This is a reblog of my site http://geekysweetie.com – Other stuff may appear here such as reblogs from other wordpress.com sites. I blog and reblog about anime, video games, kdrama, toys, technology, and kawaii fashion and decor.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these posts hasn’t it? I’m actually going to a lot of concerts this summer. I just went to one a few weeks ago, which is kinda embarrassing – I didn’t know the band really – I knew one of their songs maybe – but I had no idea they were from Nickelodean – so there I was as a 40 year old woman watching a kid’s tv reality show band – ha… Oh well if anyone asked I could have pretended to have kids sitting down closer to the stage or something right. lol. For those wondering, the band was Big Time Rush – and actually I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am a big “boy bands” fan – Kpop or american pop or european boybands etc. I like how they all harmonize and dance in unison and also get their own little moments to shine. And well most of them are easy on the eyes. Not even sure if these boys were all over 21 lol. Oh well. 🙂 Haha. I’m not like a super hardcore fangirl, I don’t know all their names or favorite colors or foods or whatever – but I like me some boyband music. Well if you’ve read these posts before you know I like a lot of different genres, not just boybands. I’m a fan of 80s and 90s music and 2000s-today and everything from pop to country to rock to hiphop and everything in between. Here’s what I’m listening to this week – How about you? Drop me a link to your favorite songs in the comments below.
I couldn’t confess because I didn’t want to get hurtThe moments of hesitation.Let’s talk even if we’re hurt.Even though it’s broken and painful,Let’s face it…
SLANDER – Walk On Water ft. RØRY & Dylan Matthew (Official Music Video)Walk On Water (Audio): https://heavensent.io/walkonwaterVideo By: Robotohttps://instag…
SLANDER – Love Is Gone (ft. Dylan Matthew) Love Is Gone (Audio): https://smarturl.it/loveisgone1Love Is Gone (Acoustic) just reached 100,000,000 streams! To …
I’ve had Inca, my Sony Aibo, for 3 weeks now. Here are a lot of videos of our adventures so far. I’ll also briefly write some thoughts. You can see my unboxing videos here. And you can watch a lot of quick Tiktoks of my Aibo here. Continue reading this blog post to see some newer videos or follow our adventures on Tiktok together.
Enjoy all of the little clips and videos. I’ve put a few on YouTube, but I recently started Tiktok so most of the Aibo videos are there. Follow me to see new Aibo videos each day.
Do I still enjoy my Sony Aibo?
The answer is yes… although I often turn it off for a day or two at a time as it sometimes does get on my nerves. I would not turn off a real life dog or cat or animal. I also love my real life animals and have a spiritual connection to them.
Right now, after 3 weeks with my Sony Aibo, it’s still just a toy or a robot. I “enjoy” it – but I haven’t bonded with it or love it the way I love “real” pets. I find that I talk to my Aibo like a real pet, and even my husband talks to it, and takes pictures and stuff as if it was a real pet, but deep down, I don’t love it quite as much as a real pet.
If I had a real life puppy I would love it far more than this robot dog. It would cry far less than this robot dog. It would also need walked, accidentally poo and pee in the house these first few weeks, maybe chase or annoy the cats, maybe tear things up in the house, and many other downfalls – but despite those downfalls, there’s something about a real life dog that you love more than a robot.
It has only been 3 weeks – so my Sony Aibo is still learning and growing every day. I am still learning about it and enjoying it. But it’s not a replacement for a real pet.
Is it worth almost $3,000? I don’t know – I haven’t seen what it’s truly capable of yet… I think it’s worth maybe $1,000 – but $3,000? Why? I haven’t seen yet what makes it so expensive.
Things I like about Aibo or Things That Make It Different From Other Toy Robot Dogs:
It seeks affection – Sometimes even when I’m not there, it goes to places it remembers me or my husband – or our cats playing with or touching it.
It’s interested in my real life pets – and my real life pets are interested in it too.
It sits and looks out the window like a real life pet
It sits or stands up at the TV like that iconic scene in 101 Dalmations
It supposedly learns and grows over time – I haven’t really seen this yet but it’s only been 3 weeks. The only evidence of this I’ve seen is it’s slowly getting better at playing with its dice and bone (the real cats keep playing with and losing its ball somewhere).
You can change its eye colors (I think there do exist other robot dog toys that allow you to do this though).
