Tech gifts for little ones ages 3 to 6

1 hr.

Heidi Leder , Techlicious

Even kids as young as 3 to 6??are starting to become tech savvy. So if you're looking for a gift they'll love, check our favorite tech toys for that age group this?holiday season:

Doc McStuffins???Time for Your Check Up doll
Doc McStuffins toys are all the rage, and will likely be one of the items you?ll be hard-pressed to find on shelves come holiday season.?

?This set comes with Doc, who sings the ?Time for Your Check Up? song, Lambie and several other accessories including Doc?s check up tools to make Lambie talk. You can use her stethoscope to ?listen? to Lambie?s heartbeat, and the thermometer to make Lambie giggle. The Time for Your Check Up Doll is recommended for 3-7 year olds.

Price: $29.99 on toysrus.com

Switch and Go Dinos?
A 2-in-1 toy that transforms from a dinosaur with dinosaur sounds, to a vehicle with vehicle noises, and back again.?

The Switch and Go Dinos has an animated LCD screen with special looks for each character, and comes with up to 80 sounds and dinosaur facts.?

There are seven models including Brok the Brachiosaurus (shown), Span the Spinosaurs, T-Don the Pteranodon and Sliver the T-Rex.

Price: for Brok the Brachiosaurs: $38.78? on amazon.com, $39.99 on vtechkids.com

My Magical Wand Cinderella
This adorable Cinderella doll goes high-tech. A swoosh of her magic wand and Cinderella's dress lights up in sparkly light pattern, and she sings "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo."?

Cinderella also says 15 charming phrases such as "I believe dreams come true!"?

My Magical Wand and Sparkling Lights Cinderella comes with magic wand, light-up dress, glittery "glass" slippers, tiara and hairbrush. Cinderella is recommended for girls 3-5 years?of age.?

Price: $49.99 on toysrus.com

Xbox 360 Kinect + kid-friendly titles
If you've already begun scouting out deals for potential gifts this holiday season, you may want to add Xbox 360 to your list.?

You'll find significant discounts off some great kids titles, putting some games in reach under $20. In addition, Microsoft has launched a holiday season sale to bring ?Xbox Entertainment for All?, with pricing starting as low as $99 with a 2-year Xbox Live Gold membership ($14.99 per month). You can get a full round up of all titles and Xbox 360 options.

Price: $15.99-$29.99 for Xbox Titles, $99-$149 for Xbox 360 bundles on xbox.com

LeapFrog LeapPad 2 Explorer
If you can't seem to pry your?tablet away from your child, this second generation LeapPad from LeapFrog may just do the trick.?

With a front and back camera, 4 GB of memory, and more than 325 games to choose from?cartridges, this could a great alternative to other devices. We recommend the LeapPad 2 for children 3 years old up to about?5 years of age.

Price: $99 on amazon.com, $99.99 on leapfrog.com

Jake's Musical Pirate Ship Bucky play set
Based on the Disney TV show of the same name, this ship plays over 25 sounds, including pirate phrases and music.

?There?s a real working cannon, and other movable parts including Tick Tock the Croc who?s hidden behind a trap door.?

Jake's Musical Pirate Ship Bucky is recommended for kids 3-5 years of age.

Price: $38.90 on amazon.com,?$45 on fisher-price.com

MobiGo 2 Touch Learning System
This handheld device is designed for both fun and education. The Vtech MobiGo 2 has a touchscreen, full QWERTY keyboard and now comes with a motion sensor and microphone.?

Games and apps teach everything from math, spelling and reading, and it can function as an e-reader, photo viewer and comes with an art studio. The MobiGo 2 is recommended for kids 3-6. Available in blue and pink.

Price: $44.99 on amazon.com, $59.99 on vtechkids.com

Crayola MyPhones
Griffin has teamed up with Crayola to come up with a pair of branded customizable headphones that also have volume-limiting technology to keep sound to safe levels for young kids.?

The MyPhones come with 40 provided stickers or create your own stickers with 3 included Crayola markers. Available in blue/green and pink/purple.

Price: $24.99 on amazon.com,?or griffintechnology.com

Percival the Dino iPad case
If you're looking for a cute, kid-friendly way to keep your iPad's games, apps, music, and photos safe then check out these cases by Beatrix New York.??

