Category: Toys
Voice-controlled toy helicopters coming later this year
Evil geniuses, take note. Your army of drone planes that currently need to be controlled by an army of assistants will, in March, become obsolete when Tokyo-based Taiyo corp releases a voice-controlled toy helicopter. It’s going to understand English and Japanese, and understands “”start engine,” “up,” “hold,” “down” and “stop”. No “forward”?
It’s battery-powered, 18cm long, and can fly 10m away from the operator. You need to wear a headset to control it, too. Still, it’s likely you’ll be able to mod it to carry tiny miniguns, and hack it to fire on voice command, too. If everything goes wrong, you can control it by conventional remote, too. It’ll cost $60 (£42 or so).
(via CrunchGear)
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CES 2009: LEGO-inspired kids gadgets coming soon courtesy of Digital Blue
One of the quirkier stories to come out of CES this year was the partnership between Digital Blue and LEGO which will see a number of kid-centric gadgets produced with the iconic plastic brick look.
This isn’t build it yourself, unfortunately, so don’t think you’ll be able to buy a box full of LEGO pieces, a CMOS sensor, LCD and a few buttons and create your own digital camera. It’s just the look, rather than the actual coloured blocks, but that’s probably just as well as it would be pretty irritating to drop said camera and have it break into a hundred pieces…
CES 2009: Duck Hunt infrared real live shooting game
With the world collapsing in on itself ecologically, there may not be many animals out there left to shoot at for sport soon, so I’m glad to see that the Duck Hunt infrared experience…
Tilted Twister – Lego robot solves Rubik's Cube in six minutes
File this one under ‘awesome’. It’s a Lego Mindstorms robot which can solve a Rubik’s Cube on its own in just six minutes, with an average of 60 faceturns. It uses a colour sensor to work out what’s where, then takes a moment to work out a plan, then executes it with blinding efficiency. Check it out at double speed in the video above.
Tilted Twister (via @Rodreegez)
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Microsoft launches 'Time for a Story' – bedtime stories via Windows Live Messenger
There are many families who have to cope with the pain of separation – if Daddy has to fly away on business trips a lot, for example. Well, now Daddy (or Mummy, we’re a politically correct organisation here) can read a bedtime story to his (or her) little sprog over MSN Messenger, wherever they are.
The website – timeforastory.com – is currently populated with three Noddy stories. ‘Rocket Ship’, ‘Rainbow Chaser’, and the intriguingly titled ‘Bounce Alert!’ The stories are interactive – as Mummy or Daddy reads, their kid can click on images to trigger animations.
All you need to get it going is a PC, a copy of MSN Messenger on each PC, a microphone and a webcam. Modern laptops generally have all those things inbuilt. So if you’re in Japan, thousands of miles away from your poor son or daughter, and it’s their bedtime, then stop reading Tech Digest and go read them a bedtime story.
Time for a Story
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SHINY VIDEO REVIEW: Swinxs – 21st century party games
Occasionally we actually get to see some sunlight here at Tech Digest. The video above chronicles the results – we all get a bit giddy and descend to the intellectual level of 8-year-olds. Lucky Swinxs was around to save the day…
Swinxs brings out the kid in you and feeds him microchips
This is Swinxs, and it’s sort-of like a games console, but not really. I suppose it’s the logical extension of the Wii’s “getting people active” push. It’s a brightly coloured box, with armbands containing RFID chips, that lets you play a bunch of traditional party games, but with actually-quite-awesome technological extras…
Ride this Robo-Triceratops until you get (dino)sore.
Jurassic Park was a good idea. Not the ‘meddling with genetics’, ‘playing God’, and ‘being eaten alive bit’ – but the bit where the Dinosaurs come back to Earth to be used for our amusement. That is a really really good idea.
Which is why i really like this fantastic toy by Hasbro.
Called ‘Kota the Triceratops Dinosaur’ this terrible lizard is part of the Playskool range aimed at kiddies up to 3-4 years old. Now, up until seeing this, I thought Playskool made simple toys like Sticklebricks and bath-time toys like that turtle with the worried look upon it’s face.. Well, I guess simple toys just aren’t good enough for ‘Playskool’ers anymore, because Kota the Triceratops is anything but simple.
This is a robotic life-sized baby dinosaur. It walks, it squawks, it carries you around on it’s back. Talk to Kota and the thing responds by roaring, stomping it’s feet, or wiggling it’s tail. It has independent head, eye, mouth and horn movements. In fact, this animatronic dino wouldn’t have looked out of place on the set of Jurassic Park. Okay, it would. It really would, but you get the idea. This is one highly advanced toddler toy.
Dynamic Fishing: cruelty-free fishing practice
Not that many robotic fish come our way at Tech Digest, but this one’s pretty awesome. It’s a kit which simulates the experience of sitting for hours on end by a river getting cold and hungry, all in the comfort of your own home…
Take a gamble on the 'Heads-Up Challenge' Poker table
Alright lads, listen up, yeah? Next time you're dahn the boozer, check aht the poker machine what's ready to swallah all ya nuggets, yeah.. Cos, it's diamond, innit.
Right. Enough of talking like I'm in a film by Guy Ritchie. It hurts my head. What i'm trying to say is: If you happen to find yourself having a drink in your local public house, then you should probably look out for the new machine by CosmicVideo Games – the Heads-Up Challenge Poker table. That is, of course, if you like that sort of thing.
