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The business logic of plug-in dolls and stuffed animals makes sense: The company can add stuff to the Web site (at relatively cheap expense) to sell more physical products (which generate the profits). It's a bit cynical, but no more cynical than any other part of the toy business. I just wonder how the convergence of physical toys and cyberspace will affect the thinking of the next generation of kids. Being connected to cyberspace adds utility, dimensions, and versatility to everyday objects. I have a feeling I'm going to end up sounding like my parents, baffled by the new world.

or at least it's not going to work as well as these marketing personnel would like.

The mad rush in consumerism is to try to grab as much attention as possible. The problem Mattel faces with this cyber doll site is twofold: First, there are numerous and powerful forces working against this wholistic service strategy. Second, I truly doubt the marketing department at Mattel knows what the hell kids like to play with. Building just some toy is worlds away from creating an experience that kids would find interesting-- I'm guessing, considering that these companies can't acheive the same success with adults, and kids have much shorter attention spans.

I hope it never catches on! Jeeze louise, do our kids really need another reason to be glued to a screen rather than playing? Between video games, cable, sites like Myspace and others, why would we as parents buy into something that further separates our kids from the world around them? I'm no technophobe, and I do allow my 6 year to use the computer (after all, these are skills he will need as he grows in this world). But this seems soooo pointless! Already it's possible to never leave your house if you don't want to - telecommute, online grocery shopping, friend sites...do we wnat to raise a generation of hermits?

Too late... I don't know if you've ever heard of a social problem in Japan - hikkikomori, which means "withdrawn". Basically, a certain subset of young people hide in their rooms and refuse to come out. It's recieved a lot of media attention in Japan. I don't think it's exclusive to Japan, but perhaps due to the characteristics of American society or perhaps because we aren't as deepy tied in to the internet yet, it seems to not have become a problem in the US.

As for kid's toys and the blurring of the real with the virtual - this is the inevitable march of technology. I think eventually we will be tied into the internet 24/7, through smaller devices like cellphones and blackberries and also by new devices not yet invented. There are social issues that will probably go with this; I forsee that the environmental movement will take a big hit as more and more people forget what "nature" means and of course we will have our own hikkikomori. The nature of this change, though, is truly invisible to us and unpredictable. If you look at science fiction from the 50's, robots, flying cars, and space exploration were the expected future. We can make guesses, but even careful guesses are more difficult nowadays, as technology pulls us forward. In the past we created "progress", now progress recreates us.

Also, on the topic of kids and virtual reality, there's an interesting show on in Japan on NHK Educational called Dennou Coil. The kids wear glasses that hook them in to a virtual world constantly (it's linked to the real world, so a fence or building has a virtual presence as well, but there are virtual pets and such too).

Fascinating! But I wonder if it’s just a current limitation of technology—that computers are relatively clunky and often anchored to an indoor location—that makes us think that being online and being outdoors or in the “real world” are mutually exclusive. If, as you say, there are newer computer appliances that can be worn like glasses (or perhaps like an mp3 player), is it likely in the future that people will be linked continuously and transparently to the internet wherever they are? Will the real and virtual worlds meld together in a seamless way? Will that be necessarily creepy? Perhaps the internet will become like a pervasive life force that inhabits even the most humble household objects, from toasters to can openers.

I’m sure that Wired magazine or dozens of sci-fi writers have already explored these questions ad nauseum. As usual, I’m late to the party.

I fully expect the Internet to become ubiquitous. I want my refrigerator to give me a heads up when the milk's about to expire. I want the full network, on all the time. This is the information age and we've barely scratched the surface.

Will it turn some people into zombies? Probably. But I see a big upside there. Less traffic, shorter lines at the grocery store-- I can think of hundreds of reasons I'd like more people to stay home LOL