Adults

Want to fix the economy? Fire your sysadmin [Tim The IT Guy] — Sooner or later we need to slam shut the door on technical have-nots. Pew Research found that nearly half of adults surveyed need help setting up computers and cell phones. Ars Technica notes what follows: Kids are always fixing their parents' PCs. But they don't take these insights to the logical conclusion: It's time to fire the IT support team. Imagine how much progress we could make as a society if we just dropped those who just can't merge onto the Information Superhighway. I will never get back those lost weekends I spent formatting my mom's Filemaker forms or troubleshooting... [Tags: adults, cell phone, cell phones, company money, converse]

Casual Internet Use Is Good for Kids, 3 Year Study Concludes — The ways young people use the internet everyday are transforming learning in ways that adults often fail to understand but represent major new opportunities that need to be taken advantage of by supportive educators. That's the conclusion of a major new study by 28 researchers over three years released today by the University of California at Berkley and the MacArthur Foundation. Titled "Living and Learning With New Media," the study articulates the value of social networking, text messaging and other forms of new media use better than anything we've seen yet. It's a major contribution to our understanding of the... [Tags: casual internet, important news, internet use]

Projecting — Boehlert: Writes Michael Hirsh: For the last few days, the blogosphere has been ablaze with speculation about the kind of damage Hillary Clinton could do to the Obama presidency if she becomes secretary of state. Of course, for the last few days there's been comparatively little speculation within the blogosphere about what kind of "damage" Hillary Clinton could to the Obama presidency. It's been the mainstream media that's played up the "damage" angle and been childishly obsessed with pushing the "soap opera" angle of the story. For the most part, lib bloggers have been treating the story seriously, like adults.... [Tags: adults, afterthought, bloggers, blogosphere, boehlert]

Marijuana Could Be Good for Memory — But Not if You're High — Everybody knows a forgetful stoner, but research suggests that low doses of marijuana could be good for memory, and even help prevent Alzheimer's disease. When given a compound similar to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, rat brains displayed reduced levels of inflammation associated with Alzheimer's disease. The drug also stimulated the production of proteins associated with memory formation and brain cell growth. "Everyone is aware that smoking too much marijuana impairs memory," said Ohio State University psychologist Yannick Marchalant. "Our work stays on the safe side — doses that we know are not going to impair memory, but... [Tags: adults, brain cell, dementia, gary wenk, inflammation]

Control your Rovio with your iPhone — Many of you iPhone owners will not be able to control yourself when you see the new Rovio by WowWee on store shelves. This radio controlled beast is more for adults and offers many fantastic features such as live video camera and even allows you to speak through it. With no physical remote control, sitting at the computer controlling the Rovio can sometimes be a pain. WowWee has done us a huge favor and made one of our favorite devices an optional controller for the Rovio! Now you can control your Rovio from your iPhone with an application called the... [Tags: accelerometer, adults, beast, head position, iphone]

Coloring on the other side of the brain — Infants perceive color in the right hemisphere of the brain, U.S. researchers report, while adults do the job in the brain's ...... [Tags: adults, hemisphere of the brain, job, right hemisphere of the brain]

Eco Gadgets: Samsung Tobi S3030 is ecofriendly, sadly not for adults — Eco Factor: Cellphone made from non-toxic materials. While solar panels and fuel cells are a distant dream for cellphone manufacturers, companies like Samsung are trying hard to add an ecofriendly tag to their products. After launching some hi-end phones, Samsung has now launched a new phone, Samsung Tobi S3030 that has been made from “eco-friendly and non-toxic materials”. The material used ensures that you don’t do much bad to the environment if you get infuriated carrying a phone that has nothing more than a 1.3 M camera and some basic music features. The Dark Side: The phone has been... [Tags: adults, basic music, care for the environment, cellphone manufacturers, colors]

The wild world is vital to us all — You don't get nature on your own terms. You don't get life of any kind on your own terms: a sermon that has been preached to generation after generation by the stinging nettle. The provokers of childhood tears grow up to become a plant avoided or cursed by adults: the amount of pain it can deliver always an unpleasant surprise.... [Tags: adults, nettle, sermon, stinging nettle, unpleasant surprise]

Multiply Gets $100M Valuation As South Asian Media Conglomerate Buys 5% Stake — Philippines-based media company ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation has paid $5 million for a 5% stake in Multiply, the media-centric social network with a userbase primarily composed of adults. The investment pegs Multiply’s valuation at $100 million, which is within range (though on the lower end) of our social network valuations based on past deals. ABS-CBN also has the right to purchase up to 10% of Multiply within the next two years. Multiply has a significant presence in the Philippines, with around 3 million users. ABS-CBN plans to capitalize on its investment through advertising, and by eventually offering a mobile version... [Tags: 100 million, 5 million, abs cbn, adults, broadcasting corporation]

The Tuned Bear iPod Speaker is Romantic in a Nerdy Sort of Way [Speakers] — It may seem a little strange, but gifting teddy bears to adults is still a time honored tradition. If cute and cuddly isn't your style, a somewhat less emasculating option can be found with this Tuned Bear iPod speaker. The bear can be turned on and off by pressing on his ear and the volume can be adjusted by squeezing the appropriate paw. It's far more functional than your average bear but, alas, it is only available in Japan at the moment. On the other hand, mini vinyl Headphonies might even be a better option—and those are slated to be... [Tags: adults, ipod, japan, paw, rakuten]

