Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Everyone loves robots, especially kids. How about buying your kids a toy that is both fun and educational? From the creators of the Create-A-Story, V-Tech brings you the Wall-E Learning Laptop ($29.99).

The laptop has five modes–letters, words, math, logic, and games–and each mode has three activities. The different modes teach language and cognitive development skills, basic math skills, and independent play.

The keyboard has a flip-down QWERTY keyboard, which in itself can be useful in helping kids become familiar with keyboards. You can use the arrow buttons on the keyboard to move through selections, or you can use the moving arm controllers to scroll through options. The screen is a basic LCD screen, and isn’t anything special, but the images are pretty clear.

And, just like in the movie, Wall-E’s right eye opens and closes. His eye blinks each time you answer a right question. The toy is made for kids ages four and up, but I could see kids a few years older than that getting bored quickly with the limited activities.

The biggest issue I have with the toy is that there’s no headphone jack. I know a lot of toys don’t have it, but if I were a parent and had to listen to various toy noise every day, I might get a little sick of it. Thankfully, there is a volume control that lets you choose between three options (none of which are “mute”).

The Wall-E Learning Laptop is pretty simple, but can act as a very important educational tool in your child’s early learning.

Original post by Jennifer Bergen

Kids break stuff. It’s a fact. If your son or daughter has ever asked to play with your new digital camera or tried to put a DVD into your $300 player, you’ve probably been one of the many parents who freeze in terror as you watch your kid destroy your tech toy. Instead of spending time guarding treasured electronics, why not buy your child a Fisher-Price Kid-Tough DVD Player or Digital Camera?

Both toys are made for kids three years old and up, and are very easy to use. To start with, the DVD player is simple and functional. It can act as a DVD player or a CD player. The screen, although small, has a good resolution. The player comes with an AC adapter, but it also has a rechargeable battery. So once you charge the battery, your son or daughter can watch DVDs or listen to CDs in the car.

And yes, there is a headphone jack, so you won’t have to listen to the Wiggles anymore. You can also connect the player to your TV with an AV cable (not included).

The DVD player is made to handle being dropped over and over again, so this is the perfect solution for your uneasiness when it comes to kids and electronics. The player does come with a hefty price though: $150. But, for a practically invincible portable DVD player, it’s well worth it.

Speaking of invincible, the Kid-Tough digital camera not only has the same protective rubber sidings as the DVD player, but it’s also waterproof. That’s right, you can now be free of worry when your daughter brings the camera to bath time. The camera is waterproof only for 30 minutes and in up to 3 feet of water, so no deep-sea diving!

The digital camera is just as easy to use as the DVD player. It has big buttons, and unlike your digital camera, there’s only one option when taking a picture. There are no “autumn leaves” or “candlelight” settings–you′ll need to buy a real camera for that. But, for a 3-year-old, the Fisher-Price camera will do just fine.

Also, if your kid can tell the difference between low- and high-quality photos, this may not be the camera for them. The camera lets you take photos at the standard setting of 640-by-480, or you can take high-resolution photos at an interpolated 1.3 megapixels. Either setting produces pretty grainy photos, but most kids won’t care.

To take a photo, you can look through the LCD screen or use the two eye-holes that look like they belong on a View-Master. The camera automatically uses a flash if the area is too dark. There’s no way to control the flash, and there’s also no way to control the camera’s sound. Although not loud, sound effects play each time you turn the camera on or off, take a photo, delete a photo, or scroll through the photos.

It’s simple to connect the camera to your computer with the included USB cable, but keep in mind that the USB outlet is on a part of the camera which requires a screwdriver to open. This is to keep the camera waterproof. So, you’ll have to help your children when they want to upload their photos. The camera stores up to 500 photos with 64 MB of memory. For only $50, this is a gift that will make your kid one happy little photographer.

Original post by Jennifer Bergen

OK, so it’s not really called SpongeBob Speaker Pants, but it should be. The SpongeBob Speakers and Sponge Dock, from Npower, is a fun way to play any of your digital audio players or computer.

SpongeBob comes with two eyeball speakers, which can sit inside the foam dock or taken out to sit on a flat surface. The eyeballs don’t just sit though: They can roll around with your music. You have the option to play your music without moving eyeballs, or you can switch the eyeballs to “rock” and watch as they roll around your table. I had to make sure to really push the speaker cable into the speaker to make sure it worked on “rock” mode.

