The Gadgets Page

As a young adult, I dreamed of having a telescope of my own and I loved the inexpensive microscope my mom bought me for Christmas one year.

This year at CES, Bresser showcased their microscopes and telescopes with cameras.

You can see a video of Bresser showing off the abilities of their cameras here:

These are the sorts of tools that I could only dream about as a kid. Of course, I was the weird kind of kid who would have taken microscopic pictures of scabs and squished bugs, so I dreamed about this kind of thing a lot. I kind of wish I could take one of these puppies back into time to eleven-year-old me.

The coolest thing we saw at CES Unveiled last night was the ARDrone from Parrot. Here is a video of it in action.

My video makes it look like your every day typical flying toy, but it’s not. It has video cameras on it and you can control it with your iPhone. If you ever had fantasies of spying on your sister, sneaking items into an enemy compound or creating a UFO hoax, THIS is the gadget for you!

What you can’t tell from my video is how quiet it was. There are four propellers, but it makes hardly any sound when it’s flying. I’m sure something like this would cause a UFO scare in my neighborhood, so I’m excited to see what happens when these puppies hit the open market.

Here is their video describing it:

I couldn’t find any information on where to buy these or how much they will cost, but you can follow them on Twitter here:

• Parrot AR Drone (ardrone) on Twitter

While Mike and I were out Christmas shopping, we came across an Etch A Sketch Free Style and a flood of memories came back to me. I had never owned an Etch a Sketch when I was a kid, but I did get a Skedoodle one year. The Etch A Sketch Free Style reminded me of my old Skedoodle.

Instead of two knobs, like the traditional Etch a Sketch, the Etch A Sketch Free Style has a joystick control that allows you to move the stylus on the screen in two dimensions. The Skedoodle had the same kind of control and I LOVED that thing. It was a strange hybrid between a Etch a Sketch and a Spirograph.

I found it in the 1979 Sears Wish Book. Its description makes it sound like more fun than my ten year old brain could handle.

Skedoodle by Hasbro

Move the control stick, you can draw lines, curves, circles – even write your name on the Golden View Screen. To erase, flip over and shake.

It had inserts that you could put into the joystick area that would help you make Spirograph-like designs. Just like the Spirograph, I was never really able to make a beautiful design like I was supposed to, but that never stopped me from enjoying that toy to its fullest.

Unlike the Etch a Sketch Free Style, the screen of the Skedoodle was domed and golden in color. Here it is in its full glory.

You can’t tell from the photo, but the way you would make Spirograph-like pictures is you would run the joystick along the edges of the plastic insert. It would create a shape on the screen (as shown). Then, you were supposed to turn the screen itself by grabbing a hold of the black dial on the front. This may have been an easy feat for the adults who designed this toy, but my small hands just couldn’t turn that dial without accidentally erasing the picture. After all the times I tried to make a design, I got maybe three or four shapes done before accidentally erasing the screen. It was VERY frustrating. Now that I’m an adult and have full-sized hands, I probably could make a design within minutes.

My Skedoodle died a sad and miserable death. One summer day, I sat on a lawn chair and systematically ran the stylus over EVERY inch of the screen without erasing. I wanted to see what was inside the Skedoodle and if I cleared the screen, I would be able to see it. My obsessive behavior paid off and I was able to see the mechanism in the toy and how it was connected to the joystick. Unfortunately, it never recovered. No matter how much I shook up that poor Skedoodle, the screen never returned to its golden beauty. I could ALWAYS see that mechanism inside.

I’m trying my best not to buy an Etch A Sketch Free Style. I SO want to systematically run the stylus over every inch of the screen to compare its innards with my memory of the Skedoodle innards.

The coolest thing about the Etch a Sketch Free Style is you can download a bunch of PDF puzzles from their website:

• Etch A Sketch Online

When you print them up on transparency film, you can have a bunch of fun puzzles for your toy. That’s one thing that Skedoodle never had. When I lost those little plastic inserts, they were GONE with no hope of replacement. Of course, by then, I had already demolished the golden screen with my curiosity and obsessive thoroughness.

In the end, the Etch A Sketch Free Style is an interesting update to both the Etch a Sketch and the Skedoodle. Seeing it in the store brought back a flood of memories and it was a struggle to not immediately buy it on impulse.

One of the side effects of being a geek is that you like geeky things, like Star Wars, Chess, and Legos. Of course, combining three of those things together is an opportunity a mildly obsessive geek like me can’t pass up.

