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  • Focusing on Backup, Some Econ Technology Programs Now Free

    The good folks at Econ Technologies recently began offering some of its software for free, in order to allow it the time to focus on its flagship products. Earlier this week, Portraits & Prints, ImageCaster, and DayChaser specifically, went from paid software to freeware. Recognizing the mounting difficulty in competing with cloud-based services such as Google Calendars (which is free to use) was a contributing factor in the early Christmas present that Econ has provided for everyone.

    Portraits & Prints is a print shop sort of application allowing you to print off photos in customizable and out-of-the-ordinary ways. From the Econ web site:

    Select your photos and they are automatically arranged onto templates and displayed on screen the exact same way they are printed. You don’t waste time arranging photos and you don’t waste paper since you see the printout beforehand.


    ImageCaster allows you to share your webcam’s view to webpages, turn it into a security camera, and more. It even gives you the option to schedule postings if you so choose. From the Econ web site:

    ImageCaster contains a full set of features within a simple interface. Whether you’re setting up multiple webcams from several cameras or just a webcam at home, ImageCaster keeps the process easy. ImageCaster not only uploads the image it creates the webpage too.

    DayChaser can essentially be likened to iCal. I’ve used it in a limited capacity before, and it has functioned well. Though I’d agree with Econ that competing with the likes of Google Calendar et al., is a losing battle. From the Econ web site:

    DayChaser lets you create and manage multiple calendar documents simultaneously. Each calendar document contains its own unique set of scheduled entries and To-Do items that can be customized so your personal organizer is truly personal.

    All of the above applications have been updated to be Snow Leopard compatible prior to being made freely available. At this point in time, Econ Techologies will be turning all of its attention to improving the already solid ChronoSync and ChronoAgent programs. Both represent robust options for system backups, synchronization, and remote administration. In fact, I’ve found ChronoSync to be invaluable in backing up my work MacBook Pro to a remote SAN.

    Everyone’s gotta love free programs (I personally have a problem because I download them all and my Applications folder is atrocious!) right? If any of these sound interesting, why not give them a shot? However, be forewarned that because they are now free, support will likely be negligible, and updates are no longer in the cards.


  • Android User on webOS: Smartphone Round Robin

    The news cycle blissfully slows down for the holidays, but at SPE we’re all basically addicted to these things. If you are too, you could probably find worse ways to avoid your family than perusing the Smartphone Round Robin fare already posted. This week Casey Chan of Android Central has webOS and you can get his first impressions of the device. If you’re in the giving mood, he’s also looking for input from webOS owners in our very own forums. Don’t forget that every day you post in that thread you’re automatically entered for another chance to win a Pre or Pixi from us.

     

  • Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition: More scenario details, upgraded Mercenaries mode to have …

    Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition’s assistant producer Mie Suzuki recently shared a few more details on the game’s second scenario, Desperate Escape, as well as what players have waiting for them in the expanded Mercenaries mode. Find out after the

  • Call to astronomers to report Unidentified Aerial Phenomona | Bad Astronomy

    denver_ufoI have been saying for years that a) most UFOs are simply misidentified mundane phenomena (satellites, meteors, balloons, Venus, weird clouds, even the Moon) and that 2) if they were real, astronomers — who spend a lot more time looking at the sky than your average person — should be reporting most of them.

    My musings on this have been twisted and distorted by UFO folks — shocker! — even though I’ve been pretty clear about what I would count as evidence. But now we may have a way to cut through the garbage. A new website has been started for professional and amateur astronomers to report Unidentified Aerial Phenomena. I rather like this new UAP acronym, since it avoids the UFO/flying saucer baggage. Anyway, it was set up as part of IYA 2009 to help astronomers report things in the sky they may not immediately understand. Better yet, it has links to handy guides that will help people who might otherwise misidentify normal things like sundogs and other weather phenomena.

    The website is the brainchild of Philippe Ailleris:

    Despite the controversy surrounding the topic, he believes that it is possible to approach the UAP field from a professional, rational, and scientific angle without any a priori. He considers that UAP studies my increase the scientific understanding of today poorly understood natural phenomenon, and ultimately he even sees the potential for Science to discover new unknown phenomena, therefore making such study invaluable. His research therefore focuses on attempting to raise the interest of the scientific community and to bridge various fields to devise what he believes is the necessary multidisciplinary approach to studying the phenomena.

