"Nabaztag" is a clumsy name for a cute little Wi-Fi-enabled rabbit with wiggly ears, a built-in light show, and the ability to play MP3s and read RSS feeds and messages out loud. The cuteness doesn't take the sting out of a the $149.99 price tag. But I've found that the Lapin Communicant, as its maker (a French company, Violet) calls it, has really become part of my work environment. It must be the open cubes... One completely random voice seems to perk things up.

I enjoyed the digeridoo noise it makes before it reads a text message (I tried some of the other options, such as the trumpet fanfare, but they didn't quite embrace the weirdness of the Smart Bunny the way the aboriginal instrument did for me) and the fact that the name Space Bunny was already registered (I did score the name "Techno Love Bunny" at www.nabaztag.com). And the light show, a T-shaped pattern of multicolored dots, is amusing when I've stashed the Techno Love Bunny in a dark corner of the office.

The lights also offer a highly efficient means of figuring out whether the bunny has a Wi-Fi connection. Security-conscious users won't be thrilled by the bunny's ability to handle WEP. At any rate, WPA compatibility won't be available until the next Nabaztag arrives later this year. (The current model will not be upgradable.)

Like any modern digital toy, Nabaztag offers tiers of service for various monthly fees. The free service include the Talking Clock (the rabbit tells you the time, on the hour), Tai Chi poses, a recap of the week, RSS news feeds, a report on the air quality or traffic in Paris (it's a French rabbit, you see), an MP3 alarm clock, a weather forecast, a stock ticker (lights or voice!), a Mood mode that I'll avoid describing, and e-mail alerts. Last but not least, and probably my favorite feature (besides the Tai Chi poses), are Nabcasts: The bunny suddenly pipes up with poetry, strange sounds, music, and other even more random feeds than you've signed up for. Nabcasts are highly engaging, especially when you're in the middle of an episode of DL.TV. I didn't mean to yank off its magnetic ears... I just wanted to find the switch to flip it to silent mode!

If you're willing to drop $14.95 for three months, you can add your favorite RSS feeds read by the rabbit, a Stock Portfolio feature I worked hard to avoid (would you want a plastic bunny to tell you whether you should hold on or sell everything?), a Google Talk alert, personalized e-mail alerts, and an alarm clock setup that allows you to use different MP3 files for different wakeup times.

The downside? After the rather bracing amount of cash you spent on the bunny? Definitely the voice synthesizer. Remember the early days of Mac utilities that could read your e-mail with all the talent of well, an early voice synthesizer? Nabaztag sounds like that. Listening to it read, say, headlines from the Wall Street Journal or a message from a friend that says, "I warned you, but did you listen to me? Oh, no, you knew, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little bunny, isn't it?" in the exact-same joyless cadence is a bit disappointing.

But I like it. The poetry recitals and random ear waggings have grown on me. Then again, at $150 a pop, I'm not whipping out my credit card out to buy a litter (if it were a jackrabbit, we'd be talking herds, and a group of bunnys can be a bury, colony, circle, or nest, too) for my friends.

But if I hit the Lotto... bunnies for all!

Thanks to DL.TV's Patrick Norton for this post! And thanks to ThinkGeek.com for offering a demo rabbit.