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Tesla made a $50 'Cyberwhistle' and it's already sold out
As he showed with the Flamethrower, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a knack for selling weird gadgets that have little to do with the company's main business.
Rare commemorative Game & Watch handheld sells for $9,100 at auction
Another Nintendo collectible has set a sales record, but this one is a bit different.
Topps debuts its first NFT baseball card collection
Topps has released its first NFT baseball card collection, Series 1, bringing MLB cards into the digital era.
Funko will combine its collectible figures with NFTs
Funko has claimed a stake in a company, TokenHead, that will let it offer digital NFTs alongside its vinyl figures.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has created an NFT for the first tweet
The first tweet ever is up for auction, or at least an NFT linked to it is.
Game streamer Ninja will have his own toy line
You can't usually show support for a game streamer in the real world outside of t-shirt and stickers, but Wicked Cool Toys is kicking things up a notch. It's introducing a line of toys themed around streamers, starting with Twitch superstar Tyler "Ninja" Blevins. You'll find two-inch collectibles in blind packs ($5 each, above) and four-inch dancing figures ($10) themed around his characters and emotes, as well as head wear ($20) that gives you that blue hair and headband. All of those should ship in the fall, and there are plans for plush toys, games and other goodies.
A pristine 'Super Mario Bros.' cartridge sold for over $100,000
Despite classic video games now being readily available online and on throwback mini consoles, rare physical copies are still fetching big bucks. The latest record-breaking collector's item is a sealed copy of Super Mario Bros. that just sold for $100,150, according to Kotaku, which experts claim is the highest-price ever paid for a single game.
First 4 Figures teases a Wind Waker Ganondorf statue
First 4 Figures, makers of highly detailed - and highly priced - video game collectibles, has set its eyes on the Triforce of Power wielder, Ganondorf. Specifically, the villainous version which originally appeared in 2003's The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Though maybe you prefer the 2013 HD remaster? The company released a small teaser image to whet fans' appetites via their Facebook page this week, and those so tempted to make the evil-doer a part of their collection will be able to pre-order the figure starting on January 20. The figure's price has yet to be revealed. [Image: First 4 Figures]
Buy Super Smash Bros trophies with 3DS play coins
The previous two games in the Super Smash Bros. series featured collectible trophies. Back in our day, these were sometimes difficult to obtain thanks to steep challenges, but we persevered and our digital trophy cases were a little shinier for it. Nintendo is alleviating some of the stress induced by these tougher challenges by allowing players to purchase trophies for the 3DS version of Super Smash Bros. with in-game and in-system currency. According to Miiverse posts by Super Smash Bros. Director Masahiro Sakurai, the game's trophy shop offers players the chance to buy the collectible items using in-game gold or 3DS Play Coins. "If you're having a hard time getting certain trophies, why not just buy them," Sakurai wrote, noting that trophies "sometimes go on sale, too." 3DS Play Coins are earned while players travel with their systems in sleep mode, with the 3DS acting as a pedometer of sorts. While Super Smash Bros. Brawl had a whopping 544 trophies, Sakurai also teased that the upcoming "3DS version alone may have more than Brawl." Super Smash Bros. will reach the 3DS on October 3, followed by the Wii U version (which we rather enjoyed at E3) this winter. [Image: Nintendo]
Valve now selling a Balloonicorn plushie, with in-game code
You can now buy a Balloonicorn Plushie straight from Valve's official Team Fortress 2 store. The cute pink union of a balloon and a unicorn is 14.5 inches from horntip to tail and comes with a code for a genuine Balloonicorn in-game item, for $24.99. The Balloonicorn serves as the "Municipal Ombudsman" of Pyroland, which is the cute and creepy world as seen through the Pyro's eyes. Like the best things in life, it's adorable yet horrifying.
Avengers Blu-ray preorders listed, including massive 10-disc Marvel Cinematic Universe set
If you left the theater after watching Marvel / Disney / Joss Whedon's The Avengers ready to buy the Blu-ray disc as soon as it hit then get your credit cards ready. As Blu-ray.com notes, Amazon has listings for both a 2-disc Blu-ray edition and a 4-disc Blu-ray 3D version, but the one that's caught our eye is the just updated listing for Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One - Avengers Assembled. A 10 disc set, it has every movie in this chapter of Marvel flicks -- Avengers, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 1 & 2, The Incredible Hulk -- with 3D copies where applicable plus collectible packaging and a bonus "The Phase One Archives" disc. The only pic of the casing we have is the promo image shown above which hints at a replica of Nick Fury's Cosmic Cube suitcase from the movie, but more information is promised to be revealed July 15th. Until then you'll have to decide if $153 ($25~ per movie) is worth it for the set, or maybe take this time to finance it by selling off your existing copies on Craigslist. Your choice. [Thanks, Victor]
Bell & Howell Apple II Plus appears on eBay, like a foundling carved out of onyx
You wouldn't know it by the never ending barrage of black PowerBook's throughout the '90s, or even the onyx MacBooks in the mid-00s, but dark-clad casings from Apple were pretty much non-existent until Cupertino got serious about laptops, excluding of course the ill-fated Macintosh TV. Exempt from the prevailing 'Snow White' design ethos however, were clones machines sold by other companies, like the Bell & Howell's variant of the Apple ][ Plus above. Per Wikipedia, the machine in question was only available through educational channels, notable for its A/V outputs (which you can espy after the break) especially for that purpose. Typical eBay caveats apply, with the buyer selling the machine "as is" -- read sans power supply -- but we can't imagine it'll be long before an Apple collector swoops in and steals the pooch. More pics and your chance to bid on a piece of history await at the source below.
