Great blog
written by Shawna Coronado , October 06, 2008

Hank, this is an awesome blog. Would love to stay in touch with you. I'm working on ways to bring the greening message from the ground up to the every day person. It sounds like we have a lot in common. Email me.

Shawna
www.thecasualgardener.com
The Blog - www.gardeningnude.com

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written by Justin Allison , October 06, 2008

This would be a great idea if it simply had a USB output on it. Then you could charge any USB device. Wouldn't it be great to see the yo-yo make a widespread comeback?

A joke - you're right there, Hank.
written by Steve N. Lee , October 07, 2008

Sorry, I don't find this in the least bit cool.

I haven't seen anyone playing with a yoyo for more years than I can remember. I would say it's been decades, but I don't want to exaggerate, though I'm not sure I would be.

I don't like things like this. They seem all gimmick and no substance. A lot of resources will have gone into researching, designing and manufacturing this and probably hundreds of thousands will be sold... and probably end up in drawers around the globe - unused and unwanted, like most of the gimmicky garbage people buy then hide away as if ashamed of the purchase.

Don't believe me? How many Tamagotchis are rotting away in darkened cupboards?

Yes, they might be popular for a while, might even create a craze, but they'll just go the way of the Tamagotchi and other gimmickery of that ilk. Plus, anyone could play with the Tamagotchi, but you need to develop a certain level of skill to play with a yoyo otherwise it's just plain boring or you spend most of your time untangling the string instead of having 'fun'.

Of course, people will argue that it serves a purpose as a charger, that it isn't just a toy. That's as may be, but will it save it from the dark drawer? I think not!

Sorry, but I don't like this.

Steve N. Lee
author of eco-blog http://www.lionsledbysheep.com
and suspense thriller 'What if...?'

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written by Magnulus , October 07, 2008

Steve, there are world championships in yo-yoing every four years. In Norway, I've seen yo-yos become immensely popular during the time around the championships, but I also refuse to believe that the people who actually win nationals and the WC (and various other people) don't play with yo-yos between championships.

I suck at yo-yoing, but anyone can learn to make it go up and down with five minutes of training. What's hard is making them spin for a long time.

I'd personally like to have one of these for situations in which I wouldn't have access to a wall socket. Of course, it's just a fun little project, so it probably won't even happen.

What about getting the battery into the
written by Velenux , October 07, 2008

AFAIK, yoyos contains some weight to pull them down, so why not use the battery itself?

(well, one standard format for batteries would be wonderful)

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written by B.J. , October 07, 2008

Ok, while the idea is pretty cool, I don't think it'd be very practical.

I yoyo, like trick yoyo, and having a wire sticking out one side of the yoyo would make it very unwieldy. What happens when the yoyo stops spinning? Typically the yoyo turns on its side and rotates twisting the string. This would cause problems with a wire attached to an expensive gadget.

Also, balancing the weight of the wire on the other side would be made more challenging by the rims being the only rotating part.

Dunno, if they get it to work I'm all for it though!

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written by mg , October 11, 2008

Yo-yo'ing is still very popular if you know the right people. Some people continue to make a living from it - Steve Brown for instance. See yoyonation.com or yoyoguy.com or yoyostore.com
Its not all about walk-the-dog anymore. Watch some videos - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=yo yo championship&search_type=&aq=f
Still, a little impractical in terms of charging your electronics.

This won't work
written by Chris , October 11, 2008

I want to preface this comment by saying that I've been yo-yoing as a hobby for over twenty years (and I have an iPhone).

The idea of using a yo-yo to generate power won't work with the configuration that we're seeing in the above example. There are a few reasons for this.

First, a yo-yo is essentially a spinning fly-wheel that is centered on a string. Today's popular yo-yo's use a bearing around the axle and the sting is wound around the axle; the rest of the yo-yo spins. Reducing the friction between the string and the yo-yo has reached the point that a good yoist can throw a sleeper that lasts well over five minutes before the spin is gone; the last time I saw the record it was over fifteen minutes.

Second, to generate any sort of power from a yo-yo you can use one of two forces; the spinning or the friction. Friction would work, but the yo-yo would slow quick enough to require a lot of throws before you could charge anything. Spinning could work but the yo-yo would have to spin around something fixed with the capability to convert the spinning to electricity; and a string isn't going to cut it.

I'd like to say that this is a nice design project, but it's not even a butterfly shape, and where are the hub stacks? Personally, I think who ever put the image together was phoning it in.