When I was growing up the most exciting toys I came across were conkers and marbles. However great these may have been they seem to have been shunted right out of the way with the wealth of gadget toys that are available these days. The range and variety of gadgets on offer is incredible. What’s even more incredible is the level of sophistication that goes into some of these toys.

The level of technology in some of the toys available on the market is phenomenal. Many of these mainstream toys are cheap enough for everyone to own one and they seem to offer greater levels of technology than that which got man to the moon in 1969. Here are a few of the genius ideas I have come across that in my opinion rival the Apollo 11 for ingenuity.

Flying alarm Clock

The flying alarm clock is an ingenious way of making you leap out of bed. When the alarm sounds the alarm clock rises from the platform upon which it is placed and flies around the room. Complete with a helicopter style rotor blade you have to get up and catch it to switch it off. What a brilliant idea! I could well have done with one of these when I was younger and even now. The most amazing thing is that they only sell for around 20 pounds. What a bargain – perfect for a birthday gift.

USB Rocket launcher

USB technology is very recent. You can now buy a number of items that can be run by sticking them into your USB port. One of the most enjoyable of these gadgets is a USB rocket launcher. Equipped with a number of foam darts that can be shot at office work colleagues it is great fun. The rocket launcher sits on your desk and shoots darts out when instructed to do so by the computer. The best thing about this is that it is possible to hijack someone else’s. So if your friend is on the same network as you then you can tap in to their system and aim their darts at them – genius! I used to have to make do with paper darts – not anymore.

Electric paper plane launcher

Speaking of paper planes it is now possible to purchase a paper plane launcher. The products makers claim that the machine can launch planes at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour. Wow – I think. I have to admit that this one is a bit of a puzzler to me and I have to admit I have not forked out the money to buy one. It sounds like the mother of all paper cut inducing machines. But fun nevertheless. I bet you could really achieve some distance for your plane with one of these. In my day we had to make use of our own throwing skill.

Motorised strap on skates

Yes that’s right motorised skates do actually exist! You can buy a pair of them, and you’ll definitely want two (unless you only have one leg), for around 100 pounds. There has surely never been a product that is more likely to kill as many people as these will.

Nevertheless it is a great concept – despite being bloody scary. Called the iShoes critics have called them the fastest trip to casualty you will ever make. I for one will definitely be trying these out though. They work with batteries that apparently last for up to 7 miles in one charge. The wheels on these skates are much bigger than those that are fixed to traditional skates. In my day we had to settle for riding around in a shopping trolley with a wonky wheel.

While we have our own ideas about what should constitute a slow motion film, I guess this one from NASA is okay. I mean, if you like explosions and enormous hulks of metal rising into the air, and flames.

Okay, okay, it’s totally freaking awesome. I really want to know what the film speed and exposure were. It was going at 500 frames per second so there’s your shutter speed, but that sucker would have been bright.

[via BoingBoing]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s hard to criticize Romain Jerome for their recent rash of gimmicky watch designs since I’d never actually heard of the company before they started incorporating dinosaur bones, moon dust and pieces of the Titanic into their watches. So I guess the approach has worked, and it doesn’t seem like the company is ready to give it up just yet. Hence their latest model, the Moon Invader.

A new 46mm case with a bevelled, yet rounded, design is made from “steel coalesced by fusion with spare parts from Apollo 11″ and the 4 ball-and-socket joints surrounding the face are designed to look like the feet of the original lunar landing module. But they’re functional too, holding the lugs of the rubber strap and enabling the watch to adjust and fit almost any wrist. And while I’m sure the design team at Romain Jerome are treated like superstars, I think their PR people, particularly their press release scribe, deserve some real praise too for their creativity. Here’s how they describe the back of the watch:

The promise embodied in the special ‘Moon Silver’ plate on the stellar case-back of the watch is a powerful promise of the Moon on the wrist – thanks to a silver alloy boasting an extremely low oxidisation rate and incorporating moon rocks. This engraved plate depicts the lunar surface, of which the mineral particles interact on an infra-molecular level with the wearer of the watch. The Moon within reach, like a talisman to help keep your feet firmly planted on Earth. The veined pattern and grainy texture on the case-back evoke the future superstructures of lunar colonisation bases. These motifs also extend along the rubber strap. The security screw locks the access “hatch” to the movement of the Moon Invader.

