Tech-savvy iTeddy puts other bears to shame

If you thought your childhood favorite Teddy Ruxpin was hot stuff, it ain't got nothing on the MP3-playing iTeddy. Reportedly, the UK-based critter is all set to launch today, and will be available in the Argos catalog for a respectable £59.99 ($123). The bear itself comes with a built-in LCD, integrated speakers, 512MB of internal memory, a rechargeable battery, detachable media player, an SD expansion slot, and a USB cable to load 'er up. Call us crazy, but this thing has the makings of a Tickle Me Elmo written all over it, so we'd get those orders placed as soon as humanly possible if you know your youngster(s) will be begging. Click on for a few more shots.

[AuraithX @ Jul 27th 2007 8:43PM]

Hah! this was originally from 'The Dragons Den' (the original British version of American Inventor)

glad to see he made it.

[Hawkman @ Jul 28th 2007 11:25AM]

Hmm. I thought it was a terrible idea then, and it's still a terrible idea. If I remember, it was pitched as being able to read bedtime stories to your kids to save you the time.

Not only is that a terrible reflection on you as a parent, it also costs you money and time to buy the stuff from their website.

Anyway, a word to the wise: your kid wants a damn iPod, not an "iTeddy". Turning up with this instead will not win you Father Of The Year.

[fraggle_rocker @ Jul 28th 2007 12:59PM]

The fact you have to buy the stories from a website make it a great business idea.. Any product that people will buy and then pay to keep up to date, is a great idea.

Whether it makes you a bad parent is for god to decide, and seeing the way he treated his kid, i dont think anyone using this will have to worry.

[Vic @ Jul 27th 2007 8:48PM]

How long till we start getting bears like "Teddy" from the movie A.I.

[Woody56292 @ Jul 27th 2007 8:56PM]

wow I forgot all about him. he was the cutest robot I had ever seen, forget this crappy ibear, give us Teddy from A.I.!

[ADMINVOID @ Jul 27th 2007 9:10PM]

I hope my im not given one of them

[Etaanaru @ Jul 27th 2007 9:21PM]

As an individual that is no way affiliated with the Toy Mafia, this toy is definitely not a toy from the Toy Mafia.

-Someone not in the Toy Mafia

[DracheMitch @ Jul 27th 2007 9:22PM]

Uh, it's an inanimate stuffed animal with an mp3 player shoved into it and somehow engadget equates that with a mouth-moving, eye blinking, Grubby connecting story-telling bear, Teddy Ruxpin, and with an interactive, touch responsive Tickle Me Elmo. Apparently all engadget staff have no children and have no memory of being a child.

[jlarpi @ Jul 27th 2007 9:30PM]

What does "i" stand for in all this "i"-crap?

[Andrew H. @ Jul 28th 2007 1:22AM]

interactive?

[Aaron @ Jul 28th 2007 1:56AM]

I think it was supposed to be "internet", but who the hell knows anymore. Everyone abuses it.

[Eric Leung @ Jul 28th 2007 3:58AM]

i as in 'i full of crap'

[BananaBoat @ Jul 27th 2007 9:56PM]

I've still got my Teddy Ruxpin. It still works, that shows you how sturdy they were constructed (18+ years ago)

[Archietype @ Jul 28th 2007 6:12AM]

Same here. I always wanted to know if the mouth still moved with any tapes other than the special story tapes but by the time the batteries ran out for the fifth time I'd moved on.

[Aaron @ Jul 28th 2007 1:58AM]

OK, let's play a game: what's the most hilarious song you could have one of these things play? I'm going to say some kind of hardcore gangsta rap. Extra points if you make a video and throw it on YouTube.

[John Doe @ Jul 28th 2007 2:29AM]

I don't even want to know where you plug in the charging cable.

[Joe Smith @ Jul 28th 2007 5:26AM]

it comes with its own dock and a universal dock connector.

universal being the key word.

[Debbie Procter @ Aug 3rd 2007 2:37AM]

The media player is detachable. What's the first thing any three year old is going to do? Pull the player out of the teddy. I'd give it a couple of weeks before the media player is left behind somewhere leaving a teddy with a big plastic hole. Once the battery has run out afew times mid way through stories kids will stop liking this teddy in the same way we stop liking cell phones when they die on us. No way to record which is what kids that age love. No earphones. Is there a volume switch? Remote control to turn it off when kids have fallen to sleep with swtiched on is another missing essential. And I haven't even got to it being made in China.

[tdickensheets @ Aug 13th 2007 12:36AM]

I like Teddy Ruxpin. I got the new Teddy Ruxpin made by Back Pack Toys Inc. www.teddyruxpin.com

[bloodyglennmiller @ Oct 14th 2007 1:33PM]

i teDDy has cost me over forty quid in downloads so far, only the site doesn't work so that's £40 worse off and no stuff! It's been a bag of trouble since day one - and my grandson, to whom I TeddY belongs, thinks the box is more interesting than the damn bear.
i-teDdY = 'I - want to rip your head off and shove it up your fluffy backside because you are the world's most pointless and aggravatingly gormless tEdDy.'