The Geek Church

Hot Wheels, those classic cars that we pushed around on hardwood floors, have now become remote controlled. The iNitro Kit is designed to work with an iPhone, and it becomes the remote control unit.

The iNitro uses an infrared signal, and the user needs to use the included Dongle to plug onto their iPhone. As you might have guessed, there is an app for controlling the car.

The application has several ways to control the car. One of them is the traditional dual stick interface that you see on most RC cars. There is also an accelerometer function in case you want to tilt and shift controls. There is even a “Slide” function that allows the user to drag one’s finger across the interface to control the car in pre-determined patterns.

Yes, this sounds like something that I definitely want to take for a spin. You can see from my Source how there was apparent test run, but I don’t see any word on price or availability.

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Some of you might remember our coverage of Xappr, a way of creating a laser tag style game with a smartphone. It looks like toy giant NERF (owned by bigger giant Hasbro) is getting in on this eighties action as they are bringing back Lazer tag.

Unlike the funny guns and helmets back in the day (my day, if that doesn’t show my age too much), the NERF versions pair with an iPhone or iPod Touch. With the use of an app, you will have some augmented reality going on the gun sight.

Like the guns back then, you can play against others, but this new version lets you play against virtual opponents. By the way, there is also a global Lazer Tag leaderboard. By the way, there is a way of unlocking new attacks and gear.

So, in short, these upgrades are good, yes? In fact, for the first time, your paired iDevices show where your blast went.

You will have to wait until summer to see the latest edition of NERF’s Lazer Tag, and will cost $40 or two for $70.

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Hello again, dear readers! Once again, we see that LEGO material can be used to make just about anything. Of course, we’ve covered stories about the LEGO Lee Enfield sniper rifle and AK-47 in the last two weeks. Now here’s more breaking news about what happens with human imagination and LEGO building blocks come together to create something. Recently, Kuniko Maeda and Mario Minale from the Dutch-based design shop Minale Maeda made a full-scale model of the classic Gerrit Rietveld Buffet table.

That’s right, dear readers. After hearing Jack Streat’s LEGO gun creations for two weeks, now we find out about two guys from a Dutch design shop using LEGO blocks to create furniture. Furthermore, it took about twenty-five thousand blocks to make this replica of the Gerrit Rietveld Buffet table. As you can see from the photo above, the LEGO version bears a striking resemblance to its real-life wooden counterpart.

Now it seems that LEGO might have a future in the furniture industry as well as weapons development. However, I found Streat’s LEGO guns from two weeks ago to be more interesting than this LEGO table, though. Full-sized LEGO versions of real firearms that actually shoot projectiles are more fascinating to me personally. Thus, we continue to see evidence of the unlimited applications for using toy building blocks. Ah LEGO, is there anything you can’t do?

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Of course, children’s safety is very important when it comes to bicycling at a young age. Bikes for kids who are new to bicycling usually come with training wheels attached. Then there is common safety equipment such as helmets, elbow pads, knee pads and wrist guards, which teenagers and adults should also be using. However, some people seem to take an extreme approach to bicycle safety for children through unconventional methods. For example, Italtrike recently designed a tricycle with features for extra safety.

Their tricycle is called the oko-Plus. It has a padded seat with a three-point safety harness and a front wheel that can’t make turns beyond 45 degress in order to avoid jack-knifing and toppling over. Furthermore, the oko-Plus also uses a completely enclosed chain-drive with the foot pedals attached to the sides of it instead of on the front wheel. Other features of this tricycle include handbrakes, adjustable handlebars (and the seat is also adjustable) capable of nine different positions, enabling the same child to use the tricycle from age two to age five.

Now that’s quite a list of safety measures for a regular child’s tricycle. Personally, I think Italtrike might have gotten a little carried away in emphasizing safety for users of the oko-Plus. Nonetheless, their efforts show a passion to protect children and that’s a noble goal to be respected. This tricycle is available for $146.

