Samsung Corby

(Credit: Samsung)

Cell phone for tweens have never really caught on, not least because many kids reaching their preteen years these days have used cell phones since birth. Also, though parents may love the cost-saving features on the handsets, kids want something that's cool in the schoolyard.

Samsung, however, is undeterred in this quest. And to its credit, the new kid-friendly Corby may pass the coolness test. The design is very much a smaller version of Samsung's recent crop of touch-screen phones. You'll find a similar shape and a 262,000 touch-screen with Samsung's TouchWiz interface and a virtual keyboard. The Corby's front face is basic black, but it comes with interchangeable rear covers in yellow, white, orange, and pink for a bit of personalization.

Features include a 2-megapixel camera, a music player, messaging, a browser with one-finger zoom, a speakerphone, a MicroSD card slot, and apps for social-networking services like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace.

The Corby is GSM quadband with support for EDGE, though Samsung is only releasing it in the European market at the time of this writing. Its initial price is 150 euros, or approximately $213.

(Source: Samsung via Phonescoop)

Badassery.

(Credit: TechEBlog)

I had a fairly good shop program in high school (what's up, Tumwater T-Birds!). Instead of making rickety chairs for our mothers to injure themselves on, or fire-prone wooden ashtrays, our class concentrated on technology. That's where I got to play with my first industrial laser, built my first robotic arm, and designed my first circuit board. It was pretty great.

But not as great as the work of this kid, who, as a side project, built a six-round, bolt-action, high-powered coil gun. For those who don't play video games, a coil gun is an electronic weapon that uses a series of magnetic coils to accelerate a magnetic projectile--like a bullet--to a fast, destructive speed.

We're not sure what school this kid goes to, but that's not important. What we'd like to know is: which teacher signed off on the project that was likely titled "Making a magnetic silent death device"?

You can see a video of the thing in action at TechEBlog.

Specifically marketed with kids in mind, PeeWee PC is a site that offers not only kid-friendly PCs, but also laptops customized for your ever-growing child.

On Wednesday, PeeWee PC is rolling out the Atom-powered PeeWee Pivot Tablet Laptop. The 3-pound PeeWee Pivot Tablet Laptop--which is more of a tablet Netbook than a laptop--sports a rotating screen that converts between a normal notebook orientation and a touch tablet.

(Credit: PeeWee PC)

Kids can use either a keyboard or an included stylus to interact with their favorite programs or games. The unit features a rugged, spill-resistant case that's designed to endure the bumps and knocks the younger generation has to offer. So, parents, when your child goes into a temper tantrum and flings the machine around, you might be knocked on your a**, but know that your investment has sustained the fall from your head to the floor.

Kidding aside, the PeeWee Pivot Tablet Laptop runs Windows XP on a 10-inch screen, 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB of RAM (upgradeable to 2GB) and a 60GB hard drive. In addition, the tablet has two USB 2.0 ports, an SD/MMC media card reader, a VGA port, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, and a 1.3-megapixel Webcam. Reminiscent of Intel's Classmate PC in 2007, the Pivot Tablet has a carrying handle that's removed by taking out the battery and then removing the four screws that affix the handle.

The PeeWee Tablet Laptop ships with game titles for pre-K, early elementary, or upper elementary students, plus a free Walt Disney Windows XP theme, and a proprietary security suite so parents have complete control of how and when kids use the notebook--parents can also view browsing histories, block sites, take screenshots, and control the system remotely.

Inchworm uses an accordian-like technology it calls iFit to grow with your kids' feet, and hopefully save some money and even the environment.

(Credit: Solent )

Here's a stretch of an idea--shoes that grow with the child.

U.K.-based Fat Shoes Day--while not exactly a politically correct shop name--may just have a shoo-in with its InchWorm trainers. Taking a cue from expandable luggage bags and my favorite Tupperware collapsible FlatOut containers, these kiddie shoes utilize a technology called (in a nod to Apple) iFit.

The middle segment works like an accordion that can be extended with a button release. The result: a pair of shoes that will grow with the little tyke, in two half-size increments up to three sizes. How cool is that? Of course, there's the question of whether these trainers can tough out junior's abuse. Though if the shoe fits, this one could grow with, and on, you.

(Source: Crave Asia via Daily Mail)

Look, Chica is now all dressed up and ready to dance!

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

If you think getting your teenage or preteen kid an iPhone will spoil them, you are right. It sure will! But if you have a preschooler, there's now a good excuse to spoil yourself with one.

An excuse of possible better parenting, that is.

PBS Kids Sprout, the on-demand TV channel and online service for kids ages 2-5 and their parents, announced Thursday its two iPhone applications for preschoolers on the go, called Sprout Player and Dress Chica. These applications are the result of the collaboration between PBS Kids Sprout and New Wave Entertainment studio.

