Toddlers Favorite Toy: The iPhone.

The iPhone has completely revolutionized telecomunications in our time.  In addition to it has become the most effective tool for humans.  In addition to being a hit with adults it has aslo become huge with toddlers, a tool they can understand, work and entertains them to the point where the new cry for their generation is "iPhone!"

To parents delight, this entertainment for children has created a way for parents to be in public with their kids that eases the stress of them getting fussy.  Consequently, kids have just as hard of a time putting down the phone as adults do.  The iPhone is now "the Toy of Choice."  This has become a concern with some childhood development specialists.

Parents have been entertained by their toddlers reaction to the phone lighting up and relieved by how it distracts their child, but it turns into a more serious situation when their kid begins to only want the phone.  Natasha Sykes, mother of Kelsey in Atlanta tells about her and her husbands light concern for their daughter when they found their iPhone hidden under Kelsey's bed after a six-hour search.  They laughed, but were also wondering how nothing compares to the phone.  "They love books," Ms. Sykes said, but the kids blocks, legos, bouncing balls and toy cars can't compete with the new technology.

Apple has made success on machines so simple and intuitive that even technologically challenged adults can figure out how to work them.  It makes sense that smart children can also work the machines easily. The phone model is small 4.5 inches tall, 2.31 inches wide and weighs 4.8 ounces.  It's sleek and smooth, but it's not too small for the kids with developing motor skills.  All they have to do is lightly tap a picture on the screen and something happens as a result.  It's wonderful for them to see.

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Ben Sklar for The New York Times

MOTOR SKILLS Bella Giroux-Nix, 3, has mastered her mother’s iPhone.

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Sally Ryan for The New York Times

TAP, TAP Brady Hotz, now 2, has been playing with his parents’ iPhones since he was 6 months; his mother, Kellie Hotz, lends hers for the 15-minute commute to school.

There are many iPhone apps that are aimed for the entertainment of  such toddlers.  It is easy for the kids to find their app on the phone by scrolling through the screen, tap it and playing a fun game that can please their growing mind.

Even though there are games that teach kids to spell, match shapes to names and colors parents still tend to feel a nagging guilt if these games are helpful or if the 'addiction' is or will be damaging for them, is there a time when they should take it away for good? 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/fashion/17TODDLERS.html?src=me&ref=general

Fraud May Void a Quarter of Afghan Votes, Officials Say

In Kabul Afghanistan the preliminary election that took place on September 18th were scheduled to have the results announced this Sunday, but the event was postponed by Afghan and western official due to fraud.  Nearly 25 percent of the votes are likely to be thrown out. 

The fraud, which involved ballot-box stuffing, was done by citizens being forced to cast their votes at gunpoint, corrupt election officials and security forces complicit with corrupt candidates.  This is expected to mean that 800,000 to a million votes will be pulled.

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Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Afghan election observers watched as the vote counting began at a high school after the polls closed Sept. 18.

The Afghan Independent Election Commission, which is in charge of overseeing the counting, has refused to disclose the vote count that could be thrown out.  It has been said that it decided to nullify all or part of the votes that were cast at 430 polling places while another 830 sites are being audited.

Until now an honest vote-count process has been recognized, but the  last minute delay has caused for candidates to stress over the results at the capital in Kabul.

An e-mailed statement was released only two hours before the planned announcement of the results stating the commission would be making the announcement on Wednesday.  "The reason for the delay in results is the be more accurate and precise," the announcement said.

This puts a huge pressure on the commission to rightfully change the outcome.  "You can do a lot of mischief in three days," said a Western observer knowledgeable about the election process.

The commission worked strenuously through the weekend until 4 a.a. Sunday to come close in completing the results.  Up until the last minute the commission was still planning on announcing the results on Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/world/asia/18kabul.html?hp

"Toshiba to Offer 3-D TV That Does Not Require Special Glasses"

Toshiba announced that they would be the first to offer a 3-D television that doesn't require the viewer to wear special glasses.  The advancement in technology to transform a 2-D picture into a 3-D liquid-crystal display uses a high-definition screen backlighted with LEDs.  This is a special sheet that is placed on top of the screen and the cell-chip technology displays information from nine images that create a real time from one frame.
These televisions are to go on sale in December in either 20 in screens, for $2,880 or a 12 inch for $1440.  


“A dream TV is now a reality,” Mr. Oosumi said. “It’s obviously more natural to watch TV without glasses. That is the natural technological progression.”
Up close the TV's show crisp images, but if the viewer turns more to the side of the screen the image becomes blurry. The difficulty of creating a television that can show these 3-D images from all side angles is still an issue.  Toshiba says that to maintain a good image one must be in a 40 degree view of the screen.
Toshiba has created a prototype 36" 3-D TV which they know would be a bigger market for America and European countries.  Until then they have just come out with their first TVs with 3-D classes this past August.




The market with TV's is huge in the US anyways, and I know some people who go nuts for bluerays, I am curious though if a pure 3-D television would be big here in the states.  The cost seems extreme, but people do tend to enjoy spending that much for entertainment.  Technology advances are never ending, and it really does blow my mind with what people come up with.  It's impressive and I think they should be acknowledged for what they can accomplish with it.  Although I do think that because we live in such a fast paced world of technology now, new achievements and huge findings seem to be set aside so quickly, and more is expected from companies at a faster rate. It seems like as soon as they come out with something big people get bored with it so fast and are already complaining about wanting something more fancy and advanced.  I think this can sometimes be damaging to the company.  Windows Vista for example, they were trying to do something new so quickly, but so many people had issues with Vista and ended up hating it, sending a huge market for Macintosh and Windows scrambling to come up with a better idea, leading to Windows 7.  


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/technology/05toshiba.html?_r=1&ref=technology