Hasta La Gadget!

Here’s a surprising use of 3D technology (sort of). Imperial Toy has released Optrix 3-D Bubbles and says that sales are already brisk. Designed to be used outdoors on a sunny day, the toys lets kids see “magical images” inside their bubbles. They’re available in four styles: stars, hearts, lightening bolts, and butterflies.

Each package includes viewing glasses, a bubble wand, bubble tray, and an 8 ounce bottle of Super Miracle Bubble Solution. While this may not be high-quality 3D, you’ve got to admire the company’s perfect timing. 3D films are crushing the box office and they’ve got an unusual 3D toy. I hope they’re working on an Avatar tie-in. Or at least Alice in Wonderland.

You may be 32 36, but that’s not to say that the kid in you is long gone. At this week’s Toy Fair in New York City, VTech took a welcome step away from the landline handset department and tried its hand with a few swank toys. Up first is the $59.99 MobiGo (shown after the break), a handheld gaming system designed for minds within humans aged 3 to 7. Seen as a little tike’s GameBoy, the device supports touch inputs and even features a QWERTY keyboard, both of which can be used to fish, color, draw, play on-screen instruments and generally enrich those malleable brain cells. Potentially more interesting, however, is the Flip; described as the planet’s first children’s animated e-reader, this $59.99 device has a 4.3-inch color touchscreen, a built-in dictionary and a QWERTY keyboard. Look out, Kindle!

Continue reading VTech launches kid-friendly MobiGo handheld gaming system, Flip e-reader

VTech launches kid-friendly MobiGo handheld gaming system, Flip e-reader originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The meteoric success of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games has led to some pretty cheesy knock-offs, but WowWee‘s Paper Jamz is something different. Sure, it’s probably designed to ride a little bit on the coattails of those two popular video console games, but these nearly paper-thin–and sometimes actual paper–instruments are no game. They’re designed to make and play real music.

Each product in the Paper Jamz line is self-contained. The electric guitar, which features three modes: Rhythm, Play and Freeplay, works a little like a real guitar. Air guitar moves won’t work. Instead, you touch different points on the fret and actually strum over the guitar string image. Selling for $24.99, the Paper Jamz guitar uses capacitive touch technology to recognize your input.

The prototype I played with recognized which frets I placed my fingers on but saw them as “bar chords”, which means your finger is draped over all six guitar strings. WowWee execs promise that the final guitar will allow users to touch individual “strings” and play real chords. Each guitar will ship with three built-in songs that you can play along with.

More after the jump.

“But mommy…it’s like your Kindle and Daddy’s iPod Touch! I want one NOW!” Yep, that’s how the discovery of Fisher Price’s iXL is going to go down in the Toys R US aisle, like it or not. In what we can only compare to a shrunken Entourage Edge, the $80 clamshell device is meant for 3-to-6 year olds that are just learning to read and write, and it packs a color, resistive touchscreen and a plastic stylus. While some tots may complain about the not-very-finger-friendly display or the rather chunky and heavy design, Fisher gets that it’s all about the software. In addition to the “app based” home screen (which we were told was modeled after the iPhone or iPad), the iXL comes preloaded with games, an animated story book and other applications — additional children’s e-books will be available for download from its online store when the device goes on sale this summer. Using a Mac or a PC, parents can also sideload those illustrated titles, as well as pictures and MP3s using the onboard USB port. Well, you heard the kids… they want it now!

Fisher-Price iXL is a tweener that no kid needs convincing of originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It only took 126 career hops — the first one being a soulless teen model — for Barbie to land a job as a computer software engineer. All we know now is that she has a dual monitor setup and a picture of Ken at her cubicle. Oh, and she uses Linux on the world’s smallest netbook.

Barbie slides into the cubicle, becomes a computer software engineer originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 23:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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