Gizmodo: Kids

Epidermits is One Terrifying, Tattooable Toy

Adam Frucci — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:00:00 EDT

Well, this is an unsettling toy concept. The Epidermits toy by the Karten Design firm is a little robotic… thing that's covered with human-like skin. Said skin can be tattooed or pierced to "customize" your toy. It runs on fuel cells and can be "stored in a state of forced hibernation in standard refrigerators." And did I mention instead of a head or face it just has a patch of fur? Yes, this is the thing nightmares are made of. If you give your kid one of these and it robotically follows him around, consider it a one-way ticket to therapy later in life. [Karten via Gadget Lab]

Kidtropolis' Magic Indoor Treehouse Bedroom

Sean Fallon — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:00:00 EDT

I'm not sure who is getting the Magic Treehouse Bedroom that is currently being constructed by the craftsman at Kidtropolis, but I'm jealous. When I was a kid, I didn't have any fancy indoor treehouse to sleep in—just a cot and some newspaper. Still, I am not too bitter to recognize the artistry that goes into making a custom bedroom of this caliber. Just don't let your kids see it—unless you have a lot of money to burn that is. [Kidtropolis via WIred GeekDad]

Working Plastic-Welder Toy For Kids Sounds Like Lawsuit-In-Waiting

Kit Eaton — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:28:00 EDT

The Discovery Power Welder's sales pitch is fantastic, and worrying: "discover the power to make and create with the tool that safely welds plastic to plastic." And sure, the kit comes with specially-crafted parts that'll let your little-ones knock together a plastic dinosaur, plane or car. But what happens then? Do they start tackling their Lego collection with it, or decide to weld your iPod to your vacuum cleaner? Ok... so it's battery powered, and probably doesn't get all that hot, but we know just how "inventively naughty" kids can be. For just $30 this could allow your children to fuse your credit cards into one lump, never to be used again. [Product page via Random Good Stuff]

Bandai Smart Berry to Train Next Generation of Female Executives

Elaine Chow — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Little girls in Japan will get their chance today to act out their fantasies of being American corporate tools, thanks to Bandai's new mobile communicator “Smart Berry” toy, which kind of looks like a Mylo done up in pastel colors. The Smart Berry includes a touchscreen LCD panel measuring roughly 2 inches by 1.4 inches, a slide- out keyboard, and Wi-Fi capabilities for email, chat and online games.

The device registers user profiles so that Smart Berry owners can only send and receive mail from friends. Up to four units can communicate with each other at the same time if they're all within a 10-meter diameter. Additionally, it also has a virtual Tamagotchi-like pet you can play with. The toy costs $97 and is targeted at girls from ages 6 to 9. Boys who want to send emails on a faux-mobile device while raising their own virtual pet are SOL this time around, I guess. [Tech On]

DIY Blow-Outable LED Birthday Candles Perfect for Uber-Geeky Kids

Kit Eaton — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:24:28 EDT

Kids nowadays are so showered with electronic goodies that I suspect a traditionally-lit birthday cake just wouldn't cut the mustard for some of them. Luckily, over at Instructables they've got a recipe for DIY electronic "candles" that actually lets you blow them out. Its flickering LEDs are accompanied by a thermistor warmed above room-temp by a nearby resistor, and accompanied by a microcontroller. When you puff hard on the thermistor, the circuit senses the temperature drop and switches off some LEDs. Brilliant, but sadly it seems you can't get extra wishes by blowing them all out at once. The demo video is undeniably funny though: a fake birthday part thrown by the builders.

