Star Wars Inspired Hot Wheels Cars Race to Stores

Hot Wheels has a new lineup of toy cars racing to store shelves just in time for the holiday shopping season that have designs inspired by the characters from Star Wars.  We recently picked up the Darth Vader Mobile that both my kids and myself agree is just pretty darn cool.

The back of the packaging for the diecast car reads:

As powerful and menacing as Lord Vader himself, this jet black sports car commands the road with a force befitting a Dark Lord of the Sith.

Vader's iconic helmet, mask and chest plate create an ominous design that can intimidate even the fiercest drivers, while his Lightsaber side trim indicates he's always ready for battle.

If you only knew the power of the dark side, you'd steer clear of this sinister speed machine!

To help market this new line of Hot Wheels toy manufacturer Mattel actually commissioned the creation of a real life #DarthCar that has been driving around the country making promotional appearances.  It looks like a fierce ride!

The Darth Vader Mobile was fabricated from a Chevrolet Corvette with a 526 horsepower GM LS3 V-8 engine featuring a six-speed manual transmission and has been road-tested at speeds at up to 80 miles per hour; though it has the capability of reaching a velocity of 150mph.  The car has illuminated side pipes that are styled to look like red lightsaber and special audio effects that include Vader's breathing and the sound of light sabers igniting which can be controlled by an iPad.  Plus the helmet styled roof lifts off to provide access to the vehicle utilizing a smoke machine to add dramatic effect to the process.  Impressive, Most Impressive!

Check out this video on the making of the Darth Car:

There are five models of the Star Wars Hot Wheels Toys - Luke Skywalker, Yoda, Chewbacca, R2D2 & Darth Vader unless you get the exclusive collectors pack at Target which features a sixth car: the Stormtrooper.

 

 

 

 

My wife's favorite car is the Yoda version which she says is adorable.  I personally like the Luke Skywalker fighter pilot car the best.  Interestingly, my twins actually agreed on something for once and both like the Darth Car the most.  We all came together though to agree that these cars were awesome...well except for the R2D2 buggy which we all felt was pretty lame.  These Hot Wheels cars are available at Toys R Us, Walmart, Target and Amazon.com.

What if we could make a Star Trek Tricorder a Reality? Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE Competition is Attempting to Make it So

In the Star Trek television shows & movies, the tricorder is a handy device that allows doctors to scan patients and receive an instant medical diagnosis. Called a "tricorder" because it is used for sensor scanning, data analysis and recording data; wouldn't it be nice if instead of this device just being a SciFi prop or a toy you can buy from ThinkGeek it was a real life medical tool?  Think of the possibilities of how this could help people.  Well now Qualcomm has partnered with the XPRIZE Foundation to try and make the Tricorder a reality!  Ten teams have been selected to compete for a $10 million prize awarded to the first to create a functional tricorder.

Imagine a portable, wireless device in the palm of your hand that could monitor and diagnose your health conditions.  That's the technology envisioned by this competition and will allow unprecedented access to personal health metrics.  The end goal of this competition:  Radical innovation in healthcare that will give individuals far greater choices in when, where, and how they receive care.  I thought the laser thermometer in my kids pediatrician's office used to take there temperatures by scanning their foreheads with a laser was incredible; this competition looks to push high-tech to make that device I considered futuristic look simplistic.  Qualcomm and the XPRIZE Foundation are asking for our help to assist these competing teams get over the finish line.  Are you up to lending a hand?!

Qualcomm is asking people to visit the competition's website tricorderfederation.org to learn more about this effort and help spread the word about it so that world encouragement will help keep these teams motivated to accomplish the goal of making a tricorder a reality.  As part of the campaign to promote awareness of the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE Competition there is also a contest the rest of us can participate in.  People are encouraged to upload a Star Trek inspired photo on the website for the chance to win prizes.  Some photos will be randomly selected to win and other prizes will be awarded to those entries that get the most votes from the public.

As a parent, just think of how helpful this would be in the middle of the night when you have a crying baby or a young child throwing up or complaining of pains.  Every parent has to admit they've been in a medical situation with their child at some point where they really don't know what to do.  Do you page the pediatrician at 1am, take a trip to the emergency room or wait things out to the morning? A tricorder scan could alert you to what the problem is, suggest treatment options, or warn you that this is a situation where you really do need to rush to the emergency room.  How wonderful would that be!  J.J. Abrams who directed the recent Star Trek motion pictures addressed some of the practical applications of a real life tricorder in this interview posted by the Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE Competition:

Let's wish these teams Warp Speed in completing their mission!