First of all– whoa– these are some horrifying  looking little  monsters toys.  The Huru Humi clan feature digital faces, a speaker built into the chest, and since they are marketed … [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Kid Gadgets

Tagged: doll, Toy

Huru Humi Heidi and Friends originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 3, 2009 at 6:03 pm.

How would you like a robotic bug that can react to sound and light? I hate bugs, but I’d take a HEXBUG any day. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but you give her a crab and she will remember you forever … [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Spotlight Gadgets

Tagged: Robot, Toy

Spotlight Gadget – HEXBUG originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 4, 2009 at 6:49 am.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to play with all sorts of R/C (remote controlled) cars,planes and helicopters. I’ve even flown an
R/C UFO. But until now, I’d never controlled
an R/C submarine. But now I can say that I have, because Trend Times Toys sent me the Sub-Sonic XP R/C Submarine to review.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

Remote Controlled Sub-Sonic XP Submarine Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 27, 2008 at 6:00 pm.

There are all kinds of small RC flying toys on the market these days. We’ve reviewed our share of them here on the Gadgeteer. They are fun to play with, but I really am not very good at flying them. If I take one outdoors, it ends up on the roof. If I fly indoors, I tend to crash them into walls, people’s heads, etc. Some people can fly RC toys and some can’t. If you find yourself in the same group as me, then you’ll love the Intelli UFO from Trend Times Toys. Anyone can fly this one!

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

Remote Controlled Intelli UFO Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 27, 2008 at 7:30 am.

I’ve loved playing with magnets since I was a kid. I remember that anytime something in the house would break that might have a motor in it, I would snatch it out of the trash, dismantle it and retrieve the
magnets from the motor. I even had a little metal fishing tackle box with tools and scavenged magnets that I kept under my bed. I was an odd child.
) Now that I’m an adult, I’m still odd and I still love  magnets. That’s why I was really excited to be able to review two magnetic puzzle sets. One from NeoCube and one from CyberCube.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: magnets, Puzzle, Toy

NeoCube and CyberCube Neodymium Magnet Sets Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 16, 2008 at 9:00 am.

This week’s video quick look review comes from the Gadgeteer Kid. He takes a look at the Rechargeable Desktop Mini R/C Ferrari FXX Enzo car from Brando’s Toy Shop.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys, Video Reviews

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

The Gadgeteer Kid’s Video Quick Look at the Mini R/C Ferrari FXX Enzo Set from Brando originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 14, 2008 at 8:45 pm.

Last year at this time, I reviewed my very first RC helicopter. It was the PicooZ from HobbyTron. I guess it’s only fitting that almost one year later, that I review a step up from the PiccoZ; today I’m going tell you about the Hornet 3.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

HobbyTron Hornet 3 Series Mini RC Helicopter originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 4, 2007 at 12:50 pm.

Here’s another indoor remote controlled airplane for those of you that have problems controlling RC helicopters. This is the Aero Soarer from Takara Tomy. Brando sent one over for me to tear up. I mean play with. )

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

Takara Tomy Aero Soarer RC Airplane originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 29, 2007 at 7:56 pm.

In the past 12 months, HobbyTron has
sent me several RC helicopters to review, but today I’m going to tell you about
something a little different. HobbyTron has a new offering; the Silverlit Palm-Z
RC airplane. Silverlit is the same
company that created the tiny PicooZ helicopter.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

Silverlit Palm-Z Mini RC Indoor Airplane originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 29, 2007 at 7:15 pm.

HobbyTron sells a lot of really cool RC flying and driving toys. They recently sent me the BladeRunner II. I was really surprised that they would trust me with another RC helicopter as I had totally destroyed the AH-64 Apache helicopter that they had sent me earlier in the year. After I had tried it, I was convinced that RC copters were just too hard to control. I’m happy to report that this is not the case with the Bladerunner II.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

Bladerunner II RC Helicopter originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 29, 2007 at 10:15 am.

If you’re a fan of tiny RC (remote controlled) race cars, you’ll have a blast with the Q-Steer from Takara Tomy. Brando sent me the Mazda RX-8 version. He carries several car types including a Hummer, Subaru, Nissan and Toyota.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

Takara Tomy Q-Steer RC Race Car originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 29, 2007 at 8:00 am.

Did you ever want a drum kit when you were a kid, but your parents vetoed the idea because you didn’t have the space and they didn’t want to deal with all of the crash boom bangs? What about now, do you still fancy yourself as the next Larry Mullen Jr. of U2? If so, I have a nifty little electronic drum pad from Dream Cheeky that just might start you down the path of stardom. Or not…

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys, Musical Gear

Tagged: Toy

Dream Cheeky USB Roll-Up Drum Kit originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 8, 2007 at 11:30 am.

Are you a wannabe guitar god that can’t even play a C chord to save your life? Or do you have a child that keeps touching your shiny new Fender Strat with their little peanut butter and jelly encrusted fingers? Then I have an inexpensive ‘guitar’ for you or them to check out. It’s the mi Jam Guitar from B2.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Musical Gear

Tagged: Instrument, Toy

mi Jam Guitar and Mini Mixer originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 11, 2007 at 5:35 pm.

Ambient devices have been popping up all over the place these days. There is the Ambient Orb, Ambient Umbrella, Ambient Dashboard, and now we have the Nabaztag/Tag Wireless WiFi Rabbit. Yes, you read that correctly, a WiFi rabbit. And a cute one at that. My good friends at Think Geek were kind enough to send me a Nabaztag/Tag for review.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys, Wireless

Tagged: Toy

Nabaztag/Tag WiFi Smart Rabbit originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 5, 2007 at 9:08 pm.

