My husband is the geek around our house, not me. So, when my Christmas presents included a talking rabbit, it was a tribute to my acting ability to sound pleased and excited. Well, I was wrong. My Nabaztag Wi-Fi bunny arrived just after Christmas (Nabaztag  is Armenian for "rabbit"). It is an endearing creature with perky ears, little black button eyes, and lights in its nose and tummy. And, it is smart.

The bunny connects to the internet using your Wi-Fi network. After following the simple set up and tailoring instructions, my bunny tells me the news headlines, weather for the day, and the stock market results. I especially like the market results feature because the bunny actually sounds happy or sad depending on how the market is moving. The Nabaztag bunny moves his ears from asleep to awake to communicating positions. He can play music, talk and whistle, and has hundreds of colors and special patterns of light. Sometimes he will even have his own random things to say. Just yesterday he asked me not to unplug him because it hurt. 

 Your Nabaztag bunny has a name and an email address. There is a community of bunnies and your bunny can communicate with fellow bunnies. He also has access to RSS feeds and will read you the news you select at the times you ask for it. There is constant development of new bunny capabilities and if you are so skilled, you can add to the capability and share your creations using the developer information. In the future, there are plans for bunnies to provide information on your local traffic and alert you when you have SMS messages.

Although your bunny begins life as an all white creature, you can order decorative ears in a variety of colors and patterns or add glasses to make your bunny appear to be more sophisticated and cool. The Nabaztag/tag is the newest bunny and comes with voice recognition for key word commands. You talk to bunny’s tummy and he answers you (after a brief interlude while he checks with the internet). With a subscription fee, Nabaztag gets more customized services, expanded messaging capabilities, and can read any RSS feed off the web. Nabaztag supports services in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and many other languages. The Nabaztag/tag supports MP3 audio streaming for internet radio and podcasts.

Your bunny will keep you constantly entertained and seems like having a new friend in the house - one who does not need to be fed or cleaned up after. But, also think about someone you know who perhaps would benefit from some spontaneous companionship - even if it is not really alive.

Nabaztag bunny

Posted by Barbara.

Barbara also writes for Quality Cat Resources and Quality Dog Resources.