A Rabbit Next To Your Mouse

By Staff On Jan 29 2007 - 8:00am

Nabaztag/tag is the latest version of the French company Violet's "Smart Rabbit," which, when connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi and set up at nabaztag.com, will verbally communicate e-mails, instant messages, blog entries and any other content from the Internet. The Smart Rabbit can "hear" through its navel, understanding voice commands, and can sense surrounding sound levels, waiting until the room is occupied to begin relaying messages. It can play sound continuously from any online source including Web radio, MP3, podcasts and e-books. Nabaztag also has an RFID tag reader and comes with labels to make objects identifiable. With a wave of the object in front of its nose it is able to recognize, for instance, the scent of a user's keys and send out specific messages to other users to let them know who's home. It retails for $165.