Children
”Loud Enough Earphones: Ultimate Ears For Your Kids
It's been a while since we brought you some news from Ultimate Ears (the cat eating through the cable to my UE Super.Fi's doesn't count, sadly). But now UE has released its newest offering, and it's for the kids: the Loud Enough earphones. "They've gone barking mad!" you might say, citing expense and the potential damage that might be done to young ears by a max-volume burst of Noddy. Well, you'd be wrong: these earbud 'phones have special volume-limiting tech built in. Plus they're $40. They've got silicon buds down to extra-small size... so I guess the only danger is what inventive kids will get up to with those. [Crave via Gizmodiva]Mommy Megaphone Will Out You As an Ineffective Parent
The Mommy Megaphone is a gag gift for parents that bills itself as a “sure-fire way to get everyone to listen.” It has a speak mode and a siren mode, can project over 500 feet and is allegedly weather and baby-resistant. With an adjustable volume range of 5 to 10 Watts however, it's almost completely useless. Kids are yelly; when I was young, I'm pretty sure I'd hit 10 Watts in a normal conversation. You know what would be more effective? Holding up a paddle. That always got me to listen right quick. [Nerd Approved]"HD for Kids!" Coloring Book: Now You Really Have to Stay Inside the Lines
This great "HD for Kids!" coloring book by Non-Toxic Reviews teaches tykes all about the joys—and pitfalls—of High-Def TV through activities like tracing burn-in on a plasma screen and the borderline-autistic "draw 1,080 dots inside this HDTV". The book is too funny not to be a little tongue-in-cheek, but the lessons are real and helpful for people of all ages. I can definitely relate to the part that gets the young 'uns disappointed early in life when they realize they have four HDMI devices, but only one input to plug them into. Check out our favorite pages in the gallery, and get the full book for free by hitting the link. [Non-Toxic Reviews via BBG]
Moron Kid Gets Trapped Inside a Crane Game, Still Doesn't Get a Prize
I'm pretty sure when I was young, kids this dumb were sent out into the wild and only allowed back into society after they'd done battle with rabid wolves and survived, to ensure accordance with Darwin's law. Anyways, look kid, the crappy, Chinese-made stuffed toys inside, they're not actually worth it—not the quarter you conned out of your parents to play, and not the years of therapy you're going to have undergo to get over this. If it had been one of the ones where you can win like a Wii, okay, 'cause they can still be kind of hard to come by. But it totally wasn't. [YouTube via Geekologie]Metrolla Strolla: Baby Stroller Gets Some Height Added
The stroller has undergone a radical redesign with this concept by designers Dan Levin and Evan Garrett, which places the baby passenger at almost normal eye-height. The design has sprung legs for ride comfort, and the seat unplugs so you can mount it easily on your bike too. Seems like a great idea, and frees the kid from having to look at endless sets of legs or ceilings rolling by, like in many normal strollers. But I can't help but worry that it looks very top-heavy, and a topple from that height would be terrifying. Might just need bigger, badder wheels. It's a concept, so don't expect to rush off and buy one. [Coroflot via Born Rich]
gadgets
The Kiddo Kidkeeper Keeps Your Child on a Digital Leash
Smart Target's Kiddo Kidkeeper Proximity alarm helps bring peace of mind to the parents of adventurous children using a wearable wireless transmitter. When a child has wandered out of a pre-set range, the transmitter will trigger a visual and audible alarm on the parent's receiver, prompting them to reel the kid back in. More »Zeki Cellphone Is Walkie-Talkie with SMS and MP3 for Kids
A company called YoungToys is bringing out a cellphone aimed at kids and toddlers in Korea. The Zeki is a digital walkie-talkie, enabling conversations and short messages exchange between two handsets up to 260 feet apart, as well as MP3 playback and audio/video recording (presumably useful if you're the snooping parent type).More »
Scan-It X-Ray Machine the Ugly Face of 21st-Century Toys
Billed as a way of acclimatizing kids with airport security checks, the Scan-It X-Ray machine detects the presence of metal in objects and is, let's face it, a scary addition to your child's toy box. Stick Barbie on the conveyor belt, pass her through the Scan-It and you will be able to see if her IUD is in place or not. It costs $29.95, but I'm going to hang on for the Crazy CIA Waterboarding Kit. Seriously. [OhGizmo] More »
weird
Idiot Kid Looks for Narnia in Washing Machine, Overly Sympathetic Firefighters Save Him with Jaws of Life
Okay, so I tried to put myself in this kid's shoes. I'm looking at a steel hole. Not very exciting! I'd rather go play with a bright, flashing object instead. Apparently, we don't have the same thought process, 'cause this kid decided to dig deeper. Guess what he found? A whole bunch of OMGI'mStuck. Enter brave firefighters, who have to rip the defenseless washing machine apart with the jaws of life to free the kid. Me? I'd have just gotten a new washing machine on the spot. [WKYC via Fark]Laptops Designed by Children
When adults design a laptop for children, it looks like the OLPC or Speak and Spell. When laptops are designed by children they look like the setup above. The PurC PC (Purple Construction Paper PC, my name) was made by an 8-year old girl in the youngster-founded, no-adults-allowed "The Laptop Club".
