Regular readers may already know that we love RC Helicopters. We love them enough to make obstacle courses, smash them to pieces, repair them and sell them (not in that order). Naturally, we were rather excited to see that some boffins across the pond (it usually is) have managed to create a small fleet of RC choppers that are capable of building towers. What next? Supermarkets? Branches of Poundland?
We’ll let those boffins explain:
Via Geekologie.
At last, after much online prodding from the public, we are able to reveal that the winner of our much-coveted iPad is Twitter follower Emma Baines!
Of course, very many congratulations go to her, and we fully expect to see some evidence that the iPad is being used to its maximum potential. To everyone who entered, we thank you most graciously and hope you enjoyed (and will continue to enjoy) the ridiculous banter we laughingly call “social media interaction”. Recommend us to your friends, tell your pets, spray-paint IWOOT on the front of your house and remember to stop by once in a while to say hello!
We know what you’re thinking – it’s almost the middle of July and we’re only just getting around to sorting out last month’s reviews. Well, with the IWOOT office having been turned into a flurry of catalogue production and website upgrades, it just got away from us slightly. So soz about that. Friends again?
Great! So, let’s give all these reviews the blog inches they deserve!
First up and winner of our £50 IWOOT Voucher is Sirram, for this lovely summation of the On The Run Notebooks:
“Sooo much fun:
Childish these may be, and entirely without any practical purpose, but these little passport beauties are just so much fun. Granted they are completely pointless, possibly worse than that they have the potential to entirely scupper any overseas travel plans if you are unfortunate enough to mix them up with the real thing and therefore arrive identity-less at an airport. However, I can forgive them all of that because there is something so appealing about the fantasy of escaping the harsh economic climate with a new identity and a new start overseas. I particularly like the inherent amusement in thinking a Cuban passport would be a passport to anywhere, and I have no idea what country one of the set is supposed to be from, but who cares. I got these delivered to me at work, and such was the enthusiasm of my colleagues I’ve donated some to be a prize in a Race for Life raffle… might have to buy some extra tickets myself though as don’t really want to part with them…”
Winner of the £75 IWOOT Voucher for the best photo review comes from Elijah who, as you can see, has had a rare old time mucking about with our Pandas in the garden. Kudos on finding actual bamboo.
Rather unbelievably, no video reviews have been submitted this month, so some silly sausage has missed out on a whopping £150 IWOOT Voucher. Make sure we rectify it next month please chaps. As always, reviews you submit of IWOOT products you may have bought and loved (or hated) are automatically entered into our Review Of The Month competition, so by chatting about your purchases (or snapping and videoing them) can get you even more IWOOT-flavoured goodness.
In the first of a regular column for the IWOOT Blog, I’ll be talking you through our very latest bits and bobs – all of them new, all of them awesome! This week is fairly typical, in that there are a veritable heap of brand new products for you to get your mitts on, so let’s stop yakking and get cracking!
First up, the T3 Solar Robot Kit:
(Pictured left…)
Robots of this size are usually supposed to be quite cute, but a quick look at the T3 shows you that it doesn’t always have to be that way. After you’ve assembled it, this sun-powered robot beauty can be turned into either a tank, a scorpion or, err, a robot again. It’s great if you’ve got an interest in robotics and how things work in general, or if you want something on your desk to distract you from getting on with something more productive.
England No.1 Footie Fan
The World Cup starts on Friday, as you’re no-doubt aware (the IWOOT Office is positively sweating with anticipation), so if you’re desperate to show your support for England, then you can’t do better than this chubby little singing England Fan. He is, quite simply, England’s biggest fan – press his button and he’ll shake his hips, wave his scarf and sing one of his England chants to whoever’s listening. It’s a bit silly and guaranteed to annoy colleagues, but we’re going to need all the laughs we can get when England crash out in the group stages…
Sometimes, a normal ice cube just isn’t quite enough. Particularly if you’ve had a big night out and are feeling the strain a little more than usual, these Chill Pills are just what you need to cool down and literally chill out.
As modelled by the delightful Sagar, these Video Sunglasses are the perfect beach accompaniment this summer. With an in-built MP3 Player and pinhole video camera, you can video your antics and listen to your Beach Boys records without cluttering up your bag too much. More room for sandwiches, you see.
Anyway, that about wraps it up for this week, be sure to check the blog next Monday (and every Monday, for that matter) so that you’re up to date with all our New Arrivals.
You might not be au fait with current trends in the rapidly advancing world of toilet innovation, but it seems that a minor revolution is taking place. This week, the first Toto Toilets are going on sale in the UK. Previously available (and monstrously successful) in Asia and the US, they’re basically the Rolls Royce of, err, going to the loo. As this video ably explains, the technology is pretty impressive:
But come on – it’s just a toilet, right? I mean (and I don’t want to go into too much detail here), going to the toilet is a pretty straight-forward process. Cleanliness is certainly an issue, but this is just nuts. Is it really worth paying over £2000 for a bog that gets the bowl a little bit cleaner than squirting some bleach around the rim? And who needs to be able to immediately flush the toilet again after you’ve flushed it once? Actually, don’t answer that… Also, what a self-important video! It’s a toilet, not a time machine. Although that’s an avenue worth exploring.
There are advantages to a nice toilet, yes, but as soon as you put another novelty item in the bathroom the wow-factor immediately disappears. We’re thinking, of course, of the Glow In The Dark Loo Roll here. Click here to learn more about the bogs anyway.
So – would you pay over £2000 for one of these bathroom behemoths?
Conclusive proof, as if it were needed, that the Paper Jamz Guitars are the future of rock ‘n’ roll. This four-year-old prodigy is rockin’ out something wizard to the strained vocals of Ozzy Osbourne and co., surely making him one of the youngest ever purveyors of heavy metal. What a kid.