All you need now to please an uber-geeky kid is to follow the instructions, box the device up somehow, and embed it in a cake. It's even a lower fire-risk than real candles... assuming your wiring doesn't go horrifically wrong. [Instructables via Hacknmod]

AMK is Lego-Like Digital Instrument For Your Kids, Ear-Ache For You

Kit Eaton — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:00:00 EDT

The AMK (that's Alle Meine Klänge) looks something like the bastard offspring of Lego and a Guitar-Hero controller, with a few extra digital sprinklings thrown in. The idea is that its different modules can be plugged together in many ways to produce music: some have sound effects, others record incoming sounds and replay them and another unit is the amp/loudspeaker. Then the whole thing is played with simple twist controls and buttons. Confused? Watch the video of the concept toy in action at designers PKNTS Studio's website, and you'll have perfect comprehension: if this toy is made real and your kids get one, you'll never get a lie-in again. [PKNTS via Yanko Design]

Loud Enough Earphones: Ultimate Ears For Your Kids

Kit Eaton — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:38:00 EDT

It's been a while since we brought you some news from Ultimate Ears (the cat eating through the cable to my UE Super.Fi's doesn't count, sadly). But now UE has released its newest offering, and it's for the kids: the Loud Enough earphones. "They've gone barking mad!" you might say, citing expense and the potential damage that might be done to young ears by a max-volume burst of Noddy. Well, you'd be wrong: these earbud 'phones have special volume-limiting tech built in. Plus they're $40. They've got silicon buds down to extra-small size... so I guess the only danger is what inventive kids will get up to with those. [Crave via Gizmodiva]

Konepan Bread Maker Turns Your Loaves into Bunnies

AddyDugdale — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:00:00 EDT

Going one better than the Jesus model (the original, not Giz's resident LEGO freak and sexy boy Diaz) is the Konepan, a bread maker from japanese toy manufacturer Megahouse. The kitchen gizmo, aimed at kids and recently-retired Giz writers, can turn your dough into 14 different shapes, most of them crazy, all of them fabulous. Teddy bears, elephants, ~~hemmorhoids~~ a bunch of grapes, snails, and what looks like an angry squirrel, take just 13 minutes to cook once you've followed the instructions of how to make them. No clue as to how much the Komepan costs, however. [Megahouse via TOKYOMANGO]

"HD for Kids!" Coloring Book: Now You Really Have to Stay Inside the Lines

Benny Goldman — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:29:44 EDT

This great "HD for Kids!" coloring book by Non-Toxic Reviews teaches tykes all about the joys—and pitfalls—of High-Def TV through activities like tracing burn-in on a plasma screen and the borderline-autistic "draw 1,080 dots inside this HDTV". The book is too funny not to be a little tongue-in-cheek, but the lessons are real and helpful for people of all ages. I can definitely relate to the part that gets the young 'uns disappointed early in life when they realize they have four HDMI devices, but only one input to plug them into. Check out our favorite pages in the gallery, and get the full book for free by hitting the link. [Non-Toxic Reviews via BBG]

Shocking Sick Puppy is "Operation" for a New Generation

AddyDugdale — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:55:00 EDT

Japanese game manufacturer Mega House has come up with a winner. Biri Biri Kaze Hiki Wanko (which, translated, means Shocking Sick Puppy) is a cross between seminal kids' game Operation, where you had to remove various parts of a patient's anatomy with a pair of wired-up tweezers, without ~~letting on to your parents that you'd swallowed the best part of a bottle of bourbon the night before~~ touching the sides, and that equally seminal '70s plaything, Slime. A fearsome mess of green snot and drool emerges from the dog's mouth and nose, and you have to pick out plastic "germs" embedded in the ectoplasm. Trouble is, if the metal tweezers touch the slime, you get an electric shock. Out in Japan this August, Shocking Sick Puppy needs a worldwide release if it is to realize its full genius potential. [Trends in Japan]

The iPhone Is Truly the JesusPhone, Helps Kids Avoid Sedatives

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:00:00 EDT

And the Lord came to Dr. Daniel Low and told him: "Praise the iPhone, for it can make your calls, get your mail, play your music, browse the web, and now help kids go to surgery without having to use sedatives to calm them down!" And the Lord—who looked remarkably like this guy— gave him one, and then he took it to the kids at the Seattle Children's Hospital, where he raised it up on high, saying: "first, shalt thou watch the videos. Then shalt thou calm the hell down, no more, no less." And the children calmed down, and he saw it was good. So good, in fact, that he has used it for six months with 450 children, reducing the use of drugs by 85%. But how does it work?

