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I was never jealous of my friends who had those Viewmaster slide-viewer toys when I was a kid—they just seemed kinda boring, but I would have been jealous if the toy was as clever as this mod. This guy’s taken the toy and added an Arduino-driven display unit, accelerometers and a Bluetooth connection to a PC so that it generates animated color-based chromadepth 3D imagery. There’s even push-button control of the imagery, which reacts when you shake it. Waaaaay better than clicking through boring 20 3D-ish static cartoon frames, though the psychological effects its psychedelicness may cause hasn’t been tested. [MickeyMann via Makezine]

This holiday season we’re taking a break from our usual schedule of eating candy canes to throw an event called Gizmodo Gallery. “Gizmodo Gallery?” you ask, “What’s that?” It’s basically the best of Gizmodo come to life, in NYC meatspace from the 4th to the 7th of December.

We thought about how so many readers never get a chance to see the things we write about in person. We thought it would be fun to get some space in NYC, gather together our favorite things and put them on display for all who would come to visit. Then we found out we had no money because the economy. It’s broken.

Then we found out that our friends from Staple Design and Reed Annex would lend us their space for a few days, and our friends at Dynamism gave us a couple of bucks to pull it off, which was awfully kind of them.

So we started collecting the artifacts. One by one, people donated or lent us gear. A month later, we’ve got a quite a line up, including the biggest and best from this year, strange tech from the far reaches of the world and prototypes from the dawn of the electronic age. We’re avoiding stuff you may already own or already see too much of, focusing instead on things you’ve yearned to touch but have had no chance to. Mark calls it a cross between “Ripley’s Believe It or Not and a Smithsonian for gadgets.” I’d just say there’s going to be a lot of stuff and all of it is great.

But there’s more. I like to think we’ve brought some happiness into the world by writing about fun things here. But we’ve been kind of useless when its come to actually helping people who need it during the holidays. Which is why although we’re not charging for anything at the door, we are going to ask that every visitor considers dropping a dollar or twenty in a jar for Toys for Tots.

The gallery opens this December 4th through the 7th, in NYC at REED ANNEX. What exactly will we be displaying? For now, its a secret, but every day that goes by, it seems another kind face from the gadget world shows up to loan us another amazing gizmo. If you’ve got weird, wonderful or monumental gadgets you’d like to loan us, space is already tight, but please drop me an email and we’ll see if there’s a fit. More details to come, so stay tuned.

A plain wooden stick was entered into the National Toy Hall of Fame yesterday along with Baby Doll and the skateboard. These toys join 38 other classics like the bicycle, Mr. Potato Head, Crayola crayons, and the Atari 2600 video game system. So why the stick? Well, it has been a staple of imaginative play since time began and, as one curator noted, “it’s not just for humans anymore. You can find otters, chimps and dogs — especially dogs — playing with it.” Originally, the title of this post was “Stick Enters Toy Hall of Fame, Cardboard Box Snubbed.” However, I discovered that the cardboard box was inducted in 2005. It’s a good thing too—overlooking everyone’s favorite fort would have caused an outrage of epic proportions. [CNN via Boing Boing]

This six-legged, pimp-headed robot dancing to Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5” is all sorts of freaky. It’s been on YouTube for a few weeks, but I thought it was perfect for Halloween, as evidenced by that pins-and-needles feeling I get watching it. Remember that scene in Toy Story when the maltreated toys go after Buzz and Woody? Why the hell would someone want to replicate toys so scary? It’s enough to make me go running and screaming like a girl—wait, I totally forgot, I am a girl. Maybe you guys should show your lady friends this clip, so you can magically morph into Prince Charmings to protect and console them. [Geekologie]

Let me tell you a story about a boy named Timmy. Born to a poor servant woman out of wedlock, Timmy was abandoned at a young age on the steps of a church, his mother hoping he could find a life better than she could provide. He did not. Instead Timmy spent his youth traveling town to town, shining shoes, cutting wood, doing pretty much any labor necessary to afford one meal a day. His life was hard and often felt meaningless. No one loved him, he thought. And unfortunately, he was right. Years passed in this way, until one Christmas morning…

Timmy woke up to the sun shining in the alley where he slept. Oh no, he would be late to his new job at the bakery, a place with sweets and other good things to eat. He could not lose this position or he would go hungry again.

But to Timmy’s surprise, the Baker was sitting beside him, touching his cheek gently. “You’ve worked hard for too long, little boy. You deserve a good home and a loving father,” the Baker said. “I’d like to adopt you, if you’ll have me as your dad.”

Timmy’s eyes welled up in tears. This Christmas he would get a new beginning. Life would change for the better. Maybe he could even go to school, pursue his day dreams of architecture or baking.

