Karotz Smart Rabbit Buy
Nabaztag (Armenian for "hare", նապաստակ (napastak)) is a Wi-Fi enabled ambient electronic device in the shape of a rabbit, invented by Rafi Haladjian and Olivier Mével, and manufactured by the company Violet.[1] Nabaztag was designed to be a "smart object" comparable to those manufactured by Ambient Devices; it can connect to the Internet (to download weather forecasts, read its owner's email, etc.). It is also customizable and programmable to an extent. Sylvain Huet[2] developed most of the embedded code of all Violet objects. Sebastien Bourdeauducq developed the Wi-Fi driver.[3] Antoine Schmitt[4] has been their behavior designer and Jean-Jacques Birgé their sound designer (together they have also composed Nabaz'mob, an opera for 100 Nabaztag[5]). Maÿlis Puyfaucher (who features its French voice) wrote all the original texts pronounced by the rabbit.
karotz smart rabbit buy
On 23 December 2011, it was announced that the Nabaztag rabbits would be "coming back to life" on 24 December 2011 at midnight via email to those with Violet accounts. The required server service at Nabaztag.com has since stopped functioning, but other options exist including setting up a server using OpenNab software or installing NabaztagLives on a Raspberry Pi single-board computer.
Out of the box, the Nabaztag rabbit is 23 cm (9.1 in) in height and weighs 418 g (14.7 oz). It can send and receive MP3s and messages that are read out loud as well as perform the following services (by either speaking the information out loud or using indicative lights): weather forecast, stock market report, news headlines, alarm clock, e-mail alerts, RSS-Feeds, MP3-Streams and others.
The rabbits can be customized with Skinz tattoos, detachable USB tails in various colors, and many interchangeable ears with different designs and colors. The Nabaztag:tag and Karotz versions are capable of reading RFID chips, and products containing RFID chips include the Flatanoz key ring tags, miniature models of the rabbits called Nano:ztag, and some children's books. Individual RFID chips were also produced and were called ztamp:s.[12]
In December 2006 (most notably around Christmas) a number of sold rabbits caused issues for Violet, the maker of Nabaztag. The Nabaztag device acts as a client to the France-based servers. When users attempted to register their new devices, the centralized servers were unable to handle the demand, resulting in service disruptions,[13] server unavailability, and data integrity problems caused by users creating multiple half-finished registrations. This resulted in a major customer service problem for Violet. The fundamental philosophy of Nabaztag, that all objects should be connected together on the Internet by a server maintained by Violet did not work as expected (e.g. the server sometimes could not cope with volume of traffic, services had to be switched off and there were unreliable response times often as slow as hours rather than seconds).
In theory you pass the key (shaped like a little rabbit) in front of Karotz and it will register the key and run the app. In use this was a frustrating process of rubbing the key all over the Karotz Smart Rabbit in the hope that it will read the key. It was annoyingly inconsistent.
The package contains the Karotz smart rabbit, two white plastic ears, a power plug with four adapters for various country locations, an instruction booklet, a set of stickers and two RFID sensors called Flatnanoz. The Karotz requires a computer (PC or Mac) for setup and an active Internet connection (Wi-Fi) to interact with it.
Between these ears we see a circular white button that is used to provide voice commands to the Karotz. Pressing and holding this button allows the user to activate or request information from the white rabbit.
Where the Karotz does well with the voice playback is with news feeds and weather reports. The device can also play back Internet radio feeds that are found on the Appz section. Some stations even let the rabbit rock out with its ears.
In a wireless world, is there room for a talking robo-rabbit that must be plugged in at all times? Yes, at least according to French company Violet, which has just released its Karotz smart rabbit in the U.S. market. This rabbit will read your RSS feeds to you, take photos and record audio messages, and serve as an alarm clock to wake you up. Karotz brought along Facebook and Twitter integration for its trip across the Atlantic, but do the latest features justify a $129 price tag?
The rabbit won't take up too much space on your desk; it's 5.25 inches in diameter and 6.5 inches tall (9.5 inches when its ears are up). Around back you'll find the power button, along with mini-USB port and a USB 1.1 port for connecting the rabbit to your computer or power supply. A webcam sits right at the rabbit's, ahem, belly.
Click to EnlargeAlso included in the box is a mini-USB cable for attaching the rabbit to your Mac or PC and a power supply with international adapters. Unfortunately, the Karotz must be plugged into a power source at all times.
