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Framework for telemedicine systems using ultra-high definition imaging

Protocol for managing capability exposure APIs in IMT-2020 networks

Something bad is happening in Oz.

Last week, fans of Wicked, the musical-soon-to-be-movie, headed to retailers including Target, Walmart, and Macy’s to pick up Mattel’s limited-edition Wicked Barbie dolls ahead of the film’s release on November 22. At first, it seemed like any other Mattel collaboration—until a few fans started searching the URL printed on the back of the box, which led not to the Wicked movie website, as intended, but to a parody porn site of the same name. 

Mattel has apologized for the mix-up and promised to “remedy” the error, but that hasn’t stopped fans from speculating about how such an egregious typo could’ve made its way to the box in the first place. One popular theory, which has garnered more than 62,000 likes on X, is that the mistake had something to do with AI.

In an email to Fast Company, Mattel’s Barbie & Dolls director of global brand communications wrote, “I can confirm AI was not used on packaging for Mattel Wicked collection dolls.”

Though AI has been the culprit of plenty of misguided marketing snafus, the tweet demonstrates a misunderstanding of how Mattel is actually using AI tools in its packaging development process—and shows that, even as AI gains popularity with creative teams as a production tool, human error is alive and well.

The official Mattel Wicked dolls link to a porn site on the box ???????? pic.twitter.com/iW4mNVAlPE

— just2good (Sarah Genao) (@just2goodYT) November 9, 2024

Can we blame a chatbot for this?

In June, Fast Company covered Mattel’s announcement that it planned to use Adobe Firefly, a generative AI software, as part of its packaging development process. At the time, Mattel’s chief design officer Chris Down clarified that the tech would be used to help visualize fantastical new concepts and speed up time-consuming processes, like fine-tuning a background in Photoshop. The company’s guidelines around generative AI tools specified that Firefly could not be used to generate subject matter itself, like the actual doll (or, in this case, the accompanying text). 

Nevertheless, an X user shared Fast Company’s original headline alongside the news of the Wicked typo with the caption “Smash cut to four months later.” One commenter under the post wrote, “how did I know this mistake happened bc they’re using AI.” Another added, “The future is so, so dumb.”

Mattel has previously been open about how it’s used AI for doll packaging. In early October, the first Mattel packaging featuring input from Adobe Firefly hit shelves. The company explained to AdAge at the time that its new Holiday Barbie and Sue Bird Barbie packages incorporated backgrounds generated by Firefly, which had then been touched up by human designers. It’s important to note that, for a brand as wide-reaching as Mattel, AI is not being used in the design process without guardrails around both IP and image quality. Any visuals provided by Firefly are vetted and edited by multiple human designers before they ever reach the actual box.

At this stage, it’s highly unlikely that Mattel would trust an AI software to write the final copy for their packaging. It appears that the Wicked Barbie typo was a plain old instance of human error—if a somewhat inconceivable one. As of this writing, Mattel hasn’t responded to Fast Company‘s request for comment on how the mistake may have been made during the design process.

The fallout

In a statement on the Wicked packaging misprint, Mattel shared, “We deeply regret this unfortunate error and are taking immediate action to remedy this. Parents are advised that the misprinted, incorrect website is not appropriate for children. Consumers who already have the product are advised to discard the product packaging or obscure the link and may contact Mattel Customer Service for further information.” 

While it’s unclear exactly what steps Mattel plans to take to “remedy” the issue, retailers including Target, Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Macy’s had already pulled the dolls from shelves as of midday Monday. 

Meanwhile, there are a few parties benefitting from the unfortunate situation. Variety reports that the mistakenly shared porn site has seen a 12-year surge in traffic after the incident, and several eBay users have taken this opportunity to massively mark up their Wicked dolls in original packaging. One pack of seven different dolls, advertised as “IN MISPRINT ERROR BOX,” is currently going for $3,500. 

Mattel is sure to take a financial and reputational hit from this incident. Still, the news pick-up, social media speculation, and pricey eBay reselling demonstrate how a simple mistake can turn a run-of-the-mill product drop into something fans will remember—for better or worse.

The use of Group Policy Objects (GPO) can be really powerful in a Windows environment. In this post we’re going to leverage GPO to distribute certificates to the user and computer as well as enabling the 802.1X supplicant. First, let’s

I love technology built by teachers—it’s just different. You can feel the truth and passion behind it. It has features that you know were intentionally considered by someone who has been in the classroom. Short Answer is a fantastic writing tool that was obviously built by teachers solving real problems for real students. The best!...

