"Please, Mommy, tell me this baby is going back to the hospital!"
(Credit: University of Tsukuba)We've written about creepy robot children before, but none as lachrymose as Yotaro, an interactive baby-bot that actually sheds tears when tired.
"No Tommy, real babies don't come with electronic parts."
(Credit: University of Tsukuba)Created in the Uchiyama Lab at Japan's University of Tsukuba, Yotaro is meant to be a baby simulator for teaching new parents and about-to-be-older-siblings the ways of babyhood. As crying is obviously a big part of infancy, warm water comes out of a small opening in the interactive screen that doubles as Yotaro's touch-sensitive face.
Yotaro, just a concept for now, is not a standalone robot, as a rather extensive set of devices must be attached for it to perform its baby-like functions.
The computer controlling Yotaro's changing facial expressions is external, the water that serves as the tired-baby tears is stored in a separate tank, and sensors direct Yotaro's "emotional" responses (tickling Yotaro's belly, for example, results in it wiggling its motorized legs under the blanket). A projector under the bed projects the appropriate countenance upward onto Yotaro's 2D face, while a speaker offers up the right baby sounds.
All that hardware kind of makes you long for the old-fashioned mannequin baby, doesn't it?
Thanks to designboom for bringing Yotaro to our attention and to my erai CNET colleague Takayuki Sakurai for translating the Japanese on the University of Tsukuba Web site. Now please excuse us while we go cry some very real adult tears.
(Credit:
ESRB)
Straight from the No-Brainer Department comes a list of games that parents should not buy their children this holiday season. The New York Times has republished a collection of 10 titles deemed totally uncool for kids to play by the media watchdog group Common Sense Media.
While we're all for educating parents about the naughty video games their children want to play, we can't help but slap our foreheads at how obvious some of them are. Besides, all a responsible parent needs to do is stray away from the big fat "Rated M for Mature" logo on the box art of such titles.
We wouldn't disagree with any title on the list, but some of the suggested alternatives for these titles are a bit suspect. For example, replacing Modern Warfare 2 with Battlefield: Bad Company only brings the blood level down a bit--the war combat and violence are still present in Bad Company. We absolutely loved Uncharted 2, but there's plenty of gunplay and headshots in the T-rated blockbuster as well.
Ideally, we'd love to see parents become more involved in their child's gaming habits. The only way to make sure a game is right for the younger ones is to have Mom or Dad sit in on a few sessions.
Click over for the full Common Sense Media list of unfriendly titles along with their alternatives.... Read more
The much-anticipated and controversial Modern Warfare 2 finally arrives in retail stores today, which gives us an excuse to invite AOL GameDaily.com's Libe Goad to give us some insight into all the action. Although it's definitely not the first Call of Duty game, Libe and Jeff tell us it's the most controversial of the pack, with disturbing scenes that let you take the side of terrorists.
It's hard to believe anything can be scarier than making the trip down to Chinatown, NYC, to pick up your "advanced" copy, though. Don't call it a bootleg; the copies they're selling down there are actually legit, a first for Canal St. merchants. And although they cost the same as copies from the big box stores, Modern Warfare 2 has been available at these "select retailers" for the past week! Good to know I live in such a respectable part of NYC.
Yesterday's episode sparked such a heated conversation about censorship, video game and movie ratings, and parenting video gamers that we're happy to revisit the topics today, with Libe's valuable industry input, of course! This time, we address the world of online gaming that's brought a new level of offensive material to young people who might not understand the implications of their trash-talking. With no moderators to police Xbox Live or PSN, players are allowed to communicate directly with each other, which often results in racist and misogynistic epithets. Tune in to today's episode to listen to our opinion on what should be done.
Finally, we hate to take the spotlight away from Libe, but we've been resisting the urge to announce our guest for the past week. We finally got the green light, so we're happy to announce that Tony Hawk will be in The 404 studio on Monday, November 16, to chat with us about his latest game, Tony Hawk: Ride and maybe even do a live in-studio demo! Start thinking up questions, as we'll most likely be taking questions from the audience as well.
EPISODE 464
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(Credit:
Netgear)
I am not a big fan of parental controls, but that might be just because I'm not a parent.
If you are not like me and have been wondering if paying a yearly fee for the comprehensive parental control feature that accompanies the lackluster iBoss router is worth it, Netgear may have just made your life a lot easier.
Netgear announced Tuesday the release of Live Parental Controls, a comprehensive Web-filtering feature it has developed in collaboration with OpenDNS.
The new feature enables parents and small businesses to restrict Internet access to all the devices that connect via the router, with filtering based on more than 50 categories of content. The Live Parental Controls incorporate a comprehensive set of filtering features including some not available in other parental control solutions, such as remote management from mobile devices and highly flexible settings.
The best things about the new features are that they're free and are included with Netgear's new routers. The first one that comes with this is Netgear's Wireless-N 300 WNR2000 router. Netgear plans on putting Live Parental Controls in its future routers and Internet gateways.
