December 2, 2011

Latest In Hi-Tech Toys Comes To Times Square

I was in midtown yesterday and stopped by the new pop-up WIRED store on Broadway and 42nd which features tons of hi-tech toys for holiday shoppers, including everything from 3D flatscreen TVs to touchscreen watches.  One of the most buzzed about items was the Lytro light field camera.  It is a curiously-shaped rectangular box that takes whopping 45MB pictures which capture so much information that you can change the point of focus after you've taken the picture.  You can check out one of these nifty cameras from the "ambassadors" in the store (a.k.a. cute actors with jobs for the holidays) and you take some pictures with it.  It won't be on the market til 2012 but you can pre-order them already, starting at $400.  This little cameras could be the wave of the future, especially when their expected video version comes out soon.

Other unusual products on display and for sale are the Maker-Bot 3D printer, which creates tiny objet'd'art in plastic (like a 3-inch Teddy bear or an octopus).  I would have liked to seen the printer in action but it only had the finished products.  Price tag...a cool $1300.  Another pricey item which was not on display due to theft concerns was a bit retro-tech.  A gold-plated Atari gaming system going for $6650.  That would look amazing in front of your huge flatscreen TV...talk about some entertainment bling!  The WIRED pop-up store will be open everyday from 12-7pm until Christmas Eve.