Barbie Becomes an Authentication Device for Pre-Teen Friendship:
At last, a USB security token for girls!Pre-teens in Mattels’ free Barbie Girls virtual world can chat with their friends online using a feature called Secret B Chat. But as an ingenious (and presumably profitable) bulwark against internet scum, Mattel only lets girls chat with “Best Friends,” defined as people they know in real life.
That relationship first has to be authenticated by way of the Barbie Girl, a $59.95 MP3 player that looks like a cross between a Bratz doll and a Cue Cat, and was recently rated one of the hottest new toys of the 2008 holiday season.
The idea is, Sally brings her Barbie Girl over to her friend Tiffany’s house, and sets it in Tiffany’s docking station — which is plugged into a USB port on Tiffany’s PC. Mattel’s (Windows only) software apparently reads some sort of globally unique identifier embedded in Sally’s Barbie Girl, and authenticates Sally as one of Tiffany’s Best Friends.
Now when Sally gets home, the two can talk in Secret B Chat. (If Sally’s parents can’t afford the gadget, then she has no business calling herself Tiffany’s best friend.)