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Archive for the ‘Toys Articles’ Category

The Furby was “coded for cuteness”

Released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics, more than 40 million Furbies were sold in its first three years of life. What made this bizarre animatronic toy so **** popular? At IEEE Spectrum, Allison Marsh looks at the engineering behind this pioneering social robot:

The Furby’s source code was written by David Hampton and Wayne Schulz ...

Donating unwanted LEGO to someone less fortunate is a great way to bring more joy to the world

Lots of folks continue to build fabulous creations out of LEGO well into adulthood. Others tire of it, as they do many of their other childhood belongings, at an early age. Both are fine. What's not OK is being a kid who, because of their parent's financial situation, doesn't know the joy of having a ...

Amazon adds toys to its growing list of private labels

Batteries. Clothing. Household goods. Supplements. Diapers. Furniture. Toys? Yes, toys. It seems Amazon’s private label business is preparing to enter the toy market next. The retailer’s initial toy listings include an indoor play set for toddlers, along with other toys for climbing and playing on, as well as a toy storage system. The listings were ...

Google’s search data shows YouTube’s influence over this season’s hottest toys

If there was any doubt about YouTube’s power to influence children, look no further than this year’s list of the hottest holiday toys, based on Google shopping search data. According to the search giant, at least four of the top ten most searched toys were among those heavily featured in YouTube unboxing videos – subsequently ...

Argentine hacker mods Furby so it quotes Borges, creates a “Borgy”

Argentine hacker [Roni Bandini] modded a 1998 Furby so that it responds to stimulus by rattling off a random quote from Jorge Luis Borges. He calls it "Borgy."

[Roni] hacked the Furby to replace the speaker with a more powerful one, and built a base to hold the larger speaker and a switch which can ...

Toy makers tap into what kids really want: ‘Unrolling is the new unboxing’

Ok, I'm not just sharing these "Cutetitos" for the sake of sharing them. I'm sharing them because I've just learned that toy makers have figured out that young kids really like unboxing videos and they have now found a way to replicate that experience with "mystery toys" (like these plushies wrapped up a burrito). 

The ...