Wired’s pop-up store in Soho (583 Broadway) may be every parents’ shopping dream. When your kiddo begs, “Can we buy this, pleeeaasse?” You can confidently say, “No. Nothing’s for sale here.” (Well, almost nothing — see below.)

The shop positions itself as a gallery where you can touch (and play with) the art, rather than a retail experience. The store even keeps the same hours as the Met. “All museums are closed on Mondays,” a staffer explained to my son and me through a locked door on that day of rest for artistically-inclined institutions.

The exhibit, “What’s Inside,” displays the gear, gizmos, and gadgets that are stamped with Wired’s “this is cool” seal of approval. And what turns on savvy geeks sometimes turns on savvy New York kids too. And sometimes not.

At the store’s DIY workshop last Saturday, the littleBits work station was swamped. LittleBits are like a souped-up Lego set. They are tiny circuit-boards, which snap together with magnets. Each module has a unique function: light, power, switches, or motor. The kids snapped the bits together, creating their own mini-engineering miracles. Some creations included a twirling snowman and a lit-up city building. Read More