Gadgetory

it's time to see what justice is being done to tech toys this year hey look I found ray I'm here at New York Toy Fair and this year the Toy Fair is a little special for me because I'm gonna be a mom soon if you could already tell so we get to see how playtime is going to evolve for the next generation and every year playtime gets a little more high-tech for starters this year kids can make their own plastic action figures with 3d printing machines and depending on the age it's safe enough for children to use these machines unsupervised this fall Mattel is selling the thing maker for three hundred dollars the 3d printer creates objects from schools of melted colored plastic you use an app to pick from a preset selection of toys but you can snap several pieces together to make an action figure or jewelry the door locks so you can't get hurt during the printing process we used to make things with play-doh or the Easy Bake Oven or jelly creepy-crawler bugs now it's all about melting your own plastic toys and it's not all so expensive the 3doodler Start is a $40 3d printing pen it's so kids safe you can melt the plastic right on your skin and it won't burn you it's sort of like a hot glue gun and concept you load the plastic and draw on the air it only takes about ten seconds for the plastic to cool you can make anything toys art jewelry chips in May and back to Mattel it also upgraded the virtual reality view master to now include a headset jack you still need to put a phone inside to experience the programs but on some games a sibling without a headset could play along acting as your guide to decipher puzzles the new viewmaster 2.0 model cost $40 which is $10 more than before it comes out in the fall barbie always puts a new touch on tech and this year she has her own drone but she would rather have you call it a hoverboard this remote controlled flying quadcopter has barbie fixed on top and comes out in the fall for $60 and she can fly her drone to her brand new smart home dream house the barbie hello dream house has speech recognition say hello dream house followed by a command and you can turn on the elevator turn on different lights or throw a dance party the party doesn't come cheap the dollhouse is $300 and when I look back at the tech toys from previous years it's clear that companies are moving away from just slapping an iPad or iPhone screen on a toy and calling it a tech toy not everything needs an app and whether you're talking to Barbie's dream home or to playmates talk to me Mikey Ninja Turtle which has hundreds of replies to kid questions these toys are not storing information in some server and a cloud the tech this year just gives it a slightly twist so kids still need to use good old make-believe in imagination reporting from Toy Fair in New York City I'm Bridget Carey