Gearfuse

Any avid WoW players living near Boston/Cambridge should swing by MIT and check out the World of Warcraft Pod. It’s a small shack, designed similarly to one you’d find in a game and designed with serious MMORPGers in mind. Inside is a toilet, seat, computer, water and food. But that’s not all:

The WOW Pod is an immersive architectural solution for the advanced WOW (World of Warcraft) player that provides and anticipates all life needs. Inside, the gamer finds him/herself comfortable seated in front of the computer screen with easy-to-reach water, pre-packaged food, and a toilet conveniently placed underneath his/her custom-built throne. When hungry, the gamer selects a food item (‘Crunchy Spider Surprise’, ‘Beer Basted Ribs’, etc.) and a seasoning pack. By scanning in the food items, the video game physically adjusts a hot plate to cook the item for the correct amount of time. The virtual character then jubilantly announces the status of the meal to both the gamer and the other individuals playing online: “Vorcon’s meal is about to be done!” “Better eat the ribs while they’re hot!” etc.

This is MIT, after all. Would you expect anything less than decadent?

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If an alien and the Embrio Unicycle were to find a way to have a freaky love child, the offspring might resemble the Cerva MC08. Sporting what appears to be an evil grin (no doubt thrilled to have just slaughtered countless humans,) the MC08 is an oval-shaped conceptual transport vehicle which offers modular design to integrate various means of getting around.

The Cerva MC08 is modular in the sense that there is a three wheel axle extension that can be mounted on the vehicle for use on the hard road. The designers say it can carry up to two people at once but we have no idea how. We’re guessing one passenger would have to ride with his legs around the drivers shoulders, unless there is a separate modular piece for an extra seat. (more…)

People who have a limited amount of space in their apartments or houses have a tough time finding the space to house a productive recycling system. All of those beer cans and cardboard boxes your porn comes shipped in add up fast. Creating even less room in an already cramped living space. The Ecopod Recycling System aims to offer a compact way to be eco-friendly.

The Ecopod crushes all plastic or aluminum containers you throw into it, storing 50 crushed items in a slide out plastic pod which can easily be slid out to the designated area. The Ecopod doesn’t even run on electricity. It crushes via manpower using a foot pedal. Beneath its lid there are two other pod compartments to house all other recyclables such as newspapers and glass. Available now for $328. — Andrew Dobrow

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Sun bathers who love to fry their own bodies have it pretty tough. When they go to the beach to toast themselves to a charred brownness, they have to deal with the screaming of children and getting kicked in the face with sand by other beach goers. The Sun Pod creates the sun bather’s own little space to seperate from the chaotic beach world.

The Sun Pod is one of those concepts that just never made it to the mainstream. Maybe it’s a little too conspicuous? Maybe a tad. Or maybe the feel of hot glass pressing against your side isn’t the most pleasurable experience. — Andrew Dobrow

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Japanese company Frepar has announced the commercialization of their almost-teleporting communicate-Pod. What this thing does is that it allows the real-time teleporting of full 3D image of objects between both parties, so essentially it “looks” like teleporting. When you want to show your friend your new hamster, simply place it on the Sci-fi looking device, let it walk around in the capsule scanner and your friend at the other side would be delighted to see the 3D image of your hamster walking around in their receiver. You don’t have to worry about ionizing your beloveds and reconstructing them at the other side, that’s the beauty of safe simulation.

The Pod can be put horizontally or side ways, it can also do the image spin-around trick, just for the effect. The company predicts that the communicate-Pod would be mainly used for marketing purposes, in fact Microsoft Japan is already using them for their 2007 Office System campaign in, they’ll be showing 3D images of concept prototypes as well as a model introducing the new features of the Office System. For the rest of us, the Pod will be on sale in the fourth quarter this year for $250. — Sam Chan

Pod [Freparnetworks]