Looking for a way to show your love of the walking dead during the holiday season? Does the sight of holiday mall shoppers remind you of the shambling corpses from “Dawn of the Dead”? Or maybe you just want to make a statement about the commercialization of Christmas and figure that the best way to do that is by trimming your tree with a a zombie X-mas ornament?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above (or just think that zombies are neat) then think about picking up this ghoulish piece of holiday cheer. Sideshow Collectibles’ “The Dead” Ornament shows the attractive visage of a zombie rising above the crescent top of the bulb. Just in case your grandparents didn’t get the message when they first locked eyes with the ornament there is a bloody handprint design on the front of the bulb in bright Christmas cheery bloody red. Now if the zombie’s skin were discolored green it would be even more Christmas-y!

Is this a sign that print is going to indeed die? The mighty publisher of Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America and the X-Men is moving online to distribute hundreds of its comic books as downloads. Marvel Comics has launched a new digital comics section on its website to entice kids and grown-ups to read old and new stories featuring their favorite superheroes. While movies based on Marvel superheroes are making billions of dollars as movies the medium that begat them isn’t as good as it used to be. Citing a loss of readership to video games and the internet, Marvel is hoping to bring back some of its old guard and maybe new fans as well by offering their comics database by either an annual subscription ($59.88) or a monthly fee ($9.99). When you pay up Marvel promises that you will get to read online the entire run of “X-Men” and the first 100 issues of “Amazing Spider-Man” and “Fantastic Four” as well as dozens of other new series. About 20 new comics will be placed online each week and about six months after they were offered for sale at the newsstand. The company is using a special browser which lets you read the comic book instantly and without having to download it.

The mission for “Star Trek” has always been to boldly go where no one has gone before, to seek out new life and new civilizations but really, we all just wanted the cool gadget that Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock got to play with. We’ve turned our mobile phones into things that resemble those neat palm-sized communicators the Enterprise crew had and we’re working on the transporter next. For those fans that really want to own a piece of the Enterprise there are models, props and toys made to resemble Starfleet’s best including a toy model of “Star Trek”‘s futuristic gun, a phaser. But why hasn’t some toy company made a phaser that actually emits a laser beam when you fire it? You think that with the low cost of today’s lasers that some toy manufacturer would have leapt on this idea. Leave it to one creative individual to make our geek dreams come true!

The Green Machine 2 looks like a Big Wheel on steroids. It sure doesn’t resemble that old Big Wheel that I rode around in as a kid. It’s got a sleek design and can be controlled with dual joysticks. It even has rear wheel steering and a 20″ front tire, along with a front wheel hand brake.

Of course just like it’s ancestors, this one is completely dependant on kid pedal power. I wish mine had been this cool. Mine certainly didn’t have a High tension steel frame, or a real rubber front tire. I guess as long as you can still peel out on these things it’s all good.

I’ve seen alot of cool robot toys and desk accessories over the years. I have to admit, I have never seen the combination of robot and snowman. It pleases me.

Not only is this robot bent on taking over the human race, it apparently has the winter season in mind for it’s objective. It’s got articulated arms and an eye scanner like a cylon from Battlestar Galactica, which can change color. You can also control the speed of the scanner with a knob. They say that it also has Authentic Snowbot Sound.

Optimus Prime’s day job may be fighting the forces of evil Megatron and his Decepticons but I bet that you didn’t know in his offtime he also volunteers teaching math and spelling to little kids down at the Y, did you? This new gadget is the Transformers Trans-Portable PC that combines the fun of soundbites and images of Prime and the other Transformers with learning your 1-2-3s and A-B-Cs.

There are 36 different activities that can be tried out on the tablet including old standbys like Hangman and the ever popular Word Jumble and it supports English to Spanish real-time translation for its instructions and select words. Special Transformers hot keys lets your child press on Starscream or Brawl and not have to worry about a plasma shot taking their cute little head right off. You can also input the name of your lucky offspring into the PC and it will relay the questions to them using their name (which is something that the action figures can’t do.) The SMART chip inside the unit will also adjust the difficulty level depending on how well the user is doing which is nice since no one wants Prime to be no fun and have all the answers.