Each case is water-resistant, padded, and velvet-lined for kid-proof protection.?

Three versions are available including percival (pictured), pixel and juju. Each case is PVC free, Phthalate free, BPA free, lead free and fits all generations of iPads.

Price: $31.99 on amazon.com,?$32 on beatrixny.com

More from Techlicious:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/tech-gifts-little-ones-ages-3-6-1C7427458

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Home Depot coffee mug recalled for fire hazard

6 hrs.

Herb Weisbaum, NBC News contributor

It isn?t very often a ceramic coffee mug is recalled, but ?Homer?s All-Purpose Bucket? mug sold at The Home Depot since October could pose a fire hazard.?

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warns that the mug may not be ?microwave safe? as claimed. The CPSC says the silver-colored simulated bucket handle can spark if the mug is put in a microwave oven.

About 3,700 of the orange mugs were sold at The Home Depot for about $5. They were made in China by a company called Mr. Christmas, Ltd. If you have the mug you?re advised to stop using it and return it to the store for a full refund.

No injuries have been reported, but the CPSC would like to hear from anyone who was injured or had a potentially dangerous incident with one of these bucket mugs. You can report this or any other potential safety hazard on SaferProducts.gov.

See CPSC Recall notice: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml13/13056.html

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/home-depot-coffee-mug-recalled-fire-hazard-1C7423682

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Must See HDTV (December 3rd - 9th)

We're finally ready to see the latest Batman flick on Blu-ray, and while a lack of pro hockey is leaving a hole in TV schedules, there a few other viewing options. Pixar is also sending out Finding Nemo and Up on Blu-ray 3D, while special events like the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and VGAs fill out the slate. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.

The Dark Knight Rises
The final movie in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy comes home this week. As with every blockbuster flick in 2012, beyond the multiple types of releases there's also a deep second screen experience available, flashing extra information for fans to see while and after they watch the movie. Will it make Bane easier to understand? We can't say for sure, but this flick will probably still continue the series' trend of smashing Blu-ray sales records.
($18.99 on Amazon)

VGA Ten
Somehow, the Video Game awards have made it ten years, and they're celebrating it later this week on Spike TV. As part of the festivities, previous hosts like Snoop, Neil Patrick Harris and Zachary Levi will be returning to the stage. As always, there will also be promos for several new games aired during the event, check after the break for an early peek at clips for Gears of War: Judgement and The Last of Us.
(December 7th, Spike TV, 9PM)

Continue reading Must See HDTV (December 3rd - 9th)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/03/must-see-hdtv-december-3rd-9th/

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Business Management Daily releases its popular SOP manual ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dec. 3, 2012

Contact: Elizabeth Hall, Senior Web Editor?
(800) 543-2055? (703) 905-8000
editor@BusinessManagementDaily.com

Business Management Daily Rereleases Its Popular SOP Manual

Falls Church, Va. ? Business Management Daily is rereleasing its very popular Standard Operating Procedure: An example manual of operating procedures for an administrative assistant. The publishing company is offering this valuable resource FREE for a limited time to thank its loyal customers during the holidays. This resource was also offered during this year?s Administrative Professionals Week.

?Admins serve as an organization?s main points of contact by answering phones, delivering correspondence, and maintaining records, among handling a variety of other responsibilities,? says Business Management Daily?s Senior Web Editor Elizabeth Hall. ?This example manual will help them keep their companies organized and running smoothly.?

Standard Operating Procedure provides a detailed example of the day-to-day activities conducted by an organization?s administrative professionals. It will help employers save valuable time when they need to train new admins.

?It?s essential for every organization to have a standard operating procedure for their administrative assistants,? Hall says. ?Our example manual will help you create your own SOP, so your organization can be more efficient and effective.?

Get the tools you need as an admin to organize your work and optimize your productivity ? download Standard Operating Procedure: An example manual of operating procedures for an administrative assistant now. This valuable offer is only available through Wednesday, Dec. 14.