Wow, I love this collection of Vintage Swedish Packaging.

Prizewinner Develops Inclusive Neuroimaging Technology  AAAS

The AI lab waging a guerrilla war over exploitative AI  MIT Technology Review

In the latest episode of For Tech’s Sake, we dive deep under the sea to explore the world of internet cables, from the Victorian internet to modern-day fibre.

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Roofing industry makes outreach, education and business networking a priority in Dallas as the percentage of Latino workers in roofing continues to climb.

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Oklahoma's State Insurance Department initiates a grant program in 2025 to incentivize fortified roof installations, offering 10-15% offsets.

How roofing contractors can manage weight loads on rooftops effectively, turning potential hazards into a smooth, successful operation. 

La Audiencia de Sevilla nombra un tribunal ampliado por la "dificultad y trascendencia jurídica" tras anular el Constitucional las condenas a Chaves y Griñán Leer

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El precio de la vivienda sigue al alza y se aproxima a los 3.255 euros por metro cuadrado, récord histórico alcanzado en 2011. Euskadi da ayudas a 40.000 vascos para pagar su alquiler y otras 27.000 familias viven en VPO de alquiler protegido. El consejero multiplica sus retoques a la política de Vivienda y confía que las "zonas tensionadas" enfríen un mercado de alquiler disparado Leer

Más de 20 patronales, colegios y autoridades económicas de Castellón y la Comunidad apoyan el manifiesto en defensa del clúster cerámico: o las ayudas llegan ya o la economía y sociedad de Castellón pueden irse a pique Leer

A los 5 años, la radio entró en su vida como un bálsamo. Las ondas de la Radio Panamericana traían hasta su humilde casita de Punutuma, una comunidad indígena al sur de Bolivia, la radionovela “Rigurita Sapallan”, las aventuras de una niña campesina huérfana de madre, relatadas en quechua, su idioma. Magda recibía consuelo con esta historia tan parecida a la suya, y dejaba volar la imaginación olvidando por una horas sus heridas. Más de 40 años después, Magda es quien se coloca cada día detrás de un micrófono para que su voz vuele a través de los cerros hasta los oídos de quien la quiera escuchar.

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[GroundUp] Waste pickers collect, sort and transport most of our recyclable waste, and regulations say they be must paid for their services

Dan Graves, chief technology officer at Delphix, joined host John Gilroy on this week's Federal Tech Talk to discuss the challenges federal IT officials face when managing diverse data sets.

The post Managing diverse data sets first appeared on Federal News Network.

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What is the data strategy for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)? How is DISA leveraging data as a strategic asset? Join host Michael Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Caroline Kuharske, Acting Chief Data Officer, DISA.

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By Terry Onica, Automotive Director, QAD.

Within a complicated global landscape, where interconnectedness is vital for business success, managing the intricacies of a supply chain on such a scale is undeniably expensive.

Dakota Integrated Solutions Ltd, a real-time technology, printing, mobility and digital data capture solution specialist, has been awarded a contract alongside partners The Config Team, a leading authority in the SAP supply chain, to integrate a voice-directed software solution into Euro Packaging UK’s warehousing facility.

Special Technology Report: Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Voice-directed Picking.

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Manhattan Associates has announced the findings of its 2024 ‘State of Warehouse Operations’ research in association with Vanson Bourne, highlighting the current challenges and key opportunities ahead for the sector. 

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G.D., the Italian solutions provider to the manufacturing industry, has chosen Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices to manage and operate its production and packaging machinery. G.D. offers a portfolio of high-speed production lines and a varied array of solutions to meet its manufacturing customers’ needs.

Many investors know the conventional thing to do, when times are good. But when things go south, which they do regularly, the fight-or-flight instinct kicks in. Times like now.

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Under the new leadership of Matt Cook, Ericsson’s enterprise 5G strategy is leveraging the large partner channel obtained in the Vonage, Cradlepoint and Ericom acquisitions, as well as the enterprise-focused solutions they sold, to boost their enterprise sales.