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Last week, we saw the LEGO Lee Enfield sniper rifle. Now LEGO Technics and Jack Streat are at it again, developing weaponry with the classic toy building material that can actually shoot projectiles. This time, they’ve created a fully-functioning AK-47 gun as a follow-up to their sniper rifle.

Mr. Streat took two weeks making this weapon and clearly, his work has paid off. This LEGO version of the AK-47 comes with two removable magazines containing twelve bricks each, a basic red and black color scheme and a bolt-action mechanism for firing “brick” projectile rounds. This LEGO gun seems to be capable of firing two to three rounds in one single shot while last week’s sniper rifle only shot single rounds.

Obviously, this LEGO AK-47 is another achievement made possible through the human imagination and brilliant engineering. So, that leaves me to wonder what’s next for LEGO Technics and Jack Streat. Will it be more styles of firearms, other types of hand-held ordnance or nuclear and mechanical weapons of mass destruction? Remember, dear readers, that with LEGO, the possibilities are endless.

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With it comes to LEGO, its building blocks offer nearly endless possibilities in their use. You only need a strong sense of creativity and a willingness to experiment, so new applications can be found for the classic toy building material. For example, LEGO Technics actually created a fully-functional weapon that closely resembles a Lee Enfield sniper rifle.

The LEGO sniper rifle was developed by Jack Streat. It features a bolt-action operating mechanism for firing and removable clips. This baby really does shoot projectile rounds, which are LEGO blocks, of course and the clips are also made of LEGO material. The rifle even has a scope, target crosshairs and an attachable stand for positioning the weapon to use on the ground.

This creation is definitely a feat of engineering creative genius. Kind of makes me wonder if LEGO has a future in developing new weapons technology. But that’s assuming they actually start using stronger material that really can neutralize enemy combatants in a battlefield. Hey, as the making of this sniper rifle proves, this toy building blocks company could be capable of just about anything.

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Ah, the wonders of paper. This byproduct we get from trees is used in many ways. We commonly see it as pages in a book, magazine or newspaper, advertisement fliers, notepads and blank sheets from a printer among other things. But now the company WowWee has added making playable guitars to the long list of paper’s uses.

The product line for these “paper-made” guitars is appropriately called PaperJamz and the actual instruments come in five styles, which each feature certain, well-known songs. The Stratocaster has ‘What I Like About You’, ‘Two Princes’ and ‘End Of The World’. The Telecaster comes with ‘Born To Be Wild’, ‘Mississippi Queen’ and ‘Smoke On The Water’. The Flying V features ‘You Really Got Me’, ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ and ‘Godzilla’. The Explorer offers ‘Hey There Delilah’, ‘All Star’ and ‘Helicopter’. Lastly, you can play ‘Woman’, ‘Rock Star’ and ‘Take It To The Limit’ on the SG-style guitar. However, these guitars were actually made without strings so three alternate methods are necessary for playing them. The user can just strum along to the songs, use “rhythm mode” to follow the rhythm of the songs with strumming and freestyle by creating your own notes and songs. Nonetheless, basic strumming is the easiest method while doing freestyle is the most challenging way of guitar playing.

The Paperjamz guitars are currently available for $35 each at IWOOT.com. Amplifiers and drums are also available as accessories and they’re made of paper as well. These instruments are compatible with headphones and speaker jacks and you can also play real chords if you have backing tracks to accompany them. Personally, I never thought I’d be living in a day where musical instruments can be made from paper. But it seems that technology and people’s creativity continue to make the unlikely and unexpected possible these days.

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When dealing with a large group of violent protesters or looters in a riot situation, law enforcement and military personnel have used a variety of equipment to help restore order. Such tools for crowd control include tear gas, high-powered water hoses, dogs and rubber bullets. Now, Bruce Lund and his company, Lund & Co Inventions have created a new weapon for the war on town and city riots. However, you might be surprised to learn that this is the same company who made the Tickle Me Elmo doll.

