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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Suzanne Kantra
Aired October 26, 2003 - 08:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Have you started your holiday shopping for the young techno buffs on your list? Here's some red-hot new stuff. You can read all about the new high-tech toys for kids in the November issue of "Popular Science" magazine. And here so show us how they operate, Suzanne Kantra, technology editor for "Popular Science".
Suzanne, thanks fore coming in.
SUZANNE KANTRA, "POPULAR SCIENCE": Thank you.
CALLEBS: We certainly appreciate it. I always look forward to this kind of thing. We've got four items. Let's start with the KGI handband (ph) gloves. Now, these things sell for $90, but you say they're pretty cool.
KANTRA: These are fantastic. I would actually put this on, but it's a little bit too small for me.
CALLEBS: Squeeze it in there. Come on. You can do it.
KANTRA: OK. I'll try to squeeze it on. What happens is, every time you move your finger, it will produce a different note. So you can see the lights moving as I move my fingers. So you can play songs, you can use it for drums. And there would be two gloves, of course.
CALLEBS: I just hear clicking.
KANTRA: You hear the clicking. I can put on the...
CALLEBS: Entertain us. Come on.
KANTRA: OK. Here.
CALLEBS: Is that "Fur Elise?"
KANTRA: OK. That -- I'm obviously not a great musician, but you would practice and be able to play some sort of song with this.
CALLEBS: And is this on the market now? Can people get a hold of this now?
KANTRA: You can.
CALLEBS: Wow, $90. OK. KANTRA: It's available at toy stores.
CALLEBS: Let's move on to Fascination's Sky Blades (ph). Now, this is significantly cheaper. Only $10 for this item. Ages six and up.
KANTRA: It is. And this is great. I've taken this to the park and it really works.
What happens is you wind it from the bottom, let go overhead. It will go up to 100 feet up into the air, straight up. So you might be familiar with the wood planes...
CALLEBS: Right, right.
KANTRA: ... that fly horizontally.
CALLEBS: Balsa wood planes that you wind up and kind of throw around, right?
KANTRA: Exactly. And this one will go straight up just like a rocket.
CALLEBS: OK. Here in my notes typed very largely it says, "This cannot be demonstrated." But I'm going to ask you. Come on, just do it for us. Let it go.
See what happens. Nothing's going to break.
KANTRA: Well, this needs to be wound quite a bit. And I actually already hit somebody in the head in the control room because I didn't let go of it properly. But let's see if I can make this fly.
CALLEBS: Workman's comp will take care of that.
KANTRA: There we go.
CALLEBS: OK. Well, $10, you get what you pay for.
KANTRA: Well...
CALLEBS: I know. I know. It's great. I shouldn't say that. Now the...
KANTRA: If you wound it up.
CALLEBS: ... the MGA (ph) Entertainment Land Air (ph) says RC, and I understand that stands for radio controlled. Now this thing sounds amazing. If I was a kid, I'd be all over this one.
KANTRA: This is actually two toys in one. And as a truck, it will go up to 15 miles per hour as a remote control. You hit one button, and then the plane will take off from the back of it and will fly for up to three minutes. It is actually fantastic.
CALLEBS: Now, you don't control the plane, do you, once it takes off?
KANTRA: You do. Once it takes off, you can control the plane. And it has a little computer chip on it, so it really helps it have that smooth takeoff.
CALLEBS: And this is $100.
KANTRA: It is, but well worth it.
CALLEBS: And it says for kids eight and up. I mean, either kids are really sharp or they just want to get a big target audience.
KANTRA: This is a low end. Obviously, this is something that even big kids would want to be playing with. But we had a lot of fun with it playing around the office. But we were able to give it to an 8-year-old, and he was able to with no problem get the truck going and get that plane off back on the track.
CALLEBS: And I presume you are controlling this from the 20th floor over at CNN, right?
KANTRA: Of course.
CALLEBS: OK. Now, the last one here, you have the Wild Planet iLink (ph) communicator. It's $35 up, again for ages six and up. So if you have some toddlers out there, this is something that may be interesting.
KANTRA: Exactly.
CALLEBS: OK. Let's take a look.
KANTRA: Well, they need to know how to write, because they would be using this tiny little keyboard here. And they can send messages to the other headsets. And there's a little eyepiece that goes in front of one eye, and you can be up to 200 feet away and type messages back and forth. And it's great for playing spy.
CALLEBS: So for every adult who hates his or her Blackbury (ph), give this to your kid so you can get them at an early age.
KANTRA: You can get them early, right. Exactly.
CALLEBS: OK. Suzanne Kantra, thanks very much. I know that that's going to brighten up the wish list for a lot of kids out there. Always a pleasure.
Suzanne Kantra from "Popular Science" magazine, thanks very much.
