A Toast... to Toasteroid

I'm a sucker for a good Kickstarter project (hell, I've backed more than my fair share of stuff that's totally awesome but totally unnecessary too) and this new project from Toasteroid is no exception. 

This nifty kitchen appliance makes mums post-it note lunch doodles seem feeble in comparison, as it gives you the ability to turn breakfast time in to a fun doodling work shop. The Toasteroid is a smart toaster that allows you to print any drawn design on to your bread. Using the Toasteroid app you create your design and send it wirelessly over to your toaster, whenever you want! You can customize your image, unlike other printing toasters that have stencil slots... meaning the possibilities really are endless. And it's not just a pretty creative bit of kit, the Toasteroid is durable; made out of die cast aluminium this thing will stand the test of time and blend seamlessly in to your smart kitchen. 

The Toasteroid not only thinks about enjoyment, it also raises the game of the average toaster, removing all those aspects of the normal toaster that you loathe so much. Such as removing crumbs, the Toasteroid has a crumb removal tray. And fitting long and thick slices of bread in to your toaster is an easy task thanks to Toasteroid's ingeniously wide slots. (Seriously, why don't more toasters do this stuff?!?)

Why not wake your other half up with a weather alert printed on their toast using the Toasteroid's Weather Forecast Synchronization technology (I'm not joking, this is a thing!)? Or get the kids to draw funny cartoons on their toast to make meal times a little bit easier and a lot less hectic. 

The Toasteroid is a timeless design that I sincerely doubt you'll run out of uses for and it comes in to sizes. The first being the Toasteroid Mini which browns two slices of toast whilst only singing your design on to a single slice; this is offered as a reward on Kickstarter for $65. Or the regular Toasteroid which cooks two slices of toast with your creation printed on both slices. This comes in at $85; practically a steal for what they're offering. 

Great concept, great use of interactivity, can't wait to see how the world is going to utilize this product. 

Airjitzu

Hands up this might be one of the more juvenile products I rave about but it is definitely one of the most fun too, providing endless hours of entertainment to adults and children alike.

 

Okay, so picture this; you're walking through your local shopping centre when movement in the Lego store catches your eyes (as it does). You approach the window only to find a squad of young children playing with rip cord Lego toys and battling it out mid air with old school Beyblade style spin tops that appear to have been meshed with Lego, only instead of hitting the ground, these things fly!!! You're beyond mind blown so it's only natural that you storm in there, pick up an Airjitzu of your own and load as many mod's on to the structure as possible to make your Airjitzu the Airjitzu to beat all others.

 

On a serious note the Lego Ninjago Airjitzu's are probably some of the best toys you're going to find for under £10; making them great filler presents as well as the perfect toy for kids to save up their pocket money to get. There are six different 'types' of Airjitzu ninja's, which are basically different colour schemes and Lego characters for you to collect. And what people are loving about the Airjitzu's is that because they're made of Lego, they're a really solid toy that can survive a kid's constant abuse/play.

 

Impeccable quality, impressive flight capabilities and easy assembly make this an awesome toy for all ages. I was astounded by the flight these things get and the way that you don't care when your Airjitzu gets completely destroyed by it's opponent because it just means you can reinforce your Airjitzu defences better next time with an assortment of your Lego pieces.

 

 

Famous OTO

Tomorrow morning kids all over the world will be waking up eager to rip in to layers upon layers of wrapping paper, and if you've got 'em one of these bad boys you better be careful they don't tear clean through the cardboard. 

Famous OTO are a small, New York based toy company who aim to bring enjoyment to kids with nothing more than illustrated cardboard. These cardboard playhouses for kids offer unlimited hours of play with their top quality prints and easy assembly and storage capabilities. So now those hooligans you love to hate can sell ice-creams and taco's galore with these awesome playhouses. 

Each truck comes with a fold-down window for kids to serve food from and they are plenty spacious so your little one's can set up shop and play for real. And if you want to get your hands on an OTO Taco Truck or OTO Ice Cream Truck then all you need is £40. And if you're not a kid person and cats are more your bag, then they even do a smaller sized OTO Ice Cream Truck for your cats to burrow away in. 

One a Penny

Skateboard fanatics and designers alike will be glad to know that you can very easily make your own personalized version of the penny board now thanks to these free downloadable files from MyMiniFactory courtesy of designer Simone Fontana, who shows a perfect tutorial of how to print and assemble you're very own replica Penny Board. 

Of course because of the limited printing capacity of the 3D printer, this means that Fontana's download comes in five pieces that need to be put together using steel bars to give the board a bit of stability, but other than that it's pretty much a simple process that's a lot cheaper and more original than you going out and buying yourself a brand new board.

