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I strongly suspect that most of the folks who read Collector Times would classify themselves as "geek types." We like computer and techie stuff, and in many ways, we never really completely give up on being a kid. Show us a cool toy, and our eyes light up. It could be a "practical" toy, such as an E-reader like the Kindle or Nook, a Netbook or Smartphone, or it could be something totally frivolous, like the Nintendo 3DS or desktop trebuchet.
I thought this month, I'd highlight some of my favorite geeky toys. Maybe it will give you some ideas for your own entertainment, or maybe even some ideas for Mother's Day or Father's Day.
Think Geek is an online store that, by design, appeals to the geek in us. You'll find all manner of geek toys and gadgets, along with geeky apparel to wear while enjoying your geek toys. Some of what I'll mention today is available there, though not necessarily all of it. At the very least, their web page is one of those that you can easily waste a lot of otherwise productive time perusing from your cubicle.
Bucky Balls are a deceptively simple and highly versatile concept. They're BB sized rare-earth magnets, and you can fidget with them for hours. The simplest game to play is seeing just how long of a chain you can make, that the topmost magnet is still strong enough to hold. So far, my limiting factor in testing this is just how high I can hold up a string. I stand 6'2" tall, and can easily reach to over 7'. The topmost magnet can hold a 7' string just fine. Caveat: don't get them too close to any card with a magnetic strip. You might find your debit card or work ID isn't readable afterwards.
Radio control has come a long way in the last thirty years, and so has battery technology. Electric powered radio controlled aircraft are easy to find now, surprisingly affordable, and incredibly fun. The new 2.4 Ghz digital radio systems are virtually interference-free, and a fully-functioning radio controlled helicopter as small as a few inches long is stable enough that almost anyone can fly it. Play "Ride of the Valkyries" on your speakers, fly your heli over the cubicle wall, and declare, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" Check out the Heli-Max Novus line and the Blade mC line of electric RC helicopters. I have the Novus CX, and it's just an absolute hoot.
For the prankster in you, Think Geek's Eviltron and Annoy-a-tron are must-haves. These are small audio devices which, when turned on, produce noises at a random interval. They come with neodymium magnets for hiding them where co-workers cannot find them, and will pretty much drive most people batty. The original made a short beep sound, and even knowing what it was, I found it distracting in my lab. The only drawback is that the volume is not super loud, so if you work in a noisy environment, your co-worker may not hear it. They even produced a model for Christmas, hidden in an ornament, that would only turn on when suspended from the ornament hook.
Most of us have embraced the convenience of the thumb-drive, but the typical form of these is pretty boring. Some companies, however, have realized the potential geek-appeal in being creative with the design, and you can get thumb-drives that look like Star Wars characters, Lego bricks, Transformers, cigarette lighters, and even sea creatures. They're cool looking, and they hold data - what's not to like? I sometimes wonder how on earth I ever lived without a thumb-drive.
I know some old-timers out there that are very dismissive of modern digital music. They say they can hear the difference between the digital formats, and the "purity" of the old analog recording systems. Perhaps they can, but with my tinnitus, I can't hear the difference. As such, I can't see having to lug around stacks of analog recordings to listen to when I'm in the mood for music, not when I can carry thousands of songs on something not much bigger than a credit cards. The old original cassette Walkman revolutionized the concept of portable music, but was limited by how many cassette tapes you wanted to carry with you. The same was true for the CD Walkman style of players. The MP3 player changed all that forever, by putting an entire suitcase full of tapes or CDs into something small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. This is like a Bag of Holding for your music collection.
Dashboard GPS receivers for automobiles are becoming so inexpensive and common, that I suspect it won't be long before print maps are a thing of the past. Still, for the geek-toy quotient, the hand-held GPS wins easily. While the typical hand-held unit won't talk to you and give you turn-by-turn directions to Comic Con, it does let you get out of the car and go geocaching. I've talked about geocaching before, and it really is a geeky type of sport. What could be better than using megabuck Government satellites to look for hidden containers all over the world? We've found some awesome places by geocaching, that we might never have found otherwise. Need an excuse to get more exercise? Want to help a friend or relative get outside more? Get a handheld GPS, and go searching for Tupperware in the woods. Your computer will be waiting for you to log your finds when you get back.
Maybe it's not high-tech, but contact juggling is something of a geeky activity, too. Admit it - when you watched Labyrinth for the first time, and Jareth made those crystal balls seem to float across his hands and fingers, didn't you dream of being able to do that as well? While it takes a lot of practice to contact juggle as smoothly as Michael Moschen (who did the juggling for the movie), learning the basics of contact juggling isn't that difficult, and goes well with a number of geeky-type costumes for Ren Faires and Cons. The art made a short-lived, and questionable foray into the mass market with the introduction of "Fushigi Balls" to many department stores, but for learning, get either a wooden practice ball, or a plastic juggling ball from a juggling supply. You're going to drop it, and you want something that isn't going to hurt your foot or itself when it lands.
The list could go on, but I need to get this sent off. Just remember, if you love your geek-toys, and find that some friends and relatives think you're strange, you're not alone. Part of what makes us geeks, is that love for toys. After all, if we didn't, we'd probably be Luddites instead.
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