Speaker 1: Hey,
Speaker 2: Every year I hunt down the coolest toys and I get to research how technology evolves, playtime, sometimes toys, incorporate new sensors or use new audio and visual tricks. Features that are in our everyday gadgets get cheaper and then they’re stuffed into toys in creative ways. Also, the impact and influence of new technology goes beyond just adding new computer chips. I want to show you what I think is fascinating in this [00:00:30] year’s big toy trends. Some of these are for kids, but you might find something in this video that you want for yourself too. Alright, no more monkeying around. Here are my favorite tech toys and trends Right now I have been a consumer technology reporter for many years, but I am also a mom and I stay on the pulse of the toy industry because tech is woven into all this stuff. Now one big trend is a focus on emotional support and comfort play to help with anxiety and reduce stress. So [00:01:00] here’s a cat that helps you build a close comforting bond by telling you secrets that only you can hear. This is magic whispers. You press the crystal heart against your forehead for a message that’s sent straight to your head.
Speaker 3: He said, I love you ear.
Speaker 2: I could hear that, could you? It’s using bone conduction audio technology to transmit the audio so the sound waves travel along your forehead to the inner ear. She
Speaker 3: Was on a island.
Speaker 2: [00:01:30] She’ll tell jokes or tell your fortune or give sweet little messages. This was a huge hit with my son and daughter. It’s so simple and it makes you just press this cuteness against your face.
Speaker 3: Can we eat candy today? No way.
Speaker 2: There are so many things you can now buy to de-stress, like there’s stuff to squish or manipulate in your hand to feel better like this. Errands [00:02:00] thinking putty because it’s so good at your desk as just this fidget. It doesn’t get all gross in your hand, but if you need a hug, there are more plush critters now that are weighted. This is bump. It’s arms are a little heavy and if I’m stressed, I’ll just work with him on my shoulders and I know everything is going to be okay. But if you need a friend to coach you into doing more breathing exercises and help you get calm and zen, just call on Furby to help. Hey Furby, let’s chill.
Speaker 4: [00:02:30] Breathing,
Speaker 3: Breathe out.
Speaker 2: Furby is back with a new design. Now I had the original 1998 Furby. Yes, this is mine, but the new one is great. It’s silly, it’s fun and out of the box it speaks more English than Furbish, but now it also has breathing exercises. Furby has no internet connection, but it does answer to five different voice commands after you say the phrase, Hey, [00:03:00] Furby dance party.
Speaker 2: Back in the day, people used to think Furby was a security threat because it was secretly listening. It wasn’t. But the five commands here just activate different play modes like dance parties and games, and you have to hit the jewel first. And unlike the classic version, it does have an off button. You just tap the jewel on its head quickly. Three times. I remember my parents had to get out a screwdriver [00:03:30] and take the batteries out to make my Furby stop in the middle of the night. So yeah, off buttons, they’re a good thing. Now, nostalgia in itself is a whole other trend, and Furby is not the only thing from the nineties that is back and evolved. Let’s talk about Tamagotchis. This is the wearable version. It’s called Tamagotchi Uni. Technically it’s pronounced Tamagotchi, but you know what? Go easy on me. I’m a child of the nineties and we all say Tamagotchi now they still make the classic version, but this uni can be a [00:04:00] watch and a whole lot more.
Speaker 2: The critter you keep alive now. Yeah, it has its own VR headset that it puts on and travels into the metaverse. I’m being serious. They call it the tam averse. This connects to your home wifi so we can explore other lands, make friends exchange items, and you can even get married in the to averse. It does need a wifi connection to download items and keep the whole to averse fresh. And if you can’t take care of it all day, you can now call a sitter [00:04:30] to watch the kid so you could have a life if maybe you’re grown up and you have actual life responsibilities now and whatnot. Speaking of the care and feeding of critters, robot pets keep getting more interesting. This is doggy, a robot dog by wowie chockfull of sensors to show love and play games. You don’t know what you’re going to get out of the box. The lights for his eyes and paws and personality quirks and the sound of his bark. They’re all randomized and if you don’t like what you got, you could just hold his nose down to [00:05:00] randomize it again. The technology here makes sharing with siblings easier because a dog can have different profiles for every family member, but what I think kids will really like is how it talks with its tail.
