toys

The musician Grimes has developed an interactive AI plush toy for children which can converse with and “learn” the personalities of their owners. Grimes and toy company Curio created the line of toys in partnership with OpenAI, as first reported by The Washington Post. Grimes, who voices all three toys, is also an investor and advisor for the product. The three plush figurines are named Gabbo, Grem, and Grok — not to be confused with the AI chatbot named Grok owned by Elon Musk, a former partner of Grimes. Curio told the…

Image: HasbroRetro toys are a funny thing. When The Phantom Menace hit theaters, it did so alongside the firepower of a fully armed and operational action figure line that represented a huge generational leap from the Star Wars toys that changed the movie industry two decades prior. And yet now in the present, nearly 25 years removed, Hasbro is imagining a world where that revamp didn’t exactly happen.That’s because while time marches on—Phantom Menace and its toys are older to us now than the classic Star Wars Kenner…

Monday’s court ruling that Google created an antitrust market with its app store threatens to upend the $500-billion-a-year app store economy, which has evolved into a profit machine for Appleand Google that helped define the smartphone era.A jury unanimously sided with Epic Games, saying that Google had harmed the videogame maker by maintaining an illegal monopoly. Google said it plans to appeal the verdict and stands by its business model. In a separate case that concluded in 2021, a federal judge largely ruled against…

Dec. 12, 2023 12:45 pm ETE3, the once-popular videogame expo, is powering down.The Entertainment Software Association, a videogame trade organization, said it was ending its Electronic Entertainment Expo. The expo struggled to attract creators and top game companies in recent years. Copyright ©2023Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 Dec. 12, 2023 12:45 pm ETE3, the once-popular videogame expo, is powering down.The Entertainment Software Association, a videogame trade…

Image: HasbroEarlier this year, after much waiting, Hasbro finally released a No Way Home inspired three-pack of Spider-Men that gave fans plastic takes on Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Tobey Maguire... at least, with their masks on. But this fall a new standalone wave of Marvel Legends returned to the movie and did it justice. The updated releases are all pretty fun (the Green Goblin and his glider is a highlight), but the stars of the show are the new Peters. In Holland’s case, a new unmasked head is paired with the…

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. Retailers across the country say sales of sex toys spiked over the last three years, as people looked to self-pleasure as a new form of self-care — and the trend shows no sign of slowing down. For Chris Cicchinelli, CEO and President of Pure Romance (a direct seller of “relationship enhancement” and intimacy products), sales of the brand’s sex toys are up 88 percent…

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission. Many of us assume that sex toys are used for solo pleasure only, but there are plenty of sex toys for couples to help both you and your partner achieve deeper sensations and stimulation during both foreplay and sex.  Research has shown that sex toys are now less taboo and more popular than ever before and a 2016 study even showed that couples that use sex toys…

Image: Hot ToysHere’s a first look at the latest Spider-Man figure from collectible giants Hot Toys.This rendering of the Amazing Spider-Man is inspired by Marvel’s web-slinging action, complete with pop-out comic book style framing. Featuring a title card along with cityscape base, the figure can be posed in action going up against the Green Goblin. The figure’s accessories help create different looks for posing, like a webbed torso, web-shooters plus string, and a camera (paging J. Jonah Jameson!). Not much more is…

Relationships often include fostering a shared space and require an understanding of doing something for the sake of the common well-being or a goal.At least this seems to have been the problem in this Redditor’s extended family when her kids contributed some of their toys for the shared toy chest at their grandparents’ house, yet their cousins simply took them and refused to bring them back.More info: RedditChildren left some of their toys at their grandparents’ toy chest, but they were gone the next timeImage credits:…

SINGAPORE—TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance has bet billions on videogames since 2019, setting up its own creative unit and acquiring buzzy game makers. Now it is winding down those efforts, its latest pullback from experimental forays into education, property brokering and virtual reality as it faces regulatory and economic headwinds at home and abroad.Copyright ©2023Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 SINGAPORE—TikTok’s Chinese parent ByteDance has bet billions on…