Were you under the impression there were some childhood games that would remain sacred? That the only updated version of Jenga you'd ever see would be a supersize one you could play in a pub garden? More fool you - you didn't account for Progress, did you?

This is digital Jenga, and it represents all that is wrong with the world is fun for the whole family. Or just one lonely member of the family. There are two blocks at the bottom which represent all the blocks, and you have to try and remove them without too much force. The screen allows you to zoom in on any area of the tower and complete that section.

Next up, digital make believe tea party.

[via UberGizmo]

Not so long ago we told you all about the MechRC robot from IWOOT, which illustrated quite how ingenious robot designers can be, with a variety of customizable moves. Well they've now added the friendly looking Ed-E to their stable. It's great to be able to make your MechRC robot dance and all, as there are hours of entertainment to be had from watching him flip and sing, but wouldn't it be great if you could harness the energy spent in playtime for an educational purpose (whilst totally pretending you're not learning?)

Well they've taken that salient fact into consideration and have created ED-E, a blue version of the MechRc who aims to engage students by helping them learn how to programme.

To a child, the Fun Fly Stick is a magical wand with the ability to bamboozle their little minds. To adults, it's a battery powered baton utilising the power of science by generating an electronic charge (a Van de Graaff generator to be precise) to repel the FunFlyers - that'd be the five tinselly things that come with it (each with different floating properties). When the tip of the magic wand/baton touches the tinselly objects, they become charged with the static electricity and therefore repel the wand. For the children, it's magic - they don't care about the physics involved. Again, for the adults, there's no incredulity... just science.

With your magical stick there are plenty of tricks to flaunt - there's some levitating fun to be had, you can beckon the FunFlyers with your hand and why not really shake things up by making them jump between your body and the FF stick?

It's only the 16th day of the first month of the year and we're already seeing a bunch of jaw dropping, swoon-tastic toys that'd make any lover of innovative gadgetry in toy-form light up like kid in a candy shop (or a geek in an Apple store). The mundane toys are without a doubt being separated from the ohmygodIwantone variety. Take this voice controlled helicopter for instance, it's soooo much cooler than a bog-standard remote control model (that's so last year).

The company making it all possible is a Tokyto based corporation called Taiyo corp. It will be releasing voice-controlled 18cm helicopters that can understand English and Japanese up to 10m away using the following commands - "up", "hold", "down", and "stop". They seem to be short of a few commands (like "forward" and "backward"), but hopefully they will have fixed this little mistake by the time it's released in March for $60 USD.

[via Tech Digest]

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Some people just can't let things lie. Just when you thought Strictly Come Dancing was all over and you were safe till the next season, Q4 Technology comes out with some clever robot programming software, allowing you to instruct your WowWee robot (up to 11 different models) to accomplish moves Arlene Phillips would be proud of. Go-Robot Choreographer and Go-Robo Studio software gives robot enthusiasts the chance to program their automatons to bus' a move, Strictly Come Dancing style. And just like in the accompanying pic, you can put them in frilly outfits and make them look silly too.

You thought the Nabaztag rabbit was as cute as RFID readers were ever going to get? Well you were wrong my friends, oh so wrong. Mattel has released details of a selection of glorious South Park like figurines that trump that bunny cuteness any day of the week. The F.A.M.P.S (which stands for (Feelings, Attitudes, Moods and Personalities) are collectible figures which connect to Macs or PCs via USB or an RFID reader. Each figure allows you to personalize your desktop and add colour and different background to your online presence.

As well as TVs, computers, media players and cameras, CES boasts some of the funnerest toys known the man. Take this for instance - the Mindflex harnesses the power of your mind and uses it to keep a ball floating in the air. For realz.

There's going to be plenty of time for news of bigger tellies, thinner laptops and faster download speeds. Tonight? Tonight is the night to celebrate gadgets under $100 (when in Rome, etc etc). This is the duckhunter, which sets intself apart from other RC gadget by involving a gun. Yes, set off this 'duck' and watch in awe as your gun sends it spiraling from the sky in the manner of something most definitely shot.

Remember the old days? Pre-internet and mobiles when you had to communicate by talking or *gasp* letter form? Thank god that stilted manner of communicating in more than 140 characters has passed, and now there's an invention to stop even the slightest desire to exchange vowel sounds. Say hi to the Poken, a cutesy RFID reader, available in Voodoo, Bee, Alien or Panda form.

If Guitar Hero or Rock Band is a little heavy for your tastes, perhaps it's worth investing in some piano hands. Zara demonstrates these bizarre acting gloves, which will allow you to become a concerto hero in your very own living room.

50 quid from IWOOT.

Guitar Hero obsessives needn't get withdrawal symptoms when forced to spend more than a few hours away from their beloved game - Guitar Hero Carabiner is here. Stick one of these in your pocket and whenever you get the urge to strum your favourite rock tune, pull out your mini colour coded guitar and go nuts. Keeping with true Guitar Hero style, there are three levels of play, increasing in difficulty as you go on with more complex guitar rifts to test the dexterity of your digits.

