

Show HN: Teddy – A physical pet made possible using Estimote beacons - paramaggarwal
https://github.com/paramaggarwal/teddy

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Animats
Coming soon, the Internet-enabled Elf on the Shelf. In stores for Xmas!

 _It sees you when you 're sleeping. It knows when you're awake. It knows if
you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. You better watch out._
Brought to you by Google and the U.S Department of Homeland Security.

~~~
jlees
That's one heck of a writing prompt.

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uptown
"Take him to different places and earn check-in points. Make new Teddy friends
by meeting them often and unlock achievements!"

Okay - I'll be "that guy". Why are they doing this? Presumably the target
market is children for this specific implementation, but is it just having
them do tasks for the sake of incrementing a counter in the app, or is there
some actual benefit to encouraging the child to jump through these hoops? Not
every toy needs to be educational, but what purpose does this thing have apart
from just existing because it's possible?

I can attach a beacon to my toilet paper. It'll let me know when I'm nearby,
and I can earn check-in points every time I take a shit. But why? Some of
these things need to start asking themselves why they exist.

~~~
paramaggarwal
While we tried to think about new ways a toy could be implemented, our brains
were stuck in the ways we play today - with points and achievements. So while
the idea is radical, it suffers from having parts of it get inspiration from
today's apps.

