If you spent any time around the malls this holiday season you probably noticed a guy standing out in front of Brookstone flying around one of these little micro helicopters and if your like me you probably silently thought to yourself that it looked pretty cool and kept walking by.
It turns out that it was a good thing I did because I wound up getting one as a jokingly fun kind of gift Christmas morning and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. On Christmas day my family got together and thousands of dollars worth of presents changed hands and none got more play and laughs then this little under $30 gadget.
If that iPad thing isn’t working out for you, there’s still the nook. Remember that little guy? He’s the Barnes & Noble e-reader, which the company says is now available in stores.
The retailer had been teasing patrons last fall with a sneak peek, but finally made the nook available in stores starting Wednesday, February 10. It’s also available at nook.com.
B&N seems to think that the eReader will be a hot item for Valentine’s Day. In fact, they plan to offer exclusive holiday-themed online content, such as Kevin Zraly’s column “Read Between the Wines” (get it?) and a tasty red velvet cupcake recipe from Anne Byrn, the Cake Mix Doctor.
Uncle Milton does it again with this Star Wars “The Force” Trainer. Due out in just under 2 months (link leads to a massive countdown clock for the UM Star Wars Science launch), this toy is set to revolutionize the industry. It also kind of gives me the willies.
The Force Trainer has two pieces – the first is a headset equipped with dry EEG sensors (a technology developed by NeuroSky…a name just a little too similar to SkyNet for my tastes). The sensors actually read your brainwaves and then relay that information to a fan inside the toy itself. The idea? The harder you concentrate, the more control you have over the fan. The fan lifts a lightweight ball in the toy, letting you then “control” the rise and fall of the ball.
I am not making this up.
The Force Trainer has 15 training levels and built-in voice guidance from Yoda, your Jedi Master. It’s expected to cost between $90 and $130 (seriously?! that’s it?! are brain wave sensors that cheap?!).
The rest of the Star Wars Science line will clock in at a reasonable $25-$45 price point and includes an optics teaching tool, a Darth Vader Robotic Arm, a Naboo Sea Creatures set (I wonder if they’re all really annoying?), a Dagobah Frog Habitat, a Jedi Telescope, a Jedi Projector and a Mustafar Volcano Kit.
So, how long before The Force Trainer replaces beer pong as the drinking game of choice amongst college students?
I may be dating myself here, but I loved Airwolf. Correct that – I love Airwolf. Was it the best television show of the 80s? Possibly, and definitely better than Knight Rider or Street Hawk (for those of you under the age of 30, these were other, lesser super-vehicles that had their own television shows during the same time period).
And now, now I can live out my wildest dreams with this remote-controlled Airwolf helicopter replica. Designed to look exactly like Airwolf, this black beauty oozes coolness. Plus, it flies (Flying = 10,000 awesome points).
It’s fully licensed, totally remote controlled and it flies like a helicopter. It goes up, down, backwards, forwards, left, right and uses tri-band technology and counter-rotating rotors to do it. That means extra stability, greater control and one smooth ride. It even has tiny little missiles strapped to the bottom (note: missiles do not, unfortunately, fire).
There’s one downside to this working Airwolf replica, it charges in as little as 20-30 minutes, but it only runs for between 6-9 minutes at a time. Great if you want to play with your remote controlled helicopter in short bursts, but not so great if you want to spend an afternoon invoking the spirit of Stringfellow Hawke.
Measuring an impressive 18″ x 11″ x 13″, this isn’t a seige weapon for the meek-hearted. Once properly assembled, it can shoot a small clay ball (or doughnut hole, whatever) an impressive 25-feet. No longer confined to doing battle with your “team members,” you can now set your sights on the defenseless desks over in Marketing.
The trebuchet kit includes all the necessary parts to assemble (including some soft clay for target practice) and takes about 2 hours to build (finish it at your next status meeting!). It retails on the site for $39.95. There’s also a catapult available for $29.99, you know, if you’re a wussy.
With the use of MSN messenger you will be able to remotely assess the landscape of your firing station and unleash havoc from the cozy comfort of your workstation. Want to up the ante? Grab one of these USB gadgets for you and a friend so that you can video chat, share files, and fire missiles at each others heads!
The USB Rocket Launching System also doubles as a regular old webcam so, if your already in the market why no take it to the next level for just $59.99?
Sometimes the most ridiculously drawn out arguments come over the silliest things — like what to eat. Every week or so, after the long workdays have beaten us down, my friend will dig into the sidetable drawer and fan out all of the delivery menus with a sigh and ask “so what do you want?” And so it begins, the battle to find the menu that’ll please everyone’s appetite. Why not just throw the decision to chance? This little aluminum die can settle all of these big grumbly tummy questions with a quick roll, landing on either pasta, chinese, mexican, sushi, burgers or pizza (that covers all of the biggies, doesn’t it?). And then no one can be grumpy about not getting what they really wanted because, hey, it was out of your hands, the dice decided! Hilariously yours for $8.
The persistent need to communicate is rescued by persistence of vision with the Spacewriter, leaving your messages floating in mid air as you move the pocketsized unit from side to side. If you’ve ever tried to grab someone’s attention at a club or shout something to your friend standing at the other end of the bar at a show then you can probably appreciate the application of LED wave messaging. The backlit LCD screen lets you program in your own messages and, when hoisted into the dark air and waved, leaves a light impression of your text that’s visible up to 50 meters away. A cute little gadget (and certainly an attention getter) straight from Gyroscopes online for $16.80 (price subject to the current dollar conversion).
The classic theremin, with its haunting tones and seemingly mystical playability, has just been taken to a new level with this Matryomin QT, originally made for the Matryomin in Russia. Created by Japanese thereminist Masami Takeuchi, the QT is a single 8.5″ tall, 4 AAA battery powered matryoshka (no word on where the other nesters got off to, but maybe they’re making sweet music somewhere too) hiding a ptich-only theremin that’s easy to play but difficult to master. Getting started is easy: just flip the switch on the doll’s backside and position your hands around the doll to coax melodious tones from the speaker hiding under the base. If you’re still unclear on the concept, check out the video of Takeuchi playing “Love Me Tender” below. Know a theremin junky, or someone with a nesting doll yen? You can pick up this one-of-a-kind piece at the Japan Trend Shop for $599.
As the snow starts falling this weekend, thoughts turn to all of the great things the big white dump brings — building snowmen, hot chocolate with a fluffy marshmallow cover, snow days and sledding. Growing up in the Rockies, kids worked with just about anything they could to maximize the sledding experience; some were lucky enough to have plastic sleds that didn’t have rock-cracked holes in the bottom, others did well enough will garbage bags and pieces of cardboard, and the lucky ones had grandparents crazy enough to tie a saucer to the bumper of a car and drag screaming children over snow-packed roads. Kids today, of course, have it way better, and Porsche’s doing their part to class-up the sledding experience.
The Porsche Kinderbob, complete with headlights and the Porsche emblem hitched to the nose, is sure to be envy of the hillside this season. Part snow-ski, the real bonus is the steerable skid on the front end that lets riders actually fashion some sort of path instead of praying to avoid rocks and bushes, which is probably a great design thought since the metal runners underneath ensure maximum speed for the rider (but should the steering fail your wunderkind, there’s also a horn to alert small animals to jump out of the way). Available directly from the Porsche site for 65,00 €, this is just another one of those toys that makes us wish we were kids again.
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