Apparently not satisfied with Arduino’s delay() function, Flickr member namaRyo is working on an microcontroller monitored sandglass timer. The Arduino uses an optical interrupter to detect when sand falls through the glass. Once it determines the sand has run out, a servo motor is activated, flipping the sandglass over and resetting it. An interesting combination […]
@NYC Toy Fair 2009 – Triops – They kick sea monkey butt, these things are creepy. Triops are shrimp that look like horseshoe crabs and date back to the Triassic Period in fossil records, they’re also known as dinosaur shrimp — you bring them back to life by adding water to the eggs of these […]
@NYC Toy Fair 2009 – Kistal, these are quartz-looking crystals you grow yourself. The crystal growth can be sped up and slowed down depending on the temperature, they grow in 2 to 7 days, but can grow longer/bigger for as long as you keep them in the solution (or until it evaporates). They are beautiful […]
@NYC Toy Fair 2009 – One of our favorites, Thames & Kosmos Science kits… The big news for 2009 was the “Dangerous book for boys” books getting turned in to kits – I think this will be a trend for not only science/kid based books, but beyond. The Dangerous Book for Boys: Classic Chemistry presents […]
@NYC Toy Fair 2009 – Another past favorite, UBERSTIX – they make toys/kits that you need to recycle other things to build. Straws, ice cream sticks, paper clips, water bottles, egg cartons and more. Pictured here is a ship you build and use tossed cups/bottles to make it float, along with other trashed items to […]
@NYC Toy Fair 2009 – it got a little weird. We’ve been doing MAKE for about 5 years now and from time to time you see some of the projects from the pages of MAKE, the site and Maker Faire appear as commercial products but “Be Amazing” told us it’s part of their product development, […]
@NYC Toy Fair 2009 – Not too much new stuff from HEXBUG this year – the only new product I saw was the “Inchworm” – which reminds me of the Gakken metal kit (also called Inchworm) we have at MAKE.