The Sprout Player is a video player application that streams 3- to 4-minute Sprout shows. The player offers simple audio instructions voiced by Kelly Vrooman, one of the hosts of Sprout's "Sunny Side Up Show" that airs every weekday morning.

The Player also includes an area where parents can view Sprout's programming schedule for upcoming events.

The Dress Chica application, on the other hand, is an extension of a popular online game currently featured on Sprout Online's Web site. The iPhone app allows you to touch and drag items of clothing onto Chica, the bird mascot of Sprout, to get her dressed.

(Credit: Kohjinsha/Bandai)

What do a Japanese notebook maker and toy manufacturer have in common? Nothing until recently, when Kohjinsha and Bandai teamed up to ride the Netbook popularity wave that's seen almost every major laptop vendor sport one in their stable.

(Credit: Kohjinsha/Bandai)

The Gachapin & Mukku Netbook has one interesting twist. It's a limited edition, and it's aimed at kids using cartoon characters (a dinosaur and a bigfoot) that Japanese tots are familiar with. Slated for a March rollout at 79,800 yen ($878), this is no toy, however. In fact, the pricing hardly falls into the Netbook comfort zone.

Still, this is one darn cute subnotebook in an appealing lime green casing, with the standard 8.9-inch 1,024x600 display, up to 160GB of HDD, 1GB of RAM, an Atom N270 CPU, and a 1.3-megapixel Webcam.

The onboard 1Seg Digital TV tuner should hint broadly that this is only for Japan, though it'll be interesting to keep tabs on how the Gachapin & Mukku Netbook pits itself against yet another cutesy cartoon icon which may remain silent on the matter, but has her feline claws firmly unsheathed for world domination.

(Via Crave Asia)

You can't take the Bionicle Lego camera apart--but it would be fun if you could.

(Credit: Lego/Digital Blue)

In a brilliant marketing move, Lego and Digital Blue have partnered to bring out Lego-branded kid's tech products. The line, which is due to launch this summer, will include digital cameras, MP3 players, video cameras, and walkie talkies. There's also talk of Lego boom boxes and clock radios.

Yes, it would be fun if kids could build their products themselves with a kit, but the bricks in these gadgets aren't designed to be pulled apart and rebuilt. That's probably a good thing, but a little customization would be cool.

No word on the exact pricing for the various devices--or what products will be available at launch--but the press release says they'll range in price from $20 to $60. Geared to preteens (7- to 11-year-olds), the Bionicle digital camera (pictured) will be stocked at Toys R Us this fall. Personally, I think they should gear it more to the 4- to 6-year-old crowd. All the preteens I know want real digital cameras.

(Via Engadget via KidsTechReview.com)

(Credit: Sanrio Digital)

If your kids start to show serious signs of loving New York and you don't know why, this might be the reason.

Sanrio Digital, maker of the Hello Kitty Online 3D virtual world that's currently in beta, announced Friday the game's largest in-game event: the building of New York City. Players of the Hello Kitty Online Founders' Beta can take part in a series of quests to collect and organize materials for the building of a new New York area that will appear in the next phase of the game--and will undoubtedly be far more pink than the real Big Apple.

Players who successfully complete all the required quests will have the names of their character permanently recorded on virtual commemorative plaques located throughout the virtual New York (the plaques will appear in future versions of the game's North American edition).

These permanent rewards and status, as well as the character's progress, will be carried into the final version of Hello Kitty Online. The game is free to play and can be downloaded here. Currently it's unclear when the game will be finalized.

For those who are no longer kids and already heart New York (like my college Joseph Kaminski and his co-hosts of the Digital City podcast), this is also very exciting news.

I don't have kids, and I don't plan to anytime soon, but if I did, this would be the stroller I'd want to flash around among the desperate housewives and househusbands in my neighborhood.

The Origami Power Folding Stroller from 4Moms folds and unfolds itself at the push of a button. It has reflective fabric and a tiny trim of lights in key areas for when it's dark.

As you push the stroller, the wheel power regenerates the battery that powers the gadgets, making the stroller environmentally friendly. It also has two cup holders by the handle for the parents, a storage bag at the back, and two more cup holders down by the kid for his bottles or "sippy cups" or what have you.

4Moms posted this silent demo video on YouTube.

4Moms--you guessed it--is a company that includes four women as part of its creative team, who also happen to have kids. But they are the face of the company, not its actual founders.

4Moms is actually owned by Thorley Industries, a Pittsburgh-based company started by two men, a venture capitalist and an engineer, who just recently won a $215 million contract to develop products for Hasbro.

So, what about kid products for dads out there, Thorley? Did some fancy market researchers tell you that dads don't like buying cool gadget strollers? What? They just like to drag their kids with a leash?

4Moms debuted the stroller at the ABC Kid's Expo in Las Vegas in September.