barbie
Latest
Barbie’s hot pink flip phone is coming to the real world this summer
Nokia phone-maker HMD (or Human Mobile Devices) announced its official collaboration with Mattel at MWC. Its Barbie Flip Phone will be a feature phone and is set to be released this summer.
Our favorite toys under $100 to look out for on Black Friday
Check out some great toys from brands like Star Wars, Marvel and Harry Potter that you can pick up for under $100 this holiday season.
Apple buys the voice tech startup behind Hello Barbie
Apple has acquired PullString, the startup behind the voice technology powering the interactive "Hello Barbie" doll Mattel released in 2015. PullString, previously known as ToyTalk, was founded back in 2011 by former Pixar employees. Its AI platform gave its partner companies and clients a way to create digital and physical characters and voice apps that can communicate with people. Hello Barbie was one of those -- an interactive Thomas The Tank Engine toy was another. The company previously launched software that makes it easy even for non-technical pros to create Alexa apps of their own, as well.
Barbie's latest career path is robotics engineering
Earlier this year, Mattel announced that it was partnering with Tynker to bring Barbie-themed coding lessons to young kids. As of today, six free coding experiences are now available as is a new STEM-themed doll -- Robotics Engineer Barbie. The lessons are geared towards beginners, kindergarten-aged and older, and aim to teach logic, problem-solving and the basics of coding. While they learn, kids can also take on different career roles alongside Barbie, including musician, astronaut, pastry chef, robotics engineer, farmer and beekeeper.
Mattel and Tynker will use Barbie to teach kids to code
A couple of years back, Mattel and Tynker partnered up to produce programming lessons based on Hot Wheels and Monster High. Now the two companies are expanding their partnership to launch seven new Barbie-themed coding lessons this coming summer. The curriculum, aimed at teaching girls about computer programming, will also expose them to them potential careers like becoming a veterinarian, astronaut or robotics engineer. The larger goal is to introduce coding to 10 million kids by 2020.
Barbie Hello Hologram is a tiny virtual friend for girls
Smart home speakers like the Echo and Google Home can tell you the weather, play music and look up stuff for you. However, they stop short of attaching a face to those actions, and certainly don't have any sense of sartorial style. Mattel's latest creation, the Barbie Hello Hologram, rectifies that by placing the iconic doll into her own tiny holographic world and letting children talk to her directly. She can chat about the weather, crack corny jokes and even dance. Barbie can dab with the best of them.
Barbie's smart home is a party house
Barbie's new connected Hello Dreamhouse may not have a Nest thermostat, but we still saw many other smart-home features at Toy Fair this week -- as many as an 11.5-inch plastic doll might need from a $299 plastic house, anyway.
Barbie's new Dreamhouse goes full IoT with voice commands
Last year, Mattel debuted its WiFi-enabled Hello Barbie to make playtime a bit more interactive. A connected doll needs an internet-friendly home, too. At this year's Toy Fair, the company is showing off just that. The Barbie Hello Dreamhouse gives the brand's namesake her very own smart home that actually connects to the internet and a companion app. That connectivity allows the toy to accept voice commands from kids for tasks ranging from flipping on the lights to operating the elevator. Because of course Barbie has an elevator... duh.
ICYMI: Worm mind control, a creepy new Barbie and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-630410{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-630410, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-630410{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-630410").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A new $75 Barbie with speech recognition software can talk to your kids and give them career advice, as well as store previous conversations to refer back during girlfriend chats. Holy hell, yes? Meanwhile, some scientists figured out how to use mind control on worms in a lab with an ultrasonic pulse that gets the slimy suckers to change course. And a group of friends gathered in the desert in Nevada to build a scaled seven mile solar system. Bummer alert: They left off Pluto.
Hello Barbie has some career advice for your child
There's a new Barbie on the block. She's chatty and she comes with a charging station. She's dressed in a cropped, metallic leather jacket, dark skinny jeans and a white sweater vest with the word "HELLO" printed thrice on the front. Within seconds of switching her on, her chunky necklace lights up as it searches for a WiFi connection. When the LED goes from red to green, you know she's ready to play. A shiny, round belt buckle doubles as a button. You press it down to activate speech-recognition for your child's first two-way conversation with the iconic, inanimate doll.
Interactive Barbie is your kids' future BFF
Oh. Em. Gee. Mattel is developing a new talking Barbie, and this time, the company's not programming it with silly canned phrases. Nope, Mattel's working on an actual interactive model called "Hello Barbie" that kids (and adults) can talk to, sort of like Siri and Cortana -- but in doll form with long, luxurious blonde hair. Girl friend's loaded with ToyTalk's PullString technology designed to make two-way conversations happen with animations and toys, so she's capable of natural speech recognition and picks up cues from what you say to formulate a response. She can even remember past convos and, like a good BFF, take note of her owner's preferences to reference in future replies. You will need to push a button so she knows you're talking to her directly, but that's not such a huge inconvenience.
A pair of putrid pink phone protectors
There are plenty of poorly conceived iPhone cases out there, but it's rare that you see a company really knock it out of the park with a bad design only to follow it up with an even worse one. Moschino, an Italian luxury firm that dreams up all manner of absurd fashion accessories, has really Barbie'd out its iPhone offerings and dreamt up a pair of absolutely unusable iPhone shells. The first is modeled after a Barbie toy mirror that apparently holds such nostalgia for some that they're willing to make their smartphone about a hundred times more cumbersome in order to relive it. It's big, awkward, and weird. Kind of like a lobster. The second case doesn't sound too bad on paper -- it's a case designed to look like one of Barbie's old toy phones -- but in practice it's pretty much abysmal. Ignoring the massive size, thick rubber sides, and the nearly impossible-to-reach lock button, the case is laid out such that you'll actually be talking into the back of the Barbie phone while you're speaking on your real one. If that's not a recipe for being mocked in public, I don't know what is.