The Karotz configuration process is different depending on whether you use Windows 7, a non-Windows 7 PC or a Mac. However, no matter what system you've got, you'll have to sign up for an account at www.karotz.com.
We first attempted to configure the Karotz with our PC running Windows 7 Professional (64-bit). After transferring files to the rabbit via a flash drive as instructed (and repeating this process several times to no avail), we gave up and moved on to another laptop. We were able to set up our Karotz with our MacBook Air after following the Mac-specific set of instructions, which instead of requiring us to transfer files, had us connect the rabbit to our laptop and enter our Wi-Fi network information. After this was completed, the Karotz took about 20 minutes to update, all the while blinking its full array of colors.
The Karotz isn't the speediest rabbit in the race, by a long shot. Packing a 400-MHz Arm 9 processor with just 64MB of RAM (256MB of Flash memory), this gadget is low on power. When we performed certain commands, such as changing the position of the rabbit's ears through the Karotz Controller app, there was a delay of several seconds before the Karotz responded. Some of the lag could be related to our wireless connection, but we tested the gadget and its app in several locations and got the same results.
Another area where the Karotz fails to impress is voice commands. By pressing down the button on the Karotz's head, a user can activate an app, ask for a weather update, take a picture and do more--theoretically. In our experience, the rabbit could rarely understand our commands, and it almost always asked us to repeat what we said. The Karotz can be configured in one of four languages: French, English, German and Spanish.
The Karotz rabbit comes pre-loaded with several apps. CNN, CBS Sports, Celeb Dirty Laundry and The New York Times are RSS feeds with the latest headlines, which Karotz will read aloud as often as you specify. You can also add your own RSS feeds via the My R.S.S app. Though Karotz worked as advertised--it read back the latest headlines glitch-free--there's no inflection, which makes the Karotz hard to understand. It's more gimmicky than useful. Tai-Chi plays Zen-like music through the rabbit's speakers, and Demo gives you an overview of the rabbit's features. You can also add your own apps, of which there are currently 153 in the Karotz app store.
Karotz comes with two RFID tags, or Flatnanoz, as Violet calls them. You can assign a particular app to a Flatnanoz by clicking on the app in your online account, and then each time you move the Flatnanoz tag in front of the rabbit's nose, Karotz will launch the associated app. The default colors are one yellow and one green, though customers can purchase additional tags in a whole rainbow of shades through the online Karotz store.
You can also control the rabbit using Karotz Controller, an Android/iOS app. The app lets you change the color of the rabbit's blinking light, stream music through the device, take photos with the Karotz, type messages for the rabbit to speak and--most entertainingly--move its ears. When the app (installed on our iPhone 4) successfully connected us to our Karotz, it provided a few minutes of amusement, but most often we were met with an error message: "Karotz unavailable."
(AP) -- Six years ago, a white plastic rabbit that was connected to my home Wi-Fi network read some news headlines and played a few songs. Colored lights on his belly lit up a few times throughout the day, reminding me that he was alive. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1449240174198-2'); ); It was a novel product at best, a solution in search of a problem at worst.
Under new owners, Aldebaran Robotics, the smart rabbit is back. As Easter approaches it seems to be a fine time to look at the latest version of the robotic rabbit. Now dubbed Karotz ($129), the rabbit has learned a few new tricks.
Unfortunately, those few new tricks don't quite keep pace with other smart devices, namely phones, that permeate our personal belongings. This hare is finishing last in the rapidly evolving technology race.
Karotz - as in the veggie rabbits adore - connects to Wi-Fi networks much as it had before. It was simple to set him to recognize my network by connecting him temporarily via USB to my Mac or Windows computer.
The next step is to add applications from Karotz's online marketplace to get news, Facebook updates and more. Karotz doesn't need to be connected to my computer for that part. I just need to create an account online and link it to my rabbit.
Once I've set up Karotz, the rabbit knows to access the apps and deliver their content as long as he's online. He speaks through a speaker and accepts voice commands to launch some apps by pressing a button on his head and speaking to him.
Fortunately, Karotz Controller also features a messaging system. I simply had to type a sentence into my phone and send it to Karotz to be read aloud. "Get off the couch, Buster!" made his ears perk up a bit, but it will take more than a plastic rabbit with no legs shoo him away. 041b061a72