One more quick CES-inspired post:
Work-life balance may seem a bit off-topic from parenting and technology, but if you are like me, your "digital leash" is a large part of both work and family life. It's mostly a blessing, but can be a curse when you find yourself pulled in so many different directions that you feel that you aren't doing anything well. Nonetheless, I had gotten so used to the idea that blending job and family in the most flexible way was always a good strategy that it took a trip to CES to remind me that sometimes you just have to throw yourself into one thing at a time.
There is no "balance" at CES. It's a nonstop parade of sight and sound, inescapable sensory overload. Even when you leave the convention floor you have the buzz of Las Vegas surrounding you. But as a CNET freelancer, I had an amazing time. In four days, I was able to collect enough ideas and leads to fuel months' worth of blogging. The biggest challenge was taking time away from roaming the displays to sit down and write. I knew I couldn't possibly see everything but I wanted to try.
It was a luxury to step away from family life for just a few days and wear my journalist hat without juggling the other responsibilities of being a mother, wife and daughter. For those of you who are in a similar situation, wondering which work-life style might work best for you, I highly recommend the new book CEO of Me: Creating a Life that Works in the Flexible Job Age, which takes a fresh look at a variety of options. Flexibility is an important tool, but structure and support are also valuable strategies that can help create a plan that is satisfying and sustainable for each family member.
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
CES is all about what's cool right now, up to the latest nanosecond. One of the Sandbox Summit panelists summed up the pace of development when she said that her wired kids thought that the Amazon Kindle was old news.
I have to say that one of the CES displays that impressed me the most was from a classic American company that had to be one of the oldest manufacturers at the show: Kodak. Think about the transition they've had to pull off, from film to digital photography, upending their previous innovations and business. A few years ago the outlook for the company's future was incredibly pessimistic.
Kodak had a massive booth at CES and after all was said and done, I realized that they had presented some of the best home-office photo printers, digital photo frames, and scrapbooking software that I'd seen at the show. (Keep in mind that seeing everything at CES is like trying to eat at every restaurant in Manhattan in two days; no one person can possibly scour more than a fraction of the total offerings.) Hewlett-Packard demonstrated a wide variety of equipment that would definitely do a good job, but Kodak seemed to have developed the whole package deal, understanding their target audience as photographers and memory makers rather than just people who print photos.
Kodak EasyShare 5300 All-in-One (photo credit: Amy Tiemann)
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
As I get ready to leave CES and Las Vegas, I wanted to give a shout-out to the device that truly powers the convention: the smartphone. Doesn't really matter whether it's Treo or Blackberry, everyone was calling, texting and emailing all day long. At such a techie summit you could talk in any public space with impunity. I would have been lost from my CNET compatriots without it. [Side note, my iPhone had "no service" within the convention center but my Blackberry was fine, both on AT&T.]
So at the end of they day, as they take down the huge plasma TVs, and turn off the flashing lights, I keep thinking that sometimes its the basics that get you through the day:
(photo credit: Amy Tiemann)
The Case Logic Pocket with an attached carabiner. It's like a little sleeping bag that fits most phones or small devices. This would have helped me find my Blackberry or iPhone without rooting around my bag the whole time.
And second, the Turbocharge Tc2 portable cell phone charger, so that you're never caught short without a charge. One AA battery and you're good to go. At CES they announced new models including one for iPhone and another with a built-in rechargeable battery.
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
At first glance, Re-Mission comes across as a stylishly produced, anime-influenced video game. But the targets in question are cancer cells, which the character Roxxi the nanobot blasts with the Chemoblaster, the Radiation Gun, and the Antibiotic Rocket.
Re-Mission is specifically designed as a health improvement intervention for teens and young adults who have cancer. Game producers at HopeLab start with a desired health outcome, and then reverse engineer a game that encourages positive behaviors, adding motivation and fun into something as scary as a kid's battle against cancer.
Re-Mission helps teens fight cancer
HopeLab Vice President Ellen LaPointe spoke at the Sandbox Summit conference on Tuesday, and I was amazed to learn that the game producers actually test the effectiveness of their games through controlled clinical research studies. HopeLab followed 374 kids with cancer, at 34 hospitals in several countries, playing the game in English, Spanish, and French. The kids who played Re-Mission showed measurable improvements in their attitude (sense of self-efficacy) and healthy behavior (taking medications as prescribed).
It's interesting to see a nonprofit with a health-improvement mission embrace video games in this new way. It is crucial that Re-Mission looks as well-designed as any game out there on the market. Deborah Manchester of the kids' science Web site Zula, another panelist at the Sandbox Summit, said that one pitfall of educational media is that we can get stuck in a rut trying to put the same boring content into a digital format. Re-Mission shows what can be accomplished when designers break out of that box to create a product based on what kids and teens really enjoy playing.