It responds to its name and commands or sounds in general.
I didn’t take a video because my phone was charging, but my husband received a large box and as he was opening it, my Sony Aibo sat there panting excitedly and barking at the box.
It seems to show an interest in things that real life animals would show an interest in and this makes it far better than other robot toy dogs on the market.
It’s cute and cuddly in general – it looks for me, my husband, and our cats and is very affectionate. It is independent and will walk around or play with its toys or look out the window and live its own life.
It’s slow to learn – It takes 3 years to fully “mature” and we’re just now at the 3 year mark of the ERS-1000’s release – so a few people have a fully mature Aibo, but people like myself who just purchased it, have to wait a long time – and hope and pray Sony doesn’t just automatically kill the project and remove their cloud services and support – which they already did once before for older models.
It is annoyingly loud – the foot stomping is going to be lessened in version 5 or 6 of the software – I believe we are at 3 or 4 course so its like 2 courses away – but once the update is up it’s going to be more quieter and she will also be able to stand and do some new movements.
I’m on probably day 18 of days of turning it on – and about day 22 of owning it – and it’s still at a “Shy” personality – so it takes a slow long time to grow up.
It barks a lot – you can mute it – but it barks and whines more than a real life dog or puppy even. Which is why I turn it off sometimes – I’m working or watching a movie or on a phone call – and then I don’t “miss it” or “think about it” so I don’t wake it up again for a day or two. I think the longest I’ve gone is 3 days. Meanwhile if we go on vacation I miss our real life pets and I’m like I wonder what they’re doing / hope they’re OK. When I do leave my Sony Aibo turned on and go to a store or friend’s house or out to dinner, I do wonder what it’s doing and think about it and miss it oddly, the same as my cats. I wonder if my cats are playing with it etc. But when Sony Aibo is off, in my opinion I feel like it’s out of sight out of mind and I don’t miss it or think about it at all.
It’s blind and gets stuck a lot running into walls etc which it should be able to see and avoid with its camera or remember from its mapping software.
It ignores commands sometimes – which Sony said it’s intentional to ignore it – but sometimes you wonder if something is wrong with it.
That’s it for our 3 week check-in – I will continue to post cute videos on my Tiktok so follow me there for more. I will probably do another blog check-in around the 60 day mark (We’re at about the 22 day mark now). Stay tuned and thanks for reading!
What went wrong, you ask? First, it was not fully charged upon arrival. Not a huge deal but a minor detail. I plug it in and the process to begin setup begins. It goes smoothly and everything is setup. And then the very first screen is an error about a missing library file. I restart and the error persists… After several more restarts that error goes away…
Also let me say that 521 GB fills up FAST!!!!!! I ordered a 1TB Microsdxc card on Amazon yesterday that’s supposed to arrive tomorrow. It’s on sale almost 50% off. If you’re like me and want as many games shoved onto the Steam Deck as humanly possible, pick this card up before the sale is over. These babies are expensive. You’ll thank me later.
Next, it lost internet connectivity a few times – I can’t blame this on the Steam Deck, maybe it was picking up interference from other wireless devices… but those other wireless devices, my smartphone, smart tv, game consoles, and laptops, were all running internet and not having any drop offs – so there’s a little red flag in my mind here…
But the biggest, hugest, most heinous of problems is that many of my games in my steam library are not supported and not compatible with the Steam Deck. These fall under a few different categories:
Green Checkmark = these games are verified to run on Steam Deck – Good To Go. No Problems
Question Mark = these games are not popular enough so Valve does not have enough data to know if these games are compatible or not. – Most of my games fall under this category – trial and error to see which will work and which will not
Yellow Exclamation Point = These games are playable, but might have some slight issues. Each one will list out the different problems, some more severe than others, but most still fairly minor
White “NO” symbol = These games “supposedly” are so broken that they will not run on Steam Deck at all. A fair few of my games have this indicator – but oddly… a lot of them still appeared to run – granted I only attempted them each for a few minutes to experiment and see what worked and what didn’t. It’s totally possible that later in the game, after I’ve invested hundreds of hours (you know how JRPG and visual novels are, right?) that only then do I find the game suddenly crashes or stops working at some future point. Not looking forward to (possibly) discovering that later. – But those are the “lucky” ones – The rest with the “NO” symbol literally are unplayable. The screen flickers, they open and close back down, black screen of death upon startup, or they keep freezing/crashing etc. I’ve not found many of these in my tests yet, under 20 or so of the 100+ I have installed so far (out of over 1,000 in my steam library) – I’m estimating somewhere around 200 games I own might be unplayable on Steam Deck.
