With the holiday shopping season creeping up, you may have a child on your shopping list who longs for a special toy. However, you may worry that the toy you are considering is unsafe for your child and perhaps the environment. Thankfully, there are resources online that offer advice on which products may be unsafe to your child.
If you're a parent, this set of resources is definitely worth checking out.
Keep Kids Safe
Consumer Product Safety Commission There is probably no better place to go first when looking for safe children's toys than the U.S. government's Consumer Product Safety Commission page.
When you get to the CPSC site, you'll be able to search for all the recalls and issues that have arisen with toys. You can also see some of the most recent recalls by simply clicking on the appropriate month above the search box. In either case, the site lists all the recalls during the specified period, why it was recalled, and information on how to return the item. The site also features images of the products to help you determine if the toy you've purchased is of concern. Even better, you can follow the CPSC on Twitter or Facebook to receive updates on new recalls as they are announced. The CPSC Web site, while poorly designed, is a must-see for any parent.
The CPSC Web site has all kinds of recalled products.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)GoodGuide If you're looking for data on what you should be providing your kids with, GoodGuide is the place to be.
GoodGuide offers a listing of healthy foods, household products, and toys that are suitable for children. GoodGuide's Toy section lists the level of lead, mercury, chlorine, and other harmful chemicals in the toy. Green means the toy doesn't have contain the respective harmful chemical, while red means that there are high levels of a chemical in a toy. You can also dig down into each listing to determine if the company that created the product has a good reputation. I was impressed by the number of toys GoodGuide offered. I think any parent will like GoodGuide.
Find out how healthy a toy really is with GoodGuide.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)SAN FRANCISCO--Most of the new ventures launching at the TechCrunch50 conference are standalone Web sites, but not all. In years past there have been the few hardware launches, and this year is no different. Here are two new bits of hardware, and a new hardware platform that are gunning to make their way into your living room and office in the coming months.
The iTwin splits up into two USB sticks that are paired to talk only to each other
(Credit: iTwin )iTwin is a two-piece bit of USB hardware that acts as a "cableless cable" allowing two computers to connect and share files as long as they have an Internet connection. There's nothing to set up, since both halves of the device are paired together and stay constantly connected. Users just plug it in, and can begin dropping files large and small into a shared folder.
The product will be available beginning early next year for $99, and comes with two paired sides that interlock when not in use. If users lose one of the two sides, they can lock down their account with an SMS message, or by disconnecting the other piece. They can also purchase an additional side, which can be re-paired.
ToyBots is a new gaming platform that lets toy manufacturers plug in their toys to an online network. Much like the Pleo, the personality of the toy can be altered by firmware upgrades, which are directly connected to the Web. Users can then play games and get feedback from their toy, as well as purchase and download new personalities and applications.
The company is hoping to get toy manufacturers on board as partners, and get them to start using the standard firmware profile across their entire line of toys. This would do two big things: let users re-use firmware or applications they've purchased for one toy, onto another, as well as keep money coming in even after a consumer has purchased a toy.
ToyBots' founder demos a toy running the prototype firmware.
(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET)
SocialToo, a company that makes it easier to get more out of social networks, announced that it will no longer allow its users to automatically send direct messages to users who follow them on Twitter. According to the company's CEO, Jesse Stay, he wants to "take a stand against automated direct messages" and aims at restoring their usefulness in Twitter. In addition, he announced that anyone who wants to block automated messages from any service can do so by providing SocialToo with their Twitter username and password.
ToysRUs announced that it has won an auction for the Toys.com domain name, paying $5.1 million in a bidding war with domain holding company National A-1. There is currently no word on how ToysRUs plans to use the domain, but the URL is currently down.
Mobile app developer mSpot has launched a new tool that will allow users to make ringtones directly in their browser. Dubbed Make-UR-Tones, the service provides a click-and-drag ringtone creation tool from a catalog of over 400,000 songs. Each ringtone will be 30 seconds in length and cost $2.99. So far, the service is limited to Sprint and AT&T customers, but the company says its ringtones will support other carriers "soon." Worse, it doesn't support every phone from the carriers and the iPhone, for example, is currently not supported. Weird.
Zuora is bringing its billing subscription service to Facebook, Tien Tzuo, the company's CEO, announced Monday. Tzuo contends that subscriptions are the missing element that will allow developers to make money on Facebook apps and his company will let developers charge as little as 25 cents weekly, monthly, or annually. The company currently takes 2 percent as a commission on all sales.
In Web 2.0 conference culture, a wheelchair becomes an ad platform, and the letter "X" serves as a mascot. So why not celebrate SWAG?
Inside the wagon, Marjorie Kase plays with a stuffed monkey, one of the cuter pieces of Web 2.0 Expo SWAG.
(Credit: Elsa Wenzel/CNET Networks)A group of Los Angeles friends who work in social media were kvetching earlier this month about the mountain of waste--such as branded T-shirts, stress balls, key chains, and other giveaways--that pile up at tech conferences.
They decided to turn that into an opportunity to sweeten the convention party circuit while benefiting charity.
