Video and Radio Controlled Moving and Talking Device

Filed September 28th, 1995

This image is slightly off-topic–it’s for the invention that reached the market as Actimates, a line of robotic animated dolls that interacted with content on VHS videotapes. But the pissed-off expression on those bears’ faces is irresistible, and I think that Actimates were another expression of whatever primal urge motivated Microsoft to create Bob and Clippy. Microsoft never sold Actimates teddy bears–instead, it opted for the smiling-but-evil Barney and Teletubbies.