For those of you who will be in New York during the second week of September, we suggest you come out and visit us at the Minitek Electronic Music Festival. It’ll feature a handful of different electronic performing artists, music, art, technology and more. It takes place September 12th through the 14th and will feature both an indoor and outdoor location in case it rains on all those Arduinos being set up. Rumor has it that attendees will receive an RFID-enabled wristband. This is starting to sound like The Last HOPE and less like a music festival!

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I just listened to an older episode of Off The Hook and host Emmanuel Goldstein just explained that The Last HOPE conference is not literally the last HOPE conference ever to occur. It’s more for in conversation. Example: “Did you attend the Last HOPE conference?” “Yup!”

With that cleared up, the next HOPE will be called, oddly enough, the Next HOPE and will be arriving in NYC in 2010.

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If you go to Mets games frequently enough (season tickets, weekly plan, etc.), then you’ll be happy to know you’re entitled to purchase an authentic set of seats from Shea Stadium. It’s an exciting opportunity that will cost you $869 for a pair of seats but worth much more to the true baseball fan. Green, red, blue and orange seating will be available as of today. If you don’t catch the Mets frequently but still want to plunk down your hard-earned cash for some seats, don’t fret: August 25th at 9 AM is when you get your shot. Too expensive? Skip the seats and settle for shoes.

All proceeds will go to the Mets Foundation, a charity that funds and promotes “a variety of charitable causes, including educational, social and athletic programs for young people in the community.”

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Designed by fellow New Yorker and Brooklyn-based artist William Lamson, this lifehack is probably the easiest way to eliminate a public security camera. First, you’ll need a helium-filled balloon and some string. A weight won’t hurt either. Get the balloon full of static electricity and then raise it up to the camera.

As it sticks, tie the string to the weight and enjoy your new found privacy. I’d imagine that many a shitty graffiti artist will be using this method in weeks to come. Running low on static? Use duct tape.

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Reebok and the MLB have teamed up to create a limited edition set of shoes that will have any true New Yorker screaming “Gimme those fuckin’ shoes, jerkoff!”

The two shoes available feature either Yankee Stadium or Shea Stadium coloring and artwork. Only 150 pairs of each shoe will be produced, with the number printed on the inside of the shoe. You can pump it up like it’s 1992 with Reebok’s proprietary Pump gimmick or just rock them with your stylin’ outfit. Check out the back of each shoe after the jump. It features a picture of the respective stadium and a set of dates. It’s a bittersweet tribute to the two legendary stadiums NYC will be losing this year.

Available at five special boutiques around NYC. Get ‘em while they’re hot!
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Happen to be in the New York City area? Then check out the robots on display at the City Foundry, 365 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. These robot sculptures were created by Gordon Bennett out of a mixture of random objects found which are both old and new. These aren’t robotic bartenders trying to get you drunk so they can take advantage of you. No, they’re more on par with the felt robots, they just sit there and look pretty.

Bennett is even willing to sell some of the robot sculptures, if you give him an offer he can’t refuse. The sculptures are going from anywhere between $750 to $6000. That’s a lot for an old battery tester with legs.

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It’s a hot Saturday here in New York City but the coverage must continue! Take a look around the Hacker Village, which featured all sorts of DIY projects. A graveyard of electronics was available to poach parts from, you could make your very own t-shirt, check out those glass dildos and participate in plenty of other activities. After the jump, lots of photos and plenty of debauchery.

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“Staten Island? No problem! Brooklyn? Great! Come the fuck over and exercise before we sink!”

This is the dialogue I would imagine would appear on TV to advertise the River Gym. What’s the River Gym? Oh, allow me to explain. See, it’s a floating boat-type deal with a gym built into it. People work out and not only do they drop pounds, they keep the boat afloat. That’s right. Give me 15 more squats or we’re going to sink, you motherfucker.

So each boat floats in a specific loop around Manhattan and the membership fee is probably ridiculous. For a concept that’s been a work in progress for over three years, I’m curious to see if the River Gym comes to fruition.

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During the course of their neverending quest to get high, crackheads are often forced to play amateur scientists. They mix chemicals, experiment on their bodies, and make stoves out of common household products. Perhaps the most well-known piece of crack addict lab equipment is the glass pipe. Recently, I noticed a new twist on this infamous piece of drug paraphernalia at a Brooklyn bodega: ”glass ball pens” that are obviously just an excuse to sell pyrex tubes.

Lately law enforcement has been going after places that stock the glass-enclosed cloth roses that crackheads have traditionally used to smoke rock. These innovative new pens are designed to foil the pesky crack pipe bans. I doubt they write at all. Crackheads must be snatching up the pens fast, because when I stopped by today to take a picture of them with a real camera the guy behind the cash register told me they were all sold out.

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We already liveblogged the launch today, so be sure to take the time to check out pics of the madness from this morning. A line that wraps around an entire New York square block? Insane!

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