Will do, Ed.
(And I was just repeating what I overheard the
Best Buy guy telling DH about Alienware being THE gamers computer for WoW. LOL).
We had to run to
Walmart today for printer ink and wandered over to the toy section. DD12 spotted the DQ Blizzard maker and said she REALLLLY wanted that. Is that kind of out of her age range or would it still be worth the $20 to $25? I just think it looks like it would be for a younger age group - more like the 8-10 year olds.
Ah! Ok. Well, you had me going with that and the Newegg reference all in the same general context. ... One thing that you could help me with -- was it a laptop or desktop you were interested in?
DQ Blizzard maker, eh? .... I know someone VERY close to me (me) that did a hands on video and writeup of that. It's out there somewhere.
With that said, I will say a few things about it.
20-25 is the non coupon / sale combo price. I think a few days back it was like 15ish range if you worked it.
Now, moving on from there, here's the plus and minus :
+ It DOES work
+ The ice cream tastes awesome
+ Anyone can do it... but... there is something you should know
+ It's not horribly messy
- The thing you should know is you are cranking it for ~10-13 mins! Cute and fun for a little bit, but, just know that
- You bring a lot of ingredients, BUT, it does taste good
+- Don't expect to like make a quart of ice cream at home on your own. You're getting two small cups that it makes. Again, you can see that out there somewhere if you look hands on. Try poking around the net.
So, I'd give it a thumbs up if the kids really want it. It works. Will it save the world? Put your kids in college due to some mad skills they get for ice cream making? Probably none of these things.
But, it does work... And it's a toy. I guess the biggest thing to know going into it is you are going to be hand cranking away for a while. But, other than that, everything works (in my experience) as you would want or hope. But that's the "gotcha". There's always something.
Really? DS11 mentioned that they were cool and wanted to know "does it really work" my impression has been that it doesn't (well, a few reviews mentioned putting the headgear on a wet sponge or something and getting the same effect?) Granted, clearly for $50 you aren't going to buy something that genuinely "reads brainwaves" but I was wondering if it is really, really blatantly a sham or would it have a "cool" factor for wowing grandparents and siblings and such? What modifications did they do? I'll be interested to read your partner's review of his DD's reaction.
LOL They JUST came out? How can they already have mini's? It seems like stuff "explodes" so quickly now. When I was a kid Lalaloopsie's would've been a big Christmas thing and a few months AFTER Christmas they would've had mini's as a sales booster. My word, most little girl's dolls are still waiting to be opened (I would bet) and they've already branched out the product line. Makes me feel old.
I've asked DD about them, she has told me twice that she finds them "weird". I'm kind of glad, we don't need more dolls, but if she'd wanted one I would have totally jumped on that one in the footy pj's. Footy pj's make ANYTHING look cute
I've been REALLY gunshy about linking to stuff so try putting in on google "mindflex mod". Then check out the videos that come up. Engadget has a pretty nice writeup with lots of people's comments at the bottom.
Pretty funny stuff.
As for the wet sponge theory, yes, I've read both that and ones that say it is relatively working.
Just how much of "real" is it? It's probably a bit in the middle. I think you go into the toy knowing its a toy, but, with some 'real"ness to it and you'll be very satisfied.
To satisfy that curiosity, it helps to know the "trick". The trick is you are controlling a fan which needs to be tweaked. So, when you are tweaking it, your specific brain wave stuff (technical term? heh) that gets picked up... lets assume it is... really can have an proportional effect on the fan speed.
But that's really the magic. Tilt your head back. Pretend you have a ball on your mouth. And, you could keep it in a straight line when you blew.... If you concentrated, let's say the blowing speed / amount lessens or increases as you think about it.
You now understand the "trick". It's all about controlling the fan speed to make the magic happen. How much brain wave stuff is in it? I dunno
I've read all sorts of stuff on that side of it.
Figuring that out or finding it out for 100% sure.... it's almost like ruining a cool magic trick. Sometimes, it's just more fun to believe.
(jez. did i just write their commercial? why am i not getting paid for this?)
I'll let you know when the review is up. He'll probably have it up in the next few days or so.
Like I said, I'm bummed it didn't stay with me. Darn internal age inappropriate testing team
And yea, I can't help but think we may have fueled the mini craze a bit. I was wandering the aisles of walmart and wrote up a little piece on the blog telling everyone how there was this "ragdoll" that was in an older moxie girlz that looked preeeeeeettttty darn similar to a lalaloopsy from back in the day!
or at least get it all down from the attic so it's ready to go next weekend.
