Hasta La Gadget!

Back in February, we mentioned some cool build-your-own iPhone remote control Brick Cars from Utico that had landed in Japan. These cars let you drive around using your iPhone or other Apple gadget as a controller and you get to build the car as well. When they first surfaced they were only available in Japan and were priced at about $43 each.

If you thought those little LEGO-style remote control cars were really cool, you’ll be glad to hear that you can now buy them in the United States via iHelicopters.net. The downside is that the price has increased with the little kits now selling for $59.95 (USD).

There is a Mini Brick car kit and a Mini Brick Van kits to choose from. Both allow you to customize the design of the vehicle to suit your style. While they’re too small to use with LEGO bricks, they’re actually compatible with Nanoblocks building blocks.

The kits use wireless connectivity with a control range of 20 to 30 m. Charge time for the transmitter is 60 minutes for 120 minutes of play and charge time for the car itself is 20 minutes for 10 minutes of play. The control app is available free on the iTunes app store right now.

This life-size replica of James Bond’s remote mine from GoldenEye 007 was made by Thingiverse member Quiche, ComradeQuiche. The mine has blinking LEDs that you can toggle on and off as well as magnets so you can mount it just like its counterpart, fictional counterpart.

In his original guide, which he posted on Instructables a couple of years ago, Comradequiche used the base of an old joystick as the mine’s case. He did that to make his replica more accurate – the remote mine prop used in the movie GoldenEye was also partly made of an old PC joystick. But because the joystick is no longer in production, Comradequiche decided to make a 3D template for the mine’s housing.

Here’s a quick demo of the replica:

Head to ComradeQuiche’s Thingiverse page for his updated guide as well as the files you need to print the case. If you don’t have access to a 3D printer, you can also buy the 3D printed components from ComradeQuiche. He’s not selling a fully assembled unit though.

[via Geekologie]

A new stuffed bear toy has turned up on Indiegogo that is mostly cute and just a little bit creepy. The bear is called the Teddy Sitter and is supposed to be a fun and educational interactive toy aimed at kids from age 4 to 8. The people behind the project say that the bear knows songs, stories, games, and can play music.

Parents can pre-set reminders for kids to shower, snack, or take medicine. Here’s where the creepy part comes in – the bear also allows parents to monitor their children remotely using a mobile phone application. Using the app, the bear can take pictures and send them to parents, and allows parents to send and receive text messages from the bear.

Oddly enough, the bear can also measure the room temperature and humidity levels. Teddy Sitter includes the ability to call your child by name, has an integrated nightlight, can tell bedtime stories, sing songs, and play MP3 music.

Teddy Sitter will cost you a minimum of €100 (~$132 USD) over on IndieGogo.

From Takara Tomy Arts is a new, enjoyable way to save money. They have created an app for iPhones that tracks the money that you save by syncing to a sort of “Piggy Bank”.
Download the dedicated iPhone app and set your target goal. Then, put your iPhone on the bank every time you put a 500 yen coin into it for data transfer. You can track how much and how often you have been saving.
There is a simulated person’s life in the app. Monitor how he lives in the bank and whether …

Toy maker, Takara Tomy, releases nationwide on March 7th, a line up of four independent swimming robot fish. About the size of your average goldfish, these water activated fish swim around quite realistically as soon as they hit the water. Robofish comes in red or grey shark color. The Aulonocara comes in a blue straight out of Lake Malawi in East Africa. And the bright orange Clownfish looks like it could be swimming directly out of a group of soft coral. For a retail price of ¥1,500 grab a …