10
May
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Tek Recon NERF-Style Guns Use Smartphones For Radar And Scopes, Kickstarter Campaign Now Live

Posted by in Accessories, News

In many ways, the proliferation of the Call of Duty generation is just an extension of ye olde Cops and Robbers, traditionally played with cap guns, rubber bands, or NERF darts. The Tech 4 Kids company is trying to bring kids' games full circle with Tek Recon, a series of toy guns. What makes these toys unique is the video game-style smartphone HUD, enabled with a docked phone and an Android or iOS app. The Tek Recon Kickstarter campaign started this morning, and it looks like it won't have any trouble meeting the reasonable $50,000 goal.

Tek Recon functions well enough as a toy gun alone.

06
Feb
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Bugdroid May Be Immortalized In Lego Form: Android Lego Cuusoo Reaches 10,000 Votes

Posted by in News

Lego and Android go together like an open-source operating system and an infinitely variable building toy. Lego engineer GLHTurbo agrees, which is why he submitted this 205-piece Bugroid design to the Cuusoo platform, Lego's Kickstarter-like crowdsourced idea farm. Builder submit ideas, participants vote, and the projects that reach enough votes are considered for a retail Lego kit. The Bugdroid model passed the 10,000 vote threshold late Wednesday night.

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The Lego corporation reviews 10,000+ vote submissions four times a year, and according to their Cuusoo video, only selects one project to become a reality. The Android mascot set is up against some stiff competition, so it's far from a done deal.

07
Jan
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[CES 2013] LEGO Announces New Android-Compatible Mindstorms EV3 Kit For Programmable Robot-Building Nerdgasms

Posted by in News

There aren't many things in this world that can be as purely amazing as LEGO. The only people who aren't fans of the world's best creativity toy are people who (mistakenly!) think the company has sold out and encourages kids to follow pre-made instructions instead of building something new. To that I say: Mindstorms EV3. With Android compatibility out of the box. Your argument is invalid.

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The main part of the new kit, the Intelligent Brick (seen above as a glowing torso with a QR code on its chest) will have more processing power, more memory, and more on-brick programming capabilities.

21
Nov
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[New Game] Melesta's Toy Defense Comes To Android – Become 'A Truly Great Leader' While Playing With Toys

Posted by in Games, News

Melesta Games' Toy Defense, a tower defense-style game that's already found a home on iOS, made its way to Android today, bringing with it a familiar tower defense dynamic with turrets and enemies pulled straight from your childhood toy chest.

If you've played other tower defense games, you know what you're in for with Toy Defense – defend your "tower" using various upgradeable turrets, weapons, etc. as wave after wave of enemies march through. While Toy Defense doesn't invent a genre, it's a polished, thoughtful TD game that will undoubtedly please fans of the genre, while adding a few unique touches.

31
Oct
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Dead Zebra Releases Special Edition Werewolf Android Figurine That Totally Isn't Michael J. Fox

Posted by in Android OS, News

We know a lot of you out there are collectors of Andrew Bell's line of plastic Android figures - they've released dozens since the original "Bugdroid" version. With the holidays coming soon, the special editions for 2012 are now rolling out, starting with the Halloween werewolf version.

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I'm sure it's just a coincidence that this little guy sports the same blue-on-yellow jersey as Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf. The special edition Android figure is available now for $10, with a limit of two per household. If you want to pick one up, hurry - who knows how large the intersection of Android fans and 80s movie aficionados is.

29
Aug
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Kickstarter: Android-Inspired BERO Toy Robot Runs On Bluetooth, Batteries, And Nerd Power

Posted by in News

A few of your friendly neighborhood Android Police writers collect the official Android vinyl figurines, but it's got to be said that they leave something to be desired in the interactive department. (By the way, if anyone has the Star Trek Android from Comic-Con 2012, I may actually trade you an arm and/or leg for it.) One Kickstarter project aims to change that, by making a 4-inch, animated, Bluetooth-controlled toy robot modeled after everyone's favorite green mascot. Be The Robot ("BERO") is currently just over a quarter of the way towards full funding, with a month left to go.

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Reality Robots started off with a prototype that was basically Google's Android mascot, in all his antennae'd, verdant glory, complete with a system-on-a-chip.

29
Oct
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Rovio Launches Pre-orders For An Angry Birds Plush Toy Collection [Bonus: Angry Birds Halloween Pics]

Posted by in News, Off-Topic

Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, one of the most successful franchises to hit mobile gaming, is slowly starting to spread into our daily lives outside of our mobile devices. No, I'm not talking about all the Halloween awesomeness that we've been seeing today:

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I am talking about the official Angry Birds plush toys that just dropped for pre-order. These furry little things are produced by Commonwealth Toys and come in 5 different versions. They cost $14.99 a pop, measure 8" in size, and will be ready to ship by December, just in time for New Years and Christmas gift giving.