“But there’s one thing I’ll ask of you first,” the Baker said.

“What…father?” the boy responded.

“Open that gift,” replied the Baker.

And it was at that moment that Timmy noticed a huge wrapped gift leaning beside the brick. It was the biggest present he’d ever seen, even when he remembered back to the times he’d peek in shop windows. Timmy could not restrain himself. He ripped into the package ravenously until the shiny paper succumbed to the mud of the streets.

“It’s a train!” Timmy exclaimed. The Baker smiled tenderly. It had cost him six months of pay, though he’d never admit that to anyone.

“Hop on,” the Baker said.

So Timmy jumped in the Hammacher Schlemmer Locomotive, his face glowing from either the sun or glee, one could not tell. He shouted “all aboard” and the Baker laughed. Then Timmy stopped for a moment, glancing around at the controls.

“How do you start the train?” Timmy asked.

“Oh, you crank it to go,” the Baker explained.

“A mechanical toy? You mean I have to work even more than I have my whole life?? Fuck that shit!”

And with that, Timmy and the Baker parted ways, never to see one another again. [Hammacher Schlemmer via DVICE]

Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio

Toys ‘R’ Us, the primary provisioner of joy and happiness to children in the world, is branching out into iPods and Eee PCs. Though never a stranger to consumer electronics, Toys ‘R’ Us has traditionally shied away from strict gadgetry — with a notable exception being Zune sales starting last year. Now the retailer will be offering iPods in a little “iPod boutique,” with various shuffles, nanos, touches and related accessories to help you fill those stockings and bolster Geoffrey’s bottom line. The Eee PC will be offered in black and white, with low-end 7-inch Linux and XP versions available for $269 and $299, respectively.

Toys ‘R’ Us makes room for iPods, Eee PCs and cash money originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This one will probably make the Greenpeace douchebags moan with pleasure: It seems that the Apple replacement parts department didn’t get Steve’s memo pushing for green this, recycled that, and reduced packaging materials. At least judging from the needlessly huge box used to ship this iPhone tiny USB power adapter replacement:

Have you noticed the packaging that Apple is using to send you a new AC adapter for the recent recall? That’s huge! At the local Apple store they were out so I asked for a replacement online, and the service, has to be said, was impressively fast. Anyway isn’t this kind of packaging against their “green” policy of using new sleeker packages for their newest toys?

Indeed it is. Seems like Apple has joined our Shipping Hall of Shame with honors. [Thanks Manuel]

Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio

Toys ‘R’ Us, the primary provisioner of joy and happiness to children in the world, is branching out into iPods and Eee PCs. Though never a stranger to consumer electronics, Toys ‘R’ Us has traditionally shied away from strict gadgetry — with a notable exception being Zune sales starting last year. Now the retailer will be offering iPods in a little “iPod boutique,” with various shuffles, nanos, touches and related accessories to help you fill those stockings and bolster Geoffrey’s bottom line. The Eee PC will be offered in black and white, with low-end 7-inch Linux and XP versions available for $269 and $299, respectively.

Toys ‘R’ Us makes room for iPods, Eee PCs and cash money originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Oct 2008 19:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

This one will probably make the Greenpeace douchebags moan with pleasure: It seems that the Apple replacement parts department didn’t get Steve’s memo pushing for green this, recycled that, and reduced packaging materials. At least judging from the needlessly huge box used to ship this iPhone tiny USB power adapter replacement:

Have you noticed the packaging that Apple is using to send you a new AC adapter for the recent recall? That’s huge! At the local Apple store they were out so I asked for a replacement online, and the service, has to be said, was impressively fast. Anyway isn’t this kind of packaging against their “green” policy of using new sleeker packages for their newest toys?

Indeed it is. Seems like Apple has joined our Shipping Hall of Shame with honors. [Thanks Manuel]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables

Remember that Body Trainer headset unveiled by Sega Toys earlier this year? If not, there’s hardly a better time to refresh your memory given that it’s coming to US soil via ITAMI. The rebadged FiTrainer comes equipped with a heart sensor and built-in one-liners to keep you going when your muscles are just dying to return to the couch. ITAMI also has the nerve to claim that “Wii Fit is history, while the FiTrainer is the future.” At any rate, the headset packs a trio of exercise modes — walking, jogging and aerobics — and by utilizing proprietary algorithms and subliminal encouragement from a variety of Pokémons, it tells you exactly how to exercise in order to “achieve maximum results.” We’re only told that the device is “coming soon,” but you can certainly procrastinate signing up to hear more so that you completely avoid ever bringing this nuisance / assistant into your life.

[Via I4U News, thanks Chris]

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