When toy manufacturers make talking toys, they use the cheapest chips and speakers possible: 4-kilohertz audio samples played through a 30-cent piezo buzzer would be an extravagance in this industry.

Fisher-Price’s talking Elmo doll made headlines in 2008 when a Florida mother claimed that the adorable fuzzball was spitting out Chucky-esque death threats against her 2-year-old son. Local news ...

Twelve years ago, a mechanized version of a red plushy “Sesame Street” co-star became the unofficial face of obnoxious Christmas consumerism. Retailing for $28.99, “Tickle Me Elmo” resold for as much ...

Each holiday season, a new crop of must-have toys suddenly pops up on store shelves and then almost as quickly sell out. Then, a holiday frenzy takes hold and otherwise sane shoppers end up trampling ...

Remember a few years ago when a talking Elmo potty-training book malfunctioned and cheerfully queried an unsuspecting family with the rhetorical question "Who wants ...