The force was with some lucky folks (including C2CDad and the Kiddo) at ten AMC Theatres nationwide today for a Star Wars special event to celebrate Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D arriving in theaters. Here in New York City at the AMC Theatre Empire 25, Star Wars fans were treated to photo opps with Darth Maul, Queen Amidala, and face painting (Darth Maul was by far the favorite).
Representatives from Microsoft's Xbox 360 team gave everyone the opportunity to play the new Kinct Star Wars pod racing game, and showed off the special edition Star Wars Xbox Kinect bundle with the R2-D2 Xbox, gold C3PO controller and white Kinect.
If that wasn't enough, people could work on building a Darth Maul mosaic made entirely of LEGO pieces. Hundreds of square color-coded LEGO tiles were set out, each numbered on the back, corresponding with its place on a big board. By the time we left you could see the image of Darth Maul starting to take shape.
Double Fine Happy Action Theater just launched in Xbox LIVE Arcade and is great for playdates or families with multiple kids because everyone can interact with the video game download on their own simultaneously. So you can totally avoid getting annoyed by the sibling or friend who runs in front of the Kinect sensor while others are playing mid-game ;-) Double Fine Happy Action Theater is a fun interactive experience with no instructions or required gestures, and no way to "win" or "lose" the game, making it great for preschoolers and up.
The game includes 18 different environments where up to six people can immerse themselves in some ridiculous scenes. The Kinect sensor captures you and your surroundings to actually put you "in" the scenes of the game for augmented reality interaction. For instance, there's a scene where pigeons are flying about, and they land on your arms, your head, and any furniture behind you. In another, you're standing knee deep, splashing in a living room full of lava or throwing snowballs.
Yesterday we were invited to a private launch event for J&R Jr. - an entire floor at J&R Electronics just for babies and kids clothing, equipment, technology and toys! The public J&R Jr. grand opening is scheduled for February 11-12th 2012 and includes some phenomenal children's entertainment. You don't have to visit the store to check out all of their great gift ideas, you can shop JR.com/jr from home across the country.
As you arrive off the escalator, you quickly see that J&R Jr. is more than just electronics for kids. There's an entire floor filled with a variety of baby and kid essentials: strollers, clothing, toys - everything from wooden train sets, musical instruments and puppetry to video games and tablet accessories - just for kids. I'd say it's a great place to shop or stop in for kids 0-10, as we spent time checking out tablet accessories, video games, craft supplies, LeapFrog storybooks and guitars for the Kiddo.
Because I write about technology and see a lot of tech devices before they're available on the market, I'm often asked which device/laptop/game console/phone, etc someone should buy, whether they should wait for the next upgrade, and which apps they should install for their kids. The next most popular question is how we set rules for using electronic devices in our family . . . which always makes me happy to discover that others are being mindful of screentime, but I also feel a little uncomfortable answering because what works for us may not work for them.
Basically, we use the moderation is key approach at home as we guide him through using the technology. Just because we happen to have a lot of electronics in the home, doesn't mean the Kiddo gets to spend a disproportionate amount of time online. While on the road for family travel, though, we actually have situational rules for using electronics on vacation.
The reason we take a vacation or go on a trip is for the experience, the opportunity to connect and make family memories, and lastly, to relax, rejuvenate and just get away! I grew up in a small rural Midwestern town and often marvel at the places I've visted and the things I've seen that are so completely unlike my environment growing up. So it's important to us that we expose the Kiddo to these things and underscore an appreciation and respect for them as well - by being present, engaging the senses and taking mental snapshots (or having him take real snapshots or video!).
Along our coast-to-coast roadtrip last summer, we shared some of the documentation duties with him, and he was thrilled. He loved using the FlipCam to record portions of our trip with his own narration. As you can tell above, he loved watching the video back too. ;-)
Did he watch movies in the car along the roadtrip and play games on the iPad, Nintendo DS and LeapPad? You bet! Although not while we were curving through the Rocky Mountains, or cruising by Joshua Tree National Park. Definitely not while we were on the lookout for each state's welcome sign! Certainly not while we visited the hotel pool, walked around the cities, or waited for our table at an authentic restaurant. We were sure to clear the devices away as we crossed the Mississippi River and watched people rafting along the Colorado River.
Of course, the real reason we wouldn't want to completely curtail using tech devices on our trips is that @c2cDad and I would be hurt the most. We plan our trips on the fly using our phones and laptops to look up recommendations, ratings, directions and such. We're usually so busy working up until the last second before we leave for vacation that much our trip is left unplanned awaiting our full attention. We also document our trips with our cameras, cell phones, social media check-ins and video cameras. We're capturing and sharing our adventures with family and friends who may never have the opportunity to do what we're doing.
However, once we've gotten the shot we want, the recording devices go away until the next share-worthy moment crops up. Then it's back to singing along to the radio, playing the alphabet game, looking for more state license plates to flip over on the Melissa & Doug game board, and our own entertainment.
How do you regulate using electronics on vacation as a family with being present and enjoying your travels? You can join a TravelingMom.com Twitter party tonight to chat about just such a topic with other traveling families, and here's how another blogger, Kim Orlando from TravelingMom, incentivized her kids on a recent trip to Aruba:
Brisk Iced Tea is launching a new mobile app called Brisksaber, in conjunction with the theater release of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace in 3-D. When I first read about it, I had a huge grin on my face because I couldn't wait to share it with the Kiddo and @c2cDad.
The Brisk app, Brisksaber, brings iconic Star Wars lightsaber battles to smartphones, and makes players choose to play for The Light Side or The Dark Side right off the bat. If you choose The Light Side, you'll battle evil characters like Darth Maul, Jabba the Hutt, Darth Sidious and Darth Vader. If playing for The Dark Side, you'll be up against Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jar Jar Binks, Luke Skywalker and Mace Windu. The app includes a progression of content allowing players to unlock new characters and objects based on the redemption of codes found on specially marked packages of one-liter Brisk Iced Tea.
