Raising Digital Kids

Tip of the Hat to Tech Ingenuity

admin — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:42:50 +0000

Make your own custom fit earphones.

Each year, for the past 10, I brace myself for The Last Gadget Standing, an event at International CES that admires the spirit of creativity and the fact that CES attendees not only appreciate cool technology, but that they can pick the winners from the losers.

As the competition starts to heat up I’ll point to a few my favs and favs yet to come.

AutoBot from Mavizon Technologies: Ten years ago GM Onstar won the Last Gadget competition. A few years later CarMD tapped into the car’s diagnostic port and let you diagnose potential car trouble. This year Mavizon is “Onstar for those on a budget”. For under $300 (price is still being determined) you get a small box that plugs into the car and reports back to your mobile phone. Not only will it check the car’s vital signs like the need for an oil change, but it can send an emergency call if your air bag is deployed, remind you where you’ve partked, act like a GPS. It even has a Groupon like coupon feature to get you the best deals on everything from new tires to a lube job. You get a coupon or two but there’s no monthy service charge for using Mavizon.

Sonomax Soundcage is a kit that lets you make your own custom fit earphones. You buy the Sonomax earphones encased in a plastic headpiece. Place the plugs in your ears and a tube of inflatable silicon shapes the plug to match your ear. Once you’ve shaped your plugs (four minutes later) you toss away the headpiece.

Lapiac entered a bracelet locator that helps you keep tabs on everyone from an outdoor adventurer to an aging parent to a prison parolee. It relies on Assisted GPS technology for indoor and outdoor coverage, logs movement and can be used to set up geofences.

For those who think even a mobile phone is too big to tuck in a pocket or purse, Sony Ericcson just introduced LiveView microdisplay, a tiny square screen that notifies you about incoming calls and social media feeds. Designed to work with the company’s Xperia phones.

IdealLife, a line of products that let’s caretakers monitor patients is built around a single bluetooth hub that can talk to everything from pulse meters, to blood pressure cuffs, to scales, pedometers and more. A line of expandable high tech products for home health represents a first.

Seen a great gadget lately. Come on over and tell us about them. Or re-live the past by watching last year’s Last Gadget video

3D Versus Body Motion: What Matters Most for Next Gen Gamers?

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:13:36 +0000

Accoding to NPD, a research firm, families are using video games big time. After sports games and action games (each holding approximately 20% of the market), family games represent 12%, the next largest category. Though the press would have you think otherwise, nearly 50% of games sold are rated “E” for everyone. And the game platforms are looking for new cool ways to exploit the growing gaming market.

This holiday, the three big industry platform giants—Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo—are going to battle it out with next generation systems, each targeting a wider consumer audience in its own unique way. For each, the ease of use, price, mobility, ability to download music and movies and play online, and, of course, a little bit of gamer’s luck will affect its ultimate success.

Kinect

Microsoft Kinect

$149, $399 for Elite Bundle that includes the requisite Xbox.

Expected release: November

What it is: Originally dubbed Project Natal, Kinect is an Xbox accessory that allows you to play video games without having to use any sort of input device or controller other than your own body. You can wave your hands and make things move around a virtual screen, or kick up your heels to play a rousing game of soccer. Microsoft emphasizes Kinect’s natural user interface: voice, touch, face recognition, motion sensors, video chat, and more. Having tested it, I can attest that a Kinect experience can leave you breathless, the same kind of breathless any good workout gives you.

Technology: A clever packaging of a traditional digital webcam with a second camera that senses depth plus four microphones to pick up voice. The Kinect sits next to your Xbox. The cameras pick up your body movements and the software has been taught more about degrees of body articulation than an Indian fakir. Kinect reacts to slight movements of arms, wrists, knees, neck, etc. with equal aplomb.

Games preview: Many of the games are what you’d expect to be playing with or without a controller: Kinectimals is like a cuter version of Nintendogs; Kinect Sports is like the Wii sports with soccer, bowling, and track and field games. There’s a go-kart racing game and plenty of jumping adventures in Kinect Adventures. My fave announcement is the Your Shape game from Ubisoft and Dance Central from Harmonix, letting me up my fitness unencumbered by dance pads or controllers.

Pros and cons: Kinect is sold separately but you’ll probably want the Ultimate Pack, which includes the new update of the Xbox 360 Live featuring more memory, USB, and HDMI, to name a few.

Sony Move PlayStation

Under $100 for the three components: the Move wand, the navigation controller, and the Eye camera.

