Furby - Definition

This article is about Furby, the plush toy. For the place in Sweden, see Furby, Sweden.

A Furby is an electronic soft-toy made by Tiger Electronics which went through a brief period of being a "must-have" toy following its launch in 1998, selling for hundreds of dollars.

The main hook was their apparent "intelligence" and learning ability as they developed their language skills and repeated words said around them (which lead to several intelligence agencies banning them from their offices). They can also communicate with one another via an infrared port. Furbys start out speaking entirely in Furbish, a language with short words, simple syllables and few phonemes, but are programmed to speak less and less Furbish and more and more English the more they "grow".

In appearance, the furby is a cross between a mouse, a cat, and a bat or owl.

They are still popular with many hackers as they can be dissected and made to do interesting things.

A new version of the Furby is due to be released in the fall of 2005. The new Furby will be larger than the original, and have the ability to converse in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and Italian amongst other features.

External links

• Official site (http://www.furby.com/) (which will redirect to a page hosted by Hasbro)
• The "infamous" Furby Autopsy (http://www.phobe.com/furby/)
• Anatomy of a Furby (http://xenia.media.mit.edu/~kelly/Furby/anatomy.htm) dissection drawing (in an old medical style) by artist Kelly Heaton.
• The Toys of Christmas Past (http://web.archive.org/web/20040219004117/www.impactmedia.com/stories/furbies.html) - 1998 MentaNet News satire on Furby hype
• CNN article about the upcoming Furby (http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/02/news/fortune500/hasbro_furby/index.htm?cnn=yes)