Politicians absolutely love to come out with laws saying that they're "protecting the children" as it plays well during election time. The problem, though, is that many of these laws do exactly the opposite. What they end up doing is actually preventing children from actually being able to learn necessary skills and how to deal with situations they will almost certainly face later in life. Yes, children can be much more vulnerable, but the answer isn't to hide them away from everything, but to teach them how to better deal with situations they may face. However, that tends not to be politically popular -- which is why it's that much more surprising to hear of a new report, requested by the UK Prime Minister pointing out just how problematic the rush to "protect the children" can be. As Slashdot points out, the key line from the exec summary is worth repeating:

"Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe -- this isn't just about a top-down approach. Children will be children -- pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim."

This reminds me, too, of a line used last year by famed judge (and IP expert, to boot) Richard Posner in striking down an anti-video game law:

"Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low ... It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware. To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it."

If only more people would recognize such things.

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Politicians absolutely love to come out with laws saying that they're "protecting the children" as it plays well during election time. The problem, though, is that many of these laws do exactly the opposite. What they end up doing is actually preventing children from actually being able to learn necessary skills and how to deal with situations they will almost certainly face later in life. Yes, children can be much more vulnerable, but the answer isn't to hide them away from everything, but to teach them how to better deal with situations they may face. However, that tends not to be politically popular -- which is why it's that much more surprising to hear of a new report, requested by the UK Prime Minister pointing out just how problematic the rush to "protect the children" can be. As Slashdot points out, the key line from the exec summary is worth repeating:

"Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe -- this isn't just about a top-down approach. Children will be children -- pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim."

This reminds me, too, of a line used last year by famed judge (and IP expert, to boot) Richard Posner in striking down an anti-video game law:

"Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low ... It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware. To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it."

If only more people would recognize such things.

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What it does

Remember Reading Rainbow? It was great, educational, and all sorts of book-loving goodness. We all loved that guy from Star Trek letting us in on books like Amelia Bedelia and Where The Wild Things Are. Even the old school graphics and jingle were so catchy and cool, you’d have to stop yourself from singing it in the bath. Nowadays, it seems like reading went the way of the dinosaurs. Dead. Gone. Rare at best. Luckily, there’s AudibleKids. If you’re familiar with Audible, the site that provides audible book pleasure for users everywhere, then you’ll get the idea of AudibleKids. It’s the kid-sized version of Audible. It’s the Reading Rainbow for the 2000’s. Parents can create profiles for their kids and set content controls. Profiles will show what you’ve downloaded and acts as a way to network, get to know other audiophiles. Audio books are search by age group, keyword, award winners, etc. Once you’ve downloaded the software, you can listen to the audiobooks on your device of choice. To whet your child’s reading appetite, there’s a nice selection of free books to download.

In their own words

“AudibleKids is an engaging, interactive community of parents, their kids, and educators that promotes the fun of storytelling through audiobooks. Listen to books, read and post reviews and share your favorites with others.”

Why it might be a killer

Audible is a success. AudibleKids seems to be a great way to get your kids into the reading habit. It’ll work on any device making it perfect for entertaining your kid on long plane rides or trips.

Some questions

Will AudibleKids be as successful as Audible? Will kids find it interesting? Reading isn’t exactly top priority on kids lists these days. Can AudibleKids rekindle that book love?

Updates


 » original news

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Well, would you take a look at that. Right on cue, Dolby and SIM2 are collaboratively showcasing a 46-inch 1080p display built around the former firm's high dynamic range technology. The HDR-enabled LCD HDTV boasts 1,836 LED-based backlight units (designed / developed by SIM2), a full 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, brightness level greater than 4,000 cd/m2, an "infinite" contrast ratio, 16-bits of luminance and a Xilinx Virtex field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) chipset. Additionally, the prototype employs a design created by Giorgio Revoldini, and while we can't imagine hearing of a release date anytime soon, the two firms aren't wasting any time putting the new set on a world tour to presumably wow onlookers. Hey SED, you taking notes here?

