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"Hello Barbie" Listens To Children Via Cloud
jones_supa writes For a long time we have had toys that talk back to their owners, but a new "smart" Barbie doll's eavesdropping and data-gathering functions have privacy advocates crying foul. Toymaker Mattel bills Hello Barbie as the world's first "interactive doll" due to its ability to record children's playtime conversations and respond to them, once the audio is transmitted over WiFi to a cloud server. In a demo video, a Mattel presenter at the 2015 Toy Fair in New York says the new doll fulfills the top request that Mattel receives from girls: to have a two-way dialogue. "They want to have a conversation with Barbie," she said, adding that the new toy will be "the very first fashion doll that has continuous learning, so that she can have a unique relationship with each girl." Susan Linn, the executive director of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, has written a statement in which she says how the product is seriously creepy and creates a host of dangers for children and families. She asks people to join her in a petition under the proposal of Mattel discontinuing the toy.
...be a book or a doll? In an age where Internet is thick on the ground, no contest.
So, will a weak-AI owned by a for-profit company inspire little girls to have this conversation:
"Mom! The Raspberry Pi 2 is out! It's got four ARM7 cores! My 3D printer would print a pair of ruby slippers in under an HOUR! Please!"
or this one?
"Mom! If I want to be a size zero, I need Kellog's Brand Nutrigrain Bars!"
I remember when my daughter was about 2.5-4 commercials were unbelievable effective. Even those commercials that targeted the mother watching with the kid had an impact and my daughter would often get upset we didn't have the right products. I'd love to just see a ban on advertising for kids under 10, and public financing.
Funny how "positive" in this case seems to mean simply "more like me".
Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
Men are told they can't get into child care, ok not because they, stupid but because they are not capable of controlling themselves.
Ever heard the sayings:
Men can't multitask?
Men don't ask for directions?
what about this article that described how women better at certain tasks:
http://www.livescience.com/470...
or this one https://www.americanexpress.co...
I have never thought women where less smart than men, in fact I was of the opinion that the where smarter.
Men are often portrayed in media as beer swilling, sex crazed, idiots that can't be pried away from watching sports.
To reference the Simpsons, which was mentioned in the last thread, rank the family in order of intelligence.
My guess would be:
Lisa, Marge, Maggie, Bart, Homer.
This is marked funny, but think about it for a minute. Our computers, phones, tablets -- even watches -- are collecting way more information than this Barbie is and yet how many people think these ubiquitous machines are creepy? Not many. The lesson here might be this: the shape of the surveillance device doesn't make it creepy -- what it collects is what makes it creepy. Oddly though, very few people are creeped out by their own phone.
Two conclusions based on "shape irrelevant":
1) Barbie, phones, computers etc. etc. have become extremely creepy surveillance devices (this is where I am, which is depressing, because I've loved technology for so long).
2) Barbie, phones, computers etc. etc. are surveillance devices and surveillance is totally not creepy -- just don't care.
To mix and match 1 & 2 though, making barbie creepy and siri not, is inconsistent and illogical.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
They're creepy too. It's worse when you're bugging children's playtimes, but we shouldn't accept any of those things in our lives.
Often I find kids will eschew high tech toys in favour of a simple cardboard box. I gave my nephew a simple electronic drum kit for Christmas (it was to help with developing his co-ordination and to give him better musical tastes than his parents, so there was some thought into the gift) but he spent the entire day running around with the box it came in and having a ball. You wouldn't have been able to pry that box off him with a crow bar.
You dont need to get high tech toys for kids, they'll enjoy lego, blocks, matchbox cars and the like just as much as I did when I was a kid. Hell, one of the best things you had to play with was a large refrigerator box.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
I gave my nephew a simple electronic drum kit for Christmas
As a parent, and speaking for most parents in the world, I wish upon you a house full of confetti and glitter, a sick goat locked up in your car, and from now on you're only allowed roughspun wool underwear.
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