Bruce Lund himself recently designed a gas-powered, potentially lethal bean bag cannon that the Pentagon has taken great interest in. However, the technology for this riot cannon actually originated from a toy rocket that Lund created for the toy company, Estes. Lund & Co Inventions is actually a research developer that aids major toy companies like Tyco and they do not specialize in directly selling their own products. After the Tickle Me Elmo doll sold for millions, Lund was hired by Estes. The toy rocket designed by Lund works by converting regular tap water into Hydrogen and Oxygen gases, then recombining it into H20 to generate energy and expanding gases that cause this energy to launch the rocket upward for more than 200 feet. Then Lund applied this technology to the development of his Variable Velocity Weapon System, which he named “The Big Hurt”.

The idea behind “Big Hurt” is to solve the problems that exist with most projectile weapons for crowd control. Common riot weapons that use non-lethal rounds like rubber bullets and beanbags have a problem with their velocity. Such weapons are safe to use at fifty yards but become potentially lethal at five yards and weapons designed to be non-lethal at five yards don’t have an effective projectile velocity at a fifty-yard range. So, Lund solved this problem by designing his “Big Hurt” cannon to automatically measure the range of a target and adjust its muzzle velocity accordingly. The Pentagon loves Lund’s design but wanted him to add a manual override function that allows the user to switch from lesser than to a full velocity setting so projectile rounds can be used for lethal force. Other design modifications were made as well. Now, that’s quite an interesting progression. Lund went from creating new toys to designing crowd control weaponry. Maybe this inventor has a future in the research and development of new weapons technology.

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Ah, looking at the stars at night. It can be a fun and relaxing way to pass the time after the day is long over. This activity is commonly done in a local park, an open field on the outskirts of a town or even in your own backyard. Hopefully, there aren’t city lights too close to your location, preventing a clear view of the night sky, though. Unfortunately, those who live directly in a brightly lit city often don’t have great opportunities to see the stars at night. So, the company Bandai is here to give city dwellers the next best thing to actual stargazing.

They developed the Hyper Telescope, which offers the user a virtual view of the night sky. Once you’ve selected a location on the Earth, there’s a built-in, three-axis accelerometer and magnetic orientation sensor that shows the user what constellations and twinkling stars would have been normally visible through an actual telescope. There’s even a TV-out connection feature that allows you to share your virtual view of the stars with friends and family.

Of course, the Hyper Telescope is also intended for educational application as well as personal entertainment. It is available for purchase at $173. However, this instrument for virtual stargazing may come off only as another toy, considering that this is Bandai we’re talking about here. The toy company known for producing action figures from popular children’s shows such as Power Rangers, DragonBall and Ben 10.

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If you’re a passionate fan of the Star Wars movies, then you probably enjoy collecting some of the memorabilia from this legendary franchise. Most collectibles for the series include toys, books, DVDs and more practical items like pens and toothbrushes. Of course, the practical items in such movie memorabilia are designed to serve a useful purpose in everyday life instead of just being a form of entertainment or a collector’s item. However, design or material flaws in some of these practical items end up making them less effective in their intended function and may leave the buyer wishing they had settled on a better product not based on their favorite movie series.

One example of this is the Darth Vader Japanese Desk Clock. This clock is a thirteen-inch tall figurine of the Dark Lord of the Sith in a standing pose with his activated lightsaber in one hand, resting on a platform base which has a tiny LCD display at the bottom for giving the time. Of course, the size of the clock at the base is very problematic because such a tiny clock is quite difficult to read from a distance. Unless you don’t mind putting it right in front of you or holding it up to your face to read the time, this clock was better off just being a toy statue of the infamous Star Wars villain.

Naturally, the Desk Clock is a licensed Lucasfilm collectible. It is currently available for purchase at ThinkGeek for $14.99. It’s quite amusing to me that someone actually thought adding such a small clock to the figure’s base was a good idea. At least, it makes a nice display of Star Wars memorabilia for your personal desk, dresser or table. Nevertheless, such an item proves once again that movie merchandise made with the intention to serve an everyday purpose will fail miserably when not properly designed for actual use.

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