D.I.Y. enthusiasts, you’ll enjoy waking up to the Monochron clock – after you’ve assembled it yourself, naturally. It’s a slight step up in skill level than our LittleBits Circuit Starter Kit, but it doesn’t require much beyond a beginner’s familiarity with a soldering iron, so don’t let that scare you off. Plus, once it’s built, the clock’s open source nature allows you to make all sorts of custom modifications such as programming your own display face. If that’s not up your alley, choose from a few available ones, including a Pong-style animation.

The MakerBot Replicator is yet another product  we’re proud to offer for the very first time in stores, and it’s an exciting one. Wrap your head around this – using the SD Card slot, load in a 3D design (either one of your own, or one of thousands made available by other designers on Thingiverse.com) to get started. Using the built-in interface controller, monitor the progress as the MakerBot builds the design right in front of your eyes!

The Replicator allows you to ‘print’ bigger objects, raising the limit of what’s possible – for example, would you like to create your own chess set? Just load the design into the machine, and let ‘er rip! Check out more examples on our site, and stop by the store to have a look today.

These Fuuvi Megane Glasses offer both form and function –see,  it’s actually a 2.0 MP camera that takes photos and videos. Strap it to your bag or around your neck and peer through the thick-frames to ensure you don’t miss a beat of the world around you. AC Gears is the first to offer this innovative design in-store, but if you can’t make it over to check it out in person, take a closer look online.

An obvious subscriber to the ‘less is more’ school of design thought, the card speaker from IDEA Japan is a mini monolith of a device, perfectly portable for meetings or other on-the-go situations that could benefit from some extra audio ‘oomph.’ Sleek as can be (about the size of a credit card and thickness of a pack of gum), this is the hip flask of portable speakers. No batteries required, either — charge it via USB cable and it’s good to go. The IDEA card speaker is available now from us, both online and in-store.

Now available for the first time in a retail store, for all you budding engineers and anyone else who’s got a curious mind for what makes things tick, the starter kit from littleBits aims to make the world of wiring and circuitry accessible to everyone, young and old.



Whereas all the soldering and programming required could normally dissuade a beginner from exploring this field, the littleBits kit takes all that out of the equation, using instead pre-assembled circuitry that snaps together with magnets for a quick and easy way to jump right in, no risk involved. If you’re interested, watch the video above (bonus: it’s set to a great track from Discovery, that Vampire Weekend/Ra Ra Riot side project from a few years back), get a closer look on our website and get an even CLOSER look in-store.

Chinatown Fair in NYC used to serve as an East Coast mecca for fighting game fans as one of the last independently-owned video arcades in the country. It closed earlier this year, but through the work of two filmmakers the spirit of the scene lives on. Mark Hayes’ short film Chinatown Fair collects crowd-sourced footage and interviews with people intimately involved in the scene to paint a picture of this much-loved meeting place. And released a while ago, but recently made available on iTunes, documentary maker Calvin Theobald’s The King of Chinatown focuses on young Justin Wong’s rise to dominance in the fighting game community.

While I was browsing Joey Roth‘s site for more information  on his recent re-release of these beautiful ceramic speakers, I noticed this post from earlier in the year — his prototype of a computer mouse made from wool felt, teak and aluminum, shown as part of the Use Me exhibition put on by the American Design Club. Another excellent example of Roth’s smart use of unexpected materials in everyday objects — someone produce this already!