Expected release: September

What it is: It looks like a karaoke mic but it’s an accessory for the PS3 that adds new dimensions of control to video games as you wave it like a baton. Much like the gyroscope/accelerometer in other motion-sensing devices and the Wii remotes, the stick can record your body positioning and relay that information to a webcam attached to the PS3. Think of the Move as a magic wand. Swing it like a baseball bat, golf club, or tennis racket and the movement is detected.

Technology: Unlike Kinect, where it’s your body or nothing, the Sony Move includes some buttons that can be used to enhance play. Gamers will enjoy having the buttons to add another dimension. Nongamers will continue to be confused. Some games require having two Moves in hand, like archery, for example. According to my colleagues in the know, the Sony Move is much more precise than the Kinect precisely because you’re holding something in your hand. Sony Move uses a Bluetooth controller to communicate between the wand and the camera.

Sony Move Archery

Games preview: Sony Move aims to satisfy both casual and hardcore gamers alike. Titles already confirmed are: Sorcery, SingStar Dance, Heroes on the Move (working title), SOCOM 4, Heavy Rain Move Edition, echochrome ii, EyePet, Sports Champions, Tumble, Beat, Time Crisis: Razing Storm, Toy Story 3, and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11.

Nintendo 3DS

Pricing still not available.

Expected release: March 2011

What it is: Due out after the others, the 3DS is similar to the current Nintendo DS but it’s 3D, and 3D that does not require the user to wear any special 3D glasses. The Nintendo Wii, the acknowledged granddaddy of motion-based gaming, captured the imagination of a new generation of young mobile gamers. Nintendo’s Wii sales have been ailing, and the earlier arrival of the Kinect and Sony Move will undoubtedly cause some defections.

Technology: The secret sauce behind Nintendo 3DS is a third camera that helps create the 3D image. Like the DS, it’s got dual screens, a 3.53-inch top screen and a 3.02-inch bottom touchscreen. The top screen is capable of showing 3D graphics; the bottom is a touchpad. A motion sensor, gyro sensor, and a slide pad that allows 360-degree input make it possible to play games or take a 3D photo. The 3DS comes with slots for 3DS and DS games, and an SD card slot, integrated Wi-Fi, and a rechargeable battery. The operative words here are mobile, connected, and 3D, and, knowing Nintendo, probably quite affordable.

Games preview: Here are some game trailers. The games looked a bit crude to me, but it’s pretty darn hard to simulate 3D on a 2D screen. Expect favorites like Mario and Nintendogs to resurface on 3D.

And the Winner Is

The kids I know say Nintendo’s 3DS is the freshest idea, one that most appeals to them. Frankly, the kids were less interested in the notion of full body motion control than I (in my inevitable quest to lose five pounds). Portability trumps motion control. Nintendo is promising 3D movie viewing too, and that’s adding to the ecstasy.

I, and the women I know, really like the Kinect idea and find a buttonless/controlless world really appealing. I mean, Kinect can even detect and correct an imprecise yoga down dog!
My gamer friends—they drool of the precision of Sony’s Move.

Where do you stand? Body, precision, or 3D?

Where Old iPhones go to Find New Lives

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:14:23 +0000

There were 1.5 million new iPhone 4s sold on the very first day of its availability. It stands to reason that a lot of these were bought by early adopters salivating to upgrade to the latest new version. Apple has become the Jedi Master of planned obsolescence; the iPhone upgrade being just one example. Before your old iPhone winds up in your personal electronics graveyard, consider these ways to make a few bucks or just do the right thing.

Making a Buck on an Old Phone

Apple will send you a gift card when you send them your old Apple products. The company determines whether or not your equipment is reusable. If it can be reused, they’ll send you a gift card good for any purchase at an Apple Store if your phone makes the grade; if not, they’ll recycle it on the company’s dime.

A similar, private site is Gazelle, which emphasizes making money for your recycling efforts. Gazelle will pay up to $100 for the iPhone 3G models and $200 for 3GS models if the devices are in good condition. BuyMyTronics.com is a similar site, where both broken and working iPhones are bought and then either resold or used for parts. RadioShack will also pay between $100 and $200 for used iPhones.

Bartering

At TradeStuff you can trade your old phone for something else that you really need. Ditto for Freecycle, a locally based swap club where you trade your stuff for theirs.

