Category: Toys
Lift your hamsters with this £30 robotic arm from Red 5
This, my friends, is what you’ve been waiting for. No, not Rock Band launching in the UK, this robotic arm!
Enabling you to lift, grip, grasp and twist your assorted paraphernalia (chocolates? desk knick-knacks? hamsters?), you have to initially build it yourself, but once it’s complete you can lift up to 100g of goodies, and if nighttime-lifting is your forte, then the LED light shall assist you. It’s available on pre-order…
The Halo 3 My Little Pony is the best freakin' thing I've seen on the net all week
I’m not ashamed to admit I played with My Little Pony toys as a kiddywink, but I also played with LEGO and Scalextric if that redeems me. As you can imagine, this Halo-themed pony has pleased me greatly.
Your daughter/niece/stolen Madeleine McCann might not appreciate being presented with a Master Chief lookalike, but the Custom Pony competition judges over in Kentucky, USA sure did, awarding the designer second place. Created using…
Glow swing – er, a swing that glows
Simple idea but very pleasing. Swedish designer Alexander Lervik has made this swing out of plastic and threaded it with fiber optics that glow in the dark.
Josh Burdich's Star Wars figures in pixel art perfection
Generally new school Star Wars and all merchandising thereabouts makes me want to kill people – Lucas ideally but anyone will do – but there's just something you've got to doff Vader helmet to when a man creates such a tidy, well thought out catalogue of action figures complete with pixel art thumbnails…
New download will allow your Pleo to sit and sing apparently. Rick Astley choons unconfirmed.
As soon as I heard the Pleo dinosaur had an SD card and USB slots in its belly, the potential for after-purchase upgrades immediately sprung to mind.
The latest download, LifeOS 1.1 includes many prime examples of the possible innovations that could be brought to life through these slots, with your little green dino being able to sit for the very first time, as well as change emotions…
Wreak office-based havoc with the Phantom Keystroker from ThinkGeek
Here’s a particularly sneaky gadget, just in time for April Fool’s Day. Disguised as a random circuit board (admittedly not the most discreet choice), plug the Phantom Keystroker into your victim’s USB port and it’ll either intermittently blurt out random words and phrases or take over the mouse, depending on what you set it to.
Nixie tube wristwatch – the Rolex of geek accessories
This has to be the ultimate retro display watch. A homage to Nixie tubes(it even uses vintage tubes from 1968), the unique timepieces were produced in a limited run of 25, which, even at $495, all sold out. OK, you might not be able to actually wear it, but it is undeniably impressive.
SUCK UK cardboard mini arcade: pinnacle of modern engineering
Keeping in tune with today’s DIY theme, new from SUCK UK (home of the drumstick pencil and the wooden postcard) is the flatpack Mini Arcade. This incredibly useful piece of folded cardboard arranges into a mini co-op cabinet, with a space where the screen would be, upon which you can perch your PSP.
Corbis offering free pinhole cameras for download
Time to chuck out your DSLR, here’s a blast from the past. File alongside homemade kaleidoscopes and tin-can/string communications systems. Corbis are offering pinhole cameras available to download for free from their website and build yourself, in classic Blue Peter style.
Designed by New York agency, Fwis, the flat-pack cameras are durable and will add a little bit of character to your poorly framed, out of focus shots – perfect for festival season.
Everyone's favourite geek toy just got scarier: Lost characters as Kubricks
Now these are flippin’ scary, and rather expensive too, at ￥14,979 (£74) for the above boxset, which contains seven characters from Lost.
I can see Jack, Sawyer looks dead-realistic, as do Sayid, a trim-looking Hurley, very bald Locke, and ‘ya’ll everybody’-singing Charlie. But please don’t tell me that’s Kate, squeezed in between her two men, Jack and Sawyer? I knew she had butch arms, but jeepers…
