kid tech

News

The Twoddler: A Bit Much, Don't You Think?

Answering Twitter's new question; "What's happening?"

Answering Twitter's new question; "What's happening?" could lead to enough answers on its own, but now a team in Belgium has developed a way for babies to use Twitter. The Twoddler is just a prototype for now, but it combines a popular kids' crib toy with the social networking service. When the baby performs different actions, they're recorded via Twitter.

The team added photos of the babies' parents to the basic toy, and sent data to Twitter based on what the child is doing. For instance, if the baby plays with the part of the toy close to his mother's face, sensors post a tweet to the effect of, "I miss my mommy." On one hand, it's a different way for parents to keep up with what their children are doing; on the other, it introduces the phenomenon of social networking at a much younger age than most parents would be comfortable with. Not to mention 85 percent of you supported an age restriction on social networks. I'm guessing you'd also agree that if you still sleep in a crib and wear diapers, you're too young to tweet. I'd say maybe best to stick with baby sign language for the basics.

News

Should There Be an Age Minimum For Social Networks?

Social networking sites have long been popular with teens, and now researchers are saying they're becoming increasingly popular with younger kids, too.

Social networking sites have long been popular with teens, and now researchers are saying they're becoming increasingly popular with younger kids, too. I don't think anyone's surprised by the findings; though both Facebook and MySpace require users to be at least 13 years old when signing up for accounts.

A researcher quoted in the CNN article says:

"Of course they are [using social networking sites]. They're using them because that's where their social world is. Because there's no effective way to age-verify . . . children very quickly realize, 'I just say I'm 14 years old, and they'll let me use this.' "

Researchers are split on the long-term effects of allowing younger children onto the sites. Some say that early exposure to the sites can lead to Internet addiction in adults; others say that most younger children use the sites in moderation, and in positive ways. The article also quotes parents who have allowed their kids to lie about their age to create profiles, though they also require their kids to surrender their passwords, and monitor the kids' activities and friends. What do you think about age restrictions on these sites?

News

Daily Tech: The Pure Sensia Touchscreen Radio With WiFi

The Pure Sensia radio offers a touchscreen, social networking apps, WiFi, an on-screen keyboard, and it will cost around $406 — Slashgear Griffin's new kid-friendly headphones include volume-limiting settings to protect them from hearing loss — Popgadget President Barack Obama is worried about people getting their information from blogs and not newspapers — The Silicon Alley Insider Check out this solar-powered Bluetooth headset that is juiced up from the sun's rays — Gizmodo Tweet Scenes designs customized Twitter backgrounds for $129 — TechCrunch It's giveaway and game time on GeekSugar!

Travel

iPhone Apps to Have Handy During Road Trips With Kids

Although we're already talking about back to school and hot new gadgets for Fall, I know there are still some families trying to squeeze in some last minute road trips before Summer comes to a close.
Useful iPhone Apps to Have Handy During Road Trips With Kids

Although we're already talking about back to school and hot new gadgets for Fall, I know there are still some families trying to squeeze in some last minute road trips before Summer comes to a close. If that's the case for you, and you just so happen to have some lil ones joining you, I've picked a few of my favorite apps you may want to have handy while cruisin' down the I-95. And be sure to check out lilsugar for some helpful apps in general for parents of toddlers and older children.

Shopping

Dell and Nickelodeon Team Up to Create a Kid-Friendly Netbook

Ah, kids these days.

Ah, kids these days. . . when they're not gabbing away on their cell phones, they've got their faces glued to the screens of portable gaming devices.

Well Dell is next in line to target younger audiences by working closely with Nickelodeon to create a 10.1-inch mini Inspiron netbook. The laptop, which is covered in the signature-green slime design by iCarly, comes fully loaded with entertaining and educational content and a Nickelodeon-branded desktop wallpaper and icons.

The price of this three-pound netbook hasn't been announced as of yet, but you can expect it to be around the same price as the regular mini 10. They will be available in Dell and Wal-Mart store shelves starting this October.

Website of the Day

Website of the Day: Glubble

Though it seems like Facebook has been invaded by our respective family members, it's not always a family-friendly place to be, even with the new private groups.

Though it seems like Facebook has been invaded by our respective family members, it's not always a family-friendly place to be, even with the new private groups. And you certainly wouldn't want your preteen niece on it.

The destination where that is possible, though, is Glubble. Glubble is like the family-friendly social network. I'm not saying give up your Facebook account and join, but it's worth it to open a new account for Glubble if you have a big family that wants to be able to share photos, videos, and messages on the Internet — but in a secure environment.

To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more

Shopping

Ideal Earphones For Kids and Those With Smaller Ears

I can't wait to tell lilsugar about my latest tech discovery — earphones designed with kids' ears in mind.

I can't wait to tell lilsugar about my latest tech discovery — earphones designed with kids' ears in mind. The Loud Enough Earphones ($40) are targeted for kids aged eight and older and feature built-in sound pressure protection that decrease noise up to 40 percent (or 20 decibels). And with their isolation design, kids won't have to crank up the volume so loud when they're playing video games, watching movies, or listening to tunes. They also come with a variety of sizes of (PVC free) soft silicone ear tips, making them perfect for adults with smaller ear canals.

I took a pair for a test drive and expected that the volume would be extremely quiet, the sound quality wouldn't be the same, and therefore, not exactly adult-friendly earphones. If you're one of those people who cranks up your music on full blast, then these are not for you. Personally, I like my music fairly loud, but on my iPhone or iPod, that's really only half of the volume level.

To find out if I would wear a pair of these earphones, just read more

Health

UK Ad Claims That Video Games Equal an Early Death

Do video games spur people to really "do nothing"?

Do video games spur people to really "do nothing"? That's what this print ad from the UK's government agency Change 4 Life portrays — and not only do they make you do nothing, that apparently causes you to die early.

Sure, some notorious games can hold you hostage for hours, but on the whole, I'm pretty sure this ad is overly alarmist. A handful of people can take anything to the extreme, video games included (I can think of a few devastating stories where people were preoccupied with their game, and something awful happened), but for the majority, I think moderation is the rule.

This ad seems to want to deter parents from letting their kids play video games, but it's going a bit far in its message of health.

What do you think?

Amazon

Daily Tech: Nikon Debuts 8 New COOLPIX Digicams

Coming this Spring to the Nikon COOLPIX line of cameras are eight digicams, which range from compact point-and-shoot to larger cams featuring optical zoom up to 24x.

Website of the Day

Website of the Day: KidRex

OK parents, have I got the best website for you today.

OK parents, have I got the best website for you today. If your kids have their own computers, or they have their own "kids" account on your home computer, set this website as the homepage, pronto! Powered by Google Custom Search, KidRex is a fun child-friendly search website that uses Google SafeSearch technology to eliminate inappropriate material. I tested it out with words like sex, penis, intercourse, and Britney naked, and every search term returned a "Oops! Try Again" response — which means it works! Although it claims to not be 100 accurate, it worked pretty flawlessly for me. And considering what kids see via the regular Google search engine, this seems to be a pretty great alternative. It's in the same awesomeness league as the BlackBerry for tots.

Do you have a cool site like this you want to share with geeksugar readers? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more