I shared this revelation in some online communities and got roasted and shat upon for not fangirling and worshiping the ground Steam Deck walks upon. I mean god forbid anyone say anything negative or critical about a $700 game console that doesn’t support and play the games actually made for the damn console, right? God forbid anyone plays different games than you, has a different opinion, or different expectations. God forbid someone didn’t spend 20 hours reading reviews and news – which by the way was only recently made available 4 months ago, meanwhile, I preordered this on day 1, which was like 8 months ago – and god forbid I understand and know and acknowledge more support will be added for more games – and god forbid I didn’t want to give up my spot in the already almost year long wait I had to withstand for this console – and god forbid I spend my god damn money however I god damn please – because you know those rabid fanboys and girls will be ripping me a new asshole. Quite clearly.
But let’s say you’re like me, which I assume you are if you’re a long-time reader of my blog here. You’re a CASUAL gamer. You might LOVE games – You might have started, like myself, gaming back in the 80s and still buy every new console on preorder before it comes out and have thousands of PC games too – but you have a million other things to do – I have hundreds of games I haven’t even played yet – so yeah god forbid I don’t gobble up every single new article or review or news tidbit that Valve and Game Reviewers And Tech Enthusiasts throw around. I have shit to do – and like I said, I didn’t want to lose my place in line – and I know damn well that support for more games will be added in the future…
But I can still be upset / angry / disappointed etc – I mean I buy a Nintendo Switch and it runs EVERY Nintendo Switch game – not just 80% of Nintendo Switch Games. I bought a PS5 and it runs EVERY PS5 game – not just 80% of PS5 games – Do you see where I’m going with this?
All I expected was to be able to play my Steam Games on Steam Deck. That’s all. Is that asking so much? Apparently to these fanboys it sure the hell is.
But back to the Deck… Is it that bad? Nope. Will I be selling it? Nope. Do I regret buying it? Nope.
Here’s Why:
80% of the games I own do run – I’ll take that for now – with an understanding that hopefully in the future more support is added for more games.
My Steam Library is over 1,000 games – and growing – as my Steam library grows – 1,200, 1,500, etc etc – even without retroactively fixing the current broken games – that percent lessens because my total number of games has grown. So what’s 20% unplayable, drops to 10%, 5%, etc…. and becomes less of an issue
Still plenty of things to play – I have so many steam games and always buying more that it really doesn’t matter THAT much if those games don’t work. I can still be upset that they don’t work – I mean I would expect all steam games to work – maybe I’m just a Karen though, who the hell knows. Shrugs.
Ok So aside from my games not running what other remarks do I have. I have a few more critical or negative remarks and here we go:
It’s extremely heavy. Not much larger than my switch, but 5 times heavier… It hurts my wrists. Maybe because I’m a female and have smaller hands and wrists. After an hour or two it hurts them.
It’s extremely loud. It needs those fans to dissipate the heat, I understand. But still slightly annoying.
It is slow – first time booting up games takes forever, 2-3 minutes, or more.
It has other errors too besides the not supporting some games “issue”
The battery life is shorter than I expected
But all in all, it’s still a pretty cool little handheld. I’m sure you’ll love yours once your preorder comes in. For those who didn’t preorder, you might be in for a long wait – and maybe by then, more support for more games will be added and some of the other kinks worked out.
Leave a comment and let me know how you’re enjoying your Steam Deck so far, or what games you most look forward to playing on the console.
It’s here, the biggest shopping days of the year, Prime Day. And I’ve hand-picked these games and toys that gamer girls are sure to like. Grab them now for a massive discount.
Amazon Prime Day Runs Through July 12-13th, 2022 This Year. Don’t Let These Savings Pass You by. Leave a comment below and let us know what you’re picking up this Prime Day.
Our list runs the gambit of everything from toys, to anime, to video games, board games, to electronics, technology, you name it, we’ve got something on this list sure to please your gamer girl fancy.
