We were lucky enough to meet with Vernon Kerswell at ExtremeFliers, a 20-something inventor with a passion for little flying things. His latest creation, the Microdrone 2.0, puts a surprisingly powerful brain inside a drone that is about as big as a baseball. → Read More
What Andre Cassagnes thought of today’s beeping and whirring playrooms we don’t know. We do know that the former electrician, born on September 23, 1926, created his iconic toy after noticing how graphite clung to a thin film of plastic while he was marking up a light switch decal. He tinkered with the idea for a while and created the L’Ecran Magique in 1959. Ohio Art licensed his idea in 1960 and… → Read More
When I was growing up, my dad taught me that potassium nitrate, sulphur, and charcoal made gunpowder. He told me that you could add iron to the mix to get a red flame and that acids wouldn’t eat through your test tube. Then he sent me into the basement to make whatever I wanted while he read the paper. → Read More
Imagine it’s Thanksgiving morning and you’re with the family. You creep down the stairs, Sheriff in hand, and sneak in on dear old dad as he makes bacon pancakes. You set your weapon on “shotgun” and pull the trigger. A volley of hot rubber whangs him in the legs, his old frame buckling as he takes the shot. Another kill. All this can be yours with the Bandit, an automatic rubber band gun built… → Read More
Keeping with my theme of DIY projects as gifts, I present to you this little treat, a laser-cut marble machine that comes to us via merry old England. While the mechanism is cool – you turn a little crank and send the balls climbing up a hill and then down a little ramp – the real fun comes in assembling the jolly little machine. → Read More
Tiggly is a toy for kids who might be past the “teethe on your iPad” and just below the “I want to play the birds game” stages of mental development. Designed by a parent, Steve Miller of Cambridge, MA, the system includes three little shapes and a set of apps that allow kids to interact with shapes, colors, and animals on the screen. → Read More
Ubooly, A toy that uses Apple’s iPhone or iPod touch as a means to turn a cuddly plush into an interactive experience, today revealed to TechCrunch that it has raised a $1.5 million seed funding round, from investors including Jeff Clavier’s SoftTech, 500 Startups, David Cohen and more. The funding follows Ubooly’s successful Kickstarter campaign that funded an initial production run, and its… → Read More
Modern parents will recognize the dilemma: we want our children to learn about hardware engineering and design at birth but we don’t want them using soldering irons until they can keep their heads upright and/or develop gross motor skills. What’s a parent to do?
Enter Tinkermite, a Kickstarter project aimed at offering the wee ones the opportunity to understand the rudiments of mobile phone… → Read More
While I wouldn’t want to be the parent who buys their kids a Leapster GS instead of a Nintendo DS, I still think that this mini educational handheld is an interesting addition to Leapfrog’s line of kids toys. The GS looks a lot more like a handheld device than its predecessors and can take pictures and video with a built-in camera.
The GS runs on four AA batteries and features a color screen… → Read More
LittleBits, an “open source hardware” startup that makes electronic building blocks to design objects for work and play, has today announced the addition of two significant building blocks of its own: it has picked up $3.65 million in funding; and has signed a manufacturing deal with PCH International to scale up its business. The Series A round of funding was led by True Ventures, with… → Read More
Looking to relive your childhood or turn your iPad into a hackneyed political pun? You’d best get over to Ari Krupnik’s Kickstarter project. For $60 you get a red or blue case that simulates the actual Etch-A-Sketch knobs, allowing you to perform all of the deft maneuvers to which you’re accustomed. Stair steps? Easy. Long curve? Go for it. Horrible script writing? Bingo.
The product is… → Read More
If you watch one homemade Japanese RC car transformer video today, make it this one. This amazing little roadster switches from sports car to dancing robot in a few seconds and it can even walk while in robot mode, and, more important, transform back into a car in the blink of an eye. → Read More
The first time I was chased around a room by a glowing, buzzing ball I was in college and I had just come home from a rave. The last time was when I opened the Sphero and set it loose on my rug.
The Sphero is a ball with a brain. Designed by Orbotix, this 3-inch toy has an internal motor and a set of LEDs that can make it flash nearly any color of the rainbow. It’s run by iOS or Android apps… → Read More
If you’re an Aunt, Uncle, Grandfather, Grandmother, Godmother, Godfather, Foster Parent, or just plain old mommy or daddy, you might have some kids on your holiday shopping list. These are some interesting toys that I’ve come across this year and all have a certain high-tech edge that adults and kids alike can enjoy. → Read More
If you’re a fan of the Parrot AR.Drone, you’ll probably get a kick out its earthbound relative, the AirXRacer by AniApp. I got a first hands on with this iPhone- or Android-controlled racecar in Shenzhen and you will be able to pick it up this holiday season.
