I for one welcome the long furby renaissance.
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2023
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A hero appears in the loneliest of times.
The original '90s furby is unironically a fantastic platform for a hardware hacker, because they were so cheaply made the whole thing runs off a single motor and a clever arrangement of cams. It would be reasonably straightfoward to pull out the 'guts', fit a motor controller and a Raspberry Pi Zero, put a camera where the IR and light sensors go, put a better mic and camera in, then hook the bastard up to GPT-4! There's a cam position sensor too so you could modulate its speech cycle by counting the syllables in the GPT output as well as move its ears, eyes etc.
Other improvements could include high brightness RGB LEDs behind the eyes to indicate mood, an ultrasonic sensor with a second motor so the furby can turn around and make eye contact with people entering a room, and using one of the pi's GPIO pins and a suitable piece of wire as an FM radio transmitter (use a low pass filter because doing that shits out harmonics quite badly) to hijack nearby radios.
I didn't need another project.
...i am so tempted to go down this rabbithole of furby hacks
“Through this research, kids told us that it was important for Furby to be their ultimate best friend – a furry companion to do all the things a BFF would do, like dance to music, share fortunes, meditate, mimic each other in silly voices, and even put on a light show, and that’s exactly what we created.”
I love picturing small children setting up elaborate light shows for their best friends
Can confirm, been there, done that. Closet Rave FTW
kids told us that it was important for Furby to...
...meditate...
Ok I'm aware that traditions are different in different parts of the world and such, but now I'm picturing that times have changed so much kids are meditating and it's an important thing to them. I mean I started kind of out of the blue as a kid without outside influence as a pasty white European dude, but I got made fun of for it when people found out.
~~Kind of~~ really cool if kids are meditating these days.
The comments here prove we still don't read the article. The new Furby is putting front and center "Does not connect to the internet."
The furby doesn't need to connect to the internet directly, the app on your phone already will. I expect its permissions list to look as invasive as Play Services, or Facebook.
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Where are you seeing that? I don't see anything mentioned either way about internet connectivity in TheHill article nor the hasbro announcement.
It’s on the Amazon listing.
The previous model connected via Bluetooth to a phone. I'm assuming the same with this one. No wifi, and therfore no "Internet" connection.
The Amazon listing mentions "does not connect to the internet or to any devices" so it might actually not have any sort of connectivity.
@grumbul@beehaw.org, oh, I missed that subtlety... Maybe it wasn't even so subtle, but I was focused on the does not connect to the Internet to see the "or devices."
Depite all the black mirror watchers here not reading or looking into it, no furby has connected to the internet yet?
Didn’t the terrifying Furby Connects of like 2016 have the ability to connect to internet-connected apps and would send OTA updates to the furby on a weekly basis? I think the furby itself was receive-only and wouldn’t send anything, but I might be wrong. I still think it’s fair to say that furby was at least semi-connected to the internet.
Technically Furby Connects is a subcategory of Furby, and I was talking about the main line, (and "Connect" is in the name, so that is still not trying to sneak it past consumers) but I could see the argument it is a little pedantic.
But saying THIS model has a camera and is connected to the internet explicitly goes against most of the advertising and most everyone is just wanting to act panicked about a basic toy. 😑
Oh! I actually thought the Furby Connect was another mainline furby, but I honestly didn't find it good looking, so I passed on it completely (I've been more of a tamagotchi person anyway). I think a lot of the "furbies are creepy" opinions are just rehashed fear from the lies that were spread about the first couple furbies. I wasn't allowed to have one when I was a kid because the people on tv said it was creepy because they might have cameras and would record children.
If my parents knew I have a stripped gen 2 furby with a single eyelash on my shelf looking like a skeleton, they'd definitely think it was creepy haha
I want the same toys but less loud and needy. 😭I loved Furby and tamagotchi too, but I wanted them to bring some of the stuff from those digimon pets they had way back in the 90s. Let me make tamagotchis fight!
Tangent here: Not sure if you've seen Owl House, but they show a tamagotchi-like device in the second season** where you can send little pictograph messages to your friends and WHAT I'D GIVE TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT. It reminded me a bit of Pictochat on the DS. But I know any device that was made would be pretty expensive since it would need wireless even if it wasn't internet-connected. So that means it'd have a high resolution screen to justify the price, which would make it more expensive, then thicker for bigger batteries. It just doesn't seem realistic or even something I'd want in the end with all the upgrades.
I do really miss little devices with low resolution displays. A lot of charm goes away for me when you don't have to use your imagination at all- same with furbies that speak in clear english. There's SO much room for expanding on the ideas of furbies and tamagotchis that hasn't been explored, but unfortunately, I'm not sure if that'll ever actually exist until a group of nerds get together and makes it happen. Being able to fight and collect things and have actual permanence in the game without babying the digital pet constantly would be amazing!
I'm familiar! I actually said something similar to my partners when I saw the device in the show! "Why did they stunt the development so much in our world?" Or something like that!
It always feels like every toy company half does these things? I know they talk about "financial risks" but hasbro isnt one failed toy from bankruptcy or anything!!! Give us an amazing virtual pet toy dang it.
But I think my old one is still talking in a box somewhere.
Clearly someone needs to figure out how to get an old Furby to interact with a new Furby.
(Of course, someone has already done ChatGPT + Furby)
I can’t wait until Look Mum No Computer turns them into a terrifying musical instrument.
Thanks for the nightmares. I love it.
Hell yes
Firby I'm sad, play despacito
No thanks, I'm still waiting for a long furby.
Ferret-bird.
Equiped with real ai this time for even more uncanny responses.
I'm holding out for the return of BonziBuddy.
Get back to me when it’s running dual M2 processors and at least a rudimentary AI, and wifi connectivity.
I always wanted a furby and maybe now that I'm a grown adult I'll finally get one lol. Although any time I see a furby now I'm reminded of this scene from Mitchell's vs the Machines.
I like those projects where people have attached a raspberry pi to the old furbies to turn them into cool things, I wonder if that will be possible with these new ones?
they are legion.
And here I thought we were rid of these menaces.
Now they return…
God help us all.
How long until someone makes it into a Long Furby?
These are actually pretty cute, but again with the fucking app and online connection. I'd never have one of these in my house, let alone give one to my kids to play with unless I've disabled any network connectivity (but the simplest solution would be to just not buy one.)
@Onii-Chan@kbin.social
I think you misread the post friend. The app says that they introduced that garbage 10 years ago, but in a misleading move, they didn't clarify that this new iteration of Furby does not have either.
It's a super dishonest way of writing. I hope this helped!
Thank you, I definitely misread it haha.
Didn't know those were discontinued to begin with, I got one for my daughter like 5 years ago, for Christmas. It used a mobile app or some shit.
The horror...
Huh. I didn't realize they'd stopped selling the last reboot.
Oh no, not again.
These things scare the hell out of me still.
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