There’s a small docking area at the top of SpongeBob’s head for you to rest your audio player in. The sound isn’t great, but it’s a fun toy. The speaker dock goes for $39.99 and can be found at Toys ‘R′ Us.

Take a look at our exclusive video of rolling SpongeBob eyeballs after the jump.

Original post by Jennifer Bergen

I’m sure you remember those times when you breeze through meals so you can go out and play. Parents of old could only attempt to strap you in your seat so you can eat properly, but parents of today have the Kami Kami Sensor. Perfect for those who have the tendency to micromanage their children, Kami Kami Sensor is a gadget that actually counts a child′s number of chews.

The bite sensor which is some sort of a strap that’s worn by tucking the handles behind the ears like eyeglasses is connected to the counter that’s in the shape of a fish. The device beeps every 30 chews counted and rings every 1,000, so children could get used to properly masticating their food. It even comes in two sizes - a smaller one for very young kids and a larger one for bigger kids in grade school. Now if they make a Kami Kami Sensor for adults, it might help wean us off of fast food, junk food and other non-nutritious stomach filler.

Original post by Mariella Moon

If your daughter is one of the many girls obsessed with Pixie Hollow, then this year’s gift list will probably feature Techno Source and Disney Consumer Products’ new Clickables Fairy Collection featuring Disney Fairies. Pixie Hollow is Disney’s newest virtual world, and over 7.5 million Disney Fairies avatars have already been created. Girls can escape into Tinker Bell’s world to help bring about the change of seasons by meeting friends, playing games, and collecting items in nature.

You don’t have to buy any of the Clickables toys to join the online world. The toys simply give your child another way to incorporate fun on the computer with fun with friends in real life. Pixie Hollow is free to play, but to take full advantage of all the site offers, you have to buy a membership package: The monthly rate is $5.95, semi-annual is $29.95, and annual is $57.95.

Whether or not your daughter has a membership, the Clickables Fairy Collection lets her unlock special content for use in the Pixie Hollow virtual world. Each Clickables toy comes with a charm–some with more than one–which girls use to unlock secret gifts. And each Clickables device, such as the jewelery box, handheld game, and friendship bracelet (all pictured above), has a Y-shaped sensor. When the sensor is touched by the matching sensor on a charm or friendship bracelet, information is able to be transferred and stored.

Each charm unlocks special clothing, accessories, or decor for your online Pixie Hollow avatar. The charms can be shared with an infinite number of friends, so you can get a new barrette from one friend and a new skirt from another. The Clickables Fairy Friendship Bracelet ($19.99) lets your daughter become friends with whoever she touches her bracelet to.

When she plugs the bracelet into the computer with the provided USB cable, she can then accept her new friends and items; when she logs into Pixie Hollow, her new friends and items will be there for her to play with. One advantage of the Clickables toys is that you know your daughter is playing with people she actually knows, rather than random strangers. Disney takes thorough measures to keep the site safe, but it’s hard to tell who’s who on the Web.

The Clickables Fairy Charms Starter Set ($29.99), which includes a jewelry box and charm necklace with three charms, makes it easy to add charms to a fairy. When I tried using the jewelery box, though, I encountered some problems: It didn’t do what the instructions said it was supposed to. I tried changing the batteries, but still, nothing happened.

The instructions that came with the jewelery box tell you to press the activation button and that the jewelery box will light up. This just wasn’t happening for me. What it doesn’t say is that you have to hold the button down for an undetermined time before the box lights up and makes a sound. Then, you’re told to touch the back of the charm of the Clickable sensor to the top of your jewelry box. You have to hold the charm in place until the lights flash, which sometimes takes a few seconds, but can also takes much longer.

Then I accidentally dropped the box from about 3 feet up, and what do you know? It worked. So, after trying the box with two sets of new batteries and then calling someone to help me, all it took was to knock it off my desk (this is not actually recommended!). The box is also difficult to open.

As for the Clickables Fairy Game, the electronic handheld LCD game ($19.99), has five different games to choose from. The player scores points, which turn into Tink Points online. The user plugs the game into the computer with a USB cable, and can transfer the points to their account that way.

