Tech Toys

I didn't know until recently that Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree is wrought with controversy. But me? Maybe I'm not quite cynical enough because I love it. I have always appreciated the notion that there's something to be said for fi…

I used to love sending out handwritten notes on my pretty Jeana stationery when I was a kid. I always thought I was so special to have my own crisp white monogrammed paper with a pink polka-dot border. I was special. While handwritten no…

You have to be pretty hard core about your Easter Eggs to invest $195 in a machine that makes them look awesome. But that's just what the creators of the Egg-Bot were thinking when they invented this open-source robot that applies comput…

If you made my kids narrow down to the two things they think are really cool about technology, they'd come up with: 1. Making really goofy videos of themselves, and 2. Angry Birds. Yeah, I'd have to agree, though I bet I have more people…

If you haven't yet figured out that it's April Fool's Day (meaning you're still angry at us for this post ), it's a great time to catch up on practical jokes going around the geeky world. An annual favorite: The awesome shop Think Geek ,…

There are a quite a few phrases I never thought I'd utter in my lifetime. "Please don't put that in your sister's underwear" and "I'm unfollowing Charlie Sheen" top the list this week. Another to add to the list: "Designer flash drive." …

As someone who has memorized most of the lines from the original Star Wars movies, I am all about celebrating the original, mint-in-box goodness of those heady Jedi days. And if you've got the credits, you can even buy a piece of geek hi…

Understand that I am happily in the "throw the kids outside periodically and let them figure it out" camp of kids and exercise; I think that for many kids, that's all it takes to make sure they're moving around enough. But for some kids,…

Holiday time is of course a photographer's paradise for capturing family memories. I encourage the kids in our family to take pictures, which provides a great "kid's eye view" into own traditions and activities--and the fact that my own …

My near 4 year-old son has been eying my oldest's Nintendo DS for awhile now, but he's just not quite old enough to do anything but ask us to help him play a game. Sort of defeats the point of having it. But since the brand new MobiGo fr…

No matter how many gadgets with keyboards are available, we kind of hope that actual writing never goes away. Kids still take notes at school and parents write notes at home or work. However if you don't transcribe your notes to a comput…