Mattel was on hand showing off a pile of new toys at CES to be released in the fall. Easily the most intriguing is the Mind Flex, the perfect toy for someone who loves puzzles but hates themselves. With the Mind Flex, you guide a foam ball through a completely customizable obstacle course, using your mind to levitate it along the way. We got a little hands-on time with it and put it through its paces.

The first step is strapping a set of sensors to your head, including two that clip to your earlobes. These sensors measure theta wave activity in your brain and the more you concentrate, the further it lifts the ball in the air. The sensors are much lighter than they look but the ear clips made us a little uncomfortable. Plus, it's impossible not to look like a dork with this thing on your head.

After we figured out how to make the ball levitate, which we never quite mastered, we were then told that we had to turn a knob to move the ball forward through the obstacle course. Suffice to say, by the end of the five minute demo we were flipping the game the bird and never made it through that first hoop.

The Mind Flex will be hitting store shelves in the fall for $79.99. We'll probably get one when it comes out and hate ourselves for it later when it consumes our every waking moment.

It was a long and exciting first day at CES, with the Palm Pre proving to be the biggest announcement made at the show. It certainly made us do a double (and triple) take, but there's plenty more to report and lots of surprises still to come.

• Grippity Keyboard Reinvents Typing - There's a very strong chance you're sitting in front of a keyboard right now as you read this, and while the things are nearly ubiquitous when it comes to home consuming, many (including us) would be very happy to see a typing interface that's a little more fresh. One possible solution is called the Grippity, a handheld device that looks something like an overgrown PS3 controller with a normal QWERTY graphic layout on the front but with the keys themselves on the back. While we find the idea to be totally intriguing, it sadly feels a bit clumsy to use.

• Gateway's Mid-Range MD and UC Laptops - There's something of a growing divide in the laptop realm between high-end, powerhouse laptops and low-end, budget netbooks. Gateway is filling the void with its MD and UC series laptops, both with stylish designs and practical specs at reasonable costs that should fit into most people's budgets. They're not exactly groundbreaking in any respect, but they're solid choices for sure.
  

• Samsung Shows Off Flexible OLED - LCD screens have definitely reached something of a saturation point, but the way things are going, it looks like they'll soon be superseded by OLED. These new screens don't require backlighting like an LCD, so they can be ridiculously thin. They can also be extremely flexible, as is Samsung's trick screen shown in the above link. Right now, OLEDs tend to be small and expensive and, generally, not available, but we expect to see many, many more of them this year.
  

• Skype Hits Android, Java-Compatible Handsets - Millions have used Skype to make free online calls, and now it's getting much easier to make those calls on the go as the folks at Skype have announced the program's compatibility with numerous handsets. First up is a version of the app capable of running on Google's free mobile operating system Android, meaning anyone using a G1 can make calls without using minutes. Skype has also released a streamlined Java version of the client that's compatible with many handsets. If you're pushing the limits of your calling plan's allocation, you may want to make the leap.

• Coby Shows Off Sub-$200 Netbooks - Netbooks are great, truly bringing low-cost portable computing to the masses, but they still need to get a bit cheaper before they're ubiquitous. While Gateway is filling the middle of the cost spectrum, Coby is heading to the bottom with its lineup of under-$200 offerings. The machines have the standard tiny netbook styling and hardware specs, with Intel Atom processors, but their bright coloring and low cost should make them a hit -- if and when the company actually puts them into production.

• Mattel's Mind Flex Will Challenge Your Kid's Minds - There are plenty of games out there that will make your kids think, but not many tax the ol' noodle quite like this. The Mind Flex uses a headset to detect your brain activity which, in turn, levitates and guides a ball through an obstacle course: relax to lower and focus to raise. It's actually a lot of fun and we're eager to hear what others have to say when it's released this Fall for $80. [From: Engadget]
  

Come on folks, say it in unison with us: "Finally!" At long last, a company with a little clout has stood up and questioned the necessity of those ridiculous hard plastic containers that hold minuscule flash cards and the like (along with plastic twist-ties), and better still, it's already doing something about it.

Beginning today, consumers who are tired of borrowing the fire department's Jaws of Life to rescue their new USB drive can opt for products in Amazon's "Frustration-Free Packaging," which utilizes streamlined packaging that often includes recyclable cardboard. 19 products from the likes of Fisher-Price, Mattel, Microsoft and Transcend are currently available in the new containers, and the firm's CEO has a vision of offering its "entire catalog of products in Frustration-Free Packaging" within a few years.

Hey, everyone else in the gadget world -- care to hop on a meaningful bandwagon for once?