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Nokia 800 Robot Dog the Brainchild of Finnish Schoolkids
This is what happens when a forward-thinking cellphone giant gets together with a bunch of its future potential customers &mdash a robot dog made from an N800. The children at a Nokia-funded school in Finland came up with this idea of having an internet tablet that doubles as a pet. [YouTube via Crave]Crayola Releases EZ Grip Digital Camera For Budding Upskirtists
Get your child started early on his hobby with the Crayola EZ Grip Camera, a camera that has grips on either side for EZ gripping. Much better than a normal camera, this EZ cam comes with proprietary software with a "write a story" template to create storyboards out of pics your kids shoot, printable frames, and finger puppet creation abilities. All this for $49.99 means little Jojo can grow up to be the next LaChappelle and charge extravagant prices for extravagant people. [Crayola]
Lite-on USB Puzzle Concept Keeps Kids From Sticking Fingers into Sockets
Lite-on's concept for a USB puzzle game involves e-paper, puzzle pieces and software that feeds an image directly onto the puzzle board. Kids rearrange blocks in order to construct the puzzle (which is made out of the image you chose from your computer). However, it looks like the puzzle pieces themselves never actually change—just the images do. So all but the slowest of kids should be able to figure this out in no time. [Everything USB]
update
Walt Disney Calls BS on "Baby Einstein Melts Your Baby's Mind" Study
Reporting scientific research in the mainstream media is generally difficult—results have to summarized and simplified for non-scientist folk, and more often than not, wind up sensationalized to make for better headlines. Walt Disney's claiming that's exactly what happened with the widely reported (and mocked) results of the Baby Einstein study. I'm not a scientist, so I'll leave it to their respective lawyers to decide who's right and who's wrong. Press release after the jump.More »
oops
"Baby Einstein" Turns Your Baby Into "Baby Stares at Mirrors for Hours"
In a serious blow to the convenience model of parenting, a new study found that 8-to-16-month-old infants who are plopped in front of "Baby Einstein" videos understand on average six to eight fewer words per hour watched than kids who didn't watch Einstein. More »
for the children
Super V-Chip Aims to Block Content on Everything, Will Probably Fail
The Senate Commerce Committee has approved legislation that would enjoin the FCC to oversee the development of a "super V-chip" that would block content on cellphones, TVs, the internet—anywhere tender young eyes could land upon "inappropriate" content. Unfortunately for its proponents, the Child Safe Viewing Act's initiative will probably bomb even harder than the 1996 Telecommunications Act's V-chip provision—sure there's a V-chip in all of our TVs, but who actually uses them? Hell, when was the last time you even thought about it until just now? More »$6,299 Hello Kitty Robot Replaces Good Parenting
While $6,299 can buy you a boatload of Hello Kitty book bags, t-shirt and keychains, that small mountain of cash will only buy you one Hello Kitty Robot. Now up for preorder, the lovable robot can chat with a child in three different personality modes: as a close friend, with the family and as a guessing game. But that's just the tip of the proverbial Hello Kitty iceberg.
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