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Crowd-sourced and brilliant

We featured Star Wars Uncut as our Website of the Day here on Pocket-lint back in August 2010 and have been following its progress ever since. Now, the crowd-sourced project has been completed and is ready to be watched in its entirety; all two hours and four minutes of it.

Star Wars Uncut is the brainchild of Casey Pugh who, along with video editor?Aaron Valdez and?Bryan Pugh (sound design/mixing) undertook the mindnumbingly insane task of remaking the whole of Star Wars IV: A New Hope using fan-made material.

Casey cut the original movie into 15 second chunks and invited submissions from anybody who wished to film, animate or, generally, recreate their favourite bit. The Star Wars Uncut team have then stitched the entire film together using these crowd-sourced elements, and the end result is staggering.

So, if you have a couple of hours spare and fancy watching a familiar yet totally refreshing version of A New Hope, here is Star Wars Uncut: Director’s Cut in all its glory – starting with the best use of Twitter we’ve seen yet…

Read

Tags: Online Internet Websites Software Star Wars Star Wars Uncut

Star Wars Uncut finished – the entire movie remade by fans (video) originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:05:15 +0000

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WP7 on a budget

The Nokia Lumia 710 is seems to be pitched as the poor man’s Lumia 800, but can that be right?

We’ve been testing the two Windows Phone 7?powered Nokia phones together for the last two weeks to see how the 710 really lives up to the flagship Nokia smartphone, and whether you really are getting second best if you go for the Lumia 710.

Design

If you like the rounded edges of the Nokia Lumia 800, the one piece design, the overall “different” feel and approach to the Lumia 800 then although it hurts us to say this, but this isn’t the phone for you. Get the Lumia 800 and be done with it. The 710 isn’t in the same league when it comes to design. That’s not to say it is an ugly phone, but it is more “traditional” in its approach.

Slightly bigger, although lighter than the 800, the 710 comes with the same size 3.7-inch screen that dominates the front of the smartphone.?Rather than touch-sensitive buttons, you now have one large physical button beneath the screen that is spilt into three buttons. The buttons are the standard Windows Phone offerings of back, home, and search.

The side features volume keys and a dedicated shutter button for the camera, while the top offers a power button, a micro USB socket – that isn’t covered like it is on the Lumia 800 – and a headphone jack. The micro SIM slot can be found inside, something you can access along with the battery because the Lumia 710 has a removable back cover.

It’s the removable back cover that will also appeal to those that like to customise the phone as, just like you did in the 90s, you can swap out the cover and change the colour of your phone on a daily basis, if that’s your thing.

Our review unit came with black, however there are a range of other colours available and planned including magenta and cyan. We’ve also seen patterned designs as well.

The Lumia 710 is by no means striking, nor is it the worst phone we’ve ever seen. It’s built well, is solid, and most importantly, comfortable to use.

Insides

Strangely, from a core spec point of view – the processor and memory – the Lumia 710 is identical to the only other Windows Phone available from?Nokia; the?Lumia 800. That means you get a 1.4Ghz processor and 512MB of RAM to power your Windows Phone 7 experience. In our tests and having used the Lumia 800 extensively for the last three months, this is more than enough to enjoy the operating system and all that you can throw at it.

Whether it is playing games, loading applications, or merely surfing the web (the browser is hardware optimised) there’s a plenty of power to go around.?On the connectivity front you get Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS.

So where have the corners been cut? Well for starters you only get 8GB of storage rather than 16GB as found on the Lumia 800. Then there is the screen quality, LCD over AMOLED, and finally the 5-megapixel camera instead of the 8-megapixel model found on the Lumia 800.

All that gives sucks the standard days worth of battery on a single charge, while we had no complaints or out of the ordinary praise for call quality either. As a phone the Lumia 710 acts as you would expect.?

LCD vs AMOLED

The single biggest difference you’ll spot instantly when looking at the Lumia 710 is that it uses an LCD screen rather than a AMOLED one. That takes away the stunning visual impact you get from the Lumia 800 and presents you with a screen that is rather flat in its colour. The viewing angle isn’t as great and in both the white and black themes of WP7, unless you are looking at it straight-on, there is a tendency to believe that the screen colours are somewhat under-saturated. It certainly isn’t as vibrant.