For Greener Good

The folks at Green Recycling promise to take your phone off your hands, working or not. The company encourages fundraising through recycling cellphones. Enter your zip code into Earth 911. A list of recyclers in your area appears.

For Charitable Donations

Don’t underestimate the power of the individual to do good things with old iPhones. Steve Glinberg, developer of educational apps like KidCalc Math Fun, runs a recycling program and collects old iPhones and iPod Touches to donate to schools. Glinberg wipes the data, restores the factory settings, installs educational apps, and ships the devices to teachers who have requested them.

Where do you stand in the norm? In a poll conducted on ZDNet, 40% of users said that they recycled their used phones; 35% said they donated them to charity. Final word of advice? Before you send your old phone to any sort of recycling program wipe it clean.

.XXX Gets the Green Light for a Red Light District in Cyberspace

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:49:05 +0000

I’ve been a long-time proponent of creating an adult area for those who want access to pornography. It’s one of the best ways to segregate adult content, keeping it accessible to those who want access, but letting filtering software quickly determine the appropriateness of a site.

For years the counterarguments have been:

Pornography is too hard to define since it’s based on local culture.
Many of the largest pornography sites are located offshore, making it hard to have jurisdiction.
Porn sites would not voluntarily comply.

I applaud ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers, for fast-tracking the creation of a .XXX domain. The next step is for the ICM group to assess that there’s sufficient interest from the adult community. I know that they’ll do the right thing. What’s amazing to me is how long it’s taken to reach this sensible decision.

For more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10412765.stm.

Kids Get Hip to Online Reputations

admin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:22:53 +0000

Kids are getting an A for effort and bypassing their parents in learning how to manage their online reputations. According to a Pew Internet study, kids who use social media do, in fact, care about their reputations. “Young adults, far from being indifferent about their digital footprints, are the most active online reputation managers in several dimensions. For example, more than two-thirds (71%) of social networking users aged 18-29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online” and are more likely to do so than older users (55%). Forty-four percent limit the amount of personal information they put online, compared to users aged 30-49 (33%), 50-64 (25%), and 65+ (20%). Forty-seven percent delete unwanted comments, compared to 29% of users 30-49 and 26% of users 50-64.

And in the Internet safety world, products are appearing to keep kids safe, in a dialog with their parents, and still let them enjoy the benefits of social networking.

A couple of new products make it easier than ever to encourage this sort of behavior. Some are more traditional than others, but each deals with online reputation management. SafetyWeb could just be considered a new monitoring product. It’s a service that lets you enter your child’s email and then does a search for them on the major social networks and photosharing sites. You’ll be able to see their public comments on Facebook, MySpace, Photobucket, and more. A quick search found my son on five networks, but missed his Facebook profile. The service costs $10 a month.

Similarly, a service called ReputationDefender will, for $14.95 a month, produce a report of your kid’s activities, including everything from photos they post to chats they have. ReputationDefender also works for business people and adults who want the less desirable things in their online history to show up at the bottom, rather than the top, of a Google search.

Webroot.com created a summer list to help parents in need of laying down the law on rules and best practices. Included are the basics like urging parents to become web savvy and know what’s on the web. Sounds like common sense, but it’s nice to see web software companies take action beside their core competency of blocking and filtering.

TrendMicro figured that, if kids were going to be a bit frightened about the consequences of inappropriate Internet behavior, then they might as well have their tutelage come from other kids. A contest where kids produced their own PSAs resulted in “Overexposed,” produced by Nicholas Chen and Edan Freiberger, which gets its slightly funny, slightly scary message across in under two minutes (watch it here). Contestants submitted 120 videos over six weeks; 40% of them were under age 18.

One of my favorite new approaches is not Internet safety at all; it’s an online community that’s been likened to Facebook on training wheels. Togetherville allows parents with Facebook accounts to create a kids’ safe area where they can stay in touch with family and friends that parents approve. Messages are confined to those you can select from a pick list. There are art games, photosharing, and mom and dad help pick your friends.

As tools get better, as education continues to be a focus, and as kids witness their own peers falling prey to Internet shenanigans, you can bet we’ll see more and more new answers emerging.

$69 LeapFrog Learning Toy Takes on the $500 iPad

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:00:29 +0000

What do kids really need when it comes to digital literacy and learning? And what are their ever-anxious parents willing to spend to get a leg up on the educational ladder?

