Users of Apple iPads and iPhones downloaded more than 5 million mobile applications from the iTunes app store last month. About that many apps were downloaded by users of Android tablets and smartphones. A million or so more went to Blackberries and devices running other operating systems.
Among the people who were struck by the high—and fast increasing—popularity of mobile apps: toy makers. Increasingly, toys are either designed to be used with an app or are inspired by them. Here’s our review of five especially cool ones:
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Another entry for the category of Toys I Wish Had Existed When I Was Young: The Brookstone Rover Spy Tank.
Though, to call something that lights up this brightly when turned on a “spy” anything is a bit of a stretch. The rover tank doesn’t run at a whisper quiet either. But it is a very cool.
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Ropes, crampons and harnesses—none are required while scaling the Inflatable Climbing Iceberg
Summer fun is water fun. Here are two cool inflatable toys to bring with you to the beach, lake or swimming pool:
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Ardent LEGO fans never need much of an excuse to create with their favorite building blocks. So the much-hyped royal wedding between Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton provided more than enough excuse for an enterprising group of English enthusiasts to construct a scene from the wedding in Westminster Abbey out of LEGOs.
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Much of what kids play with eventually ends up in their mouths. That’s especially true when what they are playing with is a brightly colored and has a consistency that’s somewhat food-like, as is the case with Play-Doh. So when possible it can be a good (and potentially hospital-trip averting) idea to let kids play with something they can safely eat, as is the case with Yummy Dough.
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No board game has as many take-offs as Monopoly. You’ve probably seen local Opolies for sale in tacky tourist stores while on vacation. There’s Londonopoly, Tokyopoly, New Deli-opoly, Cape Town-opoly, Hollywoodopoly and even Lubbockolopy (as in Lubbock, Texas). Among the multitudes of other Monopoly verstions are Photo-opoly, Christmas-opoly, Chocolate-opoly, Ice Cream-opoly, Wine-opoly, Earthopoly, Ocean-opoly, Farmopoly, Puppy-opoly and Beagle-opoly (though not, to our knowledge, Puppy-Beagle-opoly), Gardenopoly , Waffle-opoly, Princessopoly and Pirate-opoly, not to mention the counterculture Anti-Monopoly.
If those aren’t enough choices for you—or if you’d like to add a personal touch to your Monopoly-ing—Spot Cool Stuff has an answer for you: Make Your Own-Opoly
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A sad irony of life: the sort of man who is most likely to crave a LEGO wedding ring is also least likely to get married.
With sufficient LEGO pieces and a healthy imagination you can build pretend versions of anything. The popular line of plastic building blocks have also inspired the design of many real products. Here’s a look at 12 of them:
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Once upon a time . . .
That’s how many a story begins. But what comes next?
Rory’s Story Cubes can help come up with an answer. And do it in a fun way.
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