Rounding out our trilogy of beer pong posts this week, here’s an exciting product that commenter Nic715 pointed out: Hasbro’s game Cuponk. Throw the ball into the cup, and lights go off and electronic noises sound. It’s a way to have some family fun and hone your kids’ skills long before they leave for college. [More]
toys
Fisher Price Includes Batteries, But Not Ones That Work
By 6.28.10
Dana is annoyed that the Fisher Price toy she bought for her baby promised her that batteries were included. They were in the box all right, but they were dead. In fact the manual Fisher Price enclosed with the toy suggests you immediately replace the included batteries with new ones. [More]
If You're Not Going To Buy These Toys From Target, Don't Even Touch Them
By 6.17.10
Jason tells Consumerist that his local SuperTarget seems to have a new policy: don’t even look at the toys on display unless you’re going to buy them. Or maybe this is just the personal policy of a single cranky, elderly employee who scolded Jason’s children for browsing the toy aisle while their parents shopped. Whatever the case, after this incident Jason and his family aren’t keen to buy toys–or anything else–at Target anymore. [More]
Toys R Us Free Shipping Comes With A Catch
By 5.26.10
Dave points out online Toys R Us shoppers should check out the fine print before they complete orders expecting free shipping. The offer only applies if your order calls for less than $25 in shipping charges. [More]
Mattel Trusted To Check Its Own Toys For Lead
By 4.27.10
The Consumer Product Safety Commission thinks it’s OK for Mattel to use its own facilities for mandated “third party” tests to make sure the toys aren’t contaminated with lead or other stuff that’s not so good for human beings, the AP reports. [More]
15 Unintentionally Perverted Children's Toys
By 4.22.10
Cracked has assembled a list of 15 unintentionally perverted children’s toys. This Batman water pistol was somehow the worst. It’s just… we just don’t want to think about it anymore, ok? [More]
They Make All The Best Bacony Toys For Dogs
By 4.2.10
What a week for technology. Not only is it bringing us a giant iPod Touch and a pocket to go along with it, but it also marks the discovery of bacon-scented bubbles and toys with which to project them in your face. Chicken and peanut butter smells are also available. The drawback, as with Snausages, is they’re meant for dogs, so if you’re a human and you partake in their wonders then you’re seen as slummin’ it. [More]
Interactive Chart Helps You Vet Health Supplements
By 3.23.10
Are you tired of forgetting whether you should add creatine or cinnamon to your kale smoothie? Do you worry that the milk thistle you’ve rubbed on your genitals isn’t helping? The “Snake Oil?” graphic at informationisbeautiful.net can help you out–it provides a graphical overview of 166 different health supplements and arranges them according to how much evidence there is that they actually work. [More]
Please Stop Sending Us Photos Of This Recalled Keychain
By 2.27.10
For some reason, this Tinkerbell keychain from yesterday’s Recall Roundup caught people’s attention and they keep pointing it out to us. Please stop. [More]
The Inventor Of The Easy-Bake Oven Has Died
By 2.24.10
Ronald Howes had an illustrious career as an inventor. While he did some defense work, what we care most about is his work at toy maker Kenner. There, he helped make Play-Doh less toxic, helped create the modern version of the Spirograph, and invented the Easy-Bake oven. He died last week at age 83. [More]
Does Geek Barbie Have Smaller Boobs?
By 2.17.10
Does the new computer savvy Barbie have tinier tatas than her predecessors? Reader jgodsey says she noticed a discrepancy in this side-by-side profile on TV. Or is it just the angle and the bodice? Here’s Geek Barbie from another angle along with another Barbie friend so we can settle this argument. [More]
Computer Engineer Barbie Thinks Math Is Awesome And Lucrative
By 2.14.10
Over the last five decades, the vaguely human-shaped fashion doll Barbie has had a lot of careers. Barbie’s jobs have changed over time along with perceptions of what the little girls who played with her could grow up to become. She was a nurse in 1961, then a surgeon in 1973. She was a student teacher in 1965, and President of the United States and a Starfleet officer in 2000. Now, Mattel is hopping on the geek chick bandwagon with Computer Engineer Barbie. [More]
These Fake Plastic Pennies Cost Only 4.5 Cents Each
By 1.29.10
It’s never too early to teach your kids about financial responsibility. That’s why play money is a fun idea. What we find fiscally suspect, however, are plastic pennies from Learning Resources. 100 plastic pennies for the low, low price of $4.50. Yes, that’s four cents per penny, and even more than the U.S. Mint pays to make real pennies. [More]
Science Toys "For Girls" Don’t Need As Much Power
By 12.31.09 — Updated: 5.2.13
Budding female science nerds of America, Toys R Us has an important message. This message is: “don’t worry your pretty little head with the most powerful science toys we have to offer.” [More]
Self-Described Toy Tester Will Go Through Your Stuff If You Pay Her
By 12.29.09
Every time there’s a warning or recall over lead-tainted toys–and it hasn’t happened much this past year, but check out our archives from a couple of years ago–lots of people get up in arms about not being able to trust the government or big business. Well, one woman has bought herself an X-ray flourescence (XRF) analyzer and now hires her services out to worried families, reports the Washington Post. For a fee, she’ll come to your house, point her gun at your kids’ toys, your heirlooms, the fishtank, whatever you ask her to test, and then tell you whether you should throw it out. [More]
RC2 Agrees To Pay $1.25 Million Over Lead Toys
By 12.29.09
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has just worked out another penalty settlement with a toy company over those lead-tainted toys that graced shelves from 2005 to 2007. Reuters says RC2 will pay a $1.25 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it “imported and sold Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway toys with paints and surface coatings that contained lead levels above legal limits.” About two years ago, RC2 settled a class-action lawsuit over the same toys. [More]
Mattel Sells Overpriced Barbie Printer, Forgets To Make Overpriced Refill Cartridges
By 12.26.09
Mattel’s new “beautronics” device aimed at tween girls, the Barbie Nail Printer, is a glorified inkjet printer that customizes and prints designs on your fingernails. Neat idea in theory, though a bit pricey at $180. However, Mattel has apparently overlooked an essential part of the inkjet printer business model: selling new and overpriced cartridges. The problem, reader Richard writes, is that the company refuses to take orders for new cartridges, saying that they won’t be available until next year. But I want pink leopard print fingernails now! [More]