Inside the Apple t-shirt collector world
The Wall Street Journal has a short but interesting piece on the world of Apple t-shirt collecting. There are two types of Apple t-shirts. The first are those shirts that the general public have access to via giveaways at Apple retail stores, such as the t-shirts at an opening of a new Apple Store. The second type are t-shirts that are only available to Apple employees -- often at the retail level. As the WSJ article points out, Apple strictly forbids employees from selling, donating, or giving away the shirts. However, that's doesn't stop them from showing up on eBay from time to time. I myself have a small collection of shirts from my years at Apple. You can check a few of them out in the gallery below. %Gallery-141649%
White Nokia N9 descends from Lintukoto, goes on sale in Finland
Espoo isn't making it any easier to say goodbye to MeeGo's last dance with polycarbonate. Nokia's alluring and elusive N9 in-snow-white-dress appears to now be on sale... in Finland. Web retailer Verkkokauppa has the handset listed on its site for 630€ -- that's $840 for you import types. Memento hunters throughout Europe can buy what this Finnish site's selling or just sit tight and wait for the color variant to hit their respective markets this December. But if patience isn't at the top of your priority list, we'd suggest you hit up the source below with some plastic in hand.
That rarest of creatures, the white Nokia N9, should appear before Christmas
A poet would say it's like a piece of ivory: both beautiful and sad. Meanwhile, Nokia's official blog says the white N9 is coming to the UK before the end of the year with a rarefied 64GB of on-board storage. We have no idea as to the price, but we suspect dedicated MeeGo memento hunters will hardly care. Update: Oh hell, sorry Britannia. We actually meant to say it's coming to all those (not very many) countries where the N9 is already available. Nokia confirmed to us today that it's on target to supply white N9s to those markets in December. Everyone else will have to get it via a price-inflated import. Apologies for the bad geography.
Prototype MacBook Pro repair parts returned to owner, 3G antenna stays in Cook's kitchen
Wondering what happened to that prototype 3G MacBook Pro Apple had pulled off eBay? Not too long ago, the boys in Cupertino reclaimed the specimen, along with a handful of spare parts the would-be auctioneer used to get the rig back into working order. After relinquishing of the prototype to Apple security in early September, previous owner Carl Frega petitioned the firm to return the repair parts to him. Last week, Frega finally received an unmarked FedEx package containing a notebook battery, hard drive, and two sticks of RAM. Despite the repossession, CNET reports that the outfit never gave Frega proof that the machine legally belonged to Apple, although he did say that the hardware and serial number were authentic. For more on the MacBook's journey through Craigslist, small claims court and its 15 minutes of eBay fame, hit the second CNET link below.
3G MacBook Pro auction pulled, MagSafe antenna detailed
Remember the prototype MacBook Pro on eBay that included a SIM card slot and retractable antenna? Bids for the laptop had reached an eye-watering $70,000 before, inevitably, Apple blocked the auction. Now the seller has posted more images of the device, revealing the antenna was held in place with two magnets -- a MagSafe-like connection that would come away if it was knocked or caught. No news as to what the seller intends to do with the machine now, maybe clutch it to their chest and cry themselves to sleep having missed out on a small fortune. Past the break you can stare mournfully at another new image of the prototype - free of charge.
Prototype MacBook Pro with SIM slot surfaces on eBay, unicorns actually exist
Always dreamt of a Apple notebook with built-in WWAN? Looks like today's your lucky day: a prototype MacBook Pro just surfaced on eBay, replete with a SIM card slot and retractable antenna in tow. Expecting a nonfunctional parts machine off Craigslist, its newfound owner managed to resuscitate the 2007-esque gizmo into booting, but was unfortunately unable to coax any GSM goodness from the thing. According to the seller, regular MacBook Pros from the era contain the same (but unused) solder points for the SIM card as the proto, lending credence to the notion that Cupertino might have seriously considered a 3G variant. Either way, if you've got a knack for rare Apple collectibles, or feel the need to ogle and some red-colored innards, hit the source below.
Rotobot mice: the best use of typewriter keys since the typewriter
These fully-functional wireless Rotobot mice from designer Aaron Ristau will make you look seriously cultivated when people drop by your apartment. In our eyes, that means they officially join the esteemed ranks of typewriter-themed Works of Art, but unfortunately it also means they cost $180 -- which might be hard to stomach when you realize that each one is just a non-ergonomically modded $25 Logitech M305. Hey-ho, everybody needs at least one peripheral to be their geeky equivalent to good cutlery. And no, that CSR Elite in the cupboard doesn't count.
Rare DS signed by Nintendo vets being auctioned for Japan disaster relief
Kept in a glass case for more than four years, an original model Nintendo DS bearing the autographs of some of Nintendo's key players (and two literal key players) is being auctioned off by its owner to raise money for the Red Cross disaster relief effort in Japan. The red Mario Kart DS promotional system is signed by Mario's creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, along with composer Koji Kondo, Zelda series chief Eiji Aonuma, voice of Mario Charles Martinet and Martin Leung, a pianist who performs with Video Games Live and rose to fame thanks to a YouTube video of him playing the Mario theme blindfolded. Its current owner has vowed to donate 100 percent of their profit from the auction to the Red Cross and provide proof of the donation to the winning bidder. As of this writing, there are six days left to not only get your hands on a rare gaming collectible, but do something good for your fellow man in the process. Visit redcross.org for information on donating directly to the relief effort.
