Back to School DON’Ts

1. Capacitor Barrette on Etsy
Eek! Ok, it’s definitely cool to wear capacitors as a decorative element, but only if they actually are decorative–not hideous like this poor excuse for embellishment.

2. Totoro Plush Hat
Unless you are under the age of 18 months you have no business pretending to a giant furry anime critter. Sorry “Furrys,” Sorry.

3. Fuze Necklace
The only things you’re going to attract wearing tacky light-up jewelry are clueless teenage candy ravers stuck in the mid-nineties and that’s going to be awkward, or the unwanted attentions of a lightning bug which could be awkward too.

4. GEEK Silicone Bracelet
Wearing a bracelet that literally says GEEK tells the world you’re trying too hard. And no one has ever looked good in silicone.

5. T-Qualizer Light Up Equalizer T-Shirt
This t-shirt has an electroluminescent panel on the front that reacts to music. Yet, the only thing that should be reacting to the music is yourself when you’re dancing, and besides, your obnoxious flashing chest isn’t going to make you friends any time soon.

6. Utilikilt
The idea behind this pathetic invention is that by freeing a man from his jeans and letting his anatomy sway around when he moves, and then giving him tons of pockets for his gadgets and gear he will achieve some sort of anti-establishment masculine nirvana. Instead, they only man’s jeans that will be removed are the DNA variety, as in from the genetic pool. Definitely a lady killer in the wrong sense.

7. Yoda Backpack
Alright, you’re a Star Wars fan, and these days that’s perfectly acceptable. Having delusions that you’re a character from a movie and running around in public with a plushie strapped to your back is not.

8. Crocs
Supposed comfort is never a viable reason for allowing your feet to be seen in public encased in perforated boat-shaped rubber monstrosities as these.

Back to School DOs

1. Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace
Here’s a better way to wear capacitors–three teal ones are strung delicately from a chain and look more like jewels than capacitors.

2. Caffiene Earrings
Let your nerdy nature shine from your head by dangling silver caffeine molecules from your ears in earring form. They’re scientific and terrific, not to mention classy.

3. Fan Guard Chain Necklace
This necklace doesn’t need to blink in an attempt to announce your geekiness to the world. Anyone who’s plugged in cables or PCI cards to the back of a desktop PC will recognize the modified fan guard around your neck and give you the silent nod of approval.

4. Cat5 Bracelet
You don’t need a bracelet that literally says GEEK, you need one that says geek to anyone who knows what ethernet cable is.

5. MIDI Cuff 1.5″
This cool black cuff made of MIDI cable is a subtle way to profess your love of electronic music.

6. High Voltage Laptop Bag
Instead of cramming everything into pockets, grab this laptop bag with a high voltage strap as a stylish solution.

7. Circuit Board Memo Pad
Keep your notes safe with a notepad with covers made from real circuitboard.

1. High Voltage Laptop Bag
Carry your school gear in this shockingly original, roomy laptop bag that announces your electric personality. It’s got two spacious pockets under the main flap where you can stuff things like cellphones, game systems, school IDs, and snacks. The main compartment has a padded sleeve for your laptop and enough extra room to fit your gym clothes and sneakers, lunch, and more.

2. Circuit Board Composition Notebook
This is a pretty big notebook featuring 100 8.5″ x 11″ college-ruled pages held together with the familiar spiral binding common to most regular notebooks. Actual circuit boards serve as the front and back covers, keeping your pages secure and crush-free. Pretty cool.

3. Caffiene Earrings
Ah, caffeine–that magical substance that keeps college kids awake and alert during all-night cram sessions and early morning lectures. Girls with a love of chemistry and caffeine, take note, because these silver earrings featuring the diagram of caffeine’s molecular structure will become your new favorite accessory. Perhaps they’ll also help you win favor with your organic chemistry prof and work in your favor should your grade sit on the border between two letters… but we don’t make any guarantees!

4. Solar Backpack
Picture this: you’ve got two hours between classes and your cell phone is about to die. Your dorm room is across campus and you only got 3 hours of sleep last night, so making the trek home is out of the question. The library’s always filled with people who’ve snatched up all the outlets. How do you get the juice back into your cellphone to keep up on all the gossip? Well, find a sunny spot on the quad, and plug your backpack into your cellphone and let that little guy charge. These backpacks with solar panels on them output 4 watts of power, allowing you to charge most small electronic devices like cell phones, cameras, MP3 players and portable game systems.

