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. [...]
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 [...]
The Firewheel folks in the land down under asked Julie if she would like to review their 10 shot fully automatic rubber band machine gun. Since she is female and a grown up, she was not really interested. When Julie asked me if I would like to review this product, I asked my fifteen-year-old son [...]
Product Requirements: Two 3V CR2032 Batteries Sometimes it pays to blend in with the crowd and not catch any unwanted attention. However, there are some times when getting others’ notice is exactly what is wanted, whether it be for safety or individual expression. For those that have the need of high visibility with a twist, [...]
Okay, I know that this may be bordering on the "Too Much Information" threshold, but I’ll confess that when I was a kid, I loved magnets. Not many things would make me happier than coming across an old speaker that I could dismantle to remove its magnet disk. Ball bearings were the other thing that [...]
Product Requirements: Too much time on your hands…and you must be over the age of three – preferably over the age of six When I was a kid, I loved building things. As I progressed through childhood it mattered not whether the medium was wooden blocks, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, or eventually Legos and my [...]
Product Requirements: Device: Either distilled water or water that has been cooked the allowed to return to room temperature, a drop of liquid dish soap, one AA battery How are you with live fish? I wish that I could say I have a thriving aquarium tucked into a corner of my house, but that would [...]
Product Requirements: A source of solar power The Tomy Flip Flap Solar Powered Plant is a product that almost makes me sad. Imagine working in a tiny cubicle with no room for a live plant. Or let’s say that instead of a green thumb, yours happens to be black. Maybe you are the type that [...]
Ready for a cube toy that is unique, weird and addictive? UberOrbs (recently renamed from Magnetoids) will be the first item your co-workers will pick up when they visit your desk. What are they? They are two highly polished, elliptical shaped magnets that are made of a of smooth ceramic or glass like mineral [...]
Robot fanatic? Bendable action figure maven? Junk art connoisseur? If you can identify with any of these titles, then you will probably get a chuckle from the CanDroid robot construction kit toy from Hogwild. This metal kit gives you all the parts necessary to build a retro looking robot thingy that will stand guard [...]
What fascinates we humans so much about robots? From the menacing Gort in the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, to the lovable Rosie the robot maid in the Jetson’s, robots continue to amuse and capture our imagination. Is it that we want to use them as beasts of burden, or as friendly [...]
Product Requirements: Device: Television with RCA inputs 03/18/04 Update: Pac-Man TV Game review added below The other day, a package arrived from Jakks Pacific. There in the bottom of the box was a Spongebob Squarepants TV game system and an Activision TV game system. I guessed that the folks at Jakks Pacific must have noticed [...]
You might say that I am into the import scene… No, I am not attempting a remake of Fast and The Furious on the deserted stretch of road near my house, I have never owned a car with neon tubes of any kind, and the only time I use Nitrous is when I am having [...]
I have always loved tanks. There is something about the treaded behemoths that gets my testosterone running in rivers and before I know it, I am beating my fists against my chest and grunting like Tim Allen. So, when the opportunity came along to take a look at the Combat DigiQ series of radio-controlled tanks, [...]
A Perplexing Positional Puzzle for Patient Persons I’m a gadgeteer. It’s true. Sometimes I have to have the latest and greatest no matter the cost (financial ouch). So why am I so impressed about this $15 borderline electronic device? Read on, I dare you! I saw this ingenious contraption at a friend’s house. The online [...]
11/26/01 – It has been almost a year since this review first came out. During that time, Atollo has only continued to improve their product. I was recently sent the newer version of the toy, and I would like to share my observations with you all… Do you remember how creative you became when you [...]
The KidGenics 60 Second Time Machine Power Toothbrush We all know that good oral hygiene is important, but as a parent it can be one of the most tedious things that we have to teach to our children. When we aren’t asking them when the last time they brushed their teeth was (usually because their [...]
What makes a product popular? I’ve asked myself that question for the past year after having posted a review of the Japanese Bit Char-G radio controlled car. That review continues to be one of the top 10 viewed pages on this site. It also has the most active comment forum here too. It’s amazing that [...]
One of the best things about being a Gadgeteer is that I get the chance to play with all the toys that I never had as a child. We didn’t have all that much going up, so I’m really making up for it now. ) It also helps that I’m still a big kid at [...]
Can you believe that I’ve never had a remote controlled toy car? Yes, it’s sad, but true… When I was a kid, I remember my Dad would go to the local hobby store to race small slot cars. I always thought they were so cool, but he didn’t have a track set up at home [...]