In 2020 there is nothing novel or exciting about an online device. Even the most capable models are designed to be unobrusive pucks and smart speakers; their function lies in what they do rather than in how they look. In 2005, an Internet connected device was a rare curiosity, a daring symbol of a new age: the “Internet of Things”!
Our fridges were going to suggest recipes based upon their contents, and very few people had yet thought of the implications of an always-on connected appliance harvesting your data on behalf of a global corporation. Into this arena stepped the Nabaztag (from the Armenian for “rabbit”), an information appliance in the form of a stylised French plastic rabbit that could deliver voice alerts, and indicate status alerts by flashing lights and moving its ears.
Le Premier Lapin Connecté, Ensuite Le Premier Lapin Disconnecté
The 100 Nabaztag Opera at NextFest 2006. Violet06 (Public domain)
If this sounds unexpected now, in 2005 it was the darling of the more technically literate chattering classes, hailed as the dawn of a new future in online information and appearing as a piece of art rather than consumer electronics. Quality magazine columnists raved about them, though some spied a glimpse of what future devices would bring in addressing their faults, and for a while an odd anthropomorphic plastic light-up rabbit became an object of desire.
The tale of an IoT startup that gains a lot of traction but fails to create sufficient ..
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