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Keepin' it real fake, part XLV: Wowwee's illegitimate children
Most times, the fakers seem to stick with items that are relatively easy to replicate, making everyone's lives a good bit easier when it comes to choosing between the authentic and the knockoff, but JaiQi Toys has upped the copycat ante a bit with its full-fledged lineup of Wowwee rips. Dubbed the "Bo Series," these four bots sport the ability to walk and turn, move and grip with their arms, dozens of pre-programmed functions such as picking up objects, dancing, burping, whistling, and a kicking out a fair selection of "Kung Fu moves," not to mention the ability to dictate your new friend with an IR remote. Moreover, the creature is powered by four D-cell batteries in the main compartment, plus a pair of cells in each foot to keep the jive alive. So if you've been yearning for your very own Wowwee companion, but just don't have the coinage required to own the real deal, feel free to click on over and bring home the Robone, X-Robot, Robosaur, or Robodog now for just... well, nothing, considering even the "add to cart" function of the sketched-out website doesn't always work. Still, if you dig incredibly cheap looking renditions of popular items, and just need something to mock in order to brighten your day, JaiQi's just the medicine you ordered.[Thanks, Mutammim]
Tiger Electronics' Power Tour guitar rocks out with lights and sensors
While your teenage daughter might prefer something a bit more sophisticated, and your male child is probably rippin' it up right now on Guitar Hero, Hasbro's Tiger Electronics is coming out with an axe designed to let little tykes learn their favorite tunes without all the complicated (and pricey) lessons. The Power Tour electric guitar will come with 12 pre-loaded songs, and the string-free instrument will rock a bevy of sensors on the fretboard and body, which will allow youngsters to play along as they follow the light patterns with the music. Additionally, it's slated to have an aux input, allowing users to plug in any song they choose and jam along, but there's no word on whether or not that sweet pictured amp comes along in the bundle. Nevertheless, this kid-friendly guitar could actually find its way into quite a few musically-challenged adult hands as well when it lands in August for a currently undisclosed price.[Via Yahoo, thanks Adam]
Disney characters get robotic facelift for Magic Kingdom performance
We're hearing January is a fairly good time to hit up Disney World, and if you've got an itch to see giant rodents (and similar) perform on stage with near perfect mouth movements, we'd recommend heading on down. Apparently the engineers behind the relatively new Cinderella Castle stage show at the Magic Kingdom have spruced the characters up quite a bit, and most noticeable is the robotic facelift that the main characters received. Instead of just moving about while music loops in the background, the critters can now sing right along, as their mouths move almost in unison with the audio clips in the show. While we're sure your average six year old girl wouldn't notice such petty details, it's good to see Disney upping the ante on the mechanics to keep us geeks from zoning out while experiencing all that magic, so be sure to hit the read link for a video demonstration of the upgraded jawbones (and don't hum along too loudly).[Via BoingBoing]
University's Morgui robot deemed too scary for kids
Terrifying robots most certainly aren't anything new, and be it frightening or downright creepy, there's probably a bot out there weird enough to freak just about anyone out. Enter Morgui, the University of Reading-based robot that has been around for some time, but is just now getting the credit a bizarre skull that follows humans around should. The creation, which consists of a disembodied head, oversized blue eyes, and a classically evil grin, has been officially banned from testing around anyone under the age of 18 (permission notwithstanding) by the school's ethics and research committee, leaving the "Magic Ghost" to spook only mature audiences from here on out. Mo, as it's so aptly nicknamed, sports a metal head, the ability to detect visual / auditory cues, and sensors for radar, infrared, and ultrasonic detection as well, but oddly enough, it cannot detect human emotion, so you better not count on this fellow to have sympathy on your soul when you're screeching. The purpose of the machine is to judge how "people react to robots," and when the bot just so happens to lack any form of facial covering beyond a skeletal structure, we're sure the reactions are quite noticeable.[Via CollisionDetection]
i'coo offers up Pico-iPod stroller: will the madness ever end?
