{"id":351,"date":"2007-11-23T17:05:15","date_gmt":"2007-11-23T21:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sarahdopp.com\/blog\/?p=351"},"modified":"2008-02-04T00:48:07","modified_gmt":"2008-02-04T04:48:07","slug":"the-2007-hot-holiday-toys-for-grown-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/2007\/the-2007-hot-holiday-toys-for-grown-ups\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2007 Hot Holiday Toys for Grown-Ups"},"content":{"rendered":"
Heads up, this content is 18 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading.<\/div>

Q: <\/strong>What’s red and giggles and completely screwed up the American economy in December, 1996?A: <\/strong>Tickle-Me-Elmo<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Have I ever mentioned that I worked in toy stores before I started building websites? I did this on and off for more than five years, and it was probably the best education I could have ever received in marketing and consumerism. Toys, especially around the holiday season, don’t get marketed to the people who will spend money on them; they get marketed to the people who will ask for them as gifts. Why? Because it’s easy to say no to an advertisement; it’s hard to say no to someone you love dearly.<\/p>\n

(Have you ever tried to get two children to leave a toy store without buying something for them first?)<\/p>\n

But notch it up to Adult Land, and there are a few toys getting big attention this holiday season. They are…<\/p>\n

The Amazon Kindle – <\/strong>a portable book reader that’s easy on the eyes and connects directly to the Amazon store<\/a> from anywhere. Check it out:<\/p>\n

[kml_flashembed movie=”http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/PBCzIDbRJvs” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” \/]<\/p>\n

Some grief has risen up in the blogosphere about the Kindle because, while it allows access to blogs, it allows certain ones<\/em>, and you have to pay for them.<\/p>\n

And people seem to have already forgotten that there’s a very similar competitor also available, the Sony Reader<\/a>, which connects — you guessed it — to the Sony store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both devices hold more reading material than I would get through in a year, both weigh less than your average hardcover, and neither supports color (my guess is that’s the next generation).<\/p>\n

But if the Internet has made you too A.D.D. to read books anymore, you might be more interested in this toy:<\/p>\n

The Chumby<\/strong> – Kind of a cross between a computer, a television, a stereo, a stress-relieving squeezeball, and a picture frame. Take a look at the intro video to get a feel for what I’m talking about:<\/p>\n

[kml_flashembed movie=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/SB2Nnf0Qq_A\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" wmode=\"transparent\" \/]<\/code><\/p>\n

If this is your dream toy, you’ll want to keep an eye on the widget factory over at Chumby.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Oh, and Mom? Please don’t buy me any of these. They’re kinda silly and I really don’t need them. Thanks.)<\/p>\n

I wish you all a very merry Buy Nothing Day, filled with lots of exercise and blogging.<\/p>\n

[kml_flashembed movie=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/E_jpG6kv6Pw\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" wmode=\"transparent\" \/]<\/code><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heads up, this content is 18 years old. Please keep its age in mind while reading.Q: What’s red and giggles and completely screwed up the American economy in December, 1996?A: Tickle-Me-Elmo Have I ever mentioned that I worked in toy stores before I started building websites? I did this on and off for more than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,36],"tags":[121,89],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fun_stuff","category-marketing","tag-fads","tag-fun-stuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahdopp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}