Jul 16

Mario Kart Wii ChoroQ Hybrid Car and Pinball

Posted in: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, Today's Chili, Toys

At yesterday’s Tokyo Toy Show Takara Tomy demonstrated their great new cars, a sort-of combination of the previous Mario Kart Wii Q-Steer with their popular ChoroQ series.

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The ChoroQ Mario Kart uses infrared controllers which have all the advantages of the original Nintendo game. Players can get power-ups and have an arsenal including banana skins. There are even sound effects! Check out the special funky track too.

Plus there was a Mario Kart Wii Grand Prix Race pinball game, set for release in Japan from August. Each character is represented by a ball in his or her trademark color.

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Jul 15

Kinopuyo robotic mushroom dances, lights up

Posted in: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, Today's Chili, Toys

There has been a cluster of these toys in Japan in the last few years: little moving cute creatures intended to sit on your desk and cheer you up.

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The Kinopuyo is a robotic mushroom that bobs from side to side and lights up. This amiable chap has sensors that respond to vibrations, allowing you to interact with your new friend.

The Kinopuyo should be in stores in Japan from the end of November or online.

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Jul 15

Popcorn no Te grabber for lazy snackers

Posted in: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, Today's Chili, Toys

The Potechi no Te became quite a conversation topic earlier this year for being a rather silly tool for grabbing potato chips one at a time.

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Now comes the follow-up: the Popcorn no Te. Yes, you guessed it…it’s for picking up and consuming your popcorn one piece at a time. Wow, that’s useful AND efficient!

You can get your Popcorn no Te in Japan from October.

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Jul 15

ChouChou: robotic butterfly in a jar

Posted in: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, Today's Chili, Toys

Another of the highlights of the Tokyo Toy Show was this mesmerizing ChouChou Robotic Butterfly from Tenyo.

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Ever dreamed of keeping a butterfly in a jar forever? Now you can! As you can see, just tapping the lid makes the “butterfly” fly around in a surprisingly lifelike way.

The ChouChou is set for release this September and will be available online.

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Jul 15

Choenbako robotic money bank

Posted in: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, Today's Chili, Toys

Today we took our annual trip to the extravaganza that is the Tokyo Toy Show and one of the first things we spotted was the Choenbako from Happinet, the monkey follow-up to the Choken Bako.

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It’s a mini robotic monkey that very enthusiastically puts your coins into the safekeeping of the money bank below. As you can tell from our video, he’s a jolly fellow who comes in several types!

Don’t expect this out on the market until September but we predict he will be just as popular as his canine chums.

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Jun 22

AIR for Android app turns Nexus One into slot car controller (video)

Posted in: adobe, Android, awesome, diy, flash, hack, lego, mod, Today's Chili, Toys, video
AIR for Android, a Phidgets motor control, a slot car set, and a custom built LEGO housing for good measure — if this project isn’t meant for Engadget, we don’t know what is! The premise is pretty straightforward: Grant Skinner uses his Nexus One to send accelerometer data to a desktop PC, which then sends it to a motor controller. In turn, the controller tells the cars how fast to go. Tilt forward a little bit, and the car accelerates a little bit. Lean forward a lot, and it picks up speed. Sure beats those cheesy plastic triggers we used as kids! For the interface (which is an SWF that’s sent to the handset from the host PC) our man designed a gas pedal with a series of lights that tells you how fast you’re going. Let’s just say we wouldn’t mind a setup like this for the Engadget game room. Video after the break.

Continue reading AIR for Android app turns Nexus One into slot car controller (video)

AIR for Android app turns Nexus One into slot car controller (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 10

Peeing Dog Toy: more wacky canine robots

Posted in: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, Today's Chili, Toys

From the makers of the Choken Bako comes the latest bizarre robotic pet toy! The Peeing Dog is a mini pooch that waddles, walks and “pees”.

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All right, so it’s only water (or whatever you put in) but the effect is still pretty realistic. It’s not released till July and some details are vague, but as you can tell from the video…this just might be the surprise hit of the summer.

You can pre-order a Peeing Dog from JapanTrendShop now.

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Jun 01

Mario Kart RC game brings the Mushroom Cup to your living room

Posted in: Games, Today's Chili, Toys
Sure this ain’t the first time we’ve seen Mario Kart step outside the game console, but we’ll be damned if Tomy’s Japanese line of RC cars don’t inspire a serious case of gadget lust. In addition to the usual remote controlled shenanigans, these guys have the ability to “shoot” virtual shells and bananas at other cars; power-ups are indicated on the controller via LEDs; and cars contain infrared sensors so you know when you’ve been hit with a weapon (which causes you to rumble and slow down) Cars are available from Amazon Japan to the tune of ¥2,730 (around $30) each.

Mario Kart RC game brings the Mushroom Cup to your living room originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 25

Parrot AR.Drone to get official launch, price, street date at E3 2010 (update: Android client video!)

Posted in: augmented reality, AugmentedReality, e3, gaming, remote control, RemoteControl, Today's Chili, Toys
If you’ve been chomping at the bit to get your hands on the AR.Drone iPhone controlled, augmented reality-sporting, WiFi quadricopter (and you know we have been) we’ve good news for you. According to a brief blip on Parrot’s Facebook page, the thing will get its official US launch, complete with pricing and street date, at E3 come June 15. Sort of makes WowWee’s Tinkerbell look silly in comparison, don’t it?

Update: As our main man Kefs has pointed out, the gang at Parrot demoed the AR.Drone Android client at Google I/O last month week. Now we’re waiting on news of a BlackBerry client — which we sure hope makes the scene at E3! See it in action after the break.

Continue reading Parrot AR.Drone to get official launch, price, street date at E3 2010 (update: Android client video!)

Parrot AR.Drone to get official launch, price, street date at E3 2010 (update: Android client video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 May 2010 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 08

Star Wars Mimobots, Series 5: The Force Is Strong with these Ones

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

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Geeks, get out your plastic. The designers at Mimobot have dipped into the Star Wars well once again, and the fifth series of its Star Wars line of USB Flash drives looks extremely cool.

The stormtrooper Mimobot, you see, comes with a removable helmet. You won’t know if you’ve got Luke in disguise or Han in disguise until you remove it. How cool is that?

Other figures in the series include R2-D2 (finally!), Obi-Wan, and a Jawa. Each one comes loaded with desktop wallpapers, icons, avatars, and screensavers (they’re Flash drives, after all), and they come in 2GB to 16GB capacities. Prices start at $29.95.

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