Baby
Latest
'Mommy Tummy' simulator takes you from normal to pregnant in two minutes (video)
You can test drive a car before buying it, so why not take the same approach to pregnancy? Such is the idea, apparently, behind the "Mommy Tummy" -- a system that gives women (or men) a taste of what it would feel like to have a bun in the oven, even if they haven't received any lovin'. Developed by researchers at Japan's Kanagawa Institute of Technology, this simulator invites users to don a jacket replete with rubber balloons, vibrators, a water bag and other things you'd expect to find in Buffalo Bill's basement. Once strapped on, the jacket's midsection gradually expands as it swells with warm water funneled in from an adjacent tank, resulting in an immaculately conceived baby bump. A compressor, meanwhile, slowly augments the jacket's chest area, while a separate array of balloons rapidly inflate and deflate, thereby mimicking the kicking and side-to-side movements of a real-life fetus. KIRF mothers can monitor their KIRF baby's vital signs on a monitor, though they'll have to pay close attention. Unlike real pregnancies, the Mommy Tummy's gestation period lasts a merciful two minutes, giving your boyfriend just enough time to formulate a coherent response. Must-see video footage after the break. Update: Turns out our bros at Joystiq got some hands-on time with this bundle of joy at TGS. Check it out. [Image courtesy of Toutlecine.com]
Researchers use wireless network to monitor breathing, could save lives
When Neal Patwari and his team of researchers developed a wireless network capable of seeing through walls, we assumed they were simply looking to cultivate their Alastor Moody-like superpowers. Turns out, they had far more important things on their minds. Patwari and his colleagues at the University of Utah have now penned a new study in which they demonstrate how their motion detecting technology could be used to monitor breathing patterns, as well, potentially enabling doctors to keep closer track of patients with sleep apnea or babies susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). To do this, Patwari reclined on a hospital bed and surrounded himself with 20 wireless transceivers operating at a frequency of 2.4GHz, as pictured above. He then timed his breathing at about 15 breaths per minute (the average rate for a resting adult), which he measured with his array of nodes and a carbon dioxide monitor. The engineer ultimately found that his system's algorithm could accurately measure respiration within 0.4 to 0.2 breaths per minute -- a relatively low error rate, since most monitors round off to the nearest full breath. Patwari says this development could offer a non-invasive and low-cost alternative to the devices used in most hospitals, and hopes to implement his technology into at-home baby monitors, as well. He acknowledges, however, that it will likely take at least five years before any of that happens -- so don't hold your breath. Full PR after the break.
Babies go gaga for Apple? Not hardly
Martin Lindstrom says he found something interesting while doing some research for an upcoming book about brands: He handed a BlackBerry phone to about 20 different babies, and then watched their reactions to it. Without exception, they all reached up to touch the screen of the phone, which didn't do anything (since the BlackBerry wasn't a touchscreen), and then got bored. "These babies, all under two years old," he says, "have already been converted to the Apple brand." Which makes for a fun tagline, and that leads into an article about how old brand experiences, like waiting for film to process, are being replaced by technology. But Lindstrom apparently forgets another possibility: That these babies aren't already conditioned to a certain brand, but that touch is just the natural way they would deal with the world anyway. Yes, Apple has done a lot of work to build its brand and its reputation, and yes, the quality of the iPhone speaks volumes to anyone who has experience with one. But babies looking to touch something shiny doesn't mean they've been "brandwashed" by Apple -- it more likely means Apple has simply "tapped" into something that was already there in the first place. [Image from oxtopus on Flickr]
Vinci tablet for babies goes up for pre-order, prepares to be hurled across the playroom
When some of us were tots, there was one family computer, and we were lucky if we got our sticky little fingers on it while we were still in diapers. Times have changed, though, and for some parents, sharing the 'ol iPad or 10.1 with curious babies just won't do. Enter Rullingnet's Vinci tablet, that ruggedized tablet for toddlers we played with back in January. It's up for pre-order now, and though it's not exactly the modded Galaxy Tab we saw demoed, it's a very similar piece of hardware with a 7-inch (800 x 480) display, rugged casing, a 3 megapixel camera and Froyo on board. If you'll recall, it's missing any wireless radios (you know, to keep littles ones from being exposed to radiation), but parents can update apps via microUSB. Aside from the kid-proof caging, though, the hook here is that the tab comes pre-loaded with educational content such as 3D games, music videos, and animated storybooks -- a package overseen by the company's founder, herself a mother to young kids. With a starting price of $389, it's slightly less expensive than other Android tablets, though there's also a version with a more grown-up $479 price tag that doubles the battery life to six hours and comes loaded with more educational goodies. Hit the source links to pre-order, and remember that the tab's intended for kids ages three and under, so if yours is already forming sentences, well, your investment should be good for at least a year.