The WNR2000 is available immediately and costs less than $80, which is very good for a Wirelesss-N router and it's a great deal considering the new Web filter, especially when compared with the iBoss.
Hands-on testing and a full review of Netgear's Wireless-N 300 WNR2000 wireless router will be available soon.
Evil incarnate.
(Credit: Digital Innovations)Parents, I've found a device that you will love and your children will hate. Just don't tell them you heard it from me, I have my geek cred to look out for. It's an evil video game timer called the GameDr.
It attaches to the power plug on your kid's console via a combination lock. Then you can program the amount of time left until it kills the power, losing your child's progress, and making him or her resent you. It will give them 10- then 1-minute warnings, so that's something.
Sure, they'll get their homework done, but is the rage they'll feel toward you for all time really worth it? We don't think so. But for $30, you're free to disagree.
Dena Christofferson is 13 years old. She likes to send texts. Lots of texts. She particularly likes to send texts at school.
In fact, in a recent month she sent 10,003 of those curt little messages. And received almost 10,000.
Her parents were a little surprised at this. Not because she told them. But because Verizon sent them a bill for $4,756.25.
You see, Gregg and Jaylene Christofferson, from Cheyenne, Wyo., thought texting on little Dena's phone had been disabled. And $4,756.25 is a lot of money.
"It hit us like a rock," Gregg told NBC's Channel 9 News in Colorado.
Rocks can sometimes rain down in multiples, so perhaps it wasn't entirely a surprise that Dena's school principal called to say she had suddenly achieved five Fs in a semester. Strange that he didn't text, but still.
This was one rock too many for Gregg Christofferson. He got out his hammer and smashed that Verizon phone into several pieces.
... Read moreI 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.
(Credit:
Gizoo)
From the moment I first got my driver's license, my parents were always willing to hand over their car keys. At some point I asked my mother why they were so laid back, when my other friends had to beg their parents just to drive the family minivan around the block. "Because I was sick of being a chauffeur," she replied.
I'll be honest: up until that point I hadn't thought about what a hassle it must have been to shuttle me to school, soccer practice, and band concerts--never mind the movies and friends' houses.
Don't let your kids be such ingrates with the Dad's Cab taxi meter. Just mount it to your dashboard with the included adhesive strips, then start racking up charges every time you drive your kids to the mall. Once they've arrived at their destination, hand the kids a "receipt" that details a method of payment: for example, "tidy your room" or "make dad a cup of tea." (In case you couldn't tell, the product is made in the U.K.)
Given today's exchange rate, Dad's Cab costs about 18 bucks--or, if you prefer, 4.5 gallons of gas.
Via Dvice
Though T-Mobile doesn't offer any cell phones specifically designed for kids and teenagers, the carrier on Thursday announced features that will allow parents to control how their children use their phones.
With the Family Allowances program, parents with a family plan can give their kids and teens a monthly allowance for using their cell phone. The allowance works on any T-Mobile phone and can cover all services including calling, messages, mobile Web browsing, and downloads. Once the allowance is used up, those particular features will stop working. However, kids will still be able to call any "always allowed" phone numbers that the parents set.
Family Allowances also lets parents set limits on the time of day a phone may be used, establish blocked phone numbers, and even limit use of the phone outright. The service will be available soon for an introductory rate of $2 per month for all lines on the family plan. A free add-on service called Web Guard will limit access to adult-themed Web sites on a phone's mobile browser. AT&T offers a similar service called Smart Limits.
Two decades ago, video games, like comic books before them, were written off as a form of entertainment strictly for children. Just like the comic book industry eventually produced mature, extremely-not-for-kids books like Alan Moore's Watchmen or Garth Ennis' Preacher, the video game industry has produced mature, extremely-not-for-kids games like BioWare's Mass Effect and 2K Games' Bioshock. These games can have violence, sex, and very strong language, and are not appropriate for children.
Fortunately, each of the three major video game consoles (Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PlayStation 3) include built-in security features to lock out mature games and ensure that kids can't play anything you don't want them to play.
The Xbox 360 and Wii use the Entertainment Software Rating Board's rating system. The ESRB classifies video games into a variety of age and content-based categories, like movie and television ratings. Games rated E or E10 are appropriate for most audiences, and can be compared with G- and PG-rated movies. Games rated T are most appropriate for teens and older gamers, and can contain violence, suggestive situations, and occasionally strong language. They're the game equivalent of PG-13 movies. Games rated M are intended for users 17 and up, and can include nudity, extreme violence, and very strong language. These are the R-rated titles of the gaming world.
The PlayStation 3 (and Sony's portable gaming system, the PlayStation Portable), use numeric levels. These systems can set security levels from 1 to 11, where 1 only lets the most tame games through and 11 plays nearly all titles. Though they can require a little more experimentation than the Xbox 360 and Wii, the PS3 and PSP can still help control what games your kids can play.
These three guides will walk you through setting up parental controls on each of the three major systems, along with the PSP.
