MATTEL TINKERING WITH MULTIMEDIA\Barbie, Hot Wheels versions in works.Byline: Laurie Flynn The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times Even as tiny tots look for lost Barbie shoes and misplaced mis·place tr.v. mis·placed, mis·plac·ing, mis·plac·es 1. a. To put into a wrong place: misplace punctuation in a sentence. b. pieces to the new Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is a brand of die cast toy car, introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Johnny Lightning and Matchbox until 1996, when Mattel acquired rights to the Matchbox brand from Tyco. sets from Santa, Mattel Inc. is already hard at work on electronic versions of these toys for next Christmas. Mattel, the world's largest toy company, has formed a Mattel Media division to develop and sell multimedia products and software based on its toy brands, which include Barbie, Hot Wheels, Cabbage Patch Cabbage patch may refer to:
Mattel, based in El Segundo El Segundo (ĕl sēgŭn`dō), industrial city (1990 pop. 15,223), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1917. Its products include navigation and computer systems, aircraft parts, office machines, telephone apparatus, and , is reluctant to discuss its plans before a big announcement planned for Jan. 30 at the American International Toy Fair The American International Toy Fair (the trademarked name uses all capitals for TOY FAIR) is one of a few major toy industry trade shows held around the world. It is held annually in late winter (mid February) in New York City's Toy District (Broadway and 5th Avenue in the mid in New York. But in an interview in the trade paper Computer Retail Week, Doug Glen, president of Mattel Media, said the first of the products would be in stores in the fall of 1996. In developing a software line on best-selling toy brands, Mattel is following a brand-marketing strategy that has proven successful for entertainment companies. Disney Software, has had success with programs based on its movies, including "Lion King" and "Aladdin." Whether a toy maker with no software experience will find the going smooth, or shelf space available in different stores than those it usually deals with, remains to be seen. But Barbie is the best-selling toy of all time, and that might provide the necessary muscle. Mattel's software line comes just as the company's Fisher-Price division, in league with Compaq Computer Corp., is set to display a line of computer products for very young children. The companies plan to announce the first of their products at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. in early January. But while these projects may mark Mattel's first official foray into personal computing, Barbie already has a following among computer users who browse the Internet's World Wide Web. Barbie collectors have started dozens of home pages devoted to sharing information, buying and selling dolls and generally reveling in Barbie facts and history. One Web site so polished that it looks like it might have been produced by the toy maker itself is Jennifer Warf's Internet Barbie Collection, which the home page says is "designed for collectors looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. Barbies" (http://silver.ucs.indiana.edu/(tilde A symbol used in Windows, starting with Windows 95, that maintains a short version of a long file or directory name for compatibility with Windows 3.1 and DOS. For example, the short version of a file named "Letter to Joe" would be LETTER~1. Then "Letter to Pat" becomes LETTER~2. )jwarf/bar bie.html). The categories, illustrated by photos, include "Holiday Limited Editions" and "1996 New Barbies!" Warf, a student at Indiana University who will soon be looking for a job, is apparently aware (and even hopes) that she might be mistaken for a Mattel marketer. So she includes this disclaimer: "All copyrights on this page belong to the Mattel corporation. I am in NO way affiliated with the Mattel company, nor do I design, create or own any copyrights on the doll. Not saying that I wouldn't like to. So, Mattel, if you are looking . . . please take a look at MY ONLINE RESUME, and HIRE ME" There are some sites Mattel would probably rather give a wide berth, like the Hacker Barbe Dream Basement (http://www.catalog.com/mrm/bar be/barbe.html). This iconoclastic i·con·o·clast n. 1. One who attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas or institutions. 2. One who destroys sacred religious images. , feminist site, which gets some 12,000 visits a month, is maintained by Marianne Mueller, a systems programmer at Sun Microsystems. (Mueller misspells "Barbie" to avoid copyright problems with Mattel.) Dream Basement takes an irreverent approach, such as an image of a defiant, topless Barbie outside the "No Tell Motel." Like Warf, Mueller offers a disclaimer: "Some of the images on these pages poke fun at some ideas that some people have about women and sexuality. Please don't follow any links from this page if you think they will be seen by children or by people who are easily offended." |
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