Portals: Like I really wouldn’t report on this » Reviews

What you are seeing here is not a deleted scene from Poltergeist where the TV sucks someone else in, starting with their hand.

This is a Kickstarter project called Portals, and it has nothing to do with the popular video game franchise Portal. What you see here is exactly what you think it is: someone has made a display that you can literally reach into.

It works with a simple greenscreen and webcam. When you stick your hand in the box, the webcam records your hand against the green screen and on the display you are looking at. In the case of the illustration, the user has chosen Google Streetview.

This reminds me of one of those shoebox dioramas I used to make in elementary school. In fact, you can even put other things on the Portals display besides your hand. All it takes is a little bit of touch surface and RFID tags.

As I have mentioned before, this is a Kickstarter project, which means it requires funding to get off the ground. Designer Jayne Videheecharoen has already achieved her goal, but it looks like she only wants to make two prototypes to finish her thesis. I really hope that you can buy something like this in the future, as the neat factor is really high.

Read rest of entry

Review » DIY Magnetic Levitating Sculpture Kit

Have you watched David Copperfield in action back when he was the magic superstar of the world? Well, he certainly did mesmerize plenty of folks with his collection and repertoire of tricks in his bag, including making the Great Wall of China disappear, but surely some of the seemingly more basic tricks have caught your attention too, no? For example, the trick of levitating an object or a person is still something that I have quite yet to figure out, but perhaps with the $49.99 DIY Magnetic Levitating Sculpture Kit, things might change for the better. This is an easy to assemble kit, allowing you to suspend a magnet in mid-air.

Gravity vs electromagnetism – a battle that can be won by either, depending on the delicate balance and placement of objects. This unique DIY kit will boast an extremely powerful magnet at the top of the sculpture that will pull the magnet cube up, and when the forces of gravity and electromagnetism are balanced, the magnet cube will remain in mid-air, spinning around to keep you and anyone else who looks at it mesmerized.

Read rest of entry

Review » Portal 2 PotatOS Science Kit

What are some of the memories that you carry around from playing Portal 2? For some of us, it would be toting the PotatOS around the test facility, where you felt this unnatural bond as though you were kindred spirits, never mind that this is not the case. Well, for folks who skipped the children’s Science Fair at Aperture Labs, here is something that might just redeem your absence – the $29.99 Portal 2 PotatOS Science Kit. Yes sir, just about everything that is required by you is packed into a handy Portal 2 PotatOS Science Kit, where it even sports a miniature science fair poster complete with brand new content from Valve’s writing team!

The only thing that you will need to come up with would be your very own potato, but that should not be too hard to get, right? If you’re great at following instructions, it will take mere minutes to transform your potato into your very own PotatOS, where it will light up and send verbal repartees your way, just like in the game. Nice to know that the CR2030 batteries required to run this thing is included. Just a note of caution – skip on eating the potato after using it for PotatOS.

Read rest of entry

Review » c-Jump Computer Programming Board Game

Some parents wish that they could live out their dreams through their kids, for instance, a pilot might want his son to enrol in the same school that he did when he was a wee lad, charting the son’s life path before he even knows what a Pokemon is. I say let your kids discover for themselves what their lot in life is, you cannot simply force someone to live out your life as it would make the entire growing up process a painful and difficult one. If you want to know whether your little one could be the next John Carmack, then playing Doom is not the answer, but rather, purchasing the $24.99 c-Jump Computer Programming Board Game.

This unique board game will let you learn the basics of computer programming, where the main objective is to race down the mountain – by thinking like a computer programmer. Pretty cool, don’t you think so? How about programming a portal to open up on one end with another at the destination to take a short cut? This unique board game targets middle school aged geeklings as well as the older ones who are new to the world of programming, where it teaches basic programming language commands such as “if”, “else”, and “switch”, while introducing the variable “x” concept. Have fun while learning, that is what life is all about.

