Easter debut for Shelby, the smart clam

By Anand Parthasarathy

KOCHI APRIL 14. Furby has an heir. His name is Shelby and he is one smart clam. Hitting toyshops in the U.S. this Easter weekend is a talking animatronic clam - with attitude.

A successor to Furby, the 1999 ``smart'' toy, Shelby speaks English - and his own special language, Shelbish, with a vocabulary of over 1000 phrases. He can move his eyes, mouth, shell and antennae. When scared or asleep, he does what all good clams do - it clams up in its shell. But awakened by its owner, Shelby will light up, touch you, tell jokes, - and play hide and seek.

Created by Tiger Electronics, a division of leading toy maker Hasbro, Shelby belongs to the new generation of computer driven ``smart'' toys which have rudimentary artificial intelligence (AI): they can interact with kids and ``develop'' as they play along. The price? Shelby can be had for $24.99 ( Rs. 1,150) in American shops today.

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