You can mix and match your Penny Board by picking your own wheels and printing each section in different colours etc; go mad with it because this is an awesome free download for the creative boarders out there. And whilst you're over at MMF don't forget to tip the designer, give back to the amazing creators out there. 

The Micro Bit

BBC's Micro:Bit is probably the greatest contribution made to IT students up and down the UK in history. It's all very well teaching British children how to use Word and other Microsoft programs, but ICT cirriculum's up and down the country should be pushing to teach children code and the work that goes in to making the interfaces we're used to using with our PC's. 

The Mirco Bit educational initiative is set to show year 7's all over the UK by giving away them away for free to every year seven student, helping them to get creative with the technology they spend so much time playing on. 

The miniature computer measures 4cm by 5cm, has 25 LED's, comes in a range of colours and can connect to mobiles, raspberry pi's and even plant pots, with the ability to connect to other kits and allowing for children to develop on the basic skills they learn. BBC mirco:bit will help children easily program with a easy-to-use software on the mirco:bit website that can be accessed on mobiles and tablets too. It's powered by a mirco usb cable put if you're wanting to make your micro:bit portable then you can pick up a battery pack for a couple of quid on the internet. 

I won't go in to the specs of the BBC micro:bit but a couple of the awesome features are the on-board motion detector that will allow the micro:bit to be turned in to a spirit level, a built in compass and the Bluetooth smart technology which means that the BBC micro:bit is more than well equipped for getting the kids hands on with their pocket sized computer. 

Crazy Arms

Ever wish your Lego characters could do more than just lift their arms up and down at their sides? (Yeah, I know it might not be the most prevalent thing on your mind but it's damn important to a plastic figure enthusiast let me tell you.)

Well a set of Crazy Arms will let your favourite brick based figure do out of the box things such as carrying a sword and a bow in their arms, finally you can let your little Lego man salsa!!!

Crazy Arms is a crazily genius invention that takes the pose ability of the plastic mini figures to a whole new dimension. Crazy Arms are removable, letting you modify at your own pace without tampering or damaging your figures. The plastic Crazy Arms parts snugly fit in to the inner holes on the figures hips and provide a loop support for the arms to fit in to which then allow you to pose your figure however you like. 

Crazy Arms are amazing for letting children and adults alike unlike modelling and playing potential by interchanging their figures limbs and they come in a variety of initial colours; white, black, tan, dark tan and dark grey with more colours to unlock as the Kickstarter campaign gains pledges.

And for $20 you can get your hands on three pairs of Crazy Arms in whatever colour you long for.

I just had a vision

Everyone loves a good old nostalgic moment and with Projecteo you can keep your happy memories close at hand in the form of a miniature slide projector that with the click of a button will display your favourite Instagram pics for a personal slideshow. 

How does it work? Well, you sign in with Instagram and pick nine of your favourite Instagram pictures, which then gets developed on to a single cell of 35mm slide film and is inserted in to a small black wheel. Then all you have to do is wait for your Projecteo and wheel of images to arrive in the post. It is that simple. And once you've got your Projecteo you can project your photos on to any surface as a homage to the retro days of projecting. 

And there's endless possibilities as to what you can use a Projecteo for; its not just a way for you to keep your photos in a nostalgic way, Projecteo would make an awesome and very personal gift for a friend or family member. You could give Projecteo as a wedding keepsake or a customized valentines or birthday gift. Projecteo is so small and cute you could keep it in a pocket, on a desk or even on a necklace. 

Projecteo costs £23 for the mini projector itself and the wheel of nine images and comes with free worldwide delivery, and for roughly £6 for each new wheel of nine images you can have as many old memories as you want. 

P.S. if you're interested in getting your hands on the tiny Instagram picture then look online for people's 'friends codes' so that you can get $5 off the total. 

Feathered Heroes

Sick of seeing the next generation stuck behind their gadgets? Well take them away from their tech and bring their favourite feather based destructive app in to real life using your 3D printer and these free (yes! Free!) download files from MyMiniFactory.

Designers Marco Autilio and Lloyd Roberts are the brains who have collaborated Angry birds with the 3D printer, allowing you to download the files and print your own Angry Birds town to destroy with your fully working slingshot. 

You can design your own fortress with various blocks of ice, wood and stone and you can paint your pigs and birds whatever colour you desire. This is a great way to get kids interacting with the 3D printer, and to extend the fun by letting them paint their own piggies before they knock 'em down. You can play with all your favorites so if you're an angry birds fan you won't want to miss out on this game; so head on over to MyMiniFactory to download the file ready for printing. 

