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  • Strypeystrypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
    Oct 15, 2026, 8:43 AM

    It's all pretty McDisney. But I like this as a way to play media. It has an echo of putting on an album (a vinyl, tape, or CD). But the storage media is a much more robust.

    It's been child-proofed, which also makes it drunk-proof and stoner-proof. Kick it around the floor at a party, and it'd still play perfectly fine.

    I'd be fascinated to learn exactly how the tech works, what technical protocols or standards are involved, and whether any patents are pending ...

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  • Strypeystrypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
    Oct 16, 2026, 2:19 AM

    Yesterday I mentioned my granddaughter's Toniebox. Today I discovered there's a competitor called Yoto, but ...

    "Yoto cards require more dexterity to insert properly. The cards themselves can bend if handled roughly by very young children. Whilst the official age recommendation is 3+, many Kiwi parents find their toddlers struggle with the mechanics until closer to age 4."

    nooknz.com/style-beauty/tonieb

    So the Toniebox definitely seems like the better tech of the 2.

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    #ScreenFree #MediaPlayer

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  • Strypeystrypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
    Oct 16, 2026, 2:24 AM

    The Toniebox is a wireless, screen-free media player for young children. The Yoto pitches itself as the same thing, but ... well ... it has a screen, even if it doesn't do much. With rather defeats the purposes. Plus, as I mentioned yesterday, the plastic figures that serve as storage media for the Toniebox are almost indestructible, and my granddaughter could put them the right place to make them play when she was 1. I doubt either is true of those Toto cards.

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  • Strypeystrypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
    Oct 16, 2026, 2:30 AM

    Anyway, some things I thought were cool about the Toniebox when I saw it;

    * It's completely wireless, like a Bluetooth speaker, but doesn't need a media steam from another device

    * The storage media are permanent, like a CD or DVD. You bought it? You own it. Forever. Unlike streaming subscriptions, or even digital downloads in many cases (eg the famous case of Orwell's 1984 being deleted from the scAmazon Swindle)

    * Storage media work by close range wireless, rather than via a socket

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  • Strypeystrypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
    Oct 16, 2026, 2:34 AM

    I'm guessing the company that makes the Toniebox has patents on the way it works. But once those expire, or if they can be worked around somehow, I would love to see this become a standard feature in all wireless speakers.

    Imagine a new kind of USB stick that you could sit on top of your speaker, and the media files on it would just play. This could become a whole new way of selling records, for musicians, standup comedians, poets, cult leaders, etc.

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  • Fabian ¯\_(ツ)_/¯BafDyce@chaos.social
    Oct 16, 2026, 5:05 AM

    @strypey I dont want to ruin your day but I thought the toniebox figures just contain an ID of the media file. And the toniebox itself is connected to the internet and retrieves (streams) the media file from the server?

    At least thats how I understood it when I looked for options to create my own tonie figures for a friend (which is impossible unless you put a custom firmware on the device and run your own alternative server)

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