I’m not a kid anymore, but I still enjoy playing with
construction toys on occasion. I guess it has something to do with the fact that
I always wanted a LEGO set when I was child,
but never was fortunate enough to receive any. The closest that I got to LEGO
was Tinkertoys,
Lincoln Logs and my
Dad’s old Erector set.
They were all fun to play with, but they weren’t LEGO. Today I’m going to tell
you about ENGINO construction toys. These
award winning toys are from Cyprus, and bear a resemblance to LEGO. Are they
better than the world famous toy, or just a knock off? Let’s see…

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: Toy

Engino Dual Mini-Pack Flying Object originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 19, 2007 at 8:52 am.

Do you remember my review of the highly popular PicooZ RC Helicopter? The PicooZ is a really small radio controlled indoor flying toy with a price tag of less than $40. I had a lot of fun with that review, so I decided to go completely nuts and try out the $300 Carbon Butterfly indoor RC airplane from Plantraco.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

Plantraco Carbon Butterfly R/C Airplane originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 24, 2007 at 9:08 pm.

Every year, there are a handful of toys that end up on the holiday gift wish lists of kids all over the country. I can remember 5 years ago when it was the Bit Char-G / Microsizer tiny remote controlled cars. Even my Dad stood in line at Radio Shack to get one (for himself!). This year one of the popular toys is again a remote controlled device. But this time it is not a car… it’s a tiny helicopter called the PicooZ.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: RC Toy, Toy

PicooZ RC Helicopter originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 11, 2006 at 5:41 pm.

Remember my iFish review? I’m amazed that the video in that particular review continues to be one of the most viewed videos on this site. If you are a fan of novelty toys like the iFish, you should enjoy this review of Sega Toys latest offering: the idog mini. My friends at AudioCubes.com recently sent me the Blue version of this plastic dog.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: Toy

Sega Toys idog mini originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 7, 2006 at 9:51 pm.

A short time ago my wife Meredyth, a more sedate guest contributor, showed me these two devices from Brando USB, and asked me if I’d like to do a review on them. As a serious fan of non-serious office toys, I was delighted. “What do I have to do?” I asked. “Play with them a lot, then do some writing,” she replied. Never being one to turn down a chance to do something extremely silly, I accepted the offer, brought them into my lab, and got down to the important business of having fun.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: Toy

USB Missile Launcher and USB Circus Cannon originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 29, 2006 at 6:13 pm.

One of my favorite computer games that I had on my Commodore 64 was called Little Computer People by Activision. Think of it as The SIMs, but just with one person and really really simple. Back in the day it was a lot of fun to just watch the little person walking around his house doing all sorts of activities. That game was on the market about 20 years ago. These days you don’t need a computer to have your own little computer person on your desk. You just need a cube.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: Toy

Cube World Series 2 originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 24, 2006 at 12:00 pm.

When I was a kid, I remember my Dad having this large Yellow Celestron telescope. He was very proud of that telescope and had a special foot locker that he kept it in. The thing was that I think he only actually used the scope maybe once or twice. It was difficult to find a place where lights from houses and street lamps would not ruin his star gazing attempts. One of the times that he did go out, it was in the middle of Winter. So he came back home late at night about half frozen. Hmmmm… fun. NOT! That’s why I had to think of him, when Brando asked if I was interested in reviewing the Sega Toys HomeStar planetarium.

… [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: Toy

Sega Toys HomeStar Planetarium originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 24, 2006 at 7:18 am.

Last week I reviewed the iFish and this week I’m taking a look at another silly, but fun little gadget from Brando’s toy shop. This time around it is the Potan Poton from Tomy. I was told that the name refers to the sound that water makes when it drips. While that reference won’t be obvious to some people, it’s hard to mistake the fact that this is a toy houseplant. It looks similar … [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: Toy

Potan Poton originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 13, 2006 at 7:03 pm.

And now for a review of a product that is both wacky and different. The iFish from Sega Toys, the same people that brought us the iDog. I wasn’t too sure what I would have to say about this combination speaker and robot pet thingy when Brando asked if I would review it, but I thought it would at least be something offbeat. So here goes…

The iFish is about 8 inches long by 4.5 inches tall and is … [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Audio / Video Gear, Geek Toys

Tagged: Toy

Sega Toys iFish originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 6, 2006 at 6:13 pm.

It’s not often that a product brings out the total Scrooge in me, but somehow
or another this one certainly did. Perhaps it was the incessant noise produced
when going to this product’s webpage, or perhaps it was because the noise
actually produced by this USB driven toy was even worse in person…I don’t
know. In any case, I am talking about the USB
Geek Drumming
Santa, a … [visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Geek Toys, Miscellaneous

Tagged: Desktop, Toy

USB Geek Drumming Santa originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 5, 2005 at 7:00 pm.

I first saw one of these things on
display at the local fair. They were asking $50 to $150 for sets like
this, and I thought they were REALLY cool, but not $That$ cool. So I
decided look them up on Ebay later that day and took some pics with my
camera phone (I’d never remember anything without my camera phone!).
And much like a lot of novelty items, sure enough, there was a
mess of them available on Ebay, so I went ahead and bought visit site to read more]

Filed in categories: Geek Toys

Tagged: Toy

Mist of Dreams Fog Lamp originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 23, 2005 at 5:53 pm.