Again that’s not to say the screen is bad, it’s just not as good as other Windows Phone handsets like the Super LCD-touting HTC Radar. What is instantly noticeable, however, is that extra .2-inch over the iPhone 4 and 4S. It really does make the Apple smartphone screen look small.?

Camera time

The Lumia 710 might only have a 5-megapixel camera with single LED but we were very impressed with its performance. As long as you are able to hold the phone still at the moment you press the shutter, you’ll get good results regardless of light available. Failing to do so results in softer images, but then that’s normally the case with many smartphone cameras. Pictures are processed immediately with little or no lag.

The success of the camera is down to the f2.4 wide-angle (28mm) lens that gives you plenty of room to play with. There is a digital zoom, but we would advise against using it.

Sadly, unlike the HTC Windows Phone 7 smartphones you don’t get additional features like panorama or the ability to apply effects, but you can get panoramic apps like Pano and PictureLabs that will fill those gaps.

You also get 720p HD video recording.

App time, or not?

It’s fair to say that apps aren’t the strongest part of the Windows Phone 7 platform at the moment. But don’t panic, because not only are there plenty of apps coming, but interestingly WP7 isn’t as app-focused as the iPhone or Android. There are plenty of features built into the phone’s operating system that means you don’t need thousands of apps to let you do anything.

Nokia understanding this give you Nokia Drive; a very good turn-by-turn satnav app that will easily get you from A to B, Nokia Music; A free music service that will have you listening to the latest songs in seconds, and Nokia Maps; which is really just a better version of the phone’s Bing maps feature.

There is also the promise in the coming months of Nokia Transport; a public transport planning app, Nokia City Lens; an augmented reality app to tell you which direction restaurants are nearby, and Nokia Pulse; a BBM clone that needs a few more people to sign up to Nokia phones to get it really work.?

That’s Nokia, but we also know that there are new apps coming from Skype, supposedly Instgram, and many others, meaning that it is a winning rather than losing battle.

But as we said there are many times that you won’t need a flashy app. Windows Phone 7 has been designed around hubs and those hubs do a good job of covering your basic needs.?The People hub is exceptionally good for keeping track of everyone be it via your own contacts, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, while the office hub will sort out your document needs.

So who is the Lumia 710 for?

There are three Nokia Lumia models at the time of writing, and this is the model that will appeal to those looking for a cheap phone with low monthly costs.

What makes the Lumia 710 so appealing is that you get a phone that isn’t sluggish, like the equivalent Android offerings. As well as one that comes with some great apps out of the box like satnav and music, without having to pay for extra apps. TomTom for iPhone is ?50, and while Drive isn’t as featured, it will certainly do for most.?

That should mean that the 710 does well when it hits the shops in February, and one that might help Microsoft lure those BlackBerry users away from their BB Curve.?After all we suspect that they won’t be able to afford an iPhone 4S and might struggle to understand or get frustrated by Android.

Verdict:

The Lumia 710 isn’t as nice as the 800 but then we know that it isn’t supposed to be. This is about making Windows Phone 7 affordable, and on that front the 710 is perfectly pitched.

With the Lumia 800 around the ?35 price point on contract, we suspect that you’ll be able to get the Lumia 710 for around ?15 – ?20 a month with the handset “free”. That’s a good price in anyone’s books.?

The Lumia 710 is perfect at showing that you don’t need to have powerful expensive specs to still get a phone that is enjoyable to use day-in, day-out.?It might not be as durable as the metal clad HTC Radar, but you won’t be disappointed.

Tags: Phones Mobile phones Nokia Nokia Lumia 710 Windows Phone 7 Microsoft

Nokia Lumia 710 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:43:00 +0000

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Your smartphone, your choices

One of the joys of Android is supposed to be customisation and yet few people even bother to change their wallpaper after unboxing their little darlings. One of the problems is that most of us have been scarred by our early live wallpaper experiences – the ones that were just a little too much for our?phones?to handle 24/7 back when the insides of mobiles weren’t quite as chipped up as they are these days.

