Very Exclusive Gadgets & Gizmos

The Heli Mission SWAT Truck & Helicopter combines the fun of a full radio control assault truck with a hidden compartment…whee…containing a full remote control helicopter. Two-fer! Drive up to your unsuspecting adjacent cubicle dweller with lights flashing, pop open the truck roof and take off, from the heli-pad, remembering to hum Ride of the Valkyries loudly as you do so. Bonus points for landing back on the roof again after you’ve done the harassment run. Tally Ho! £69.95

The Learn and Grow-Bot is soft and cuddly and packed with features for baby to explore. Each of the four buttons on his chest emits a different silly robot sound. Your geekling will learn cause and effect every time he presses a button and activates a wacky sound. His legs are hinged and attach with Velcro, so they can move back and forth or hold the robot upright. Yes, unlike lesser plushies, this one actually can stand on his own two feet! But we’re not done with awesome robot features.

I was at the mall the other day with my kids and I spotted a few people playing with a tiny remote control helicopter with twin rotors.

I was surprised at the control that it had, and even though they wouldn’t let customers play with them, I could buy them if I wanted to. I believe that the booth was overcharging customers for these toys, as I saw this one on the Syma site for fifty dollars less.

The Syma S026 Micro Chinook Cargo Transport 3 Channel Indoor RC RHelicopter is “the world’s smallest and lightest” and it is “designed for indoor flight only”.

Forget about games that rely on reflexes as you always lose out to your siblings – how about the Wobbler instead? This game focuses on other parts (which is hopefully your strength), where it boosts balance and coordination while playing.

Some of you might not understand that “in color” reference, but if you watch enough reruns of shows from the sixties, you will often see an intro with “Show name” in color. Yeah, back then, color television was like high-def. Pretty soon I’ll be saying that back then, color TV was like 3D.

It would appear that everyone’s favorite virtual pet from the late nineties has finally got a color upgrade! Yes, it took almost a decade before Game Boy got color, and it took Tamagochi just about that long.

This Mach III RC Flying Saucer lets you recreate recent Colorado events in your lounge room. The blimp has 3 motors and is attached to a helium-filled airbag that you’ll have to fill yourself. The controller needs a 9V battery and the gondola a 3V lithium. Just don’t use it outside or you really will be recreating events. US$54.95

I believe that hover technology is possible, and an episode of Mythbusters showed prototypes that were, at best, gigantic slow moving air hockey pucks. This is essentially what the Air Board is.

I even saw a clip from an old Wife Swap episode which had the “Balloon Boy” family playing with hover technology, and it seemed to work better than their little charade.

Robonica has rolled out the Roboni-i toy that will fuse elements of robotics, R/C vehicles and interactive gaming to deliver a brand new entertainment category known as “Robotic Gaming”. Gamers will find meaningful and structured gameplay within regardless of whether they play alone, with friends or online. Retailing for $249.99 a pop, Roboni-i is touted to be the “evolutionary ‘next step’ for entertainment robotics.”

Looking for the perfect Halloween gift? Then try the i-Fly Vamp remote controlled, flying bat. This isn’t a helicopter disguised as a bat, it actually flaps it’s wings and can be sort-of controlled. It even has glowing LED eyes so you can fly it in the dark, well see when it’s crashed into something and is on the ground.