Getting children to the operating room is extremely scary for them (and us too), so they usually have to be sedated to calm them down. Dr. Low observed that by watching some videos on the iPhone, his kids got completely disconnected from the outside world. He thought that this effect could help children in the hospital get distracted—especially when they leave the room where they wait with their parents—so he gave it a try.

It worked. And for six months, he has used this method with 450 children, reducing the use of sedatives by 85%. The benefit not only makes the children a little bit less nervous: without sedatives, kids wake up smoother and are less drowsy after the operation, so they can get back home more quickly.

Of course, this can be done with any video playing device, but Dr. Low seems to believe that the iPhone is perfect for the job, arguing that it doesn't interfere with the equipment and can be easily sanitized. We are sure that the same can be said about other personal media players, but whatever helps kids is fine with us. [King5]

Oh Joy! Stitch CD Player Rocks My Tiny, Childlike Brain

AddyDugdale — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:55:00 EDT

Fans of kitsch plastic gewgaws might find this Stitch radio and CD player from Runat so far up their street it's parked in their garage. Modelled on the Disney alien from the 2002 movie Lilo and Stitch, and most probably a tie-in for the upcoming anime series Stitch! it looks awesome with its mouth open—as you can see below.

Out on June 1 in Japan, the Stitch CD player, which runs either off the mains or on eight AA batteries, will cost around $90. [Far East Gizmos]

Moron Kid Gets Trapped Inside a Crane Game, Still Doesn't Get a Prize

matt buchanan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:30:00 EDT

I'm pretty sure when I was young, kids this dumb were sent out into the wild and only allowed back into society after they'd done battle with rabid wolves and survived, to ensure accordance with Darwin's law. Anyways, look kid, the crappy, Chinese-made stuffed toys inside, they're not actually worth it—not the quarter you conned out of your parents to play, and not the years of therapy you're going to have undergo to get over this. If it had been one of the ones where you can win like a Wii, okay, 'cause they can still be kind of hard to come by. But it totally wasn't. [YouTube via Geekologie]

German Schoolboy Corrects NASA's Math - We're All Doomed

Chris Magor — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:30:00 EDT

NASA has been forced to check its math after a 13-year-old German boy wrote to tell them their calculations for the probability of an asteroid hitting earth were incorrect. Agency bosses had predicted a one-in-45,000 chance of an interstellar object bringing an end to life as we know it; that was until teen Nico Marquardt told them that the figure was closer to one in 450.

The asteroid in question is the Apophosis. If it runs into one or more of the earth's 40,000 satellites as its path brings it closest to our planet on April 13, 2029, the collision could be enough to alter its trajectory and send a 200-billion-ton ball of iron and iridium our way in 2036. The impact would be followed by tsunamis that would destroy coastal and inland areas around the Atlantic Ocean. To top this disaster-movie situation off, a thick layer of dust would blanket the Earth.

So how did NASA get it wrong? Perhaps they did not take into account the possibility of that trajectory-changing first collision—either that or they forgot to carry a digit somewhere, because 450 and 45,000 do look vaguely similar. I am guessing that young Nico's project, "Apophis — The Killer Astroid" won the regional science competition that it was entered into. [Yahoo! News]

I Bring Little Boy Out of a Coma With Nothing But My Presence

Jason Chen — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 03:00:00 EDT

Mr. T doesn't need no science or no brain pressure reliever. Mr. T can bring children out of comas by just going to their rooms. See exhibit T, a boy who was unlucky enough to fall into a coma some time in the mid-1980s. All I had to do is go to his hotel room, say some words, close the curtains, and by the time I was walking out of the hospital the kid was out of his coma! How did they know this kid was a fan of Mr. Me? Because whenever my name came up, his arm twitched! That's how! What did you think? Don't ask questions you already know the answer to. I'm Mr. T, and I bring kids out of comas! *Grunt* [Yahoo]