Seriously though (and who wouldn’t be serious about a four-year-old playing the music of Black Sabbath?), the Paper Jamz really do encourage musicality in younger folks, so if you’re keen to relive your halcyon days again through the next generation, then the Paper Jamz are for you.
Who can argue with axe-wielding skills like that? In ten years’ time he’ll be headlining Bloodstock, you mark my words. Rock on, righteous little one!
Thanks to the Bank Holiday, we’re a teensy bit late sorting this month’s winners, but we’re hoping it’ll be worth the wait. Well, it will be for the winners anyway. Without any further ado, let’s get this show on the road, get our noses to the grindstone and see how many tired phrases we can eke out before the end of this sentence. Err, reviews, then:
First up, and the winner of a well-deserved £50 IWOOT voucher, is Wishline with this super write-up of our Micro Bladez RC Chopper:
“A week with the Micro Blades Helicopter:
Having ordered my first remote control helicopter in a year, after a very disappointing encounter with a cheap Hong Kong one on eBay (it died after two hours. Not exaggerating.), I was prepared to wait at least five days before I saw any sign of it. I was three days out… it arrived in 48 hours! It arrived in a very well packed box that protected the Helicopter well. Very impressive service from IWOOT.
Taking it out of the box, I must admit I was quite concerned by just how delicate and breakable the small helicopter seemed. Painful memories of my Hong Kong eBay helicopter resurfaced and I couldn’t help from wondering if I’d made the same mistake twice. I charged it and read the instructions carefully in preparation for its maiden flight.
I felt a rush of exhilaration, hitting the up for the first time, and watching soaring into the air. As it was doing 360s about once every 3 seconds, I used the trim button on the remote according to the manual and tamed the spinning chopper. Then I began the process of learning to fly a small, light, fragile-looking object about 7 feet off the ground.
Crash. Bang. Boom. Meow (I frightened the cat). Every mistake had the helicopter smashing into the wall, ceiling or floor. Each time I held my breath, expecting to see that the rotors had snapped off or something, but every time I was pleasantly surprised to see the Heli in one safe piece. Heck, this thing can take a beating.
After a few days with the Helicopter I was getting quite good at maneuvering it. I’m crashing less than before, and spending more time in the air having fun. The instruction manual says you can fly it outside on a day with no wind whatsoever, but I have yet to try this out.
My verdict? Seriously good purchase. Stable, easy to learn and very, VERY robust. Excellent value for money and I’d recommend this to anybody who wants to pick up a helicopter for the first time. I’m now looking around to see where I can get a larger one…the Micro Bladez will get you hooked very easily. The perfect short break when getting through a large lot of work! With three channels, you have enough control to get you going, but it won’t be enough for you after a short time….you’ll want more! Don’t be deceived by the fragile appearance of this helicopter, it is anything but! Great buy! (PS… it’ll cost you a small fortune in batteries – I recommend rechargables.)”
Poor cat. Next, we’ve got a lovely photo review from Freckles, who is currently enjoying our Sun Jar. Well done Freckles, have 75 smackers of IWOOT goodness on us:
Aaaaaand finally, our video winner this month is this very educational series of moving images pertaining to the Cool Shooters, ably shot and edited by Rcrc. That noise you hear? That’s the sound of £150 IWOOT pounds flying towards the winner’s inbox:
So if you’re looking at these reviews and thinking, “pfft, these guys are amateurs at best! My skill with a keyboard/digital camera is far in excess of their puny so-called expertise!” then show us exactly how clever you are. Once you’ve bought a product from us, review it! There’s a £50 IWOOT voucher for the best written, £75 for the best photo and £150 for the best video review we receive every month – so get to it!
Being the discerning supporter of independent music that I am (so long as you gloss over the Girls Aloud and Beyonce sections of my iPod), I popped along to London’s Rough Trade East record shop for International Record Store Day on Saturday. Essentially an event that celebrates the independent record shops across the world, establishments across the world held free concerts, bands released one-day-only records and basically encouraged us to enjoy the experience of being surrounded by fusty blokes with vinyl sleeves jammed under their arms.
Rough Trade East played host to several enjoyable artists, but my ears began to tremble when Ash started using our very own Stylophone Beatboxes. With my crappy trusty phone in my pocket, I captured what I could for evidence:
Well done chaps. Truly, the music sounds better with Stylophone Beatboxes. Get hold of your very own here, and listen to Ash here.
IWOOT is proud to be supporting the incomparable Dr. Steve Fabes as he attempts a quite-frankly ludicrous challenge. Cycling The 6 involves the intrepid Doctor cycling across the 6 continents, non-stop over a period of four-and-a-half years in support of Merlin, the UK specialist charity that gives international aid to health services affected by natural disasters, conflict and disease. He set off at the beginning of January, so let’s hope he remembered to turn the heating off. In purely mathematical terms, this huge challenge encompasses 50,000 miles, 1,800 days, 60 countries and 6 continents.
Because he’s evidently a techno-savvy sort of chap (he’s being sponsored by IWOOT, remember!), he’s keeping a thoroughly entertaining blog about the whole adventure, the latest of which details some canine encounters and a sinister flag. And some cycling, of course.
Here’s an extract:
“Even the Albanian flag, a black two headed eagle on a red background, to me looked decidedly sinister. I decided my idea of adventure probably stopped short of risking losing vital body parts in exploding land mines and on my journey I reasoned my legs would be quite useful accessories. I would get my head down and edge northeastwards.”
Crikey! He’s like Michael Palin with added explosives or something. If you want to read the rest of this scintillating entry, go here. To donate and learn more about the Good Doctor’s challenge, go here. More as we hear it!