which is transferred from a neighborhood energy center. By storing heat in the summer time, the community is provided with warmer winters with the help of simple solar panels. Beats living in that freezing house you traded for a paper clip all year round.
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Who would’ve thought an old Apple Powerbook and a trip to IKEA would be all it takes to create a sweet home arcade. Frederic Sebton took apart his old Powerbook and mounted the monitor and guts inside an IKEA side table, with the screen showing up through a hole cut out of the top of the table. After mounting an arcade style joystick in the cabinet’s drawer,  Sebton created a fun-filled MAME cabinet.

He provides his own step-by-step instructions on his approach to crafting your very own MAME cabinet to entertain yourself and your guests.  Just dig up your old laptop you never use, shove it inside a wooden cabinet and voila! Gaming goodness for the whole family.

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“The female form is the most attractive in nature,” says Dutch sculptor Mario Philippona. We couldn’t agree more. After all, no one wants a sculpture of a man’s flaccid genitals decorating their home. Instead, why not a coffee table with a woman’s legs and curvy rear-end at each corner?  That’s what Mario’s been sculpting, erotic home decor inspired by a woman’s figure.  He even crafted a fruit bowl inspired by women’s breasts dubbed “Tittyfruity.”

The table lets all your friends know you aren’t a switch hitter and it lets all of your lady guests know you’re perverted. Hey, at least they won’t think you’re a misogynistic asshole.

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While VoIP might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it’s definitely going to attract the attention of those who are really trying to pinch pennies. T-Mobile today announced it’s going to blow everyone else out of the water in the market by offering $10/mo home phone service via the T-Mobile @Home service.

Beginning July 2nd, T-Mobile customers will be able to take advantage of @Home for ten bucks. At that price, you’re paying $15 less than Vonage and way less than your cable provider. Of course, if you really want to save money, you could just tie two cans together and yell into each end like a true douche.

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Sky Factory’s new programmable “SkyCeilings” is just what introverts need to raise their Sims “room” stat. In an effort to make surroundings either at home or at the work place aesthetically pleasing, Sky Factory’s ceiling creates an illusion of nature by introducing changes of light and color; all in real-time as if it actually were to simulate the local rising and setting of the sun.

I live in a room with no windows. I haven’t seen the sun in seven years.  This is exactly the healing tool I need to enhance my physiology and well-being.  Ah fuck it, I love looking like Liz Taylor.

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If you grew up in the 1990s, you may remember the Neo-Geo Home MVS console. It was a flop, due mostly in part to expensive hardware and super expensive games. Fast forward to 2008 and still, no one is looking to pay an outrageous price for an arcade-style joystick.

One student at NJIT decided he’d make his own joysticks instead. Although they work fine and look OK, the stix come in wooden boxes. Ugly wooden boxes full of splinters. It’s not pretty but it gets the job done. Oh, and they also work on PS2 and Dreamcast. Not too shabby.

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These recycled teacups called “Ted Lights” from Domestic Construction are just what you need to impress the grandkids! Home decor for the elderly never looked so stylin’.  A cool design and the feint odor of mothballs make for the perfect light to illuminate your kitchen with. Oh, and you can’t drink out of them as there’s holes drilled into the bottom, so don’t try it.  Singles or clusters are available.
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Five pieces of wood stuck together yet divided by a fissure and you call it the “stink tree?” This outlandish hippie coffee table was designed by Dylan Gold who says, “Don’t spill your drink.” My response? Don’t construct a table with a fucking crack in it. It would be like a chalkboard with a gap in the center which can’t be written on.

In other words, it’s useless. Unless of course you’re so in love with trees that you would buy a coffee table with a tree-shaped hole right in the center. The ’60s are over, alright? Jerry died and it’s time for your bath.
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