Fortunately, things are different nowadays. Android smartphones have harnessed much more bite with plenty of RAM and often a dual-core processor to help kick things along. So, today is the day you fight back and remember why it was that you chose the Google OS in the first place. Here are the best Android customisation apps around at the moment; all well worth a tinker.

LauncherPro

If you’ve got yourself a Android phone with a slightly annoying user interface on it – as basically most people who don’t own Nexus or HTC Sense phoes do – then LauncherPro is a superb way to iron out those creases in your experience. The launcher also happens to represent pretty much the ultimate frontier of Android customisation short of rooting your device altogether, so the app brings with it a certain amount of kudos too.

To really get the full out of LauncherPro, you need the paid version but the basic still brings you a far zippy home and app screen, a customisable and scrollable desktop dock, as many home screens as you like and all sorts of tweaks and tucks thereabouts. It might seem a bit overwhelming and possibly a touch pointless to begin with but going really granular will pay off in a big way once you get things just right. Not a quick fix but a very good one indeed.

Market: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 4.5/5

?

Zedge

Whether it be wallpapers, notifications or ringtones that you’d like to make your own on your Android smartphone, Zedge is a good place to start. Zedge is home to 32,996 of the first lot, 82,903 of the second and a whopping 537,828 of the last. That’s a few to choose from and luckily you can break them down into categories or simply search by name and subject matter.

The bits and pieces of downloadable media are user generated but there’s a fairly tight net from Zedge when it comes to copyright material. All the same, if you’re looking for the theme tune to CHIPs, you’ll probably find it. In fact, we just did. The only down points to this app are that there’s a fair bit of dross (where those filters come in handy) and there’s also some nasty banner ads that could dupe you into paying for things. Just stay within the app UI and you’ll be fine.

Market: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 3.5/5

?

PhotoWall Live Wallpaper

Like most good apps, PhotoWall Live Wallpaper tells you pretty much what it does in the name. It’s live wallpaper comprised of photos. Simple enough.?The fun comes in because it’s your photos that we’re talking about and there’s all sorts of different settings to choose from in terms of how you’d like them to appear. They can fade in and out, they can be a pile of overlapping Polaroids or a puzzle of pictures or a wall; you will need the 69p upgrade pack to unlock some of these though.

PhotoWall will take photos from your gallery app, or even specific folders within it, but, given permission, it’s also equally adept at rifling through either your Facebook or Picasa accounts as well. At some point, of course, you’ll chance upon a picture that you don’t remember or you’d like to take a look at in more detail, so all you do is click on it to open it up in its own right.?Yes, this app might hog a bit of your RAM but it’s well, well worth it. Read more

Market: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 4.5/5

?

Koi Live Wallpaper

There’s very little that’s as tranquil as watching fish swim around a pond and Koi Live Wallpaper gives you the chance to do that wherever you go just by gazing into the screen of your mobile phone. There’s not quite as many options as you get with My Beach HD below but your 69p investment still buys plenty of tick boxes and sliders.

You can adjust how many, what type of and how large the fish are; whether or not it’s raining and how hard; the numbers of lillypads and flowers, and how big the rippling effect is when you tap the screen. Best of all though is when you double tap the screen to drop in some food and watch all your little friends come along for a nibble. Lovely stuff.

Market: Link

Price: 69p

Rating: 4.5/5

?

Beautiful Widgets

“Beautiful” might be pushing it a little far but, presumably, the marketing department over at LevelUp Studios didn’t think Nice Widgets would be as compelling.?Either way, what the app offers is, funnily enough, a selection of widgets for your desktop largely based around clocks and weather with the addition of little toggles for functions like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode and all that jazz.

There are widgets to suit every size from one square up to the entire screen and you can even choose what source your widgets take the time and weather from as well as how regularly they call home.The Beautiful (Nice) part of things comes in because you can download lots and lots and lots and lots of different themes so that you can change the background, the typeface and even the tone of your widgets with all sorts of pretty, scary, futuristic or whatever skins you’re after. Read more

Market: Link

Price: 89p

Rating: 4/5

?

