ThinkGeek’s product page for the $20 Happitaps iPhone Interactive Bear lists it in the “3-7 Years” category, but the product specifications clearly state that this item is suitable for anyone who’s 18 months or older. Technology bloggers who work from home and have very little interaction with human beings fall under that umbrella.
The concept is simple: Pop your iPhone into the stuffed bear’s cranial cavity, fire up the free accompanying app and watch with jealous loathing as your offspring hogs all the fun while you worry about adult stuff like bills and buying stamps for those bills and reordering return address labels to affix to the envelopes of those bills.
The bear face can be set to an autopilot-like “Toddler Mode” for children who are too young to appreciate the awesomeness of an interactive playmate, or a manual mode suitable for gifted, intelligent children and bloggers in their early- to mid-thirties.
Like any app worth its salt, basic functionality is free, while “additional features, stories, games, and songs can be purchased” once your child develops a bond to the non-animal so maniacal that you’ll have to purchase a new iPhone for yourself, lest you decapitate the bear.
Happitaps iPhone Interactive Bear [ThinkGeek]
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