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Location: Sciences Library Library- RC78.7.D53B56 2012

After blogging about ICANN's new gTLD policy or lack thereof, I've had several people ask me why I care so much about ICANN and new top-level domains. Domain names barely matter in a world of search and hyperlinks, I'm told, and new domains would amount to little more than a cash transfer to new registries from those trying to protect their names and brands. While I agree that type-in site-location is less and less relevant, and we haven't yet seen much end-user focused innovation in the use of domain names, I'm not ready to throw in the towel. I think ICANN is still in a position to do affirmative harm to Internet innovation.

You see, I don't concede that we know all the things the Internet will be used for, or all the things that could be done on top of and through its domain name system. I certainly don't claim that I do, and I don't believe that the intelligence gathered in ICANN would make that claim either.

Yet that's what it's doing by bureaucratizing the addition of new domain names: Asserting that no further experiments are possible; that the "show me the code" mode that built the Internet can no longer build enhancements to it. ICANN is unnecessarily ossifying the Internet's DNS at version 1.0, setting in stone a cumbersome model of registries and registrars, a pay-per-database-listing, semantic attachments to character strings, and limited competition for the lot. This structure is fixed in place by the GNSO constituency listing: Those who have interests in the existing setup are unlikely to welcome a new set of competitors bearing disruptions to their established business models. The "PDP" in the headline, ICANN's over-complex "Policy Development Process" (not the early DEC computer), gives too easy a holdout veto.

Meanwhile, we lose the chance to see what else could be done: whether it's making domain names so abundant that every blogger could have a meaningful set on a business card and every school child one for each different face of youthful experimentation, using the DNS hierarchy to store simple data or different kinds of pointers, spawning new services with new naming conventions, or something else entirely.

I don't know if any of these individually will "add value." Historically, however, we leave that question to the market where there's someone willing to give it a shot. Amazingly, after years of delay, there are still plenty of people waiting in ICANN queues to give new gTLDs a try. The collective value in letting them experiment and new services develop is indisputably greater than that constrained by the top-down imaginings of the few on the ICANN board and councils, as by their inability to pronounce .iii.

"How do you get an answer from the web?" the joke goes: "Put your guess into Wikipedia, then wait for the edits." While Wikipedians might prefer you at least source your guess, the joke isn't far from the mark. The lesson of Web 2.0 has been one of user-driven innovation, of launching services in beta and improving them by public experimentation. When your users know more than you or the regulators, the best you can do is often to give them a platform and support their efforts. Plan for the first try to break, and be ready to learn from the experience.

To trust the market, ICANN must be willing to let new TLDs fail. Instead of insisting that every new business have a 100-year plan, we should prepare the businesses and their stakeholders for contingency. Ensuring the "stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems" should mean developing predictable responses to failure, not demanding impracticable guarantees of perpetual success. Escrow, clear consumer information, streamlined processes, and flexible responses to the expected unanticipated, can all protect the end-users better than the dubious foresight of ICANN's central regulators. These same regulators, bear in mind, didn't foresee that a five-day add-grace period would swell the ranks of domains with "tasters" gaming the loophole with ad-based parking pages.

At ten years old, we don't think of our mistakes as precedent, but as experience. Kids learn by doing; the ten-year-old ICANN needs to do the same. Instead of believing it can stabilize the Internet against change, ICANN needs to streamline for unpredictability. Expect the unexpected and be able to act quickly in response. Prepare to get some things wrong, at first, and so be ready to acknowledge mistakes and change course.

I anticipate the counter-argument here that I'm focused on the wrong level, that stasis in the core DNS enhances innovative development on top, but I don't think I'm suggesting anything that would destabilize established resources. Verisign is contractually bound to keep .com open for registrations and resolving as it has in the past, even if .foo comes along with a different model. But until Verisign has real competition for .com, stability on its terms thwarts rather than fosters development. I think we can still accommodate change on both levels.

The Internet is too young to be turned into a utility, settled against further innovation. Even for mature layers, ICANN doesn't have the regulatory competence to protect the end-user in the absence of market competition, while preventing change locks out potential competitive models. Instead, we should focus on protecting principles such as interoperability that have already proved their worth, to enhance user-focused innovation at all levels. A thin ICANN should merely coordinate, not regulate.

Location: Main Library- PK6415.2.H37 2014

Location: Main Media Collection - Video record 42318 DVD

Location: Electronic Resource- 

Location: Law Electronic Resource- 

Location: Engineering Library- TK5105.59.K68 2016

Location: Electronic Resource- 

Information Technology Job At Boeing Mid Level Software Packaging Engineer