Blogger Bash 2014 kicked off with Sweet Suite by the Big Toy Book, a look at the hottest toys and games hitting shelves soon, from classic toy staples like Lego to dolls, board games, and more! The standout hits of the evening, though, were definitely the two video games that were showcased: Skylanders Trap Team and Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition).
Skylanders Trap Teamis the latest in the franchise that began with 2011’s Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. In the footsteps of its ever-inventive predecessors (Skylanders Giants in 2012 and Skylanders Swap Force in 2013), Trap Team changes the game, so to speak, with the introduction of a new mechanic sure to thrill players of all ages. That new mechanic is the addition of Trap Crystals, which allow the player to capture and play as certain enemies. Skylanders Trap Team is set to release this October on all major consoles.
Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.o Edition) boasts vast improvements over its already-great precursor, last summer’s Disney Infinity. This installment, due out in September, will feature superheroes from the Marvel lineup (like the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spider-Man, and more) alongside such Disney favorites as Stitch, Tinker Bell, Merida, and Maleficent. In addition to a slew of new figures, 2.0 will also include enhanced in-game features, such as the ability to procedurally generate environments, a better level-up system with unlockable skill trees, and new mini-quests that fit perfectly in between the toy box mode and full story playsets. Look for Disney Infinity 2.0 this September on Xbox One, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, WiiU, and iOS.
Stay tuned for more on Blogger Bash 2014 in the next few days, as we bring you up to speed on the conference’s most exciting moments!
Checking your tires is like going to the dentist. “It’s something we don’t do often enough, that we put off until we absolutely have to.”
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), tire failure causes around 11,000 car crashes each year. The NHTSA recommend doing a quick tire inspection once a month. Here’s what to look for:
Bulges, gouges or cracks When a tire deflates, it bulges at the sides. This is a sign of low tire pressure or a slow air leak. “If you see cracks in the sidewall, gouges or anything that looks odd, take it in to your dealer and have them look at it.”
Tread wear The old-school penny test is one way to check your treads: Place a penny into the tread, with Lincoln’s head pointing down. If you can still see the top of his noggin, the tread is dangerously low. Most modern tires, however, have wear bars: bits of rubber woven into the pattern at a specific depth. “You can find the wear bars that go across the groove, and if the tread pattern is worn down to that wear bar, you need to replace your tire,”.
Tire pressure Tires deflate at a rate of about one pound per square inch (PSI) per month. “You’re not going to wear your tires down in a month, but you should check that you have the right inflation pressure.”
Temperature Tire pressure drops in extreme cold. The challenge in summer is “excessive heat buildup in the tire.” If you’re heading out on a road trip with an under-inflated tire, it will generate more heat and wear out faster.
Vibration Watch out for vibration or thumping when you’re driving. If it feels like it’s coming from under the seats, the rear tires may be out of balance. Vibration from the steering wheel could indicate suspension issues. Anything less than a smooth ride means you should take your car in to the dealer.
When it’s time to replace your tires, we recommend doing so in pairs or all four at a time for better performance and traction and, ultimately, a safer ride.
A child’s sense of self is shaped by every interaction he or she has, but is shaped most powerfully by how they are loved and parented in their home. How a child sees themselves will influence every aspect of their life from their education, relationships and over-all well-being. Life is about feeling good enough, competent, loved, successful and happy and the outer world doesn’t always reflect this, so the unconditional love and acceptance at home is the catalyst for their greatness.
6 Truths Our Children Deserve to Hear About Themselves
1. They are amazing: They are amazing just because they are. They don’t have to DO anything to be amazing. They are a gift, deserve to be loved and treasured and need to be disciplined to think and believe in their own greatness. When we see them having low self-esteem we must remind them nothing can stand in the way of their greatness.
2. They are smart: When we raise our children we must raise them to see, believe in and use their intelligence. When our children hear they are smart, and we find every opportunity to reflect this to them through their own actions, we help them believe it about themselves. When they believe they are smart they behave smartly, perform smartly, communicate intelligently and they make wiser choices.