5. Electronic Musician’s Emergency Adapters
If you’re studying anything along the lines of Music Composition, Electronic Music Performance, Theory of Digital Music or the like, at some point you’ll inevitably find yourself staring at two audio plugs at 2am in frustration as you try to figure out how to get signal to pass through them. You can’t exactly run out to Radio Shack at that hour, but if you have this comprehensive set of adapters, you’ll surely be able to solve most tech-audio emergencies.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Molecule Keychains Help You Look Smart, Not Lose Keys

CHICAGO, IL – Anyone looking for a solution to the age-old problem of avoiding looking stupid by misplacing their keys need look no further than a line of molecule keychains offered by Chicago-based online retailer Fractalspin.

“I hated looking stupid when I would lose my keys in my pocket, but the distinctive shape of the caffeine molecule makes it so much easier to grab them without looking,” says Caffeine Keychain owner Andrew Lochhead. Apart from the distinctive tactile shape that results from the diagram of the molecule’s structure, their eye-catching design makes it near-impossible to miss one’s keys, whether they’re on the coffee table, lab bench, or desktop.

Besides making their owners look capable as they easily locate their keys, these pewter accessories make their owners look intelligent in other ways too. Molecule keychain owners love and appreciate the beauty associated with science and scientific discovery, both advertising their nerdy inclinations and their embrace of life’s most basic elements.

Fractalspin is an online Chicago-based “geek boutique” with nerdy gear for stylish people, featuring hand-picked stylish stuff, like duct tape wallets, geek jewelry, circuit board notebooks, gaming-related candy and snarky t-shirts.

For more information on fractalspin.com’s other molecule based accessories contact Liz McLean Knight at (877) 481-2629 or pr.fractalspin.com@gmail.com

MOLECULE KEYCHAINS
Caffiene Keychain: http://www.fractalspin.com/x/product.php?productid=201
Testosterone Keychain: http://www.fractalspin.com/x/product.php?productid=200
Serotonin Keychain:http://www.fractalspin.com/x/product.php?productid=199

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Here’s a link to the signup form.

While Etsy does have its charms, when things go ugly, they go very ugly. All of these are truly hideous things that have never taken physical form, and will only dissapoint and anger the recipient. Observe:

Exe Funtown Brooch

G33k Keyboard Choker

Luigi toadstool wacky helmet hat

10 Sad DIY Geek Gifts You Should Never Buy

Instead, (and definitely if you lack the crafty skillz, like most of the preceding folk) shell out some cash for these equally geeky but far more chic choices like:

Circuit Board Business Card Case - Jumbo - $29

Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace - $30

Caffiene Keychain - $22

PDF Version

Liz McLean Knight, the main human behind Fractalspin is featured on the cover of the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye free magazine for a feature about geek girls, and especially those in Chicago.

“Geek Chic: New generation of women embracing inner geek” [via the RedEye]

If dissassembling computers is geeky and making jewelry is girly, then Liz McLean Knight has found geek-girl nirvana. From her Wicker Park office, Knight, 30, runs a line of accessories make from computer components and sells the “fashionably-geek hipster gear” on a Web site she created, fractalspin.com.

There you’ll find necklaces made from capacitors. Handbags made of diskettes. Cufflinks made from microcontrollers. Woot! Those wrist cuffs made of MIDI cable are super neat!

The Washington Post Express thinks Budclicks are a neat way to customize your iPod earbuds. We think so too!

If you’re feeling of a particularly DIY spirit you can attempt to mod the case into something useful like a toothbrush timer, pre amp, actual remote control, or any of the other projects featured over at Make.

Teal Triple Capacitor Necklace and Teal Capacitor Earrings - $42

If your girl sees diamonds as merely ultra-hard carbon, soon to be replaced and devalued by the technological advancements made with synthetic diamonds, then she’ll love these necklace and earrings pair that use teal capacitors instead of gemstones.


Silver Compass Ring - $78
Show your loved one that you truly care with this silver ring featuring a real compass instead of a gemstone. Because, let’s face it, a rock would be pretty useless when you’re lost.


Diskette Handbag - $55
From the tag: “CARRY YOUR STUFF IN GEEK-CHIC STYLE WITH A PURSE MADE FROM TWELVE (12) GENUINE 1.44 MB COMPUTER DISKETTES. ALLOCATE INTERIOR POCKETS TO MANAGE INTERNAL FRAGMENTATION. TOTAL AVAILABLE MEMORY: 17.28 MB.” Now that’s a pretty cool purse.


Dopamine Necklace - $75
Dopamine is what we’re really celebrating on Valentine’s Day–it’s the chemical that your brain produces when you’re in love and results in a feeling of bliss. What could be a more perfect gift than the dopamine molecule cast in silver to give on Valentine’s Day?