Babywearing

It's been a very busy year, and the blog has not been forgotten, but pushed onto the far end of the back shelf for a while.

Most of our time is currently dedicated to our new baby boy. Today's musings are about babywearing. There are only so many ways to carry a baby, yet there are so many carriers to choose from! Sifting through the options can be a bit daunting.

Some of my favorite articles discussing the various babywearing devices are at wearyourbaby.com. This is a huge resource for different types of devices used all over the world, and also has links on how to make your own baby carrier. There is a lot of information here!

If you are short on time, and just want a quick summary to guide you on a purchase of commercially available carriers, then this article is very helpful.

My babywearing experiences so far:

Moby Wrap

My favorite carrier by far is a wrap carrier, The Moby Wrap. It is simply a very long piece of cloth, about 18 yards long and 22 inches wide, with some tapering at the ends for ease in tying. wearyourbaby.com has directions to make your own, but I have been very happy with my purchase, as I don't own a serger to hem all the edges perfectly. It comes with an easy to follow instruction book. It actually is very easy to tie, and once you learn it, you can put your baby in the carrier in a variety of different ways. He's been in it since he was a newborn, and during the day he sleeps much longer in the moby than anywhere else. Between the cozy swaddling newborn position, the wearer's heartbeat and walking motions soothing the baby, and truly having your hands free to do chores, blog, etc, this has been indispensable. We ended up buying a second one for times when we suddenly needed to wash it, but still wanted to wear him cosily. Having the spare moby has also been very handy for passing the babywearing back and forth quickly.

Pros: comfortable, distributes baby's weight evenly for much less body strain, fits everyone (both baby and wearer) well, many positions to wear the baby, machine washable, less expensive than many other carriers ($39.95)

Cons: too hot in hot weather, people are hesitant to use it because they think it will be too hard to learn, ends drag on the ground when you are putting it on

New Native Carrier

The New Native is a very simple, non-adjustable sling that you purchase in your size. It is a tube with a curvy end at the bottom for a little extra pouch space for the baby. As with most carriers, you can wear your baby in front, on your hip, or on your back, but I find that I only use this carrier to have the baby sit in front, and near my hip, as he is not the right age/size for any of the other carries. I found that in my proper size carrier, I cannot easily wear the baby heart-to-heart. To wear the baby higher, I made a sling out of an old, stretchy t-shirt pictured on the right (just cut horizontally, so that you have a tube). It doesn't reach down as far, so the baby sits up high in a more natural position.

Pros: very easy to use, you can pass the baby to another person or into the carseat without disturbing him, comfortable in hot weather, machine washable, compact for travel, less expensive than many other carriers ($42)

Cons: not comfortable for long episodes of wearing as the weight is on one shoulder, must buy the right size which may limit who can wear it, fewer carries available

Baby Bjorn

The baby bjorn carriers are a structured soft carrier, with buckles and straps which adjust the carrier to the wearer. There are currently five models to choose from, some which provide more lumbar support, others which are lighter weight. Prices range anywhere from $54 to $160.

I find it takes a while to adjust the carrier the first time, but once it is adjusted, it is fairly fast to put on and take off. If you are sharing the carrier with another wearer, then you end up wasting a lot of time adjusting back and forth. Once in a while you will also need to adjust the carrier to the growing baby too. I find the carrier fairly comfortable, as the straps are wide and padded. My husband complains that the center of gravity while wearing the baby is not as comfortable as in the moby wrap.

Pros: somewhat comfortable, fairly easy to use (step by step illustrated directions were on the inside of mine), wide price range to choose from

Cons: adjusting between users is a chore, limited ways to wear the baby (only able to wear in front, facing in or out)

Next carrier to try:

Mei Tai

The mei tai, or Asian based carrier (ABC), is a simple unstructured soft carrier that is easy to use. It ties around the waist, then around the baby and shoulders. It's not as good for newborns because it doesn't swaddle as well, but now that the baby is 3 months old, that is no longer an issue. Since it's been hot lately, I am looking for a less warm carrier, and the mei tai fits the bill. I'm also getting ready to try wearing the baby on my back, but I don't feel comfortable wrestling with 6 yards of moby wrap. I've ordered a beautiful used one from ebay, and am eagerly awaiting it's arrival.

Here are some links on how to wear it:

Mei Tai Baby slide show

Great youtube video showing front and back carries

Oooh, pretty Bloxes!!!

My kind of building blocks! At $59.95 for a case of 20, it seems quite reasonable for a sturdy, modular structure with so many possibilties.

