Strap in, friends. There's a new version of the Furby rolling out later this year.
Remember when playing with Transformers took something called “imagination?” No more! Soon Transformers — err, I mean Brave Robots — will do all the work themselves.
Can traditional toy makers capitalize on the rise of smartphones and tablets? Wowwee Toys thinks it can. Next week, the company behind Paper Jamz and Lite Sprites is releasing its first toys in the AppGear line, which combine physical toys with companion smartphone and tablet apps.
Pop your iPhone into the stuffed bear’s cranial cavity, fire up the free accompanying app and watch with jealous loathing as your offspring hogs all the fun.
Could tablets like the iPad ever replace toys like LEGOs, Erector Sets and crayons? Probably not, but startup Launchpad Toys thinks the iPad (and presumably tablets in general) has the potential to.
Only a weirdo would use a thirty-year-old word processor to get real work done. (I know what I’m talking about: I used word processors back then, and don’t want to go back.) There’s nothing particularly strange, however, about playing thirty-year-old electronic games.
You’ve got your Toys “R” Us Geoffrey Giraffe umbrella, your Buzz Lightyear talking action figure, and your Sassy ring-o-links, but wait–aren’t you forgetting something? Your know, like an Apple iPad 2?
Once an expensive minority, toy makers are adopting newer technologies every year – it seems like almost everything needs a battery or power source now. This year’s Toy Fair was no different. Combing the aisles, I found the ten toys with new or interesting technology that’ll make your kid say “gimme.”
If a mobile game featuring birds with special powers that destroy the elaborate dwellings of their pig-like enemies has gotten too complicated for you, perhaps you’d like to try your hand at the analog version.
Remember the View-Master? Imagine replacing those little round plastic disks with an iPhone and you’ve basically nailed down what Hasbro’s trying to do with the My3D iPhone accessory.
If you’re American and of a certain age, then your childhood was probably filled with Kenner’s Star Wars toys, and your memories filled with these very commercials for them. Admit it: You kind of wish adverts were still this cool.
