Geeky Toys Do Well at TOTY Awards

Congrats to all the winners of the 2008 TOTY awards, which salute the best toys of the year. 2007's winners were fairly mundane -- TMX Elmo but no LEGO? Srsly? But 2008's recipients possess mad geeky cred. Here are some of the winners:

Toy of the Year: Spinmaster Air Hogs Havoc Heli. Remote control dueling choppers!

Activity Toy of the Year: LEGO City. Reviewed here in the past, City fulfills the LEGO's vast potential as perfectly as any series they've put out. Richly deserved!

Game of the Year: Techno Source Rubik's Revolution. An electronic game with the classic Rubik's Cube form factor.

Specialty Toy of the Year: Elenco Snap Circuits. Learn electronic theory with snap-together circuits! It warms my heart that the DIY craze has extended so far that a kit like this could win an award.

Toy Hacking Workshop

I'm guessing at least a couple Robosapiens are busted already. Or maybe last year's gifts are long forgotten and destined for the trash bin. Well, what better to do with the junk than pop it open and play with its electronics?

For those who are too scared or success-oriented to DIY, there's a cool-sounding Toy Hacking workshop being held in London this month.

Don’t know what to do with those spare toys lying around post-Christmas season? This workshop just might be the thing for you. After a successful Pimp my Gadget workshop in Budapest, we have the pleasure of having Adam Somlai Fisher and Massimo Banzi lead his 2 day fun workshop during which you will be doing some wire bending, learn about basic electronics and hack toys!

Put on by Tinker.it, a "technology and design consultancy" with offices in London, Milan and Amsterdam, they also offer workshops on Processing and Arduinos. No electronic knowledge is necessary but you do need to bring a laptop and a toy to hack. Tickets are 90 pounds or 75 for students.

What I wanna know is, why can't we get cool workshops like this around where I live?

(Note, the picture is of a similar event put on for students of the Willem de Kooning Academy.)

Photo by Danja Vasiliev

Geek Father's Day – Shopping Help for Mom!

Some comedian, I think it was Chris Rock, said that all Dad asks for in life is the big piece of chicken. But on Father's Day, it's a different story. This is our day, just once per year!

Me, my Father's Day is gonna consist of 3 things: beer, grilling meat, and the promise of a new gadget. Other dads don't have as clear a goal as I do, so maybe us GeekDads can come up with some present ideas?

The trick is that ideally, the wife and kids should come up with the gift themselves. Unfortunately, this presents the possibility of un-geeky presents and dad gamely claiming it's perfect. "You shouldn't have!"

Here are some places were we can send the wife and kids to find nice geeky presents:

Jinx, geeky clothes (mainly t-shirts) for men, women and "mini-geeks."

Great Geek Gifts, an online store with a lot of different products, broken down by price.

Firebox, an online store with a great Dad's Day section.

GeekStuff4U is an attractive site with lots of cool stuff, but it doesn't have a convenient list format that non-geeky buyers might appreciate.

If you think up any other sites, post them in the comments section.

Zoob Building Set

A building toy in the same vein as Erector or LEGO, ZOOB is a set of five different pieces that can be connected by a simple arrangement of balls and sockets to create anything you can imagine... buckyballs, bridges, dinosaurs. Inspired by the nucleotides that make up DNA, the balls and sockets permit the finished sculpture to move and the ZOOBs' smooth edges invite casual play and manipulation. How often do you pick up your buddy's ornate Lego AT-AT sculpture and play with it? You'd get geek-slapped super quick.



>Inevitably, as a plastic modular building toy, ZOOB must be compared with Lego. The fact is, it holds up pretty well. The simplicity of ZOOB is its strength. Nowadays practically all Lego sets are sold as special kits -- robots, cars, what have you. Fewer and fewer bricks per kit are standard, and many are specialized pieces that must be sifted through to get to the more utilitarian parts. ZOOB, by contrast, uses the same 5 pieces in nearly all kits, requiring kids (and adults!) to use their imaginations more. And, as mentioned, the ZOOB's crazy appearance and ball-and-socket flexibility cause hands to reach out and begin playing almost automatically. Best of all, while the toy is rated for years 6 to 10, you never really tire of ZOOB... I have a 16-piece tangle on my desk at work.