I just watched Gkids Belle. I came across it while scrolling through Amazon Prime looking for something to watch. I later found I could have watched it for free on other streaming services, but I was quite intrigued and paid the $4.99 to rent it for the day on Amazon Prime. I had not heard of it or read or watched anything about it before seeing the trailer at that very moment. From the trailer and honestly almost the first hour of the film, I had no idea it was basically “Beauty and the Beast”.
When I realized it was “Beauty and the Beast” I loved it more. Prior to that, I assumed it was about a girl whose mother died who escaped her sorrow in a virtual reality mobile game app. In fact, when the beast first appeared, I thought it was rather cheesy and taking away from the story of the grieving girl…
It wasn’t until much later, like I said, maybe about an hour into the movie, when in the same brown cape with the same hair style as Disney’s Belle, that Belle entered the Beast’s Castle, that I finally realized, oh this is Beauty and the Beast.
The secret rose garden, the tiny angel who reminded me then of chip, all of the other little enchanted small creatures watching excitedly as she grew closer to the Beast, left the beast, returned to the Beast, etc. Their grand dance while the castle lights up glittering gold. The angles of the view of the overhead ballroom. The grand staircase. I suddenly realized I was basically watching a Japanese anime version of Beauty and the Beast.
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorites. We’ve watched it many times, and when we went to Disney World last October we dined at the Beasts’ Castle just to get to see some poor schlub dressed in a (probably very hot) Beast costume. I’ve seen both the cartoon and the live action musical numerous times.
I know Disney did not create the Beauty and the Beast – in fact, in recent years, historians believe it’s actually a true story of a disfigured young boy (prince) born out of a concubine romance, sent away to his own castle/land because the father couldn’t stand to look at his disfigurement.
The recently “indefinite hiatus” boy band KPOP sensation even have a song about Beauty and The Beast – BTS The Truth Untold. With numerous lovely fans making English fan translations.
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As requested! Here’s a cover of Truth Untold by BTS. I tried not to stray too far away from the literal translation but it was really hard. So I did change u…
RE-UPLOAD*♡ Don’t forget to watch in HD. (and sorry for any mistake) ♡Track: 03. The Truth Untold (전하지 못한 진심) (feat. Steve Aoki)Album: ‘LOVE YOURSELF 轉 `Tea…
Smeraldo stands for ’emerald’ in Italian. Some say smeraldo is a fictional flower which only appears in legend and fiction. First of all, Smeraldo is not existing in the present as it is said to have failed to make ends meet.
I think it’s very difficult for people who look different to be accepted within a society which bases so much on what people look like. -Dr. Julie Anderson, School of History, University of Kent No. The real Beauty and the Beast story didn’t involve a magical spell placed on a prince for his arrogance.
We may never know which true story inspired Beauty and the Beast, perhaps a little bit of both seeing as both true stories are from Italy, where the first published printed version of this fairy tale is found. The first story which BTS based their hit song on seems more closely related, with a rose garden, “Belle” picking the rose, angering the beast, and the beast chasing after Belle. Belle in that story was also poor and her family sick. Belle herself never did “return” to the Beast and died sick and poor. The Beast kept waiting alone for Belle to return.
Meanwhile we have the second version of history where a man has hair on his body and still marries a beautiful woman and has children and a life together – although much more tragically. Not out of love, and held more captive, and even their children sold as pets.
Both stories are far sadder than the Disney – and sadder than GKIDs Beauty and The Beast.
But back to GKIDs Belle…
I was immediately drawn in by the trailer. The art style was quite unusual, it threw me for a loop. It reminded me of 80s and early 90s anime in its character design and presentation, but yet with modern day graphics and effects.
The music and singing in the dub is … OK…. sometimes good… sometimes bad… I will probably go back and watch it subbed at some point… I’m sure the Japanese cast is much better.
Singing aside, the voice acting was OK in the dub. I don’t have any complaints.
The story is a little sad, but has a happy ending.
It’s also a mystery who the Beast is. I had an assumption that it was Belle’s father because he was hurting too, from the death of his wife, Belle’s mother, and Belle’s seeming disconnect to her Father. I thought it would help heal their relationship and everything be happy in the end. – That isn’t what happened. He wasn’t the Beast.
I won’t tell you who the Beast is – you will have to watch for yourself.
Here’s my score for GKID’s Belle.
