Twoddling Toddlers

Thanks to a pack (or is it a quorum?) of Belgian "researchers," children can now join the twitterati before they're even literate. Indeed, they don't even need to be able to form cogent thoughts.  All they need to do is mash the buttons of their new Twoddler, and the wireless-equipped hunk of plastic will send a pre-determined Tweet to all their devoted followers.

For example, if little Jakey spends a few minutes slapping the picture of his mother, the thing will send: "@mommy_jakey Jakey misses mommy and looks forward playing with her this evening." Or if he twirls the colored thing for long enough, it will presumably tweet something to the effect of "Jakey is twirling a colorful wheel!" Worst of all, poor little Jakey is broadcasting his mindless play to the world, without any real knowledge of what he's doing.

Ok, this is silly, but now it's got me thinking about the concept of single-button Tweeting, or single-button SMS. I wonder if there is some potential here, for illiterate people wanting to broadcast the location of water or firewood, or to send simple, oft-used messages to friends and family. Just thinking out loud, and trying to turn this inane invention into something worthwhile...

[via Gadget Lab]