User talk:Fkejjr

Michael J. Freeman (born in 1947 at Bronx, New York City, United States) is an American entrepreneur, trend consultant, corporate CEO, educator and developments in smart toys. He is a philanthropist and a collector. He was a professor at three American universities.

Freeman was the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of ACTV Inc., a Nasdaq publically traded corporation. He developed pioneering award winning educational products such as 2-XL, Talk'N Play,  and Kasey the Kinderbot. Freeman produced programming and licensed software to Disney, Hasbro, NBC, and others. He is a business and corporate consultant in trend analysis, developed core technology covering touch-tone phone branching, and in 2015 he allowed for the public display of the $8.5 million Astolat Dollhouse Castle.

Education
Freeman received his bachelor's degree in Economics and Management from the City College of New York-Baruch in 1969. His MBA in Business Management and Economics followed in 1970 from Baruch College. In 1977, he received his Ph.D. in Philosophy majoring in Behavior Sciences and specializing in mental adaptation techniques, from the City University of New York.

Career
Freeman was a professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York. at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and at Hofstra University in the Village of Hempstead, New York. He was a consultant to governments and business, and founded a publically traded US corporation. He has numerous patents covering behavioral systems, interactive learning, smart toys, telephony.

TV Show Producer
Under the Tiger License, Freeman in conjunction with Marc Summers Productions produced a TV game show named Pick Your Brain. Freeman did not voice the character. Within ACTV Inc. Freeman produced over 100 shows for the American, Canadian, and European markets. Via Hyper-TV Freeman produced approximately 50 distance learning shows.

Corporate and Government Consultant
During his career, Freeman consulted for many corporations and governments in trend analysis, mental adaptation techniques and technology, and programming. Freeman holds forty US Patents. Larry King referred to him as: "one of the top reigning geniuses in America" when he was 28 years old).

Developments
In 1960, at the age of 13, Freeman was awarded first prize in the Westinghouse Science Fair, now known as the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. He developed and demonstration rudimentary computer memory. He incorporated this into a robot machine which could be programmed to move to a destination and automatically rerun the cycles repeatedly as many times as requested.

Leachim
In 1974, Freeman developed Leachim, a 6-ft, 200 pound robot teacher, which verbalized computer output. Leachim was tested in a fourth grade classroom in the Bronx New York and received publicity world-wide.

Automated Phone Menus System
In 1984, Freeman pioneered telephone branching technology, the process where callers hear menu options provided by an automated telephone attendant. Callers may then respond to queries using their touch tone phones for call redirects.

Cable Television and Hyper TV
In the early 1984, Freeman developed a form of interactive TV and a distance learning technology, that provided different broadcast content based on needs, selections, and interests of the user. He founded New York-based corporation ACTV. It became a publicly held Nasdaq listed Corporation on May 4, 1990. Freeman served as the company's CEO and President until 2001. Leonard Nimoy was the company spokesperson for a number of years.

2-XL System
In 1975 Freeman developed the 2-XL educational toy system and licensed it to the Mego Corporation, a US based toy company. Freeman voiced the initial programs and the product was soon expanded into six foreign languages, and sold world-wide. The line was later expanded with games.

In 1992, the toy was reintroduced by Tiger Electronics, an American toy company based in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Famous basketball player Michael Jordan and Freeman teamed up with 2-XL to raise charity money.

Talk 'n Play (Electronic Talk'N Play)
In 1984, Freeman developed Talk 'n Play which allowed children's TV characters to interact with the user. It was originally manufactured by CBS Toys within the Child Guidance brand. Later in 1986, it was reintroduced by Hasbro Toys, a Pawtucket RI, American Toy company, under the Playskool brand. Sub-licenses for programming were awarded to Sesame Street (Children's Television Workshop) and The Walt Disney Company featuring characters such as Big Bird, Elmo, and Mickey Mouse.

Kasey the Kinderbot
In 2002 Freeman developed Kasey the Kinderbot, an educational toy learning system sold by Fisher-Price, a wholly owned division of the Mattel Corporation. Kasey taught forty different learning skills. The line was expanded in 2004 with the introduction of two lower priced items. Kasey was reported as an important item in the balance sheet of Fisher-Price.