Mobius Climbers Are Totally Awesome, Dangerous Playground Equipment

Adam Frucci — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:15:00 EST

These Mobius Climbers are super-sweet playground equipment inspired by Mobius strips, bending and curving all over the place with grips and bars for climbing. It's the type of thing I would have killed to play on as a kid but would be forbidden to by my reasonable parents, who would see these things for what they are: high-concept kid manglers, inviting slippery-fingered first graders to take a head-first spill into a piece of sheet metal with grips protruding from its concave surface. Awesome. [Product Page via Neatorama and BornRich]

Zeki Cellphone Is Walkie-Talkie with SMS and MP3 for Kids

Kit Eaton — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:40:47 EST

A company called YoungToys is bringing out a cellphone aimed at kids and toddlers in Korea. The Zeki is a digital walkie-talkie, enabling conversations and short messages exchange between two handsets up to 260 feet apart, as well as MP3 playback and audio/video recording (presumably useful if you're the snooping parent type).

For older kids, probably the Zeki's real targets, there's also alarm clocks and downloadable games. Supposedly the phones use "near-field communication technology" to connect to each other, but since this is usually applied to RFID devices like proximity swipe-cards, we're a little skeptical.

The devices also incorporate an anti-electromagnetic device of some kind, to allay fears of cooking kids' brains, and are made of materials harmless to the human body. Thank goodness for that, we were worried about them being made of cyanide-coated lead.

Actually the most worrying thing about these phones is that clearly kids will be carrying communications devices from a very young age, and that just creeps us out a little. Zekis will be available for around $105 in Korea. [Aving]

Cute Voice-Changing Telephone is for Kidnappers, Not Kids

Benny Goldman — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:54:01 EST

This landline phone with an adorable unknown animal on it seems perfect for the phone-calling tyke in your life, but what's on the inside is truly scary. Its guts contain a voice-changing module with high- or low-pitch options, allowing you to choose between your inner Barry White and your inner Jared Wiley. Or your, you know, every kidnapper ever. It comes from world-famous shlock wholesaler Chinavision, so pick up one or five...hundred, starting at $10.27. [Chinavision via Crave]

Scan-It X-Ray Machine the Ugly Face of 21st-Century Toys

AddyDugdale — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 07:22:48 EST

Billed as a way of acclimatizing kids with airport security checks, the Scan-It X-Ray machine detects the presence of metal in objects and is, let's face it, a scary addition to your child's toy box. Stick Barbie on the conveyor belt, pass her through the Scan-It and you will be able to see if her IUD is in place or not. It costs $29.95, but I'm going to hang on for the Crazy CIA Waterboarding Kit. Seriously. [OhGizmo]

ToyQuest Touch Table Turns Your Little Treasure into a Baby Bill Gates

AddyDugdale — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 04:41:36 EST

Given how delicious we all think Microsoft's touchscreen table, the Surface, is (apart from the $10,000 price tag) here's a more basic version from ToyQuest. The Touch Table EES (that stands for electronic education system) boasts a 21-inch touchscreen from which you can play games and DVDs (hmm, very educational). It does redeem itself somewhat, though. Find out how after the gallery.

There's also a Google Earth-style globe for you to bone up on geography—and work out where Bill and Melinda's malaria millions are being sent. There are built-in speakers and AV/USB/SD inputs, but no internet connection (so no tabletop pr0n surfing while Nannie occupies herself with the ironing). Cost is $499. [TechEBlog via TechAmok]

Idiot Kid Looks for Narnia in Washing Machine, Overly Sympathetic Firefighters Save Him with Jaws of Life

matt buchanan — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:30:00 EST

Okay, so I tried to put myself in this kid's shoes. I'm looking at a steel hole. Not very exciting! I'd rather go play with a bright, flashing object instead. Apparently, we don't have the same thought process, 'cause this kid decided to dig deeper. Guess what he found? A whole bunch of OMGI'mStuck. Enter brave firefighters, who have to rip the defenseless washing machine apart with the jaws of life to free the kid. Me? I'd have just gotten a new washing machine on the spot. [WKYC via Fark]

Guy Who Uses Stun Gun on Son to Toughen Him Up Jailed, Unsurprisingly

Kit Eaton — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:40:50 EST

The father of an 18-month-old child is off to jail for four years after being found guilty of using a stun gun on the boy. His reason for using the 100,000-volt Dragonfire, which resulted in muscle damage to the kid's heart, was because he wanted his son to be "the toughest cage fighter ever." Yeah, the toughest heart-damaged, cage-fighting 18-month-old ever.