Barely Related: Star-Lord's dance-off, comet sounds
We'd like to take this moment to clearly and firmly state our collective opinion of actor Chris Pratt: He's adorable. Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs. Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.
Toy Fair has a little something for everyone; here's how it looks on the inside
To say the least, there's always something peculiar to be found at Toy Fair. Put simply, this place is guaranteed fun. It's like being five years young and stepping into a Toys R Us for the first time ever -- except there's much, much more stuff here. Toy Fair 2014, hosted at the Javits Center in New York City, definitely lived up to the hype. There were more toys to see and play with than you can imagine, some of which are available now, while others are due to hit the market later this year. Naturally, we took a stroll through the show floor and found a few neat things: TOMY's new motion-controlled Battroborg Warriors, MOSS has a kit to help make your robot-building dreams come true and a shoulder-strapped Pikachu that shoots foam discs. Oh, and how could we forget Barbie's pooping canine -- yes, folks, that's a thing. Of course, this is only a small taste of everything Toy Fair has to offer, but the photos and videos after the break should sum up what the experience is like.
Mars Explorer Barbie: yeah, Ken's over the moon for this one
Technologically inclined Barbie's aren't exactly new, but a Mars Explorer Barbie? Yeah, that's worth mentioning. In cooperation with NASA, the "Career of the Year Mars Explorer Barbie" is being "launched"... presumably right into Ken's ever-loving heart. We're told that she's ready to "add her signature pink splash to the red planet," and should be hitting Earthly shelves now for $12.99. The best part? Curiosity won't have to sing a birthday song alone ever again.
Mattel goes all in on AR for 2013
At last year's Toy Fair, Mattel was all about Apptivity. The line of figures that interact with an iPad didn't exactly revolutionize the industry. But, the company isn't giving up on the concept. In 2013 it's evolving and moving from action figures that you drag across a screen, to much more interactive augmented reality concepts. Rather than simply slapping a capacitive pad on the bottom of a toy, this next-gen version focuses first on delivering a solid analog experience, then enhances it by actually using the considerable computing power made available by the iPad. To give the new series the best chance possible at succeeding, three of the biggest brands in the Mattel stable will be first to make the jump: Barbie, Disney and Hot Wheels. So what does 2013 hold for the venerable toy maker? Head on after the break to find out.
Griffin and Crayola intro contact-free Light Marker, drawing workstations
Griffin and Crayola are already best of friends through their ColorStudio HD collaboration for the iPad. They're deepening that relationship at CES with a handful of iPad accessories and apps based around the quintessential crayon. Heading up the pack, the Crayola Light Marker you see above upgrades the earlier input by letting kids draw in the air; they can splatter (thankfully virtual) paint and play other games without scribbling directly on the tablet's screen. A pair of cradles are joining the marker, including the Digital Activity Center portable lap desk (after the break) and the briefcase-like Color & Play Workstation. The software side is being rounded out with special Barbie and Hot Wheels versions of the ColorStudio HD app, each of which has drawings themed around the perennial favorite toys. Griffin expects the Light Marker, Digital Activity Center and Color & Play Workstation to reach young artists' hands in the spring for $30, $40 and $20 respectively; the specialized iPad apps should arrive later in January, each for $3. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
April Fools' Day roundup: the big toys, the small toys and the cats
Depending on where you are right now, you're either pretty much done with April Fools' Day (hence our bloated inbox thanks to all you lovely tipsters!) or it's just about to start on your side of the world. In fact, some of this year's submissions already got a head start, including the excellent 8-bit quest mode in Google Maps. Oh, don't worry, there's plenty more from Mountain View and the usual participants this year -- we've rounded up the best of the lot right after the break for your amusement. Keep an eye on this as we will be adding new goodies to the list throughout the day. [Thanks to everyone who sent these in]
Can ThinkGeek's April product introductions get any geekier?
Where do they get those wonderful toys? Yes, the mad geniuses at ThinkGeek once again are offering a slate of new products scheduled to go on sale today. If you're an iPad owner, there are some great choices here; the Hungry Hungry Hippos iPad game shown above looks fun, and the Barbie digital fashion styling iPad/head set is very innovative. It's not clear when some of these products will ship, so would-be buyers should be patient (although the Inflatable Captain's Chair seems to be ready to go right now). Back in 2009, the Tauntaun Sleeping Bag was one of the site's most popular 4/1 product introductions; it took months to actually start shipping to customers.
Barbie gets a camera implant to snap photos in style, we go hands-on
Speechless? We can't blame you and, although this fashionable shooter might not be up your alley, we're willing to bet your kids -- or any other young member of the fam -- would snatch her up in a heartbeat. Dubbed Barbie Photo Fashion, she might not be too computer savvy or a filmmaker, but this stylish doll's got traits of her own to flaunt. Photo Barbie's carrying a 5-megapixel camera between her shoulder blades and a thumb-size LCD in her synthetic guts. She's got 15 built-in effects to give your pics a little sweet spice too. Speaking of, the $50 Barbie holds up to 100 shots and is powered by a rechargeable battery that should give you enough juice to get through a few sessions. When it's time to charge up or unload your images, just jack into her tramp stamp mini USB port. Barbie was kind enough to join our photoshoot, so hit up the gallery below to check out the rest of the shots. Terrence O'Brien contributed to this report.