    I agree. As Carl Sagan said, whether UFOs are real and we’re being visited, or they’re a mass social phenomenon due to the way our brains work, either aspect is fascinating and worthy of actual study.


  • Heavy-duty trailer landing gear S/H

    haacon hebetechnik gmbh now manufactures the heavy-duty support on the basis of the proven S2000 series. This new, extra durable drop support is tested to a static load of 68 tons, the max. permissible dynamic load is 30 t (S/H30 with reinforced spindle). The support is available with a balancing leg or a flat leg. For a building height of 950, the stroke is either 410 or 480 mm. The continuous back plate with numerous screw-in bores offers the advantage of easy installation.
    The compact upright symmetric gear makes the support easy to integrate.
    All exterior parts are coated with black powder paint or galvanised.

    Heavy-duty supports are used for vehicles in the harbour or special trailers that exceed the regulated weight of 40 t.

  • Can an ARCHOS UMPC Succeed Where All Others Have Failed?

    Although I purchased three Samsung UMPCs in 30 months, I’m objective enough to admit that ultra mobile PCs have generally failed in the mainstream market. For specific needs of particular types of users — mobile geeks like me — the UMPC has a place. It’s a light and highly portable device running a full desktop operating system. But poor battery life, high prices and ineffective user interfaces for interaction and text entry were all obstacles to UMPC success. ARCHOS is the latest to give this market a go with their ARCHOS 9 pctablet and Steve Paine shares his experiences with the device over at UMPCPortal.

    Even before I read Steve’s review, I questioned the approach taken by ARCHOS by tweeting this thought six days ago: “Riddle me this Batman: why would ARCHOS design a Windows 7 slate tablet and pair it with Starter Edition, which doesn’t support Tablet bits?” Yup, ARCHOS is offering a Microsoft-powered slate tablet without native Tablet PC support in Windows. I don’t suggest that including a higher edition of Windows would make the device a “must have,” but the decision simply makes no sense to me. As a result, ARCHOS depends on third-party on-screen keyboards, which just don’t compete to native Tablet PC integration and handwriting recognition.

    And this touches upon one of those factors that held back UMPCs — input methods and UI. Everyone seems to want a portable or pocketable PC so they run everything they run on their desktop or laptop. I understand that desire, but it comes at a tradeoff that continues to get overlooked. A small device isn’t meant for a large UI and the full-featured software people want to use on a small screen is designed for larger screens, not to mention different input methods. Even Microsoft quietly admitted defeat in this area by essentially abandoning the Origami Experience software.

    Based on the hardware configuration of a 1.1 GHz Intel Atom, 60 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM and 8.9″ touchscreen display at 1024 x 600 resolution, I figured ARCHOS can offer more battery life than the UMPCs of yore. That’s not case though — Steve estimates up to five hours. I was actually able to get five hours of run-time on my Samsung Q1UP with its 1.3 GHz Intel Core Solo, but the battery was hefty — I’d estimate it weighed more than the device itself. By comparison the ARCHOS 9 weighs 800 grams with the battery, so it gains a point there. But the performance suffers as a result of this setup. Steve’s benchmarks show performance numbers less than half that of my nearly two-year old UMPC.

    Image Credit: UMPCPortal

    Want to run Firefox on this? Be prepared to wait 10 seconds before it starts and don’t look to use more than a few tabs, says Steve. Add in poor YouTube video playback and generally no luck at all watching a WMV-HD file (which works on nearly all other netbooks of today) and you wonder about the configuration choice.

    Die-hard UMPC users and people enamored by the admittedly nice-looking ARCHOS 9 hardware at around $700 probably think I’m being too harsh. Before you tell me that in the comments, read Steve’s impressions — in particular his summary. He’s as passionate about the form factor as I’ve been, yet I can’t really find one positive comment in his wrap up. The ARCHOS 9 might sell to rabid UMPC fans, but for the vast majority of folks, it simply demonstrates that nobody has got it right just yet. Could I get one and run with it as a mobile office? Sure I could — I’ve already done that time and again. But most consumers won’t want the hassle of a folding Bluetooth keyboard and sub-netbook performance for more than twice the price of a netbook. There’s just too much compromise yet to revive the UMPC market. 2010 might be the year of the tablet, but probably not the year of the UMPC.