WiFi Baby 3G review, or: How we learned to stop worrying and love a surveillance camera
Obsolescence. Its avoidance is the biggest problem facing any gadget nerd. This affliction, this curse that disables so many would-be tablet and smartphone buyers, only intensifies for those of us who somehow manage to procreate. See, newbie reproducers, temporarily insane from an overblown sense of paternal concern, will pay just about anything for products promising to make their new baby healthier or happier, regardless of the product's potential lifespan. Come on, parents, admit it. Just look at that $100 bottle sterilizer you've already replaced with a more convenient pot of boiled tap water. Or how about that $380 hands-free breast pump that went idle after 6 months of occasional use or that $1,000 euro-exotic stroller that turned out to be too bulky to regularly transport by car? Your well-meaning, but irrational ways made you an easy target for the baby-care industry that places your ilk on the sucker-side of the consumer savviness scale. Just look at the extortionary prices of the typical babycam. You can easily spend between $200 and $300 for a so-called "top-of-the line" monitor that's plagued by radio interference, poor range, and shabby video quality. To make matters worse, these single-purpose cameras lose their usefulness once baby is grown. So what's a rational, resourceful parent to do? Easy, use an IP-based surveillance camera as a baby monitor instead. Not only do you get a superior wireless camera for about the same price (or less), you have the option of repurposing it for inclusion in your home automation or security system after baby is grown. That's what we've been doing for several weeks now thanks to WiFi Baby. And you know what? We'll never go back to traditional baby monitors again. Click through to find out why.
Fake robot baby provokes real screams (video)
Uncanny valley, heard of it? No worries, you're knee-deep in it right now. It's the revulsion you feel to robots, prostheses, or zombies that try, but don't quite duplicate their human models. As the robot becomes more humanlike, however, our emotional response becomes increasingly positive and empathetic. Unfortunately, the goal of Osaka University's AFFETTO was to create a robot modeled after a young child that could produce realistic facial expressions in order to endear it to a human caregiver in a more natural way. Impressive, sure, but we're not ready to let it suckle from our teat just yet.
Rullingnet's Vinci tablet is a rugged Galaxy Tab for babies, we go hands-on (video)
As technology advances, so do babies. Seriously, it's amazing how often we see toddlers finding their way round smartphones and tablets these days, but according to Rullingnet founder Dr. Dan D. Yang, a lot of these products or apps are either too predictable or too dull to inspire the younglings, especially her own two-year-old daughter. As such, Dr. Yang came up with the Vinci tablet, which is essentially a seven-inch Android Froyo tablet bundled with educational 3D games, music videos and animated storybooks for ages of three and under. The prototype we saw was actually a Galaxy Tab housed within a rubber frame, but Rullingnet is working with Samsung to produce a similar-looking 1.3-pound device sporting a flush spill-proof housing, an unnamed Cortex-A8 processor, a 3 megapixel camera on the back, and a microSD slot. Wireless components are removed to reduce radiation exposed to children, but parents will be able to install or upgrade apps via the micro-USB port. Expect to see a late Q1 or early Q2 release for about $479. For now, have a look at one of the preloaded games after the break. %Gallery-113839%
Samsung enters new Galaxy with BabyView range of infant video monitors
Talk about broadening one's horizon. Samsung took a break from pushing its connected HDTVs and Galaxy S line here at CES to introduce something just a wee bit different: a baby video monitor line. Yeah, seriously. The BabyView range is said to be engineered to fit into the wild and crazy lifestyles of "tech-savvy parents," enabling proud mamas and papas to share audio and video of their youngster with friends and family via Twitter and Facebook. How so? It'll log video onto a built-in SD card, which can then be offloaded and transferred -- not exactly the most seamless process in the world, but hey, there it is. The whole line will offer night vision, two-way talking, sound / vibration alerts, a remote nightlight, SD card slot and networked support for up to four cameras. Hop on past the break if you need specifics, and look for the whole lot to land this spring for between $199 and $299.
