If you need a good reason to grow a giant beard this winter, Matthew Inman of Mingle2 has put together a list of 10 of them, and they include fantastic reasons like “It instantly turns any man into a badass (It’s like having machine guns on your face)”, “Every beautiful woman you meet will want to touch, stroke, and possibly frolic in your amazing beard”, and “you can hide things in it, such as weapons, tools, and snacks.”

Click below to view the full list, including fantastic illustrations of each.

[The Bureau For Bigger Better Beards - 10 Very Good Reasons Why You Should Grow A Giant Beard]

[Via: Neatorama]

Font-ophiles beware: Typocalypse knows what you’re thinking.

By analyzing each font and what it’s typically used for, Lars Willem Veldkampf’s set of Flickr photos dives into the subliminal messages these fonts are feeding you.

[Flickr - Typocalypse]

[Via: Drawn!]

Contrast Cannon is a simple yet challenging cannon game where you must fire cannonballs towards their target, but you must also deal with some Yin Yang reverse gravity effects along the way.

[Contrast Cannon]

[Via: Zoomdoggle]

This year, gift cards go beyond just plastic as companies add features to lure you into buying the profit-filled gifts.

New card ideas include Target, which has added a small digital camera to their card, and Best Buy, which chose to go with a speaker that can connect to any MP3 player and play music through the included mini headphone jack.

While the Target card makes sense, because you can use it to capture holiday memories, send thank you pics to the gift giver, and even use it as a camera stand-in on your way to buying a real digital camera of your choice, the Best Buy one seems a little strange, since I can’t imagine the tiny speaker sounding any good as it attempts to keep up with the enthusiastic gift recipient.

Either way though, it’s an interesting idea, and it will be interesting to see what gets attached to a gift card next.

[Target Gift Card, Best Buy Gift Card]

Even if your watch contains parts of the Titanic, there’s now way it’s as cool as the Romain Jerome Moon Dust-DNA.

With a lunar inspired dial featuring real Moon dust, a steel and titanium case that incorporates steel from the Apollo XI space shuttle, rusted steel paws that include fragments form the Soyuz spacecraft, and a strap composed of fibres form a spacesuit worn during the International Space Station mission, the Moon Dust-DNA is about as cool as they come.

History doesn’t come cheap, as the watch line will range from $15,000 to more than $500,000, but it’s hard to put a price on exclusivity like this.

[Jomain Jerome - Moon Dust-DNA]

[Via: Born Rich]

Google found that by examining search terms that are indicators of flu activity, they could estimate occurrences of the flu up to two weeks faster than the CDC.

According to Google, millions of people around the world search for online health information, and as you would expect, flu-related searches go up during flu season, allergy-related searches during allergy season, etc.

By comparing past search data to past flu data, they were able to find a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu symptoms. Granted, not every person that searches for “flu” is actually sick, but by comparing data and looking for patters, trends emerge, and specific words and phrases can be picked out that are better predictors than others.

Plus, it’s not all just fun and games. By making flu estimates available each day, Google Flu Trends can provide an early-warning system for outbreaks, weeks ahead of what the CDC can provide.

What are you searching for?

[Google Flu Trends]

On November 22, YouTube unleashes live video on the world with a concert of epic proportions.

The artist list includes Katy Perry, Fred, Soulja Boy, Akon, Will.I.Am, and more, and even the MythBusters are scheduled to make an appearance, so it should be quite a show.

Plus, they’ve invited all of the YouTube heavy hitters, so expect plenty of vids and ‘behind the scenes’ to go live after the event.

Though YouTube has said that they don’t plan to announce any new technologies or features during the event, this definitely seems like the first major shot across the bow of every other live video company out there, because when YouTube steps in the building, they’re tough to ignore.

[YouTube - Live]

Count It Off is a new web app/iPhone app that helps you count calories and track your weight, and roobaLog has done a complete rundown of the before and after as the app went from concept sketch done on a long flight to the final 1.0 app that’s available now.