According to the Deputy DA in Portland, Ryan Wittman had made comments to witnesses saying he wanted his child "to be tough." When first questioned, the dad's genius response was to say that the two of them had been "playing peekaboo." Hmm, that'll be the special version of kilovolt peekaboo we've never heard of, then.

The 100,000-volt weapon Wittman used is, apparently, more powerful than police tasers. Wittman's excuse for the incidents? Arguments with his wife. It took just 20 minutes for the court to decide that Wittman should be sent down for four years. [CNN]

DoCoMo's Child-Friendly 3G Phone Comes With RC Bracelet

AddyDugdale — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:15:18 EST

DoCoMo, purveyor of multi-colored phones to Pantone fans in Japan has come up with a 3G phone aimed at kids. As well as having many safety features and a keyboard designed for small fingers, the F801i, which goes on sale in Japan December 20, comes with a bright yellow "amulet." Not to ward off evil phone spirits, but as a remote control and lost phone locator you wear round the wrist. See it, and a gallery with more info, below.

When the alarm is activated, all sorts of things happen: A piercing 100-decibel alarm goes off, dazzling LED lights and the cell calls up to three pre-programmed emergency numbers of the parents' choosing. The child's location can also be sent via SMS to registered individuals.

Actually, it sounds like the perfect phone for accident-prone technicolor dreamers. It's waterproof for up to 30 minutes, can withstand jets of water being squirted at it, lose it and, if you press a button on the spanky yellow bracelet, it will bleep if you are within 10 meters of it. If you're not, the phone will shut down automatically, sending a message to another DoCoMo cell if phone and bracelet are not reunited within five minutes. Available in light blue, orange, black and white, there was a massive, child-friendly launch in Tokyo this morning. [NTT DoCoMo Press Release via Wireless Watch Japan and Akihabara News]

Buffalo's Kid-Friendly USB Memory Sticks Stop Your Little Treasures Getting their Hands on your Porn Files

AddyDugdale — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:20:51 EST

This is a smart idea from Buffalo: USB memory sticks that your kids can stick in your computer without causing wanton destruction to the files inside — or your reputation when they inadvertently download your skinflicks onto a memory stick and present Belladonna's tattoos to their nonplussed classmates. Gallery and more info below.

Available in four designs (Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Doraemon and — aargh! — Tamagotchi, the sticks contain a secure internet browser (Yahoo! Kids), a couple of games, and you can even limit the amount of time your little darlings spend attached to their computer. My suggestion? Buy them an OLPC and keep them well away from your notebook. [Buffalo via Akihabara News]

Porsche Kinderbob, for Only the Most Chic Kids

Charlie White — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:45:00 EST

It's not hard to find items with the Porsche logo on them lately—heck, we're thinking that soon you'll even be able to find Porsche dildos. If you'd like to have just one thing with a Porsche logo on it in your household, this little bobsled for your kids might just qualify. It costs $115, and that's a whole lot less than a Porsche car, or even the Porsche cellphone. It doesn't look half bad, either. [Porsche Design, via GeekAlerts]

Laptops Designed by Children

Brian Lam — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:32:57 EST

When adults design a laptop for children, it looks like the OLPC or Speak and Spell. When laptops are designed by children they look like the setup above. The PurC PC (Purple Construction Paper PC, my name) was made by an 8-year old girl in the youngster-founded, no-adults-allowed "The Laptop Club".

