Nabaztag, a rabbit able to read e-mails and feeds

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Just when you think that you have seen them all someone pulls a rabbit out of the hat and surprises you once again. The rabbit citation is not casual because this time we are talking about a plastic bunny that according to the creator gives a “visual and vocal representation of what is on the Internet”.

This is made possible thanks to the use of a Wi-Fi connection to a network. This gadget, named Nabaztag (rabbit in Armenian), is able to read from the Web e-mails, phone text messages and also feeds updates.

The rabbit is 9 inches tall, has movable ears, can sing and must be plugged to an outlet to work. If you do not want to be caught by surprise by an unexpected void you can also program it so the rabbit only lightens up its body when an update is available.

For the romantics the rabbit can also be paired (virtually and via the internet) to another Nabaztag so that moving the ears of the first rabbit will move also those of the seconds.

The creator of the gadget, Rafi Haladjian, is convinced that Nabaztag will be successful even in the United States after earning a strong following in Europe (especially in the French speaking countries).

Since its debut on the market last year 50,000 “rabbits” were sold and it was also created an online community where its owners can share pictures of their Nabaztag.

In the United States apart from a brief interview (with the creator, that is) the rabbit has not received a lot of publicity but its doing well.

It costs 150 dollars and some basic web updates are free (weather forecasts, stock market updates and e-mail alerts). For the more advanced features like sending messages, reading feeds or e-mails a subscription is required.