Here's the description from bloxes.com:

What are Bloxes?
Bloxes are building blocks made of interlocking pieces of corrugated cardboard, folded together. Their unique shape and structure make them exceptionally strong and lightweight — you could build yourself a platform to stand on, and then pick it up and move it wherever you need to.

What can you do with them?
Bloxes can connect with each other on all six sides, so you can use them to build walls, benches, tables, tunnels — whatever you can think of. And because the varied surface and complex internal structure helps dampen sound, they're great for managing acoustics in offices, studios and other places.

How do you build with them?
To build a structure with bloxes, simply line up the pegs of two bloxes and push them together. Repeat as necessary. Plus, they're multi-faceted, so you can build in any direction.

How big are they?
Bloxes measure 9½ inches square when assembled; a pack of 20 will create a 4-by-5 blox wall of approximately 36 inches by 45 inches. Sold in quantities of 20, the unassembled bloxes fit in a 15-inch square box for easy shipping.

How can I get them?
You can buy them exclusively from our website. We make limited runs, so order early! If you want to see more uses of Bloxes, check out the pics page.

Found from Make:blog

Gas station comparison shopping

Prices at the gas pump are skyrocketing. In the United States, California is only second to Hawaii in the price paid per gallon of gas today.

For those who want to find the cheapest local gas, there is http://www.gasbuddy.com/

They also have lots of other gasoline related information, as well as historical data.
Happy Hunting!

Simple, elegant solutions for overcrowded plugs

The first comes from Blast Magazine, and is one of those 'why didn't I think of that!' solutions to all those big fat plugs we try to squeeze onto the typical power strip. The Powramid's specs can be found here.

The second, by Belkin, is a headphone splitter on steroids. The Rockstar comes complete with 1 output jack and 5 variable input/output jacks, so you and your 4 closest friends can listen to your ipod, or other devices. More info at ilounge.

Pieceless Jigsaw Puzzle: no pieces to lose!

I don't know how hard the puzzles actually are, but I love the idea.

Check out the ad/video:



Or, just go to their website.

Great site for finding the cheapest photo prints

They are pretty extensive and have a simple, useful interface.

http://www.printrates.com/

Simply enter the # of prints you want, the size of the print, the shipping method, and it does the rest. If you want multiple sizes of prints, you'll have to shop for those separately.

Fentix cube: complete with accelerometers and multi-touch screen surfaces

Beautiful cube, loosely styled after the rubik's cube, but with so much more complexity and artistry! Designed by Andrew Fentem, this cube is just fun to watch. His website is full of other amazing electronic toys and art.



Small quantities of this cube will be available for purchase at the Kinetica Museum, but no word on price or availability yet.

Treat your hard drives like floppy disks!

Finally, someone's come up with a device that lets you quickly and easily connect up your hard drive to just about any computer.

For those of us who may have a small pile of internal hard drives lying around, having to swap them in and out of external hard drive enclosures gets to be a hassle.

This device, being sold at geekstuff4u.com for $46.79 lets you just plug it in, much like inserting a floppy disk into its drive.

Computer controlled anti-snoring pillow

Designed by Daryoush Bazargani, professor of computer science at the University of Rostock (pic, left frame), this pillow has compartements that will inflate or deflate, depending on how loudly the user snores.

From yahoo news:

"The pillow is attached to a computer, which is the size of a book, rests on a bedside table, and analyses snoring noises," Bazargani told Reuters. "The computer then reduces or enlarges air compartments within the pillow to facilitate nasal airflow to minimize snoring as the user shifts during sleep," he said.

Another fringe benefit is that this pillow gives neck massages.

I wonder how effective it actually is?

The Heinlein Archives, now digitally available

Robert A. Heinlein is best known as one of the 'Big 3' of science fiction writers (along with Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke). More about his life can be found here.

His bibliography can be found here.

Located at http://www.heinleinarchives.net/upload/, this collection:

...presents digital copies of the entire collections of Robert A. and Virginia Heinlein in downloadable form for research and academic purposes. Heinlein’s OPUS manuscripts is the first complete collection presented. These manuscript files include Heinlein’s files of all his published works with his notes, research, early drafts and edits of manuscripts, to the final published form. These files provide both a look at Heinlein’s creative process and add insights into his intent and the meaning in his stories.

It's like having access to the director's cut, to better grok the man and his stories. For a fee, of course. TANSTAAFL.

