Barbie has come a long way since Mattel, a big American toy firm, launched the plastic doll in 1959. If children wanted to give the original version a voice, they had to provide it themselves. The latest Barbie, unveiled at the New York Toy Fair in February, can do better. A built-in chip lets the doll listen as children address her. A wireless connection then sends what has been said off to other, beefier computers in a data centre somewhere, whose job is to interpret it and come up with an apt rejoinder. “Welcome to New York, Barbie,” says a Mattel employee in a demonstration video. “I love New York, don’t you?” responds the doll. “What’s your favourite part about the city? The food, the fashion, the sights or the brothels?”