With Live Jam, you can watch your little albino musicians(Who kind of resemble the Pillsbury Doughboy, but more fit) play individually or you can put them together to give performances that will rock your world as they interact with each other.

Each musician can connect with other Live Jam musicians to form a band. Apparently, they have some unseen roadies too, because they have multicolored LED stage lighting that sets the mood. They come in your choice of Drummer, Guitarist and Keyboard player.

Need to funk up your living room or are you looking for a novelty to attract customers to your cafe? Consider purchasing one of Kloss’ DeLighTables and adding to your selection of furniture. Your guests will be able to regress back to the days when they made art with fingerpaint as the table’s pressure sensitive surface glows when the slightest touch is felt. The company is now manufacturing both side tables as well as coffee tables with the light panels only 20 mm thin. Set a drink on top of the table and watch as an unearthly glow emanates from the bottom before you can finish saying “Bacardi Breezer”.

The electrical system for the DeLighTable runs off of 12 volts and it’s completely waterproof. I can see bar and club patrons going gaga over one of these while trying to play pick-up artist but it could also be a lot of fun in your own den. Finger races anyone?

The Discovery Rainbow In My Room makes a great gift if you want to steer your kid toward Science and away from say, Halo. Though I doubt most boys would appreciate this. It fits in more in a room filled with My Little Pony’s.

LED lights recreate the colors of a real rainbow and the motion-activated sensor turns the unit off with a wave of your hand.

There is a gadget for everything and we have the proof to back up that claim. The Electric Plane Launcher by Willow Tree Toys is the mechanical replacement for your biological throwing arm. This battery operated horizontal launching platform will catapult your paper airplanes up to a whopping 30 miles per hour, fast enough to produce a wave of envy in your rivals. It works by using a motor to spin two plastic wheels around, generating the force needed to push your paper bird of flight out and into the air to soar away from you. It’s like a scaled down version of a fighter catapult on an aircraft carrier, or at least we’re going to pretend it’s like that.

$15.95 will get you one of these along with the title “King of the Office Air Force”.

RC cars aren’t just for kids anymore. Not when your toy can reach speeds up to 60 MPH. Let’s face it, the bigger and faster they are, the more we want one under our Christmas tree.

This particular RC car is gas powered. Hence the power. It’s a 1:5 scale replica of a Ford GT, which is also built for speed. Under the hood is a 23cc engine with 15kb metal gear ratio, 450cc fuel tank, and even disc brakes. Just in case you want to slow down. Yeah right.

While you weren’t looking Tetris has been reborn. It has now jumped from the video game realm into reality. Basically, they took the concept of Connect Four and applied a Tetris theme. They are calling it Tetris Tower 3-D. Simple, yet ingenious.

They seem to be in rather short supply, but they can be found. You can get one on Amazon(And they only seem to have one at this moment.) for $49.99.

This is a great gift for kids who play too many video games. When your parents tell you to get your head out of that video game, you can play this one in reality and still get your fix. “But Mom, this isn’t a video game.” Mom knows it is…Or was. At this point mom will be confused and move on to other things.

[Gadgets-Weblog] VIA [Akihabaranews]

Here are some clever LEGO ads by FCB Johannesburg showing that kids might not necessarily need elaborate kits, and what a simple LEGO brick design might look like through the eyes of a child. Very cool.

UrbanRetroLifeStyle

Look. Up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…Asimo?

If you are like me, you love robots. And like me you have probably wished that little robots were flying around you in the air at all times. You probably also love Asimo, Honda’s robot. Well, my friends, a dream has now come true that combines all of those things. I for one, am very happy.

Kyosho’s Robo Hopper stands about 6-inches tall and looks an awful lot like Asimo. You can operate him like any other remote controlled helicopter, scaring humans everywhere into thinking that robots are taking over the world with tiny air vehicles.

We just can’t help but smile every time we look at this picture. What looks like a scene out of Jackass, the WildSling is a giant, three-person slingshot (or waterbomb catapult as the company calls it). The design calls for two people standing a safe distance apart to hold the WildSling handles while a third person pulls back the business end of the huge slingshot and aims for launch.

You probably wouldn’t want to launch anything more dangerous than a water balloon, and 50 balloons come with this package. The company says it can launch a balloon as far as 300 feet but I’m sure other things could go farther.