Vacuum tubes powered a whole bunch of gadgets in the past. They even continue to show up in or on our gadgets today. So what could be cooler than a Vacuum tube flash drive? Thanks to the folks at CF14 Industries we now have real Vacuum Tube Flash Drives.

It took some trial and error, but at last they got the interior of a 512MB thumb drive inside of a vacuum tube. The end result looks pretty awesome and should make your laptop look a bit more steampunk. Hit the link and see if you’d like to try it yourself.

This just may be the most awesome and nerdiest chess set ever. You’re looking at Paul Fryer’s Vacuum Tube Chess set. It’s one of only seven made. The pieces actually light up when they’re plugged in to the board.

How cool is that? The only thing that sucks is that you would need to replace blown tubes from time to time, but we don’t care. We just wanna play chess with Vacuum tubes that really light up.

If today’s beautiful weather was any indication, spring is finally here. Sadly, the bugs have arrived with it. The fly-goodbye will keep their population down and keep your magazines insect-gut free. Just insert the front tube that has some glue at the bottom, give it some pump action and fire.

If you are skilled enough that buzzing sound will cease and the fly will be trapped in the tube with glue. Brilliant. It’s like an insect carbonite freeze. It works more like a vacuum that sucks the fly in when the trigger is pushed, and you have to be about 1 to 3cm away from the pest, but still. Pretty nifty way of killing some insect game.

Swearing has lost it’s luster, let’s face it. Words that used to have an impact just don’t do it anymore. We’ve become de-sensitized. We need a new way to sling profanity. Like with a clock. The Super Electrofluorescent Profanity Machine will generate random four-letter words for you at the rate of one per second. The machine was constructed from fluorescent vacuum tubes, and also tells time. We just love clocks that use vacuum tubes, but we never thought we would see them swearing.

It will cost you $125, but if you have the money, it’s an interesting take on the whole tube/clock/swearing thing. According to the designer, every four-letter English word could possibly show up on the display. To prevent gibberish, the device is programmed to display pronounceable words, not just random letters.

I love all kinds of stuff with vacuum tubes. They just look cool and remind me of a different era. I love me some iPod docks with tubes, amps, and clocks. Even this “test tube” clock looks pretty neat, even if they’re not real vacuum tubes or test tubes that have chemicals in them or a tiny lifeform.

It’s basically just a bunch of numbers with glass domes over each. It doesn’t quite match the style and warmth of a Nixie clock, but hey to each his own. It does have a cool retro look. It’s $75.

I love design. I also love vacuum tubes. This Tube Lamp is an homage to high end audio amplifiers, with some funky details. What you get is a series of 9 tubes with 25 Watt lamps inside. The glass tubes glow when switched on, so you can pretend you are a mad scientist.

They really went the whole nine yards, encasing the tubes in a black bakelite box and giving the device a toggle switch, mirror top and dimmer knob. Anyone who has an appreciation for old tube technology will love this. Imagine what a great conversation piece this would be. Especially if you are the kind of evil genius who connects about ten of these things together.

Teresonic is hoping to appeal to those seeking “environment-friendly audio” by unveiling a speaker which draws only a few watts per channel. The new Teresonic Magus speaker is priced at $3,985 a pair.

The Teresonic Magus speakers are a smaller size, said the company, using low power amplifiers which include vacuum tubes, a sensitivity of 98dB and what’s termed a “unique design” to produce sound more equivalent to larger, more power hungry speakers. The design itself is described as being full-range and straight-through (crossover-less).