Category: Cool Toys

So pet owners, you don’t have to worry – the FroliCat BOLT is basically a laser pointer for lazy people. Simply turn it on and projects a red dot and moves it in random patterns for 15 minutes, or until your cat (or dog, or baby) realizes what’s going on and attacks the gadget itself.

Yuta Sugiura and his colleagues at the Graduate School of Media Design in Keio University had a valid starting point – most of the software or hardware input systems today have no direct correlation to the command to be executed, and so are not that easy to master.

Lately, we’ve been running into lots of unusual personal transportation vehicles. The Cool Rider is just the latest attempt to dethrone the venerable Segway from the top of the single-person transporter heap. The Cool Rider isn’t quite as schmancy as a Segway, but it still looks like a fun way to get around.

Fans of the classic Japanese Anime series Gundam will recognize these familiar items. Except instead of firing deadly projectiles, these miniature weapons fire ink onto paper. Well, they don’t really shoot ink, they just write like any other ballpoint pen.

One of the main reasons to buy a Nintendo DSi instead of a DS Lite is the built-in digital camera. Now you can add to your creative photography options thanks to this new kit from Thrustmaster.

Takara Tomy’s latest remote-control car is definitely unique. Not only does the Aero Spider Laser drive on walls or ceilings, it goes where you tell it to using a light gun. The gun-shaped controller projects a bright red light beam (not sure it’s really a laser beam) where you want the car to go, and the car follows along.

If you own multiple gaming consoles, you already know that keeping everything organized can be a pain, particularly if you sometimes pack up and take it all to a friend’s house. Nightmare? For most of us, sure.

Joker Racer is a new service which lets you race remote-control cars from across the internet. The system uses a custom wireless computer that receives digital information via a Wi-Fi connection and translates your maneuvers into servo control signals for R/C cars.

While most everyone I know has been heading off to get a flu shot, I’d personally rather get injected with a dose of Bioshock’s EVE serum instead of a supposedly dead H1N1 virus grown in chicken eggs.

The thinking geeks at ThinkGeek recently unleashed one of their most awesome creations: WEARABLE ROCK. Their Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt features a semi-guitar with 14 major chords – which were recorded from a real electric guitar – assigned to different areas on the neck, so you can play songs for real without really knowing how to play the guitar.

Do your kids scare easily? Are they budding serial killers? Then these plush stuffed animals are probably not for them. On the other hand, if your kids are into gross stuff, and understand the difference between play and real life, these car-flattened stuffed animals might be fun sitting beneath the Christmas tree this year.

That’s right, by day Roombas are just plain ol’ cleaners, but at night, they sneak off to Lithuania and compete in underground sumo competitions. Okay actually the 2009 Baltic Robot Sumo Cup wasn’t illegal; in fact it was sponsored by major robotics companies like iRobot and ABB.

I don’t know if he’s the action figure counterpart of console modder Ben Heck, but the customizer who goes by the moniker Jin Saotome does have an extremely long list of modified or custom made action figures.

Let me start out by saying I’ve always been a closet pinball fanatic. I can’t tell you how many hours of my youth I spent dropping quarters, flipping flippers, and nudging bumpers in that quest for that almighty extra ball or two.

A week ago, I finally purchased a PS3 Slim. Along with the console, one of the games I picked up was Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction – a game that (besides Uncharted 2: Among Thieves) pretty much justified my PS3 purchase.

I wish I could insert thunder & lightning sound effects to this post. For now let’s just use our imagination: Krakaabooom! The thread-deleting, commenter-obliterating, justice-dealing mythical meme finally finds its way into the real world! Artist/pioneer/blacksmith for a day Christopher Thompson has “conjured into existence the worlds only real Banhammer.”