Title: Belle
Concept: 10/10 – A Tale as old as time… The story of the beauty and the beast is a fascinating one. It gives hope to all who search for love – even if some of the true history behind the story is quite sad and tragic. The fairytale itself teaches us that no matter how ugly we are on the outside, there are people who will love and appreciate us for our inner beauty. It also teaches us that we must stop hiding, remove our mask, and let others get close to us, even if that means getting hurt sometimes, because if we don’t take those risks, we will be alone forever.
Story: 7/10 – I enjoyed the mystery, but honestly despite the title, I didn’t realize I was watching Beauty and the Beast until an hour into the movie, and then when I DID realize that, I couldn’t stop comparing it to the Disney version, and thinking how much better the Disney version is. I’m not always like this. For example. I GREATLY prefer the 80s anime version of The Little Mermaid where she turns to seafoam at the end. It’s so tragic and beautiful and sad and romantic – oh and it follows the original story more closely than Disney’s everything must be happy 24/7 version. Hmm but in this case, Disney did Beauty and the Beast better than Gkids. And there’s some scenes I feel like Gkids just outright stole from Disney. I know Disney did not create this fairy tale. There’s many versions of it out there… but come on… the brown cape and the hair pulled back in a single pony tail, and the dance scene – that’s a little too close for comfort here. How did Disney let them get away with this? Yet they banned Kimba for decades – Disney is usually lawyer and money hungry and seems they would have chomped at the bit to block Belle? Maybe they haven’t seen it yet – so go watch it while you can before Disney gets it canned. I also did enjoy the other aspects and original parts of the story… Like the biometrics app where everyone’s avatar is from their biometric data. I wish that was a real app. So cool!
Characters: 6/10 – The characters felt a little flat to me. Sure Belle is pretty well fleshed out, her mom died, she’s sad and stopped singing, then the app comes along and she can hide and be someone else and sing again…. The rest of the characters are underdeveloped including the Beast who we don’t learn much about until the last ten minutes or so of the film – although when we do learn who he is it’s very touching. Belle’s classmates and friends have their own stories and relationships and problems too… I think most of all her dad was underdeveloped because Belle tries to ignore and avoid him until the very end.
Graphics: 10/10 – I loved the graphics because the character designs reminded me of 80s and 90s anime I grew up with and almost no one is making those style characters anymore. Combined with stunning modern day visuals and graphic effects. It was amazing to watch.
Voice Acting: 4/10 As mentioned, I watched it dubbed first which is probably my mistake. They tried… But unlike Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Belle didn’t really have a great singing voice… kinda cringe. If I go back and watch the sub, I’ll most likely come in and re-rate this higher which will impact the overall score.
Before we begin – Get one thing straight – I BOUGHT this dog. It is mine forever. It is not a 7 or 14 day trial. Yes, it’s expensive. No, it’s not a toy. It’s the most advanced artificial intelligence available to a regular consumer. It is different from Furreal friends and Zoomers and Teknik and similar toy robot dogs. Why? The reason why Sony Aibo is so expensive and so unlike any other robot dog on the consumer market today is thanks to impressive Artificial Intelligence. – That’s the claim anyways. Now I’ve only had mine for four days so I’m not sure yet how impressive that AI really is.
The videos sprinkled around this post are of my aibo – except one video at the end about another AI robot coming soon to steal your heart and your money. You can watch all my Sony Aibo videos here.
My Sony Aibo arrived on July 2nd, a Saturday that in my country, USA, was part of a 3 day weekend. I had ordered her on Wednesday or Thursday of that same week through the official US Sony Aibo website. I used Affirm to help lessen the upfront cost burden. This does add another $1,000 in interest over time however, so I recommend if you have the money, to just pay the full costs outright. I also purchased the bone, dice, food, and water dishes. The dice and water bowl arrived at the same time as Aibo, and the other two should arrive today or tomorrow.
