I agree with books. Why don't you try to find a really good summer reading list, and then get some from those. Say what you want about certain private schools, but their summer reading lists can be pretty great and age appropriate. Libraries and library organizations are also a good start. http://www.haisln.org/recommendedreadinglists.html

We only buy loud toys for the in-laws' kids.

Don't you mean "Spamy?"

Seriously, this is one of the more idiotic articles that I've read in a while. I was posted on 7/30, but the lease price was released early last week. Chevy is going to lease the Volt for $350/month, so obviously electric cars are only for the rich. Only the young rich can afford $350/month. Wow, if I had an extra $350 each month, I'd buy myself a mansion, or maybe a jet. This article is just sensationalist garbage that is deceptive by omission.

I read a study ages ago about how many fewer words children of lower income households hear spoken in their homes over the course of growing up. (No, I have no link to the study, but I recall it's millions.) Is it any surprise that you put another electronic distraction in a home where there's not a good track record for parent-child interaction that the interaction will decrease further and fewer words be spoken again? I think a lot of people, kids in particular, are already socialized to consume a lot of television, and I doubt that in financially stressed households the parents are going to make a conscious decision to reduce kids' television consumption or at least keep the consumption steady for all electronic devices. If you replace "my kids are LEARNING to use the computer" with "my kids are LEARNING to surf the internet" or "my kids are LEARNING to play their Xbox," the problem becomes obvious.

If you don't care about Netflix or Pandora, sure maybe this is something to buy. But I see inexpensive blu-ray players that have Netflix and Pandora for less. Who is the product's intended market? Not me; I don't see a need for any of the "apps" in the screen shot, and I certainly don't want something else by the TV sucking up electricity and using up space.

Every season of Weeds is on Netflix.

This is all fine and good if it actually makes us safer, but it won't. Maj. Hasan was investigated by the FBI for his contacts with radical clerics well before he went on a shooting rampage, but he was still allowed to buy a gun because this information or even a flag was never placed into the instant background check database, and the terrorism task force that was watching him didn't receive notice that he bought a gun and a bunch of ammo. Here's an idea, make it so the FBI knows when a terrorist it's investigating is buying a bunch of guns and ammo. Why don't we start there?

EA already uses "Service Updates" as an excuse to stop supporting online play after a certain period of time for many of its titles. http://www.ea.com/2/service-updates Now, it's going to restrict the ability to even update the game? FTA, "According to EA, the content can include anything from title updates and downloads . . . ." So, to paraphrase, if I want to play my game on another console, or my console croaks and I replace it, I might not be able to download the updates (and there will be updates because the title shipped will be buggy) without paying again?

Oni 2. I've been waiting years for a sequel to Oni. Maybe they could call it Offi.

Fixed that for you.

Seriously, how is this the same? College athletes are paid. They're paid with an education, and the cost of that education can be stratospheric. Take Duke, a big time basketball school in the Final Four. Tuition and fees, room and board, and other expenses add up to over $53,000 PER YEAR. http://www.admissions.duke.edu/jump/applying/finaid.html As another example, TCU, a big time football school, has annual costs of over $41,000. http://www.fam.tcu.edu/cost.asp How may 18 year old kids are worth $53,000 or $41,000 per year? That's $41,000 or $53,000 worth of education for every player on the team. How is that not enough? Most college athletic departments are in the red and don't pay for themselves. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/2010-04-01-coaches-salaries-cover_N.htm

College players get to go to school and don't have to pay for it. Most families can't afford to send their children to a college like Duke or TCU. Maybe the college athlete wins the sports lottery and gets drafted, or maybe he just gets a great education that opens a lot of doors. Either way, college athletes have nothing in common with interns who get paid NOTHING and get NOTHING in return for their time. No salary, no TUITION, no ROOM AND BOARD. Nothing.

You're obviously new to how a "court order" works. If I'm in a lawsuit involving my Toyota, and I want data from my Toyota, I can get a court order for my Toyota. However, if in that same lawsuit I try to get a court order for every Toyota, Toyota the corporation is going to appeal any discovery order that it turn over all of the data from all of its cars, or even all of one model from one model year. It will appeal, and it will win. If you disagree with me on this, go sue your insurance company for a denied claim and then try to get access for all of its records of similar claims. It's simply not going to happen. As a practical matter, assuming that you could get an order for all of the EDR data, that doesn't mean much. If Toyota only has had only one laptop in the U.S.A. capable of reading the data and Toyota will only read the data with a court order, then for all practical purposes the data from most Toyota crashes is never recorded. It's just gone because there has been no physical way to record all of that data.

"There's only one laptop in the entire U.S.A. capable of reading the data" sounds like some very good lawyering to me. Toyota should have a company-wide "Hug Your Lawyer Day."

This is GREAT news in our house! Finally, the Halo Green Xbox will be out of our lives. Micro$oft has done what I didn't have the strength to do myself. First, there was the move from the big TV in the living room to a guest bedroom. Then, the Xbox made its way to the Garage, BUT IT WOULDN"T DIE!!! No, our unlikely hero was able to play Halo 2 with his brothers in the garage!!! WDS? W Who?

Sure, I dutifully bought my Xbox Gold card every year so I could play Xbox with brothers, but IT WAS WRONG!!! Don't you see? My constant, yearly Xbox subscription was just feeding my addiction. I mean, isn't it time I pick a decent midlife crisis? Video games? Time to grow up and get a convertible.

This would be awesome, clutter-reducing, wife-inspring news if Microsoft would support blu-ray on the Xbox. Then, we could get rid of both our POS cable box AND move our blu-ray player to another room AND (this next part is the holy grail of my house) have a good excuse to connect a console to our big flat screen in the living room. Woo-hoo!!! "Just ONE box connected to the TV, Honey!!!" . . . . "Yes, I KNOW it's a game console, but JUST ONE BOX!!!"

Eventually the "just one box" mantra would win out. F*** you, Microsoft, for not supporting blu-ray.

Unions are NOT the problem. The unions in Europe are incredibly strong, probably much stronger than any teachers unions in the U.S. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/01/speakout-american-teachers-unions-the-fatal-flaw/ Why don't we put the blame on teacher training and certification instead. How else can you explain how 16% of U.S. science teachers are creationists? http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13930-16-of-us-science-teachers-are-creationists.html