The car is a standard RC racer that, as you can see, is quite fast. You control it using your phone’s accelerometer or using an onscreen… → Read More
Just in time for the Ides of October, ThinkGeek brings us magnetic BuckyCubes, small, 4mm cubes that slide and slip together to create unique shapes. The kit comes with 125 rare earth magnets that can be combined and organized into various shapes. → Read More
Lego (or LEGO if you’re adamant about trademarks) has just dipped another toe into electronic gaming with their clever “Life Of George” iOS title. The game uses 144 pieces and a piece of cardboard covered in a dotted pattern. The game is simple: George shows you a picture from his travels and asks you to recreate it using Legos. You have to dig around in your box of pieces to recreate the image… → Read More
For a mere $50 you, too, can own a small, iPhone-controlled helicopter made by a company that has been traditionally known for selling phone cases.
Like Parrot before them, Griffin is branching out from its traditional product line and offering this small dual-rotor helicopter that is, in general, controlled via IR commands sent using a special dongle attached to the iPhone. There is full… → Read More
When I was growing up, one of my all-time favorite toys was my Nerf Super Soaker. Every summer, the other neighborhood kids and I would take off on our bikes, Super Soakers strapped to our backs, and have a full-on water war. It’s been a solid decade since I’ve raised my not-so-dangerous weapon, but the other night something magical happened. I got to go to Nerf’s unveiling of its Vortex… → Read More
Kindness, sociability, affection, appreciation of others: those are the things your child could be learning if we didn’t just slap down an iPad in front of them every time life gets a little crowded and they get a little bored. But what about the smallest of the younglings? What can they do to have a good time while we amuse ourselves into the sweet release of e-toxicity? Why not pick up the … → Read More
This $5 fake USB cable connects to almost anything (bananas included) and lets you pretend you have some of the coolest gadgets in the office. Want to make a Bananaputer? It’s only a click away. → Read More
I remember poring over Uncle Milton Catalogs as a wee lad but I doubt old Milt has rubber glass, oil-absorbing polymers, or conductive foam sensors in his bag of tricks. That’s where Inventibles comes in. These guys are a one-stop shop for wild materials and scientific tools and I’m kind of salivating just going through the lists of items. → Read More
Ned Strongin, co-inventor of Connect 4, passed away on April 9 of this year. He also invented Weebles, the little toys that wobble but don’t fall down.
Strongin was 92. → Read More
While at first glance, it may seem a little strange that Toys R Us is apparently planning on selling the iPad 2, it really makes a lot of sense. Apple is pursuing different market angles, and one of them is the e-reader one, and kids love the big full-color interactive titles in iBooks. To be honest, I’d expect a whole section of Toys R Us to be dedicated to color e-readers soon. → Read More
Takara Tomy in Japan has started selling Manekko P-Chan [JP], a small parakeet toy that repeats what you say (4 seconds maximum), twice, and just seconds after “hearing” your voice. You can also “teach” P-Chan phrases that it stores in its memory and repeats at random times later, just like a real bird would do. → Read More
Most people over the age of 20 will remember the ViewMaster toys that let you see slideshows from your favorite movies and cartoons in 3D. Shabby, static 3D, but still. Well, Hasbro has put out a product that, while it sounds ridiculous at first, is actually sheer genius. Replace the slide wheels with an iPhone! It’s brilliant! → Read More
On Friday, we’ve shown you Twimal, a super-cute USB toy for Twitter users that can read specific tweets out loud (so you don’t have to look at the computer screen to follow your time line). But before Takara Tomy, a smaller Japanese toy company called WiZ has brought the so-called Charatter [JP] to the Japanese market, a teddy bear that’s able to do the same. → Read More
Japan is crazy about Twitter, and today local toy maker Takara Tomy has announced Twimal (short for “Twitter Animal”) [JP], a super-cute toy “pet” that can reads out tweets loud for you. The white version does this with a female voice, while the blue Twimal uses a male voice. → Read More
Uncle Milton knows what’s up. This $23 device will throw a beautiful rainbow across your room, complete with multiple colors. Sadly, as one Amazon reviewer notes, “the product projects a rainbow onto the walls, not through the air as displayed in the illustration, but I do have to say that my seven year old and my three year old are completely enchanted.” So it’s not a real rainbow, but a fauxbaux… → Read More
When it comes to flying discs (“frisbees” to the vulgar), there are many to choose from. I personally like the Koosh Woosh, but as they don’t sell that particular relic any more, I’m forced to recommend other options for summer fun. The Hela Disc looks promising: it’s like an Aerobie donut-style disc but unlike that worthy item, won’t slice your head off if you… → Read More
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