For LeapFrog, the answer is the newly announced $69 Leapster Explorer. For the price, the features are awesome. It has a nice color screen (3.2 inches and 320×320 pixels – which makes it a bit grainer than the iPhone, but a big improvement for LeapFrog) and 512MB of memory. It runs Flash (take that, iPad), will do 3D, and play video. A webcam attachment, due out later this fall, will cost $25. Both games and LeapFrog applets that are similar to apps on the iPhone will be available (in a proprietary format). The device is aimed squarely at 4-9 year-olds.

Underneath the device lies a decision point in parenting philosophy. The Leapster Explorer has a vast network of educational apps that reside on LeapWorld. LeapWorld allows for avatars and personal customization – though no social networking. There’s a Learning Path online component that lets parents monitor activities, get suggestions for additional activities, and quickly find products that address a particular skill.

Unlike earlier versions of LeapFrog apps, their new games and apps are much more fun, exploratory, and open-ended. Gone are the right vs. wrong answers and the whiny voices telling you “Good move” or “Try again.” The music is hipper and there’s a bit of a new edge. The underpinnings of what we used to call “drill and kill software” are eroding.

LeapFrog’s apps are proprietary in format. There are both games - similar to Nintendo’s DS - and learning activities – more like the Apple Apps store. Launch titles include kid faves like Toy Story 3, Disney Fairies, The Penguins of Madagascar, X-Men, Disney Princesses, and Dora the Explorer. Pop culture at its best.

While the $69 hardware is attractive, apps are actually more expensive than on the iPhone. While the Apple Store has no shortage of handsome 99-cent apps, the Leapster Explorer apps will be priced at $15 for two learning apps and for $25 a game. On the other hand, there’s a lot going on beneath the hood, tracking kids’ progress, and unveiling new games that make the additional price reasonable.

Can LeapFrog’s earnest and right-priced approach to reaching kids from 4-9 work in a world where parents are handing over $500 iPads, iPhone Touches, and DS machines to four year olds? The alternative devices are much more facile and able to satisfy the whole family at once. LeapFrog’s Explorer is a platform built explicitly for young kids.

At the moment, unfortunately, there’s no room for crossover. You can’t play LeapFrog games on an i-machine and you can’t play iPhone apps on your LeapFrog device. Sad.

My bottom line? More price-sensitive, more traditional parents and those who believe that kids belong in a finite kids’ educational world will flock to LeapFrog. It’s also a fabulous solution for the less affluent who want a sustainable system through the primary school years. Parents who are less hierarchical and believe in a cross-generational approach will choose the iPad.

Which are you? Think of it this way: When my kids were little, they had a toy vacuum. Playing with the real thing was not an option. The Leapster Explorer is an educational toy, albeit a powerful one. The i-machines are tools for grownups, with occasional kid uses. The Nintendo DS will always fare better at games than learning.

Pandigital’s Novel Is Both Novel and Easy on the Pocketbook

admin — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:00:14 +0000

Color display, Barnes and Noble partner and a great price

Pandigital, a company best known for creating wireless digital photo frames, took a novel step forward with the introduction of a $200 full-color e-book reader with multimedia capabilities and a Barnes & Noble affiliation. In addition to the unit’s e-reader functionality, you can store photos, music, and movies, and use the device as a photo frame when you’re not reading.

The Down Low

The first version of the Pandigital Novel is a 7-inch eReader with an integrated and very fulfilling Barnes & Noble eBook Store experience. The comparatively large screen is a full-color LCD touch-screen display. It has Wi-Fi connectivity and a full set of reading enhancements, like a dictionary and notetakers. You can run a browser or play music while you read, since it’s multitasking capable, but the Internet search is not integrated into the book experience itself.

One of the cooler things on my list is a night reading mode where the text inverts from black-on-white to white-on-black. (If your spouse complains about your nocturnal reading habits this is a great answer.) It’ll also take advantage of the cutting edge Barnes & Noble LendMe technology, making it one of the first e-readers to work like a 14-day lending library.

I called Ross Rubin, an NPD analyst who monitors e-books, for his opinion. He believes that Amazon and Barnes & Noble have an advantage (presumably over iTunes), since both have vast databases of avid readers. “Barnes & Noble is reaching out to be the default bookstore on such devices as this one, the Plastic Logic device, and the forthcoming RCA e-reader from Audiovox,” says Rubin.

One of the tradeoffs of using an LCD screen is a shorter battery life, significantly shorter than the Kindle’s e-paper screen. One of the other tradeoffs is using Wi-Fi (home and hotspots) versus the Kindle’s data connection that works anywhere.

