Taking a few notes from the Hindenburg disaster, China’s Amax Toys has created what appears to be a remote control flying zeppelin letting you recreate the glory days air travel. But upon closer examination, it’s actually a dual-rotor RC helicopter with a rollcage designed to only look like a blimp. More »
Toy Fair is where America’s children’s dreams come true—sometimes. After visiting the 2013 edition at NYC’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the kid in me was terrified as much as he was delighted. I don’t know if any boy or girl would play with some of the things I saw… or run. More »
Oh, the wondrous experience that is Toy Fair. And that particular experience, as you may know, includes anything from NERF hoop games and foam fusillades, to boxing robots and itty-bitty, tinkering novelties. To make things even better, though, Hasbro was kind enough to invite us over to its 2013 showcase in NYC, where the prodigious toy maker was exhibiting some Furby amigos known as Party Rockers, Iron Man’s Sonic Blasting figurine and Arc Fx Mission life-sized mask, a Sesame Street play-and-learning system for toddlers, as well as a Transformers Rescue Bots Beam Box which enhances the experience by allowing the toys to mesh into a game that can be played on a TV set. There was also a little Star Wars and Star Trek action, of course — and the good news is you, too, can see it all, just head past the break to take a look at the vast gallery and a quick video showing off a few of Hasbro’s new toys.
Gallery: Hasbro’s Toy Fair 2013 booth tour
Filed under: Misc
Source: Hasbro
TailorToys recently participated in the American International Toy Fair with its very cool PowerUp conversion kits for paper airplanes and boats. One of the most interesting of the products the company was showing off was the PowerUp 3.0 smartphone controlled paper airplane. This kit allows you to build your own paper airplanes with a small propeller in the back that can be controlled using a smartphone.
Version 3.0 of the kit includes the Smart aerial unit allows your homemade paper airplanes to fly for 10 min. The aircraft can be controlled via any smartphone that features Bluetooth 4.0 technology. The PowerUp 3.0 kit can attach to any airplane design constructed using a standard sheet of A4 or 8.5 x 11″ copier paper.
This kit will launch in August of 2013 for kids 12 and up. Another interesting toy that the company is showing off that the fair is the new PowerUp Boat. This is a paper boat conversion kit that features a wind up motor. The boat kit is designed to attach to any paper boat made from a standard sheet of copier paper. This kit will launch in July of 2013.
The company also has some other interesting products such as the PowerUp Templates offering 40 full-color themed paper airplane templates to complement both the new PowerUp 3.0 and the PowerUp 2.0 kits. The templates have detailed instructions to create cool paper airplanes. The template kit will be available in May of 2013.
[via TailorToys]
TailorToys shows off a smartphone controlled paper airplane kit is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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We haven’t checked in with littleBits in quite some time and, honestly, it was a bit of a surprise to find the electronic tinker toys hiding in a quiet corner of the floor at Toy Fair this year. The property has grown quite a bit in the past few years. For one, it’s no longer a “project” but an actual shipping product. And in the last year founder Ayah Bdeir has turned it from a great concept into an actual company with serious investors. For those of you unfamiliar with littleBits, the goal is to do for electronics what LEGO did for structural engineering. The small color coded “blocks” snap together with magnets allowing even a novice to create a functioning circuit in seconds. The magnets will only connect in one orientation, preventing you from pushing current through a component in the wrong direction and ruining it. Ayah’s inspiration is not just LEGO, but object oriented programing languages that simplify building code, allowing developers to focus on the more creative aspects of software making. By doing some of the heavy logical lifting for you, littleBits hopes that potential electrical engineers and prototypers can focus on the goal rather than the minutia of laying out a breadboard or soldering resistors in place.
The latest version of the platform, v0.3, debuted just a couple of months ago and not only brings new pieces to the littleBits universe, but also adds legs to the blocks for improved stability when piecing together your projects. Currently there are four kits available: the three piece Teaser kit for $29, the seven piece Holiday kit for $49, the 10 piece Starter kit for $89 and the 14 piece Extended kit for $149. (You can also buy individual Bits for between $10 and $35.) If you’re in need of inspiration there are a number of projects for you peruse on the site and the company is even considering packaging them up as pre-planned kits. Though, unlike other electronics project bundles (such as the ubiquitous BrushBot), the magnetic pieces can easily be disassembled and re-purposed if you tire of your creation. While the concept has its roots in brands like Snap Circuits, littleBits definitely provides more freedom than those single purpose offerings. For more, check out the video after the break.
