toysarenotus

Mieders Alpine Coaster (with no brakes!!)

2012-01-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

What You Didn’t Know About Nintendo

2010-04-04T13:19:00.001-07:00

the art of puzzles

2009-12-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

At the 2008 EG conference, famed puzzle designer Scott Kim takes us inside the puzzle-maker's frame of mind. Sampling his career's work, he introduces a few of the most popular types, and shares the fascinations that inspired some of his best.

It's Barbie in a burkha

2009-11-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

One of the world's most famous children's toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover - wearing a burkha.

Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby's for Save The Children.

More than 500 Barbies went on show yesterday at the Salone dei Cinquecento, in Florence, Italy.
Barbie

Makers Mattel are backing the exhibition which is the work of Italian designer Eliana Lorena.

The auction is part of Barbie celebrations for her 50th anniversary this year. The UK's biggest Barbie fan Angela Ellis, 35, has a collection of more than 250 dolls.

The company director of Laird Assessors from The Wirral, Cheshire, said: 'Bring it on Burkha Barbie, I think this is a great idea.

'I think this is really important for girls, wherever they are from they should have the opportunity to play with a Barbie that they feel represents them.
Eliana Lorena

Designer: Eliana Lorena is putting Barbie undercover for an auction to celebrate the doll's 50th anniversary

'I know Barbie was something seen as bad before as an image for girls, but in actual fact the message with Barbie for women is you can be whatever you want to be.

'I have a Barbie in a wheelchair that was only out for six weeks.'

The mum-of-two's own Barbie collection is set to be displayed at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in 2012.

Barbie was first launched in March 1959 by American businesswoman Ruth Handler. The doll was joined by her long-term boyfriend Ken in 1961.

Rosie Shannon, from Save the Children, said all the proceeds from the auction will go to the charity.

She said: 'We are delighted Sotheby's and the designer chose to auction the burka Barbie dolls for our charity.'

The money will go towards the Rewrite the Future campaign which helps millions of children around the world effected by conflict.

Awesome LEGO creations

2009-09-04T05:45:00.000-07:00

How Electronic “20 Questions” Games Work

2009-07-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

By Chris Higgins
It was about five years ago when I first saw a 20Q ball. The tiny handheld device scrolled text across its meager one-line screen, inviting me to challenge it in a game of 20 Questions. I immediately thought of an object I figured it wouldn’t guess (”iPod”) and began to play the game. After a series of slightly odd questions — including “Does it bring joy to people?” — the little ball gave its guess: “MP3 player.” Wow. It was right.

So how does this 20Q device work? The short answer is “artificial intelligence.” The long answer involves lots of practice. In 1988, Canadian inventor Robin Burgener programmed a neural network (a specialized form of computer program) capable of playing 20 Questions, but without a library of knowledge about common objects. He proceeded to teach it twenty questions about the object “cat,” then handed the program (on floppy disk) to friends and encouraged them to play, recording their play sessions as it went. For 20Q, playing equals learning, as it develops “synaptic connections” whenever it receives answers to questions. It’s able to reinforce connections by playing games over and over with different people, gradually learning which answers are correct and which aren’t. (Thus it’s difficult to “poison” the system by purposely giving it wrong answers.) The program can then use these connections to pose clarifying questions, eventually arriving at an answer.

By 1995, Burgener had a good body of connections in his neural network. He put a version of the 20Q program on the web and encouraged web visitors to play with it (thus training it in the process). After the online version of 20Q had played one million games (amassing 10 million synaptic connections in the process), Burgener boiled down the 20Q system into a simplified 20Q-on-a-chip version. The hardware version was incapable of learning, but contained information about the 2,000 most popular objects chosen by users of the online program. As such, it embodied a shocking “intelligence” that toy makers later put into the 20Q balls, now available at toy stores everywhere for under $15. (Specialized versions are also available, including a Harry Potter unit, and later versions of the handheld game have more information built-in.)

Today (or at least as of late 2006, the last time its online FAQ seems to have been updated), the online version of 20Q guesses correctly about 80% of the time, and if you allow it 25 questions, it claims a 98% success rate. With over 60 million games played online, the neural net continues to learn — and this learning can be translated into future versions of the 20Q handheld games. In an interview with Kevin Kelly, Burgener said, “It is learning, but it is not increasing its success rate. What happens is that it is learning to play more kinds of people, people who don’t speak English easily, or who have never played 20 questions, or who come from different cultures, and to understand more difficult kinds of things.”

You can play 20Q Online for free, or pick up a handheld version at any reputable toy or game store. You can read a bit more about the game at Wikipedia or check out more on neural networks for a deeper understanding.

Fun with yo yos

2009-07-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

Android: Google's Dream, Apple's Nightmare?

2008-09-28T07:02:00.000-07:00

One photo circulating on the web that is reported to be of the HTC Dream. T-Mobile will unveil the first Android handset on Sept. 23

A new smartphone is debuting on Sept. 23, and, no, it's not just another iPhone clone. The HTC Dream from T-Mobile will be the first handset to run Google's new mobile operating system, Android. And while it won't look as sleek as the iPhone, it promises to give mobile-phone users a lot more freedom and flexibility.
Many of the Dream's features are under wraps until launch, but based on leaked photos and videos, along with screen shots released by Google, we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect. The biggest departure from the iPhone design is the inclusion of a physical keyboard, which apparently slides out from underneath the Dream's touchscreen. The Dream will also allow users to run multiple applications at once and more easily share contacts and data among them. And if reports from developers interviewed by TIME prove true, mobile-phone users will finally be able to cut and paste text in e-mails — a function that's frustratingly absent on the iPhone. The Dream, which is expected to go on sale in late October, will reportedly cost the same as the 3G: $199.

