The 4th Indiana Jones film will hit theaters in less than a month. Indiana Jones fans can now get themselves a toy version of Indy’s most famous accessory, next to the hat. The bull whip. Now you’ll be able to relive classic scenes from the movies. “Throw me the idol, I’ll throw you the whip.”

While I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to have kids going around whipping things like Devo, this is a toy that’s long overdue. We always wanted one. And yes, it’s as lame as you thought it would be. It’s not likely to hurt anyone by accident. The three foot soft whip features a plastic handle that not only plays authentic whip-cracking sound effects as you swing it, but also the well-known Indiana Jones theme music. A switch on the handle turns the sounds on and off, and it even features a carrying strap for attaching it to your belt. It will cost you $26.99

If you like the idea of an ant farm, but don’t like the idea of all those ants stuck in a prison for your amusement, this is for you. This is not for those who like to burn ants with a magnifying glass. The Ants Life Studio from Bandai is a colony of virtual ants who go about their daily lives, digging virtual tunnels, collecting virtual food and even fending off attacks from enemies.

The monochrome LCD display has an electroluminescent backlight so you can watch your ants even at night. That might be a bit obsessive of you, but hey who am I to judge. It also includes a clock and calendar function to keep you tehered to the real world.

Moov is one of the coolest kids I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a DIY 4-in-1 vehicle kit for kids between 5 and 12 from Dutch company Berg. You can build a racer, a carver, a tricycle, and a scooter. It’s like combining LEGO and Erector with the big wheel.

With the large wood and plastic pieces, it’s easy enough for a kid to build and big enough to ride it down the street. Plus, they are actually learning while they play. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see add-ons for these very soon, that would pimp up the kid creations.

The current world record stands at 9.18 seconds. Think you’re geek enough to beat that? That’s no easy task, Poindexter. But if you really want it and you are willing to train like a Nerd Rocky Balboa, this new kit can help.

The official Rubik’s Speed Cubing Kit has some completely legal tricks to help you out. (legal as defined by world record standards.) The kit includes a bottle of lubricant, not so much for if you get yourself all excited, but more to help reduce the friction on the moving parts. It also includes a few screwdrivers for loosening the joints. You even get a manual on how to become a professional cuber, but it’s in Japanese. It’s going to take the eye of the tiger, but you can do it. You can win Rock…

You can never have too much Mario. Or Bowser. Or Donkey Kong. Maybe Peach, her whiny voice can grate on the nerves. The point is, you can never have too much Mario Kart. Now, thanks to Anytoys, you have a whole selection of Mario Kart Pull Backs featuring Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Princess Peach, Wario, Yoshi and Donkey Kong.

Just pull them back and forth and they’ll take off on their own. These are straight from Japan, and each pack costs $11.60 and comes with 3 random characters. You better go prepare for your races. You’ll probably want to buy a bunch of baby turtles so you can sling shells at each other. Some will have to be painted red of course. Then you’ll want to gather some banana peels, have at least a quart of oil ready for those oil slicks too. However, if you are going to go for that kind of authenticity, I would suggest playing outside.

Here’s the latest in electronic oracles, ready to predict your hum-drum future. Unlike, say the magic 8 ball, it uses digital personality assessment, and other strange voodoo to predict your future. The Mirai Scope begins by asking you about fifty personal questions, so that it can sort you into one of 236 personality types. Once it pigeonholes you, your profile is combined with some other crazy nonsense as it tries to zero in on your future course in life.

You can ask it for predictions on topics like health, wealth, and even your love life. One interesting feature is an infrared profile-sharing feature that lets you predict the future for you and your significant other. It sounds like a basic “20 questions”, narrowing down possibilities with your answers. It will cost you $28 in Japan.

Leapfrog, a developer of educational products for kids, has unveiled a new handheld “learn-to-read” technology which lets children interact with the stories they read. It is called the Leapfrog Tag Reading System and pricing is around $50.

The Leapfrog Tag Reading System is a small handheld scanner a child can use to touch a page of a special “Tag book.” These pages, when touched, emit audio for the stories. This is supposed to create a higher degree of interactivity with what the child is reading. Parents connect the Tag handheld to a computer to transfer audio for each book onto the device. 16MB of internal memory lets Tag hold around five books worth of material.

Here’s one of WowWee’s fun companion-robots from CES 2008. He sure looks like he has a sense of humor. He’d have to, with a face like that. “Mr. Personality” displays said personality on a LCD screen that features animated and synced facial features. He tells jokes, reads your daily fortune and will gladly answer any questions you may have about the future. The cool thing about this robot is that the user can download new personalities from the Internet via USB or an SD card.

