Toy Trends
In this podcast, Cathi Bond talks about Barbie Girl, the new virtual home for Barbie, and its place as part of the new trend towards toys having a real presence, and a virtual “Second Life”-esque presence. Cathi thinks it reduces kids’ opportunities for imagination. What do you think?
Meanwhile, Nora Young has a new outlet for her robot obsession. The i-Sobot, set to come out this Fall, is the smallest humanoid robot for consumers. (via Robots Dreams) Don’t you want one, or does it just remind you of Karen Black in Trilogy of TERROR! Forgotten the movie? Take a peek!
Check out the video of i-Sobot…holy Uncanny Valley!
October 6th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
I’ve been enjoying your podcast for months know. Your informal banter is a lot of fun to listen to.
In anycase, in response to your note about nobody commenting on the blog I figured I should really comment on your blog. I listened to this podcast a bit ago but had some comments about http://www.webkinz.com/ - wow what a merchandising powerhouse.
It is totally addictive (especially in the grade 1-2 crowd I think). They have done some very interesting stuff to push kids to come back regularly (every 6 hrs in some cases) to get rewards that they can talk about with your friends.
It’s a bit of a mixed bag. I do think that it does limit the imagination. Much better to have kids be coming up with their own games. However it does provide spaces for reading & math skills. In moderation I think it’s alright. Kids can spend hours and hours on it - that is a problem..
Mike