Read rest of entry

Review » Lightnight Reaction for some shocking gaming sessions

If you want to develop lightning quick reflexes, training with an enraged snake (the more poisonous the better, since it will up the ante) will definitely do that, but for a far less risky venture, you might want to check out the $29.99 Lightnight Reaction. This particular shocking party game will see the losers get a nice zap to their hands, definitely not a feeling that any of us would like. I guess it is also a deterrent for those who have hatched plans to perform some nefarious deeds down the road which might result in the electric chair, no?

Parties need to be fun, and when you couple a free flow of booze with the chances of getting shocked, you know you’re in for a smashing time. After all, drinking alcohol will slow down your reflexes and perhaps dull your senses, increasing the chances of you “losing” at this game. Basically, four players will participate in this game, where each of them will grab a controller from the base unit. When the light in the middle of the base illuminates, make sure you are the first person to press the button on your controller – and get this, only the FASTEST person will be safe from any shocks.

The shock factor can also be adjusted, depending on how much of a hero(ine) or wuss you are.

Read rest of entry

Review » NERF Vortex Disc Blaster

Summer is out and school’s in, but that does not mean you still cannot have some fun with your family in your backyard at the end of the day and during the weekend, right? With the new $19.99 NERF Vortex Disc Blaster, this unique disc blaster will be able to carry a payload of 5 discs, blasting discs towards your opponent instead of darts. Somehow, there is just this psychological feeling that a disc is going to cut you right through just like Wolverine’s adamantium claws, but since these are made out of the same material as NERF darts, they won’t even scratch your skin.

Capable of firing long-range, high-powered discs at over 40 feet, reloading it is a cinch as the side loading blaster will drop down at the flick of a switch. The single tactical rail will function with all NERF tactical rail accessories, but of course, those accessories will need to be purchased separately. Granted, 5 dics aren’t going to get you too far in a game and it will be over all too quickly, but at least its a start in a father-son bonding session, no?

Read rest of entry

Review » Cuddle Tunes MP3 Player

The Apple iPod touch has proved to be quite the sexy MP3 player, but is it cute? That’s definitely not the adjective that one uses to describe the iPod touch, but that does not mean there are no other devices out there that are able to melt your heart with a glance. Case in point, the $59.99 Cuddle Tunes MP3 Player. Sure, it might seem to be overkill to fork out that kind of money for an MP3 player, but how many MP3 models do you know out there that will be able to offer you some cuddly comfort at the end of a particularly long day instead of looking all brick-like?

This device not only plays back all your favorite tunes, it will also allow you to record personal messages to your geekling, thanks to the built-in speakers. All you need to do is press play and a personalized bedtime soundtrack will play back. Let your imagination go wild as you record stories, songs as well as lovey dovey messages. Future updates can always be uploaded to the bear via USB, and each purchase will be accompanied by a year’s worth of unlimited Cuddletunes website access for you to change the soundtrack as you please.

Granted, 1GB of storage space won’t get you too far these days, but at least you have something to hug when listening to those heartbreaking tunes.

Read rest of entry

Review » Baby Plus Prenatal-Education System

Talk about competitive! If you think that the modern world has somehow forgot to stop and smell the roses, then you are probably correct. After all, why bother cramming more knowledge down the brains of our poor children when they are meant to explore the world in a sense of wonder? Now with devices like this £99.99 Baby Plus Prenatal-Education System, it seems that the game of one up-manship is set to continue – where learning takes place in the womb before baby draws his/her first breath of oxygen.

This particular device is said to have the necessary scientific backing to prove its effectiveness, claiming that babies are most receptive when they’re still in the womb. So all mums-to-be need to do is sit down, relax with a cup of tea, and place this prenatal teaching tool to their baby bump. It will emit the familiar and comforting sounds of mum’s heartbeat, changing the rhythm gradually over time to become more complex.

Read rest of entry

Review » Harry Potter Illuminated Wand Pen

I knew it – there was no such thing as phoenix feathers powering a magic want – but rather, batteries. Yes sir, batteries are the stuff of life, at least on the Muggle side of things over here. After all, cracking open the $9.99 Harry Potter Illuminated Wand Pen won’t reveal any feather of sorts inside, and I must say that this wand works differently from the rest – in fact, it might yield far more power than what you watch at the movies.