Rock, Scissors, Paper!

As Nerf has proven you don't have to be a kid to enjoy shooting a plastic gun and playing army with your friends, and with PaperShooters there's now a better way to get even with your buds and sharpen up your shooting skills. 

PaperShooters is a construction kit that lets you build all the components of your weapon; including the air chamber, springs and trigger mechanism. You can interchange the cardboard skins on your plastic 'skeleton' so that you can blend in with your battle field as you go to war. 

The ability to construct your own 124 piece weapon will give you extended fun before you do get round to mastering your weapon, ready for firing rounds at objects up to 65 feet away. 

No more collecting your plastic ammo after an intense shooting battle, because PaperShooters ammo is ultra safe, mess free and 100% biodegradable because the pellets are made out of paper, therefore no more ouchies when you do eventually get hit. 

And you'll never run out of ammo because each PaperShooters kit comes with a mold so that you can continuously make soft splat ammo, giving the perfect blend of functional and fun all in one innovative package. 

And you can get your hands on a PaperShooters 'Zombie Slayer' for just £30, which includes the authentic looking plastic and cardboard weapon as well as a wall target for accurate shooting and endless fun. 

Lego be gone! Pinblock's are upon us!!!

Now I know this'll be hard to come to terms with but sadly Lego isn't the 'It' thing any longer. You know all those times you got a chunky yellow brick stuck in your foot? And you got aggravated with the basic 90 degree joints on all your models? Well with Pinblock's your feet are safe and you can now make your models around six rotation points!!! There's nothing better than rotation points. 

Pinblock started as a Kickstarter project aiming to re-imagine the building block, to bring these tiny, flexible pieces of plastic to market so that every creator and dreamer out there can surpass the limitation of conventional construction.

These bad boys are amazing in that you no longer have to search through the box for the right piece; because all the pieces are the same size, dimension, width; what I'm basically saying is that every brick is identical! And no longer are your models stiff and lifeless, they're flexible and able to curve; no more restrictions in your buildings and creations.

Pinblock's aren't just for creators, they're also for designers, they provide the perfect, slim material to create pixelated images with. These Pinblock's are so clever yet so uncomplicated! There's really no end to what you can do with them; build watches, make portraits, construct the Empire State Building!!! Whatever you want to do you can do it.

I happened to make a loose interpretation of Mickey Mouse in my first go at Pinblock's, proving that even the simplest of minds can get carried away with this awesome new toy.

What's even better is the variety of boxes available. Pinblock offer a choice of freestyle colour schemes, as well as kit boxes which give you a step by step guide to building rockets, ships and jets. The genius minds behind Pinblock's - great mates Vlad and Jun who decided to change engineering for the better - are really on to something here and I hope to see Pinblock's go global; encouraging kids and adults alike to get their build on.

At the end of Pinblock's Kickstarter campaign they launched The Manual Challenge, which was a race among pledgers to share pages and collect all fifty two pages of the Silver Falcon Model Manual for the chance to win a box of each of the Pinblock sets (seven boxes in total) for absolutely nothing! Pinblock's sent different pages out to each person and it was a battle on Facebook, Twitter and Kickstarter to send pages to each other and share their own in order to gather all the pages of the manual. Of course by sheer determination and brazen annoyance, yours truly managed to wrangle together all 52 pages first and nabbed herself the awesome prize.

And this week the box turned up all large and full of tinkling brick noise and I practically wet myself in excitement, eager to get my build on. And build I did; cathedral's, characters and other cute critters! I did my best to test the durability and flexibility of these Pinblock bricks and am utterly astounded by the versatility in one tiny 1 cm wide brick!

Well done Pinblock; live long and prosper.

Paper Fairytale

If you think you're journal is a one of a kind then you really need to get a load of these Polymer Clay Journals that really bring a whole new meaning to the word 'ethereal'. 

These Polymer Clay Journals are amazing feats of art that combine realistic 3D form with magical characters to create journals that are truly one of a kind and thought provoking. They're the work of Etsy shop owner Mandarin Duck who is a London based designer that specializes in Polymer clay artistry with anything from journals to jewelry to tutorials for you to experiment yourself. 

The life like creatures featured on the skins of these journals are gorgeous and so greatly detailed in they're layers, surrounded in the complimentary scenery, bound to make your writing more exciting and adventurous. And if you'd like a Polymer Clay Journal then it'll cost you around £300 for a bespoke journal, or roughly £15 if you'd prefer to follow a tutorial and try your hands at one of these unique pieces. 

Get Passive Aggressive!

