If I ever have kids, odds are that they’ll turn out to be gadget-obsessed bookworms. But even if they don’t, we’d probably spend a few afternoons flipping through these interactive iPhone-powered books together, giggling in delight at the stories.

Dubbed Phonebooks, these neat little books combine with your iPhone to create a fun experience at every page turn. And while I rail against using iPhone apps for parenting purposes, this is an extraordinarily cute and age-appropriate way for your lil’ one to play around with an iPhone. [Japan Trends via Dvice]

[Akihabara]

How can you make 117 toys stand balanced over one single 4×2 Lego brick? I don’t know, but artist Walter Wick has the answer and he’s made this really cute video about it. [Boing Boing]

Call me a dinosaur all you want, I prefer the original over this $US15 “modern” update, faults and all. This thing makes everything so easy and carefree. How boring.

On a related note, 3D Etch-A-Sketches? You’re cool. [Etch A Sketch Freestyle via OhGizmo]

In a Skittles array of colours, the Big Shot’s actually designed to be put together and taken apart again, unlike real cameras, and it’s aimed squarely at kids, developed by Columbia University’s Computer Vision Lab. It’s actually a fairly sophisticated kit in some ways — the really unique component of the Big Shot, the lens wheel, contains three different lenses and viewfinder stencils — and it has a crank for manual, battery-less power.

It’s not for sale yet because it’s still in final testing, but I’m really excited to see what this thing can do — for digital lomography, it could be more popular with hipsters than kids. [Big Shot via Make]

It may be $US375 and not out until the first quarter of 2010, but this replica of the bike driven by Kaneda in Akira is ridiculously awesome. It’s a one-sixth scale, comes with plenty of sound effects, LED illumination and a workable suspension. All you need is a bit of adventuring spirit. [BigBadToyStore via Nerd Approved]

On November 9, 1989, thousands rushed through the ruins of the Berlin Wall, celebrating the unity of East and West. Twenty years later, millions across the world watched as 1000, 2.3m-tall dominoes fell marking the occasion.

About six months ago, those Styrofoam dominoes were sent all around the world and painted by school children and artists. Today they were reunited in a 1.5km line where the Berlin Wall once stood. And just like the wall did so many years ago, they fell to deafening cheers. [Dominoaktion and news:lite]

Which would have been equally cool, right?! I mean, we discover dragons exist, and then we learn that their magical bones are made from one of the world’s most beloved customisable creations? Nerdgasm, not to mention an epic overhaul of the palaeontology field as we know it.

But sadly, no, this is just the work of Flickr user Necromancer7, who seems to have a completely unsurprising gift for creating dead things that live again in Lego form. [Flickr via Brothers Brick]

Unfortunately, the maximum range on the G-Bound is only about 10m, so I wouldn’t take it out to the lake unless you don’t mind swimming after it. Not that it matters — it appears to be a Japan-only release for the moment. [G-Bound via Hobby Media via Coolest Gadgets]

We have enough reasons to worry about carpal tunnel, which is one reason why the Rubik’s TouchCube is so awesome. Instead of actually turning the segments, users simply swipe their finger in a straight line or an ‘L’ shape (for rotations). Of course, at $US150 you would incur a more severe financial penalty for tossing it at a wall in frustration. [Rubiks via Gizmodo]

Did you know that there is a version of Clue called “Secrets & Spies” that uses text messaging? Are you surprisingly angered by this?

Agent Mustard, Agent Scarlet and the rest of the colourful Clue characters are now on assignment to thwart C.L.U.E. (Criminal League for Ultimate Espionage) and take down the evil Agent Black. At the beginning of the game, players check in at Hasbro headquarters via text from their own mobile phones. As the game proceeds, Hasbro sends six text messages back to move the action along. An ultraviolet decoder, included with the game’s activity cards and other pieces, also reveals information.

[Hasbro via Gizmodo]

There have been several attempts to add electronics to the old fashioned beer pong table over the years, and this particular version is typical in that it includes LEDs — 120 RGB LEDs to be more precise. It also features a wireless module that will connect with a scoreboard. As we noted earlier “it’s one of the most advanced tables you could ever puke on”. [Gizmodo]

Purist or not, Marubot foosball would be hard to resist. The game is played with four individually-controlled robots. [Ir Robot via Gizmodo]

With our society slipping faster and faster into a crippling world of germaphobia, the classic thumb war is slowly dying out. This electronic version prevents you from having to touch hands, and it also ups the ante with an electric shock for the loser. [Firebox via Gizmodo]

Paul Fryer’s Vacuum Tube Chess set features pieces that light up when plugged into the sections on the board. [Gizmodo]

Sink your opponent’s battleship and their battle with alcoholism with the Enigma Battleship drinking game. The design of the case was inspired by the Enigma encrypting machine. The radar screen marks the shots of each player and displays a list of the ships remaining. Unfortunately, the Enigma version is only a concept, but there are simplified versions of the game that are available for purchase. [Coroflot via Gizmodo]

You would have thought Jenga would be the one game that would stay pure, but even a game about tumbling blocks isn’t safe from progress. This cheap monochrome display version requires the player to slide in two plastic blocks with just the right amount of force to prevent the whole tower from coming down. [Gizmodo]

Maybe it’s just me, but an arm wrestling game that shocks the loser is a little Over the Top. [Latest Buy]