 

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What it does

CellTradeUSA.com is the first site ever developed to facilitate the exchange of cell phone plans. As a “Get Out” member, you can leave your current plan without paying hefty early termination fees, and as a “Get In” member, this site offers you the chance to find a better deal than you would on your own, since you take over another members remaining contract obligation instead of starting your own from scratch. Get In members pay nothing, while Get Out members can register for free, to gauge interest in the contract they are offering, but must pay $19.99 to get full access or to complete a transaction. The site works with all cellular provides in the U.S., which are legally obligated to assist with the transfer of contract responsibility once asked to by the two parties involved. Get In and Get Out members are free to decide the terms of their contract transfer on their own; some Get Out members choose to offer cash, a phone, or other incentives to whomever agrees to take over their cellular contract.

In their own words

“Celltradeusa.com has pioneered a new cellular category that will forever change the way the world views cell phone contracts. We have developed the world's first online community that gets dissatisfied cell phone customers out of their service contract. Celltradeusa.com provides this service through an incentive based system that connects millions of cellular customers nationwide that want to Get Out with those that want to Get In.”

Why it might be a killer

The $19.99 fee that CellTradeUSA.com charges Get Out members is a drop in the bucket compared to the ridiculous early termination fees charged by many cellular provides, so this site should be appealing to those looking to get out of their contracts. It could also be quite beneficial to the Get In members, who can sign on for just the remaining months of someone else’s contract, or reap some of the benefits cell companies offer to existing customers but not to new ones. The company was founded in 2003 and claims to have already facilitated millions of exchanges.

Some questions

Will people be frustrated or dissuaded by the fact that CellTradeUSA.com only helps you find someone to exchange with, while you must still complete the transfer process, paperwork, etc. with your cell phone provider on your own? When cash, a phone, or other incentives are offered by the Get Out member, does this site have any way of guaranteeing to the Get In member that the Get Out member will follow through?

Updates


 » original news

Filed under: Displays, HDTV

Well, would you take a look at that. Right on cue, Dolby and SIM2 are collaboratively showcasing a 46-inch 1080p display built around the former firm's high dynamic range technology. The HDR-enabled LCD HDTV boasts 1,836 LED-based backlight units (designed / developed by SIM2), a full 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, brightness level greater than 4,000 cd/m2, an "infinite" contrast ratio, 16-bits of luminance and a Xilinx Virtex field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) chipset. Additionally, the prototype employs a design created by Giorgio Revoldini, and while we can't imagine hearing of a release date anytime soon, the two firms aren't wasting any time putting the new set on a world tour to presumably wow onlookers. Hey SED, you taking notes here?

 

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Well it only took ChaCha fourteen months to figure out what everyone except ChaCha (and these guys) knew when it launched - search with a human guide as a business idea is ridiculously stupid.

The idea is that you do a search on ChaCha and a real person works with you via a chat interface to give you results. In theory those results would be better than Google. In reality, they weren’t (see image to right), and ChaCha still had to pay all those guides.

Today, according to an email sent to ChaCha’s guides titled “The Future Is Here,” they announced that guided search will be discontinued in favor of the one product they offer that isn’t monumentally dumb - mobile search. They claim that “new users are growing at a staggering rate every day” (most likely due to cell phone spamming).

So what happens to all the guides who worked on desktop search? Some of them, at least, can now apply for new positions on the mobile product.

The full email is below, and details of the company and their funding are here. Thanks Luke Kling for the tip.

(more…)

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Peripherals

We got this photo in from reader Ryan, who found a small cache of NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX cards at Best Buy, each priced at $360 for 512MB versions. Can they just release these things already?

[Thanks, Ryan]

 

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Peripherals

We got this photo in from reader Ryan, who found a small cache of NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX cards at Best Buy, each priced at $360 for 512MB versions. Can they just release these things already?

[Thanks, Ryan]

 

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