In the NYT/IHT, there is a good article about As gadgets replace toys, what's in it for kids? By Michael Barbaro. It's about an important trend: adults' and kids' artifacts like high-tech gadgets are now tending to be the same.

the push to sell consumer electronics to preteens is touching off an animated debate about whether the products qualify as toys, as manufacturers contend, and whether it is wise to break down one of the last barriers between children's play and adult technology. Â For decades, toy makers have designed products that allow children to mimic adult behavior, but it was, in the end, always make-believe. No matter how many electronic bells and whistles the latest toy truck had, it was still a toy. But with the latest crop of electronics for children 6 to 12, there is little pretending. The adult's product and the child's are often one and the same.

Why do I blog this? this trend is interesting, artifacts like cell-phones, digital video camera, DVD players are now used by both; how this is reflected in their design? and what would be the impacts of this: will kids drop kid-centered design and prefer the adults version?