My Beach HD

My Beach HD is quite simply the very best live wallpaper we’ve come across so far. It’s not as factual nor interactive or even as clever as some, but it’s smooth, it’s beautiful, it’s detailed and, most of all, it’s fun.?Your 99p outlay buys you some beachfront property on a summer’s day on what we imagine is a well to do spot of upstate New York. Not bad for a quid.

With it, you get any, all or none of a ball, bucket, cooler and drink, towel, umbrella, blanket, bonfire, bottle rocket, clouds, lifeguard chair and all sorts of other details that you can change including the weather, time of day, time of year and even a little sign which you can scrawl upon as you will. The possibilities are almost absurd. Read more

Market: Link

Price: 99p

Rating: 5/5

?

Colors

One of the big wow factors when the Nexus One arrived were those funky, interactive, live wallpapers that we could have spanning our desktops and secretly chewing through battery life and taking up precious RAM. So, eventually, these get a little dull and actually something more subtle and speedy becomes appealing.?Step in Colors by developer Tim Clark. Colors is a very simple look at wallpapers for Android. Like the name suggests, the app offers you a choice of plain colours. All you do is pick one and it becomes your wallpaper. Now, that sounds rather dull but there are a couple of things to bear in mind.

Firstly, there are lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of colours to choose from. Secondly, they sort of all look brilliant, and thirdly – probably the part we like best – is that you can chop and change whenever you feel like it without having to search the Market and download another app.?Forgive the American spelling. Colors is still a fantastic app. Read More

Market: Link

Price: Free/89p

Rating: 5/5

?

Androidify

Ever wondered what the little Android mascot would look like in a nice suit? Or perhaps a dress? Or maybe even what he’d be like if he worse a bikini, had a bright pink afro, sported ballet shoes and had skinny legs??If you answered yes to any of these questions then it’s clear that you’re a very strange person. But you’re also in luck, because with Androidify you can find out the answers to all of those wonders and more.

Androidify lets you can customise the little green robot (what is his name, does anyone know?) with an absolute wealth of styling options. You can dress and accessorise him however you want, and you can even change his body shape as well.?”Why?” you might ask. Well, so as you can post up your effort on Twitter of course – that’s what everyone else seems to be doing anyway. Read More

Market: Link

Price: Free

Rating: 3/5

Tags: Phones Apps Android Features Android apps LauncherPro PhotoWall Live Wallpaper Zedge Beautiful Widgets My Beach HD Colors Androidify Koi Live Wallpaper

Best Android customisation apps originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:45:00 +0000

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New player with speed assistance lands

The days of dedicated satnav devices are probably numbered as a result of the smartphone and app booms, but German engineering and electronics company Bosch has clued on to this, bypassing an actual device and entering the satnav game directly with an iPhone app.

Bosch Navigation 1.5 has hit the App Store, an app that sees the company go head to head with the likes of TomTom and Navigon, in order to serve your smartphone satnav needs.

What Bosch’s effort offers is 3D mapping, eco navigation routes for greener driving, driving assistance such as speed warnings on tight bends, Plus Routes for real-time re-routing and easy to add intermediate destination adding.

There’s also Facebook and Twitter integration on board for updating your pals with thrilling details of your journeys as well as the usual suspects such as points-of-interests, real-time traffic reports and lane guidance.

“Bosch may not be the first name UK users think of when considering mobile satnav, however, our expertise in this market is extensive and we’re very confident that the unique and powerful tools available through our software are capable of making us a market leader in this sector,” said product manager, Florian Knollmann.

“Bosch Navigation will offer a seriously appealing alternative to modern mobile navigation, and combines all of the key features you’d expect to see in high-end sat nav suites with modern advancements.”

It’s out now for an introductory ?26.99 – soon to rise to ?44.99. Not cheap, but less than the TomTom and Navigon offerings.

Tags: Apps iPhone apps Bosch Satnavs

Bosch Navigation iPhone app takes on the bend originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:44:01 +0000

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The U.S. Government does, but we just wanted to make that clear for you in this weeks show. Kodak’s facing an ugly future, Barnes and Noble is looking to spin-off its Nook division and will Yahoo ever be relevant again? Kanye West is comparing himself to Steve Jobs, seriously. Plus, we can’t wait to see all the new shiny toys at CES 2012!