Business Management Daily will continue to rerelease its most popular free resources throughout December. For the next resource, the publishing company will be offering its Tip Card: Business Management Daily?s Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts. These keyboard shortcuts will help you save time and reduce the number of errors you?d otherwise make by typing the same thing over and over again. Download it at www.BusinessManagementDaily.com and Business Management Daily?s LinkedIn group beginning Monday, Dec. 10.

Business Management Daily?provides plain-English, actionable news, information and tips to busy professionals in the areas of human resources,?leadership, management, administrative skills, office technology, employment law, tax and more. Subscribe to our?free e-newsletters?and download our?free reports. ?Like? us on Facebook?and follow us on?Google+?and Twitter at?@BizDaily.

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We believe great content should be read and passed around. After all, knowledge IS power. And good business can become great with the right information at their fingertips. If you'd like to share any of the insightful articles on BusinessManagementDaily.com, you may republish or syndicate it without charge.

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Op-Ed: It's Time We Ditched the College Admissions Tests

Parents, high school students, and college counselors, listen up. I?ve got good news about those dreaded and bank-account-draining college admission tests and test prep programs.

What, you say? Good news in this landscape of worry? Worrying about getting in, about paying the ever-inflating college tuition, about whether the kid will be employable after the huge investments of time and money, and the accumulation of debt. Somewhere in that landscape is the worry about the SATs and ACTs. To prep or not to prep, which test to take and how many times to take it. Will the scores mean the college of the kid?s dreams is out of the question? I can?t erase all these worries, but I can certainly take the edge off.

Here?s how. There are now more than 800 accredited, bachelor degree-granting U.S. colleges and universities that do not require applicants to submit test scores. The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) has a complete, searchable online list of these schools here. Nearly 150 colleges and universities on this list rank in the top tier of their respective academic categories. The number of test-optional institutions soared after the latest revision of the SAT and ACT in 2005, with 80 schools joining the list in the past several years.

More: The Key to ?How Children Succeed?: Hint...It?s Not Standardized Tests

I work for FairTest, but as the Hair Club for Men guy says, I?m also a customer. When my older son was in high school, I could feel the tension rising in PTO meetings as parents asked when to register for admission tests, what to take, how many times to take them, what was the cost of a good prep class or tutor. But my blood pressure stayed low. I knew that my son had a long list of great schools to consider that didn?t require him to submit scores. I always raised my hand to share this information with other parents, who were often surprised and happy to hear it.

What I didn?t know until later was how the test-optional list was going to help my son identify schools that share his (and my own) values about education. By choosing to become SAT- and ACT-optional, these colleges show that they recognize how little test results tell them about individual students? high school achievements and potential for college success. By looking beyond test scores, they show that they want to look carefully and thoughtfully at the whole student: the courses they take, their grades, their activities and interests, their essay, and samples of the work they have done. In the end, the optional schools say they get a stronger and more diverse student body.

Bates College has been SAT- and ACT-optional for more than two decades and has studied how their policy has affected their student body. They concluded that there has been no meaningful difference in academic performance between score submitters and non-submitters. What?s more, the policy has allowed the school to increase diversity and has attracted students who choose to major in fields that require creativity and originality.

In 2004, Bates Vice President William Hiss presented the results of research into the policy at a college admissions counseling conference. He said, ?The difference is five hundredths of a GPA point and one-tenth of one percent in graduation rates. On this we hang the national sluice gate system about who gets into college and where they go??
Bates and other colleges see clear benefits. For students, there?s the benefit of finding a school that is much more likely to be a good fit than one that simply chooses students by the numbers.

That?s exactly what happened for my son, a creative, theater-loving, math-phobic, studious yet fun-loving guy who tended to underperform on standardized tests. The optional-list schools he applied to looked at all of his strengths and didn?t penalize him for his weaknesses. He?s now working hard, doing theater, and enjoying his sophomore year at an extraordinary college.

I?ve still got all the other angst, but as we embark on the college search process a second time, I?m glad to be able to cross worries about admission tests off my list.

Related Stories on TakePart:

? Is Standardized Testing for Preschoolers a Good Idea?

