As a young child I was lucky spoiled enough to have some really expensive race-grade remote controlled trucks and will never forget the countless hours of building, short lived batteries, and the excitement of possibly hitting 25mph on a good day.

Cut to 20 years later and now we have companies like Traxxas putting out ready-to-race, no assembly required, remote controlled gadgets that do 50mph+ for as long as 45 minutes right out of the box. Apparently remote controlled technology came a long way while I wasn’t paying attention.

How do I know? Well, after mentioning how much goofy fun remote controlled helicopters could be, my mother decided she would do what any self respecting mother with a 30 year old son, who has yet to produce her grandchildren would do… she bought me a Traxxas E-Maxx RC Truck to play with “when I finally have kids.”

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So, we all know that the digital camera has entirely taken over the photography market. This is just a given. However, every once in a while, a camera that uses actual film comes along and takes us by surprise. Now, I’m not sure that these lomography exclusives fall into that category, but they’re worth mentioning for their fun designs alone.

The new Diana mini and the Diana F+ cameras are an exclusive offering just in time for Valentine’s Day. The Diana mini, also known as the “Love is in the Air,” is a tiny 35mm and offers a cloud-themed design for $119.00. The Diana F+ has the appropriate name of “Take My Heart” and sports an Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden theme and an apple with a bite out of it on the lens cap to tempt you. It also has a red-backed flash, uses 120 film and for just $99, it looks pretty in the pocketbook, too.

Last year the Silver Bullet mini RC helicopter was a big hit around the Gadizmo family house so, it only made sense to step it up another notch this Holiday Season with the bigger and better Nano USB rechargeable remote control helicopter from the guys over at Brando.

This first thing I noticed out of the box was the power of the Nano compared to the simpler Silver Bullet. The metal frame construction makes this mini RC quite a bit heavier but, the beefed up motor has no problem launching it right off the ground and over the second story of my 30 foot high roof.

After a few minutes of flying straight up and down I realized that something else was different with the Nano. Unlike the first generation helicopters that only flew forward, the new Nano had a tail rotor which allowed you to fly in any direction forward or backwards.

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Whether you travel for business or pleasure, you probably spend a good deal of time in the hotel room channel surfing. Little do you know, you’re probably catching a lot more than weather info or a movie.

While many think the hotel bedspread is a hotbed for germs, the remote control is one of the dirtiest items in any hotel room. In fact, Dr. Charles Gerba, professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona, says the remote is worse than that comforter, the sink handles, and even the toilet.

Instead of changing the channel with your shoe, you could request the Clean Remote. This universal remote control is starting to pop up in hotels and motels throughout the country. Designed to resist germs and bacteria, this remote has been clinically tested to be 99 percent cleaner than most other remotes with the same usage. Basically, it has a nonporous flat surface, which is where most of the funk goes to hide and even incubate. Ew.

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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.

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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.

The AirWolf (AIRWOLF? Airwolf?) RC helicopter sells for £39.95 at Firebox, a UK retailer.

Before USB-powered missile launchers, cubicle-to-cubicle warfare was fought the old-fashioned way – with honor and tiny, wooden trebuchets. Bring back the glory from days of yore and one of warfare’s greatest designs with this Working Wood Trebuchet DIY kit from X-TremeGeek.com.

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.

Thanks to a giant leap in technology, old-school point and click USB missile firing systems will never be the same. The new USB Webcam Rocket Launcher will now give pranksters the newly added feature of being able to control remote missile launching systems via webcam anywhere with internet access.

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.