It would be prohibitively expensive to buy all the necessary sets to get a decent collection of the right mini-figures, but Lego’s new Star Wars magnet sets provides the opportunity to get many of the right figures without the overhead of buying full sets.

For about $180 (thanks to some Black Friday sales prices on Lego.com) I put together all the mini-figures necessary to make a “Light vs. Dark Star Wars Lego Chess Set”. MSRP for everything is $250. I put together this set using just one actual Lego set, a number of magnet sets, and one Star Wars Lego Watch.

Here are the Lego part numbers, all of which can be purchased on shop.lego.com:

(1) 6212: X-Wing Fighter (Luke parts, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2)
(1) 2851192: C3PO Child’s Watch (C3PO)
(8) 852553: Magnet Set Storm Trooper (Storm Trooper, Rebel Pilot, AT-ST Driver)
(1) 852554: Magnet Set Chewbacca (Chewbacca, Obi Wan, Darth Vader)
(1) 852552: Magnet Set Royal Guard (Boba Fett, Imperial Royal Guard)
(1) 852715: Magnet Set Darth Vader (Emperor parts, Snow Trooper, Shadow Trooper)
(1) 852551: Magnet Set Darth Maul (Emperor and Luke parts)

Light Side:

King: Luke (constructed from Luke Pilot & Anakin mini-figs: see photo above)
Queen: Leia
K Bishop: Obi Wan Kenobi (pants swapped with Luke)
Q Bishop: Han Solo (Shirt swapped with Anakin)
K Knight: Chewbacca w/crossbow laser
Q Knight: Chewbacca w/blaster
K Rook: R2D2
Q Rook: C3PO
Pawns: Rebel Pilots

Dark Side:

King: Emperor (constructed from Darth Vader and Darth Maul mini-figs. See photo below.)
Queen: Darth Vader
K Bishop: Imperial Guard
Q Bishop: Boba Fett
K Knight: Shadow Trooper
Q Knight: Snow Trooper
K Rook: AT-SD Driver
Q Rook: AT-SD Driver
Pawns: Storm Troopers

The leftovers are: Child Anakin hybrid, Princess Leia in Slave Costume, Darth Maul/Damaged Vader hybrid, six AT-ST drivers, and two extra Rebel Pilots left over from Luke in Pilot suit and Wedge Antilles. Oh, and an X-Wing fighter and watch.

The choices of some pieces are driven by what can be purchased inexpensively: The AT-ST Driver rooks are there simply because they came free with the pawn pieces. I could obtain an “actual” Emperor as a Lego keychain, but he’d have a metal knob in his head and come glued together, whereas the mini-figures that come with the magnet sets are the real McCoy. I actually like my constructed Emperor better anyway.

I am considering demoting Han Solo to Q Knight and introducing Yoda as Q Bishop from another magnet set, eliminating the “extra” Chewbacca. This will leave Count Duku and Mace Windu leftovers.

With a little bit of Lego Know-How, you can have a full Star Wars Lego Chess Set. Not only is this a fun project to construct with your family, but it will be a workable chess game that they can enjoy for years to come. Not to mention the serious geek cred you’ll get from displaying it!

When I downloaded the update to Bejeweled 2 [iTunes link] about a month ago, I found that there was a new game that had been added. It was called Bejeweled Blitz. Although it looked very similar to my normal Bejeweled game, it had some very different features. Firstly, the game only lasted a minute. I only had sixty quick seconds to make as many matches as I could before the entire game exploded in a sparkling array of jewels. You might think that I would play LESS because the game only lasts a minute, but the exact opposite is true. Since a game is only one minute, I can tell myself, “One more game,” for minutes upon minutes. An hour later, I’m still playing and I’m still telling myself, “Just one more game.”

The more significant difference between normal Bejeweled and Bejeweled Blitz, however, was that it is connected to my Facebook friends, so I can compete against everyone I know. I cannot tell you the joy I have when I beat my friends and see myself at the top of the list. I know it’s just a silly game, but that competitive spirit in me is an angry beast when I can’t beat someone. I actually considered unfriending some people on Facebook just because I couldn’t beat them. I didn’t and boy am I glad I didn’t because when I actually beat their score, I feel like I’m the king of the world. Sure, it’s an imaginary world filled with diamonds, but I’m the king of it, if only for a brief moment before Ernie kicks my butt again.

I Think It’s Just Random

“I’m beginning to think the high scores are just random. When I get a high score, it feels the same to me as when I get a low score,” Dan said.

My entire family is playing this game either on Facebook or on their iPhones. We were discussing the high scores at great length.

Mike replied, “I would think it was random too, except that Laura ALWAYS beats me.”

