You have to be a bit jealous of the kids today. Their simple "toys" are probably more powerful than any government supercomputer from my youth. For example, as a wee tot I'm sure I talked to my teddy bear or had an imaginary friend, but not today's kids, they have interactive artificially intelligent neural life form robots with attitudes like Brian The Brain. Yep, this mere toy is probably smarter and cooler than you.

Brian The Brain is a pretty advanced toy "brain in a jar" that can be interacted with using either the attached keyboard or by simply speaking to him. Brian's advanced voice recognition, text-to-speech software and A.I. technology give him the ability to learn and speak with an almost unlimited vocabulary. He can tell jokes, play games and ask trivia questions or even help out with homework by utilizing his massive database of details from the concise enyclopedia from Britannica, dictionary or world history timeline. Brian can also be used to initiate phone calls and be used as a speakerphone by plugging him into a phone line, play mp3 music, guard the room with motion sensors or be used as an alarm clock or personal calendar/organizer. He looks like a lot of fun, but unfortunately you'll never be able to get the kids out of the house now. Check out the demonstration video below to see Brian the Brain in action.

Now, I know Brian the Brain is kinda for kids, but you just know it would be the talk of the cubicle farm back at the office. I'm actually tempted to get one just for myself. I also bet with enough tinkering, it could really be a hacker's dream come true. If it could just be upgraded to work with a computer or go online, there's endless possibilities... even a version of this technology for the car would be cool, ala Knight Rider or something. Let us know in the Comments what you think of Brian the Brain or if you know of any good ways to hack this thing. (via The Green Head)