VroomBox

Just when I think gadget manufacturers calmed down with the stupid inventions, comes VroomBox, the gadget that will make car noises for you. Yes, I said the gadget that will make car noises for you. If you buy one, let me know so I can… you know… not talk to you anymore.

(via Gizmodo)

The International Obfuscated C Code Contest

Some programmers actually like writing messed up code. That’s why there’s a contest for it, which is called The International Obfuscated C Code Contest. The winners of 2005’s contest have been announced, but the entries are not on the website yet.

However, you can see the winning entries of years before. One of my favorites is this code, which “takes a single command line argument, transcribes the argument text into Tolkien’s Elvish letters, and writes the transcription to standard output as a portable graymap (PGM) file.” Another one is this code, which “translates ASCII text into semaphore code.” (take a look at the link to see an example. It’s pretty cool.)