Michael Liskin, Marjorie Kase, and David Preciado decided to cruise the Web 2.0 Expo in a "Schwaggin' Wagon," collecting excess knickknacks from vendors. They plan to send the souvenirs in care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq, as well as to the nonprofit InnerKids.
The plan came together 10 days ago. Naturally, a blog, a Facebook group, and accounts on Twitter and BrightKite (more here) shortly followed.
Eight sponsors, including Mashable, Dogster, and Girl Gamer, cover the rental and fuel. In exchange, their logos plaster the 15-person, Chevy rental van that the friends drove to San Francisco for this week's expo.
"It shows that once you get something going and it resonates with people, it can go far," said Liskin. "Even if we don't gather voluminous amounts of SWAG this time, we're raising awareness about the waste."
Last night I hitched rides to party hop in the wagon crammed with SWAG, colorful pinwheel lights, paper lanterns, and tipsy conference goers. All it's missing is a disco ball.
But at the Web 2.0 Expo, there seems to be a shortage of the primo SWAG, unlike the iPhone given to each attendee of Office 2.0 last year. So if all you got out of this conference was a lousy t-shirt, the Schwaggin' Wagon crew invites you to track them down via Twitter or BrightKite.
"If someone brings two or more pieces of SWAG, we could do a SWAG exchange," Liskin said. "In the tradition of user-generated content, it's a collaborative process. People can tweet us and tell us where to go."
He and the fellow "Schwaggineers" total six people, including Kyra Reed, Daniel Hartman, and my friend Andy Sternberg. They want to make the rounds of more tech conferences, but haven't decided on the next stop.
Aiming to reduce the project's carbon footprint, however, Liskin is pledging to use a natural gas or other "green" vehicle next time.
Can't find a taxi? Want to offload a stress ball?
(Credit: Andy Sternberg)
Toys are an important part of being a child. When we get older they become shinier and more expensive, but for many, they're fun to play with for a short time and we lose interest.
To help curb the potential costs and storage required, there's BabyPlays, a service that approaches toy enjoyment in a similar fashion to Netflix. BabyPlays is a subscription service that lets you pick what toys you want delivered to your house each month. Each of the plans lets you receive a different amount of toys. There are no late fees, and when you want a new ones shipped out you simply pack up the old ones and send them in.
In case you were wondering, the toys are sterilized between rentals. Also, if your little one is in love with the toy and you feel like buying it permanently you can do so for 20 percent of its cost.
See also: Swaggle, which lets parents swap and loan out used toys to one another.
Screenshot of the U.B.Funkeys virtual world, Terrapinia.
(Credit: Mattel)NEW YORK--U.B.Funkeys is a new line of vinyl figures from Mattel that double as avatars in a virtual world.
Instead of entering a code as with the Webkinz, you place your Funkey in a USB docking station. The character is then recognized in the virtual world of Terrapinia, a place filled with funk and other music.
The starter kit with USB docking station and two characters is available for $19.99, with additional Funkeys vinyl figures for $4.99 each. There are over 40 different Funkeys and each one has unique abilities in-world in addition to a bio and personality.
There are "normal," "rare" and "very rare" Funkeys. The more rare, it seems, the more power they have in-world.
Scratch, for example, is a character with a turntable for a face. He's marked "rare" and whenever Scratch plays music while in a room with other Funkeys, they are compelled to dance, according to his bio.
As with the Webkinz, owners can use their Funkeys for their corresponding vinyl figure to play casual games, earn points and buy virtual stuff for their virtual crib.
The funk music that plays in some areas of the world and the less cutesy non-pastel graphics, make the U.B.Funkeys a likely step-up as kids grow out of the Webkinz.
Adults will find them charming, too. The story and characters are written at a level of double-meaning that may go over kids heads, but will give parents a knowing chuckle.
Sprout
(Credit: Mattel)
Fallout
(Credit: Mattel)
Bones
(Credit: Mattel)
Tiki
(Credit: Mattel)
Vroom
(Credit: Mattel)
(Credit:
VTech Communications)
Home telephones are like TV sets of the '70s and '80s--except for the cordless breakthrough, technology has seen scant change compared with other consumer products. VTech wants to change that with its new "infoPhone" (not to be confused with the iPhone, thank you very much).
The landline handset is designed to handle many functions that most people reserve for the computer. As Gadgetell says, "The new ip8300 infoPhone uses the Internet to access information directly on the cordless handset's color LCD screen, including news headlines, weather reports, horoscopes, local directory searches and more"--all according to personalized feeds carried wirelessly through new DECT 6.0 technology (which, as every schoolboy knows, stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications).
If it makes sense for any phone manufacturer to go in this direction, it would be VTech. The company has long tried to make technology friendly to the everyday consumer, starting with its extensive line of toys. But trying to turn the home phone into a household's main Internet conduit is a risky proposition: Other industries have made similar attempts with TV sets and game consoles, only to lose out to the computer. And if any phone is going to horn in on this turf, a mobile handset would seem to make more sense.
Then again, at least some companies seem to think that viable markets exist for such products as a computerless e-mail printer. And remember, some people out there are still using some variation of WebTV. Enough said.
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