KANTRA: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 26, 2003 - 08:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: OK. Have you started your holiday shopping for the young techno buffs on your list? Here's some red-hot new stuff. You can read all about the new high-tech toys for kids in the November issue of "Popular Science" magazine. And here so show us how they operate, Suzanne Kantra, technology editor for "Popular Science".
Suzanne, thanks fore coming in.
SUZANNE KANTRA, "POPULAR SCIENCE": Thank you.
CALLEBS: We certainly appreciate it. I always look forward to this kind of thing. We've got four items. Let's start with the KGI handband (ph) gloves. Now, these things sell for $90, but you say they're pretty cool.
KANTRA: These are fantastic. I would actually put this on, but it's a little bit too small for me.
CALLEBS: Squeeze it in there. Come on. You can do it.
KANTRA: OK. I'll try to squeeze it on. What happens is, every time you move your finger, it will produce a different note. So you can see the lights moving as I move my fingers. So you can play songs, you can use it for drums. And there would be two gloves, of course.
CALLEBS: I just hear clicking.
KANTRA: You hear the clicking. I can put on the...
CALLEBS: Entertain us. Come on.
KANTRA: OK. Here.
CALLEBS: Is that "Fur Elise?"
KANTRA: OK. That -- I'm obviously not a great musician, but you would practice and be able to play some sort of song with this.
CALLEBS: And is this on the market now? Can people get a hold of this now?
KANTRA: You can.
CALLEBS: Wow, $90. OK. KANTRA: It's available at toy stores.
CALLEBS: Let's move on to Fascination's Sky Blades (ph). Now, this is significantly cheaper. Only $10 for this item. Ages six and up.
KANTRA: It is. And this is great. I've taken this to the park and it really works.
What happens is you wind it from the bottom, let go overhead. It will go up to 100 feet up into the air, straight up. So you might be familiar with the wood planes...
CALLEBS: Right, right.
KANTRA: ... that fly horizontally.
CALLEBS: Balsa wood planes that you wind up and kind of throw around, right?
KANTRA: Exactly. And this one will go straight up just like a rocket.
CALLEBS: OK. Here in my notes typed very largely it says, "This cannot be demonstrated." But I'm going to ask you. Come on, just do it for us. Let it go.
See what happens. Nothing's going to break.
KANTRA: Well, this needs to be wound quite a bit. And I actually already hit somebody in the head in the control room because I didn't let go of it properly. But let's see if I can make this fly.
CALLEBS: Workman's comp will take care of that.
KANTRA: There we go.
CALLEBS: OK. Well, $10, you get what you pay for.
KANTRA: Well...
CALLEBS: I know. I know. It's great. I shouldn't say that. Now the...
KANTRA: If you wound it up.
CALLEBS: ... the MGA (ph) Entertainment Land Air (ph) says RC, and I understand that stands for radio controlled. Now this thing sounds amazing. If I was a kid, I'd be all over this one.
KANTRA: This is actually two toys in one. And as a truck, it will go up to 15 miles per hour as a remote control. You hit one button, and then the plane will take off from the back of it and will fly for up to three minutes. It is actually fantastic.
CALLEBS: Now, you don't control the plane, do you, once it takes off?
KANTRA: You do. Once it takes off, you can control the plane. And it has a little computer chip on it, so it really helps it have that smooth takeoff.
CALLEBS: And this is $100.
KANTRA: It is, but well worth it.
CALLEBS: And it says for kids eight and up. I mean, either kids are really sharp or they just want to get a big target audience.
KANTRA: This is a low end. Obviously, this is something that even big kids would want to be playing with. But we had a lot of fun with it playing around the office. But we were able to give it to an 8-year-old, and he was able to with no problem get the truck going and get that plane off back on the track.
CALLEBS: And I presume you are controlling this from the 20th floor over at CNN, right?
KANTRA: Of course.
CALLEBS: OK. Now, the last one here, you have the Wild Planet iLink (ph) communicator. It's $35 up, again for ages six and up. So if you have some toddlers out there, this is something that may be interesting.
KANTRA: Exactly.
CALLEBS: OK. Let's take a look.
KANTRA: Well, they need to know how to write, because they would be using this tiny little keyboard here. And they can send messages to the other headsets. And there's a little eyepiece that goes in front of one eye, and you can be up to 200 feet away and type messages back and forth. And it's great for playing spy.
CALLEBS: So for every adult who hates his or her Blackbury (ph), give this to your kid so you can get them at an early age.
KANTRA: You can get them early, right. Exactly.
CALLEBS: OK. Suzanne Kantra, thanks very much. I know that that's going to brighten up the wish list for a lot of kids out there. Always a pleasure.
Suzanne Kantra from "Popular Science" magazine, thanks very much.
KANTRA: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
