Retro tech fans rejoice, Chrome has a new Tamagotchi extension that will conjure up memories of looking after pixelated pets if you were a child in the late 90s and early 00s.
The Tabagotchi extension simply spawns a computer critter when you open a new tab in Google’s Chrome browser.
But unlike the Tamagotchis of yesteryear, the creature doesn’t need regular attention or feeding to keep it alive, instead is will grow and evolve if you keep the number of tabs you have open to a minimum. Too many tabs and the Tamagotchi is toast.
Five tabs or fewer open per hour is the key to evolving the tab-based Tamagotchi, though for many people that number may seem impossibly small to accomplish any real work.
Tabagotchi comes from the minds of Breather, a New York based firm that deals in dedicated workplaces for creative and business professionals, with an aim to make people more productive and creative through the use of natural light and stylised spaces.
And as such, it would appear that Tabagotchi is an extension of that philosophy, with Breather aiming to get people focus more on the tasks they have at hand rather than digitally drown underneath a deluge of browser tabs.
“Find your focus with fewer distractions,” is how Breather is presenting Tabagotchi.
In many ways Tabagotchi is a pure gimmick, but it could give tab hoarders the push they need to cut down on their browser-based habit, as opposed to queuing up masses of web pages ripe for lunchtime reading.
And Tabagotchi does rely on people actually caring about keeping the digital pet alive at the expense of their browsing pleasure, which may be a tall order in a world hooked on web surfing.
Related: Geeky pleasures that deserve a relaunch
Is Tabagotchi cute or a pain in the making? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