Read - Frustration-Free Packaging initiative
Read - Frustration-Free Packaging storefront

Kids say the darndest things sometimes -- real or plastic. Just take Fisher-Price's twenty-dollar Cuddle & Coo doll, for instance. As seen in the linked video, one Texas mother's Cuddle & Coo doll clearly says, "Islam is the light!" in a creepy uplifting voice, no less. Now, as Colin Powell reminded us last Sunday, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a follower of Islam (or any religion, mind you), but you can bet a number of mothers and fathers out there don't want the toys they buy their children swaying their religious beliefs.

This is just the latest in a slew of freaked-out-parent incidents this month regarding the Cuddle & Coo doll, which is why Fisher-Price's parent company, the Mattel Company, has issued a statement saying that the toy speaks only "baby babble," and that it's possible the sound is being distorted through faulty speakers. While that could very well be the case, once you hear it, you can never unhear it. Check the video yourself and let us know what you think. [From: News Channel 5]

Tired of waiting for scientists to crack the secrets of levitation in order to purchase a bona fide hoverboard? Look, life's short -- why not take matters into your own hands? A genuine wooden Mattel hoverboard used by Michael J. Fox (or Marty McFly, as we prefer to call him) in 'Back to the Future II' and 'III' is up for auction, though the barrier to entry is rather substantial. Of course, this is considered the "best example of all wood hoverboards to have survived the rigors of filming," but whether or not it's worth the $30,000+ asking price is entirely up to you. [eBay via CrunchGear]

We've previously posted about the 'Barbie Girls' virtual world being slapped together by Mattel as a 'Second Life'-esque haven for teens and tweens. Now, the site has entered beta mode and something surprising has happened: The service has racked up three million registered users in 60 days and is still growing. The service is signing up roughly 50,000 new users a day, a growth rate that far surpasses the cultish success of 'Second Life' or the geeky fanatical rise of 'World of Warcraft' (WOW).

According to Tech Crunch, 'Barbie Girls' could be well on its way to becoming the largest online community in the new social Web. To put these numbers in perspective, it took 'Second Life' three years to hit the one million user mark. At current growth rates, 'Barbie Girls' will usurp 'Second Life' sometime between November of this year and January of next. And 'WOW' won't be far off either.

A couple of things are clear based on these numbers:

• Virtual worlds have officially gone mainstream
• Virtual worlds, once predominantly male are becoming more heavily female populated
• Young girls are not above beta chasing

From Tech Crunch

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Barbie is an aging relic from a bygone era. Even little girls want cell phones and iPods these days. When they do want a doll, they often go for Bratz, those characters with gargantuan heads and trendy (read skimpy) clothing. Mattel is feeling the pressure, and making a major push to revitalize its Barbie brand with Barbie Girls, a mix of virtual and real Barbie-related products.

BarbieGirlsSM, for example, is an online world, much like Second Life, where girls can create highly customizable characters, decorate personal "rooms," play games, and chat with other Barbie Girls users.

BarbieGirlsSM is more than just another online destination, though. The service will be tightly integrated with a new line of doll-shaped Barbie Girl Digital Audio Players (DAPs). Other than the Barbie-like aesthetics, the players will be fairly standard fare – 512-megabytes of flash memory that can hold approximately 120 MP3 or 240 Windows Media (WMA) files, a built-in rechargeable battery and a miniSD slot for adding up to 2-gigabytes of additional storage.

These DAPs can be plugged into your computer and connected to the Barbie Girl world to unlock additional content. The players will go on sale in July for $59.99.

And for those who worry that an internet site specifically designed for young girls is bound to make an appearance on To Catch A Predator there are some impressive security features.

From the Mattel Press Release:

1. Sophisticated word filters to keep chat secure, prevent the exchange of personal information (e.g. phone
   numbers, names, etc.) and block inappropriate, hurtful or offensive language.
2. Easy-to-use safety features that give a girl the ability to lock or open her room to other characters, the ability to block users and prevent them from contacting her on the site, and the ability to report other users for inappropriate behavior.
3. Robust moderation tools that provide BarbieGirls.com administrators with the ability to monitor chat that occurs in the environment, track and monitor reported users and ban users who attempt objectionable behavior.

There is also a "secret" chat that bypasses the filtering and monitoring, but it is only available to girls who know each other. Mattel verifies this by requiring girls to connect their Barbie Girls DAP to the PCs of any girl they want to have a "secret" chat with.

BarbieGirlsSM.com is available now in beta (testing) form.

From Beta News

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