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    Show HN: AI toy I worked on is in stores

    (www.walmart.com)
    156 points Sean-Der | 13 comments | 12 Oct 25 14:15 UTC | HN request time: 0.407s | source | bottom

    Alt link: https://mrchristmas.com/products/santas-magical-telephone

    Video demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z7QJxZWFQg

    The first time I talked with AI santa and it responded with a joke I was HOOKED. The fun/nonsense doesn't click until you try it yourself. What's even more exciting is you can build it yourself:

    libpeer: https://github.com/sepfy/libpeer

    pion: https://github.com/pion/webrtc

    Then go do all your fun logic in your Pion server. Connect to any Voice AI provider, or roll your own via Open Source. Anything is possible.

    If you have questions or hit any roadblocks I would love to help you. I have lots of hardware snippets on my GitHub: https://github.com/sean-der.

    1. deanputney ◴[13 Oct 25 22:15 UTC] No.45573915[source]▶
    What happens when you use up the 60 minutes of talk time?
    replies(5): >>45573976 #>>45574228 #>>45575329 #>>45576721 #>>45577039 #
    2. hagbard_c ◴[13 Oct 25 22:23 UTC] No.45573976[source]▶
    Santa will tell your son or daughter to go beg his or her parents to pay 'santa' for more talk time:

    Generous Talk Time: 60 minutes of talk time included, and additional minutes are available for purchase for extended holiday entertainment throughout the season

    That's not what I understood Santa to be like.

    replies(2): >>45574131 #>>45574191 #
    3. observationist ◴[13 Oct 25 22:45 UTC] No.45574131[source]▶
    Something like as follows:

    Rule 34.vc - if it exists, it can be enshittified.

    4. ◴[13 Oct 25 22:53 UTC] No.45574191[source]▶
    5. bithive123 ◴[13 Oct 25 23:00 UTC] No.45574228[source]▶
    "Ho ho ho! I'm sorry but our time is up. If you'd like to keep talking to me, please provide a credit card number. Merry christmas!"
    replies(2): >>45574289 #>>45576355 #
    6. BeetleB ◴[13 Oct 25 23:07 UTC] No.45574289[source]▶
    Better would be something along the lines of "You were only so good this year, and the time is up. If you want to talk more, you need to earn more good points with your mom and dad!"

    No idea how you'd monetize that, though.

    replies(1): >>45574350 #
    7. hagbard_c ◴[13 Oct 25 23:16 UTC] No.45574350{3}[source]▶
    With 'in-app' purchases of course: 100 brownie points now only $10, hurry this offer won't last.

    Somehow this device fits well with the Don't be a sucker video linked to elsewhere on this here site [1]. Good advice, valid in many contexts. Don't.

    [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45573025

    replies(1): >>45574509 #
    8. BeetleB ◴[13 Oct 25 23:36 UTC] No.45574509{4}[source]▶
    Nah - I want something that one can monetize and actually makes the kids be good (somehow).

    Perhaps a parent commitment that if the kids earn X many goodie (goody?) points, then the CC is charged, and let the parent control how they earn those X points.

    Gamifying good behavior has been shown to be pretty effective with kids. See Kadzin.

    9. jihadjihad ◴[14 Oct 25 01:38 UTC] No.45575329[source]▶
    You drink another verification can.
    10. midnitewarrior ◴[14 Oct 25 04:46 UTC] No.45576355[source]▶
    "Ho ho ho! I'm sorry but our time is up. If you want to keep talking to Santa, go into Daddy's wallet or Mommy's purse and bring Santa the rectangular cards with the numbers on it. Now, let's play a numbers game! You read the numbers on that card to me, and I'll tell you what you're getting for Christmas!"
    replies(1): >>45583817 #
    11. qingcharles ◴[14 Oct 25 05:56 UTC] No.45576721[source]▶
    This:

    "A Chinese father's video of his daughter tearfully saying goodbye to her broken Al learning robot"

    https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeCry/comments/1o2yf3i/a_chines...

    12. lifestyleguru ◴[14 Oct 25 07:00 UTC] No.45577039[source]▶
    Reverse Santa
    13. butlike ◴[14 Oct 25 19:30 UTC] No.45583817{3}[source]▶
    "Santa needs more money to function"