Mike Wood, Whose LeapFrog Toys Taught a Generation, Dies at 72
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
I still think the Fly pentop and Fly Fusion computers were amazing toys. The later Livescribe models (after the tech leader behind those products started his own company) were must-haves for me.
Both the toys and the Livescribes lost purpose when the snart phones became ubiquitous as not a lot of handwriting was being practiced by kids and professionals.
I still fire up the Fly Fusion occasionally. Too bad they only work if you were able to connect them to the (now long gone) website so, yes, you can still find “new” ones on ebay but unless they were set up before they are only good for writing, no need to charge.
in case anyone is unfamiliar:
Snart:
When one sneezes and breaks wind at the same time. It is usually a result of the sudden abdominal muscle contractions associated with supporting the diaphragm for the sneeze, thus triggering the fart.
I also have an email for what looks like apps on the pen??
* Video Poker
* Spanish Travel Phrases
* Classical Music Snippets
But the Leapfrog toys get top marks for engineering. First of all they're pretty sturdy, and second they just do things right. For example on the "Rockit Twist" (another "run apps" thing) none of the gimcracks are fake. Every button and every spinner does something, and does it well. And, for example the "Scribble and Write" (I think that's what it's called) is simply the most amazing use of an 8x8 monochrome LED module I've ever seen. Another good one is "Tad's Get Ready for School Book" - just soo much functionality, and pretty near indestructible too. If one guy came up with all that stuff, he gets full marks from me for engineering.
By far the best one I ever saw was the sample book that came with my family's Quantum Leap. It was quite thick and had a wide variety of different topics, all of which were extremely well produced, and every page was filled with things to explore. As a child, I particularly liked the pages on US presidents (including well-known quotes or recordings of many of them), Europe (with the national anthems of every European country and memory games to learn each country), and the super cool Parts of the Body (with translucent pages showing each layer, and funny sound effects when you explore each body part).
Some of the Magic School Bus books were decent too. The Solar System in particular had excellent games—you wouldn't think audio-only games pointing at a static page would be very fun, but some of them were very creative.