How so, you ask? Well, give this pen into the hands of President Obama and see him sign a bill that passes a certain law – will even the great Harry Potter be able to do that with all his incantations and spells at his disposal? I doubt so. Guess this is good enough to write down your spells for memorization, but other than that, the other kind of magic it is capable of is this – helping you remember very, very important dates such as your wedding anniversary by writing it down somewhere – forget that and no spell on earth can protect you from the wrath of a woman scorned.

Read rest of entry

Review » Children’s Night Vision Monocular helps kids live out Spy Kids fantasy

So your kid has dragged you to the cinema to catch the latest Spy Kids instalment which frankly, is one of those movies that should never have been made. I’m serious – the movie itself is a travesty so to speak, and tack on the gimmick of 3D on a non-descript movie and you’ve got a major disaster on your hands. Well, assuming they have yet to discover the difference between a bad movie and a good one, surely they won’t mind getting some spy gear of their own – such as this Children’s Night Vision Monocular.

Retailing for $69.95, this is not exactly an impulse purchase, but it is still affordable enough to buy without causing irreversible damage to your bank balance at the end of the month. To put it plainly, this night vision monocular allows children to observe subjects in near-complete darkness, since it relies on a similar type of infrared LEDs that see action in home security cameras.

A couple of 5-LED clusters are arranged on either side of the objective lens so that it can illuminate subjects up to 50′ away without any detection, and with this, you can be sure that your kids won’t be sleeping even an hour after you’ve read them their bedtime stories. No sir, they will most probably be taking turns with the Children’s Night Vision Monocular, peering out of the window and down the street hoping for a Super 8 moment.

Read rest of entry

Review » R/C Battling Robot Dinosaur

Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, they battled it out with each other in colossal fights, literally throwing their weight around to gain the upper claw. Well, all it took was a wayward meteor to end their reign on earth, and fast forward to today, we have dinosaurs that come in the form of robots. Far smaller than their original ancestors, these still retain their mean streak, and do not take too kindly to another dinosaur roaming around their fields.

Of course, since the R/C Battling Robot Dinosaurs come with a remote control, it would allow you and your mate to settle a dispute without shedding any blood at all – yes sir, we’re talking about driving this robo raptor around the home to have it roar as well as attack another robo raptor, or if you prefer to go for the jugular, target your human friends instead. Don’t want to control it and see how its pea-sized dino brain works? Just turn on the autonomous mode and have it move around the room to defend and hunt by itself.

IR beams are used in a “battle” between two robo raptors to see which will emerge the victor, and at $39.99 a pop, just make sure you have a healthy supply of AA and AAA batteries (rechargeables are highly recommended here) if you do not want the fun to stop halfway. The R/C Battling Robot Dinosaur itself will need four AA batteries, while the controller runs off a trio of AAA batteries.

Read rest of entry

Review » App Control Desk Pets

“My dog ate my homework” used to be one of the more cliched excuses kids give their teachers whenever they mismanaged their time at home, but I suppose this excuse has not worn itself out just yet. If that is the case and you are a teacher, why not purchase the App Control Desk Pets for the cheeky yet delinquent child and exchange his/her dog for it, momentarily? This is one pet that will not eat anyone’s homework, leaving no room to wriggle out of a tight spot in the future. Who says playing does not help someone learn?

The App Control Desk Pets will come in different flavors, which include the Tankbot (that is obviously more sturdy than the rest), the Trekbot (the Speedy Gonzales of the group) and the Skitterbot (that looks rather scary). All of them have three different operating modes, where the first sends your Desk Pet beeping and flashing away in a world of its own, oblivious to its surroundings; the second mode lets you turn your own smartphone into a remote control; and the third lets your Desk Pet discover the world all on its own!

