LEGO Systems Survey Finds that Combining Music With Playtime Makes Children More Engaged

These are among the top findings cited in a recent online survey of more than 500 American parents with children age one to five years, conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of LEGO Systems, Inc.

Music Impacts Children: When asked how listening to children's music makes their child feel, 67% of parents reported that it makes their children feel playful, followed by happier (63%), fun-loving (53%), energized (51%) and sillier (47%).

Play and Music is a Powerful Combination: 60% of parents surveyed listen to music with their child during playtime. Among those who do listen to music with their child during playtime, 88% believe that it has an effect.  At least half of these parents say that music makes their child happier or more excited; while 43% say that it makes their children act sillier.

Parents Crave New, Age-Appropriate, Ways to Play: Nearly one-third of parents surveyed said that coming up with new, age-appropriate ways to play with their child is stressful. Seventy-four percent of American parents wish there were more play activities for children that appeal to parents as well and 71% wish there were more age-appropriate ways to play with their child that focus on learning and fun.

Full article here

Got to Love the Muppets...and OK Go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiMZa8flyYY&feature=topvideos_music

Android Owners Use Apps Twice as Much as Mobile Web [STUDY]

Android Owners Use Apps Twice as Much as Mobile Web [STUDY]

In further evidence that Wired‘s proclamation last year that “The Web is Dead” may be on the mark, a Nielsen study shows that mobile apps trump the mobile web — at least when it comes to the amount of time spent using them.

The study, from Nielsen Smartphone Analytics, found that the average Android user spends 56 minutes per day using his or her device to surf the web and use apps. But the latter takes up two-thirds of that time.

The Hierarchy Of Digital Distractions

A great chart I saw at the Talk to Me exhibit at MOMA - also you should check it out, very cool - Talk to Me features a variety of designs that enhance communicative possibilities and embody a new balance between technology and people, bringing technological breakthroughs up or down to a comfortable, understandable human scale. Designers are using the whole world to communicate, transforming it into a live stage for an information parkour and enriching our lives with emotion, motion, direction, depth, and freedom. http://moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/

Kinect Allows Users To Shop And Try On Clothes From Home

The KinectShop offers an in-store and at-home augmented reality shopping system for users to browse, purchase and share outfits with their social networks. The virtual fitting room module, created as part of an applied Research and Development effort by Interactive agency Razorfish, enables shoppers to browse through the connected store’s inventory using simple gestures to pair clothing with accessories and visualize the products as part of their outfit.

Purchases take place directly inside the module, while a social sharing feature broadcasts purchases across social networks for the possibility of real-time advice and feedback. This technology allows retailers to offer their full lines, without having to physically house their entire inventories at their stores.

Emerging Experiences

via PSFK: http://www.psfk.com/2011/08/kinect-allows-users-to-shop-and-try-on-clothes-from-home.html#ixzz1UppmU4RI

3D Printer

Lens: ‘Where Children Sleep

NYTIMES - MULTIMEDIA

James Mollison wanted to portray children's diverse worlds. What better way to do so than to photograph their bedrooms?

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/where-children-sleep/

“As a child, that’s your little space within the house,” Mr. Mollison said.

Mr. Mollison’s new book, “Where Children Sleep,” had its origins in a project undertaken for a children’s charity several years ago. As he considered how to represent needy children around the world, he wanted to avoid the common devices: pleading eyes, toothless smiles. When he visualized his own childhood, he realized that his bedroom said a lot about what sort of life he led. So he set out to find others.

.....

As much as the project is about the quirkiness of childhood, it is, more strikingly, a commentary on class and on poverty. But the diversity also provides a sense of togetherness.

  

James MollisonKaya, 4, lives with her parents in a small Tokyo apartment.

Molecularium

A weird kid site about molecules and atoms...some nice concepts for STEM though

http://www.molecularium.com/kidsite.html

Augmented Reality Korean Unification Project

Posted by David Pescovitz on Wednesday, Aug 3rd at 9:52am

Mark Skwarek's "Augmented Reality Korean Unification Project" uses augmented reality to remove "weapons, checkpoints, fortifications, barriers, walls, and all reminders of the ongoing conflict from the Korean landscape." I think saying that it "erases the scars left by years of conflict between North and South Korea" may be a bit of an overstatement, but using AR to present alternate realities unaffected by real history is conceptually fascinating. "The Augmented Reality Korean Unification Project" (Thanks, Jason Tester!)

World's Largest Stop Motion Animation

Gulp. The world's largest stop-motion animation shot on a Nokia N8. from Nokia HD on Vimeo.

Little Big Details

Great blog of tiny little design touches that make a big difference for UI.

Little Big Details

Realistic Robots!