And you thought that the velcro on your jacket was impressive. These Velcro fasteners were made by German engineers and can withstand 35 tons of force. Needless to say, these aren’t for your clothes. One side has spikes and the other has steel brushes, so it’s just like real velcro. It can also withstand heat of up to 800 degrees Celsius.

And if you tear these Velcro strips vertically, where it’s stronger, it can hold up to 7 tons. We aren’t sure how much of this stuff it actually takes to support that much weight, but it’s pretty amazing anyway. Especially when you consider that just like everyday Velcro, it can be opened up without specialized tools and used again.

When you really start to think about the sheer number of gadgets in the world, it’s amazing they aren’t littering the streets and roadways like cold tech corpses. After all, we keep buying them and them throwing them out to buy another.

But we aren’t here to preach. We’re just impressed by this beautiful reminder of our consumerism in the form of sculpted cardboard gadgets. These are works of art really. They are from British designer Kyle Bean and they are really nicely detailed.

The other day we told you about the rumors about Microsoft’s Wii-killing, motion-sensing Xbox 360 add-on set to debut at E3. Well, now Ars Technica thinks they’ve played with it a full year ago. Ars thinks that the new Xbox 360 motion sensing system is based on the ZCam 3D camera, made by a company that was later purchased by Microsoft.

If true, it sounds good. Ars was impressed with the tech when they got a hands-on with it back in January of 2008. And Microsoft has had a long time to work with it, so chances are it’s even better now. It makes sense to us, but we’ll have to wait and see what’s what when E3 arrives next month.

According to Sidecut Reports, Clearwire will soon unveil a portable WiMAX / WiFi router built by Cradlepoint. The prototype is pictured above. It will use a Motorola WiMAX USB stick to enable WiFi-capable devices to surf on the ultra fast WiMAX.

What this means is that non-WiMAX handsets that have WiFi modules can get into the WiMAX network using this pocket sized device. There’s no word yet on when it will ship. Also no word on price. This might be the way to go to replace that expensive cable modem at home.

It’s that time again. Greenpeace has released their new Guide to Greener Electronics. Compared to last year, there are many changes. Some you might expect, some you may not have foreseen.

Some manufacturers went up on the scale, while others went down. Nokia is the standout at the top, right at the 7 out of 10 mark, but poor Nintendo… The Big N is once again stuck at 1 out of 10. How did Apple fare? They fail once again and drop to the 14th position out of 18 companies.

If you’ve been following the election coverage, you know by now that CNN played their hologram card. Jessica Yellin appeared Live from Chicago via hologram and talked with Wolf Blitzer. She shimmered slightly around the edges, and I can’t even tell you what she was saying because my nerd brain just kept repeating, “Help me Wolf Blitzer, you are my only hope.”

The technology was as creepy as we’ve always imagined and happening in the middle of vote counts, seemed totally weird and un-necessary. I believe they said that they used something like 44 HD cameras in a ring to get her every movement, all communicating with the studio cameras as well. Hey, if we’re gonna have holograms on election night, it’s better her then a grinning Emperor Palpatine.

The Immersion scarf will instantly make you look like Snuffleupagus, wearing what amounts to a long erect snout on your face. The idea is that you will always be able to see those important text messages, even in direct bright sunlight. You could probably also play your PSP, or watch the iPod videos too.

Just understand that the humanity around you will be thoroughly creeped the hell out. Seeing one or two of these snout creatures on a park bench would freak me out and make me run home, where I would try to figure out if I was really in some tripped out David Lynch movie or not.

Looks like the folks over at Electronics Weekly have launched a search for the best Electronics blogs, with their first ever Electronics Blog Awards and they were kind enough to mention us by name. Now normally we don’t pay much attention to politics. For instance we won’t ask you to Rock The Vote, and we don’t care if you vote for the young hip guy whose face adorns the DS above or the old guy trying so hard to be hip with his corded phone. But when it comes to tech and assorted geekery, we want your vote.

So if you’re a fan of the ‘Brick just hit the link below and follow the instructions to get us nominated. We can’t say we stand for change and we have no Moose-shooting VP, we just really really love gadgets!

Many of us go to extreme measures in order to keep pests out of our homes. Normally they’ll head straight for any crumbs that you’ve left on your floor or just blindly enter your dwelling as if for no apparent reason. They are easy enough to take care of. Start stomping or call in the verminators. But what do you do when insects start invading your tech?

One couple started noticing ants on their computer desk. They couldn’t quite figure out where they were coming from. There didn’t seem to be a problem anywhere else nearby. As you can see in the video, the work area is very clean. So the wife discovers that the printer isn’t working. The guy checks it out and finds that a small invading ant army had taken up residence in the scanner area. Pretty weird and makes you wonder where else they are that you don’t know about.

In the days before satellites frantically transmitted data to GPS receivers, there was at least one similar device making the rounds in London during the 20s. The Plus Four Wristlet Route Indicator had put maps squarely onto users’ wrists. It works the way it appears, basically using rolled up paper maps that show the route of a particular area.

The driver just had to turn the two knobs, which turn the rollers, thereby moving the paper maps. This Wristlet can actually store about twenty maps making it a pretty comprehensive navigation tool…For the time. To see the Plus Four Wristlet Route Indicator, you can check it out at the National Trust House where it is on display until June 1st.