[roobaLog - Count It Off]

PixelJam makes all kinds of crazy 8-bit goodness, including games like RatMaze, where you must hunt down various types of tasty cheese as a pixelated mouse, Gamma Bros, where you help the 21hard-working duo of Buzz and Zap get home in an award winning space shooter, and Dino Run, a multiplayer game where you must run, jump and claw your way to survival.

They also host a rather cool collection of 8-bit art, let you download their original 8-bit music, and have a shop if you’d like to sport some 8-bit gear.

Plus, Format Mag has a nice little interview with the creators if you’d like to read about what inspires their pixelated creations.

[PixelJam]

[Format - PixelJam]

JR Rocha’s 2008 Infiniti G37 recently won the SEMA “Best of Show” award, and as a result, will be featured in the upcoming Gran Turismo 5 video game!

Mods include a full widebody kit, dual Nismo GT-R turbos, a V-Mount dual-intercooler setup, three additional oil coolers, custom everything, and a partridge in a pair tree.

[Via: Motor Trend]

Domino Day 2008 was on November 15, and the Weijers Domino Productions team tried to break the current world record for domino toppling by setting up 4.5 million dominoes.

Though one of the builder challenges failed, resulting in the loss of a few dominoes, they still managed to break the record with a total fall of 4,345,027 dominoes, including challenges that broke nine other records during the day:

• Longest Domino Spiral (200 Meters)
• Highest Domino Climb (12 Meters)
• Smallest Domino Stone (7 Millimeters)
• Largest Domino Stone (4.8 Meters)
• Longest Domino Wall (16 Meters)
• Largest Domino Structure (25,000 Stones)
• Fastest Topple of 30 Meters of Domino Stones (4.21 Seconds) (The sprinter Churandy Martina ran with the dominoes and achieved the time of 3.81 sec for the same distance.)
• Largest Number of Domino Stones Resting on A Single Domino (727 Stones)
• Largest Rectangular Level Domino Field (1 Million Stones)

Since it’s hard to imagine what 4.5 million dominoes looks like (and I’d imagine it’s impossible to imagine the sound) here’s a video from the event:

[Via: Neatorama]

Ross Allchorn from Allchorn Design created this time lapse of his design process on a fictitious blog from mind map to paper sketch to the first Fireworks design concept, and it’s an interesting (and quick!) look behind the scenes of the design process form start to finish:

[Via: Allchorn Design Via: Creattica Daily]

Being all-electric didn’t stopped BRABUS from getting their tuner hands on the new Tesla, but is did stopped them from making changes to the drivetrain, suspension, or even a majority of the body panels.

Instead what they focused on was gadgets and gizmos to add to the already gadget and gizmo filled ride.

Changes include a “space sound generator” that gives you the sound of a simulated V8, simulated race car, or two “futuristic soundscapes” named ‘Beam’ and ‘Warp’ when you mash the go pedal, “space lights” (better known as an underbody kit), a new rear spoiler and rear diffuser, front lip and integrated daytime running lights (stolen from Audi), and a custom-tailored BRABUS interior and tire/wheel combo.

Apparently BRABUS felt that the Tesla was some sort of sacred ground, because this is definitely the lightest hand they’ve touched any car with, but hey, at least it’s a start.

Now bring on the widebody kits!

[BRABUS]

[Via: Jalopnik]

Nooka has always been known for watches that are a little…unique, but their latest line, which drops next week and will be called the Zon, features a style that I think most people could agree with. (And a price tag that many cannot, at $650!)

The pixel system counts the time, and there’s a world time setting for world travelers.

Tired of counting pixels just to tell the time?

Not a problem. Nooka’s Zon can also be told to tell the time in a standard digital time format, though that’s probably not that important for the Zon’s intended audience.

