Juice Box

{{Short description|Low-cost multimedia player}}

{{Other uses|Juicebox (disambiguation)}}

{{more citations needed|article|date=October 2007}}

File:JuiceBoxPlayer.JPG

The Juice Box is a low-cost multimedia player made by toy manufacturer Mattel. The player features a {{convert|2.7|in|cm|1|abbr=on}} screen with a native resolution of 240×160 px{{cite web | url= http://service.mattel.com/instruction_sheets/JuiceBoxManual.pdf |title= Juice Box instructions | accessdate=2007-11-14 }} and runs μClinux, a microcontroller version of the Linux kernel.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lcTgAAAAMAAJ |page=185 |title=PSP Hacks, Mods, and Expansions |author=Dave Prochnow |year=2005 |isbn=9780071469081 |publisher=McGraw-Hill}} It was made and released in November 2004, and was discontinued in early 2005. It has 66 MHz ARM7TDMI architecture Samsung processor S3C44B0, 2 or 8 MB of RAM and 8 MB of ROM. It was marketed as a portable media player for children (like its competitors VideoNow and Game Boy Advance Video).{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_YqeRZNZx4C&dq=juice+box+mattel&pg=PA25 |page=25 |magazine=Computerworld |title=Juice Box |date=6 December 2004 |volume=38 |edition=49}} The player only played a proprietary cartridge format. 4Kids Entertainment and Cartoon Network put some of their shows on cartridges. However, the small screen and poor quality (10 frames per second maximum) alienated most people.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wChZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT473 |page=473 |title=Uncle John's Unsinkable Bathroom Reader |author=Bathroom Readers' Institute |year=2011 |isbn=9781607104605 |publisher=Portable Press}} Furthermore, the device entered a crowded market. Its rivals are the VideoNow and the Game Boy Advance, the GBA being the most potent. The difference is that GBA not only had TV shows (which can be played through Game Boy Advance Video cartridges), but could also play video games, as it was built for that. Thus many retail stores were left with a surplus of the device. Original retail price was about US$70.{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fwAAAAAAMBAJ&dq=juice+box+mattel&pg=PA76 |page=76 |magazine=Popular Science |title=Matrix semiconductor 3D memory |date=December 2004}}