  • $40 gets you stereoscopic pseudo-3D on the PSP. No… really




    Back in July of this year, we previewed a device that was supposed to add stereoscopic depth to any PSP game, even video files. We expressed some skepticism at the company’s claims, and the product has since been delayed until January of next year. RealView recent sent Ars Technica what seems to be a production model of the device, and now that we have the thing in our hands… it’s actually very cool.

    The product will retail for around $40, which seems steep for what amounts to a lens and a chunk of plastic. When you slide your PSP into the case, there is a rubber mat that you put between the plastic and the PSP to allow later models to fit in snugly. The whole thing kills some of the portable nature of the system, but once the screen flips up and you see what it can do, you may not mind: there is actual depth added to the images, and the screen appears larger without sacrificing brightness or resolution.

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  • RC model of Star Trek USS ENTERPRISE swimming underwater (video)

    USS ENTERPRISE _model

    I’m not an RC gadget expert, but modding static model kits of space ships so that they’re water-proof and can be RC-controlled to make them then “fly underwater” seems like a very, very geeky thing to do to me. Take this 1/350 scale replica of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A space ship from Star Trek, for example.

    Some person [JP] in Yokosuka, Japan, bought the static kit and transformed it into a space ship that can move and be RC-controlled underwater. The people belonging to the “underground” circle of these self-made gadgets call themselves “Aqua Modelers” and meet up on a regular basis [IT] to exchange ideas and show off their works each year. The last one apparently just took place a couple of days ago.

    See the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A in action in the video below:

    Another example of the aqua model craziness can be seen in this video where we see an awesome 1/350 scale replica of the Space Battleship Yamato floating around underwater:

    Unfortunately, these models aren’t for sale.

    Via Modellismo Hobby Media [IT]

    Thanks to Francesco Fondi for the tip!


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  • The Beaver Brothers of Zazzle Talks About Customizing, Well, Everything! [BoomTown]

    new-zazzle-logo

    A few weeks ago, BoomTown motored down to Silicon Valley to the Redwood City, Calif. HQ of Zazzle, the online site that lets users order a variety of custom products, using a special (and patented) printing technology.

    I went to talk to the Beaver brothers–Jeff and Bobby, who founded the company with their father, who is CEO, way back before the first Web 1.0 bubble burst in 1999–about recent changes, including finding more ways to slap custom designs on more products and increased international expansion recently.

    Funded to the tune of $46 million by Kleiner Perkins and Sherpalo Ventures, Zazzle’s profitable business essentially remains pretty straightforward: A customer can pick from both branded and user-generated designs for a variety of items, such as t-shirts, shoes, skateboards and more.

    And Zazzle also creates a marketplace for those that do contribute designs under a commission structure.

    But, in the video below, the pair talk about the more intriguing and more innovative idea of making pretty much every retail product completely custom and on demand.

    It’s an interesting idea, to be sure, and probably inevitable.

    Here’s the video on the interview, as well as a tour of Zazzle’s offices:

    [ See post to watch video ]

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  • The start-up chronicles: Experiments with Twitter

    (Editor’s Note: The Start-up Chronicles is a weekly feature giving an inside view of the trials of a bootstrapped start-up – The Cost Savings Guy. CEO and founder Bruce Judson is also the author of “Go It Alone!: The Secret to Building A Successful Business on Your Own” and a senior faculty fellow at the Yale School of Management.)

    As a direct marketer, I am a strong believer in experiments – even when I expect them to fail.twitter

    The ideal test is small, involving limited time or resources, and providing an indication of whether I should invest further time and energy.  It is, in some ways, an iterative process, where each piece of learning leads me to effectively increase my commitment to a specific strategy – or lets me know that my time is better spent elsewhere. Ultimately, there’s no substitute for first-hand experience.

    I bring this up because I’ve started using Twitter lately. This is a service that never appealed to me.  It always seemed it was primarily a way to monitor what others are saying about your company online. And while that’s valuable, it’s possible to monitor this activity without participating in the service itself.