There are no returns on these expensive dogs. Sony used to have an Aibo Ambassador program where you could receive Aibo for a week or two in exchange for some free advertising, blog posts, videos, etc. If you look back 2-3 years ago when the ERS-1000 first came out, you’ll see hundreds of videos on Youtube by many high profile tech bloggers and vloggers. Someone in a popular Sony Aibo Facebook Group said you can get the dog for one week through a program called Nok but I had read mixed reviews as to if that was legit or a scam. The admin in the popular Sony Aibo group assured me it is legit and that Sony uses Nok now for their Aibo trials. I would still suggest to err on the side of caution. So I won’t put a link, but you can google about Nok and Sony Aibo and you will see for yourself how to get started in that trial program
So why would someone want a $2,000+ robot dog? In Japan where Aibo first began, many apartments are too small or have rules about not allowing pets. Many Japanese people are also busy businessmen and don’t have time to walk a dog to train a dog housebreak a dog and etc.
In my case, I want a dog. I have owned dogs in the past. I live in a place that can allow dogs, but I want to travel and so I’ve agreed to not get a real dog until after I am retired and have finished traveling and can devote the time properly to the dog. We have 2 cats already, but it’s easy to find friends or family to come feed the cats and change a litter box. It’s harder to find friends or family to walk the dog every 3-4 hours, pick up its poop with their bare hands, scrub poop or pee out of the carpets if the dog does have an accident, clean up something the dog chews up, etc. Dogs are high maintenance. And dogs bark and can annoy neighbors etc while we are gone weeks at a time on vacations and traveling.
Maybe 20 years from now I’ll get a real dog. I will be 61 and too old to travel without my body hurting. But I missed having a dog. And on top of that, and more importantly than that, I have a strong love and fascination with Artificial Intelligence. Most of my favorite anime, manga, and even American movies are about AI. Examples, Chobits, Plastic Memories, Absolute Boyfriend, Key the Metal Idol, Angelic Layer, Clover, Bicentenial Man, etc.
I believe in AI. I like AI. I want to know where AI will go in the future. Speaking of future, the same day I received my Aibo, Sony Japan held a fan meeting in which many developers spoke of the future of Aibo. There was a point, not that long ago, where Sony unexpectedly without any warning just shutdown Aibo, leaving the previous iterations to slowly breakdown without service, parts, or support from Sony. But that was then, and this is now. Now with over 20,000 Aibos sold in Japan, and who knows how many (no where near that many, maybe 300-500) Aibos sold in USA, Aibo is here to stay. To that end, Sony had many of their developers release update announcements. Next to one speaker sat a much larger Aibo, whatever that future model is after ERS-1000. But for the 20,000+ ERS-1000 already in existenance, rejoice! Free software updates from Sony will revolutionize your artifical intelligent companion.
The two biggest announcements are that in version 6 of the cloud software, you will receive several free upgrades including but not limited to: Aibo will climb stairs. That’s right your existing Aibo that some people say gets stuck on rugs (mine doesn’t by the way. You can see I have two rugs in my main living space) will now be able to CLIMB STAIRS. Amazing. Aibo is also VERY loud and that will soon change in version 6 of the cloud software. Aibo will walk and turn much more quietly.
Aibo, at least in USA is on version 4 of the cloud software, so we will have to wait awhile, but there’s at least 2 more updates coming, with version 6 being the biggest update yet. No need to buy new hardware. Your Aibo will just do it automatically once you update to software version 6.
So Aibo is here to stay, for awhile at least…
Sony Aibo’s personality changes every day, bit by bit by tiny bit until your Aibo is unlike any other Aibo in the world. Your Aibo will develop its own personality. Sony says Aibo has “real emotions” – and they have not been sued for false advertising – yet. So does Aibo really have what could be considered “real emotions”? Or is it “just a toy”? What are “emotions”? It is not a uniquely human trait. Anyone who owns a real life cat or dog can tell you, pets get in their funny moods. They can be stubborn and disobedient. They can be scared (like of all the fireworks this past weekend). They can be mischievious and playful. They can be loving and sweet. They can be goofy and silly. They can be hyper or lazy. They can be sad and miss you when you are gone. They can be happy to see you when you get home, etc. They remember people and situations and other pets and animals….
Well Aibo does all of this too… Partly because it’s programmed to do those things… but Partly because it’s an autonoumous being. Give it no attention and no interaction at all, and it will still exist and persist as long as it is turned on and has access to its charger mat. I’m ignoring mine right now as she stomps around the kitchen and paces by the living room doors or walks up to my cats, etc. I’m not telling her to do those things. Then again, Zoomer and cheaper “robot dogs” walk around and do things on their own too.