Monitor your baby from anywhere with the WiFi Baby 3G
My daughter is about four weeks away from having a baby, so I am really interested in the WiFi Baby 3G ($US 279.00). This Wi-Fi enabled baby monitor can let you see and hear your baby on any Mac or PC. Just plug it in, and any browser will let you check in from anywhere whenever you'd like. The device, manufactured by Y-Cam and created by a small husband and wife startup to watch their own baby, can display HD quality color video and audio during the day, and thanks to its array of (infrared, we assume) lights that turn on when it's dark, it shows you black and white video at night using night-vision technology. The WiFi Baby 3G is part computer and part webcam since it stands alone and doesn't, as most other solutions, require you to plug a webcam into a computer. Although expensive, it's quite ingenious. Some of its features include: the ability to record video or still pictures the ability to send email alerts or send alarms to a mobile device if the built-in motion detector is triggered, an automatic light sensor that will adjust the light array to the light conditions of the baby's room and of course, the ability to work both on Wi-Fi and 3G networks There are two options to monitor your baby from a mobile device. The cheapest (free) is also made by Y-Cam, and it's called the Y-Cam MultiLive iP Camera Viewer. The limitations here are that this app doesn't supply audio, and it's a non-universal app without native iPad capability. The better option, according to the manufacturers of the WiFi Baby 3G, is the Baby Monitor HD ($9.99), a universal app that does transmit audio. To save battery life on your mobile device, this app gives you the option of turning off the video stream. There are also mobile solutions available for the Android. The WiFi Baby 3G is available in either black or white. Take a look at it in action by clicking below. [via GEARlog]
Grandma makes iPhone quilt for grandson
We've seen an edible iPhone birthday cake, a giant iPhone wedding cake and Apple icon cupcakes, but here is the ultimate gift to get your new baby interested in emptying your wallet as a teenager -- the iPhone blanket. Six day old baby Gabriel Augusto Stein is the proud recipient of this cool iPhone quilt sewn by his even cooler Grandma Harriet, and judging by the size of it in comparison to his body, he will be able to use it for years to come. "There's a nap for that!" says Dad. Congratulations to the new Mom and Dad -- that's one stylin' kid you've got there! [via The Daily What]
PlayStation Moves into creepy ad business
We all know Sony likes to be a bit off the wall with its commercials, so this dystopian vision of a grown-up baby's trudge through corporate monotony shouldn't surprise us at all. And yet, somehow, it does. It's part of a pair of new ads destined for Latin America, the second of which awaits you after the break.
Study shocker: babies think friendly robots are sentient
There's certainly been no shortage of studies involving humans' interaction with robots, but a team of researchers from the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences have now made one of the most shocking discoveries to date: babies can be tricked into believing robots are sentient. They made this finding by acting out a skit with a remote-controlled robot in which the robot behaves friendly with its human counterpart. Following the skit, they left the baby alone with the robot and found that in 13 out of 16 cases the baby followed the robot's gaze, which suggests the baby believed it was sentient. In contrast, babies only interacted with the robot in 3 of 16 cases when they were simply left alone with it without first seeing it interact with a human. What does it all mean? Well, it seems that a robot's human-like appearance is less important than its behavior when it comes to establishing trust -- or that all the robots need to do to take over is get us while we're young. One of the two.
Exmovere shows off Exmobaby biosensor pajamas for babies, coming to retail in 2011
Baby monitors have become quite commonplace over the past 20 years or so, and come in many variations. Exmovere (a company that previously produced the wearable Chariot) has debuted a new type of monitor, however, which are actually part of the baby's pajamas, and which are said to help monitor heart rate, emotional state and behavior. The outfit -- called Exmobaby -- uses the Zigbee wireless standard, effectively connecting the baby to the home wireless network, enabling the parents (or you know, whoever's around) to track the babies various states via icons on their mobile phones. Sound great? Well, it's heading to limited retail in 2011, though no pricing has been announced yet. Full press release is below.
