Hands-On Nabaztag 2 Wi-Fi Rabbit

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Hands-On Nabaztag 2 Wi-Fi Rabbit

Mon Oct 22, 2007 6:37PM EDT


I've been playing with the new Nabaztag for a few weeks, and I must say, this is one rabbit that'll keep you entertained for hours. As soon as I opened it, I headed to Nabaztag.com to configure my Wi-Fi settings so it could start updating me on everything. You see, Nabaztag is a Wi-Fi enabled bunny that can gather information from around the Internet, and reads it for you. If you want to know what's happening on your favorite blogs, you simply go to Nabaztag.com, add your favorite RSS feeds to your Nabcasts feeds, and it'll read the latest headlines every 20 minutes (you can change the frequency). That's only a fraction of what it can do. Once you become a Nabaztag owner, the customization possibilities are endless.

Nabaztag has been around since 2005, but was recently upgraded in 2007 with even more features than before. The latest version has a microphone on its navel so you can talk to your rabbit. Anytime you press a button between its ears, and give him a command such as "weather", it's quick to respond. You can send voice messages to other Nabaztag owners by speaking into its navel, as well.

Since the bunny has speakers, you can easily stream music or play podcasts you find on the Web for an unlimited time. It also has an audio output on his back so you can connect headphones or speakers, depending on your situation. If you're at work, you might want to keep him plugged to your headphones, but if you keep it at home, you can set it anywhere in the house so it can keep you updated on incoming email, weather, stocks, or news headlines. If you happen to own an iDog, you can plug him into Nabaztag so he too can read messages or play music.

I think the most interesting feature are the NabZtamps created so Nabaztag can "sniff" objects. The new Nabaztag has an RFID tag reader in his nose, so he can recognize objects embedded with NabZtamps stickers. Why would you want him to sniff objects? Well, you can assign an action or behavior to each stamp so the next time you wave, say for example a set of keys, he'll alert your personal friends when you get home or start reading your favorite Nabcasts. Making friends internationally is easy, since the little genius speaks 16 languages, including Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, and of course English.

Not only does it communicate verbally, but it also communicates physically by moving its ears or visually by lighting up. What I love about this smart toy is the passion the Nabaztag-owning community shares. Most owners personalize their bunny by dressing it up in their own creations, or design new applications to give him even more functionality. These Nabaznauts have set up hundreds of websites, forums, blogs, YouTube channels, and they even have a Flickr stream going. Like I said, the entertainment is endless, which is why I took so long to write this quick review.

Which brings me to another point. While you may initially want Nabaztag to read all your favorite blogs, you'll have to be careful not to overload yourself. I had to turn it down a few times, because I needed to concentrate on my work or was on a phone call. I recommend you subscribe to only a handful of Nabcasts, or set it to sleep during your busiest part of the day. I especially think it's great that others can send messages to your bunny via widgets (it has a Yahoo! Widget) or by signing up for a Nabaztag account. Like I said, the possibilities are endless so you'll have plenty of things to discover and people to meet once you become a Nabaztag owner. If you want more details about this curious bunny, make sure you check out Nabaztag.com.