The inclusion of advanced optical navigation technology enables these Desk Pets to find their way around obstacles – a primitive version of a robotic vacuum cleaner, if you will, and you won’t lose them simply because they have light-up eyes and emit sound – unless they run out of juice, of course. Even more interesting is the fact that your smartphone will function as a remote control. The law of diminishing returns apply here – 40 minutes of juicing up delivers 15 minutes of play time. The Tankbot is the cheapest of the lot at £24.99, while both the Skitterbot and Trekbot will retail for £3 more.

Read rest of entry

Review » Maze Racer tickles the mind

There is nothing quite like a brain teaser to get the good ol’ grey matter going, especially when you are in the middle of the work week and need to look towards other sources of inspiration if you happen to hit a road block mentally at the office. Why not take five with the $19.99 Maze Racer? Of course, this is actually meant for small kids, but at least you can get rid some of that pre-road rage out of your system before you actually get behind the wheel.

Your little one, whether a boy or a girl, would most probably want to get behind the wheel when dad or mom is not around, never mind that their legs can’t even touch the pedals when they’re seated right out in front. With the Maze Racer, they will be able to wreck their brains trying to find a way to guide the trapped marble out of the fiendishly difficult maze. You will need to go through a bunch of twists, turns, loops, and drops with techno music blaring in the background while the timer makes its way to the finish line.

Best of all is, the Maze Racer will log your best time so that others will always attempt to challenge your high score.

Read rest of entry

Review » Tidy Ruler for the super neat

There are many different kinds of people in this world with various personalities, and all of us do things in our very own quirky way (which we deem as ‘normal’, of course). Well, some of us are extremely tidy, and would love to have everything in its proper place, being incapable of standing just a bit of a mess, while others feel that being more ‘random’ (that’s a nice way of calling it ‘a mess’) is the way to go. Well, for those who are extremely tidy, you might want to check out the $11.99 Tidy Ruler.

This rather interesting piece of stationary will feature a built-in hand-cranked pencil sharpener as well as a place for you to stash away your pencil in the ruler itself when you do not need it. Made out of beautiful, sturdy rosewood, this is one modern piece of school stationary that is old school in nature. Perfect for any math class that you have enrolled your little one in, that’s for sure.

Read rest of entry

Review » R/C Air Swimmers Flying Sea Life

Sharks belong in the water, don’t they? And they need to continue swimming in order to stay alive, even when they’re asleep. Well, most of us know that, but to have a shark “swim” in the air? That certainly sounds out of whack, but this is what ThinkGeek offers with the $39.99 R/C Air Swimmers Flying Sea Life. Yes sir, made out of durable, high-quality nylon material, this unique piece of fun equipment can remain inflated for weeks while it patrols the airspace in your home for hours on end with enough juice remaining within.

The AirSwimmers RC flying sea creatures will also come in a clownfish format for a less threatening experience, but either way, it is still a wonder to look at. All you need to do is fill up the AirSwimmer with enough helium, and it will get to work straight away – you might take some time to master the controls in order to have it go up, down, and even 360 degrees around. With a working range of 40 feet, I suspect you will have hours of fun on just four AAA batteries with the R/C Air Swimmers Flying Sea Life.

Read rest of entry

Review » Carrera Slot Car Race Set

Toys for boys – you will definitely need something that can capture their attention in a jiffy, not to mention being made out of hardy enough a material so that they can withstand all the abuse and temper tantrums from your little one. If you want to have your kid remain mesmerized for some time without moving or fidgeting about (which you think would be a miracle), here is the $99.95 Carrera Slot Car Race Set to get you started.

This slot-car set is manufactured by Carrera, and just in case the name does not ring a bell, this is touted to be the world’s most prestigious slot-car maker…since 1963. The set boasts of 29.5′ worth of track to challenge racers’ skills with a couple of loops, an equal number of lane changes, a flyover, and a 180º high-banked curve.

Accompanying the set would be two richly detailed 1:43 Formula One Ferrari cars (granted, Ferrari isn’t on a hot streak for some years already ever since Michael Schumacher retired), and these were specially designed double-contact brush that will deliver a secure connection to the track for consistent control during a race. Handheld control delivers a boost button if you need another 25% of power when attacking loops, as well as pumping up the speed on straightaways.

