How many times have you found yourself saying “if only I had some sort of desk robot to bring me that pen over there.” Or, “I really wish that salt shaker wasn’t all the way at the other end of the table.” Well now your prayers have been answered with the new R/C Desktop Forklift at Think Geek.

The R/C Desktop Forklift is capable of hauling around all that desktop inventory with the touch of a few buttons. In reality this little guy can haul around desk clutter the weight of an empty soda can; but it looks darn cool doing it!

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Finally a toy that encourages the kids to play in the street at night! Seriously this thing is pretty cool. The Spy Video Car is a radio controlled car with a night vision camera mounted on it. Kids can see everything the car sees with a special set of goggles. The R/C Spy Video Car is small enough to navigate the living room without smashing into too many pieces of furniture. As a parent all you can do is hope that this thing is loud enough to hear coming so you don’t get caught doing something I don’t want the kids to know about.

The Spy Video Car comes with a Heads Up Display (HUD) that can be worn by the operator to see everything the car sees in the dark. It is basically a set goggles with that plug into the controller with tiny monitors in them. The HUD receives the digital camera signal via a wireless transmission from the car. The night vision picture is in black and white.

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Being the dad of two boys doesn’t get me in tune with the culture of young girls. You can insert your own joke about that here.

Anyway while stumbling around the web I saw a press release for casting calls for Kitt. Kitt is a character from the “American Girl” toy line which is 100% owned by Mattel. Mattel is working with HBO to make a movie about this doll/story character named Kitt. The film will be called “Kitt Kittredge: An American Girl Mystery.” The film will take place in Depression era America and star Abigail Breslin from Little Miss Sunshine.

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There is no end to Star Wars toys. Even after (what we are told) was the last film, toys licensed after the mega hit series are still pouring into stores. I really don’t like to endlessly profile one action figure after the next; because lets face it they are all pretty much the same. There are the rare toys out there that have the brand recognition, plus that certain something that gets your kids to do something other than slay Storm Troopers online all day.

Give your Star Wars kids the new Star Wars Light Saber Battle Game. It basically works like the Wii and Guitar Hero but with the whole Star Wars theme. There is a device that plugs into your TV and displays various battles and scenarios. There is also a Light Saber that when used by your child will manipulate the TV light saber to slice up enemies. Until the Wii gets a Star Wars game this is the next best thing.

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If your child doesn’t have a Webkinz yet, get ready to be begged for one. Webkinz is probably the biggest fad with the 5 to 12 crowd right now. Webkinz are stuffed animals with a digital twin on Webkinz.com. Webkinz come in a ton of different animals like, dogs cats, bears, koalas, and birds. Each Webkinz has its own unique code that identifies it with its online twin on Webkinz .com. Be warned, Webkinz aren’t in every toy store in the US. You may have to hunt around to buy one. Amazon.com has a huge selection in their future releases section of their toy department.

Webkinz.com is an online community, where children take care of their digital Webkinz and also can have fun gaming, participating in quizzes, competitions, or just chatting with other Webkinz owners. Webkinz.com is meant for kids aged 6-13 years. It is brilliantly designed to match the computer skills and intellectual abilities of children in that age group.

The entry to the Webkinz.com community is through a secret code, included with all new Webkinz or Lil’Kinz plush toys. Using that secret code, your child can adopt the virtual plush pet in the Webkinz adoption center, have a room for the pet, feed, exercise, and take care of it in a way one might does in the case of a real pet.

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I must admit that I’ve played my fair share of Mario Kart until my hands resembled claws and my eyes were bloodshot. My buddies and I in college used to ditch class just to play one more round of “Battle Mode.” This would probably explain my “D+” in Earth Science 101. Now Mario diehards can race Mario for real.

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Does your child know about the demographics of the city, state or country he/she lives in? Do you find your child coming to you with the curiosity to learn more about various famous cities or countries around the world? If the answer is YES, how often do you remember the answers to those questions and if you don’t know then where do you go search for answers? The questions train would keep growing and you will be left bank at one point as every child has the tendency and intelligence to put another question based on your answer.

Would you like to bring home a toy that answers all these questions to keep your child learning and playing at the same time and improving his/her general knowledge? We found the LeapFrog Explorer Globe, an intelligent “globe-like” electronic toy to enable your child to explore the world. The Explorer Globe, which comes with a digital pointer that can be used to pin point at any location on the globe. The globe has built-in voice capability and will speak out loud the selected location’s name.

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Back in the day pool toys pretty much consisted of inflatable (insert animal name here) toys, the odd pool volleyball net, and maybe some lame squirt guns. This summer the “robo” toys will be taking over the pools of suburbia starting with the Radio Controlled Hammerhead Shark from the Discovery Channel Store.

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With the summer movie season only weeks away the list of hot toys is here. This is the first post in a four part series where we take a look at the toys connected to what may this years biggest movies (for toys anyway).

The movies are sure have a huge line of toys and products are the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Teenage Mutant Turtles, Transformers, and Spiderman 3. Each movie is sure to have official products from action figures to tasty sugary cereal. Here is the first group we took a look at from Disney’s powerhouse franchise; Pirates of the Caribbean.

With the huge success of the first two films, “The Curse of the Black Perl” and Dead Man’s Chest”, the Pirates series already has a huge toy line. The question is will the toys of “At World’s End” be up to par. Looking at Disney’s site, the early release toys look a bit uninspired. There are a bunch of $9.95 3 ¾” action figures of the major characters from the film but a few caught my attention at the local Target.

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Remember Teddy Ruxpin or Robotics? For those of you in the under thirty crowd; these were basic robotic toys that were interactive. Teddy Ruxpin was a bear that had a cassette player in his back. He would move his mouth and arms slightly as he read you a story. Robotics were kind of like tinker toys meets Legos. They came with motors that could be attached to pieces and you could make things like a dinosaur or a crane. The latter was truly a toy I played with for hours on end.

Recently there has been a surge in “robo” toys; Roboraptor, Robosapien, and Robo Pet to name a few. With the continued advances in artificial intelligence, robotics, and miniaturization there are sure to be more and more. The next big ‘robo” toy is coming out late this summer and it promises to blow away past and current robotic toys. It is Robosapien Media from Wow Wee.

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