I’m writing this post for the geek dads who may, at times, stay late in the office or at home working on something with their PCs. Hey, specially if you you’ve got a kid who’s about 6 months to 2-years. Now because you may probably spend lesser time with them doesn’t mean your participation as a parent stops there too. Be grateful that technology is making several discoveries to help parents “cope” up and get involved.
Here’s a great toy due to be released this summer from LeapFrog.com. “My Pal Scout” is a stuffed toy filled with tech things. You, as parent, can “teach” it to repeat words when one of it’s paws are pressed. From their website it seems that this toy is able to record your voice and by pressing one of it’s paws will cause it to repeat the recording over and over again.
Great thing about this is that you can attach a USB into it. It’s also capable of downloading music on the internet, so I guess it has a built-in mini MP3 player. Now who says you can’t start ‘em young in MP3?
Engadget has said the price may be within the range of US$20… I’m guessing it will be about the range of US$50, considering the tech stuffing involved.
my brother loves “my pal scout” i made a bed for him!!!!!!!!!
Actually, you cannot customize this with your own files at all. The product has a set list of names, and you can choose your kid’s name from a list, most of them pronounced pretty badly. The USB just accesses this list. Even their sound files are product specific, so there’s no good way to hack into the toy and have your own custom content.
The music on this toy actually sounds like MIDI music, not MP3′s. yes, my daughter’s name isn’t even NEAR correct on the toy.. I ended up using “Honey” for her name, but spelling it with her real name so that the name song spells it correctly.