? 6 Essential Tips on Starting a College Fund for Your Kids

? 15 Photos of the Most Amazing College Dorm You Have Ever Seen

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Lisa Guisbond is an Assessment Reform Analyst at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest). After many years as a writer and editor, Lisa became interested in education policy as a public school parent with an interest in special education. She is Vice President of Citizens for Public Schools and is the principal author of NCLB?s Lost Decade for Educational Progress: What Can We Learn from this Policy Failure??and the Campaign for the Education of the Whole Child. She co-authored Failing Our Children: How 'No Child Left Behind' Undermines Quality and Equity in Education.?Her writing on education and assessment has appeared in a wide range of publications, including Education Week and?The New York Times.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/op-ed-time-ditched-college-admissions-tests-182800609.html

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Egypt's top court suspends work in protest

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's top court suspended its work indefinitely to protest "psychological and physical pressures" after supporters of the Islamist president prevented judges from entering the courthouse Sunday to rule on the legitimacy of a disputed constitutional assembly.

The decision by the Supreme Constitutional Court is the latest twist in a worsening political crisis pitting President Mohammed Morsi and his allies against the mostly secular opposition and the powerful judiciary. The standoff began when Morsi issued decrees on Nov. 22 that gave him sweeping powers and granted the president ? and the constitutional committee ? immunity from the courts.

The Islamist-dominated panel drafting the new constitution then raced in a marathon session last week to vote on the charter's 236 clauses without the participation of liberal and Christian members. The fast-track hearing preempted a decision expected from the SCC on whether to dissolve the committee. The judges on Sunday postponed their ruling on that case.

A day earlier, Morsi announced a referendum on the draft charter on Dec. 15 despite opposition protests and questions about the document's legitimacy.

The president's seizure of vast powers has galvanized Egypt's disparate opposition groups, who have united in their demands that Morsi rescind the decrees and create a constituent assembly that is more balanced and inclusive.

Having already held mass rallies last week in Cairo that drew as many as 200,000 people, the opposition parties and activist groups have now called for a march Tuesday on the presidential palace in Cairo's Heliopolis district as a "last warning."

Morsi's supporters countered the opposition rallies with a 100,000-strong rally in Cairo on Saturday to voice their support for the president and the draft constitution. Islamists boasted their turnout showed that the public supports the push by the country's first freely elected president to quickly bring a constitution and provide stability after nearly two years of turmoil.

But the dispute has polarized an already deeply divided Egyptian public, and thrown the country ? already suffering from rising crime and economic woes ? into its worst turmoil since Morsi took office in June as the country's first freely elected president.

The Supreme Constitutional Court called Sunday "the Egyptian judiciary's blackest day on record," describing the scene outside the court complex, with Islamist demonstrators carrying banners denouncing the tribunal and some of its judges.

Supporters of Morsi, who hails from the Islamic fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, claim that the court's judges are loyalists of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, who appointed them. Morsi's backers accuse the judges of trying to derail Egypt's transition to democratic rule.

The court statement said the judges approached the court but decided against entering the building because they feared for their safety.

"The judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court were left with no choice but to announce to the glorious people of Egypt that they cannot carry out their sacred mission in this charged atmosphere," said the statement, which was carried by the MENA state news agency.

The judges also had been expected Sunday to rule to on the legitimacy of the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament, known as the Shura Council.

By suspending its work, the court joined the country's highest appeals court and its sister lower court in their indefinite strike to protest what they see as Morsi's infringement on the judiciary. Most judges and prosecutors in the country have been on strike for a week.

The strikes by the judges is indefinite and there have been calls within their ranks to extend their action to a boycott of overseeing the Dec. 15 referendum, something that would further question the legitimacy of the entire process. The opposition is likely to call on its supporters to boycott the vote.

The tug of war between the two sides also has spilled into the streets. Tens of thousands of opposition supporters staged two rallies last week to press calls for Morsi to rescind his decrees and for the constitution draft to be tossed out. Islamists responded Saturday with large rallies in Cairo and across much of the country.

Morsi's opponents say his call for a referendum broke an election promise not to do so unless there was consensus on the document, something that is missing as the 88 members of the panel who voted on its clauses included no liberals or Christians. There were only four women, all Islamists.

The panel passed the document in a rushed, 16-hour session that lasted until sunrise Friday. The vote was abruptly moved up to pass the draft before the Constitutional Court's ruling, which was supposed to be issued Sunday.