With its leather or silver band and a subdued, sophisticated looking face however, the Zon may just represent the changing face of Nooka, though I wouldn’t worry to much about them loosing their edge.

[Nooka]

[Via: William Yan]

Matt Sandorf: Journey to Endless Entertainment is an advergame for Sony that lets you guide Matt point-and-click style through a futuristic spaceship.

Despite being an advertisement, Matt Sandorf is actually entertaining, and looks great as well. The gameplay has a very smoothed over, top down style to it, and the cut scenes are all done as rather unique, charcoal style drawings.

The game is also surprisingly difficult, and doesn’t let you get away with much, though it does contain enough twists, turns and jokes to keep you working your way through it and intrigued along the way.

If you get stuck, there’s a walkthrough available from Jay is Games, but I encourage you to stick with it, because there are few advergames that are this rewarding.

[Matt Sandorf: Journey To Endless Entertainment]

[Via: Jay Is Games]

By now you’ve probably heard of Mirror’s Edge, the free running/parkour game that is soon to debut for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

However, if you’d like to get in on the action a little early, then check out Mirror’s Edge 2D from Borne Games.

Made by the same people that created the Fancy Pants Adventure, Mirror’s Edge 2D is a free flowing Flash game that closely mirrors the gameplay style of Mirror’s Edge, only in 2D.

The goal is to run, jump, climb and slide your way through the level in a quick but creative way, collecting points and other goodies along the way.

Right now the game is still only in Beta, so you only get one level, and there still might be the occasional bug or two, but there’s definitely promise here, and it’s still fun to play as is, so head on over and give free running a chance.

[Borne Games - Mirror's Edge 2D Beta]

First he jumped his car more than 171 feet. Then, he jumped his car off of a ski slope next to a group of snowboarders. Now, Ken Block is showing off his skills in a demonstration of a sport called Gymkhana, and it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of automotive cinema ever created.

For those (like myself) that have never heard of Gymkhana (pronounced jim-kah-nuh), it’s “an automotive sport taking place on an open field or a parking lot requiring drivers to skillfully maneuver their cars around a series of cones, slaloms, 180 degree turns, 360 degree turns, figure eight turns or other obstacles using extreme acceleration, braking and drifting”.

Still confused?

Watch and learn:

[Via: 0-60 Mag]

The Mimobot Vimobot Design Contest (VDC) line of flash drives is the latest in their ever-growing collection of rather stylish storage options.

Featuring the Golden Panda, Cosmobot, Zombie Tiki God, Yakuza, Holybot, and mimoShroom, the VDC line is both beautiful and unique.

As always, each design is available in 1, 2, 4 and 8 GB sizes, and comes pre-loaded with the all-new mimoZine Issue 4.

If that’s not enough, check out some of the other entries from the Design Contest:

[Mimobot - Vimobot Design Contest]

MrWong’s Soup’Partments is an abandoned attempt to build the world’s tallest virtual building.

Abandoned doesn’t mean it was unsuccessful however, as I can’t imagine anyone ‘building’ anything higher than the Soup’Partments, with its 406 residents and 2,000 meters of height.

To help with the construction, MrWong opened the project to anyone with an image editor and some spare time. Users downloaded a template for either a one-story ‘apartment’ or a two-story ‘loft’ and went to work customizing it with anything that their heart desired. MrWong then checked I, and as long as it met with his approval, the story was added.

Since the project was closed down almost five years ago, not much has gone on in the Soup’Partments lately, but if you want a good look at some rather unique Internet history, there’s no better place to begin.

[MrWong's Soup'Partments]

[Via: ReubenMiller]

W/ Extra Duck is a fantastically contagious collection of art pieces that have been given the addition of a little extra duck.

Some are hidden and some are plainly obvious, but it turns into a sort of game to try and locate them all, and you will probably find yourself rather amused by the little rubber guy after a while, so head on over to Flickr and appreciate art w/ a little extra duck.

[Flickr - W/ Extra Duck]