Retro will never get old and that’s what makes this joystick jewel box so darn snazzy.  

The joystick itself serves as a ring holder, while the box below is made up of two parts for a multi-tiered storage system, great if you want to separate your jewels by type.  There is one catch, though?  You’ll have to make the box yourself, just like Instructables user Anna Howard Shaw.  Fortunately, there are complete step-by-step instructions at your disposal.

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Just when we thought Fling could stand alone as the only tactile gaming controller for the iPad and other tablet computers, Thinkgeek goes and tosses out the JOYSTICK-IT.

This another Thinkgeek original product, which is further emphasized by the devices old school look and milled-aluminum construction.  Much like the Fling you just stick it to the screen any where the virtual joystick appears in the game of your choosing, and you’ll be able to game like it’s 1989. We’re not sure how it sticks to the screen, but Thinkgeek says that it’s “removable and reposition-able”.

Hit the ‘leap’ for a video demo.

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Cyborg babies.

Okay, so I’m overreacting.  But researchers at the University of Delaware have designed the UD1, a robot that will allow disabled babies to navigate their environment.  These robots are actually like a power chair that can be operated by a joystick.  You may not have thought that babies could operate joysticks, and you wouldn’t be alone.  In fact, it was commonly thought that a baby couldn’t operate a joystick until age three, but as it turns out, even a six month old baby can figure out how a joystick can make a toy that is far away move closer.

There have been concerns about babies outgrowing the power chair, and thus making them prohibitively expensive for any family to get for their disabled infant, but U of D researchers are also looking at “kits” for retrofitting the device to get them to better fit the babies.  They also want to drop the overall size of the chair to make it more mobile inside buildings.

It’s a pretty awesome concept, no matter how you slice it, and Baby Terminator just might make a good movie.  I wonder if Sam Worthington would come back….

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