In LOVE with vinyl records? This smart record player is a must have!

Have you got a love for vinyl records? I fell in love with them after high school, collecting them because I really just wanted to scratch them like the renegade turntablists of the time. In the search for rare samples and grooves I discovered so much more; that as my record collection grew with me, they became symbols of a time and place too, like micro time machines that can bring past moments back to the present.

My several crates of records have become an everyday family presence, and my own kids, far removed from this old technology, love to have a look (and sometimes scratch) at these strange circles that "have music inside them".

 

I miss Cbaby2 being the right height to dig in the crates. #throwback #genydad #love #familytime #awesome

A post shared by Mike Cbay (@mikecbay) on Oct 24, 2013 at 6:59pm PDT

As my __kids grow older, I wonder if they'll discover their own love for their dad's old records in an increasingly digital age? The sound, the smell, the fact that you can hold a piece of recorded music...

I know there's no feeling like putting a needle on a record, but this sleek new record player has some fancy features up its sleeve.

The LOVE keeps everything we love about playing records - the use of a traditional stylus, the crackles and pops, and of course "the warmth". Like a new age record runner the LOVE flips the traditional method of playing records: you don't put a record on, you put LOVE on a record. It's somewhat endearing actually, when it's put in that way. The LOVE also connects to a mobile app, and can connect to wireless speakers for playback - now that's a smart record player!

Record lovers argue that "you can't hug an MP3", and the LOVE helps introduce the next generation of music enthusiasts to the affinity for these magical grooved discs.

The LOVE looks like a great record player, but it totally leaves me hanging as there's one major thing I need it to let me do... How can I scratch records with it?

Find out more about the LOVE Turntable here. 

This Truck Has An Amazing Secret

Kids love remote control cars and trucks. They are so much fun to play with. And what could be more fun than a dump truck full of sand.

Oh wait…is that sand? Or biscuit?

And what it that truck made from?

OH MY GOODNESS it’s a cake.

A real life, delicious, spongey birthday cake.

This epic design is from the Pandora cake shop in Hong Kong. Apart from the mechanics underneath, the wheels and the remote control, it’s made entirely of sugary goodness. It even has real headlights that turn on and off.

Imagine seeing your __kids face as this beauty rolls into view across the table in front of stunned guests.

Becoming an e-tree after life: Eco-friendly or eco-creepy?

Whatever your beliefs about life after death may be, there’s no denying that our planet earth, at its current state, could do with some more trees. There’s also the fact that at the end of our lives, a decision needs to be made about where our remains end up.

A company named Bios, attempted to solve both these issues using simple mathematics: you + seeds = trees. By putting one’s cremated remains into a biodegradable urn also containing seeds, your remains could be used to effectively “convert cemeteries into forests”.

It’s as if the seeds of this idea have grown, and now the company is taking their space-saving, eco-friendly solution to the next plane of existence.

That’s right. You can now plant your loved ones at home. And watch their progress on an app via a smart-urn. What. The.

The Bios Incube is the world’s first tree-as-afterlife incubator, in which you can plant your loved ones and track the growth of their tree. The sensors track moisture levels, temperature, electrical conductivity, and solar irradiance. Based on the sensor data, you’ll be recommended a set of optimal growing conditions via the app, and the urn will also add water as needed to continue to keep the tree alive. That’s surely taking the Internet of Things to the next level (and life too).

And if you’re not too much of a green thumb but you’d still like to keep your afterlife-tree-family-member around, you could ask Bios to grow it for you in one of their ‘incubator centres’. Wait a minute, that sounds suspiciously like a retirement, uh, garden?

Maybe I should make sure my __kids get into the habit of watering the plants…

Would you like to become an e-tree after death?

To find out more about becoming a connected tree, check out Bios Incube.