My teenage son came home from school yesterday with a lava lamp. Yes, a lava lamp. No, he wasn’t reeking of patchouli. He made it himself.

His science class was studying the densities of different liquids.

I dug up a video from About.com that shows how easy it is to do this project at home with your Little Einsteins. All you’ll need is a bottle, vegetable or mineral oil, food coloring, water and Alka Seltzer. And don’t forget to place the finished product near some light for a funky-cool effect. Groovy!

All you need to be the envy of your cubiclemates is a printer, a sheet of letter-size paper and this URL: http://home.comcast.net/~kymcat3/.

You can print out Cubeecraft paper toy versions of characters like Dr. Venture, a Stormtrooper, Super Mario and Mr. Stay Puft (pictured), just to name a few. There’s even a Super Mario Bros. coin brick.

And the best part? They’re free. But don’t waste time, because some of the downloads are limited edition.

LEGO transcends generations, backgrounds and time itself. (And nothing makes a better minefield for unwary parents early in the morning than a bunch of plastic bricks with 2×4 studs.) In recognition of this building block of our culture, Gizmodo presents an illustrated timeline tracing the path of the yellow (and red and blue and green etc.) brick road.

The Age of LEGO is only just beginning!

Fun fact: LEGO TECHNIC sets were first introduced in the year I was born. What was happening in the LEGO universe when you were being constructed?

If you have $1,800 to burn, you can push the envelope - around the new MacBook Air, that is. It’s an ultra-thin, mostly wireless powerhouse with an optional flash-drive upgrade.

Now, I’m not at MacWorld, and I’m still absorbing how cool this is, so you can read more about it here or on just about every other link at Digg.

Now excuse me while I try to convince my boss that our office needs Air.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds an envelope containing the new MacBook Air during his keynote at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008. The super-slim new laptop is less than an inch thick and turns on the moment it’s opened. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

The Star Wars trilogies are full of fantastic ideas - lightsabers, cyborgs, droids, hyperspace and more. A few months back the History Channel came out with a one-hour special called Star Wars Tech that explored many of these concepts from a realistic perspective - and it’s now available on DVD.

Was it great? No - don’t be too proud of this technological terror. Many would say it’s better than some of the prequels (and I wouldn’t go that far), but it was fun and digestible. And the DVD cover looks nice. (more…)

HD DVD or Blue-ray? It’s an important decision we all must make as we enter the world of high-definition DVDs. Anyone who’s seen either high-definition format on a high-definition TV will tell you it looks amazing. Regular DVDs simply do not compare to its crisp and colorful picture, hi-fi audio and cool special features. As the price of individual HD DVD and Blue-ray players decreases, we (the consumers) are still getting screwed because many high definition movies are still being released exclusively on one format. Regardless of who’s winning the war, it doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. Luckily some companies are making dual-format players. Samsung recently announced their BD-UP5000 dual-format high-def disc player is now available for $799–making them the second manufacturer to market a dual player capable of playing HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. LG’s BH100 was the first to hit the market in January of this year. It also has a pricetag of $800 which might seem like a lot to spend but not when you consider most of us will probably have to buy a second player down the road–depending on who wins this frustrating format war.

Samsung BD-UP5000 dual-format Blu-ray/HD DVD player

Attack of the Show, G4’s hawesome daily interactive discussion of technology, the Internet and more, will broadcast live from one lucky Phoenician’s home today.

Look for it at 8 p.m. on G4 (formerly Tech TV). It’s Channel 158 on Cox Digital Cable.

The folks at AOTS have been making a quick trip across the country, filming from viewers’ humble abodes - and making their hosts perform embarrassing stunts before lavishing them with gifts such as iPods.

The end is near.

The end of the year, that is. And that means shopping for the perfect gift for the nerds in your life.

Geeks are an expensive lot to care for. Ask my wife. They like their gadgets and their Interwebs.

I’ve compiled a few resources to keep you from looking like this guy at the end of the day:

• I’ve started a Wish List at Amazon that can serve as a shopping guide for that “special” someone in your life. (Don’t bother buying me anything - there’s no shipping address. This is just for brainstorming, people!) There are also some ideas here and here in our Nerdvana archive.
• You might also want to check other Tribune blogs - specifically, Tweenish and sammit! - for the young-at-heart and fashionistas in your life.
• Cool Finds and Home Turf over in the Tribune’s At Home section should inspire shopping for the homebody.
• Of course, you don’t want to miss all the cool advertising supplements that will be stuffed in your Tribune on Black Friday. Do you?

Good luck - and may the Force be with you!

Fans of Family Guy and Star Wars don’t have to wait too much longer to own the popular parody Family Guy: Blue Harvest on DVD. It’s slated for a Jan. 15 release date.

As you can see above, there will be a deluxe special edition set, retailing for $34.99, that includes special packaging, trading cards, an exclusive brochure, 3-D glasses (why, I don’t know), a T-shirt and more.

The standard edition (just the DVD) will retail for $22.98.

You can find out more at StarWars.com.

The episode was this year’s season premiere of Family Guy and a hilarious send-up of the original 1977 film Star Wars (later subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope.) It was made with the full approval and support of Lucasfilm - a sign that the once-restrictive juggernaut has relaxed its litigious ways.

It’s just too bad, in this fan’s opinion, that they couldn’t bring it out in time for the holiday shopping season.

It’s never too early to start thinking about the perfect holiday gift for the geeks in your life. Especially when one side of a Target aisle is littered with spooky Halloween accoutrements and the other holds Christmas decorations like this bad boy pictured above ($29.99 @ StarWars.com, $19.99 at Target). (more…)