Some specs are: A fully animated upper body, color LCD screen, several play modes including Bits, Crystal Ball, Fortune Cookies, Demo modes. He is also capable of detecting and avoiding obstacles, and he’s not afraid to tell you when he falls or when the batteries are running low. He has a three-wheeled omni-directional motion base, 7 motors, 4 IR sensors, a built-in microphone for voice memos, 64 MByte of built-in memory, audio input connector and he requires 6 “C” batteries. The remote controller requires 3 AAA batteries.

We first told you about the Sega Genesis portable in November, coming from Tectoy. It appears that either it had a name change or someone else has beat them to it, basically cloning it.

Just like the Tectoy version, the AtGames Mega Drive Portable, the device comes pre-loaded with 20 classic games like Ecco, Sonic & Knuckles, Alex Kidd and Golden Axe. And just like the Tectoy version, you can’t download any extra games. But you can play them on your TV if you choose. The price is far cheaper then we first thought at $39.

This six wheeled r/c Snooper Robot is kinda cute, but I’m scared because the color scheme is that of a stormtrooper. This is exactly the kind of little robot that would listen in on your conversations and report to Darth Vader. It can transmit them to up 150 feet away to the listening receiver. Though, I’m skeptical about how stealthy this thing is, despite the fact that they say it can enter a room undetected.

The controller allows the user to steer the robot left, right, forward and reverse. The vehicle measures 23 cm Long x 25 cm tall to tip of antenna x 10 cm wide. With this little guy, you’ll always be in the know and secrets will be a thing of the past. Get all kinds of dirt on your siblings and rule through fear. All thanks to your little unethical stormtrooper-like buddy. He’s available for about $80 USD.

If you’re a huge fan of Mario,(who’s not?) you’ll want to put away your Mario Kart slot car set and order yourself this giant Mario Kart racer pronto. It’s yet another way to bring the game into real-space and bring back memories of the N64. Mario and his Kart are over 12″ long and feature various sound effects from the game. Which is probably a good thing, since your cat will have some warning as Mario speeds down your hallway. You wouldn’t want Mario to run over Fluffy and spin out like he hit a banana peel.

Comes with a Nintendo GameCube style controller with five functions: Right, Left, Forward, Reverse and Turbo. Runs on 1 9V Battery and 8 AA Batteries. Check out a somewhat dorky video of it in action here. You can buy one online for $49.99.

Cue classic Bob Seger song. Put on your shades. Have your fake mic ready. Then do the “Risky Business” slide and be just like Tom Cruise…On your carpet.

Sliding is easy with socks and a smooth floor. It’s damn near impossible on carpet. Thanks to the carpet skates from fun slides, it’s easy to slide across a carpet with ease. In fact, this puts an entirely new spin on indoor horseplay. Think of all the trouble you can get into. Think of all the breakables. The skates have a friction resistant and foam foot grip. Just strap them onto your shoes and slide with ease. They come in 6 colors. Just $19.99.

It’s hard to save money these days, no matter the size of your family. Plus there’s all those cool gadgets to buy. You could use some help, right? What if your families wealth was tied into that of a virtual family? Would you let them suffer or share the wealth with them? The virtual family in question lives inside Jinsei Ginko (”Life Bank”) and they start off in relatively modest conditions.

As you add money to the bank, their lives get better, progressing through milestones like marriage and (if you provide enough coin) to a life of luxury. Presumably it will be pretty damn sweet for them until you decide to empty the bank. Poor virtual fools. You are a vicious and petty God.

I wish I had known about this one before Christmas. I would have put it under the tree for myself. He would be a great companion to the Dalek Web-cam or K-9 remote controlled dog. As any Doctor Who fan knows, Daleks are out to destroy all life in the universe and generally hover around saying “Exterminate. Exterminate.”, before firing lasers at you and sending you to the great beyond, despite the fact that their arms are basically an egg whisk and a sink plunger.

This remote controlled Dalek is a foot and a half tall and able to track moving objects. Plus, you can direct him by radio control. The best part is that he responds to over 30 voice commands. He comes loaded with sound, movement and heat sensors, a bunch of sound and light effects, and his memory stores over 50 Dalek phrases. He’ll cost you about $180 but when you consider that this is probably the best R/C dalek ever, that’s a fair price.

Yujin has just released these Japanese cell phone emoticon toys and they are possibly the cutest ever. If you are looking for an after Christmas gift to give to yourself, these are as geeky as you are likely to get. Use them in your e-mail exchanges and they will laugh hysterically, cry, go into rages and more. With a combination of letters, symbols, slashes. and dashes, they produce a wide variety of expressions and emotions.

Take a look at this video here, for some cuteness overload. You are bound to go into a coma after seeing this slightly creepy cartoon. Fans of Japanese toys will love these and they are nice and cheap. You can get them for about .90 cents U.S.