Speaker 2: I saw a little bone icon. It’s using persistence of vision technology. It’s hard to capture a little bit on camera, but it moves fast with lights and there’s this animated optical illusion that makes it show words or little emoji icons for the dog to communicate with you. Or you can make your all messages show up. Yes, you want your bone. There you go, honey, [00:05:30] I saw the little bone icon. Yeah, if you want a smaller pet, these critters are back. Fingerlings are made by the same company.
Speaker 2: Fingerlings are made by the same company as doggy, and these were the hottest 20, 20 17. Now they have fur on the head and new little sensors to make a heartbeat connection with you when your finger is there. Each color monkey has a different voice and personality. It reacts differently depending on how you hold or swing or touch it or even kiss it. [00:06:00] The company packed in twice as many reactions as last time and it’s all at the same price as before. With the extra tech, it’s still $15. You don’t always need more computer chips for technology to make a toy better. Sometimes the tech twist is in how the doll is made. This doll is a pop princess. She is from the Fresh Beats Collection. It’s a multicultural doll brand from the world of EPI. And each doll has premium hair, but these are not braids, they’re locks, and that was not done before in [00:06:30] doll hair.
Speaker 2: So the creator of this fashion doll had to develop the fiber as well as the patent pending technology. So the team basically had to make a whole new machine just to make authentic locks for doll hair. To me, that’s just so cool and technology is making some toys more sustainable. This playmobile set is made from recycled refrigerators. Yes, plastic from old discarded refrigerators. It’s chopped up and heated and melted and shaped into little figures. This set is called Wild Topia [00:07:00] and the company makes other sets from different recycled plastics and get this plushies are now made from water bottles. This super soft fella is from Wild Republic. The line is called eco cans and the company is also making different pluses that are biodegradable to break down in a landfill. Even moldable squishy foam stuff is now better for the earth. This is plant-based play foam.
Speaker 2: It’s from the company Educational Insights, [00:07:30] and it’s made from renewable cork and as a bonus it doesn’t get all sticky and yucky, so win for the earth and win for my living room. There’s another trend that I see as tech for the anti-tech parent as in using tech to help make kids not so hooked on a screen. Tony’s is this little speaker box. It comes in different colors and it plays different stories or songs depending on which character you stick on the top of it and it sticks with magnets. [00:08:00] The content is just loaded up on these different figurines you buy and you can take it with you on road trips. I also am a fan of this thing called the cloud box. It has a bunch of stories pre-programmed into this with a light projector to help kids fall asleep in their room. Or they could take it anywhere to listen to calming stories or music and nature sounds.
Speaker 2: There is no streaming service needed and for older kids and teens, sometimes a drone can get them off the couch and stop [00:08:30] them from scrolling on their phone. But we have seen something like this before. Cheap. Just toss it in the air, right? Well this one wants you to shoot it down the sky Fire target drone can fly and do flips by itself and it can track your stats as you blast it. If you can even hit it, you can use the app to control it if you want to play with another person. Alright, we didn’t have much luck with a wimpy foam blaster, so I had to bring out [00:09:00] the big gun, a gel bead blaster. I may have gotten a little too into this test. This was just a taste of what is out there, and if you’re still stuck on ideas on what’s trendy, just get a kid in axil lot. They look like this or like this. There are a lot of axil lots out there. I have this bag and this giant snoozer pillow. They are in everything. [00:09:30] This animal basically became TikTok famous and now you can find Axel lots in Fortnite and Roblox and Minecraft. Tech messes with toys in more ways than you realize.