3. They are significant: Our children are precious people. They are unique and different from us and we, as parents, need to celebrate and allow this. When we love them according to their special qualities they learn to see themselves not as different but as genuinely gifted, unique and significant.
4. They are capable: We must parent them to believe they can stand up with all the confidence in the world. They will then believe they can look any person in the face and be proud of the person they are. It won’t matter what people say about them because they know what they think of themselves. When we believe in their capabilities they will naturally live up to higher expectations.
5. They are powerful: As we parent them with love, discipline, support and positive affirmation we teach them no one can stand in the of their dreams. They know that no one can stop them but them, and they understand that getting in their own way is not an option. We believe in them to dig deep and to find the power to surpass all challenge.
6. They are lovable: Our children learn how to love themselves by how we love them. We must always affirm their unconditional lovability. No one is perfect and having confidence doesn’t come as a result of being perfect. Confidence comes from learning to love themselves in their not-so-perfect moments. We must always tell them to love themselves, not just that we love them, but that they need to love themselves.
Little Life Message: Our external parenting becomes the internal dialogue within our children so we must strive to make it positive.
Aside from what we saw via Techlicious, there was plenty of exciting technology to get a look at during this year’s CE Week. Here are our highlights from the show:
Paper and Pencil by FiftyThree
App developer FiftyThree kicks off our list of CE Week hits with their app and stylus combo “Paper” and “Pencil.” The simply-titled inventions work together to give artists, designers, and the like a unique way to work with and create digital art. Pencil in particular (which connects with its precursor and companion Paper through Bluetooth integration) is an easy-to-use, pressure-sensitive stylus that greatly improves the Paper experience. Paper alone won a slew of awards in 2012 (the year it debuted), including Apple’s iPad app of the Year award, and with Pencil by its side it is certainly unlike anything else currently available for tablets.
Otter
Up next is another must-have for tablet users (as well as anyone with a smartphone or iPod they want to keep safe!) Otter’s cases are easily ranked among the best for protection and style, and it’s not hard to see why. Dating back to 1998, Otter has provided electronics support for more than fifteen years, and is the #1 selling case for smartphones in the US and Canada. With durable waterproof cases available for any and every smartphone and mobile device you can think of, including Apple, LG, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, Amazon, and Blackberry, if you’ve got it, Otter’s got you covered.
Jamstik
Our final CE Week highlight is a product that’s not even available yet, though its IndieGoGo campaign closed up just over a week ago on July 9. The Jamstik, an app and physical fretboard attachment, allows you to turn your iPad into a guitar on the go. It’s perfect for travel, as its compact size means you won’t be bumping into your seatmates as you record midi audio on a plane, train, or car trip. It’s also great for beginners, because it uses light to sense your hand positions and help you learn the right way to play guitar. Using real strings and real frets, the Jamstik is an innovative and fresh way to make music mobile.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our glimpse at this year’s CE Week– be sure to come back for CE Week 2015, and check out DadaRocks.com year round for electronics and tech info!
As part of our CE Week coverage, we were treated to a private lunch event at BLT Fish. The lunch included special presentations of the leading products and services from Phillips, LG, and TripIt, as well as one-on-one time with representatives from those companies and our host, Techlicious.
Phillips’ presentation focused mainly on their audio devices. The company showed off their line of water-resistant sports headphones (which can easily even be washed without damage to the product), two different types of portable handheld speaker, and headphones of various styles and price points for the whole family to enjoy. Phillips also demonstrated one of their LED HDTVs, showcasing their unique “Pixel Plus HD” feature. Pixel Plus HD, available on several Phillips HDTVs, creates bright, sharp images by generating 6.2 million pixels from any image source. Coupled with Perfect Natural Motion, this makes for an excellent HDTV experience.
