Category: Cool Toys

The quest to keep people indoors and separated from each other continues with the mydeskfriend robot toy penguin. The web-connected mydeskfriend will be able to connect to your Facebook account and read your messages and your feeds, in a robotic voice I assume.

This remote-controlled helicopter has the unique ability to be flown by voice command. Japan’s Taiyo Toy makes these unusual toy helicopters that come with a voice control mode. Just speak into the included microphone, and you can direct the helicopter up and down, and turn the engines off and on. Of course, it doesn’t quite understand English, so the commands are a little odd.

The Ace Attorney series has become a cult favorite among Nintendo DS fans, so I’m sure plenty of people are pleased to see that the most attractive special edition DSi yet is branded to match the series’ spin-off, starring prosecuting attorney Miles Edgeworth. Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (known in Japan as Gyakuten Kenji) isn’t due out here until early next year, but the game was released last month in Japan with solid opening sales… and this beautiful DSi.

Here we go again. Pink Gundam with garish embellishments: cute or stupid? Does the existence of this no doubt unofficial model embarrass Giant Gundam? Or is it what the statue is looking for, the reason for his incessant head movements? Is this Gundam with a taste for lace a noble ally?

I love the new Gamespy. Who else loves the new Gamespy! Before they were just another video game site, with previews, reviews, and tons of ads, except that they had Flintlocke. But now they have so much more to offer.

Is that a lightsaber unit in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me? That’s the question your friends will be asking when you whip out this tiny little motorized R2-D2 and he starts tooling around your desk between your coffee mug and your iPod dock. The miniature R2-D2 doesn’t just sit there.

Sure, you may have loved J.J. Abrams updated take on Star Trek, but it just didn’t have enough tribbles for my taste. Thankfully, there’s a solution for the recent tribble shortage. Now you can be the proud owner of your own roomful of the little purring furrballs. These interactive replicas of the original TV critters not only look just like the originals, but they vibrate and emit a friendly cooing sound when you move them.

Remember Tengu? You know, the little LED guy who moves his pixel block mouth to the sounds it hears? Well Tengu is back, and this time, he’s got some new looks. Tengu Allstars are Crispin Jones’ latest creation.

Lomography’s new Diana Multi-Pinhole Operator allows users to use up to 3 pinholes in one shot. The pinholes create a ripple, cross-eyed effect that only worsens becomes crazier once you add the color filters to the mix.

Knit and crochet dolls are cute simply by definition, so you really don’t have to go the extra mile to summon a chorus of “awww.” If you do, however–and Alison Oddy sure did–the effect can be dramatic.

Remember those wooden Jacob’s Ladder toys you played with when you were a kid? You know, the kind where you flip the top block over, and then all of the other clacky blocks flip over on themselves? 

There’s absolutely nothing sadder than a cookie that’s not for eating (except perhaps the level of hyperbole in this sentence). We could be talking about the best cookie ever–and these would make the list, if there was a list, and being edible wasn’t a requirement–but if it’s not for eating, it’s a dealbreaker.

This isn’t about being amazing at Guitar Hero; lots of people are amazing Guitar Hero players. No, this little patch of the internet is dedicated to being amazing at doing the obvious (and I mean that in a good way).

I can admit it–I’m attracted to the idea of finding lost things in the sand or dirt, but there are two problems with traditional metal detectors: a) you have to carry them around (lame), and b) they’re pretty obviously metal detectors and you might as well throw on some black socks with your sandals.

Modder/droog/man of the moment David Penfold aka Mremulator was inspired by an award-winning custom rig and decided to go totally bolshy yarblockos with his own build. First he picked orange and black for the colors of his SilverStone TJ07 computer case – which incidentally was the same model used in the custom pc that inspired him  – and came up with the theme later: A Clockwork Orange.

First we had the watch, and now we have a model. The 6-foot long remote-controlled RMS Titanic is a faithfully reproduced 1:150 scale model. It took 400 man-hours (that’s about 1600 dog-hours, or 879,592 mosquito-hours) to assemble.