Gadgetory

whether you're holiday shopping for a kid or a tech loving adult stuck in a state of perpetual adolescence a remote-controlled toy is a surefire hit I'm Donna Bell and this top five I'm counting down my favorite remote-controlled toys that are new for the 2014 holiday season starting things off at number five the hex bug vex series I think these qualify as an educational toy at least you can spin it that way these are DIY snap-together versions of hex bugs Greatest Hits including my personal favorite the strong beast prices range from fifty to ninety dollars you don't get that instant gratification of preassembled toys but it's a great option if your little nerd is more of a Lego proto engineer type and number four nip by wowie this is a self-balancing mini robot that responds to gestures or can be controlled by an app or even just roam around on its own giving your pets an anxiety attack he's cute he can carry your drink he's ninety dollars but it at least gets you in the ballpark of your own personal r2d2 for number three I'm going with the powerup 3.0 using a lightweight motor and a Bluetooth connection powerup keeps an ordinary paper airplane up in the air for minutes and steers it around using an app it's $50 and you need a big open space to appreciate it but come on an app controlled paper airplane that's awesome coming in at number two the Sphero ollie it sort of looks like a motorized can of soup but it's really cool you can race it around using your phone as a simple remote or turn your phone sideways for a set of stunt controls that make the whole thing go nuts it's not cheap at $99 but it's extremely portable and the battery charges over USB which brings us to the number one new remote control toy on my personnal 2014 wishlist the parrot mini-drone jumping sumo this guy is controlled by your phone over Wi-Fi for extended range and is blessed with two superpowers first is the power to jump into the air second is the power to spy using an embedded video camera that streams to your phone it's a little pricey at $160 but being able to navigate this thing around with the floor I view and scare the crap out of people by jumping up at them that just sounds like fun so there you go five new remote control toys for 2014 that make me feel like a kid again for more gift ideas visit cnet-dot-com-slash-loaded ID and for more top fives like this top 5 cnet.com donald bell thanks for watching