    In connection with the rollout of The Cost Savings Guy, I did not believe that Twitter would prove to be a significant source of valuable traffic. But, not knowing this definitively, I decided to set-up an account and make a small effort (15 minutes a day) to build a following and join the conversation.

    As part of this test, I also read several articles and skimmed one book by self-described Twitter gurus. Ultimately, I found most of this advice to be valueless or simply wrong.

    My initial reaction was that Twitter was not a place for conversation, but the world’s largest souk, with millions of people proclaiming their wares. I decided to push forward, though (certain that this would simply confirm my initial lack of interest.)

    I started identifying people with interests in small business and entrepreneurship, following them, and offering my own Tweets. I also attempted to engage in several conversations. My results were, as expected, uninspiring.

    A few weeks later, we started developing our next phase of The Cost Savings Guy, which will involve implementing some innovative ideas geared toward creating a paperless office. (Note, the design of this effort reflects the learning described in earlier columns on inertia and sales hurdles).

    This effort led me to think about Twitter again.  I wondered if I could use the service to start building an audience that would be receptive to what we were planning.  In this second round of tests I started identifying people with an “eco” or “green” interest. At the same time, I moved from random “Tweets” to a clearly defined series: 100 services that save money and help the planet. Each day I added a new service to the list and each Tweet had the same format which began “#(insert number) of 100 services that save money and help the planet.”

    After a few days, this more focused effort starting to lead to encouraging results. My followers count started to increase by 10 percent or more per day. So, while my total is still relatively small (about 450 followers as I type this) it was at 400 or so yesterday and 360 the day before that.

    More significantly, an average of 14 people clicked on my messages when I had roughly 350 followers.  There was some re-tweeting of one of the messages, but I still view this as effectively a 4 percent click-through rate in relation to my number of followers. And as we all know, a 4 percent click-through rate on anything is a real success – and this is a free medium.

    These highly preliminary results – even though the numbers are very small, may be meaningless, and I don’t know enough about the value of these visitors – lead me to a few initial conclusions:

    First, my mantra that it’s worth testing initiatives you are certain will not work, provided you can do it with very limited resources, remains worth keeping. There may be something valuable here.

    Second, both the evidence and logic suggest that the more targeted your interest group, the more likely you are to engage with the right Twitter audience.

    Third (and probably most significantly), my numbered list strategy seemed to be a valuable means of demonstrating authority and expertise that allowed me to engage Twitter users. I had something of real value to these users, and communicated it appropriately.

    Per my experiment strategy, it’s clear that these results warrant a jump in my efforts in the Twitter arena. Here are the next questions:  If I grow this group of followers, or groups of followers with other interests, will these same results hold and improve? And will this growth come easily? My models from other media (which may or may not apply to Twitter) suggest that with 10,000 targeted followers, an optimized effort, and minimal Tweeting, I should generate 500-1000 click-throughs a day.

    In addition, the marketing value of the vocal Twitter audience could also be high.  If users coming from Twitter have a good experience, will they Tweet about it? This needs to be tested as well.

    I’ve said before that what really matters is actual experience. Today, I believe even more strongly in this guiding principle.

    Previous Start-up Chronicle columns:


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  • Campanha Natal Magico

    A Abrale e o Instituto Mauricio de Souza, juntos criaram o  Projeto Dodói que é voltado à atender crianças hospitalizadas com cancer, cujo tratamento passa por prolongadas etapas de internação. O projeto, em fase  piloto, está sendo realizado no Hospital A.C.Camargo e Darcy Vargas,   ao mesmo tempo em que busca a cura de crianças e adolescentes com linfoma,  leucemia, e outras doenças oncológicas, visa  integrá-las juntamente com a familia ao tratamento.

    Todos os profissionais envolvidos no projeto contam com a contribuição de voluntarios e de outros membros da equipe hospitalar, na tentativa de amenizar o sofrimento resultante do tratamento agressivo e invasivo, e dos longos periodos de internação para esses pequenos pacientes. O brincar ajuda a criança em tratamento a recuperar seu equilíbrio, fazendo-a sentir-se mais forte e plena em suas escolhas mesmo na situação de doença..

    O projeto vem somar esforços para amenizar, por meio lúdico, esta dificil fase na vida da criança com câncer. Saiba como ajudar: Transforme essa magia em realidade!

