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This hologram Barbie can tell you to brush your teeth

This fully animated Barbie can sit on a nightstand like a fairy, waiting on your child's commands.

Bridget Carey Principal Video Producer
Bridget Carey is an award-winning reporter who helps you level-up your life -- while having a good time geeking out. Her exclusive CNET videos get you behind the scenes as she covers new trends, experiences and quirky gadgets. Her weekly video show, "One More Thing," explores what's new in the world of Apple and what's to come. She started as a reporter at The Miami Herald with syndicated newspaper columns for product reviews and social media advice. Now she's a mom who also stays on top of toy industry trends and robots. (Kids love robots.)
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Mike Sorrentino is a Senior Editor for Mobile, covering phones, texting apps and smartwatches -- obsessing about how we can make the most of them. Mike also keeps an eye out on the movie and toy industry, and outside of work enjoys biking and pizza making.
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Bridget Carey
Mike Sorrentino
2 min read
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Hello Barbie Hologram puts an animated version of the classic doll onto a bedside table.

Mike Sorrentino/CNET

First came Hello Barbie the doll in 2015. Now Barbie is ready to move and talk on her own -- but instead of a robot, she's a hologram.

Mattel is showing off the Hello Barbie Hologram this weekend at the New York Toy Fair. The animated Barbie hologram lives inside a box and waits for a child to ask her a question or invite her to dance.

Watch this: Hologram Barbie is your new personal assistant

Like the original Hello Barbie doll, she responds to a variety of voice commands with characteristic peppiness.

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You can't hold this hologram edition of Barbie, but you can pick up the box she's inside of.

Sarah Tew/CNET

"Hello Barbie, what's the weather?" a demonstrator asked during a Friday morning demo.

"72 and sunny, sounds like flip flop weather to me," she bounced back. (She was commenting on the weather in Malibu, not New York.)

She can also remind a child to clean their teeth, popping up with her toothbrush to ask if they're ready to start brushing.

We played with the coolest Hasbro and Mattel toys you can't buy yet

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If you want to change Barbie's look, asking the hologram to "Change my Barbie" will bring in a different character from the Barbie universe. You'll have a variety of ethnicities, skin tones and body types to choose from. But you'll have to wait a little longer if you want to chat with a holo-Ken, as there are only female characters to choose from at this stage.

The Barbie hologram can dance to preprogrammed music or to music that's played by a child. Parents will be able to use a mobile app to save specific details such as the child's birthday and her location, which will be used to give weather reports. Mattel hasn't yet confirmed how much information the hologram will remember, but we know she'll be able to take reminders.

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This hologram of Barbie sounds peppy.

Sarah Tew/CNET

The box will also work as a Bluetooth speaker.

Mattel is delaying the release of Hologram Barbie until 2018 "due to additional testing of the platform," a spokeswoman said, having previously aimed for a fall 2017 release. Pricing information is not yet available.

Update Nov. 1, 2017: Added comment from Mattel over delay.

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