Alphanumerics are pegged where function keys are normally situated. Below are the real function keys, like, "kitten, dog, cat, bird, collar, lease, hamster, and design pet." There's the unfortunate, "Buy Immediately, shop, order", too. Corruption starts so young. Too bad Fake Steve Jobs already has a patent on Child-Like-Wonder in Computing Device(s)— he told me the C&Ds are in the mail for the lower 98-percentile of the club, and the other 2% are being taken from their parents to be trained as 5th generation Apple designers. There are 8 more models at The Morning News, so check em out. [CNet via TheMorningNews via BoingBoing]

Torpedo Projector: You Probably Get What You Pay Only $179 For

Matt Buchanan — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:30:59 EDT

Crafted by the makers of TV Poker, the Sweet Thang Plush and the "Original Scoozie Pet," the Torpedo Entertainment Projector probably isn't a good choice to form the cornerstone of your home theater. But, for a measly $179 at Target or Wal-Mart, the 920 x 240-resolution projector's not a bad way to mildly frighten your children with a nearly 6-foot high image of Ursula slapped across your wall when it's time for the Little Mermaid at bedtime. Since it comes with a headphone jack in addition to the built-in amp, the only noise would be their screaming, and you probably hear that enough it doesn't phase you anymore. The real question is how well it'd perform for grown-up purposes with the middling res and questionable pedigree—art projects, maybe? [CrunchGear]

Microwaveable Teddy Bear Keeps Babies Toasty

Jason Chen — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 20:00:58 EDT

Why hand your kid a room temperature bear when you can hand them a microwaved bear and show them you love them as much as a kid that's not adopted? This bear, which costs $20, is specially made with microwavable components that keep it from going up in flames when nuked—something that's definitely not child-friendly. Plus, it's even coated with a "relaxing lavender" scent, all the better for keeping baby asleep so you can work on making a little brother or sister for him. [Gizoo via Shiny Shiny]

Nokia 800 Robot Dog the Brainchild of Finnish Schoolkids

AddyDugdale — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:11:47 EDT

This is what happens when a forward-thinking cellphone giant gets together with a bunch of its future potential customers &mdash a robot dog made from an N800. The children at a Nokia-funded school in Finland came up with this idea of having an internet tablet that doubles as a pet. [YouTube via Crave]

Nissan Rogue Commercial Turns NY into a Giant Labyrinth

AddyDugdale — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:51:15 EDT

Hands up who had one of those wooden Labyrinths round which you had to maneuver a silver marble without dropping it down a hole or biting your tongue off in the process? Knowing just how powerful a marketing tool nostalgia can be, Nissan has used the concept for the commercial for their new Rogue SUV. [TokyoMango]

Crayola Releases EZ Grip Digital Camera For Budding Upskirtists

Jason Chen — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:44:24 EDT

Get your child started early on his hobby with the Crayola EZ Grip Camera, a camera that has grips on either side for EZ gripping. Much better than a normal camera, this EZ cam comes with proprietary software with a "write a story" template to create storyboards out of pics your kids shoot, printable frames, and finger puppet creation abilities. All this for $49.99 means little Jojo can grow up to be the next LaChappelle and charge extravagant prices for extravagant people. [Crayola]

Bugstepper for Kids Heralds Computer Games that Gauge Boredom

AddyDugdale — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 07:16:00 EDT

This is Bugstepper, a kids' electronic game that Danish scientists are hoping is the first step in developing computer games that can detect a player's boredom and up the ante accordingly. Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense tried out the active electronic game on 56 eight- to ten-year-olds to create a program that predicted just how much fun the kids were having. As well as being asked which versions were the most fun, the kids also had their heart rates measured and their enjoyment of the game assessed visually. All this research should lead to games that can monitor interest in real time, changing strategy if the player gets bored. [New Scientist]

1200-Feet High Zip Line the School Bus for Colombian Kids

AddyDugdale — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 06:16:16 EDT

There's a South African zip line that claims to be the highest one in the world. But how about this one that takes Colombian kids from their hillside village to school? Well, faced with one minute of eyeball-spinning terror 1200 feet above the jungle, or a two-and-a-half hour hike, which one would you take? [Spluch]