A foldable neck, LCD screen, whammy bar and carabiner clip complete the finishing touches on your mini guitar - all you need now is £14.95 and it's all yours.

[via Toyology]

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I've never been a huge fan of makeover sites as I find they often produce rather strange colours and aren't very realistic. All that faffing around taking a picture of yourself with your hair tied back seems like a lot of effort to me, but considering this kit is currently half price I wonder if it would be worth having a try. And there's a camera integrated into the Styling Studio- score!

So how does this work? Upload a picture of yourself, and then adjust your hair and makeup via the touchpad. The most entertaining part is the fact that you can display your creations on your computer and then email your final pics to your friends to entertain them with images of you with green hair.

Robotics is an area which is expanding in leaps and bounds and I've never seen anything quite like this humanoid robot before. Unless of course you count I Robot, but CGI films are hardly a good example. The robot you can see is called Jules, and is the first robot that can actually MIMIC human expressions realistically. He picks up these expressions through the electronic motors on his skin which are connected to a video camera. He reads the camera motions in real time and interprets the commands and changes in expression at 25 frames per second.

You'd be forgiven for thinking Terry the Turtle suffered some kind of design malfunction during production for shouting "Go shove your t*&@s up your a**e" at you as you walked past. Well, you'd be wrong. Poor Terry suffers from tourettes so will shout expletives and profanities whenever you saunter past his infra-red sensor.

We've been brought up on the teachings that swearing isn't big or very clever... but it really is when it's coming from a seriously stressed out turtle with tourettes, complete with popping head and waving arm movements. His potty mouthed rants are really off the wall and will shock even your most foul mouthed friend. S*&%*y b**^$*ks, s**t face, g*£@*s and f*****g w****r are just some of the lovely phrases to come out of Terry's potty mouth (can you work them out?).

Yes, ok, so it's no Nintendo Wii. And it's certainly not a PS3. Nor is it an Xbox 360. But it is a pretty fun and geeky way to get some RFID into the life of any child. Or, in fact, the life of a Shiny Towers staffer, since they seemed to have an unhealthy amount of fun filming this.

£130 from the Early Learning Centre

If you thought the i-Sobot was small, check out these iddy biddy automatons, armed and ready to take over your desk. At just 3.5cm they've undergone a stealth mission to steal the crown for smallest robot from Tomy's 6 ½-inch i-Sobot, which held the crown until some point last week, when these mini automatons were unveiled at Robo Japan Expo. Their midget status means they're not going to be as impressive and complex as i-Sobot (re-enact a cowboy duel from an American Western, play air guitar and perform martial arts etc) but they can do plenty of things to get you oohing and ahhing at their minuteness - walking, finding its way out of a labyrinth, play football.

Yea yea, we know the High School Musical trilogy is for the kids (which is why I included the pic without the little girl), but WHATEVER, we love it too. Some of us a little more than others *cough* Susi *cough*. It's taken three High School Musicals for me to realise I have an unfulfilled desire to dance and sing in-synch with all my friends with a permasmile slapped on my face - I *must* have one of these mats. Who's your favourite character? Are you a Troy fan, or perhaps Gabriella's your fave. Whoever it is, get ready to wipe the floor with them on your very own High School Musical 3 Got The Moves Dance Mat (they could have gone for a shorter/catchier version?).

I like the sound of the iNo, as it's a sociable way for people to get involved with their iPods.. and their friends! It's basically a docking station/speaker that also acts as a sort of quiz game. Every player (up to four) gets a remote control which lets them buzz in, and pauses the song. They then answer a question about the track, from the name of the artist to their date of birth, and the person with the most points wins the game.

I'm not sure how well this would work with people who have very random music on their 'pods but it's a nice way of sharing your tunes with your friends- and laughing at the tough guy with the Disney soundtrack. And when you're bored of the game you can use it as a speaker. Sweet.

£59.95 from Firebox

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Apparently, this leaf from Sega is designed to take note of your tone of voice and then respond by taking the appropriate action. It's a sympathetic leaf, if you will. A kind of dancing flower with feelings.

I'd like to focus on the actions though - Sega are very non-specific. In fact, the site itself just says it will "give you some responds and ideas". Does it suggest inspirational music? Does it distribute leaflets? Does it offer to go and kick his head in? You'll have to go here and buy one for $25 to find out.

Does anyone else feel Sega lost their way slightly after the Megadrive?

[via Geek Alerts]

Tickle Me Elmo was cute, but safe - he was just a robot, after all. This new Elmo, though, gives the impression that he's so damn realistic, he might just decide to forget his programming and try to take over the world. Scary stuff.

He will sit down, cross his legs and tell a story, he'll do 'jazz hands' and he'll move his head around as he speaks. He's just like a real boy. Regardless of his potential for robot-ageddon, he's bound to be a massive hit this Christmas time.

£60 from Prezzybox.

[via ElectricPig]

Like that? Read this: Tickle Me Elmo XTREME|Elmo Universal Remote