baby

Baby Brain Flash Cards Series 1 - Lite 1.0.0 Review

The selection of flash cards and other education tools for infants and toddlers on the App Store is extremely large. There are thousands of apps that promise finely-tuned learning experiences for very young children, and for good reason -- the iPad and iPhone are perfect for this age group. But not all apps follow through on their promises. Baby Brain Flash Cards Series 1 manages to fall somewhere between both extremes, offering a wealth of options but a poorly-crafted interface and lack of direction that makes it hard to manage as a parent.

When you open the app you are … Read more

Baby Shapes and Animals 1.0.0 Review

Designed to deliver an entertaining learning experience to small children and enhance their hand-eye coordination, this app also promises hours of fun. Baby Shapes and Animals does deliver on some of these promises, but it has far too many drawbacks for the everyday user to include it in their application collection.

At 26MB, Baby Shapes and Animals seems to be one of the largest applications of its kind. Given its simple graphics and extremely limited functionality, there is no reason it should occupy so much space. Download time can be horrendous and the application also lags considerably. It opens painfully … Read more

Baby Learns Pairs 1kids 3.8 Review

Who needs cards or puzzles when you have a smartphone to help your child learn? Baby Learns Pairs 1kids will help your child learn matching, colors, and other vital skills. The games, however, are repetitive, annoying, and overly cute. That means you're bound to hate it, but it could very easily become your child's favorite game.

As the name implies, this game is designed for young children. That means it's chock-full of simple games and cute characters. More often than not, the characters are almost too cute. They make goofy noises and do silly gestures as repetitive … Read more

Parents crowdfund firstborn child on Indiegogo

Crowdfunding may be a normal way to start a business, but it's an unusual way to start a baby. Baby Ali-Penny is due soon, and when the kid arrives, it may have one of the first crowdfunded births thanks to the March 2013: Baby Ali-Penny Indiegogo project.

"Since getting knocked up, the number one question we have been asked is, 'What do you guys need?'" mom Fanny says in the project video. The answer is pretty much nothing. The family already has strollers, car seats, onesies, blankets, and socks. What's left? The birth itself.… Read more

Mom crowdsources baby name for $5,000

Some decisions in life are very hard.

Which flavor of ice cream truly is your favorite? Should you eat goat's cheese rather than cow cheese because goats have beards? If you buy shoes with skulls on them, will someone think you're a necrophiliac?

And then there's naming your baby.

Some choose the easy way out. There are names handed down through their family, saving the need to buy baby-name books. Some try -- and even succeed -- to be creative, as was the case with my favorite Starbucks barista's mom who decided to name her little girl Kurshina.

Then there are those for whom it's all too much -- or something. They just wish someone else would take the decision and give them, say, $5,000.

That seems to be the case with 26-year-old Natasha Hill. She won a competition on the baby-naming site Belly Ballot for the privilege of having complete strangers choose her little one's name. (The little one is due in September.) … Read more

Creepy realistic vampire baby dolls are immortal

Thanks to "Twilight," vampires are more popular than ever. It's only natural that people would want their own vampire babies, isn't it? OK, maybe not, but there is a niche market out there for vampire baby dolls. I'm not talking about action figures or stuffed toys, I'm talking about dolls so realistic you'll feel like you've crossed the Uncanny Valley and emerged from the other side.

Artist Bean Shanine runs the Twisted Bean Stalk Nursery, a site devoted to her unholy baby creations. She takes Reborn doll kits and transforms them into monstrosities. Reborns are incredibly realistic, making Shanine's transformations all the more creepy.… Read more

Weird geek baby names of 2012 include 'Google' and 'Jedi'

Oh, what an adorable baby! What's his name? "Google?" Are you serious? Do you realize how many search results he's going to get when he grows up and googles his own name?

Naming a baby "Google" is a phenomenon that first came to our attention in 2005. Apparently, that was just the beginning. "Google" made the list of BabyCenter's most unusual baby names of 2012.

BabyCenter culled its list from a baby-naming survey of more than 4,000 parents. To make the list, a name had to be foisted upon at least two different kids. The spread of geek culture is evident in the list. For example, you can bet little Jedi's parents had a "Star Wars" theme wedding with Han Solo and Princess Leia action figure cake toppers. … Read more

Mac and Siri becoming popular as baby names

Technology is trying to take over the world with as much grace as it can.

Sometimes, though, its influence can seem overt, especially when it steps onto the hairy, scabby toes of traditional thinking.

Earlier this week, there were unconfirmed rumors that a baby had been named Hashtag.

But, even if true, this is likely a one-off.

What is more important are societal trends. So my epiglottis was temporarily blocked with excitement on hearing that more and more parents are naming their children after Apple products.

I gurgle with delight at the information offered by Babycenter.com that "iBabies&… Read more

Slow down, dad! Hot-rod baby carriage can reach 50 mph

British inventor Colin Furze's 1-month-old son may have to wait til he's old enough to drive before he really gets to ride in his own baby carriage. Furze set his mind to creating the world's fastest pram, and it looks like he is likely to succeed.

According to the Daily Mail, the three-wheeled baby carriage is outfitted with a 125cc motorbike engine. It took four weeks and more than $700 to put the speed demon machine together. … Read more

Trojan Horse dons thousands of keyboard keys

One artist sees treasure in trashed keyboards of yesteryear.

Inspired by the tale of ancient Greece's infamously sneaky Trojan Horse and humankind's Internet gluttony, German artist Babis Pangiotidis created an elaborate model of a rocking horse known as "Hedonism(y) Trojaner" with skin made of thousands of forgotten keyboard keys. Babis states on his portfolio site that the shades of color found on the recycled keys range from ivory white to nicotine-stained yellow. … Read more