Two new toys: Nabaztag and Chumby
As you may know, I'm a bit of a gadget freak. I haven't gotten around to blogging about my Nokia 770 internet tablet (which I got cheap last year and happily use to check e-mail and listen to internet radio via radioten.com) or my little wifi-enabled Nikon S51c digital camera, but last week I acquired two new friends in my office, a Nabaztag and a Chumby.
The Nabaztag is a wifi enabled "rabbit", that can read out text and RSS feeds, plays music, displays lights to represent different conditions (e.g. weather, new mail), and it has an RFID reader in its ears which can enable the detection of different objects (e.g. it could read an RFID-enabled book to you if you wave it by the ears of the rabbit). While some aren't happy, I think it's a cool device with many applications for those who may not want or need a video interface. My Nabaztag is called Babbitty.
The Chumby has been touted as an Internet alarm clock, but it's much more than that. It has a touch screen which displays and allows you to interact with a set of multimedia widgets which can be grouped into channels. For example, my default channel shows my Flickr photos, tweets from my Twitter contacts, an NHK-style clock, and news from the BBC and the Onion. There's even a talking Tim O'Reilly widget in there somewhere! I got it from international-orders.com, and named it after me (Cloud)!
You can see them both above. I haven't gotten them to talk to each other yet, but many things are now possible...
- John Breslin's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Excellent. An evil version
Excellent. An evil version that verbally abused people as they walked past would be really great... like a desk guardian... only people that really needed to would drop by to distract you!
[...] Image via Wikipedia
[...] Image via Wikipedia Nabaztag is the Armenian word for rabbit, there is a special Nabazblog telling for example that there is now also a black Nabaztag version available. The little cute rabbit has a wide range of functionalities for example he can update you about the twitter status of your friends. Mir:ror or mirror, the new product of violet, is a USB-pluggable RFID reader which is able to connect everything you own. Making it possible that a tagged umbrella launches the weather forecast if you hold it next to the mirror. See here, here and there for reviews about that new product. You want to know more about the founder of violet? Go to the Armeniapedia to get a short overview about Rafi Haladjian, his personal background and his company. After entering the telecommunications industry in 1983, he pioneered the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) in France in 1994, FranceNet, and sold it in 2003 to British Telecom. For more information you can also follow Rafi Haladjian's french blog. From 24 to 26 September 2008, thousands of creative minds from all over the world came together in Amsterdam for the third PICNIC. For nice fotos, shot at the event follow the link to the eventsite picnicnetwork.org Related articles by ZemantaHere comes EVERYTHING!Picnic08: Connected rabbits, running shoes and cable providers...Video: Nabaztag reads bedtime stories better than daddyNabaztag's Violet debuts "Mirror" general-purpose home RFID readerBunny PhoneTwo new toys: Nabaztag and Chumby [...]
If it's truly an internet
If it's truly an internet alarm clock you may be interested in, then I humbly suggest you please check out http://onlinealarmclock.net
Our site's designed to be just he world's simplest online alarm clock...and we think it's cool. Use it to remind yourself of upcoming meetings. Or, if you're on the road with your laptop, use it to wake yourself up in the morning.
I had a Nabaztag for a brief
I had a Nabaztag for a brief period while I was testing for a review. Because he looked so cute I decided to give him an evil name - Dr Death. He used to get bored and make strange noises which annoyed everyone in the office. I want a Chumby!