Everybody’s looking forward to see the new iPhone 6 today at 1pm ET. What do you think is the most wanted feature? Better camera? Bigger screen? You’d be surprised. Customer surveys show that what people wish for most is improved battery life. As for entirely new features sapphire glass tops the expectations list.
So what other interesting info can you find in the infographic?
Which iPhone model was the most innovative so far?
19% of Apple fans want a bigger screen size in iPhone 6
Apple sold more than 500 million iPhones worldwide
The first smartphone was released by IBM in ‘94, 13 years before the first iPhone
TeenSafe, maker of the leading iPhone and Android monitoring software for parents, announces its commitment to helping divorced parents protect their children. TeenSafe provides support and tools for parents in all situations to keep a watchful eye on their most valuable treasure.
“Very few parents achieve the level of communication they initially intend to after a divorce. Parenting becomes much more difficult after a martial divide for many reasons, some of the main causes being the loss of resources, increased stress, juggling of schedules and added responsibilities as well as disagreement on the proper disciplining of the children,” said Tina Sustaeta, Licensed Professional Counselor and Family Therapist. “If both parents have equal ability to monitor their children’s social media and cell phone activity, they are less likely to put the fault on each other if an issue arises. A monitoring service like TeenSafe levels the playing field and allows both parents the opportunity to stay aware of lives of their children, providing both parents an understanding of what subjects to focus on and address when ‘red flags’ appear.”
“At TeenSafe, our highest priority is to provide parents with invaluable tools that allow them to protect their children and communicate with them about significant issues. We all worry about what our children are facing through social media and mobile devices,” said Rawdon Messenger, CEO of TeenSafe. “We want parents to know about potential issues early on. TeenSafe is such a great tool for divorced parents to be aware, coordinated and proactive in their child’s lives.”
“I am a divorced father, now re-married with a blended family. Like most parents with joint custody we are very busy and keeping up with their many activities. To help stay better in touch with my kids I decided to purchase smartphones for them,” said an anonymous father and TeenSafe user. “Though I love that they can call me whenever they want to, I don’t have the ability to watch their activity on social media and text messages to ensure things are ok. If I continued parenting in oblivion, could my kids be communicating with people who might put them in danger? What if they were being bullied? I began researching phone monitoring solutions and found TeenSafe… Some of their friends use inappropriate language, but we are able to see it and avoid too much time spent with those friends. I don’t feel the need to check their online interactions on a daily basis, but when I have a feeling there could be something wrong I know I can check in on them.”
Half of all children in the U.S. see their parents separate. Divorce significantly increases the risk for them to have major life challenges, emotionally and physically. Research shows that children of divorcees are more likely to suffer academically, to have behavioral issues and to partake in drug and alcohol use as a teen. The psychological ramifications of divorce often last into adulthood. Thus, it is even more important for separated parents to be sensitive to the challenges of their children face.
TeenSafe provides parents the ability to see into their child’s digital world by offering discrete and convenient access to all their mobile phone activities, including their current location, text messages, deleted text messages, web browsing history, and Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Kik activity. It can allow parents to more easily detect issues such as truancy, drug abuse or bullying. Parents can take responsible action often before issues become crisis.
TeenSafe is very easy to set up and is the first iPhone monitoring solution that does not require any modifications to the device.
New information has recently been uncovered about an important link between the bedroom and obesity. Okay. I know what you’re thinking. But it’s not that link.
It’s the link between kids’ sleep quality and obesity. The link is more profound and more specific than many people expected. This information is so important because more than 1 in 3 children today end up overweight even as kids.[i]
Sleep in kids has been decreasing since 1905, about the time electric light bulbs were popularized.[ii] Some research suggests that sleep has been decreasing rapidly since the 1980s, during the same period when the childhood obesity epidemic took off.[iii]
More than a dozen studies have shown that the worse kids sleep, the more likely they are to be overweight or obese. But which comes first? Is it that overweight kids sleep worse, that kids who sleep worse become overweight, or that something else is causing both (TV viewing, for instance)?
This new study looked at typical 6-month-old babies and followed them until they were 7 years old to see which ones became obese – checking their sleep all along the way.
Here’s what they found:
Kids with worse sleep as babies and young children were 2.62 times more likely to later become obese. They were also more likely to have bigger waist size and more belly fat. These relationships held up even after adjusting for a number of possible other factors such as television viewing, socioeconomic situations, and Mom’s BMI.[iv]
How might poor sleep lead to significant weight gain? The authors point to mounting evidence that a disrupted circadian rhythm can both directly lead to weight gain by changing our hormone levels and metabolism and indirectly lead to weight gain by changing our hunger, fullness, and decision making.
When it comes to raising kids with a healthy weight during this era of childhood obesity, it’s time to move beyond thinking just about the kitchen to include thinking about the bedroom.
