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A Look Inside Disney's Toys-Of-The-Future Project

Bruce Horovitz provides a fascinating inside peek at Disney's formerly top-secret toys-of-the-future swat team dubbed -- take a gulp of coffee now and grit your teeth -- Toymorrow. The eight "big thinkers" of Toymorrow brainstorm about gadgetry that mix technology and play. Their mission? "To toss some serious pixie dust in the face of the economic meltdown," of course. Meanwhile, you may recall from Thursday's Times, Disney is also hoping that "Tinker Bell Spreads Fairy Dust on Sales ." Depending on your disposition, this sudden reliance on dust generated by sprites can be viewed as either another market opportunity, like fat people, or a troubling trend to ponder over the weekend.

Horovitz sat in on a 90-minute session in which, for example, the group is given 15 minutes to come up with ways to improve upon a prototype toy based on "Toy Story"'s three-eyed alien-with-attitude. The one before them is programmed to dance to tunes such as Elvis Presley's "Viva Las Vegas." There are suggestions like having the robot mimic any dance its owner performs. Now that, my wife would be the first to tell you, could be pretty scary stuff.

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