Televisions were front and center for LG, whose HDTV lines were a major CE Week 2014 standout. Particularly interesting was their 55” Class 1080p Smart 3D OLED TV, which boasts 3D capabilities, built-in wi-fi, LG’s 4-color pixel technology, and the first “infinite” contrast ratio. The OLED TV also includes a stylish wall mount that resembles a frame (perfect for viewing art in the tv’s “gallery mode”) and also doubles as a speaker to keep the television itself nice and thin.
Finally, TripIt showcased the trip planning services that serve as the basis for the site. TripIt, billed as “the world’s easiest travel organizing app,” was founded in October 2006, and has been making people’s lives easier ever since. It offers travelers the ability to get an itinerary just by forwarding an e-mail, and access their plans anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
Overall, the lunch was a great way to get up close and personal with these brands, and get some good, personally-tailored information about them and their products.
Courtesy of electronics site Techlicious, we recently got a look at some of the great offerings at New York City’s CE Week 2014. The week brings together some of the hottest names in electronics today to display and demonstrate some of their latest products. Including companies like Sony, Sharp, LG, Phillips, TiVO, and more, this year’s CE Week was loaded with things to see and do. Thankfully, Techlicious set up a tour for us that showcased some of the most exciting products from the show. Check out our highlights from that tour below:
Activité by Withings
Often, when you hear “sports watch” or “fitness tracker,” you think of some neon-colored piece of junk that you’d never wear outside of the gym or your daily run (I do, at least!) But a team of Parisian designers and Swedish watchmakers from Withings has changed all that with Activité, the first watch and activity tracker that actually presents itself as a designer watch. The waterproof watch details all of your daily activities, and helps you to optimize your fitness by helping you to develop a plan, toning your sleep schedule, and keeping you on target to meet those daily goals.
Lyric Thermostat by Honeywell
We also got a look at home innovation company Honeywell’s latest thermostat, Lyric. The wi-fi interactive thermostat connects with your smartphone to keep track of when you’re home, when you’re not, and what temperatures to keep your house to correspond with that. Adjustable via your smartphone or internet-enabled device (with programmable buttons on the app interface to allow quick and easy temperature changes), Lyric ushers in a new generation of housewares that integrate the electronics we so often have right in the palm of our hands.
Thinium
The winner of 4 prestigious 2014 International CES Best of Innovations Design and Honoree Awards in multiple categories, a 2014 CES “Best of Show” Award from Popular Mechanics, and an iLounge 2014 Best of Show Award: iPad, iPhone, iPod + Mac category, Thinium is making a big splash in the electronics community this year. But just what is the company bringing to the table? Thinium has manufactured an end to charging cords, replacing the clunky cables with a sleek and slim transforming wall mount that allows devices to be plugged directly into the wall– no wires required. With two different models available for pre-order and a third on the way, Thinium is certainly one to keep an eye on in the near future!
I’m a big fan of the iPads and Kindle devices for kids, but sometimes its a little hard to find the right educational apps… Little Scholar is the perfect solution – its a device that comes loaded with early learning workbooks, flashcards, and software are designed by educators and focused on developing success in math, reading, spelling and more.
All of School Zone’s rewarding educational knowledge is now available in Little Scholar. Little Scholar is designed to teach kids 3-7 the essential skills needed for school and is the only tablet that comes fully-loaded with 200+ uniquely fun apps, books, songs, and videos (a $390 value). Parents also love the A+ app that allows them to track progress and guide their child’s learning.
Ready to play – no extra purchases, downloads, or Wi-Fi needed (although additional content can be uploaded) it was designed for little hands with a large 8-inch screen, textured easy-grip protective bumper, and extended 5-foot power cord.
IF you’re in the market now – you can find them from $149-199 but if you hang out till the fall there is a new and improved version coming to Toys R Us (heres the current version!). For more information check out School Zone’s website.