I've left a few post it note rants in my time that end up spanning three separate notes - double sided might I add - which is when the Post-It Note Roller would have come in handy. The Post-It Note Roller lets you get your notes down without having to cram it all on one sheet, allowing you to roll out as much as you need all in one pretty pink go. 

No more restricted telling offs in the office, no more post-it notes losing their stick and fluttering around the place; with the Post-It Roller you can literally paste your notes on any surface as if laying down wallpaper. 

The Post-It Note Roller is spunky and fun, letting you be creative with your notes; making a great gift for the 'passive aggressive' post-it note culprit in your dorm room. And at roughly £8 it's a nice filler present. 

Chocolate!?!

Forgive me for making your mouth water but forget that diet you're on for a minute, give in to temptation and dribble over your screen as you marvel over this new Cadbury's bar. 

This limited edition chocolate bar by Cadbury's is their Dairy Milk Spectacular 7 which features a row of each of their seven dairy milk flavours; perfect for those chocoholics out there who can't make up their mind and end up with more chocolate than they rightfully should have. Asides from the classic whole Dairy Milk chocolate, you get a row of Turkish Delight, Oreo, Daim, Caramel, Whole Nut and Fruit & Nut. A row for each mood! 

Except for the fact that you probably wouldn't dare to dip in to this sweet temptation as only 50 bars are being made. (I know, it hurts me too). And the only way to get your hands on one is to follow the Cadbury Twitter page and wait for contest details! 

Lazy Basketball

With society like it is it's a given that someone would come up with a way for people to play sport without having to move. And that product is the Lazy Basketball chair by Campeggi; a seat designed to allow you to shoot hoops without having to move an inch (well, depending on your shot to miss ratio). 

The metal structure of Lazy Basketball is covered in a synthetic net that catches the ball the minute you score a shot, and rolls it straight in to the arms of your friend in the other chair, ready for a game of back and forth free throwing. Lazy Basketball is colourful and would make a great garden game for both able bodied and disabled people alike. And although some may argue that Lazy Basketball will breed a, well, lazy generation, I'd argue that you're more than likely to miss the hoop altogether and end up running after the ball; as well, isn't it better to be sitting in the garden or house having an interactive game of Lazy Basketball than to be cuddled up in your room with your computer under your nose? 

Lazy Basketball is a great and fun invention and for roughly £600 you can get your hands on one of your own, ace for adding a new flare to your games room and getting your arms moving. 

My geek box

You're running low on cool action figures and need a new useless let utterly cool gadget to tinker with, then have no fear because My Geek Box are on hand to send you your monthly dose of madness. 

For £15.99 a month you can get a My Geek Box jam packed with awesome retro gear and geeky gamer gifts delivered right to your doorstop, ready for you to open up and play with. Your mystery items come with a different theme each time; ranging from zombies to heroes to video games and even your favourite films! All you do is sign up, select which shirt size you are, wait for them to pack your stuff and when you get your box you rip it open as if it's Christmas come every month.

If you doubt their awesomeness then you're going to want to check out their past boxes; they truly are well worth the money. And if you're looking to give a My Geek Box to someone who still has to hide behind the pillows when they watch Doctor Who then the Kids Geek Box is the one for you. Kids Geek Box is designed for padawans, with clothes to suit the age of the intended child with more appropriate and less horrific items to fill their room with. 

Don't let the airlock hit you on the way out

There's no better way to communicate to your dorm room mates that you're a hard core science and gaming fan than to paste one of these bad boy's on your door! 

Sci-Fi Door Decals are awesome accessories for any nerd or intense gamer out there who wants to bring a little bit of cyborg, mechanical or hyperspace in to their bedroom. 

These Sci-Fi Door Decals are removable and perfect for any teenagers bedrooms, offering four different varieties; Airlock, Armory, Freight Elevator and Lab Door, all great ways to make you feel as if you're in a fast paced science fiction film with a dead end and a bunch of morlocks heading your way... 

Except for this time you don't have to punch a code in to get out. And if you want a gun cabinet on hand in case of an emergency, or a freight shaft that lowers you to your secret bat cave, then all it takes is £35 and a spirit level to make sure you don't hang the decal at an angle.

Shave it for later

Exams are coming up and there's no better way to get yourself organised than to begin with your pens, pencils and other stationary. (Okay, maybe revision is best, but pretty and functional things never fail to make everything better.) And if you do want to get yourself in order, then this Pencil Shaving Desk Tidy by UK based designer Clive Roddy is the perfect, quirky little accessory to get ready to hardcore hit the books. 