The device also has the Y-shaped sensor that allows the player to transfer the points she’s earned to a friend′s jewelery box or friendship bracelet. The points let you buy a butterfly to follow your fairy around. The game’s screen is very small, while the body of the device is quite clunky. It’s difficult to see what’s on the screen, and the graphics are very rudimentary, even for a child′s game.

All in all, I wasn’t very impressed with the line of Clickables toys. There’s not much you can do with them after you have unlocked the charms, and the jewelery doesn’t look like something girls would want to wear regularly. As for the game itself, if you don’t pay for a membership to Pixie Hollow, playing the game seems somewhat pointless. You play to collect items and gain points, but then can’t put these to use unless you’re a member. Bottom line: If your daughter simply must play Pixie Hollow, I’d recommend you pay for a membership and skip the toys.

Update: Corrected prices.

Original post by Jennifer Bergen

We used to have the original Flower Rock by Takara Tomy a long time ago. If you don′t know, Flower Rock is a potted flower toy integrated with a speaker that dances to the tune of any music. To celebrate its anniversary and in an effort to become relevant (like how Bandai redesigned the Tamagotchi), the dancing toy gets a complete overhaul with the addition of colorful flashing LED lights on each of its petal and leaf.

As such, dancing now isn’t the only feature of the Flower Rock 2.0; expect to get entertained with light shows as well. You just plug in your iPod or other player and listen to music through the toy plant’s 1-watt amp and speaker. Tomy Takara’s Flower Rock 2.0 was released in Japan earlier this year at the Tokyo Toy Fair. Now thanks to the Japan Trend Shop, it’s available to all toy-loving geeks around the world for $77 each.

Original post by Mariella Moon

The Mattel Girl Tech Stylin′ Studio is made for girls ages 8 and up. And “and up” really means “and up”: No matter how old you are, you really can′t grow out of the joy of giving people makeovers. People are obsessed with makeovers–witness “Extreme Home Makeover″ and “What Not to Wear,” to name just a couple of TV makeover shows. And Stylin′ Studio offers you the chance to do a DIY makeover for yourself or some lucky friend.

Stylin’ Studio ($59.99) comes with a touchpad console, stylus pen, and a digital camera that connects to the monitor. Everything plugs in through a USB cable. Once you pop in the provided CD, you simply run through the install steps and voila, your studio awaits you.

The first step is to either upload a premakeover photo or take one with the provided camera (attached to the touchpad)….

I found the touchpad somewhat difficult to use; it was much easier for me just to use my computer’s mouse, which pretty much makes the touchpad unnecessary. If the toy just came with the CD and a digital camera, it would work just as well.

With the photo you′ve selected to beautify, you first select and map out the lips, eyes, eyebrows, cheekbones, and face shape areas. Then you can change the hairstyle, makeup, clothes, accessories, and background to fit your style. Choices for each abound; your child (or you) will need a long time to get tired of them.

Once you’re done with the makeover, you have several options. You can print your photo in different styles, including Photo Booth, Magazine Cover, and so on. Or you can e-mail it, supposedly: I tried sending my photo to several e-mail accounts but never received it. I’m not sure why it didn’t work–and one of the major things Stylin’ Studio is lacking in is directions. There are no instructions in the box, and there’s no Help option inside the studio; and Girl Tech’s Web site offers no help whatsoever. Fortunately, it’s an easy toy to figure out; but if you run into a problem, you’re out of luck.

Besides those qualms, I really did enjoy the Stylin′ Studio. It would make a great gift for any age! Finally, Stylin′ Studio is not limited to girls: You can give your brother, dad, or boyfriend a makeover too! Here are a few photos of the fun we had with PC Mag boy makeovers.

Original post by Jennifer Bergen

No, I’m not deluded into thinking these new Bandai BabyAnimal robots are even remotely real - they stare at you with lifeless glass (plastic?) eyes and remain immobile until you make them do something. All the same, they can melt my geeky robot-loving heart into a puddle of goo. Created by CCP, a part of Bandai Namco Group, are four BabyAnimal variants: polar bear, white tiger, lion and panda. The toys have a sitting height of 35 cm (around 14 inches) and run on four AA batteries.