To make sure no one cheats, there is an automatic lap counter thrown into the mix, while durable ABS plastic withstands years of intense racing.

Read rest of entry

Review » A Car Seat Rocker, courtesy of Ben Heck with Android ADK!

I’m sure that most of our readers are familiar with Ben Heck. If not, he is an online celebrity who is most famous for his mods, usually for video games.

Ben Heck recently took a request from a viewer to make a seat that will help rock his child to sleep. It will simulate the ride of a carseat in a car. Sometimes this helps a little one fall asleep, and I know this from experience.

Ben used the Google ADK (Accessory Development Kit) in order to take advantage of the built-in accelerometer to record the motions that the car goes through while it is driving. As user drives, the phone collects the code, and this data collected gets fed into the Android ADK. Ben tried this out on a scale model of a seat, but not a live one. You can click on the Source to see a video of it in action.

If Ben Heck wants to build an actual a seat that will help lull a baby to sleep, and create an app for it, then he will have some income if this seat is marketed just right. Perhaps Mr. Heck is working on that right now, or maybe he creates these mods for fun.

Read rest of entry

Review » The Zike, world’s first hybrid scooter

If you are too old for a trike, and love to ride a bike, maybe you would like a Zike. I realize that intro sounds like something Dr. Seuss would write, but the Zike is a real product, and is the world’s first hybrid scooter.

I suppose by “hybrid scooter”, the company means it is the first product to successfully combine a scooter, bicycle, and stair-stepper together. Inventor Nathan Scolari was “compelled to combat the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States”, and this is what he researched and created.

Zike will introduce four models to the marketplace. The Hotshot is an entry level model for children ages 5-8. The Flyby is the next step up for children ages 8-12, and it has two chains for faster speeds and increased agility. The Slingshot is for children 10 and older, and it has the speed of a BMX bike. The Saber (pictured) is a 7-speed scooter for anyone aged 12 and up.

The Zike has been receiving a lot of media attention after being on Extra with Mario Lopez. Not only did Slater from Saved By The Bell like it, but national expert Doctor Gadget rode it on The View. He told the co-hosts that “childhood obesity wouldn’t have a chance if every child in America had a Zike”. It looks like the Zike creator’s dreams came true. You can read more about the Zike here.

Read rest of entry

Review » Rocket Launcher accessory for Bigtrak and Bigtrak Junior

Remember the Bigtrak that we covered a while ago? Well, it is nice to know that boys too, can accessorize their toys – and without getting the help of stuff like make-up and miniature dresses. What we want are more testosterone-laden stuff – and if that does not include weapons of mass destruction that has a wanton disregard for imaginary human life, so much the better. Enter the Rocket Launcher accessory which will target the Bigtrak and Bigtrak Junior. It costs £19.99, which is £20.00 cheaper than the Bigtrak itself – where it holds a quartet of foam rockets that you can aim and launch at unsuspecting enemies.

Not only that, you are able to program your route and fire all four rockets simultaneously – now how about that for some strafing action? Of course, those who prefer to conserve their ammo will be able to opt to fire rockets individually. The Rocket Launcher itself requires yet another two AAA batteries to get it going, and if you want to outfit your Bigtrak Retro with this, you will need to fork out more for an adaptor.

Read rest of entry

Review » Water Wizard Buddha Board for Kids

The only thing constant about life would be change – and that again, we have a sense of impermanence for everything. Nothing lasts forever after all, not even diamonds, although those can be handed down to your descendants to the 10th generation if you’re careful enough. The Water Wizard Buddha Board for Kids from ThinkGeek is the perfect purchase to deliver a lesson on impermanence. You will take the water wand and paint on the canvas with it. Best to take a photo of your masterpiece, since it will fade away slowly after that.

This $19.99 purchase is one environmentally friendly toy which ought to last for years – so it would be best to have a few kids in quick succession if you want to maximize your purchase’s value. Water is stored in the Water Wand’s handle, so no mess is created. Run out of water? The answer is simple, just fill it up and you’re good to go.

Read rest of entry