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Tag: Tech Toys

  • Mars Rover Curiosity Gets a Hot Wheels Replica

    It’s perfectly clear that even the most subtle and deftly engineered piece of technology is simply a more complicated toy. Don’t believe me? Take the Mars rover Curiosity as an example. Already a LEGO version of the rover has been recreated, complete with moving parts, six wheels, and replica instruments. Technology is simply more useful toys, which isn’t to say that toys are useless technology.

    Mattel has now revealed that the Mars rover Curiosity will also be getting a Hot Wheels replica. CollectSPACE, the website and blog for all things space-history related, broke the story on the Hot Wheels version of Curiosity. The replica will be 1/64th the size of the real rover, and will be sold in stores starting in September.

    Mattel has a history of backing NASA’s ventures with miniature Hot Wheels replicas. The Sojourner Mars rover that was a part of the Mars Pathfinder mission in the late 90s was also recreated as a Hot Wheels toy. The collectible can still be found and bought from toy collectors or through Amazon. According to collectSPACE, that Hot Wheels replica was so popular with collectors that a 24-karat gold-plated version of the toy was issued.

    Mattel had planned on releasing the Mars rover Curiosity Hot Wheels replica regardless of whether the real rover survived its descent to the surface of Mars. The success of the Mars Science Laboratory in landing the rover safely will no doubt increase the popularity of all Curiosity-related toys and collectibles in the next few weeks.

    (Photo courtesy collectSPACE)

  • Cardboard Flash Drives?

    Why yes, those are cardboard flash drives. Not only that, but they are functional cardboard flash drives. Does this mean plastic is no longer the material of choice mobile device cases? Not exactly, but the concept, courtesy of the Art Lebedev Studios, is still pretty damn cool.

    For familiarity’s sake, the studio responsible for the cardboard flash drives also developed the Optimus Maximus keyboard, the digital keyboard where the keys act as programmable displays instead of predetermined characters. Having conquered cool keyboard development, the studio has turned its sights towards portable storage, a field that’s already littered with tons of mash-ups and modifications.

    Instead of creating another Darth Vader flash drive, the creative team went another, unexpected direction — cardboard — and the results are impressive. Unfortunately, however, the site doesn’t reveal much about these drives. True, the site is presented in the Russian language, but even after Google Translate does its thing, the information isn’t exactly overflowing.

    Thanks to the Technabob.com blog, however, there’s at least some information about the nifty drives available:

    What you are looking at is a block of four cardboard disposable flash drives that have different amounts of storage on them. You just rip one off when you need to store data or share data with someone and they can slip them into a USB port to read the data.

    Unfortunately, however, Technabob indicates the cardboard drives are only usable once.

    Cardboard Flash Drives

    With that in mind, at least the cardboard case allows for personal expression, and/or, easy labeling. There’s also some question as to whether or not these devices are simply concept pieces or will they be available to the public. While the Technabob piece discusses pricing, no amount was given on the blog post or at the Art Lebedev Studios website.