kids

Highly addictive simple-to-learn game

Disclosure up front: we've played and been addicted to Fruit Ninja for a couple of years now! The goal of Fruit Ninja sounds weird: you get a bunch of fruit tossed up on the screen and you have to slice each one in half with a swipe of your finger (which represents a blade). Miss three fruits and you die. Slice a bomb instead of a fruit, and you die. Successfully slice enough fruit and you get one mistake wiped off your record. Very simple. And fiendishly addictive fun.

Fruit Ninja installs quickly. The paid app is very reasonable … Read more

Preserve your kids' artwork with Art My Kid Made

Like any parent, I prize the Picasso-caliber works of art my kids create at school and around the house.

Alas, I don't own a warehouse, so I simply don't have room to store all these masterpieces. What am I supposed to do, throw them in the trash? The guilt! The guilt!

Now there's an app for that: Art My Kid Made. (It's available now for iOS and soon for Android.) With it you can take photos of various crafts and drawings to preserve for posterity, and share them via Evernote, Facebook, or Twitter.

The app is … Read more

Netflix makes 'Just for Kids' iPad friendly

The name of the game this morning seems to be kids.

First, Netflix started the day off by announcing that the "Just for Kids" feature available at the video streaming service is now offered as a mobile app on the iPad.

The way it works is a child can click on the "Just for Kids" tab in the new iPad app and "find their favorite shows and movies by swiping through a row of their favorite characters, many of which they will instantly recognize." Netflix said the app is available on the iPad 2 … Read more

Toys 'R' Us takes on tablets with Tabeo

This Monday tech news roundup doesn't want to grow up:

Toys "R" Us has created it's own tablet designed for kids, called Tabeo. It goes on sale in stores Oct. 21 for $150, but the store is now taking preorders online. This kid-safe tablet comes with 50 apps pre-installed for games, education, reading -- even apps for cooking and editing photos. And there's 7,000 more apps available in an app store. It comes with 4GB of memory, but is expandable with a memory card slot. And Toys 'R' Us won't be sharing this … Read more

If you own an iPhone, install Lost Kidz right now

Every parent fears losing his or her child. Whether you're shopping at a department store, or visiting a theme park -- a lost child is a very real possibility.

A new iOS app, Lost Kidz, wants to help reunite parents with a lost child as soon as possible. iOS users can install the app and set up an account, free of charge, to receive alerts of missing kids nearby, based off of their iPhone's current location. The alert will contain a photo and information about the child to help you quickly identify, and reunite the lost child with … Read more

McDonald's, General Mills accused of collecting kids' data

The debate over personal data on the Internet and how it is used is always heated, but it becomes even more so when it involves children.

Nearly two dozen children advocacy groups are reportedly teaming up this week to file at least five separate complaints with the Federal Trade Commission against some very large global corporations, such as McDonald's and General Mills, which heavily depend upon business from kids and their parents.

Specifically, the Web sites in question in the complaints are HappyMeal.com, Nick.com, ReesesPuffs.com, SubwayKids.com, TrixWorld.com, and CartoonNetwork.com.

Groups such as … Read more

Rich Kids of Instagram: What's not to love?

It's something lottery ads often ask: what would life be like if you were rich?

They show ordinary people blowing their money on improbable amusements and we all dream and laugh along.

Yet when the real thing comes by -- real rich people blowing their money on improbable amusements -- we become King Tut-Tut.

This rather unhip hypocrisy comes to mind on considering Rich Kids of Instagram. Should you have missed this cultural icon, it depicts the excesses of the young, restless, and loaded as they sail through life on a hull made of $100 bills.

Some have described … Read more

Netflix 'Just for Kids' section debuts on Xbox 360

Parents and children can now more easily find kid-friendly Netflix content on the Xbox 360.

Available starting today, Netflix's "Just for Kids" section now appears as a special page accessible through the gaming console's Netflix app.

Geared for children 12 and under, the section offers rows of TV shows and movies organized by genre, such as comedies and animated films. The section also displays characters meant for kids, including Barney, Miley Cyrus, Power Rangers, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Dora the Explorer.

The movies and shows displayed through Just for Kids are all available for streaming. So kids … Read more

Make caramel apples on the countertop

Kids like sweets. Parents like apples. Luckily, the forces that be figured out a long time ago how to resolve any potential issues surrounding these basic truisms: simply combine the two. How and when the first caramel apple came to be is probably lost to time, but it is a good bet that a parent had something to do with it (or an apple farmer). However, getting your soon-to-be-sticky hands on one isn't exactly as easy as picking up a fun meal at the fast-food place down the street.

While caramel and apples may be abundant, some user interaction … Read more

Google goes fiber

Google goes fiber and Samsung doubles up on Apple:

Google has launched a Fiber TV and Internet service in Kansas City, Mo., as part of a beta test. The service provides customers with 1Gbps broadband speed and fiber television that uses an interactive interface. Now while it may not get you all of your favorite channels, Google is trying to show the cable providers of the world that this is how content should be delivered. Google hopes that the technology will spark the interest of other companies who are using older communication mediums. Those who sign up for the service … Read more