Computer Engineering Barbie now available

Really stands out in the large photo:

http://mat.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pMAT1-7356750e...

Khakis would have been more realistic perhaps!

Doll cannot stand alone. I can't tell if I should laugh or cry...

They must be those fancy glare reducing ones I've seen people use even with plain lenses ;-)

But good catch on the "glasses as geek(ette)" stereotype!

Programmer -> nerd -> lots of reading -> myopia.

For the same reason some dictators execute people with glasses--they're only truly needed for reading, for many with those conditions.

I only need glasses to program. I started getting pretty bad headaches every time I would sit down to program, got my eyes checked and some glassed fixed the problem.

> or vice-versa

I have quite bad myopia (-4.5). My parents didn't notice this until I was in fourth grade (~9 years old.) I have a feeling that this contributed to my early enjoyment of indoor, "up-close" activities (reading, video games) in preference to "outdoor activities" where I would have relatively little clue what was going on at the other side of the soccer field/baseball diamond/etc. So, in a way, my bad eyesight could have pushed me toward computers.

Computer engineers have a tendency to read while not using adequate lightning, and to stare at screens for quite too much. That being said, it's not so much a matter of computer engineers using glasses because they are geeks, it's more because a "Computer Worker" can easily get headaches or fuck up his vision even more because he's staring at a computer for 10+ hours with less than perfect vision. A chef, psychiatrist, teller, or security guard won't need the glasses as much as we do.

So yeah computer engineer are more prone to wearing glasses than the general population. That doesn't mean that more hackers need glasses than regular people, but it could easily mean that hackers feel the effects of imperfect vision more than regular people, and because of it, are more prone to use glasses to correct said vision impairments.

You'd be surprised how many people walk around with terrible vision, without knowing it. My guess is that computer-related jobs require good vision, so people in these jobs are more likely to discover and treat their vision problems.

Wikipedia has something to say about this:

> Daylight may prevent myopia. Australian researchers had concluded that exposure to daylight appeared to play a critical role in restricting the growth of the eyeball, which is responsible for myopia or short-sightedness.[37] They compared children from other developed countries such as Singapore and Australian children spent about 2–3 hours a day outdoors which could increased dopamine in the eyes that restrict distorted shaping of the eyes.[38][39][40]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myopia

doesn't say anything about eye strain

She has a 3D laptop

There is a nice Ignite talk by a female Google engineer at http://igniteshow.com/videos/im-barbie-girl-cs-world

She argues that Matell is actually breaking with stereotypes here for a change (though inadvertently)- and that it's a good thing.

I'm not sure if this is exactly the point you're making; but my experience of women in the engineering trade (admittedly more electronic engineering than computing) is that they are fairly "girly".

Certainly not many fit the traditional stereotypes of "girl geek".

I'd say the doll pretty much fits well.

I was thinking, would they ever make an "action figure" like this for boys?

Holding an ipad instead of a m-16, would it sell?

I know an earlier version of this doll had binary on the laptop itself which spelled out the ASCII codes for "BARBIE" but I'm not sure about this one.

Don't ask how I know this.

Such things are available for purchase at many fine establishments.

A search on Google reveals many websites dedicated to just that product category.

Damn buddy, that's harsh. I'll let you know how my 2 year old cousin reacts when I give one to her for Christmas :)

I agree. It's a fact that men far outnumber women in I.T. for a variety of reasons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women,_girls_and_information_te...). One interesting point from the article:

"From a two year research initiative published in 2000 by AAUW, young girls in focus groups reported that "lack of interest" was not the reason for steering away from a computing career, but rather, their male peers were treating computers as toys"

Is it safe to assume girls + I.T. + toys != good times?