    Um feliz Natal a todos os amigos e seguidores do blog  Saúde pelas Plantas!

    Recadoseglitters.com


  • REPORT: Isuzu proposes new HD diesel engine for GM?

    Filed under: , , ,

    We’re not entirely sure what to make of reports regarding Isuzu’s tie-up with General Motors for diesel engines that seem to conflict with one another, but here we go anyway. According to Bloomberg, Isuzu is considering whether it should end its joint venture with The General for the production of large-displacement Duramax diesel engines.

    PickupTrucks.com adds that GM has its own excellent team of diesel engine specialists that are fully capable of designing the automaker’s next heavy duty truck engines. In fact, the 4.5-liter diesel that had been planned for light duty applications was wholly engineered by GM. Okay, got it.

    But wait. According to Green Car Advisor (sadly without citing sources), Isuzu has proposed that it develop a new HD diesel engine for GM. Both reports could be true; Isuzu may have decided that it should continue to work with GM, and that could have led to the proposal, but we can’t say for sure.

    GCA also indicates (again, without citing a source) that GM and Isuzu are also in talks that would have the Japanese company take the lead in developing new pickup trucks for Southeast Asia and South America. GM’s current Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups share common underpinnings with trucks that Isuzu developed for overseas sales.

    [Source: Bloomberg, PickupTrucks.com, Green Car Advisor]

    REPORT: Isuzu proposes new HD diesel engine for GM? originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Get Your Camera Returned with a Great Photo Message

    Want a better shot at getting a lost digital camera back? If your finder has any heart at all, a multi-frame photo message will give both motivation and instructions. Check out Andrew McDonald’s smirk-inducing series as an example.

    Children’s author and blogger Andrew McDonald never deletes 25 photos on his camera’s memory card—presumably kept in a separate folder from the standard image outputs. Flipped through on a camera viewfinder, they offer a pretty amazing personal story about the importance of that camera, the unique humanness of the owner, and, most importantly, an email address for coordinating a camera return.

    Andrew’s posted all the pics at his blog, but you can get the viewfinder-flip effect by checking out the animated GIF version, courtesy of Your Daily GIF Blog. Oh, and while you’re adding permanent camera card fixtures, tossing in a helpful TXT file couldn’t hurt, either.

    Thanks to Zombie Ms. Skittles for leaving us that #tip, which anyone can do.

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  • Apple tablet announcement coming January 26th?

    Apple Tablet

    Right as we were whispering about the 7 inch display of the Apple tablet, the Apple tablet rumors simultaneously exploded. The Financial Times reported that Apple has reserved Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco for several days in late January. A source reportedly claims that Apple will use the venue to make a big product announcement on January 26th. The New York Times also chimed in with several rumors whose sources were current and former Apple employees. The NYT claims that since Apple has been working on the tablet for some time now, technology derived from the product was used in other devices and the development of tablet continued to progress, no doubt helped along by the re-hiring of Michael Tchao who worked on the ill-fated Apple Newton. According to a senior Apple employee, the current tablet has hit the sweet spot and Steve Jobs “is extremely happy with the new tablet”. Adding mystery and intrigue to the rumor, another Apple employee, recently departed from the company, says “you will be very surprised how you interact with the new tablet”. This, of course, has thrown the Apple fanbase into a frenzy with every past patent being scrutinized for some clue into this novel control mechanism. We have seen some wild patents come out of the Apple camp, the head-tracking eyewear and 3-D interactive display come first and foremost to mind, and some not-so-wild patents including a multitude of patents covering multi-touch and gesture-based controls. We will have to wait for the next leaky faucet until January 26th to discover what wild and crazy product Apple has designed.

    Photo: Gizmodo

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  • Senate Bill: Reactions from Doctors, Insurers, Business, Etc.

    BalanceThe Senate’s vote on the health-care bill this morning set off an avalanche of responses from key interest groups. The short version: The AMA, drug industry and AARP backed the bill; health insurers and the Chamber of Commerce did not.

    Here are some highlights culled from our inbox; links to the complete statements are included for the statements we could find online.