Acer Aspire One – Perfect for Children — I was around at a few different stores over the weekend and saw a few things that I didn’t expect to see (or at least know about).  One I didn’t know about was the Sony Reader being at Target for sale.  Not that it’s odd, I just haven’t seem them in a store.  There was also a NetBook there, the Asus Eee PC with a $349.99 price tag.  One that I took a picture of that really made an impression was at Wall-Mart.  They are selling the Acer Aspire One in the blue and white configuration.  The display was... [Tags: ad campaign, adults, asus eee pc, computer kind, first computer]

Eco Gadgets: Solar-powered Stroller makes babies green in an unknown way — Eco Factor: Solar powered Stroller While we were trying to educate the benefits of renewable energy to adults, we found out a solar powered stroller. The design was showcased at 100% Futures, a student exhibition at Tokyo Design Week. While the solar panels incorporated are nowhere near to power your hybrid, we just expect them to power some baby toys or may be your iPod while you take your baby out for a ride. You could also be able to customize the stroller anyway you like with all kinds of baby gadgets that might just get powered by the... [Tags: adults, babies, baby toys, benefits of renewable energy, electricity]

Most adults think children ‘are feral and a danger to society’ — Public intolerance of young people has reached such levels that more than half of all adults think that British children are beginning to behave like animals, a poll has found.... [Tags: adults, animals, british children, poll]

Why kids lie — An age-by-age guide — submitted by hdar3415 on 11/12/2008 Got kids? Adults lie as well; in fact, kids are just really practicing for when they’re older.  Or, perhaps they’re getting even for Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. My favorite part of the article is the linking between lying, high IQ, and good social skills. The world would fall apart if we could all read each other’s minds. Original Description: “Daddy puts on your bras sometimes,” my then 4-year-old said nonchalantly as I tried on lingerie in a department store dressing room. “Excuse me? When?” I asked, astonished. “When you’re asleep,” she replied —... [Tags: adults, bras, department store, easter bunny, high iq]

Unhappy People Watch More TV — Hugh Pickens writes "A new study by sociologists at the University of Maryland concludes that unhappy people watch more TV, while people who describe themselves as 'very happy' spend more time reading and socializing. 'TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does,' says researcher John P. Robinson. 'It's more passive and may provide escape — especially when the news is as depressing as the economy itself. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise.'Unhappy people also... [Tags: adults, economy, education income, happiness, hugh pickens]

Sleep Apnea May Be Risk Factor For Sudden Cardiac Death — After studying the sleep characteristics of nearly 11,000 adults in an overnight sleep laboratory, researchers suggest that obstructive sleep apnea -- and, in particular, the low nighttime oxygen saturation of the blood it causes -- may be a risk factor for sudden cardiac death.... [Tags: adults, laboratory researchers, oxygen saturation, risk factor, sleep]

High-normal Phosphate Levels Linked To Early Atherosclerosis — Healthy adults with higher levels of phosphate in the blood are more likely to have increased levels of calcium in the coronary arteries, a key indicator of atherosclerosis and future cardiovascular disease risk, reports a new study.... [Tags: adults, atherosclerosis, calcium, cardiovascular disease risk, coronary arteries]

That Old House — It's been a while since I gave my stump speech on marriage equality. In the 1990s, I must have given it hundreds of times. It was a much lonelier struggle back then, which is why it is so moving to see how this profound cause has now burgeoned into a mass movement worthy of it. At one moment, in one speech, I tried to explain to a frustrated audience member why the institution of marriage matters to us gay people, and why nothing else will ever do. It came out something like this: Growing up gay in a largely straight... [Tags: 1990s, adults, audience member, couch, courage]

Facebook Now 2/3rds the Size of MySpace in US — Having already eclipsed MySpace in terms of worldwide traffic, Facebook is continuing to make gains in the US. The social network added nearly another million monthly visitors in September according to Nielsen Online, bringing its total to 39.9MM uniques. With MySpace’s traffic stagnant at 58.4MM uniques, Facebook is now more than 2/3rds the size of MySpace for the first time in the Nielsen report. Stats elsewhere paint a similar picture. Compete has an even closer race: 54.9MM to 44.6MM, while Quantcast measures 66.8MM for MySpace and 45.2MM for Facebook. Here’s the comparative trend graph from Compete: While we’ve known of... [Tags: 2mm, 6mm, 8mm, 9mm, acquisition]

Quote For The Day — “Tenure is the holy grail of teacher unions, but has no educational value for kids; it only benefits adults. If we can put veteran teachers who have tenure in a position where they don’t have it, that would help us to radically increase our teacher quality. And maybe other districts would try it, too,” - Michelle Rhee, chancellor of the Washington DC public schools. The lengths to which Rhee must go just to apply basic standards of accountability in the teaching profession is mind-boggling. And reading the comments from the leaders of the teachers' unions really does drive home... [Tags: accountability, adults, curve, dc public schools, dc residents]