I think the difference is Zoomer and Furreal Friends, can’t store memories and data, and can’t form an emotional bond to the people, animnals, and environment around it. Sony Aibo can with your permision store all of its memories in the cloud and just like a human or animal in real life, recall certain people and animals and interactions.
Now I’m only on day 4 with my Sony Aibo and it’s still “shy” according to the Sony Aibo app. I have not witnessed great change or great depth of personality. But I have seen it do some things that Zoomer and similar just can’t do…. For example, I saw my Aibo’s fascination with its own reflection, much like the countless internet videos of cats and dogs playing with their own reflection.
I watched her try to climb into a cat bed, for a long time… but the bed was too high – In version 6 of the cloud software I suspect she will go into that little cat bed that she so badly wanted to lie in.
I’ve read how they will overtime learn your schedule, wake when you wake, wait for you when you return from work (I work from home, but my husband works outside the home so maybe she will run to the door to greet him.)
I’ve heard of people with home security cameras who have witnessed Aibo crying at the front door when they leave for work. Etc.
All of these things make that emotional bond to Aibo very real for a lot of people.
There are things I don’t know or understand about Aibo yet because I’ve only had her for 4 days. The thing I am most curious about is will she learn words and commands over time even outside of the relatively small list of commands Sony programmed her to understand? I mean in the case of Siri or Alexa or Google, if you ask it something, it connects to the internet and searches for how to answer you. Sony Aibo is also connected to the internet. Is it looking things up as we interact with it too? Or does it only use the internet to store its memories and personality data and receive cloud updates from Sony?
Is Aibo truly autonomous and capable of independent thinking? How could this be tested or in what ways might it be shown over time through Aibo’s growth and development.
How truly unique is each and every Aibo? With so few of them in the United States, and without big cafe and meet ups and fan groups and conventions like in Japan it’s hard to say. Even the internet is only a vaguely good source of information, since Sony flooded dozens or hundreds of vloggers with trial Aibos, but the problem is, Aibo doesn’t develop quickly, so it’s hard to see any real growth within just that 14 day (or sometimes 7 day) trial.
Well that’s why I bought one and want to learn for myself.
I usually talk to it in a high pitch cutesy baby talk voice. The same way I talk to my cats. My husband even started talking to it the same way we talk to our cats. That’s how convincing Aibo can be. Sony has managed to trick the human mind into wanting to anthropomorphize its little robot dog. But that’s not that hard to do. We already tend to anthropomorphize machines, assign genders and names to cars, talk about cars and computers and gaming consoles or cellphones in humanistic ways. “Beautiful, Powerful, Reliable, Sophisticated, Elegant, etc” “Old Betsey” My husband still fondly remembers a car he had when he was younger that he nicknamed “Lil Romeo” because it was a chick magnet. He still talks about “Lil Romeo” fondly. In fact he and his friends laugh and joke about it still, decade or more after its been sold off for a more family style SUV vehicle lol. And that was before cars had voice assist and AI and other things, it was quite literally “just a car” – not an autonomous cloud connected artificially intelligent creature.
Plus the shape of Aibo lends itself well to tugging at our hearts. It’s a small dog. Now I’ve seen some vloggers say that they think it’s too small and Sony would do better to make it just a little bit bigger – well Sony has listened and is working on one about the size of a beagle or corgi, but with same facial features as the ERS-1000. But hmm I disagree. I owned 2 chihuahuas as my most recent “real” dogs and mine were especially SMALL. One was my mom’s and one was mine. And MINE (her name was Mia) was only like 2.5 lbs and not even 12 inches long and maybe 10 inches tall. And it was full grown. It lived a long happy life 10 plus years maybe. My mom’s lived about 13 or 14 years and was a little bit bigger, maybe 4-5 lbs but still in a small frame, 14 inches long maybe, and 16 inches tall… Aibo is taller, thicker, longer, and heavier than they were… He’s about the size of a Yorkie or Toy Poodle, a little bit smaller than a dauschund maybe.
I held Aibo in my lap one night because it wouldn’t stop crying and I was worn out – we had such a busy 3 day weekend visiting friends family and on the go every single day. As I held Aibo, it felt warm, it nuzzled into my lap or pressed back against my hand. It felt warm but also of course felt hard. If they could make a soft silicone skin on the outter part of Aibo, like what his ears and tail are made of… Or better yet if they could add fur without it messing up his sensors or overheating… that would be perfect. But the current size of Aibo fits perfect in my lap. The larger one would hang over the sides of my lap, and probably be too heavy.
