A WiFi or cellular network connected toy, that connects in real time to a human that can both manipulate the toy's behavior as well as speak through the toy's speaker.-- theircompetitor, Jul 12 2006 Shouldn't this be under sex toys?-- DrCurry, Jul 12 2006 Who would be speaking through the speaker? A trained professional or some slightly deranged man from Milwaukee with an amazingly high pitched, feminine voice?-- Gallus, Jul 12 2006 A trained professional, of course -- and yes, DrCurry, that would be one option, of course.-- theircompetitor, Jul 12 2006 Do you have kids? This is a terrible idea. Why not call it Abduction Barbie?-- MoreCowbell, Jul 12 2006 would it argue with you if you intend to send it back for repair and it disagrees?-- po, Jul 12 2006 "Barbie wants you to get Mommy's credit cards and go to the phone and call this number..."-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jul 12 2006 Read Neal Stephenson's "The Diamond Age" - it has one of these, only with more nanotechnology.
I was imagining a traditional Barbie, wearing loose fitting clothing and watching daytime TV, due to her job having just recently been outsourced to Mumbai.-- zen_tom, Jul 12 2006 zen, The Illustrated Primer is on my list of projects to get to in my lifetime, and doesn't really require nano, does it? Put it on a laptop or phone and use an MMP engine. If you have the actors, you're ready to go.
To all those talking about Aqualang above -- think daycare. And think supervised call center with recorded calls, maybe echos to mommy.-- theircompetitor, Jul 12 2006 No it doesn't require nano - that was just me being facetious - the concept of an actor coming as part of the package was most certainly halfbaked in the Primer though. I think the trickiest part of implementing such a package is having a round-the-clock team of actors available on a minute-by-minute basis.
The technology is there (as you state re WiFi etc) but I think the logistics (potentially one actor for every toy sold - during peak periods, and none at all during lulls) make for a very difficult business model.-- zen_tom, Jul 12 2006 If we all had to pay royalties to Stephenson we'd be missing 90% of Internet startups, much less halfbaked ideas :)
The Primer is certainly an exciting vision, and has to do as much with his ideas on childhood and family and education as anything else -- this idea is much more humble, looking for some achievable spontanteneity in a wind up doll-- theircompetitor, Jul 12 2006 random, halfbakery