By Andrew Liszewski

I like the idea of plush electronics for younger kids, cause let’s face it, they don’t exactly take care of their stuff. And given the choice, I’d rather have a plush radio hurled across the room, instead of a real one. But I have my doubts that today’s kid are even aware of FM radio, let alone listen to it.

In fact the only time I listen to the radio these days is when it wakes me up in the morning, and I was raised on it. But if your toddler gets cranky if they haven’t had a chance to listen to their morning talk shows, I suppose this is a good way to go. It has soft buttons for volume, power and a digital scanner and of course includes a built-in speaker. And even though it looks gigantic in that product shot, it’s actually only about 12 inches wide.

eToys has got it for just $14.99.

[ Plush Radio Cushion ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I’m sure at one point I was happy to hear that Porsche would be lending their design sensibilities to products other than cars but so far I haven’t exactly been blown away. While the car bearing the Porsche name is a design icon other items like this emergency hand-cranked radio don’t really stand out in my opinion.

Sure it has a cast aluminum housing and precision knurled knobs (you gotta have knurling) but besides that I don’t see much difference between this emergency radio and what’s for sale at the local Best Buy or Wal-Mart. However I also believe that looks aren’t everything and besides being powered by a hand crank the Eton P’9110 also includes an AM/FM/Shortwave radio, emergency siren, cellphone recharger and an LED flashlight.

And while such a device is a must have if you live anywhere that’s prone to power outages caused by nasty storms I don’t think the Porsche Design stylings quite justify the $200 price tag.

[ Porsche Design Eton P'9110 ] VIA [ Autoblog ]

By Evan Ackerman

I do enjoy soft and squishy things. I would surround myself with things made of foam if I could. But “radio” doesn’t leap to mind when I think of things I’d like to bounce on, as it apparently did to the designer of the Lexon Foam Radio. This might have been an okay concept, but instead of the radio being completely foam, it’s an aluminum case that’s partially surrounded by a foam covering. That means you can’t chuck it at people without a 1/6 chance of some serious injury. Details are a bit scanty but it looks to feature an AM/FM tuner (!) volume adjustment (!!) and perhaps an on/off switch in addition to the extendable antenna (!!!). Presumably the speakers are in the metal case under the foam, and presumably, they’re nothing special. In addition to what I’m calling “quantum black,” you seem to be able to get it in what looks to be “nerf yellow” or “rabid red.” Cost: $49.

[ Lexon Foam Radio ] VIA [ Core77 ]

By Andrew Liszewski

In keeping with the theme of car-related gadgets today, now all you gearheads can combine your love of manual gearboxes with your love of FM radio. As you can probably tell given the lack of any other controls here in order to change the station or adjust the volume on this radio you need to shift gears up and down.

This seems like another one of those gadgets that has a great novelty factor at first but becomes increasingly tedious to use over time. And keep in mind that novices who are used to an automatic radio might be annoyed by the grinding static sound you’ll get while learning to smoothly switch stations with this manual version.

[ Stick Shift Radio VIA Akihabara News ]