Technology

Coming off weeks of hype leading up to Apple's newly unveiled iPad, some tech-minded parents and pundits believe the new "magical" touchscreen tablet could have appeal for kids in an educational context. Textbooks on-demand, homeschooling apps, word processing, art and learning tools; the form and function is near perfect, and portable. And at $499, it's a real alternative to a notebook or desktop.

We officially canceled cable last year, the final step in moving to a completely on-demand cinematic lifestyle. OK, "cinematic lifestyle" is a stretch, but since we certainly enjoy movies on the tube, and given the availability of (legal) movie download sources on the web, we thought we'd take the plunge, maybe even save a few bucks in the long run. Last year, as my husband hooked up our Mac Mini to the TV and viola! Who needs live TV? Even our demanding Friday night movie crowd (e.g, our kids) adjusted nicely. Call it an experiment, but it's been a successful experiment.

In March, we'll be packing our bags for South by Southwest 2010 in Austin, TX. While we'd love to be with the hipsters who cover the awesome indie music and film scene, we're better suited for (and quite frankly, much more interested in) the Interactive portion of the festival. Specifically, those that deal with emerging trends that affect parents, children, education and culture/society.

When we said we'd be relocating from LA to San Francisco everyone we knew--who has either lived or visited the city--told us it was imperative we visit the Exploratorium. Nestled inside the beautiful Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina district, it truly is an extraordinary place. Noted American physicist and educator Dr.

Star Wars has been a bonding experience for my son and myself for many years (like geeky father, like geeky son I guess). While the movies certainly compete for attention with the myriad of others out there (not like when I was a kid -- there was ONLY Star Wars), few can provide such a wonderful opportunity to discuss how the imagination of one man has truly helped shaped the world--and the future--like Star Wars.

According to a recent Wired article, "Disney conducted a recent survey of 11,500 parents about their kids' technology habits, which provided some interesting results: because children are being exposed to technology at younger ages, it seems some parents are struggling to keep up. The parents are unsure what gadgets are age appropriate and confused about how to keep their kids safe online."

WREXlabs is everything that is right with parents today. This awesome site crafted by a father son team, Tim and Declan, is a forum for curiosity encouraging kids and parents alike to take stuff apart and see how they work.

Blogging from a SF conference called TechCrunch50, NY Times writer Brad Stone writes that some Silicon Valley startups will be targeting your (and my) kids very soon:

"...One is a virtual world called Hangout.net (hangout.net). Another is a portal for tweens called Tweegee.com The third is Blah Girls from Ashton Kutcher — more on that later.

I think this must be a common thing for iPhone-owning parents--wondering if it's OK to let your two year-old old use it as a video game console... Once they get their hands on it, they're addicted. Kinda like their parents... A friend of mine at work even proposed we create a line of educational iPhone apps for kids. Victor Agreda, Jr. discusses this phenomenon on tuaw.com:

A Los Angeles Times article claims that Los Angeles Unified School District plans to set up an Internet program that will enable parents to monitor and manage children’s lunch-money spending, how many times they're late to class and just how poorly they're doing in algebra... Is this an empowering form of transparency, or another slide toward a culture of surveillance?