Michael Fitzgerald of the New York Times has gotten some tremendous web buzz on today’s article “The The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey” (now the #3 story on Techmeme). Fitzgerald focuses on high end gadgets on ‘luxury’ electronics like GPS systems integrated into high-end cars.

While I found it to be an interesting read, I was disappointed that Nabaztag wasn’t included. Sure – Nabazatag by Violet appears to be nothing more than a cute white rabbit toy…. but it is a sophisticated consumer gadget that does exactly what Fitzgerald discusses: It listens and obeys… and then some!

Nabaztag looks funny but it is an amazing little creature: he alerts you when a stock changes price, he reads emails, delivers podcasts, and is programmable based on any RSS-enabled content. Nabaztag can be updated from any website (or email address) and that enables him to be interactive from afar and through multiple users.

Perhaps the Nabaztag was made to look too cute, too much like a toy and more sophisticated technology critics therefore don’t talk much about it. But at $150, it is an amazingly intelligent critter and the customization opportunities are limitless.

Popularity: 2% [?]