There are four sensors embedded inside the toy, so every time you touch its neck, chest and head area, it emits the corresponding animal’s sounds. Ignore it for five minutes or lull it in your arms and it will go to sleep; to wake it up, you’d have to pull its ear. It will be available in Japan this week for $80 per cuddly robot, although according to CrunchGear, there could be a chance for the BabyAnimal bots to be available in the Unites States.

Original post by Mariella Moon

As School House Rock has taught us, education can be fun. Here’s more proof: Disney and VTech have joined forces to bring you Create-A-Story ($49.99), an interactive book that lets your child read along with, and even build, their own stories. The game is intended for children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old. It can be used alone or you can easily plug it into a TV to interact with the characters.

Create-A-Story comes with two books–Read-A-Story and Create-A-Story–and a software cartridge. You simply place the software cartridge in the back of the console and place one of the books in the center, then interact by using the stylus pen. The game has Volume Control buttons, as well as Mute and Help buttons. Your kid can also listen to the game through earphones, which will be nice for you.

Read-A-Story lets your child hear a story and play various learning games. Touch words with the stylus pen to hear them sounded out . When the entire story is read, the words are highlighted on the screen to associate how the word looks with how the word sounds.

The Create-A-Story booklet lets your child create, and if plugged into the TV, animate their own stories. Personalize it by entering his or her name in the beginning. Then, if you′re using the TV version, the story reads “By Jenny,” for example, and congratulates her at the end. Choose characters, settings and actions, and then watch the animated story on the TV screen.

Part of the appeal of Create-A-Story is that you can take it on-the-go or have it plugged into your TV, but I think it loses interest when it’s not plugged in. The whole point is that you can see and interact with the characters on the screen–and without that, it’s really not as entertaining.

Create-A-Story teaches reading skills, creativity, story making, uppercase and lowercase letters, word identification, phonics, rhyming words, syllables, punctuation, and colors. Depending on the age of your child, he or she could easily fly through the two books and want more. Fortunately, you can buy more books to use in the console, including Cars, Disney Princess: Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty, Finding Nemo, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Each new package comes with two booklets and one software cartridge for $19.99.

Original post by Jennifer Bergen

Can′t get enough of your plush Littlest Pet Shop Virtual Interactive Pets (VIPs)? Hasbro recently announced the new limited-edition VIP Friends, an extension of the VIPs brand. Each pair of plush best friends come with a secret code hidden in the collar to unlock both pets in the Littlest Pet Shop virtual world.

Kids can choose from VIP Friends Bunny & Ladybug, Beagle & Mouse, or Panda & Turtle.

VIP Friends are available only now through the end of December, so be sure to collect your friends soon before they′re all gone. Each pair sells for $24.99 and are recommended for ages 6 and up.

Original post by Jen the Weird Hunter

It doesn’t really have a purpose other than for fun and if you’re a toy lover, then it does deliver. The ROBO-P (or Roboppi) toy helicopter is an indoor flying toy that’s sort of a hybrid between a helicopter and a UFO. The couple of plastic rotors propel the device that you can move via a remote control.

Here comes the fun part - ROBO-P is equipped with numerous varicolored LED lights that provide the whirring and flashing illumination display which looks best in the dark. Coming in pink, blue and orange, ROBO-P has built-in batteries that work for six straight minutes on a 25 minute charge. ROBO-P is now available for everyone outside Japan through Japan Trend Shop for $42 a pop.

Original post by Mariella Moon

Circuit City begins its liquidation sales on Wednesday, and even the company itself doesn’t know what items will be discounted.

On Monday, the electronics retailer said that it will close 155 stores, a consequence of poor sales and the declining economy at large.

But when asked Tuesday what items would be discounted Wednesday and by how much, a Circuit City spokesman said that the sales were being handled by an unnamed liquidator, who would be responsible for everything from advertising to deciding what products would receive price cuts. The bottom line? Even Circuit City doesn’t know what sales will take place tomorrow, lending the whole affair a bit of the atmosphere of a treasure hunt.

Don’t expect much help from the Circuit City Web site, either. Since the store is still in business, Circuit City is currently advertising discounts on products in its remaining stores, including 76 in California alone.

