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The New RC Lego Batmobile Is Your Puppy’s Worst Nightmare
When I was a kid I always wanted to electrify my Lego creations. I wanted my Lego planes to fly, and I wanted my Lego cars to drive. The latter is finally possible thanks to Lego’s new Power Up platform, a set of features that lets you add motors to Lego creations and control them … Continued
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Nerf’s New Laser Tag Blasters Ditched the Darts, and I Don’t Miss Them
Over-the-top Nerf battles are a fun and (mostly) painless way to determine who in the office has to buy the donuts this week. What’s not so fun is having to hunt down every last missing dart afterwards. Hasbro’s eliminated that hassle with its new Laser Ops Pro blasters; an updated version of laser tag that … Continued
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I Can’t Believe I’m Gonna Tell You to Buy This $200 Toothbrush
A regular old manual toothbrush can easily cost less than a dollar. You might have one in your bathroom right now, ready to tackle the plaque, and the coffee stains, and the bad breath that make its existence integral for modern living. But in our 21st-century society, it’s easy to spend much more on an … Continued
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After 60 Years, Brio Has Reinvented Its Toy Trains for the Future
Brio’s magnetic wooden trains are as iconic a toy as Lego bricks or Hot Wheels cars. Traditionally kid-powered, a few years ago electric motors were introduced to the line, but this year Brio trains are being upgraded with smart features that allow them to interact with tracks and playsets. Don’t hit the panic alarm just … Continued
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This Charging Case for Bluetooth Headphones Is Surprisingly Good and Useful
Nearly every pair of pocket-friendly Bluetooth headphones suffers from the same problem: your pockets. Those storage compartments aren’t exactly clean, and don’t do shit for you when it comes to keeping your alive. For those tired of dealing with dead headphones, extraneous earwax, and storing your keys in unsecured lockers while you’re at the gym, … Continued
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You Can Strap a GoPro to This New Hot Wheels Car and Ride Along on All Your Dangerous Stunts
Watching a race from the sidelines is never as fun as being in the driver’s seat, and with that obvious wisdom in mind, Mattel has partnered with GoPro to create a new camera-compatible Hot Wheels car that lets kids and grownups experience what it’s like to careen down those iconic orange plastic tracks. It’s also … Continued
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This Gadget Told Me How Wimpy My Punches Are, Please Don’t Fight Me
You ever get in a fight? No, not on Twitter. I mean a real fight, you know, with your fists? If not, then Hykso’s $150 FightCamp punch trackers probably aren’t your bag. The wearable is designed to provide the hard-hitting boxer within you valuable insight about your performance, and show you how you stack up … Continued
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The New Boosted Mini Is Dangerously Fun
Electric skateboards have always seemed to me like an 80s fever dream come true. What if instead of using your foot, you could push a button and make a skateboard go as fast as a car? The idea would have sounded absurd 30 years ago, but today it’s true in the form of Boosted Boards. And … Continued
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This Handy iPhone X Lens Kit Gets You Even Closer to a Real Camera
Let’s face it, when you shell out upwards of $700 for a flagship phone, a huge chunk of that money is going towards its camera. Some people might say that’s nuts, but for others, who don’t don’t want the hassle or added expense of owning a real camera, it’s really not that ridiculous. However, even … Continued
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This Is the Absurd Japanese Toilet of Cannabis Vaporizers
I’ve only used a fancy toilet seat once. It was a TOTO-brand washlet, that pampers your derrière with a stream of warm water, a heated seat, and a warm air dryer. I had the good fortune in a Michelin-starred restaurant, where the food you ingested was treated with nearly as much respect as the food you … Continued
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My Ultra-Competitive Side Loves This Sensor-Packed Smart Ball
A Bluetooth-connected foam ball packed with sensors and a battery you need to charge sounds like one of Silicon Valley’s worst ideas. Haven’t balls been adequately entertaining kids for centuries already? But it only took one toss of Play Impossible’s Gameball for me to understand why a ball upgraded with stat-tracking technology isn’t actually a … Continued
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Colgate’s AI Toothbrush Makes Me Never Want to Brush My Teeth Again
Earlier this year, Colgate released a connected toothbrush, an artificially intelligent mouth cleaner that would be sold at Apple Stores for $100 a pop. It looks like most electric toothbrushes: thick handle, teeny head, buzzes when you turn it on. But this Colgate creation connects to your phone and teaches you how to brush your … Continued
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Dyson’s Pricey Cordless Vac Is So Good, It’s Killing Cords Altogether
The Dyson upright ball vacuum, an iconic piece of engineering and design that made vacs a gadget worthy of your lust, is being eliminated. In its place is Dyson’s latest cordless vac, the Cyclone V10. The company claims the V10’s upgraded electric motor can suck better and last longer on a single charge. But can … Continued
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Working at This Desk Bike Didn’t Make Me Any Fitter
I’m sitting, peddling, shaking, typing – all at my desk – in search of the “zone.” The zone, you see, is an ellipsis. It’s when you’re deep in a project, busily ignorant of your surroundings, centered and focused on the task at hand. Enter: the Flexispot Deskcise Pro. A graceful mashup of desk and exercise, … Continued
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The DJI Mavic Air Wins
In the past couple years, you could ask a drone to be two things: good or small. But never both. The Mavic Air changes the game. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the Mavic Air wins the game, and things will never be the same. At just under one pound and … Continued
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This Smart Headband Was Supposed To Help Me Sleep Better, But Fuck I’m Tired
It was 4am, and the headband strapped to my skull woke me up chanting a series of winter-related words. “Christmas. Soup. Pasture. Eternal.” It was part of a cognitive exercise that was supposed to distract my brain. The purpose of this babel was to give me peace of mind to help me fall asleep, but … Continued
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DJI’s New Osmo Gimbal Is the Rare Phone Accessory That’s Actually Worth It
Running around the office with the DJI Osmo Mobile 2, I got a lot of questions. Specifically I got exactly two questions repeatedly. The first was about what I was holding. Each time, I explained that the weird selfie stick-like contraption I’d put my phone in was a mechanized gimbal that automatically stabilizes my phone … Continued
By Alex Cranz -
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I Snuggled With This Robot Cat and It Didn’t Scratch Me Once
I did not grow up with cats, so the past three months since adopting one have been flecked with trial, error, and disappointment. In short, I don’t think he likes me much. Over drinks recently I commiserated to a friend about his frustrating and sometimes aggressive tendencies. “Well,” she said flatly after my list of … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
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I Hate My Squatty Potty
This year I joined the Squatty Potty ranks, investing in one for the sake of my aggrieved gastrointestinal tract. My digestive system is reminiscent of Moses’ trek through the desert: nothing passes for 40 days and 40 nights. So I did what [apparently] everybody does: I watched a unicorn defecate a rainbow ice cream cone … Continued
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GoPro’s Hero6 Is Still the King of Action Cameras
GoPro has been the leader on action cameras from the very beginning, and its brand has attained a kind of Xerox-like omnipotence—despite the company’s ongoing struggles in recent years. Amongst GoPro’s problems is the difficulty in making the improvements to its line look like anything more than iterations. With its new Hero6, GoPro has juiced … Continued
By Brent Rose