Technology was long seen as the curse of the classroom, just a glorified SRA (those over a certain age will remember the SRAs, those colored-coded individualized forms of torturous reading). SRAs gave way to computers and “drill and kill” became the domain of technology in the classroom, because that’s all that computers were capable of doing. Now technology may finally be driving the way students learn. But for those of us who aren’t in academia, the gear, the issues and the buzz are quite different.  Read more »

Some families are OK about playing with toy guns; others believe the toy is the quickest route to the real thing. Now the toy gun dilemma finds its way to the virtual world with Water Warfare from Hudson Entertainment. Billed as a family-friendly first person shooter (sound a bit oxymoronic) this WiiWare (Nintendo’s world of downloadable games) game replaces Doom’s dark corridors with sunny beaches, playgrounds, and towns. It replaces heavy artillery with squirt guns. Read more »

It’s show time for the digital toy business. Time to trot out previews of the summer’s releases.  This season offerings has a few recurrent themes. First is low price. Almost all of the manufacturers are selling less expensive variations on their older toys.  The second trend is all about using the body and brain in combination. Whether it’s on the Wii or a standalone toy, chances are you’ll be your body as an input device.  And finally, there’s a trend to make child-sized versions of adult digital toys, from cameras and mp3 players, to gym equipment and fingernail decorating. Read more »

Apple has more than 50,000 of them. RIM’s, Verizon’s, and Palm’s are gaining momentum. We’re talking mobile apps, and at the recent CEA Lineshows, Peter Rojas, founder of Engadget and soon Gdgt.com, and Michael Gartenberg, vice president of analysis at Interpret, presided over the event which was sponsored by the Mobile Entertainment Forum. Ten mobile apps were given three minutes each in front of a live audience. The winner? A complete home security system controlled by your mobile phone. Read more »

There’s a growing movement afoot to give the seal of approval to Dad, often the forgotten part of the child rearing equation. Not only are more dads staying home with the kids (80% of layoffs in the recession have been males), but they have a unique perspective on raising kids.

Just in time for Father’s Day, Salon pays homage to the Y-chromosome in the equation. Nancy Gibbs in this week’s Time Magazine urges moms to take note. Dads are laid back and less caught up in the politics of mommyhood.

Happy Father’s Day to moms everywhere.

It’s getting harder for kids to discern the difference between cheating and using technology.

I used to write about the “cut and paste your way to an A” phenomena. Kids got so used to cutting and pasting text from the web into their documents that they failed to see the fine line between research and plagiarism. Read more »

Have you tried shopping for educational toys  for young kids lately?

It’s a jungle out there.  If you’re looking to help them practice  reading, math, critical thinking, color matching  … whatever, there are hundreds to choose from ranging from the mundane to the sublime. And no way to know for sure much about what’s inside the box.

Leapfrog, known for mostly top-notch products for kids just made it much easier to buy the right product and better still, to watch how your child is interacting with the toy. Read more »

Report from Digital Downtown

Held in NYC this week, CEALineShows/Digital Downtown a June preview event focused on innovation and a sneak peak at the holiday season drew its share of news. Here’s what some attendees had to say.

The Geek in Chief Addresses the Crowd

Does it take to long to renew your driver’s liscense?  Is high speed bandwidth a problem in your neighborhood? Do you want to feel more secure about your privacy?  You’ve got a friend in The Whitehouse in  Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra.  He addressed the gadget-loving crowd at CEALineshows by stressing that “digitalness” of the Obama admininistration and his focus on innovation and efficiency in government.

Chopra drew accolodades from the crowd as he described technology as pivotal to much of our policy and job creation in the coming years. He covered the success of the DTV transition, the need for public/private partnerships and the proliferation of applications for a mobile world. Read more »

If I had a dime for every spam mail offering me a free college degree, I’d be up to my ears in diplomas. Online colleges have a mixed-bag history of snake oil and success.

University of the People is out to legitimize free. Not only is a college degree free, anyone who has access to a computer, in any country in the world, is invited to get one. Read more »

There’s a whole new world launching today. It’s Kidlandia, a world that your kids build online and then turn into a souvenir high-quality printed map. Meant for parents and kids to use in tandem, the map becomes the catalyst for storytelling. Read more »