The sweetest part of the Dream is the Android Market — Google's answer to the Apple App Store. Whereas many Apple apps cost money (typically anywhere from $0.99 to $9.99), at launch all Android Market apps will be free. That includes BreadCrumbz, a picture-based navigation program that doesn't just give you a drawing of your route; it also includes real-world photos to keep you on track. Another interesting app, TuneWiki, is a tricked-out music player that encourages mobile karaoke by synchronizing a song's lyrics onscreen with its YouTube video. It also shows you what songs other TuneWiki users near you are listening to in real time. Since Android is better than the iPhone at running multiple programs at once, you won't have to choose between apps: as BreadCrumbz helps you find your way to a party, TuneWiki can play your favorite Rihanna video and get you in a groovy mood; when it's time to make a right turn, BreadCrumbz will cut in and alert you.

Android has several other key advantages over the iPhone operating system. While Apple takes a top-down approach to app development — the company must approve every program that makes it into its App Store — Google will allow creators to upload any application to the Android Market without its review. Sure that means some duds will make it in, but it will also allow a much more open and democratic way for favorites to evolve. Perhaps more significant, users will not be limited to a single phone or carrier for long. While T-Mobile's HTC Dream will be the first phone to run Android, Google is inviting all carriers to develop handsets for the platform. Expect to see other compatible devices early next year.

Most of the Dream's other features are expected to go toe-to-toe with the iPhone, including built-in GPS, a tilt sensor for gaming and a camera. What's more, T-Mobile recently expanded coverage for its 3G data network to 27 major cities. The faster bandwidth promises to make watching videos and downloading websites go smoothly, but if the spotty 3G coverage offered by AT&T for the iPhone is any indication, buyers should treat this promise with deep skepticism.

On the downside, don't expect the Dream to be anywhere near as slick and shiny as the iPhone. T-Mobile may be much loved among teens for its colorful, flip-screen Sidekick, but the HTC Dream will likely have a more staid look that lacks the iPhone's panache. Plus, no one can turn on the hype machine quite as well as Steve Jobs. But whatever the Dream may lack in flair, it's no less of a breakthrough when it comes to giving mobile-phone buyers more ways to connect on the go.

Scrabble trivia

2008-06-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

Scrabble trivia

Scrabble is also known as Alfapet, Funworder, Skip-A-Cross, Spelofun and Palabras Cruzadas ("Crossed Words").

A Scrabble board is 15 spaces high and 15 spaces wide, for a total of 225 squares.

The game is sold in 121 countries in 29 different languages.

One hundred million sets have been sold worldwide.

Celebrities known for being Scrabble fans include Sting, Keanu Reeves, Moby, John Travolta and Carol Burnett.

Scrabble sets are found in one out of every three American homes.

Scrabble was invented in 1938 by architect Alfred Mosher Butts. Butts created the game as a variation of another word game he invented, Lexiko.

Alfred Butts decided on the frequency and distribution of letters in Scrabble by analyzing the front page of the New York Times. He used a penknife to cut his first set of wooden Scrabble tiles.

The original name of Scrabble was "Criss-Crosswords."

There is just one Q in a Scrabble game.

The highest known score for a single word in competition Scrabble is 392. In 1982, Dr. Saladin Khoshnaw achieved this score for the word "caziques," which means "Indian chief."

Scrabble is a real word. It means "to scratch frantically."

Scrabble was a daytime game show (on NBC), hosted by Chuck Woolery, from July 1984 to March 1990. A second run of the show aired from January to June, 1993.

The game has 100 tiles.

In America and Canada, when a player who empties their rack on one play, it's called a "bingo." Elsewhere, it's called a "bonus." The player gets 50 additional points.

Scrabble_boardThe highest possible score a player can get in Scrabble, on a first turn, is for the word MUZJIKS (128 points).

The highest possible score, theoretically, for a single play under American tournament Scrabble rules is 1,778 points for joining eight already-played tiles to form the word OXYPHENBUTAZONE across three triple-word-score squares, while simultaneously extending seven specific already-played words to form new words.

What kind of wood is used to make Scrabble letters? Vermont Maple.

The first word played in the Scrabble rules demonstration game is "horn."

The highest score obtainable by playing a seven-letter word is QUARTZY (164 points) across a triple-word-score square with the Z on a double-letter-score square.

ETAERIO is the seven-letter word most likely to appear on a Scrabble rack.

There are 10 two-letter words spelled with vowels only: AA, AE, AI, AY, OE, OI, OY, YA, YE, YO.

Scrabble is a fixture in popular culture. It has been featured films and television programs including "Rosemary's Baby," 'The Rosie O'Donnell Show," "Seinfeld," "The Simpsons" and "Will & Grace," among many others.

The original Scrabble didn't include a board. It was played with just the tiles.

If all the Scrabble tiles ever produced were placed in a row, they would stretch for more than 50,000 miles.

There is a Braille version of Scrabble.

A local ordinance in Atwoodville, Connecticut, prohibits people from playing Scrabble while waiting for a politician to speak.