This neat and fun Desk Tidy was designed to mimic a giant pencil shaving, in which the natural spiral shape of the shavings provides a space to keep your abundance of stationary tidily stored away. Each Pencil Shaving Desk Tidy is handcrafted from sustainable Birch Plywood and can either be hand painted in any of the three primary colours; Yellow, Blue and Red, the colours you get on most pencils. 

Pencil Shaving Desk Tidy has a large storage capacity that lets you store up to 75 pencils, brushes, rulers you name it... The plywood spiral lets you organize yourself stuff in to separate sections between the layers of ply, keeping them compactly and amusingly stored. And for just £25 you can get your hands on a Pencil Shaving Desk Tidy; and I really can see these making a cool adornment to any studious kids desk, or even in the middle of the table in an art room to spruce the place up a bit. 

Tiko

It seems to be the case that 3D printers just aren't practical in size. They're bulky, and loud and give off god awful fumes, and don't even start on all those cables sticking out of the back. You see how I haven't even mentioned price yet? But what if someone made a 3D printer that's silent, compact, tidy and costs just $179? Well thank heavens for Tiko. 

Tiko is the unibody 3D printer that does it all and more; despite it's compact size of 39 cm tall, it has a relatively large printing space, with the electronics and mechanics behind all the hard work being shrunk in to a tiny compartment that looks both attractive and clean. It supports all the usual 3D printing materials; PLA, ABS, Nylon, Hips etc... With a spool chamber in the top that easily fits the average one kg roll of plastic. 

Rather than having tons of runners that control the movement of the printing head, Tiko consists of three sets of arms that move easily and freely without the shaking movements of many 3D printers, that lets you get high precision and accuracy with your printing. 

And because Tiko is enclosed, the wind and a slight breeze won't blow the arms about and mess up your design, and in corporation with Tiko's wireless function this means that you can take Tiko anywhere. Great for printing on the go and ace for repairs when you're miles from civilization, as Tiko can connect straight from your laptop to the device without any internet connection!

Tiko is flexible; which means that you don't have to fight to get your 3D printed item off of the bed, or leave it in a wash to dissolve the excess plastic over night, all it takes is one little bend and you've got your printed item ready to go.

It's so easy to use too with it's super friendly and easy software, meaning you don't have to fiddle around finding the right tools on the creation platform; making it fun and effortless. Tiko is light and strong, and after listing all these awesome features I'm wondering why I haven't headed on over to Kickstarter to get my pledge in?

Tofu Cute!

For all things kawaii, UK based shop Tofu Cute sell the most amazing Japanese gifts and tasty snacks to keep your sweet tooth happy. They sell anything from stationary to DIY candy kits to crazy flavoured Ramune soda, so you'll definitely find something to make an awesome gift out of. 

First off Tofu Cute have blown my mind with their speedy delivery; I ordered Wednesday night and got my delivery first thing Friday morning. And when you open your box to see it packed to the brim with yummy yet wacky flavoured treats and cute little kawaii gifts, you can't help but turn in to a fan girl. 

With Wasabi flavoured Pocky and Grapefruit flavoured chewing candy you really are spoiled for choice with Tofu Cute. By far the cutest of their range are their plush collection; they've got Alpaca plushes, Red Panda plushes and Tofu plush phone holders, more plush than you could get your hair bunches around! And if you want to peruse their items with your own two (maybe three) eyeballs, then Tofu Cute travel around the UK doing comic conventions and other events; so you can get your hands on them with experience. 

My Retro

Gaming is in our blood; our father's did and our forefather's probably didn't do it, but that's only because they didn't have electricity in those days!

But now we do have electricity, and more games consoles than we know rightly what to do with, so why not stick your game head on and get your thumbs at the ready to punch those 'A' and 'B' buttons like mad? Because My Retro Game Box is sure to put you in the mood to fire up your old GameBoy Colour's, NES's and Sega Megadrive's. 

Much like a magazine subscription, My Retro Game Box is a service which sends you out at least three awesome new games for your console every month; but rather than ending up in your recycle pile, these games become your lifelong companions. My Retro Game Box don't rent games, oh no, they let you keep 'em. You tell them which consoles and games you have and they select games for you to work your way through each month on your retro gaming systems. And you won't end up with something you don't like; instead you tell them what sorts of games you do like and they'll do their best to meet your standards. 

And if you don't own the necessary consoles then relax a little, because they also sell the systems so that if you're not a retro gamer you can get in to it. At roughly £20/month it saves you from having to troll through Ebay looking for games you might like and waiting for them to be shipped from who knows where; so get on My Retro Game Box and subscribe!