What do you get when you mix Twitter with toddlers? Behold the Twoddler, a tricked-out Fisher Price Activity Center that lets toddlers send pre-arranged tweets to friends and family:
... the Twoddler, a tricked-out Fisher Price Activity Center with pictures of family members and friends attached and an Arduino board inside.
When a child presses a certain picture for a select amount of time, software captures sensor data from the activity center and selects and sends a predefined text related to that data.
For example, when Bobby plays with Mom's picture for more than three minutes, a Twitter message will post to Bobby's personal Twitter account saying, "@mommy_bobby Bobby misses mommy and looks forward playing with her this evening" (or as the messages get more refined and personalized: "@mommy_bobby Bobby is having a temper tantrum and wants mommy home now."
It even won at the 2009 Innovative and Creative Applications competition: Link | INCA Award 2009 - via Wired's Gadget Lab
It's really rather sad that the example given has the kid Tweeting that he misses his mommy and wants to play with her in the evening when she is home. Actually, the kid misses her NOW and would benefit from some interaction with her NOW, not in the evening. Go pay some attention to your kid instead of relying on others and gimicky gadgets like this.
My toddler (almost 3) has wooden blocks, non-electric push-toy trains (Brio style), lots & lots of books, Legos, flashcards, crayons, Tonka trucks, Matchbox cars, &c. Relatives know well not to get him and his little sister anything that "takes batteries or makes noise".
I assume the know what twaddle is?
At least these kids will have documentation of how their parents neglected them, so they have evidence for their reason to despise them later in life.
@alexander
Umm... yeah. Pestilence, Famine, War, and Fisher Price.