Gallery: littleBits hands-on
Filed under: Misc
Cloudrobot is, potentially, the worst name we’ve ever heard for a product. Thankfully, if this robotic pugilist ever does come to market, we’re pretty confident it’ll be under a different brand. These fighters are not nearly as cute or pocketable as the Battroborgs that punched their way through the Engadget compound recently. In fact, these guys are down right intimidating. The product of six developers and engineers based out of Budapest, the 16-inch tall bots pack 21 motors, controlled by an AVR chip, that allow them a stunning range of motion and precision. The movements themselves are passed to the bot by a computer, which is currently running a crude simulation / video game. The punches, blocks and footwork are all triggered by a standard gamepad connected via Bluetooth.
Rather than risk serious damage to these expensive machines, their all metal bodies are protected from blows by Everlast-branded boxing gloves. And, in fact, they rarely come in contact with each other (at least in their current form). For now points are counted in the virtual environment, rather than in landed hooks and jabs. Which might not be bad since the bots gain quite a bit of mustard on their shots thanks to electromagnets in their feet that keep them anchored to the ring. Primarily those magnets are for stability, so that the occasional glancing blow doesn’t send them toppling over, but it also lets them “sit down” on their punches, just like a real boxer. The company is currently looking for an American partner to help them produce and market the robots. It also has a rather ambitious target price of $300 per combatant, which may have them making some tradeoffs in the final design. The best thing we can do, though, is let Cloudrobot speak for itself, so check out the video after the break.
Gallery: Cloudrobot hands-on
Filed under: Robots
Look, we loved what Hasbro did with Lazer Tag last year. But, let’s be honest, that thing was pure testosterone. We’re not saying the ladies couldn’t get down, but the alien-blasting AR solo games weren’t exactly designed with little girls in mind. Rebelle ditches the lasers for NERF arrows and slaps a supposedly female-friendly coat of purple and pink paint on the whole thing. While the blasters still operate without the optional Mission Central App cradle ($15), it’s once you get the whole kit together that things really start to fall into place. The attachment lets you drop in an iPhone (4, 4S or 5) and fire up the free companion app. (And don’t worry Google fans, an Android version of the app along with a universal mount are also in the works.) Rather than focus on solo games and individual competition, the Rebelle Mission Central app encourages kids to form squads and compete not just for supremacy over their friends but also for in-game perks, like accessories for their avatars. Those virtual personas can be completely customized, allowing girls to fully embrace their secret agent fantasies.Of course, you can also document your foam-arrow battles and share them.
The blasters themselves are pretty standard NERF fare and all some basic variation on a crossbow design. The rotating barrel Crossbow ($25) has a pump-action and a rail for installing the cradle, a feature that’s not on some of the smaller models like the pocketable, single-shot Sneak Attackers. The other model currently slated for cradle compatibility is the Heartbreaker Bow ($20), which sticks with a more traditional bow and arrow design and has a dash more wickedness to the design than some of the other blasters. The whole Rebelle line is expected to hit shelves in the fall — so little brothers beware.
Gallery: NERF Rebelle hands-on
Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
For all the Star Wars news lately, there hasn’t been much that affects what action figures we’ll be seeing for the next few years. For now? We’re getting new recreations of classic outfits from the movies. More »
Last year was basically the biggest year ever for Marvel, with the Avengers movie blowing everyone’s expectations out of the water. So what do you make action figures of this year? Plenty, actually. More »
Where was Sandboxr when we were kids? Instead of dragging our parents around on a hunt for the perfect figurine, we could have used the company’s new web app to easily manipulate a virtual model and get a 3D printed statuette in the exact pose we wanted. There’s compensation for the lost opportunities of our childhood, however. The creation tool allows for customized accessories, scenes and sizing, and it’s expected to have reasonable prices of about $12 for a 2.5-inch character and over $20 for a 3.5-inch version. The best news may simply be the likelihood of a figurine existing in the first place — Sandboxr sees itself as a platform for everyone from 3D animators through to game developers and dedicated toy companies, many of which can use existing 3D models to start a collectible line. The printing service is currently invitation-only and plans a Kickstarter fundraising drive to scale larger, but it’s easy to see an end to the days of limited edition figurines — much to the delight of our inner child.
Via: Wired
Source: Sandboxr
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