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CES 2008 is over and now it's up to us to figure out which gizmos are next on our list of Must Have items. Even though I've been a life-long Canon customer, I was sorely tempted by the Casio Exilim Pro EX-F1 that the company says can shoot 60 still images per second with 6MP resolution. Wow! But what if the action lasts more than a single second? And what if you want 2x the resolution so that you can show off the full capabilities of your new 150" Panasonic TH46PXZ850, with it's 4K by 2K resolution? You need a 4K camera, and that's been hard to find in a consumer-sized format. Until now.

RED ONE

(Credit: RED Digital Camera)

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.

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!

Reading about Al Gore's Nobel Peace Prize this week while juggling holiday shopping gave me a severe case of cognitive dissonance about consumption. This feeling intensified today when the viral video The Story of Stuff arrived in my e-mail inbox.

'The Story of Stuff' with Annie Leonard

The Story of Stuff illustrates the consumption chain and aims to reframe our conversation from unlimited production and consumption to sustainability and equity. The video is quite engaging, and I was impressed by its simplicity and effectiveness. No flashy graphics or sensational techniques, just simple line animation accompanying a 20-minute video lecture by sustainability expert Annie Leonard.

The story of this project is an interesting case study of viral video. Leonard has more than 20 years of experience studying factories and dumps around the world--giving her deep knowledge of sustainability issues, but not exactly a visible platform to launch a movement. Enter the video: according to Leonard's blog, The Story of Stuff has been viewed by more than 100,000 people since it was launched last week.

The Richter Scales, self-described "Gentlemen Songsters" from the Bay Area, nail the insanities of digital life in their music video "Here Comes Another Bubble."

Lately, my daughter has been begging to see the new show iCarly, a spinoff of Drake and Josh.

Now, I'm not a big TV watcher, but I was a huge fan of it when I was a kid, and I do think that iCarly could have all the makings of a 21st century Zoom, given what we have available in the form of consumer technology around the house.

Last week the new "Baby Einstein" study came out suggesting that "educational" baby videos are ineffective teaching tools. The most memorable conclusion from one of the researchers: "I would rather babies watch American Idol than these videos."

Over the weekend I was invited to debate BabyFirst TV co-founder Sharon Rechter about the relative merits of these products. BabyFirst TV is a 24-hour cable channel that broadcasts "educational" shows aimed at infants and toddlers. Their programming includes the Brainy Baby video series, some of which were included in the recent study.

Unfortunately, a technical glitch meant I didn't get to participate in the discussion as planned, but preparing for the segment gave me a chance to examine the culture behind these products. Why are these videos so appealing to today's parents? As I thought about it over the weekend, and re-read Susan Gregory Thomas' new book Buy Buy Baby I came to realize that there is a perfect match between the marketing messages coming from companies like BabyFirst TV and Baby Einstein, and the culture and socialization of Gen X parents in particular.

This week I am in New York for a child safety training session. After eight hours of work teaching kids how to avoid bullying and act respectfully toward each other, I went back to my hotel room and found the TV airwaves saturated with the story of Ann Coulter's continuing insults to John Edwards.

The brief on-air exchange between Coulter and Elizabeth Edwards was magnified into hours of coverage from Hardball to Good Morning America. Hardball was particularly interesting since Chris Matthews expressed a near-fawning admiration for Elizabeth Edwards, yet his show was the one that gave Coulter the floor just a day earlier. Pop will eat itself. The clips will live on via YouTube, of course.

Now that the iPhone will have a dedicated YouTube function and other services like Verizon's VCast are providing video to our phones, the question will be, is there anything on worth watching?

I have never owned a video iPod so I haven't tried integrating mobile video into my life yet. I can see downloading The Office or The Daily Show from the iTunes store for an occasional long trip, but I have no desire to make television part of my daily mobile phone experience. Thank goodness that our essential right to free speech is also accompanied by the power to choose which conversations and political dialogues are worth listening to. The attack by Coulter on the Edwards family reminds me that the most powerful button on any device remains the off switch.