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EPISODE 1573

NEWS

-Kodak Preparing for Chapter 11 Filing

-Barnes & Noble eyes Nook spin-off amid sales shortfall

-Yahoo’s new CEO Thompson: Five big challenges

-Brand new ceo same old messed up yahoo

-Music retailers cheer first sales increase in 7 years

-US Threatened To Blacklist Spain For Not Implementing Site Blocking Law

-Government

-Crazy Rumor: Google Is Working On A 7-Inch Tablet Priced To Beat The Kindle Fire

-The 50-inch Apple TV set rumor re-emerges

-Patents Show that the Next Xbox Might Be a DVR, Too

QUICK HITS

-PayPal dispute ends in destruction of violin

-Apple coughing up $5 million to settle patent infringement suit

-Apple attempts to ban Steve Jobs action figure

-Kanye West’s Epic Twitter Rant: Unite the Power of Steve Jobs, Michael Jackson and McQueen (Pick up where Steve Jobs left…)

-Kanye West Launches new production company likens self to Steve Jobs

-Sweden Recognizes File-Sharing as a Religion

CES – What we’re looking forward to in VEGAS

-Could LG’s new 55-inch OLED be the best TV ever?

SCIENCE

-Scientists figure out how to “cloak” time

VOICEMAIL

Caller is depressed after reading the 2011 Tablets to avoid.

EMAILS

Hey buzz crew,

I would like to make a prediction for 2012 that some computer maker will create a windows 8 or (less likely IOS) tablet that will have a laptop and desktop dock which will have separate processors and RAM so that when it is docked, the mobile processors will be supplemented with the additional resources to present the user with a full OS experience. This of course will then spell the end of traditional laptops and desktops in 2013.

Thanks you all… Love the show.

-Stephen

—–

Here’s one I think was overlooked. A bit out there, but could easily be done.

Google will buy T-Mobile in 2012.

I’m just sayin’….they’ve got the cash and lots of dark fiber, why not. Get AT&T and Verizon shaking in their boots!

—–

Hello gang.

I’ve noticed something. I have a MacBook, an iPhone and an iPad. I also have a Kindle, a Samsung Galaxy S II, a Dell running Windows, an HP running Ubuntu and I was a .net developer for 6 years. I like computers and gadgets and I’m getting a little tired of hearing the “”Oh, you’re one of those apple fan girls”” comment (subtext: “”Oh, you’re one of those people that would pay $1000 for a piece of poo if it was lacquered in white and had an apple logo””. I like my stuff. But it’s just stuff. On Apple as a company, or Steve Jobs as a person, I don’t really have an opinion.

This holiday season I once again found myself in a heated discussion about Apple products and the people who buy them. And I realized something. The heat in the discussion was not coming from me, but from people who do not use Apple products. More often than not, I end up having to defend what I’m spending my money on. (What I’m really thinking is “”I’m a grown woman and I make my own money and I can use it however I see fit so mind your own business.””)

I’m starting to see a pattern. People I know who use Apple products just sort of have them and don’t talk about them very much. People who don’t, seem to give it much more thought and are surprisingly aggressive when they talk about people who do. Many times, when someone writes in to the show and are really upset about something, they are referring to you guys being too easy on Apple. In the words of Carrie Bradshaw “”I can’t help but wonder””, what is it about that company that provokes such passion?

Angelika
Stockholm, Sweden.

—–

Guys –

Just got finished listening to your 2012 predictions podcast and really liked it. However, there’s just one small request I gotta ask of you all.

Could you guys start saying twenty-twelve instead of two thousand and twelve? You’re adding two full syllables in that are totally unnecessary. Not to mention that everyone is eventually going to start saying twenty because no one will want to say two thousand and twenty-two, but now seems like a good time.

Thanks, and keep up the good work!

–Jason

—–

I have been an avid listener to your podcasts for years now, but now I
learned that CBS is supporting SOPA. I have discontinued your podcasts
and hopes your parent company changes its mind.

