Toys

Do-it-yourself magazines like MAKE and basement-brewed steampunk anachronisms might be at the forefront of home engineering projects, but 50-year-old Lego is still the name builders know best. Now you can play with them on your computer in the official freeware program Lego Digital Designer, available for both Windows and Mac.

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Looking like the lovechild of a Tribble and an iPod Touch, the Chumby is an adaptable little do-anything box that can stream internet radio, browse YouTube videos, serve up newsfeeds, wake you up in the morning, and generally distract you from doing anything productive with your life. In short: the Chumby is a blast.

Want the full low-down? We've got our own Chumby photo gallery, along with the official CNET review.

Now this is more like it. Mimobots weren't meant for the designer treatment. As anyone can plainly see, they've always been best suited for the likes of anime stars, game heroes, and, of course, Star Wars characters.

The newest of Mimoco's novelty USB flash drives is an expansion of the latter galactic category with its "Mimobot Series 2," which includes Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo. OhGizmo says these memory keys will be produced in limited quantities with capacities from 1GB to 4GB, starting at $50 each. They certainly took their time … Read more

No matter what kind of cars you're into, it can't be denied that there's just nothing like a Ferrari. Even when they're tiny.

Yes, there are other remote-controlled cars that might even go faster, but they'll always be pretenders to the throne in our book. Officially licensed by the racing legend, the "RealDrive Nano" racers come in miniature replicas of the Testarossa, F430, 512BB, and Enzo on a 1/58 scale, according to Technabob.

Intricately detailed, they include LED corner lights and respond to different wavelengths so as many as four can be … Read more

Video games have been around long enough now that we can see a new trend developing--gamer parents. These parents have been playing games themselves for years, and look forward to playing games with their kids as a way to spend time together as a family.

The new "Ask GamerDad" column on the video game guide side What They Play brings this perspective to video game reviews and advice. Whether or not you are a gamer parent yourself, this point of view can be another useful resource when considering games for your kids.

In this week's column, "… Read more

This is one phone that we think should be banned from the U.S. market--or, at least, from any households with teenagers. But that would seem to be the marketing target for this Chinese-made item, given the teddy bear (or whatever it is) on the receiver.

On the surface it's as basic as a phone can possibly be these days, almost a throwback that even has a cord. Except for one key feature: It has a built-in voice-changing technology. SlashGear says it can even make one sound like the opposite sex, which would undoubtedly come in handy for schoolkids … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--On a regular basis, two of the things I most like to write about are Lego and virtual worlds. So when I first heard about Lego Universe, a Lego-themed virtual world, well, I was more than a little interested.

Lego Universe, which, sadly, is still about two years from public release, will be a full-scale MMO (massively multiplayer online game) aimed at Lego's core audience, kids ages 8 to 12. But in keeping with the company's awareness of the millions of adults who are utterly devoted to the iconic toys, there is expected to be something for … Read more

Microsoft's announcement at today's Game Developer's Conference made some waves in the gaming community, but for the growing faction of Zuneowners, it felt like an exciting glimpse into the product's future.

While Microsoft hasn't made any formal announcements regarding games coming to the Zune, they dropped a big hint today when they demonstrated a game developed using XNA Studio running on a Zune 80. Its a move that makes plenty of sense, considering that Apple has been slowly and steadily releasing games for the Zune's competitor, the iPod. Gaming on the Zune also capitalizes on a theme Microsoft already has some credibility with, by way of XBox 360.

We might not know when Microsoft will start releasing games for the Zune, or how much they will cost, but we have some idea of what types of games will be released. The following list of XNA games and descriptions is quoted from Microsoft's XBox 360 site (videos via YouTube):… Read more

Microsoft got into the action figure business about two years ago, and it's been...fairly inexplicable. MSDN, the Microsoft Developer Network, recently announced the latest members of the Source Fource, a set of limited edition, collectible mini action figures based on Microsoft development and software products. These tiny, plastic, LEGO-figure-like characters include "Windows Vista Sensei," "Office Master," "ISV Server Gal," "Virtual Labs Guy," "SQL Server Gal," "Visual Labs Guy," and "MSDN Webcast Guy."

You won't be able to get these figures in stores even … Read more