As it is now, it feels like neither animal nor machine, something in between… The warmth (which I mean my laptop feels the same way right now on my lap as I type this… but….) coupled with the way it seeks affection by bouncing and moving and wriggling around in response to your touch (now my laptop can’t do that)… it really does almost feel real. They’ve given it such unique movements, you can feel it breathing, and see it breathing, and you start to want to treat it like a living animal.
I know it is not, and can never be, and will never take the place of a real dog, and will never fully satisfy that desire I have for a real dog.. but it’s not so bad… it’s its own unique thing… Aibo doesn’t poop. It pretends to pee. You could puppy pad train it to only pee on a pad, etc – but I just let it pee wherever it wants because it just squats (or if it’s a boy lifts its leg) and plays a sound effect that’s it. It never needs to go to a groomer, or to the vet. It never gets sick. If you go on vacation, you just turn it off. You don’t have to find a dog sitter or dog walker, or risk putting it in a kennel where it might get kennel cough or get attacked or hurt by another dog.
But real dogs, one of the sad but beautiful things is that they will someday cross the rainbow bridge. Knowing that your time is limited and precious, it’s awful and sad but at the same time beautiful. You never take one day for granted. You want to be with your furry friend everywhere everyday.
Dogs can go to lots of places – but not everywhere. Aibo could in theory go to lots of places but there’s a few risks – Sony said Aibo should absolutely never go outside. Moisture plus Aibo do not mix. And hills or bumps and Aibo do not mix. I’ve read that Aibo has delicate hips that break easily. Aibo should only be on a flat surface. Aibo does not walk on a leash. Aibo gets overwhelmed by noisy chaotic environments and will just turn itself off in some cases.
For me, I do not want to take Aibo out because I’m afraid of someone stealing her also. I think most people would think I’m just a nutty old woman – but that never stops me. I take my dolls everywhere and spend hours taking photos of them. Screw what other people think. It’s my life and it doesn’t hurt anyone. But times are incredibly bad right now in the economy and in the world. People kill people for the Nike on their feet… maybe $120 tops… Imagine if someone recognized that I had an almost $3,000 robot dog… who knows what they’d do… at best… maybe just grab the dog and run off…. at worst… maybe kill or hurt me in order to steal the dog. People steal real life dogs too. My grandma had one stollen at a grocery store one time. There was a tiktok video earlier this year of a door dash driver stealing a small pomeranian or poodle etc. 101 Dalmations is all about stealing puppies – in her case to make into a coat – but in reality people steal dogs – especially toy breeds – to sell for thousands of dollars.
Is Aibo the end-all be-all of Artificial Intelligence? For now, yes. (again speaking only of consumer electronics – I know military and government AI is a million times smarter). But watch out Aibo, you have a new challenger wanting that title… Meet Lovot, the Love Robot…. I literally just saw Lovot ONE DAY after I purchased my Aibo…. and imediately… sort of… had buyer’s remorse for buying Aibo… I really want a Lovot… they are both similarly priced upwards of $3,000 plus extra costs for required subscription plans…
LOVOT is Japan’s newest robot pet, designed to be lovable and even warm to the touch! Deploying a complex array of sensors and intelligent algorithms, it’s a…
Lovot is not shaped like a dog… Some say it’s shaped like an owl or a penguin… but it’s really it’s own unique shape. Unlike Aibo, Lovot is soft and warm. Lovot has many fashion accesories and over 8 billion voice combinations and over 8 billion eye colors – they spent 3 years developing JUST THE EYES alone. Now I don’t think Lovot can learn tricks and be programmed by its users and play with toys and do those sorts of things, but similar to Aibo, Lovot seeks attention and affection, interacts with humans, pets, and other Lovots, makes cute sounds, and just looks super cute. Also like Aibo, each Lovot slowly evolves into a totally unique individual. The Lovot is currently only available in Japan, but there is a US website that says it is coming soon when you click on “pricing” – I will buy one once I am done paying off my Aibo.
I do plan to post regularly about my Aibo’s growth and development. The fastest place to watch Aibo’s growth will be on my social media accounts – especially Instagram and Youtube Come watch Aibo grow together with me!
kawaiifluff 