New Toys

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For the holidays, I picked up:

  • A Taiyo edge R/C hovercraft. A real-live hovercraft with all the maneuverability and controllability of a real hovercraft (ie not a lot). Lots of fun, but it's really hard to drive. Though the drive fans reverse, if you really need to turn around and thrust in the opposite direction. Downside - the batteries only last about 10 minutes.
  • A “super bowl“ Electric football. Electric, not electronic. I never owned one myself, but some of my friends had them. The current version has updated teams, but still the same old buzzing playfield and the same old somewhat randomized movement (a bit like junior-high football). It will be travelling to work to amuse my co-workers (“wow, that's almost as boring as Pong...“).
  • A Rush in Rio DVD, which I have not yet had time to watch.

I also bought (for myself) a Zilog Z8 Encore Development Kit. This is either destined for a future holiday light project, a linear motor (I'd like to build a “marble-track“ like display, but I want it to run automatically and I don't want to build a chain-style lift. Or, perhaps something else.