Darth Vader Will Not Be President of the Ukraine after All

Sadly, it looks like Darth Vader has been barred from running for President of Ukraine. Officials have found out that he was using a false name. You might remember that Vader had been nominated for the post by the Internet Party of Ukraine. Not anymore. The country’s electoral commission voted by 14-1 to reject his nomination.

They cited fraudulent behavior in contravention of election rules. It probably didn’t help that he is known for building Death Stars and wiping out entire planets. He was one of 23 candidates rejected out of the 46 nominations.

The candidate submitted a passport to election officials, issued last month, in the name of Darth Vader. While other paperwork he submitted was in the name of Viktor Shevchenko, an electrician born in 1956. Prank or not, this was expensive. Applying as presidential candidate costs 2.5 million Ukrainian hyrvnia. That is more than $200,000(USD).

Sorry Mr. Vader. Maybe next time.

[via Geeks Are Sexy]

Minimal T80s is a Tiny Working Arcade Cabinet

Want an retro arcade cabinet, but don’t have a ton of space for one? Look no further than the Minimal T80s, a pint-sized arcade cabinet that you can buy for your desktop.

This weensy little arcade cabinet measures just 15.7″(H) x 7.87″(W) x 7.87″(D). The cabinet is made from durable MDF, melamine and PVC, and has a real 8-way arcade joystick and four buttons. The controls are connected to the tablet via USB, to ensure instantaneous feedback, and the whole thing plugs into a wall outlet.

Games are played on a built-in 7″ Android 4.2 tablet, which is preconfigured with MAME and a custom small-screen front end, and ready to load up your favorite game ROMs. Naturally, since it’s running Android, it can play all kinds of other emulators as well.

So bust out all those rolls of quarters you’ve been saving for the arcade, and head on over to Etsy to order your Minimal T80S arcade cabinet for about $280(USD). The cabinet comes without the vinyl stickers, which sell for about $21 extra for the set. This is so you can order custom designs if you’d like.

Fallout 3 Vault Boy Bobbleheads: S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Collectibles

Bethesda has released replicas of some of the Vault Boy Bobbleheads that you can collect in Fallout 3. Fortunately you won’t have to look far and wide for the figurines. Unfortunately they won’t increase your stats. You’ll just have to find another way to be better at Energy Weapons.

Each figurine stands 5″ tall including the base and is made of PVC.

Count your bottle caps and head to ThinkGeek or the official Bethesda store to get the figurines. They cost $15 (USD) each or $80 for all seven.

[via Gamefreaks]

Festo BionicKangaroo: Energizer Joey

After creating a robot bird and dragonfly, automation company Festo shows off with another impressive animal replica. Like real kangaroos, Festo’s BionicKangaroo is not only great at jumping and keeping its balance, it can also store the energy generated from landing and use it for the next jump.

BionicKangaroo uses a combination of pneumatic actuators and electric servos to move and keep its balance.

According to Festo, the robot has an rubber elastic spring element that acts like an Achilles tendon: “It is fastened at the back of the foot and parallel to the pneumatic cylinder on the knee joint. The artificial tendon cushions the jump, simultaneously absorbs the kinetic energy and releases it for the next jump.”

To make the robot even fancier, Festo also made it so it can be controlled with gestures. The company uses the Myo armband to make BionicKangaroo move, stay or rotate in place. Watch BionicKangaroo hip hip hop and not stop:

It would’ve been way cooler if they made a BionicTigger instead. Check out Festo’s report (pdf) if you want to learn more about BionicKangaroo.

[via Ubergizmo]

Flexible Stick-on Electronic Patches: Skinnables

Wearable technology is just about to take off, but we can already take a peek at what’s coming after smartwatches and the like. A team of engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have made health monitors in the form of stick-on electronic patches.

The development of the patch was led by professors John A. Rogers and Yonggang Huang. Prof. Rogers was already working on electronics that can be applied directly onto human skin like a temporary tattoo, i.e. no patch base needed. But he went ahead with the patch platform because it allows for the use of commercially available – and therefore cheap and abundant – components, as opposed to the tattoo-like electronics that needed custom capacitors, batteries and other parts.

One of the crucial aspect of the engineers’ patch is the origami-like arrangement of the wires connecting the components, which allows for the patch to be bent without damaging the chips.

The engineers believe that stick-on electronics will make it easier to gather patient data. They also think it will lead to more accurate fitness trackers, and even health monitoring devices that can detect clues about the wearer’s condition even before he or she feels sick. Stick a browser to your face and head to the University of Illinois’ News page for more on this amazing invention.

[via Fast Co. Design]

Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Fan Art Contest Winners: Nephalem Gifts

Last February Blizzard and deviantART held a Diablo III: Reaper of Souls fan art contest. The winners of the contest have now been announced. Diablo III Art Director Christian Lichtner had the honor of picking the winners. He chose Kuzinskiy Andrey and his barbarian-centered piece New Evil as the grand prize winner.

deviantART member TheRafa bagged second place. In Among the Dead , TheRafa featured the new Crusader class about to engage the Reaper of Souls himself, Angel of Death Malthael.

Yong Jun Cho aka nixell won third place with his badass Monk art, Fist of Conviction . This is actually my favorite among the three.

Congratulations to all the winners! You deserve your epic loot. Use this waypoint to deviantART to check out what Christian had to say about each winning artwork, and be sure to admire them in their full resolution on their respective artists’ pages. I highly recommend looking at the other submissions as well.

Super Mario Connect 4: It’sa Me, Diagonally

Times are tough for Nintendo. The Wii U is not selling very well. So maybe it is time to focus on old school games that don’t require a screen. Nintendo hasn’t ventured into the world of Connect 4 yet, so why not? I present to you Super Mario Connect 4.

Connect 4 is a classic kids game. Now it gets a Mario makeover. That should be enough reason for any Nintendo fanboy to buy it to play with their kids. The game features Mario and Luigi faces on the checkers. Play a quick game between Mario Kart races to decide who gets the best drivers or just play to determine which brother is best, Mario or Luigi.

Super Mario Connect 4 is coming this spring, and you can get it for just $25(USD).

[via Chip Chick]