M-Lab Gives Kids a Taste of 2001: A Space Odyssey

AddyDugdale — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 05:56:50 EDT

Less than two months ago, the Motorola-sponsored M-Lab opened its doors at Wannado City, a career park for kids in Florida. Once through the doors, kids are given a white coat and transformed into M-ventors to work on a complex technological problem. Designed by Gensler architects, the M-Lab has more than a touch of Kubrick's space oeuvre about its seven chambers. [The Coolhunter]

Pac-Man Balaclava Should Be Mandatory Streetwear for Everyone

AddyDugdale — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 09:45:09 EDT

Items such as this Pac-Man Plush-Head helmet make me realize how much life has to offer. It comes in two sizes, (Pac)Man and (Pac)Boy and does nothing but keep your ears warm. Nope, no MP3 player, no vibrating head massager, no USB, no Bluetooth—just squashy yellowness. What else do you need?

The Pac-Man Plush-Head costs $29.99 for eternal delinquents and $24.99 for kids. Something tells me they'll be gobbled up faster than Pac-Man pops pills. [ClubNAMCO via Shiny Shiny]

Toy Keycard System Teaches Kids Not to Touch Daddy's Stuff

Jason Chen — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:00:08 EDT

Preparing your children to be cubicle drones is no easy task, but this $9.99 key card alarm system should give them a leg up over the other kids on the block. The Toy key alarm system comes with two identical key cards and a door mounting system. If the door is opened without first inserting the card, an annoying klaxon sounds. You can also set it to silent mode as well, which just quietly records the last four times when your security was breached. Either way, it's a convenient way to know whether anyone's been in your "me" space when you weren't looking. [ThinkGeek - Thanks Brian!]

One-Year-Old Shows Us How to Flick Through Photos on an iPhone

AddyDugdale — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 03:00:05 EDT

Some people may think that their child's privacy is too precious, but other's don't give a damn. Here's Chad the dad and Trey the bay-bay giving an iPhone master class. He's good. See how he flicks through his dad's photos with insouciant ease after the jump.

Let's have Trey on next year's Keynote at Macworld, eh? [TechEBlog via New Launches]

Tree Camera is More Sound Than Vision

AddyDugdale — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:16:27 EDT

The Tree Camera is an MP3 player that's made out of wood and cute to boot. It has a 256MB memory, plays MP3s, WMAs and OGGs and plugs into the USB port of your PC.

Available in pink, blue and natural, it costs just $43 and is would be the perfect gadget for kids as it's cheap and its wooden casing surely makes it a lot more resilient than your average MP3 player.

[WorldLingo via Techie Diva]

iPhone So Simple Even a Two-Year-Old Can Use It

AddyDugdale — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 07:02:40 EDT

Here's definitive proof that Apple made the iPhone the easiest cellphone to use in the planet. Watch a very cute child navigating her way round the jesusPhone with no difficulty whatsoever. No, it's not Steve (although he's kind of cute too). The video is after the jump.

She's got Photos ("New Bay-bee!") and iTunes ("Cole-play!") licked it seems, I'd like to see her using the Google Maps app to get herself back home from Kindergarten. [You Tube]

Bring Out The Bruised Kid in You with Roller Lights

AddyDugdale — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:34:19 EDT

These Roller Lights are the equivalent of strap-on wheelies for the disco generation - provided you don't weigh more than 176 lb. , the two-wheeled toys attach to your shoes and flash away with their three color lights.

Tempting as it would be to announce the birth of the Gizmodo Roller Lights team, I don't think it will happen*. But since these things are reminiscent of Heelys, those strange trainers-with-casters that make ver yoof of today look like they're gliding along (as well as making them forget how to walk), and, at around $25, cost a third of the price, they are an alternative. Plus, you can borrow them when he's at school and you're late for work.

*If anyone is interested, don't hesitate to get in touch. Giz tee-shirts, yellow banana hammocks, plus the all important protective gear - I can see us now on America's Got Talent.

[GoBaz via UberReview]