cosplay

Mind-controlled robot tail lets you wag when happy

So you've got your cat ears, your cat suit, and everything else you need to transition to another species. What's missing? A thought-controlled robot tail, of course.

From Neurowear, the makers of Necomimi robot cat ears, comes this concept for a mechanical tail that moves according to the user's emotional state. There's a brainwave-reading sensor, also used in Necomimi, that can be hidden under your hat.

As seen in the ridiculous vid below, your tail will wag when you see a bunch of pretty flowers, or an attractive Frisbee player in the park.

And, no doubt, fresh kitty litter. … Read more

Assassin's Creed is really just parkour: Video proof emerges

One of the joys of playing video games is breaking the laws of physics and playing a character that can move, fly, jump, and roll in ways you could never to do in real life... unless you happen to be a parkour daredevil.

YouTube filmmaker Devin Graham created a real-life Assassin's Creed sequence full of jumps, climbs, and rolls. There's one shot that features visual effects, but the video is pretty much all human-powered awesomeness. … Read more

Crazy, sexy, cool cosplay at San Diego Comic-Con

Among all the sights to see at Comic-Con in San Diego this year (David Hasselhoff, "Iron Man 3," Lucy Liu), the best attraction is always the creative cosplay.

Each year, hundreds of geeks spend months preparing for the show, showing off their DIY ethic using everything from electronics to cardboard to Mom's own ironing board.

Click through the slideshow below for The 404's favorite costumes from Comic-Con 2012, and check out our wrap-up episode for more coverage.

The 404 1,091: Where we're back with a vengeance (podcast)

We're back from San Diego Comic-Con 2012 with a wrap-up show of everything we saw at the show. This being our first year, it quickly became obvious that we missed the first rule of Comic-Con: leave your civilian clothes at home!… Read more

A Wonder Woman costume we can all agree on

Who knew pants could be so controversial? The issue of whether or not Wonder Woman should wear pants has heated up the comic book community in the past. Photographer Adam Jay of SuperHero Photography is having it both ways.

Jay's recent photo shoot features a reimagined Wonder Woman costume that has managed not to offend anybody's comic book geek sensibilities. The costumes were built by Hermes Terceiro and modeled by Sarah Scott (warning: scantily clad pole-dancing photo ahead).

The updated take on the look includes Wonder Woman's classic red, blue, and gold ensemble, but punches it up with a tough, modern feel to the wardrobe.… Read more

The 404 1,029: Where we're never going on a cruise (podcast)

There are few words to describe people that don't know that the movie "Titanic" was actually based on a real Titanic, and even fewer to describe the bravado in tweeting about that ignorance, but Jeff musters a few adjectives.

On today's episode, we'll cover the $1 billion Instagram buyout and what you can expect to change once Facebook takes over, all four major U.S. wireless carriers joining forces to create a "lost my phone" database, smart touch-screen displays replacing payphones in New York City, and the shaky future of Best Buy and its former CEO.… Read more

The 404 871: Where we're pleading the 14th (podcast)

Today is international System Admin Appreciation Day, so buy your friendly neighborhood IT guy a bag of Funyuns for another year of tech support! It's Jeff's last show before his vacation next week, and we're kicking off today's episode with a discussion about what science has determined to be the saddest movie scene of all time.

We're also looking back at Obama's rickrolling earlier this week, China banning booth babes from their online gaming show, and Apple writing a check to free the U.S. from debt.

The 404 Digest for Episode 871

The White House just Rickrolled a Twitter user. The saddest movie scene ever is pinpointed by science. Apple now has more money than the U.S. government. It's the 12th annual System Admin Appreciation Day!

Episode 871 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

Scenes from New York Comic Con 2010

Update: We've added a new audio slideshow, which you can see in the video player above. Below in the "Scenes" gallery is an entirely different set of photos, so be sure to check out both to get the most complete Comic Con experience.

The New York Comic Con has always paled in comparison to the much larger, but unrelated San Diego Comic-Con, as we can attest to from attending last year's small-ish show. But the Twitter buzz started building early for this year's event, and we got reports of lines hundreds of people deep just to pick up passes and tickets on Friday and Saturday.

The key to the show's newfound success is in its very liberal definition of a comic gathering. If anything, most of the floorspace was devoted to video games, television, movies, and other pop culture ephemera, although there were certainly plenty of aisles full of vintage comics and an entire room devoted to artist meet-and-greets (plus the usual gang of autograph-hawking celebs, from Lou Ferrigno to wrestler Jerry Lawler).

The biggest attraction for most gawkers is definitely the cavalcade of costumed characters. While New Yorkers are used to seeing crazy attire on the street, this collection of superheroes, game characters, and weird mash-ups is eye-opening, even for a town with Times Square's iconic Naked Cowboy. The most notable trend in this area was definitely the large number of costumed babies and toddlers--at least a few of whom didn't look especially thrilled by their creative outfits.

Click through the photo tour above to enjoy the insanity of the New York Comic Con from the relative safe and normal confines of your laptop screen.… Read more

The 404 679: Where we delivereth thy podcast episodeth (podcast)

Summer is officially over and no one is happier with the sun's absence more than The 404 Podcast. Fall also happens to be the ideal season for Renaissance faires, and this weekend I checked out Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park up by the Cloisters.

Unfortunately, I didn't see anyone in a centaur costume, but I did witness a "real" jousting tournament, not to mention a falconer and Black Wolf the Dragon Master himself, from the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog segment at the Clone Wars premiere.

Tune in to the first half of today's episode to hear the rest and click the slideshow below for photographic evidence of my nerddom.

Switching gears to the only tech story in the rundown, Toshiba introduces the Regza 12GL1, the first line of 3DTVs that don't require a set of cheesy glasses. The 20-inch flat-panel display provides "nine different perspectives of each single 2D frame," which are then "superimposed...to create a three-dimension impression of the image."

Don't worry, we're totally confused by that quote as well, but we also think it's really funny that you have to sit 3 feet away to get the 3D effect. The Toshiba 20GL1 will be for sale in Japan later this year for $2,900, so now might be a good time to take out that second mortgage.

Enjoy the show!

Episode 679 Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more