GadgetReview

Balloons have really gotten a bad rap lately.  To usher in a new era of balloon appreciation comes the Balloon-Copter.  Its design and premise is simple in that it is a propeller that is powered by the CO2 in the balloon. …Continue reading: Balloon-Copter Is Not A Hoax

Your pooch just got a whole lot more fit.

The Tennis Ball Launcher holds up to 4 balls, and like your childhood slingshot shoots them far and away using the power of a giant rubberband.  Of course I’m wondering what else I can jam in there.  Jars of grape jelly?

[via 7gadgets]

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Sure, it might burn out a retina or two, but it will all be in the name of entertainment…for your cat.  The Bolt Interactive Pet Laser Toy is a glorified laser with a motorized mirror that wobbles around and redirects the eye piercing beam of light all of over the place for Mittens to go b-a-n-a-n-a-s for.  By 12 of these, flip them around and you’ll have mini disco bowling pins.

Thinkgeek has this feline entertainment for just $20. …Continue reading: Bolt Interactive Laser Pet Toy: Automated Laser Fun For Your Cat (video)

This holiday season there will no doubt be an endless barrage of flying toys for your young tyke to take part in.  The PicoZ SkyBot Attack, though, looks to be the stuff kids dream of…sort of.

For about $80 US you get a set of flying bots that each sport an on board gunnery system better known as infrared.  Fire on your opponent and assuming you make a direct hit, their engines will disengage causing their bot to fall out of the sky.

Each bot comes with its very own 2 channel remote, which also doubles as a recharging base and explains the 5 minute flying time.

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The Lego MP3 player might be suitable for ages 5 years or older, but something tells me the only people that will be buying this gadget are the 30 somethings that grew up stacking these multicolored blocks.

The player sports 2GB of storage, an 8 hour rechargeable battery, LCD screen and a mini USB input.  The best part, though, is that it’s made from actual Lego pieces so you can perch it atop any preexisting Lego structure.

ThinkGeek has it on sale for $40.

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Not knowing that there even was a Toy Hall Of Fame, I’m pleased to announce that the Nintendo GameBoy has just been inducted.  Officially called Strong National Museum of Play’s Toy Hall of Fame, this black and white portable gamer was the final choice among 12 finalists of culturally important toys.

Many of you gamers around for the advent of the Gameboy will remember clearly just how cool this thing was.  I actually never had one.  I did have the Atari Lynx which was awesome for back then too.

Also recently inducted was the ball.

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Got twenty bucks?  Easily entertained?  Then what I’ve got for you will quite literally blow your mind wide open.

It’s called the HoverDrone, and it’s a little toy hovercraft that actually hovers.

It’s not that much bigger around than a silver dollar, and it floats by generating its own cushion with a small fan on its undercarriage.  It also blinks a little blue LED.  But where this is interesting is not that it’s a tiny flight-capable toy, but rather that it’s the SMALLEST remote controlled flying device ever made.

No, really–it’s just over sixty millimeters in diameter, and it flies.  You can even control the height of the flight by remote, even if the remote is basically “up” and “down”.  And the best part is, you can have one of these for just about twenty bucks.  Even if you’re not that interested in flying a little blue toy with an LED light that blinks, well, it’s almost worth it just to have that piece of toy history in your hands.

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Now this is actually a really fun idea–you know how, when you were a kid, you probably used to imagine various household objects as race cars?  Well, now you can do it for real with the RC Driver Tissue Box.

This isn’t just a fun idea, either.  It’s also highly useful.  I remember when I had the flu…I was on my back, barely able to move, and even something like getting up to go get a tissue to try and clear my nose sufficiently to breathe was like the labors of Sisyphus.  But the thought of being able to snag a remote and DRIVE my tissues to my sick bed makes me feel almost…happy, somehow.

But still, the idea of driving your tissues around the house is probably at least a minor freakout, so be careful.  It’d be terrible trying to, say, explain to the vet that you ran over your cat’s foot with a box of tissues.  They’re taking pre-orders on them now for $44, so get them before someone else does!

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Not too long ago we posted on the expensive but cool TouchScreen Rubik’s Cube and today we have the Classic Nintendo version.  Though I don’t recognize all of these icons, I’m sure there are fanboys out there that have these tattooed in special places.

Designed by deviantARTist r4r3truffle, this item is not for sale at this time.  I have never been that great at puzzles and I definitely have never completed a Rubik’s Cube.  I’m not so sure this version could get me interested.

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Chances are you’re going to wonder why I’m even bothering to talk about a Sega Saturn joystick at least ten years after the system went the way of the dodo, but I tell you that there’s a very good reason.

Because, you see, in the grandest old tradition of original Nintendo belt buckles, someone’s taken that old device and made it into something new and interesting: art.

James Ian Killinger took apart an old Sega Saturn joystick and noticed that, if he just added a few extra screws–three, to be exact–we’d get the thing you see above, a giant space bug.

Let that sink in for a second.  That’s a big bug sculpture made from only the parts of a Sega Saturn controller and three extra screws.  No extra parts were brought in, nothing was taken out.  That thing is just a Sega Saturn controller with three screws.  It’s easy to wonder what Killinger could’ve done if he’d had a FOURTH screw.

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