Wii Balance Board-controlled robot a hit with toddlers in Ithaca (video)
How could we resist a story involving robot-powered babies? The Ithaca College Tots on Bots project aims to mobilize infants with physical disabilities by setting them atop a "mobile robot" equipped with a Wii Balance Board to let the young operator steer by leaning -- which, it turns out, works pretty well. Additionally, the vehicle uses sonar to avoid nasty crashes and a remote control that an adult can use to take control. Further study has to be made before any long term developmental benefits can be ascertained, but in the meantime it does look like a lot of fun. See it in action after the break.
Toddler wooden puzzle roundup for the iPad
There's nothing like walking around in the middle of the night and stepping on the knob of a wooden puzzle piece. It kind of hurts. Believe me, it's happened to me on many an occasion, and it has resulted in firetruck and dinosaur-like imprints on my feet. If you're tired of stepping on puzzle pieces, having puzzle pieces go missing -- and if your toddler is tired of doing the same puzzles over and over -- you may want to consider some puzzle alternatives on the App Store. While I'm obviously too old to be doing wooden knob puzzles, my 18-month-old nephew isn't. So, these observations are based, in part, on his interactions with the apps and a sit-down we had over a bottle of milk to discuss them.
LocoRoco themed nursery is Mui Mui amazing
Mach Kobayashi is an effects artist at a little computer animation house called Pixar. His newborn son, Dyson, just might end up in the games industry one day, thanks to the work of a family friend. Mach wrote in to share photos of Dyson's nursery, painted by professional set designer Asaki Oda to look like it's smack dab in the whimsical world of Sony's LocoRoco. Both Mach and his wife Tracy are big fans of the games, and we're just guessing little Dyson will be inclined to be one too, growing up looking at this amazing artwork. The mural work was done while the couple was in India to get Dyson and must have made the return home that much more memorable. Soda has documented the process in an online photo album so the whole world can see how the room -- its walls overflowing with multicolored LocoRocos and their friends the Mui Mui -- took shape. If you're reading this, Asaki, expect a call soon -- we all want our entire houses redone by you!
Meet Diego-san, the latest robot baby to haunt your nightmares
The Apple iPad wasn't the only magical and revolutionary thing revealed this week.
David Jaffe talks death of Calling All Cars as servers go offline
This week heralded the end of the Calling All Cars saga, as David Jaffe finally saw the lights go out on his PSN baby. He's got a set of final thoughts over on his blog -- he says that as his first online game, it was definitely a learning experience, and while there were good times, it wasn't the most fun he'd ever had. He's suprisingly regretful about the whole thing: He says that he seriously thinks he probably should have "made it war themed and ['ditched'] the cartoony stuff," and that it was really a problem of expectation. At $10, he says, they were expecting gamers buying downloadable titles to just be "sampling them like candy," not looking for a full game experience. But we wouldn't worry too much about Jaffe -- while he jokes that the CAC server shutdown "marks the beginning of the end of my career," we're sure there's still more fun to be had from that mind of his. We're hoping to see what he's got planned next by the time E3 rolls around this year.
Baby simulator surfaces in Japan, Devo wants its mascot back (video)
When we first saw Yotaro baby simulator we thought: "we've seen this ugly robot before." And no, weren't thinking about Keiko, the robot patient currently seeing action in teaching hospitals in Japan. It just so happens that robot in question has more than a passing resemblance to Booji Boy, a character beloved to Devo fans world-wide. The robot, developed at the University of Tsukuba, is designed to teach people about childcare and parenting by portraying various facial expressions, movements, and physiological traits associated with babies, relying on a Rube Goldberg-esque array of water tanks, projectors, sensors, and sophisticated emotion control software to respond to your actions appropriately. If you think it looks strange above, wait until you see it in action! Check it out after the break.
Twoddler lets your toddler twitter and summon the Fail Whale #cute
So you think your baby's all Twitter-ready with that Kickbee while chilling in the womb? Nah, only practice makes perfect, so the folks at Belgium's Hasselt University came up with the Twoddler: a hacked Fisher-Price activity board with buttons linked to predefined Twitter messages. Obsessive parents can put photos of themselves on the buttons, so that whenever those buttons are hit the Twoddler tweets something like "@mommy I miss you." We like this idea, but then again you'll never know if it's just someone else's kids bashing the buttons -- you'll still feel good anyway. Watch some Twoddler action after the break.