On the plus side—let’s face it—the iPad, a device with many similar features, costs $500. The Pandigital Novel is $200. The new Pandigital Novel eReader is an Android-based system, though it does not yet support downloadable apps.

The end result? Affordable, handsome, and a welcome contender to the e-reader plus world. It’s on my list as the closest thing to an iPad at one-third the price. And I’m betting that future versions will take more advantage of the Android operating system.

Kids Toys: A Brief, Biased, Mostly Binary Look

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 02:38:26 +0000

Remember Silly Putty? It was born as the high tech replacement for rubber during the shortage in WW II. What about Winky Dink? The first interactive TV program that asked kids to lay a sheet of acetate over their TV screens and draw Winky out of a jam. Yesterday’s toys are tomorrow’s innovation. Better graphics, better interaction, but is the play experience better, worse or just different?

This presentation ts based on a talk I gave at INplay in Toronto this week. Click to take yourself down Toyland memory lane. inplay-presentation

Google’s Toy Bag is Intimidating but Way Cool

admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:02:51 +0000

Google is known for having dozens of new tools in various states of development at any given moment. These typically extend the power of Google and they are available to the public in various states of “not ready for prime time”. There’s no cost to being a part of this human guinea pig beta other than your time. When they work it’s an aha moment and a good glimpse into the not too distant future.

I’m not an early diver. I wait until the first round of comments are addressed. But, this week I dove into two of Google’s more evolved features. Google Goggles and YouTube’s auto captioning.

Google Goggles (try typing that one three times fast) was first shown to the public about 6 months ago. It lets you search the web with pictures and photos. Using your Android SmartPhone (for now) you point your camera and snap a picture of a place … let’s say the Eiffel Tower. Immediately you are brought to the web for more information on the Tower. Take a picture of the Mona Lisa provides you with a detailed art history. Snap photos of logos, businesses, restaurants and more. Each brings up a search that’s just as complete as any you’d conduct using words or typing.

Alas, my photo of IronMan (a Marvel comics rendition) came up blank, but a photo of Ray Charles took me directly to the man’s life and works. My self portrait thankfully produced no results, but I was able to scan business cards and have them entered into Google Contacts.

About a week ago Google announced that Goggles can work with the Google translate app, making it even more useful. Can’t read the menu while dining in Tokyo? Point your camera, click and you’ve got the translation. It’s expected that Google Goggles will ultimately run on various smartphone systems, at this writing it’s for the Android. Watch the tutorial.

My second favorite – though a bit less evolved find is auto captioning of video on YouTube (owned by Google). Think about closed captioning for the deaf on TV but on steroids. For instance, when you select a video to be auto captioned the captions can be “searched” by Google, the font size changed and most important it can be translated into other languages using the Google translation tools. For a lucid explanation that’s reasonably timely, you can watch this closed caption video.
Not every video can be captioned. You must be the owner of the video or choose a video that has consented to be captioned by everyone.
The auto captioning is based on the same technology that initiates Google’s Voice Search on Android phones. The results are mixed even though the process is automated, creating captioning files is not simple.

Playing with Google toys today is like getting a sneak peak of tomorrow.

Two New Games For Young Fliers

admin — Mon, 10 May 2010 03:46:39 +0000

Flight Simulator the Microsoft game thats ultrarealistic controls and navigation path gave many armchair pilots a chance to take control of the wheel. Now the kids can get into the act with two games announced for the junior set. Heros in the Sky

MySims Sky Heroes: launching by this Sept
Most of you are familiar with The Sims, the closest thing to a do-it-yourself soap opera videogame. You may be less familiar with the junior version, My Sims. It’s a simpler, younger adventure that concentrates on cute Mii like characters. There have been racing version of My Sims and well as others.
. The newest My Sims addition is called SkyHeroes and it will be available by September. A better name would be My First Flight Simulator. Instead of just navigating aimlessly from point to point, your mission is to battle Morcubus and his drone army . They’ve got nefarious plans to take over the skyways! You earn your wings as your speed and reflexes are put to the test. Whimsy is pervasive as you can fly everything from a prop plane to a UFO. Available for Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox and Playstation.
Sky Captain by D3 Publishers, also jumps into the flight training craze with a much more structured adventure for young children where they can pilot anything from a plane to a UFO 40 different tasks from stunt flying to shooting targets. No killing, no crashing, and simple enough to pilot that even I managed. Sky Captain reports they’ll be available by this sumer.