    AHIP, the health insurance trade group:

    Health plans support legislative changes that would provide guaranteed access to all Americans, with no pre-existing condition limitations and no health-status-based premiums. … At the same time, specific provisions in this legislation will increase, rather than decrease, health care costs; reduce coverage options; and disrupt existing coverage for families, seniors and small businesses – particularly between now and when the legislation is fully implemented in 2014.

    AMA:

    The AMA supported passage of the bill because it contains a number of key improvements for our health care system, which currently is not working for far too many patients or the physicians who dedicate their lives to patient care. Important issues that need to be resolved in the House-Senate conference committee include the scope, authority, accountability and transparency of a payment advisory board. The details of several cost control and quality improvement initiatives also need to be refined so that they do not have unintended consequences for patients and physicians. (full statement)

    PhRMA, the drug industry trade group:

    In the final analysis, we believe the Senate bill provides the best blueprint for reform. It offers the kind of change that will benefit patients today without putting medical progress at risk in the future. Today, we believe the Senate voted with America’s best interests and future in mind. (full statement)

    AdvaMed, the medical device trade group:

    The tax on medical devices and diagnostics present significant challenges for our industry, but we are committed to working constructively on a number of important refinements to implementation. These include a start date of 2013 to allow companies reasonable time to prepare for the tax, protections for small companies, and ensuring that the tax is deductible.

    AARP:

    The bill passed by the Senate makes needed progress to prevent coverage denials due to health status and limit insurance companies from charging older Americans much more for coverage because of their age. It also begins to close the dangerous gap in Medicare drug coverage known as the doughnut hole, and Senate leaders have committed that a final bill will close the gap entirely by 2019, in keeping with the President’s pledge. (full statement)

    U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

    The business community has been consistent in calling for health care reform, but the bill that was passed by the Senate today is counterproductive, does little to lower the cost of health care, and it is not reform. It implements crippling new taxes, and hurts our ability to create jobs at the worst possible time for the economy. (full statement)

    Image: iStockphoto


  • Editor’s Choice: Sara Kate’s Favorite Posts of 2009

    Phooey on you, Faith, for giving us free-range on selecting our favorite posts of 2009. It’s just impossible! With close to 4,000 posts this year, I am in awe of what the fine writers of The Kitchn have achieved.

    I started this site in 2005, chugging out a few posts a day on my own, with the hopes of writing enough about cooking in a tantalizing and accessible way to inspire people to cook more at home. Four years later we have eleven talented people dishing up recipes, tips, news and inspiration to the tune of over fifteen posts a day. Each of these writers brings their own special flavor to the site and so it was with those individual attributes in mind that I selected my favorite posts; one for each writer, exemplifying what I see as their unique takes on the original mission of The Kitchn.

    Happy New Year!

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  • Michigan Auto Law Wishes You Happy Holidays

    We at Michigan Auto Law wish our clients, friends and families happy holidays!   We are truly honored to be able to help so many good people who have been seriously injured through no fault of their own.  We know our clients are depending on us, whether it be with an excellent settlement for a car accident, or with an insurance company that is improperly suspending wage loss and medical bills. We are always here for you and we will continue to fight for you and provide the best possible legal representation.

    Should you or a loved one need help in the event of an auto accident, feel free to call our specialized personal injury law firm 24/7 over the holidays with any questions or concerns.

    Please, drive safely and enjoy this special time of the year.

    Michigan Auto Law is the largest law firm exclusively handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases throughout the entire state. We have offices in Southfield, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Sterling Heights to better serve you. Call (800) 777-0028 for a free consultation with a lawyer. There is absolutely no fee or obligation.

  • Should I worry about junk food ads on kids’ websites?

    michaelrich_small1-198x300Media expert Michael Rich, MD, MPH, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston, answers your questions about media use. Last week, he discussed the effect of movies on babies.

    Here’s this week’s question:

    Q: My 7-year-old son is extremely good at navigating the Internet. In fact, he’s taught me almost everything I know about using the Web. I have software that blocks him from everything except kid sites like PBS, Nickelodeon, Disney, and the Cartoon Network, where he has spent a lot of time and they seem harmless enough, but recently I’ve been hearing about junk food ads on websites. I don’t think he looks at them, but I’m wondering whether that’s a problem anyway. Am I missing something?
    Websurfing in Washington, DC

    A: Dear Websurfing,

    Your impulses with regard to the Internet are right on. The Internet is a place where your son can both learn a great deal and become very technologically skilled but it’s also possible and likely that he’ll be exposed to material that is not optimal for him. In an era when kids are digital natives and parents are digital immigrants, your question is extremely common.

