My Pal Mickey -- Interactive Theme Park Doll 205
Dan Howland writes "Big Ruxpin is Watching You: Once again, The Firesign Theatre's I Think We're All Bozos on this Bus proves itself to be the science-fiction story where the most stuff came true. If you recall, a hacker named Clem traveled through the Future Fair, followed by computer generated Holy-Grams who popped up and said things like, 'Why not try [WALL OF SCIENCE], 'cause it's my favorite!' Leave it to Disney to perfect that spooky technology with My Pal Mickey, an interactive talking plush doll that knows where it is inside Walt Disney World, and tells you trivia as you move through the park. Ah ha, but even better (at least from Disney's standpoint) is that, just like the Holy-Grams, My Pal Mickey feeds the info back into the central computer system, so Doctor Memory can track people's movements through the park in realtime. (Of course, these data will be skewed because they only track people who buy the dolls...) Here is another link, with the interesting, Asimov-like sentence: 'He has a strong sense of self-preservation, and reminds you to put him some place safe when you get near water play areas, or on wet rides.'"
Re:Thank God it's opt-in... (Score:2, Informative)
Got One - Neat Toy (Score:5, Informative)
Mickey seems to have been originally intended for kids, but a larger percentage seem to have been purchased for adults. He's powered by AA's and a PIC microporcessor, and has a Vishay TSOP1138 IR receiver in his nose. Disney has deployed hundreds of IR transmitters all over the parks at Walt Disney World which activate the toy, many of which serve double service to trigger "Magical Moments Pins" as well as iPaqs that serve as park guides for foreign and disabled guests.
As far as I have been able to tell, all the doll's sayings are already onboard, plus a number of sentence fragments like numbers and showtimes that allow him to assemble sayings. ("You may want to be back here at 8:00 to get a spot for the fireworks") The only way to get the toy to say something not intended is to somehow capture and retransmit the IR data, or to create your own circuit that reponds to the transmitters. A group has been created to figure out the system at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/re_palmickey [yahoo.com]
Rumor has it that a Spanish language version is set to come out soon, as well as one that may serve as an electronic FastPass or as a digital camera.
Some more info... (Score:5, Informative)
Here's a another informative page [miceage.com] on My Pal Mickey, discussing a little bit on the tech, and possible future upgrades for the doll (i.e., a built-in digicam, acting as an electronic "FastPass").
A friend of mine who works over in DW told me about this a couple months ago. Seems like it's a steal for $50, if not just for the amount of tech in it. And with the right amount of hackability, I would have a ball with this at home:
Pal Mickey: Hey, Tony! You've just entered the kitchen. How about a beer?
Me: Well, I was kind of thirsty... Thanks, Pal Mickey!
Re:Thank God it's opt-in... (Score:2, Informative)
Only when the "fact" attempting to be presented isn't backed up with a reason:
"The Slippery Slope is a fallacy in which a person asserts that some event must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the inevitability of the event in question."
So, for example, they are correct:
'"We have to stop the tuition increase! The next thing you know, they'll be charging $40,000 a semester!"'
Is a logical fallacy.
However, "We have to stop the tuition increase! Remember how medical school only cost $20,000 a term last year and after allowing an increase it was $40,000? The next thing you know, they'll be charging $40,000 a semester for law!"
So, to validate the parent-parent poster's statement, one would say:
"We have to vote with our wallets against this customer tracking! Remember when the police in the UK were allowed to have a few cameras to track criminals? Now they track everyone, everywhere they can! Who's not to say that a corporation will act any different than the police when given the ability to track customers with a low cost device?"
Re:Wow, that could get annoying... (Score:5, Informative)
He'll repeat a statement up to 3 or so times within 15 seconds of being triggered, in case it's noisy and your can't hear him. The toy also has a huge inventory of statements matched to a large number of transmitters (in the hundreds), so there are usually at least three or so for every attraction or pavilion, but some have many more. I've taken the toy to the parks a number of times, and still hear new things every time.
Re:The Disney World Experience (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wow, that could get annoying... (Score:3, Informative)
1) it shakes and giggles when it has something to say, you then squeeze it to hear what it has to say (of course the continual shaking and giggling *could* get annoying)
2) it doesn't react to the same transmitter twice. So i assume it won't keep repeating the same info.
It actually sounds like great idea, excpet for the tracking part, espescially if it's done without any warning to the folk buying them. I'm also sort of curious as to how the tracking works - could it extend outside of the park?
Re:Got One - Neat Toy (Score:3, Informative)
I went last September. Only twice did I get caught on a line longer than about 15-20 minutes, and both where on small, no big deal rides, where if I had know the line was as long as it was, I would not have bothered. The trick is they now have a thing called "fast pass" You can "check in" to a ride, and you are given a time to come back. The total wait time is supposed to be the same if you FP or not. They keep the actual FP line down to a few minutes. The trick is, you can only FP the major rides, and only one at a time
Disclaimer - I work for a company owned by Disney, BUT my opinion here is totally my own. The REALLY can make a 6 YO girl one happy kid