IP: Hackers have fun with Furby

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

and 

See Also: Reverse Engineering the LEGO RCX 
http://graphics.stanford.edu/~kekoa/rcx/talk/

From: "Robert Raisch" <raisch@internautics.com>
To: <farber@cis.upenn.edu>


(When you provide technically capable, questing minds with simple, cheap and
effective communications channels, they do what come naturally.  This is why
DIVX is doomed. /rr)

Hackers have fun with Furby
BY MARGIE WYLIE
Newhouse News Service

http://www7.mercurycenter.com/business/top/080145.htm

Excerpt:

While some people see a lovable little friend in this year's answer to
Tickle Me Elmo, toy hackers like the 25-year-old programmer see a challenge:
make Furby do as they command. Why? Why not?

``I figured it would be neat,'' said Tokash, who has created a Web site for
Furby hackers to swap information (http://www.homestead.com/hackfurby).
``Somebody's going to hack this thing; I might as well be one of them.''

The Furby was designed by Tiger Electronics of Illinois to squeal, sneeze or
snore and speak 200 words in a language called Furbish. And since its
October introduction, hackers have skinned, autopsied and beamed the
cloyingly sweet animatronic fur-ball with different infrared signals. The
results, in excruciating detail, are posted on the Web.


--
Rob Raisch, Internet Technical Hired Gun <http://www.raisch.com/>