Moms for Simplicity
Dana Torres, the five-time Olympic swimmer and mom has launched “Moms for Simplicity” with HP. The website, online essay contest and photo mosaic invites moms to inspire and educate each other about how technology simplifies their lives.
In mid-June, Torres will choose three contest winners to receive a personalized HP technology makeover, the chance to meet Torres and see her swim in the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, and possibly the opportunity to see her compete at the FINA World Championships in Rome.
The contest, which runs through June 16, asks moms to upload a photo to an online photo mosaic and, in 200 words or less, tell HP and Torres how they use technology to simplify their busy lives – including digital scrapbooking, keeping in touch with friends, running a business from home, or managing a weekly schedule.
Participants will have their photo and story featured on the photo mosaic, and three will win HP products, including the HP Vivienne Tam edition notebook, HP Photosmart All-in-One printer and an HP TouchSmart PC. Additionally, winners will become “amateur mom reporters” at the U.S. Nationals, where they will see Torres compete and report their experiences on the “Moms for Simplicity” website through a series of video diaries.
According to Nielsen NetRatings, there are 32 million women in the United States who have children under 18 and get online (84 percent of moms online), which translates to about 40 percent of all women online in the United States today.(1)
More information on “Moms for Simplicity” and how to participate in the contest is available at www.hp.com/go/hpmomsforsimplicity.
Mind over Matter
Who doesn’t want the ability to control stuff with their mind? It’s like super powers right?
Well, Honda researchers in Japan have come up with a slightly less fantastical control and use for a kind of scientific telekinesis. BMI (or Brain Machine Interface, not Body Mass Index) looks like a giant hairstyling chair with a white air conditioner attached to the back. The point, however, has nothing to do with the style. BMI basically measures electric currents and almost infrared spectroscopy, or brain blood flow. This makes it possible to control a certain robot with just your thoughts.
Obviously it’s still in the development stages but, aside from being cool, the possibilities this kind of technology presents for anyone who’s physically disabled or just needs some extra help around the house is amazing.
This will blow your mind
Fascinating take on modern life and the ever-increasing pace of information. I think what it says about the world our kids will live in is particularly important. When I was studying to be a teacher, I remember a very wise speaker talking about how it wasn’t important to teach children information itself as it was to teach them how to find, use, and critique information. They can look up anything they need if they have the skills to do so. That’s why memorization can only take you so far.
This video covers a lot more than that. Watch and be amazed
Did You Know?
Medical Light
Lasers are big today. I’m not talking Star Wars, I’m talking a slightly more constructive less destructive type. The medical field, as always, is working its way forward.
In both Tel Aviv and Massachusetts doctors are using laser light to heal wounds. Forget stitches, in Israel they’re practicing with controlled light beams to close wounds. In Massachusetts they’re healing surgical incisions with a balanced blast of heat. I don’t know about how painful either technique is but it certainly sounds cooler than getting yourself stapled back together.
Deck the Halls
It’s almost Christmas and the holiday season is in full swing. Gingerbread houses are a winter holiday tradition. But just as toy fads and fashion change, so too has the art of gingerbread architecture changed.
This year it’s not just about gum drops and snow covered roofs, but motherboards and Star Wars. In this new age of gingerbread anything’s possible, even a gingerbread man with LED eyes. From star destroyers, to laptops, to mansions with working lights, gingerbread isn’t just a kids activity anymore.
A Snow Improvment
Lets be honest, its started to snow (in most places that get snow anyway) and it is time for outdoor winter activities. No, I’m not talking about skiing, or snowboarding (I don’t even get snow shoeing) I’m not even referring specifically to sledding, I’m thinking more snowball fights.
It’s difficult enough to pack a correct projectile (not any simple powder will work) add to that the awkwardness of gloves and the sensibility of fingers, and snowball fights become an all out battle of endurance and perseverance. Technology helps in all other areas of our lives, why not in the winter wonderland? (Especially in time for the holidays)
That’s where the Snowball Launcher comes in. It’s exactly what it sounds like. This particular advancement to extreme winter sports can shoot snowballs up to 50 feet (no mere athletic skill can give you the upper hand anymore) . Add to that the fact the launcher will pack snowballs for you (3 at a time) and it’s like a dream come true. See who doesn’t want you on their team now 
Tech and the City
I saw the Sex and the City Movie this weekend. I wish I’d seen Iron Man or Indiana Jones again instead, but I’m a little biassed, since Sex and the City really isn’t my type of movie. Those “friends” who dragged me to see it are the ones who were going to like it, and they did, so it must still be a pretty good film, that’s my review.
More important is the big picture I took away from this particular motion picture. While watching one specific scene having to do with Bryant Park fashion week (and having read an Entertainment Weekly article on the importance of fashion within the Sex and the City franchise) I thought of Heidi Klum’s famous Project Runway line (yes I watch that show, what are the odds?): “One week you’re in and the next week you’re out”. It’s kind of like technology, right?
One week it’s cool the next week it’s obsolete (whatever “it” is, it doesn’t really matter). The fact is the technology world changes as fast, if not faster, than even the fashion world does. Look at how often sites like Gizmodo and Techcrunch update, now if that doesn’t represent at least part of the pace of technological change I don’t know what does. God knows as soon as I bought my ipod nano the video capable one was released.
Perhaps computer nerds, tech geeks, gadget connoisseurs, are not as separated from fashion divas and main stream society as stereotypes would like to make out. Perhaps I can’t go quite that far, but maybe I owe the Sex and the City movie another go, or maybe I just owe my friends a little slack. Perhaps we can’t agree on movies but we can all relate on our natural passion for satisfying entertainment and our appetite for the next big thing.
