Good advice--added a quick airplane mode toggle widget to the home screen on the wife and my phones for those times when you pass the phone off to the kid for a quick distraction.

At best it saves them from a little radiation exposure--at the worst--keeps them from answering that incoming call from your boss.

6 months--you are right. At 6 months the kid is lucky to be sitting up. If the toddler isn't old enough to unlock the device and navigate--I don't think they would absorb anything. That won't happen until 18 months and probably closer to two years. At six month--the block of wood is the way to go!

Don't tell me how to raise my kid--I won't tell you how to raise yours. Hate to break it to the fucktards wanting to tell others how to raise your kid--electronics are a large portion of the world for many. Kids will get outside, but why can't they learn and get a fascination with everything?
Anyone actually read the AAP article? The study found children can't cognitively comprehend anything before two--basically there is no educational TV before two. something along the lines that watching SpongeBob makes your kid dumber... Shocker!! My own theory-stimulate that young brain any way you can. The notion kids don't comprehend before two is hogwash--give them the right stimulus and they will do amazing things. Some kids can count, know their letters and shapes by two--others can eat.... A lot depends on the parents.

Simple games do wonders: Here is a simple ABC game as well as one that helps with counting and has the advantage of doing it in several languages.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=russh.toddler.game

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kidgames.connect.dot.dinosaur

Using Steam to determine the make-up of PCs in the household? Seriously? Anyone considered how squewed the data will be? I have on gaming rig in the house--my most powerful computer. That is the only computer that connects to steam. Also in the house are severl set-top PCs, a NAS,, as well all desktops for my wife and kids--and their notebooks. Of the 9 computers in my house--3 are on Windows 7--the gaming rig and two laptops. Three run XP and the other 3 run linux. XP is far from dead. I have no intentions of throwing away perfectly good computers, but the older ones for one reason or another will not run Windows 7.

The smartphone seems to be far more of a "personal" computer than a desktop or a laptop. The desktop computer might be becoming less popular--but two things have happened. There is no need for a faster PC--the four (or even 8 year old) desktop computer does what most people need--why buy a new one. And with smartphones that rival the power of those 8 year old computer--the personal computer is simply changing shape. Just as laptop sales surpassed desktops--so will smartphones--after all now everyone in the family can have their own--no need to wait while someone else hogs the keyboard.

Have a few different tablets. I've got an Asus Android, the wife and iPad--and the kid a Nabi2--all work great. At just shy of 27 months--the kid does a great job navigating any of the tablets (and our phones for that matter..) Basically knows how to get to her apps--open and close, plus of course trace the letters or follow along. I'm thinking laggy interfaces and the like have to do with the generation--the Asus and Nabi2 are both Tegra 3 chipsets and feel much snappier than the wife's iPad 2.

I'm using a Nabi2 to teach my kid to read and write--working pretty good so far. The Monarch OS used on the Nabi2 works well for the little ones. A quick code--and poof--it is a grown-up's android tablet. As a plus--have a bunch of PBS/NickJr/DisneyJR shows loaded on--makes for some easy entertainment on longer car rides and if we get to enjoying a meal in a restaurant longer than 2year old can take. Oh and you get to teach self control by taking it away....

Kindles are nice--just probably better for a kid in 3rd grade or older.

Microsoft just wants to make sure there are more users of the phone than developers. Would be mighty embarrassing to distribute 10,000 SDKs only to sell 1,000 phones...

So you meant to tell me a device with a microphone, speaker, and wi-fi connection can be used to make VOIP calls!! Wow--what will folks figure out next? When you guys get around to discovering stuff like Skype, Google Voice, etc--let me keep sleeping...

Dear Mozilla,

I tried to keep the love alive. I really did. Always waiting around for you--one can only take your "Not Responding" so many times before my eye begins to wander to the younger, hotter browsers that appreciate me for who I am and still make me feel special. The last straw was when out on the road and you just wouldn't pull up any pages while Dolphin was happily flip-flopping around. Sorry--but I am leaving you and not coming back. You are a great browser and I'm sure you'll find that someone that makes you feel as special as we used to make each other feel. Best of luck--I'll always cherish our time together.

Cutting the cord for the TV by using the cord for the internet? How long will it take for the media companies to lower the brive for TV and jack up the price for internet?

The freezer trick works very well for me with "clicking" drives. I too would really like to know the science. Will the cool temps might contract the PCB board and fix bad solders--I think there is more to that with the clicking drives. My shoot from the hip guess is the freezing thickens the viscous lube inside the drive and slows and armature/drive heads. Perhaps time has allowed the head to get a little too much travel and the thicker fluid slows down travel enough that the data can be read from an otherwise wobbly drive head... Bottom line is I have more success than failure recovering clicking drives with the freezer trick and something like Stellar Phoenix (www.stellarinfo.com)

I just wondered if maybe this guy is in a forced prison labor camp somewhere with a gun to his head while he writes code for the Android.... If the Android is such a broken platform--write your games for the Xbox or PS/3. If the author thinks the iOS market is much better--don't waste the energy to port your game. Hey at one point the Mac platform was cool enough for Adobe to develop their products first for the Mac then for the PC.

Yes--this open and free model that everyone is talking about is broken beyond repair. Just look at the Internets. Oh how it has languished under the open and free model. If only the web had more pay per use sites maybe it would have been a success...

Mitch I'm sure realizes the greatest feat man has accomplished--sending men to the moon--was a military exercise, right? We sent a clear message to the USSR--if we can land men on the moon, we can certainly drop a nuke in the middle of Red Square. And there are all the other major breakthroughs: The Manhattan Project may have been evil--but from that research we have a cleaner source of energy and lots of medical breakthroughs.

But Mitch doesn't want to work with Darpa? Forget that without the internet and VOIP, Mitch wouldn't even have a company. The push now is in robotics and who in this country is doing more than any other organization to inspire our youth than Darpa? Now he tweets that he is heading to China to organize a hacker space? So instead of working with the youths of this country to educate and stimulate, Mitch would rather take his talents to China?

How can I guy that is as smart as he is not see the big picture. Rather than help his country succeed, he would rather give comfort and aid to Communist China? There has got to be something at play that folks aren't seeing--typically that would be money. Something tells me Darpa was willing to sponsor the event, but not pad Mitch's pockets. China on the other is more than happy to pay Mitch what ever he wants to help the Chinese military/industrial complex. Makes much more sense.

Say it ain't so, but there has to be some cash driving Mitch's decision.