At Gadget Camp, sponsored in part by a foundation affiliated with the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, girls learned how to make a lamp, a candy dispenser, and other useful items out of various materials including wood, metal, fiberglass and PVC pipe.

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However, they can learn big lessons from these mistakes that can carry into adulthood like lessons about spending versus saving, shopping wisely, negotiating for items and other useful financial skills that can serve them for the rest of their lives.

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They will fetch and carry parts, hold things, pick up tools, sort items, clean up and make themselves useful in myriad other ways.

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The Action phase allows certain ships, items, and crewmembers to perform useful actions such as ship repairs, cloaking, and employing tractor beams.

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While the items are frivolous in some cases and useful in others, they are unique to Target and Neiman Marcus.

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Of the items on display, the one that looked most useful and almost ready for prime time was Sharp's media player with video-on-demand functions (above).

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Our favorite wished-for items, though, were those that were imaginative, useful and a good distance beyond the state of current technology--but with that ring of plausibility that characterizes the best science fiction.

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