Seriously, one day this mayhem has to end, but we suppose today isn't that day, so we'll just take a look at yet another (admittedly useful) product that'll probably sell at least three times as well as sufficient alternatives simply because you can strap your iPod into it. The Pico-iPod (which comes in black and white, to no one's surprise) appears to be a suite of iPod-laced goodies to pamper your child, including a stroller, car seat, and diaper bag, all entirely more attractive than your average kid carrier due to its DAP connection. In the hood of the stroller you'll find a holster for your dock-connecting iPod, volume / track controls, and built-in speakers to drown out those piercing screams lull the kiddo to sleep. While there's no apparent pricing listed on their site, we're seeing that it'll run you right around $300 from other outlets, so your kid best really love music before you throw down on this.[Via TUAW]
Softbank releases 812T for the kiddies
Softbank and Toshiba have teamed up to release another electronic tether GPS-enabled phone for children, the 812T. The pastel clamshell is visually distinctive, thanks to (what appears to be) a rather large ring for attaching the phone to clothing, backpacks, or keychains -- but the real draw here, of course, is the GPS receiver that parents can use to watch their little ones traverse the streets of Japan from the comfort of their softly-glowing computer monitor. Other features include a 1.3 megapixel cam, a QVGA internal display, microSD memory expansion, and Yahoo! Messenger support (this is Softbank, after all, purveyor of Yahoo!'s Japanese 'net service). We're also guessing those clear lenses on the phone's front cover some strobe lights for criminal-blindin' action when necessary. [Warning: PDF link][Via Akihabara News]
Mom-of-the-year calls cops on son who opened "PlayStation GameBoy" pre-Xmas
As the PS3 crime spree chronicles continue to unfold, a zany mother in South Carolina apparently got a few wires crossed (and an incensed son, to boot) according to a recent police report. After claiming to purchase a "PlayStation GameBoy" for her mischievous 12-year old son to open at Christmas, the woman filed a petty larceny incident report to have the youngster arrested for opening it this past Sunday. Reportedly, the woman came home to a haphazardly opened box, and found the unit after the child claimed he "didn't know where it was," sending the mum into a fit which led to her son's arrest. While the boy was known to be a troublemaker in school, purportedly "attempted to assault a police officer" in the past, and has a thing for "stealing," the mother's soft heart still found it possible to purchase the coal-deserving brat an object that hasn't even been released (nor created). Whatever it really is, we hope it ends up on eBay so some deserving kiddo can give it a whirl.[Via Digg]
Imaginarium's Mo1 kiddie phone
The Imaginarium Mo1, which seems destined for Spain, doesn't appear to sport any unique features that distance it from the young'un mobiles that've launched here in the US: limited keypad, comprehensive parental controls, kid friendly design. It also packs tracking functionality (though we're not sure how we feel about 6-year-olds -- part of the target demographic -- being allowed to wander off far enough for their parents to require such a feature), and in our humblest of opinions, it's a little neater looking than either of our domestic offerings. Look for it this December for a reasonable sounding €59 (about $75) -- if you're on the other side of the pond, that is.[Via Mobilewhack]
FCC docs go up for Disney Mobile's D100
It seemed pretty obvious that Disney's family-oriented Disney Mobile MVNO was in desperate need of a kidproof handset, having initially come to the table with only a pair of middling clamshells for the little 'uns. Enter the pod-shaped D100 -- now granted, we can't say with certainty that they'll be marketing this toward parents with young children when it launches, but c'mon, it's got Winnie the Pooh on its backside. The usual parental controls are present on the device, but more interestingly, the numeric keypad can be replaced with a simpler four-button design if numeric dialing isn't needed (try texting on that, kiddies).[Via phoneArena]Update: In speaking with Disney Mobile, it turns out this lil' pod won't be seeing duty here in the States -- it's destined for South America as a general consumer device.
Sprint enables existing phones for child tracking
Instead of launching a separate child-friendly handset or just farming out the idea altogether, Sprint is launching their new "Family Locator Service," which involves software to enable existing Sprint phones for tracking. A total of 28 GPS-enabled Sprint phone models can be located with the service, and a bit of downloaded software is compatible with 17 of their phones to track up to four handsets, and even display a child's location on a map. The service is $10 a month, and it's based on software by WaveMarket Inc., which can also be used on your PC. Sadly, we missed the press conference, which somehow managed to involve Sprint getting all defensive about this being a "Big Brother" tool, and stating: "It's not about tracking. It's not about monitoring." Uh, right.
