babies

It was hard enough coming up with names for my cats. I can't imagine the struggle to find just the right name for a human baby. Busy parents-to-be can now hand the baby-naming burden off to their unborn children with the Kick to Pick iPhone app.

Choose your favorite names from a list of thousands or let the app randomly pick from boys' or girls' names in its database.

The 99-cent app takes the term "baby bump" in a whole new direction. Start up the kick picker, place the iPhone on your belly, and wait for your baby to give a hearty kick. You can stick with the name Junior lands on or try again.

I picked out a few names and tested out the app. I'm not pregnant, but it still works with the tap of a finger. If I have a boy, he will be named "Festus." If it's a girl, she will be called "Agnes." My imaginary kids are going to hate me.

Kick to Pick doesn't shy away from some of the unusual names that are so popular with Hollywood types. You can, for example, throw "Captain," "London," "Early," and "Zebulon" into the name hopper.

If your little angel complains when he gets older, you can just say remind him that he picked his own name using an iPhone app. … Read more

About 80 percent of commonly used baby products recently surveyed by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, contain toxic or untested halogenated flame retardants, and 36 percent contain chlorinated Tris--a toxin that, along with the related brominated Tris, was banned for several years in the 1970s.

What's more, the flame retardants--there to meet California standard TB117 that consumer items withstand a small open flame--are easily rendered ineffective when put in, for instance, baby furniture with fabric covers that are not required to be resistant, says chemist and visiting scholar Arlene Blum, who helped organize the study just reported in in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

"The California furniture flammability standard called TB117 does not provide proven protection from fire," she says. "If we can change that requirement, we can have a positive effect worldwide, because these flame retardants are not just a California or U.S. problem--they've become global pollutants."

The semi-volatile chemicals get into the air and then into dust, where researchers say they can be ingested or form films on walls and windows. (An April 2011 UC Berkeley study found that Latino children in the U.S. have seven times the level of flame retardants in their blood than those living in Mexico.)… Read more

Facebook is apparently spawning an epidemic of child cruelty at the hands of their own parents--we now have our second report of the inspiration for a newborn's name being drawn from Mark Zuckerberg's own baby. First there was the Egyptian infant who was named "Facebook," and now an Israeli child faces enduring adolescence with the name "Like." Yes, that Like, as in the little hand with the thumbs-up, constantly approving of photos of your niece, your drunken co-workers at happy hour, and of course, this story.

Like is the latest addition to the family of Lior and Vardit Adler. Father Lior says he was simply looking for a unique name and had considered some Chinese names, but settled on Like because, well, his wife liked the sound of it.

He says the name isn't part of any marketing gimmick and he hasn't been paid by anyone from Silicon Valley. In fact, he's not even that big of a Facebook fan, with less than 150 friends. Regardless, I'm clicking my Mazel tov! icon in honor of Like Adler.

(Via Huffington Post)… Read more

Let's just get right to it: This is not an article about soft porn. Neither is this man trying to eat what appears to be a seafood pasta dish out of his partner's belly.

However ill-conceived this illustration may be, it is an entirely realistic prediction of body positions if the beltlike device around the pregnant woman's belly is actually giving this man a view of an unborn baby.

Called PreVue, the concept gadget comes to us via industrial designer Melody Shiue at the University of New South Wales in Australia, who just won a design award … Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Windows Phone 7 is scheduled for its first update since the mobile operating system launched last fall

The iPad 2 may not launch until June and may have some kind of smart bezel

The next generation of MacBook Pros may have a new wireless connection technology

Apple may be working on a television product other than the Apple TV

Toyota is going to start selling hybrid car chargers in 2012

Former Senator Chris Dodd may soon be named chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America

Twitter shut down third-party Twitter clients for … Read more

On this week's Crave, a slew of robots--especially two undeniably creepy baby models--have Jasmine so worked up she's lost her voice. Luckily, we manage to move on from the creepy to the craveable with a new Hot Wheels track setup that mounts on the wall, a Darth Vader CD player that's more about form than function, and an LED-bedazzled surfboard that leads to some scary-but-cool nighttime wave-riding. Also, the military gets its hands on a sweet high-tech gun and Japan cranks out a DIY gummi sushi kit. And what's making us fat this week? Not pickle-flavored toothpaste, that's for sure...

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video… Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

The U.S. State Department plans to announce new policies on Internet freedom

HTC unveils its first tablet, along with five new phones

Facebook launches an SMS version of its site for non-smartphones

Skype launches the Skype Mobile Partner Program for low-bandwidth Skype use in markets without reliable 3G

The FAA may consider repealing the ban on cell phone use during air travel

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers considers awarding the rights for the .gay domain

Japanese researchers are working on robot babies

Japanese engineers have created yet another robot baby, because, you know, you can't have enough of a good thing.

Affetto is a tabletop baby head that's cute enough to be in the next Chucky film.

Developed by famed Japanese roboticist Minoru Asada, co-founder of the RoboCup tournament, as well as Hisashi Ishihara and Yuichiro Yoshikawa, Affetto follows such terrifying robo-babes as Kindy and Noby, Diego, and the infamous CB2.

Will the horror never end? Apparently not.

Scientists seem to have an insatiable desire to study baby development not by studying real babies, but by building robot babies. Designed to look like a 1- or 2-year-old child (minus the body), Affetto has realistic facial expressions and is meant to be treated as a human being by caregivers. It has lifelike eyes and can open its mouth.

You can see its inner workings in a video here, but it might keep you awake at night. Especially if you imagine that head attached to a long, snakelike body creeping toward your bed. … Read more

LAS VEGAS--At the Consumer Electronics Show, there is a little corner of not-terribly-busy booths underneath a sign that reads "Mommy Tech."

Which is where an assortment of companies you've probably never heard of is hawking its mommy-centric wares, from bulky belts that tell you if your unborn baby is happy to digital thermometers and some kind of embroidery machine that sews, right there in front of your eyes, whatever you type into the machine, in a slew of interesting colors, in cursive. (Interestingly, this was a popular booth, although most onlookers were in suits, scratching their heads, … Read more