Thanks,
Seth

—–

http://bol.cnet.com, 800-616-2638 (CNET), buzz@cnet.com

Follow us on Twitter: @mollywood @brian_tong @stephenbeacham @donald @sharonvak

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TOY FAIR 2012: Don’t make me angry

Lego has detailed its new range of Lego Marvel characters to Pocket-lint at this year’s Toy Fair in London.

Shown behind closed doors with a strict no photography policy, we sadly can’t bring you any pictures of the new sets, although we are able to bring you plenty of juicy details, describing them to the best of our abilities.

The new sets, due out at the beginning of April in time for the launch of the new The Avengers movie, will not only let you recreate scenes from the movie with your favourite Marvel characters, but also that you’ll be able to pit Marvel against DC Comics characters for the first time (in Lego form).

That means Batman vs Iron Man. Wow.

But, while you try and get over the myriad of mega battles that becomes possible if you also snap up some of the DC-licensed Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman offerings, let us tell you a bit more about the Lego Marvel sets that you should get excited about.

The minifigs themselves are perfectly?sculptured Lego versions of the comic book film adaptations and, unlike the Lego Batman sets already on sale, aren’t a hybrid of styles. They’re more specific to the latest flick than the Adam West/Michael Keaton/Christian Bale mish-mash of the rival franchise.

They also offer a wider variety of superhero characters. The new Lego Marvel sets include Iron Man (complete with lift-up face helmet to reveal Tony Stark and his goatee), Black Widow from S.H.I.E.L.D., Thor, Loki, Captain America and, best of all, the Incredible Hulk.

And, rather than just a general green minifig, the Hulk is considerably larger than the rest. Its footprint is a mighty 12 Lego spaces rather than a normal minifig’s standard two. As the cartoon drawing shows above, he really is that much bigger than your standard Lego character.

Lego has told us there will be other baddies as well as Thor’s brother Loki. We didn’t have them to show as it would give the game away for the movie, but the smart money is on Thanos and/or The Skrulls.

In fact, the film’s plot and reveals are so shrouded in secrecy that a Lego spokesman said to us that the company doesn’t even know what happens. All it knows is that there will be certain characters involved in certain scenes with certain vehicles.

One of those scenes involves the Quinjet, a jet plane that the Avengers get about in. And that amazingly (and naturally) translates into the chance for you to build one out of Lego. Characters included with that specific set will be Black Widow, Loki (who is in the hold), Thor and Iron Man.

As with previous Lego tie-ins you will need to buy multiple sets to get the entire Avengers crew. Thankfully, Captain America comes on his own with his bike, but to get Hulk you will need to buy a different set. The “other” baddie that Lego wouldn’t detail also comes with his own set.

Other sets include a scientist’s lab to analyse Loki. However, neither we nor Lego know how that fits into the movie.

The new sets are expected to be available from 1 April – in time for the film that hits cinemas on the 28 April.

Tags: Toys Lego Marvel ToyFair2012 minifigs

Lego Marvel makes minifigs of The Avengers movie originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:43:00 +0000

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TOY FAIR 2012: Collectable fun

Okay, so there’s no gadget-based wizardry involved and the closest they get to consumer electronics is that they share a name with a giant in the world of cables, but WowWee‘s Monster Marbles invoke the kind of reminiscence you don’t get from a Nespresso coffee maker, even if it does come in beige…

Monster Marbles offer essentially the same gameplay and fun as the glass orbs we all remember from our childhoods – except you can’t play Kerplunk with them. The marble part, you see, is housed within a collectable plastic fiend and the games you play are very similar to the old classics.

The Monster Marbles sets come with a piece of chalk and instructions, which help you set up one of four different games. Monster Bash is the most akin to games from the days of yore; you draw a circle with the chalk and have to shoot marbles out of the ring with your shooter Monster. Everything you shoot out, you keep.

Well, at least that’s the way it used to be played. At ?1.99 for each of the Monster Marbles, you won’t want your child to come home without their beloved toys.

WowWee is also going to release packs of Monster Marbles at different price points. A Monster Marbles Carrying Case with two marbles will cost ?9.99, one marble with the chalk will be the aforementioned ?1.99, two will cost ?2.99, and a three pack (plus chalk) weighs in at ?4.99.