They've even created some fun commercial spots with Yoda and Darth Maul to promote the app, which will air on January 15, 2012 be featured in movie theaters and online. . .
The Brisksaber can be downloaded via UncaptheApp.com, Facebook.com/Brisk, or in the iTunes Store and Android Market now. The "Uncap the App" promotion and limited-time Darth Maul Brisk Tea packaging will be available until April 30, 2012.
Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace in 3-D arrives in theaters February 10, 2012.
Ford has launched a fun new app in advance of the 2013 Ford Fusion debut next week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The 2013 Fusion augmented reality experience gives you a peek at the new car and the opportunity to try it before you can actually test drive the vehicle with the Ford Fusion App.
Whenever you snap a photo of a Ford logo with your SmartPhone or tablet - the logo can be on paper, on the back of a car, on a Ford website - the logo becomes the start button that you tap to begin playing the app. The Tron-like experience gives you new driving tracks as more of the digitally camouflaged 2013 Fusion are unlocked and exposed each day, culminating in full views of the car when it's revealed next week.
We had fun playing with the app on our roadtrip home for the holidays and back. We used our iPad2 to hone in on Ford logos as we passed Fords on I-80, and even on the cars in my parents' driveway. :-) Here's what it looked like:
It's a pretty big app, but we were able to download it to @c2cDad's iPad2 while driving through Pennsylvania. There are four different worlds and you can watch videos that describe some of the innovations that are built into the vehicle too. We thought it was pretty fun as a FREE augmented reality app, and as an iPad racing app to just play with. Download it if you get the chance these next few days to try it out for yourself http://www.fordfusionapp.com/
Samsung kicked off the new year announcing the newest member of their DuelView camera family, the DV300F set to hit store shelves in March 2012 and retail for $199. What's significant about the DV300F is that it offers WiFi connectivity, so you can snap a photo, and instantly share it to a social media or photo-sharing site like Facebook, Picasa, Flickr and YouTube - if you'd like . . .but you don't have to.
Maybe you'd prefer to conveniently save the photos from the camera's microSD memory card to your laptop or PC using the Auto PC Backup feature, or instantly upload the photos to Samsung's AllShare Play and Microsoft SkyDrive cloud-based storage and sharing services. However you use it, the WiFi option helps to get those photos off of the camera and into your files or sharing sites. (I know there's a photo of @c2cDad and me on my parent's camera from my sister's rehearsal dinner that has been held hostage on their memory stick in their camera for literally years.)
As you can see, the 1.5" LCD screen on the front helps you to line up shots, which is great for self-timer photos, but the Child Mode feature is exciting for tots as it becomes an animated screen to help draw kids' attention to the camera. The DV300F captures 16 Megapixels with a 5x optical zoom and 25mm wide-angle lens for long-distance shots. This newest model will come in shimmery metallic colors: black, silver, navy and red.
Although a dualview camera is inherently ideal for people wanting to get themselves into the shot, there aren't many people this camera wouldn't entice. Obviously I see tweens, teens, college students, post-grads and young families trying to chronicle their lives with proof of their exploits . . . but doesn't everyone try to capture themself at every little experience or gathering these days?
We see teachers snapping pics during big reveals, assemblies and field trips, coaches taking shots, chefs with their creations, lunches with colleagues, even two of our local pizza places have a wall of frequent patrons celebrating over their pizza and pasta! Besides, what grandparent wouldn't like to have a photo of themself with their newest grandbaby to prove once and for all which genetic family features have made their way to the new li'l one?
Even we would have loved to have had a dualview camera along on our coast to coast roadtrip last summer. Of the 4000 photos we took over those three weeks, we don't have one with all three of us in it. :-o
The $199 price point tells me that it will make a terrific graduation or off-to-school gift, and will be well-priced by the time the holidays come around again.
I'm excited to share that your TiVo DVR will soon be "rewarding" your recording with an oh-so-easy way to be charitable this Christmas! TiVo will make a $1 donation to Toys for Tots for each individual recording of It's A Wonderful Life airing on NBC on Saturday, December 24th at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. It's A Wonderful Life was the most "TiVo'ed" holiday movie last year.
Just as “every time a bell rings, an angel gets their wings,” this holiday season every time a TiVo® DVR “Badoops,” a child in need is closer to receiving a new toy. . . .
Guess this means we'll be responsible for a $4 donation via TiVo this year. ;-) We'll have to set it before we head to the grandparents. Now if only they'd reward my GetGlue check-ins. ;-)
While you have TiVo on the brain, check out their holiday singing TiVograms. . . kinda cute! I already sent one to @c2cdad.
Recently I had the opportunity to check out the new Sam's Club iPad app, similiar to their shopping app for the iPhone. It's one of the more robust mobile and in-store integrated shopping experiences that I've encountered . . .and it's beautiful. (I know! A grocery and goods store!) Just look at this home page:
Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 (also known as Mango) launched recently with nearly 500 new features that on the whole make it the most intuitive smartphone I've used. I've had an HTC Radar to try out the last couple of weeks and the whole family's had a ton o' fun taking it along with us over Thanksgiving weekend and for holiday shopping.
While Windows Phones have a leg up on work/life balance integration through Microsoft Office compatibility, calendaring, and Xbox gaming portability, I've written about those aspects of Windows Phones before - and they actually weren't even the main reason I so enjoyed the phone. Yes, the Kiddo enjoyed playing Kinectimals in the car while we ran holiday errands, but the HTC Radar wiggled its way into everything we did, in large part thanks to Bing.