I asked for the name and a contact at the liquidator. The Circuit City spokesman refused. Gordon Bros. handled some of the CompUSA liquidation proceedings; however, a company spokeswoman hasn’t yet returned my call. If history repeats itself, though, some of the sale prices might actually be higher than normal, to eke out a bit more profit from bargain vultures. The real discounts may lie a few days down the road.

So what kind of deals can you expect tomorrow? The whole thing boils down to the one response I consistently received from the Circuit City representative: “It’s up to the liquidator.”

PC Magazine editor-in-chief lance Ulanoff adds an interesting point: since Circuit City has a more consumer-centric focus that CompUSA did, consumers may see some really aggressively-priced LCDs, supposedly one of the hot items this holiday season. On the downside, analysts estimate that LCD panel makers are selling close to cost, meaning that bargains might be found virtually anywhere.

Who knows? Feel free to tell us if you scored any bargains in the comments below.

Original post by Mark Hachman

Need a last-minute Halloween costume accessory and want to fulfill your secret desire to be a clone trooper?

The surprisingly inexpensive and “realistic” Star Wars The Clone Wars Clone Trooper Voice Changer, from Hasbro, costs just $29.99. Yes, it’s essentially is a toy, but this Helmet is adjustable to fit children and also adults with large heads (like me). It also comes with sound effects and can amplify your voice with synthesized radio static.

The Clone Trooper helmet requires a bit of assembly, since the headgear comes in multiple pieces–and it’s tough to get it out of the box! Once all the packaging is removed, though, you just snap everything together in the right order.

The three necessary AA batteries are included. They power various recorded voice announcements stored within the helmet, such as,” Get ready to turn those clankers into scrap metal!” and, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, sir.”

My favorite feature of the helmet, though, is the speaker button: It plays a bit of signature trooper-radio crackle, then activates the Helmet’s internal mic, which pumps your amplified voice out of a speaker grill located at the front of the headpiece. While not loud enough to serve as a megaphone–or to perform crowd control for non-compliant citizens of the Empire–it’s pretty slick nonetheless.

Original post by Brian Bennett

It’s almost Halloween and I’m a lot of people are dressing up as witches and wizards, their costumes replete with the symbolic wand. Unfortunately, the most we can do is wave the wood around like it’s but a large toothpick. Not anymore. No, the Van de Graaf generator isn′t only good for giving you an induced bad hair day; apparently, it could also make you a bit more convincing in your costume.

Making science look more akin to magic, this wand has a built-in Van de Graaff generator. You just push a button to activate it and when it builds up static charge, it can control 3D mylar shapes in mid-air. Yep, like magic. Aside from being able to levitate mylar shapes, the Fly Stick Van de Graaff Wand could also contort these shapes and change their form. Of course, the more science-adept might guess at first glance, but I bet it’s good enough to entertain kids, toy lovers and inebriated friends. Now available in ThinkGeek.

Watch video of Fly Stick Van de Graaff Wand in action after the jump.

Original post by Mariella Moon

Just a few days ago, TiVo signed a deal with CinemaNow and Jaman to put those streaming video services on their latest boxes. (And don’t forget Amazon.com shopping, Amazon’s Video on Demand/Unbox service, Rhapsody, and just about any other Web video you’d want.)

Now Netflix has joined the party, offering some real clout to TiVo as not just a DVR, but as a content delivery service.

NewTeeVee has the story for now, although a TiVo representative promised us “big news” earlier tonight (unfortunately, about the same time as I was tuning in for the World Series/Obama ad/McCain-Larry King interview). It’s not on the wires yet, although I’m sure I’ll receive confirmation in the morning.

Dave Zatz has the press release, which adds additional details: you’ll need to have both a Netflix and a TiVo subscription, plus a TiVo Serieҁ, TiVo HD, and TiVo HD XL. If you have all that, however, the movies and other content can be played via the TiVo box for free.

Movies will be streamed either from a wired or wireless Internet connection, and must apparently be specified and managed via the Netflix Web site (and not from the TiVo interface, apparently).

The Netflix-TiVo partnership is in testing, and should be rolled out in December.

Oh, and I’ll just apologize right now for the horrible MS Paint job to the left.

Original post by Mark Hachman