    The sites you’re allowing him to access probably won’t expose him to overt violence or sex, and that is a positive thing. But remember that pre-selecting sites isn’t enough to teach him to use media critically.  Like pretty much everything else on the Web, even kid-oriented sites exist to attract users, build brand loyalty, and/or attract money to their enterprises. For that reason, it is important that your son learn to think critically about all media, even those that seem harmless.

    Just recently, researchers looked at the sites most used by kids, and they found that only 5 of the 77 advertised food products were things that kids should be encouraged to eat. The vast majority touted high-calorie, low-nutritional-value foods, such as candy, cookies, and sugared cereal. And even though your son may not be paying specific attention to those ads, there is evidence that people exposed to online advertising think favorably about advertised brands, even if they don’t remember seeing or paying attention to the advertising. Therefore, the advertising he is exposed to is likely to affect him whether he thinks it does or not.

    To help reduce the effects of junk food advertising on your son, help him understand that he is being aggressively pursued as a consumer of products that aren’t best for him. Point out ads, and ask him questions about them, like what it’s for, who it’s for, and why the people who created the ad created it (e.g., to keep him healthy and happy?). Doing this will help him build the skills he needs to critically view and discard the messages he’s receiving from these junk food ads, and that can help him get the most benefit and least harm from his experience on the web.

    Enjoy your media and use them wisely,
    The Mediatrician

    Do you have a question about your child’s media use? Ask it today!

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  • Soocial Hassels The Hoff

    Funny story on Dutch business blog Sprout this morning: Soocial, an Amsterdam-based digital contact management startup, talks about its quarrels with actor and singer David Hasselhoff.

    Here’s how the story started: Soocial, an angel investor-backed startup that provides a simple but powerful contact synchronization service for both the Web and mobile phones, figured ‘hassle-free address book management’ fit its core product perfectly as a description when it was founded about two years ago.

    As a gimmick, they associated the baseline with the freedom-looking Knight Rider and Baywatch actor and started using images and footage of the Hoff as part of their marketing message (see video below).

    Turns out Hasselhoff wasn’t all too pleased with the unauthorized use of his image, prompting him to have his lawyers send a cease and desist letter to the fledgling company. The message was clear: Soocial was to remove all images of David Hasselhoff from its website, videos and business cards or legal action would ensue.

    First, the startup tried to stall the process by delaying any response to letters or e-mail that was sent to them, and (unsuccessfully) attempted to make personal contact with the celebrity more than once. They ended up getting Hasselhoff’s agent excited by planting the idea of producing official endorsement videos for Soocial, featuring the actor, in his head.

    The initial excitement ebbed away rather swiftly when the agent learned that Soocial wasn’t able to actually pay for those videos: he wanted $250,000, close to the total of capital that has been injected into the startup by angel investors to date.

    Soocial didn’t give up and instead took it up a notch: they offered Hasselhoff equity in the company in exchange for a potential endorsement, and tried to sweeten the deal by playing the card of much-needed positive publicity that would ensue should the actor support a small, innovative company.

    The Hoff didn’t bite.

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


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  • Xbox 360 laptop brings retro looks to an eBay near you

    If you thought only a semi-deity like Ben Heck could splice consoles into laptop-shaped cases, here’s some evidence to the contrary. This week, CollinE from Ben’s forums put the finishing touches to his own, rather professional looking, Xbox 360 laptop. Adorned in a red and black color scheme that features a throwback giant X on the top lid, his 360 stays true to the original console in almost all respects — including the “wind tunnel” noise generated by Collin’s five fans. The fact he also consulted our guide on how to do this is just a cherry on the top for us, and you can find a video tour of the hardware after the break. Should it take your fancy, the machine’s now on auction with all proceeds going to the “make Collin’s Christmas merrier” foundation.

    Continue reading Xbox 360 laptop brings retro looks to an eBay near you

    Xbox 360 laptop brings retro looks to an eBay near you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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