Stardate 20011120.2003 (On Screen): It's interesting to see the toy ads each year, to try to spot the innovation and to see if I can pick out winners and losers. I must say that toys now are a lot cooler than they were when I was a kid. (Anyone up for "walking through the snow to school" stories?)
But I also see toys which seem terribly ill-conceived, or perhaps fiendishly conceived. These are the Perfect Toys For Kids Whose Parents You Hate and I sometimes wonder whether they're deliberately designed for that, in hopes of cashing in on the spite market.
Case in point: "Jammin' Draw" by Fisher-Price. The concept is straightforward: it's a drawing tablet with a primitive touch-pad underneath, and there's a computer and some audio electronics and a speaker and some push buttons. When you draw, the computer senses what you're doing and makes (loud) music that supposedly tracks what you're doing. I can see how kids would love this; and I can see how it's going to drive parents bonkers. (Let's see, now; who do I hate this year?) (discussion in progress)