Packs contain random characters and there are also very rare golden Monster Marbles hidden away amongst them. And, if successful, WowWee plans future series to expand the collection.

Series 1 of the rolling horrors will be released in the UK in the summer.

Tags: ToyFair2012 WowWee WowWee Monster Marbles Toys Dad

WowWee reinvents a classic with Monster Marbles originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:32:29 +0000

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TMZ has obtained the 911 call placed moments before Demi Moore was rushed to an L.A. hospital Monday night — after her friend told paramedics she had inhaled too much nitrous oxide … aka whip-its.There is utter confusion at the beginning of the…

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TOY FAIR 2012: Old skooling

Toy tech brand LeapFrog is expanding its line-up of educational kiddy gadgets with a handheld, portable music player that looks like an iPod classic, but for pre-schoolers.

The LeapFrog Move & Learn Music Player won’t store MP3s or other file formats, but will come with 20 pre-installed songs for the little ones to enjoy. And there are also four activity modes aimed to teach infants about movement and help them improve their motor skills.

There are two versions of the player that will become available later in the year, one is styled around Scout, the company’s iconic green dog pal and one around Violet, the female equivalent.

We haven’t been informed when the Move & Learn Music Player will become available, but it’ll cost ?9.99 when it hits stores and be suitable for children 18 months and older. It’s also worth pointing out that the sample Pocket-lint saw and photographed at Toy Fair 2012 in London was a prototype, and that the line of missing pixels on the its screen will not be an issue with the final toy.

Tags: ToyFair2012 Toys Dad LeapFrog LeapFrog Move and Learn Music Player iPod

LeapFrog Move & Learn Music Player is iPod for infants originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:14:27 +0000

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TOY FAIR 2012: Robot wars

We’ve already come across Bossa Nova Robotics’ remote controlled Mechatars before, at last year’s Toy Fair in fact, but now they’re ready for public consumption and Pocket-lint got the chance to see the online role playing game aspect of the new USB connected toys.

Demonstrated to us at Toy Fair 2012 in London, Mechatars is a range of interactive battling robots that, when coupled to a PC, can be used within the Mechaverse, an online, in-browser fighting game that rewards power-ups, extra purchases and continued play.

Each Mechatar – there will be three main ones on launch – can learn new skills and abilities as a child plays with them more, either in the real world through a supplied remote control, or via their online virtual counterparts. They can also be enhanced with the use of add-on weaponry, called Power Packs, which connect to each Mechatar using mini USB and will therefore appear in your online inventory when hooked up.

These are massively helpful in the Mechaverse, as the point of the in-browser game is to battle against other Mechatars in order to earn experience and level up. It’s essentially a cross between Street Fighter II and the battle sequences in the Final Fantasy games, as fights are turn based like the latter, but with beat-em-up style health bars at the top. Naturally, the winner gets more of the spoils.

Cleverly, Bossa Nova is allowing anybody to sign up and play in the Mechverse without the need to buy any of the toys. However, there will be only so far that you can get without any power ups or increasingly more beefy ‘bots. The real-world Mechatars can also gain plenty of experience in offline mode too, so while you might have a superb and unbeaten online character for a while, you’ll soon come up short when you meet a rival who’s been training one of the purchasable robots.

Another incentive to buy the Mechatar toy packs is that two real world robots can actually talk to each other wirelessly, and can therefore be battled against each other through their intuitive remotes. It’s a feature that will reward those who have friends who buy into the same franchise.

The last add-ons for the initial batch of Bossa Nova toys come in the form of Exomorphs, two (for the time being) robot scorpions that can be used like supercharged Hexbugs, but can also follow vocal commands to attack, barked from a kid’s Mechatar. Again, these appear in the online world too and can present some powerful attacking options.

There’s certainly plenty of play to be had with the Mechatars, and the Mechaverse is a neat idea. It’s already been running in the US for while, but will hit the UK from summer time.

To find out more, visit ILoveRobots.com.

Tags: ToyFair2012 Toys Dad Bossa Nova Mechatars Bossa Nova Mechatars

Bossa Nova Mechatars pictures and hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:48:58 +0000

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