Gadgets that flip a switch on kids
Children and seniors demand many of the same things from their technology: They want it to work right away. They don’t want it to do a million things. And they need it to be secure.
“Both groups need simple things with less functionality and more protection,” said Robin Raskin, a former PC Magazine editor who founded twin conference sessions on technology for the two age groups at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show.
One example on display: Firefly’s cellphone, which has just four buttons and a central navigation wheel. Parents giving one to their children can control incoming and outgoing calls, and seniors can store phone numbers for quick dialing and get text messages that remind them to take their medications. Another trait the two groups have in common: Their use of technology is rapidly expanding.
The Times culled through the show to highlight trends in devices aimed at these groups.
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Alptanise Hudson’s mother refuses to buy her any more gadgets.
“She thinks I spend too much time with technology already,” said the 13-year-old eighth-grader from Las Vegas. “I’m the tech freak in my family. I spend eight hours a day on my computer.”
Alptanise, who is rarely without her cellphone, is not unusual. Children are steeped in technology, sometimes to their parents’ chagrin. But parental attitudes are beginning to change, said Robin Raskin, organizer of the Kids@Play Summit, a conference session Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show.
“We have an incoming president who thinks technology can save the world,” Raskin said. “Parents, educators and policymakers have all realized that this stuff is here to stay.”
As children spend more time online, companies are building more connectivity into their toys and gadgets. Mattel Inc., for example, on Thursday announced plans to expand its activities on the Web by building online elements into many of its toys.
The El Segundo company showed a device called the Barbie B-nails, due this fall, that lets girls create painted fingernails on a computer, share their designs on the Web and use a printer that paints the design onto their fingernails. Mattel says it’s targeting a new category: “beautronics.”
“Children are always looking for different ways to extend their play,” said Chuck Scothon, Mattel’s vice president of digital media. “The Internet gives us that opportunity.”
Another company at CES, Ridemakerz, lets kids design custom cars and trucks online, then buy a physical version of the car for $10 to $45, depending on the modifications.
The Myrtle Beach, S.C., company is developing an online virtual world where kids can share and race their custom cars.
Other gadgets at CES were similar to the grown-up versions, but they’re used differently. Sesame Workshop, which produces the “Sesame Street” children’s program, lets parents and children sign up to receive recorded phone messages from Elmo, Cookie Monster and other characters about letters of the alphabet.
“Kids like to have what their parents have,” said Carly Shuler, a fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. “We’re at the tipping point of kids and technology. Kids have it. It’s just a question of what we do with it.”
It’s also a question of what parents do with it. Zoombak’s Family Locator uses GPS and cellular networks to track anyone equipped with the device. Parents can equip their kids with the matchbox-size Locator, which costs $249 plus a $9.99 monthly fee, and follow where they go.
That might be OK with pets and prisoners under house arrest, but it probably won’t go over well with teenagers.
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