Microsoft ActiMates (1997)
ActiMates was launched as a joint venture between Microsoft and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and was heralded as an "innovative-early learning system for children ages 2 to 5." In November of 1997, PBS experimented with the children's show "Barney and Friends" by using a specially encoded signal and animation technology from Microsoft. The technology utilized an interactive plush Barney doll as a child's viewing companion. ActiMates was also designed to work with interactive TeleTubbie dolls that enthusiastically voiced encouraging words to kids like "good answer!" Microsoft as a toymaker was a failure; ActiMates was canned three years later.
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