Toys
For the past few years, entrepreneur Drew Beaumier has been creating life-size Transformers-inspired costumes known as Drive Suits. Thanks to the wearer’s motorized “drive boots,” they can actually trundle along the ground when in “vehicle” mode. It may be a bit late for Halloween, but you can now buy one of your own. Read More
AppToyz, the firm behind the AppBlaster augmented reality iPhone gun which proved popular last year, has revealed its smartphone-based offerings for this Christmas season. New toys include a fishing game which mounts an iPhone onto a toy fishing rod, a portable Karaoke machine, a quiz game with buzzer buttons, and an updated AppBlaster v2.0. Read More
Almost a year ago, the Japanese Ministry of Defense made quite a splash when it revealed a spherical, remote-controlled aircraft that could zip around a room, roll along the ground, and even bounce off obstacles without losing control. But while it was mainly designed for search and rescue operations, many R/C enthusiasts took one look at that hovering Death Star and said, "I have got to get me one of those." Luckily, toy company Kyosho must have been listening, since it recently released a similar flying machine of its own for consumers. Kyosho's "Space Ball" can remain airborne while taking just as much punishment and even emits a fragrance to freshen up a room in the process. Read More
Fans of traditional flipbooks now have the opportunity to indulge their passion for miniature motion pictures with a new device being developed in Los Angeles, in the U.S. FlipBooKit, currently on the top fund raisers on KickStarter’s art projects, is a contemporary version of XIX century devices designed to create the illusion of movement. It is the brainchild of multi-media talent team Mark Rosen and Wendy Marvel. Read More
Do you remember those building toys called K'Nex? Well an engineering student at the University of Colorado (CU) named Andrew most certainly does. He actually managed to build a fully-functional pinball machine using only the tools available from the plastic building toy. Andrew spent over four months meticulously planning and building his K'Nex pinball machine that has functioning flippers and a plunger that is capable of launching the ball into the field of play. It also has a small gearbox that powers the two small chain lifts that help move the ball between the different features of the table. Read More
Combat Creatures launches the "Attacknid" toy robot
Earlier this year, inventor Jamie Mantzel unveiled a prototype of a remote-controlled robot he had nicknamed "the greatest toy in the universe" in a YouTube video that garnered over 2 million hits in three days. In the video, an exuberant Mantzel demonstrated how the six-legged creation could fire different toy weapons and react to hits when battling another bot. Now, just in time for the holiday season, distributor Wow! Stuff has expanded the idea into a full-fledged toy line, called "Combat Creatures," starting with the inventor's original model, now named the "Attacknid." Read More
If product releases are anything to go by, it seems that almost every child is going to be getting a tablet computer for Christmas this year. There's the VTech InnoTab 2, the Leappad 2, the Toys"R"Us Tabeo, and that's before you consider the myriad of child-centric add-ons for iPads. Also jostling for position on your little-ones Christmas list is the newly released Android-toting MEEP! from Oregon Scientific. Read More
Toys"R"Us reveals its tablet computer for kids, the Tabeo
There's no shortage of tablet computers for children. There's the Leappad 2, the VTech InnoTab 2, even the non-functional wooden Tinker Tablet – and that's before you consider the many ways of turning iPads into children's toys. In fact, it sometimes it seems like children have now stopped playing with anything other than tablet computers, which probably explains why Toys"R"Us has launched its own tablet for kids, the Android-powered Tabeo. Read More
It’s certainly impressive that there are robots capable of mowing lawns, tracking sharks, and toting goods, but sometimes it’s the robots that do completely useless yet entertaining things that really captivate us. Such is the case with TOSY’s soon-to-be-released DiscoRobo and SketRobo – one of them will dance to the beat of whatever music you have playing, while the other will draw your picture. Read More
It can sometimes be hard enough to get your child off your iPad while you check your email, and toy manufacturers aren't making it any easier on tablet-owning parents with their focus on our touch-screens. Not long ago, we saw the iTikes range from Little Tikes. Now, Mattel has released Apptivity Play toys – plastic figures which can be used to interact with game apps on the iPad and unlock extra content. Read More