The draft has a distinctive Islamic bent ? enough to worry many that civil liberties could be restricted, though its provisions for enforcing Shariah, or Islamic law, are not as firm as ultraconservatives wished.

The panel's chairman, Islamist Hossam al-Ghiryani, kept the voting at a rapid clip, badgering members to drop disputes and objections and move on. At times the process appeared slap-dash, with fixes to missing phrasing and even several entirely new articles proposed, written and voted on in the hours just before sunrise.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypts-top-court-suspends-protest-160408827.html

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Scientists develop indium-free organic light-emitting diodes

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2012) ? Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Ames Laboratory have discovered new ways of using a well-known polymer in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), which could eliminate the need for an increasingly problematic and breakable metal-oxide used in screen displays in computers, televisions, and cell phones.

The metal-oxide, indium tin oxide (ITO), is a transparent conductor used as the anode for flat screen displays, and has been the standard for decades. Due to indium's limited supply, increasing cost and the increasing demand for its use in screen and lighting technologies, the U.S. Department of Energy has designated indium as "near-critical" in its assessment of materials vital to clean energy technology. Scientists have been working to find an energy efficient, cost effective substitute.

"There are not many materials that are both transparent and electrically conductive," said Joseph Shinar, an Ames Laboratory Senior Scientist. "One hundred percent of commercial display devices in the world use ITO as the transparent conducting electrode. There's been a big push for many years to find alternatives."

"Everybody is trying to find a replacement for ITO, many working with zinc oxide, another metal oxide. But here we are working towards something different, developing ways to use a conducting polymer," said Min Cai, a post-doctoral research scientist in the Ames Laboratory and the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa State University.

The polymer's name is a mouthful of a word: poly (3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate), known as PEDOT:PSS for short, and has been around for about 15 years. Until recently, the material wasn't sufficiently conductive or transparent enough to be a viable ITO substitute, Shinar said. But by using a multi-layering technique and special treatments, Cai and his fellow scientists were able to fabricate PEDOT:PSS OLEDs with vastly improved properties.

"Compared to an ITO anode device, the PEDOT:PSS device is at least 44 percent more efficient," said Cai. According to Joe Shinar, that gain in efficiency over ITO-based technology is the highest yet recorded.

The researchers used computer simulations to show that the enhanced performance is largely an effect of the difference in the optical properties between the polymer- and ITO-based devices.

Another key property of PEDOT:PSS is flexibility; using ITO in OLEDs defeats one of OLED's big pluses compared to conventional LED technology.

"OLEDs can be made on a flexible substrate, which is one of their principal advantages over LEDs. But ITO is ceramic in nature; it is brittle rather than flexible," said Ruth Shinar, a Senior Scientist at Iowa State University's Microelectronics Research Center.

The findings, co-authored by Joseph Shinar and Ruth Shinar along with Min Cai, Zhuo Ye, Teng Xiao, Rui Liu, Ying Chen, Robert W. Mayer, Rana Biswas, and Kai-Ming Ho, were recently published in Advanced Materials, one of the most prominent journals in materials science and engineering.

The research builds on continuing work to find more affordable and efficient manufacturing materials and processes for OLED manufacturing. An earlier paper published in Advanced Materials by Joseph Shinar and Ruth Shinar along with Min Cai , Teng Xiao , Emily Hellerich , and Ying Chendemonstrated the use of solution processing for small molecule-based OLEDs, which are typically constructed using a more expensive thermal evaporation deposition process.

The scientists' ongoing investigations into better materials and processes pave the way to more cost-efficient manufacturing and making OLED technology more widely available to consumers.

Joseph Shinar said that OLED televisions were already available to a limited high-end consumer, and that prices would come down as major manufacturers perfected their production processes. Both Samsung and LG exhibited a 55-inch OLED TV as a highlight feature of the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

"We are already getting there with OLED televisions. Consumers will see them getting more affordable and more widely available in the very near future," said Joseph Shinar.

Shinar said the technology was also beginning to be used in lighting, in applications where diffuse light is preferred instead of point source lighting, and in architectural and art design.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Ames Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/fWBSd58O98g/121203163536.htm

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