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Yo-Yo Factory brings Hyper Scanner yo-yo gaming to Toy Fair, we go hands-on
We'll forgive you if you've never heard of Hyper Scanner. The carnival style arcade game is apparently all the rage in Japan, though. Kids line up to battle it for king of the yo-yo hill. Yo-Yo Factory came out to Toy Fair to show off its customizable yo-yo system, designed for the serious aficionado. Everything from the weight, to the bearings, to the colors can be tailored to your taste and to greatly improve the performance for particular tasks. The Hyper Scanner measures how fast the toy spins in RPMs and rates your performance -- not unlike a high striker. Brand manager and member of the development team Ben McPhee demoed how much better his company's products are over a standard yo-yo by ratcheting it up to near 7,000RPM. This Engadget editor was also given a chance to prove his yo-yo mettle, but couldn't break the 3,000 mark. Of course, the game has plenty of blinking lights and loud noises to entice you to play -- including repeatedly shouting "hyper" at you in a thick Japanese accent. Check out the video after the break to see it in action.
Yo-Yo wireless mouse concept charges with the flick of a wrist, saves your back
We've seen plenty of round mice, including Apple's infamous puck, and many devices that derive power from a yo-yo-like pull string mechanism. So we're not quite sure why we've never seen those two concepts married before. In retrospect, a wireless mouse charged by the kinetic energy of using it as a yo-yo seems like a painfully obvious idea. As an added bonus, this tiny pointer with an LCD battery gauge makes you get up every so often and get your limbs moving -- thus saving you from chromic back pain. Huzzah! Of course, there's no guarantee you'll ever actually see one of these on shelves. Check out the source for a few more pics.
iYo YOYO Induction Charger lets you enjoy your tunes sans AC
For any iPhone or iPod user brimming with energy that might otherwise go wasted on aimless fidgeting, Swedish designer Peter Thuvander has devised the perfect way for you to marry your hyperactivity and your love for your Apple device: the iYo YOYO Induction Charger. While playing with the charger as you would an ordinary yo-yo, a small lithium-ion battery is charged inside, which in turn powers your device. The idea sounds great, and if it ever gets out of the concept stage we look forward to having our idle hands finally used as something other than the Devil's playthings. Check out a video of the device in rendered action after the break.[Via Engadget German]
Phone or yo-yo? ModeLabs unveils new concepts
Never mind those fancy fuel cells -- just knock that phone around a bit to keep it juiced. At least that's the idea with three new concept handsets introduced by France-based ModeLabs, the same company hooking up with Levi's (to produce phones with decidedly less fancy recharging technology and more denim, we imagine). First up is the aptly named "YoYo," a puck-shaped device (pictured) designed to be worn around the neck that draws power from a combination of solar cells and the user's movement. Next up, the "U-Turn" somehow managed to eke out some electrons from the opening and closing of its keyboard, while the fitness-themed "Runaway" gets regenerated while strapped to the wrist. Of course, none of these are anywhere near production, but the folks at ModeLabs are apparently gunning to market the technology to manufacturers before too long.[Via textually.org]
