Toys

If your kids are always running late for school then this little number might be just the transport option to ensure they arrive on time. Made by Micro Electric Vehicles (MEV), the Mini Seven is a hand-built, proportionally accurate child’s motorized car that is a slight departure from MEV’s other vehicles, which are powered by electric motors, as it is powered by a small petrol Honda HP motor that can propel the Mini Seven to 19 mph (30 km/h).  Read More

Hunting round for batteries to power toys that come “batteries not included” is a common problem on Christmas morning. If there are none to be found then you’d better hope junior likes playing with the box because that new whizz-bang gadget can be decidedly underwhelming without any juice. The Solar Pegasus Flying Horse solves this problem by incorporating a solar panel in the mythological winged horse’s carriage to harness energy from the sun, or nearest available lamp, to power its batteries and keep the kids entertained long after traditional batteries have run flat.  Read More

When it comes to local emission-free transport its hard to beat a child’s pedal car. But if you’re looking to give your kid’s ride a little more grunt while still maintaining some green cred then Audi’s Auto Union Type C e-tron study should fit the bill. The prototype vehicle, which will be on show at the 62nd International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, is based on the UKP10,000 (approx. US$15,900) limited-edition pedal car model sold through Audi dealers, but adds an electric motor that can propel the vehicle to speeds of up to 18.64 mph (30 km/h).  Read More

When it comes to toys there is none more basic than the humble ball. Depictions of ball games have been found on ancient Egyptian monuments, while ball games were also popular among the ancient Greeks and Romans. This enduring popularity has seen ball games remain popular the world over to the present day. We’ve seen a number of products that have brought modern technology to balls, such as the sOccket and Speedsensor. The latest to join the list is Sphero – a ball that can be controlled with a smartphone via Bluetooth.  Read More

Back in 1982, when the original Tron was released, movie merchandising wasn’t quite as... robust as it is today. Therefore, there wasn’t much available in the way of Tron collectibles, much to the chagrin of Apple II-using geeks everywhere. Skip forward 28 years, and you can now buy Tron Legacy toys before the movie has even opened. One of the first out of the starting gates is Air Hogs’ RC Zero G Light Cycle... and yes, you're right, remote-control toys have become pretty much a dime a dozen. Ones that can be driven across walls or ceilings, however, are still kind of special.  Read More

It’s just what every young boy with a messy bedroom has dreamed of – a robot that trundles across the floor, picks things up, and takes them away. WowWee’s Roboscooper can do just that, although it’s limited to small objects that weigh no more than an ounce. The toy robot has six rubber wheels, a cargo bed, articulated arms, and a WALL-E-like head with infrared eyes. Users can guide it to objects manually with the remote control, or leave it in autonomous mode, where it roams around (avoiding obstacles) and picks up whatever it comes across. It then takes the items to a location determined by the user, where it shakes them out of its cargo bed.  Read More

Are you sick of those cheap and nasty plastic toys that fill toy shops these days? Well feast your eyes on the Schaukelwagen – it’s a German vintage child’s play car that transforms into a rocking chair simply by turning it upside-down.  Read More

If you’re really looking to shine in any water-based hostilities this summer then the Saturator AK-47 Automatic Water Gun could be just what the aquatic arms dealer ordered. This weapon ups the ante on any previous manually powered water guns that rely on the handle being pumped to fire a semi-continuous stream of water. With the battery powered Saturator all one needs to do is hold down the trigger until the ammo runs out.  Read More

This is one of those ingenious inventions that’s so simple, it’s amazing no one’s come up with it until now. A team of Art and Design students at the University of Michigan have created a prototype electronic doodle pad called the Scribble that animates your drawings. You simply hand-draw a series of successive images on it, then it runs them all together in a Flash-like cartoon. Why didn’t I think of that?  Read More