What's next for HopeLab? Ruckus Nation, whose underlying goal is to look for new solutions to childhood obesity. Students from all over the world entered Ruckus Nation's online competition for new product designs that are cool and fun enough to get kids moving.
HopeLabs will support the development and testing of winning products, providing a real opportunity for kids to not only win a contest, but to see their innovative ideas come to life.
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
I spent the whole day at CES attending the Sandbox Summit, an ambitious new specialty session put on by the Parents' Choice Foundation. We heard presentations from over 20 speakers, from Nickelodeon and Sesame Workshop (an Elvis-impersonating Elmo showed up live as a keynote speaker!), to Michelle Slatalla, Cyberfamilias columnist at The New York Times; Anastasia Goodstein, founder of YPulse.com; and Warren Buckleitner, editor of Children's Technology Review. The five panels addressed topics in depth and from several angles, including marketing, safety, the quality and effectiveness of educational media, and the question of how families can develop reasonable limits on screen time. I will be covering the details this five-hour summit in many upcoming blog posts.
The Sandbox Summit was well-attended and I had the most amazing networking experience afterward, talking to other women who attended as audience members.
... Read More
After a full day roaming the Consumer Electronics Show floor, I have to say the most mind-blowing thing I saw was the dual-view and 3D high-definition technology called DLP, made by Texas Instruments. This technology is being rolled out in Mitsubishi and Samsung televisions.
These are not flat-screen models, but thicker projection TVs. I was initially stopped in my tracks by the amazing image on a 73-inch model. They showed Shrek on the demo reel, and I have to say, the detail in the animation was incredible. I could see the sugar crystals sparkling on the Gingerbread Man's gumdrops. (They also showed Transformers, and it was very manly and explosive. Looked good too. DLP has a very fast refresh rate, so it is well-suited for action.)
... Read MoreView complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
Kodak EasyShare digital photo frames
Now that digital photography is a ubiquitous part of family life, digital photo frames are emerging as a hot new device for displaying and sharing memories. Not only can you set a frame to run through a dynamic slide show, but you can send photos remotely to a loved one's frame.
I had a chance to preview three lines yesterday: Kodak, Cevia, and Smartparts. All of them delivered beautiful images and they each have differentiating features that may be a deciding factor for you.
... Read MoreView complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
CES 2008 is waking up and quickly accelerating to a fever pitch. I walked through a convention hall the size of an airport terminal (one of about 10 such halls) to get to the CNET office, and I can tell you there are a lot of companies who are hoping to sell you a flat-screen TV.
The question that formed in my mind during yesterday's media prevew is, What does it take to motivate consumers in today's bountiful tech marketplace? The manufacturers have a daunting task ahead of them. One of their biggest challenges is that frankly, consumer electronics have reached a level of such high quality that it takes a lot to convince everyday people to ditch the $2000 TV they bought two years ago to upgrade to the latest and greatest model.
This dynamic is playing out right now in the battle between HD DVD and Blu-Ray DVD. While the industry is buzzing with the latest developments about which platform is gaining the upper hand, many consumers like me are sitting on their existing DVD collection, thinking that the picture already looks pretty darn good.
I have several suggestions for companies as they try to turn enthusiasts into customers:
... Read MoreView complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
I'm reporting live from Las Vegas as part of CNET's CES 2008 Backstage Blogging Crew. This is my first trip to the world's largest tech show and I am eager to get a sneak preview of all the cool things that will coming out this year.
I arrived here in Las Vegas with an open mind rather than a long wish list. If I had to pose one preview question, it would be to wonder whether this is the year when digital photo and video finally converge into one oh-so-cool gadget. And if so, will it be a more traditional still camera that also does video well, or a video camera that takes great still photos? Or maybe a totally new device whose parentage can't be easily traced? I've explored some of these hybrids in the past but found that the still photo quality wasn't to my liking, and that function must be excellent. I won't name any names yet because this week I'll see the newest generation of everything!
As a busy parent my key word is convenience. I have an excellent video camera that I hardly ever bring with me because it's like carrying an extra purse. I am more likely to pull out my portable, tried and true Canon Powershot SD 550 and use it to capture a little video. This is very convenient but I am yearning for a camera that can truly do it all well, and has enough memory to be a serious video contender.
The fun and games start tomorrow, so check back for the latest developments and (parent.thesis) finds. Right now I'm off to meet the CNET gang!
View complete CES 2008 coverage from CNET.
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