The above video gives an advance look at the upcoming Amazon exclusive children’s show Creative Galaxy. Made by the creators of Blue’s Clues, Creative Galaxy is a romp through various types of arts and crafts (like clay, pipe cleaners, crayons, and so on) that follows characters Arty and Epiphany as they travel across the Creative Galaxy and inspire kids to make art of their own. The show, now available on Amazon Prime Instant Video, features the voice talents of Jason Priestley (Beverly Hills 90210), Brooke Shields (Lipstick Jungle), Samantha Bee (The Daily Show), Jason Jones (The Daily Show), and Cloris Leachman (Malcolm in the Middle). Check it out with your child, and explore your very own Creative Galaxy!
With school out for the summer, your kids might be getting a bit of a “brain drain” about now… let them keep learning the fun way with Netflix! Check out our suggestions below to help you pick out some educational (but still exciting) programming you can stream right now:
This documentary chronicles the Lewis and Clark expedition and the breathtaking landscape they crossed while searching for the Northwest Passage.
2. Walking with Dinosaurs
The Cretaceous, Triassic and Jurassic periods come to life in this Emmy-winning series that shows the Earth through the eyes of individual dinosaurs.
3. Secret Yellowstone
National Geographic cameras capture unseen aspects of magnificent Yellowstone — America’s oldest national park and among the most visited.
4. The Blue Planet
David Attenborough narrates this definitive exploration of the marine world, from the familiar to the unknown, revealing the sea and its communities.
5. When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions
Follow the 20th century’s space race all the way to the moon — and beyond — in this series that features eye-popping footage of various missions.
Evil villains and abducted geniuses abound in this animated adventure that follows a crime-fighting mouse who must rescue a kidnapped toymaker.
2. Busytown Mysteries
Huckle Cat, his sister Sally and their friends investigate the mysteries in Busytown and find answers to life’s lessons along the way.
3. LeapFrog: Math Adventures to the Moon
Frog siblings Tad and Lily rely on counting, sorting, recognizing patterns and other basic math skills to navigate through space in a rocket ship.
4. Turtle: The Incredible Journey
A loggerhead turtle swims from a beach in Florida across the Atlantic Ocean, encountering stunning sea creatures as well as hazards created by man.
5. The Magic School Bus
Join Ms. Frizzle as the Magic School Bus travels to outer space, under the sea, through an anthill — and even inside the human body!
Want even more brain-boosting titles? Our friends at Common Sense Media shared 12 age-appropriate documentaries that encourage kids to explore worlds they may not normally encounter, all currently streaming on Netflix – check out the list here.
This summer, there’s a host of excellent new entertainment for the whole family on the Hub, including new episodes of your favorite shows and family movie premieres! Check out what’s coming up with our schedule below:
Friday, July 11: HUB Network Family Movie Premiere
Tough trial lawyer Gordon Bombay never loses. But when he’s slapped with community service, he must coach a ragtag team of pee wee hockey players who can’t skate, score, or win! Bombay soon realizes there are more important things than winning.
“What’s So Scary About the Jungle? Everything!”: Penny Ling is excited to meet Mrs. Twombly’s friend Tess Gregory, the host of a popular TV nature show. But the famous zoologist is mysteriously less-than-thrilled to meet Penny Ling, and Blythe and the pets are determined to figure out why.
“Kid President Made an Episode About Neighbors”: Kid President hosts “The Neighborhoodies,” an awards show celebrating good neighbors. In addition, Kid President collects earth items to send to the world’s space neighbors via satellite. Guest appearances by NBA star Jeremy Lin, the musical group “A Great Big World” and astronaut Ron Garan.
Friday, July 18: HUB Network Family Movie Premiere
“Two Pets for Two Pests”: Blythe has to help convince the Biskits to keep a set of twin chinchillas they got just for one day, while Sunil tries to prove to Minka that he can paint as well as she can.
“The Griffin Rock Express”: While the Rescue Team is kept busy renovating a train tunnel from the Mainland, a mysterious Superhero watches over Griffin Rock.
“Feud for Thought”: When Brittany gets a higher grade on a test, she shuns Whittany and starts hanging out with Blythe and the other “smart kids.” At LPS, two quarrelling koalas split the pets into opposing camps.