The Moon Invader will be limited to a clever 1,969 pieces, and while pricing isn’t known, I’m sure it will follow in the extremely expensive footsteps of its predecessors.

[ Romain Jerome Moon Invader Watch ] VIA [ Acquire ]

No clue what makes this list authoritative, but it’s Friday, and it’s the day before life as we know it changes with the release of… something. Anyhow, it’s a list purporting to show the most valuable autographs you can find. It’s almost relevant because of the person whose autograph has been deemed most valuable. Any guesses as to who’s number one before I give it away? Wait—I already gave it away in the headline. Oops.

So yeah, Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft. He walked on the moon, for the love of God! (So did Brian Regan, but who’s counting?) Getting him to sign, um, your cast is worth about $7,500. You could build an absolute top-of-the-line PC with that kind of money. I’m talking two ATI Radeon HD 5970s in CrossFire or Nvidia GTX 480s in SLI, plus super-fast sold state drives. Having money must be nice.

The remainder of the list is as follows:

2. Paul McCartney at $2,400

3. Tiger Woods at $2,265

4. Queen Elizabeth II at $2,200

5. JK Rowling $1,875

No one cares about places six through ten.

And for the sake of killing a bit more of your time, here’s my top five:

1. Leo Messi (I literally laughed out loud at the song that plays)

2. José Mourinho

3. Ric Flair or Shawn Michaels (I can’t choose!)

4. Ron Bennington or Pepper Hicks (Again, I can’t chose!)

5. Louis CK

So if any of those can be arranged that’d be great, thanks.

(We’re trying to strike a balance between IPAD IPAD IPAD and other, non-iPad stuff, even if they’re only marginally relevant to CrunchGear.)

New York (CNN) — We were right all along. It’s called the Apple iPad, and it’s a smallish, $499 computer (for the entry-level model, that is) that can best be described as a big iPhone or iPod touch.

It will be available in 60 days. Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs made the announcement today in San Francisco, California, an event that had provoked the usual, but always startling, over-the-top anticipation and speculation.

Years from now, maybe people will be asking, “Where were you on January 27, 2010?” in the same way they ask, “Where were you on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 first kissed the surface of the moon?

The moment that man stepped foot on the moon is definitely one of the more admirable historical moments of all time. Being that it is so admirable and so absolutely intriguing that this event actually occurred; many people want to learn more about it. Apollo 11 trivia is helpful to those who want to learn a great deal of information about this voyage into space in a very short period of time. In fact, several of the facts that you would learn through trivia would take you hours, if not days, to find in a book – or even surfing online.

One of the main focuses of the Apollo 11 quiz is the fact that it was the first mission to carry humans to the moon. It was on this voyage that the famous words, “That’s one small step for man…one giant leap for mankind,” were uttered by Neil Armstrong as he became the first human being to ever set foot on the moon.

Do you know the name of the lunar module used in Apollo 11? Its name was “Eagle”; named after the United States national bird. The name “Columbia” was chosen for the larger command module.

Another interesting piece of Apollo 11 trivia is the fact that the Apollo missions had actually been ongoing and this was actually the fifth mission of Project Apollo that involved human spaceflight. Aside from that, it was also the third voyage by humans to the moon; however, no human had ever stepped foot on the moon until this specific voyage.

The Apollo 11’s lunar module, Eagle, landed on the surface of the moon on the 20^th of July, 1969. It landed at approximately 20:17:40 UTC. An interesting fact is that the Eagle had barely enough fuel left for 25 seconds more, as the two men had encountered some difficulties during landing due to their training at NASA. Things were quite a bit different in reality and the several alarms that were going off certainly didn’t help to calm the already likely nerve-wracking maneuver.

The crew was able to complete the mission, which would have put a big smile on the face of former President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy had set a goal to put a man on the moon prior to the end of the decade (1960’s) and this goal had now not only been fulfilled, but broadcast worldwide for any who wished to see the triumphant event. Clearly, this amazing feat proves that anything is possible.