I chimed in, “And Ernie always beats me. It’s not just random.”

“So, how are you getting such high scores?” They all wanted to know. (Continue Reading…)

Mike and I visit the Mt. Hood area in Oregon every year. It’s a quick drive from Portland, but ever since they closed the Swatch store, we don’t bother driving into the big city. Now, we have a reason.

Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade has over 90 video game consoles and a bunch of pinball machines as well.

• Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade

It has all of my favorites from years past like Centipede, DDR and Tetris, in addition to games that I love, but never saw in an arcade when they were at their height, like Arkanoid, Dr. Mario and Columns.

It’s not just an arcade, however. It’s a bar with food and they have cool events EVERY night. Rock Band Tuesdays, Atari parties and even Free Play parties (pay a fee to get in and play all the games for free).

Suddenly, Portland just seemed worth the drive up from Welches!

Via: The Ward-O-Matic: Electronic Games Mag: December 1982

Where: Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade
511 NW Couch St.
Portland, OR 97209 Google Map
Phone: (503)796-9364

Before my mom bought us an Atari, my Dad was the hero. One weekend, when we were visiting, he had this game connected to the television and waiting for us.

He had found it at the local Deseret Industries. It was broken, but he had been able to solder it back together. Stacey and I played “tennis” all night long.

We played with that simplistic video game for months until my mom and Carol gave us the Atari for Easter. After Atari, the Sears Tele-Game was just a cheap knock-off.

I have no idea what my dad did with that video game he rescued from a thrift store and nursed back to health, but he was the hero for those few months before Atari entered out lives.

Advert via: vintage_ads:

Mike and I moved from a tiny house to a huge house last July. All of our things that have been in storage for the last six years have been brought out of the storage unit, dusted off and reclassified. One of those finds were these:

I bought these stickers from Scholastic Books when I was in grade school in the early Eighties. I cannot remember what the two missing stickers were, but they must have been the coolest of the bunch. If I find them in my old sticker books, I’ll post them here as an update.

The most laughable sticker is in the bottom right hand corner and reads, “Terminal Video Fever.” I guess they were worried that Buckner & Garcia would sue them if they printed, “PacMan Fever.” If you’re unfamiliar with the song, here it is:

Video games were so new and cool when I was a kid that it was all I thought about sometimes. I was a lot like Marshall in this episode of Square Pegs, except I played on the Atari at home instead of the arcade.

Video games are so ubiquitous now that it’s hard to imagine there was a time when they were new, but these video game stickers in my box of old stuff brought the memories back full force.

Sims always seemed like a strange game to me and I never really liked playing it. Reading this blog, however, makes me interested in the new version of the game, Sims 3.

• Alice and Kev

The premise of the story:

This is an experiment in playing a homeless family in The Sims 3. I created two Sims, moved them in to a place made to look like an abandoned park, removed all of their remaining money, and then attempted to help them survive without taking any job promotions or easy cash routes. It’s based on the old ‘poverty challenge’ idea from The Sims 2, but it turned out to be a lot more interesting with The Sims 3’s living neighborhood features.

I have attempted to tell my experiences with the minimum of embellishment. Everything I describe in here is something that happened in the game. What’s more, a surprising amount of the interesting things in this story were generated by just letting go and watching the Sims’ free will and personality traits take over.

The beginning of the story: Alice and Kev « Alice and Kev

Just wandering around the neighborhood and talking to the various animal characters was my favorite part of playing Animal Crossing. I wonder if Sims 3 is finally a game I could enjoy.

A few months ago, I talked about the Wham-O Fun Fountain. It had been one of our favorite toys of all time.

• Gadgets Page » Retro Gadgets: Fun Fountain by Wham-O

If you are unfamiliar with the toy, here is a commercial describing it:

With summer finally here, I’m wishing for a Fun Fountain, or something else to cool off my days.

In that entry, I had mentioned that we used the clown hat for every kind of dress up play. After months of searching, I finally found a picture of Stacey, my sister, with the Fun Fountain clown hat on. It was held on her head by some yarn passed through the holes on the sides of the hat where the water splashed out. We had a parade on our street that day, so I dressed up Stacey like a clown. She looks adorable, doesn’t she? (Click on the photo to see it full size)

It’s funny how versatile toys can be. I don’t think the Wham-O people ever thought that we would be using their toy all year round for sprinkler fun AND dress up play. The same toy can function in many different aspects of our play life, none of which were conceived of by the manufacturer.

We make our gadgets our own by the way that we use them, with or without the permission of the manufacturer.