Mar 10

Pigs Beware: ThinkGeek Unveils New Jumbo Angry Birds Plush

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, Toys, video games

Angry Birds Plush

There are Angry Birds toys, Angry Birds cakes, even an Angry Birds board game, but now you can order your very own Angry Bird, thanks to the folks at ThinkGeek. 
This Jumbo Angry Birds Plush will set you back $49.99 list, but provide you endless hours of cuddling, squeezing, and pig smashing fun. The plush is of the ubiquitous Red Bird and comes in at a radius of 15 inches: big enough to topple your friends when they get too close to your eggs and look imposing on the couch when you have guests over. 
The Red Bird is all alone at the moment, but he’s in stock and available now. Thanks to a licensing agreement with Rovio, ThinkGeek is planning additional Angry Birds merchandise in the future, including huge plush pigs for the birds to fight, and some of the other birds from the game.  
Check out a video of the Angry Birds Plush behind the jump.
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Feb 18

Guitar Shaped NES Controller is Ready to Rock

Posted in: controller, diy, nintendo, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games

NES Paul

This guitar-shaped controller for the original Nintendo Entertainment System will look wonderfully right next to the NES Controller Coffee Table we discovered a little while back. Over at Hack A Day, one user has built what she’s calling the NES Paul (see what she did there?) to be a controller that looks and feels like a guitar for a game she’s building at the same time that will feature video game music from classic games, called 8-Bit Hero. 
The controller is entirely hand-made, made from wood and a few other easily obtained materials. The wiring and button controls were all pulled from an XBox 360 controller that was disassembled and transformed into the d-pad, start and select buttons, and the A and B buttons on the neck of the guitar. 
The whole thing is pretty incredible for a DIY project, and with Guitar Hero now dead, you never know – maybe 8-Bit Hero will take off. She’ll have to find a way to mass produce those NES Pauls though.
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Feb 16

Toy Fair 2011: Gearlog’s Top Picks

Posted in: Tech Toys, Today's Chili, Toys

toy fair 2011 stormtroopers.jpg

With the end of another Toy Fair looming, we’ve rounded up five of our favorite things from this year’s show. Check out the list, after the jump.
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Feb 15

New Hot Wheels Toy Is Basically a Flip Camera With Wheels

Posted in: Cars, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, Toys

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During our tour of the Mattel booth at this year’s Toy Fair, the company repeatedly hammered home the point that it’s looking for creative new ways to sell its Hot Wheels line to older folks–those who grew up on the toys–including a new Funny or Die video starring Jeremy “Mercury Poisoning” Piven. 
The new Video Racer line is hands-down the coolest innovation for the brand. These standard Hot Wheels-sized vehicles have a built-in video came on their hood and an LCD on the bottom. They’re really tiny Flip Cameras with wheels. Set them on a track and they’re shoot up to 12 minutes of video footage at a 1:64 scale.
They charge and sync via USB and ship with simple video editing software, so you can make your own highlight real. The cars will be out this fall for $60.
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Feb 15

Water Balloon Faucet Attachment Means War

Posted in: Tech Toys, Today's Chili

water balloon faucet.jpg

I had two thoughts in rapid succession when I saw the Splash Party at Toy Fair this week. The first was: “amazing.” The second was: “who is going to let their kid stick on of those things on their faucet?”
After attaching this thing to a faucet, you will become an unstoppable water balloon-making machine. It has a balloon-sized nozzle on the bottom and three jutting wings that make balloon tying (the hard part) quick and painless. The Splash Party ships with 80 water balloons, which should keep you busy for a few minutes. 

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Feb 15

Air Swimmers Flying Shark Blimp

Posted in: Tech Toys, Today's Chili, Toys

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WMC had folks crowded around its booth at Toy Fair yesterday, thanks almost entirely to its new Air Swimmers line. The concept is pretty simple–the blimps are basically remote controlled helicopters built into mylar balloons. One is shaped like a shark, the other is shaped like a clownfish. The tail, meanwhile, serves as a rudder. 
You can do all of the normal remote control blimp things with the Air Swimmers–in fact, the guy from the company kept dive bombing us as we were attempting to take pictures of the thing. 
The Flying Shark and Flying Clownfish are available now, for $39.99 a piece. 

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Feb 15

Fijit: A Creepy, Cool Robot for Girls – Video

Posted in: Robots Robotics, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, Toys

fijit.JPG

After witnessing Mattel’s new line of robotic toys for for girls, I’ll say this–Fijits are cool. And really, really creepy. The toys have a decidedly Teletubby like quality to them. They’re made of a soft, silicone-like material. They respond to voice commands, dance, and can have something approaching a conversation.  Fijit can recognize words and has more than 150 pre-programmed phrases.

The Fijits also have “Sonic Chirp” technology, which can unlock pre-installed features with external devices like mobile apps, TV commercials, etc.. She’s hitting the market in fall for $50.

Video of dancing, joking, and one really, really enthusiastic spokeswoman, after the jump.

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Feb 15

Tetris Goes Analog

Posted in: Games, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games

toy fair tetris link.jpg

Turning Tetris into a board game seems like a bit of a no-brainer, doesn’t it(see also: Donkey Kong Jenga)? Techno Source finally managed to bring the perennial favorite puzzle game into the analog world with Tetris Link, a decidedly Connect Four-esque take on the title.
Up to four players can compete, each assigned a different color. The game progresses around the circle, with the players rolling a die that tells them what shaped piece to play. They can drop the piece anywhere on the board. Points are scored when players connect three pieces of the same color.
The game runs $20. It’s recommended for ages six and up (choking hazards being what they are).

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Feb 15

iPong Trainer: Ping-Pong for the Lonely – Video

Posted in: Games, Tech Toys, Today's Chili

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Have you driven all of your friends away with you ping-pong obsession? Good news, Joola has your back. The hourglass-shaped iPong will shoot 100 balls at you, so you can train for that table tennis tournament at work. The black tower features three different kinds of adjustable spins, including underspin, topspin, and heavy topspin. You can also adjust the frequency from easy to advanced. 

According to the company, this version of the iPong is improved for 2011, though it doesn’t say how. The four pound device will run you about $600. Or you can, pick up an old one for less than $200 over at Amazon…

Check out video of the 2011 version in action, after the jump. 

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Feb 15

Toy Fair 2011: A Whole Mess of Stormtroopers

Posted in: Star Wars, Tech Toys, Today's Chili

toy fair 2011 stormtroopers.jpg

Not much more to say than that, really…

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