[i]Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA: the Journal of the American Medical Association [0098-7484], Ogden yr:2014 vol:311 iss:8 pg:806 -814
[iiIn search of lost sleep: secular trends in the sleep time of school-aged children and adolescents. Sleep Medicine Reviews [1087-0792], Matricciani yr:2012 vol:16 iss:3 pg:203 -211
[iii]Trends in the duration of school-day sleep among 10- to 15-year-old South Australians between 1985 and 2004 Acta Paediatrica, J. Dollman, K. Ridley, T. Olds, E. Lowe 96 (7) (2007), pp. 1011–1014
The end of summer is fast-approaching, so what better time to get together as a family and watch some great movies and TV on Netflix? As an added bonus, our selections this month emphasize that we should get along with others, stressing the importance of kindness and acceptance for all. That’s a message that both kids and adults could certainly learn from these days (and certainly a good one to reiterate with school right around the corner)! So sit back, relax, and take your pick of the following movies and TV shows, featured this month on Netflix:
1. Rudy: Scrawny Rudy dreams of playing football at Notre Dame. Undaunted, Rudy works assisting the groundskeeper and joins the school’s practice squad.
2. Mulan: Disney brings an ancient legend to life in this animated tale of a tomboy who disguises herself as a man so she can fight with the Chinese Army.
3. A Mile in His Shoes: A minor-league baseball team finds renewed inspiration when they hire new pitcher Mickey Tussler, a lad who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome.
4. Radio: When a high-school football coach befriends a developmentally disabled man, his subsequent growth inspires the townsfolk to think differently.
5. Good Luck Charlie: Down a Tree
6. Glee: Amid relationship woes and personal attacks from a wicked cheerleading coach, a teacher fights to turn underdog glee club members into winners.
Want even more titles about kindness and acceptance? Our friends at Common Sense Media have shared a list of TV and movie titles that teach empathy – check out the list here.
If you or your children happen to be big superhero fans, you are going to love Marvel Universe Live! The show brings together a team of heroes– including Spider-Man, the Avengers, and some of the X-Men– to fight against Loki and a host of other villains, like Red Skull, the Sinister Six, and more, for a total of over 25 of your favorite Marvel characters battling it out before your very eyes!
The story to the show goes as such: Thor, in possession of the Cosmic Cube (or Tesseract, as it is also known) decides to split it into four pieces and scatter them across the globe in hope that no one person will ever again possess the cube’s full corrupting power. But Loki, clever and dangerous as he always is, devises a plan to use mutant energy and one fragment of the cube to create his own clone Tesseract. It’s up to the Avengers (with help from a few friends) to gather up the three remaining pieces of the Tesseract and stop Loki’s march toward world domination. How will they thwart his plans in time? Check out Marvel Universe Live when it comes to your area to find out!
Marvel Universe Live, which incorporates impressive fight choreography, stunts, motorcycle action, pyrotechnics, and of course, the sheer thrill of seeing countless Marvel heroes and villains live on stage, is a blast for comic book and superhero fans of all ages! We saw the show last week at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey and had an incredible time, but don’t fret if you missed it– Marvel Universe Live is still in the area at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn until August 17 and Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale until the 24th. It’s also going to be touring around the country until at least May 2015; you can check out the full tour schedule here.
For more info on Marvel Universe Live, visit the show’s official site.
Also, whether you’ve seen the show already or are eagerly awaiting the chance to go, check out the show’s “Marvel Universe Live Marketplace” on Overstock.com! The shop allows you to get your hands on exclusive Marvel Universe Live merchandise from the comfort of your home. Overstock.com is an official partner of Marvel Universe Live, and as an element of the partnership has (in addition to the Marketplace page) set up an arrangement with the not-for-profit Wounded Warrior Project. Overstock and Marvel Universe Live invited Wounded Warrior guests to attend the show in East Rutherford (with an interactive event preceding the live arena spectacular), and also made a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project in their honor.
If you’re looking for The Avengers, look elsewhere. Even though Guardians of the Galaxy shares some features with the 2012 superhero team-up hit, this movie is its own beast entirely, and quite an interesting one at that! Gone are the familiar heroes that typically inhabit the Marvel Cinematic Universe; there’s not a cape or a mask in sight (well, one mask, but it’s more like a breathing apparatus), and instead we’re met with a crew of misfits that includes a treasure hunter, an assassin, a vengeful warrior, a genetically-enhanced talking raccoon, and a humanoid tree.
Guardians of the Galaxy takes this ragtag band and shows us how they came together into the titular superhero team. Chris Pratt captivates as Star Lord from the second he first appears on screen, emanating roguish charm like a slightly-unhinged Han Solo. As we follow the would-be infamous outlaw through his quest to keep the purple infinity stone away from the villainous Ronan the Accuser, we meet the rest of the team that becomes the Guardians of the Galaxy: Gamora (Zoe Saldana), determined to gain the stone to prevent Ronan from annihilating the universe; Drax (Dave Bautista), sworn to kill Ronan to avenge his wife and daughter; and Rocket and Groot (Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, respectively), who are just in it for profit. When the crew finds themselves in prison and being hunted by both sides of the law, how can they protect the stone and save the universe? Check out Guardians of the Galaxy in theaters now to find out!
(Note: While “Guardians of the Galaxy” may be a summer favorite for tweens, teens, and up, check twice before bringing little ones– there’s some mature language that makes the movie potentially inappropriate for kids under 8.)
