Mattel will not sell an all-in-one voice-controlled smart hub / baby monitor, setting back the state of parenting by decades or even millennia:
Toymaker Mattel has shelved plans to build an "all-in-one voice-controlled smart baby monitor," after complaints about the device were raised by privacy advocates and child psychologists. According to a report from The Washington Post, the company said in a statement that the device, named Aristotle, did not "fully align with Mattel's new technology strategy" and would not be "[brought] to the marketplace."
Aristotle was unveiled back in January this year by Mattel's Nabi brand. It combined the smart speaker and digital assistant functionality of Amazon's Echo with a connected camera that acted as a baby monitor. But the Aristotle was intended to be a much more active presence in children's lives than an Echo speaker, with Mattel claiming it would read them bedtime stories, soothe them if they cried in the night, and even teach them their ABCs.
Mattel also appointed a new chief financial officer.
Also at Ars Technica and MSPoweruser.
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(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 06 2017, @05:49PM
Raising babies to WHAT, one might ask?
If the only love and comfort came from blinking blue lights and soothing voices, what's to keep baby from growing up into family annihilators because their voices always intruding on soothing mechanical mama's bedtime stories?
B.F. Skinner was already excoriated for this 50 years ago: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/skinner-air-crib [psychologicalscience.org]
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.