As an update on the Pleo, which will be in stores early next year, check out this video of the Pleo in action!

One of my tricks for waking up in the morning is to place the alarm clock on the opposite side of the room, so I quite literally have to get out of bed to turn it off. Otherwise, it’s too tempting to reach over, and turn it off, and go back to sleep. I’m delighted to see the flying alarm clock, which launches from its base and flies around the room making an annoying buzzing sound until you get up and place it back on its base, or it runs out of batteries and possibly crashes into you! Available here for $35. [thanks, oh gizmo!]

Check out Lego Factory – you can design your own Lego set, or buy interesting sets designed by others.

Check out the design of this Beijing kids bookstore.

A paintball tank! [thanks, Nick]

WMJ idea of the day: A large video production studio, which would have different modular sets, and also a glorified costume shop and collection, so kids can make really cool video productions.  The studio could be rented out for birthday parties, and there could also be an after-school production class etc. It would be like Build a Bear Workshop but for making movies.

Check out this remote controlled Tarantula! [via Crunch Gear]

Also, a very cool SHARK costume!

The following business idea was inspired by playing with Roger von Oech’s Ball of Whacks. Whether this constitutes scientific proof that the ball cultivates creativity I guess is up to you:

The ball is about the size of an orange (and breaks apart just like an orange).

So, I think of food.

And, it’s a toy of sorts. So, I think of kids.

Those two thoughts lead me to think of potential food products for kids.

The ball can be mangled and reshaped like kids like to shape their boogers.

Hold on – I need to go back to the ball for more inspiration.

I just made a creature with a spiky back. Hmmm. Reminds me of a crocodile. Kids like crocodiles!

What about a healthy snack (mom’s will like that it’s healthy) that looks like round Crocodile Boogers! It’s marketed as CROCODILE BOOGERS in cool packaging.

Thinking more about edgy concepts kids will find appealing… What about Monkey Vomit? Or, Genuine Australian Kangaroo Poo!

Check out creativity guru Roger von Oech’s new creativity tool, a ball that consists of 30 magnetic design blocks, so you can transform it into numerous shapes. Check out the Whacks video here. It’s $19.77 on Amazon.

Also, Roger recently launched a blog, a must read!

[UPDATE: I had the great privilege of meeting Roger this afternoon - what a blast to the mind! THANKS Roger for the meeting - it was great to meet you - and I think the Ball of Whacks is going to create BIG problems.  It's strangely addictive.  I can't stop playing with it! To prove that it stimulates creativity, I will start a post now featuring a whacky idea playing with the ball inspired.  Stay tuned.]

Toyco Oliblock, founded by architect Daniel Oakley, produces architecturally inspired building block and puzzle play products, and has just launched Oliblock Gears. The gears interlock and connect magnetically.

A friend of mine said this weekend that the things I have on SHARKRIDE! are “weird.” (I have good ears.)

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it was at first greeted sceptically. The head of the telegraph company Western Union labeled it an “electrical toy.”

Nolan Bushnell, the legendary founder of Atari and Chuck E Cheese, told me that when he originally pitched the concept of Chuck E Cheese, most thought it ridiculous: “Why would people want to go to a restaurant with a huge RAT mascot?!” It was one of the fastest growing restaurant concepts of all time.

When Ruth Handler saw a doll of an alluring adult woman, essentially a perverted plaything for men, on a vacation in Switzerland, she immediately sensed opportunity. But her colleagues at Mattel were skeptical, “Why would a parent buy a doll with BREASTS?” “Children play with baby dolls – not adult sex toys!” More than a billion barbies have been sold.

Most people thought Ted Turner was crazy when he launched a 24 hour news channel. “Most people poo pood the idea,” he says.

Who would have thought that yet another search engine in 1999 would be a success, with AOL Search, Lycos, Excite, Yahoo, Go To (Overture), Alta Vista, Ask Jeeves, Infoseek, HotBot, LookSmart, MSN Search, Magellan, Web Crawler etc. already competing? Google couldn’t even license its search technology, so it was forced to go at it alone. Of course, in hindsight, Google’s technology was vastly superior, and the “simplicity” of its search page and purity of its results garnered incredible loyalty.

Beanie Babies?? An under-stuffed animal that looks like “road kill,” Ty Warner was told, “would never sell.” He’s now worth $4.5 billion.

So, are your innovative ideas “weird,” or “visionary?” (…or perhaps both?)

Check out this YouTube video of the new Air Hogs Storm Launcher RC toy! Made by toyco Spin Master, it’s a high-speed plane and boat and hovercraft capable of amazing stunts, and costs $80. An online pre-sale sold out within five days.

[UPDATE 11-9-06: YouTube video available directly below.]