How it all started

Information comes to one in the most unexpected of manners. Earlier in the year, I was watching one of my favorite vloggers on YouTube, grav3yardgirl when I chanced upon a video of her talking about her recent Furby. 

Up till then, my knowledge of the Furby was minimal. I just thought of it as 'that creepy toy from the 90s' that reminded me of  The Gremlins, and left it at that. After watching this video, I am still of the opinion that the Furby is one of the creepiest toys of today - except that something about how horrified I was with the creature actually struck a chord in me. It was a morbid obsession, watching videos of various Furbies just to marvel at how horrifying they were. 

When chance came however, and I had to do a project on Information Technology, I decided that this latest 'obsession' would be the perfect 'pet' project. Not only was the Furby just merely a toy, I was sure some sort of complicated programming had gone into it, making one it one of the most interactive commercially available toys around. Digging around through the Internet, it was found that lots of people have indeed taken the Furby apart to find out exactly what goes on behind these creepy furballs. 

Light sensors, Touch sensors, Mechanics, Audio communication, voice sensors and of course programming codes sealed secret shut with epoxy on a circuit board are all part of the Furby's insides. While it is all very fascinating, of course, I decided to study those components that were most associated with the bigger historical development of Toys in general, because the Furby surely is not the first invention to have all the above mentioned features.   

The Technologies I decided to pick out were Mechanical systems, Radio technology/communications, as well as microprocessors. I thought that these three would give a pretty comprehensive overview of how technology in toys have evolved over the years. 

Happy perusing my humble site and feel free to leave any thoughts or comments at all!

xx 

How to use: Use the Prezi at the top of the page to guide you through the rough timeline, and then click on the links for more detailed information. Once you're done, go back to Prezi and continue where you left off! I hope it helps!