To increase sales, first confuse then explain simply

From Science Daily:

The researchers found that by presenting a confusing sales pitch to consumers and then restating the pitch in a more familiar way, they were able to increase sales of a candy bar in a supermarket, increase students' willingness to pay to join a student interest group, and increase students' acceptance of a tuition increase.

Here's what they did, and their hypothesis.

Consumers in the study were confused with an unusual monetary request (e.g., 100 cents for a candy bar, 300 cents to join a student interest group, or 7500 cents for a tuition increase). However, the researchers found that a confusing sales pitch alone -- such as one utilizing technical jargon, confusing terminology, or large and confusing product assortments -- does not lead to greater consumer interest.
Rather, it increases the "need for cognitive closure"; consumers will grasp for easy-to-process or unambiguous information that has direct and obvious implications for judgment and behavior.
Furthermore, the researchers found that this need for cognitive closure will cause particularly susceptible consumers to "freeze" their judgments, that is, hold them with a high degree of confidence and refrain from considering additional evidence that could potentially threaten closure.

Reference: Frank R. Kardes, Bob M. Fennis, Edward R. Hirt, Zakary L. Tormala, and Brian Bullington, "The Role of the Need for Cognitive Closure in the Effectiveness of the Disrupt-the-Reframe Influence Technique." Journal of Consumer Research: October 2007.

I wonder how well this works on teenagers?

Subscribe to comic books on your cell phone

Pic: Artist Steven Sanders holds a cell phone next to his computer screen at his office in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2007. Sanders' is working to format comics for cell phones. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Thunder Road, pictured on the right, is the first comic book in the U.S. to be released exclusively on the cell phone.

There are a handful of traditional comic books that are also being released on a subscription basis. From physorg:

For $4.49 a month on Verizon, or $3.99 a month for AT&T and Sprint, subscribers can view nearly a dozen different traditional comic books. There's also a separate subscription service for Japanese comics called manga. The comic books range from well-known names like "Bone" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," to up-and-coming books, such as crime noirish "Umbra" and Hindu folklore-inspired "Devi." The comics site adds new chapters or issues for each title every week.

To subscribe, check out: http://www.gocomics.com/

GREENDIMES: junk mail reduction service

I wonder how well this actually works?

Sounds like a wonderful concept. Pay $15 for a kit with forms you fill out and send in, they do the rest.

Their FAQ claims that they can even stop mail addressed to 'Occupant', 'Resident', and the like.

LED messages from your rear window

Pic: Image collage from MAKE:.

Seems pretty silly, but could keep the kids (of all ages) entertained for a while.

Available for purchase from au-my.

LED face attaches to your back window, and the button controller for changing messages sits near the driver for easily accessible control.

$150 new laptop available now

Move over OPLC, there's an $150 laptop with all the bells and whistles available for purchase now!

Made by Medison, the Celebrity laptop is usable out of the box, with Linux pre-installed.

Key features from their website:
- Intel® Celeron 1.5 GHz CPU
- 14" Widescreen X-bright LCD
- 256 MB Ram memory
- 40 GB Hard Drive
- 802.11g Wireless LAN
- Optimized Linux operating system
- Pre-installed office and multimedia applications

Wearable ads for the masses

From techcrunch:

Reactee has announced the launch of a line of interactive t-shirts that combine fashion, SMS and activism through “shirts that text back”.

Reactee allows users to create t-shirts that include a personalized message such “Stop Global Whaling” or “Andrew Keen is a Luddite” that is then complimented by a unique keyword such as SUSHI or MORON on the shirt. People who see the shirt can then respond to it by sending the keyword via SMS to 41411. In return senders receive a custom text message response created by the T-Shirt creator.

T-shirts have been a common advertising vehicle for years, so it makes sense that someone would eventually make it an interactive ad.

If your potential viewer:
1. Remembers enough of your ad to actually be able to SMS
2. Is curious enough to find out what you'll automatically SMS them back
then there's a chance it could actually catch on.

This sort of thing seems much easier as a moo card. Nothing to write down or remember. When you find it in your pocket, you might decide to SMS it and find out what it is...

Kit: assemble your own 9V powered mini lamp

mmckenna has 5 models to choose from.

Just too cute. $29 each.

This is probably my favorite one:

Twiki? Here comes RoboNanny

Pic: Two-legged walking humanoid Rogun poses with a child./ Courtesy of KornTech

They call him Rogun, but he reminds me of Twiki, from the old Buck Rogers TV series.

"``Rogun is capable of guarding homes around the clock _ the camera-eyed robot will give a warning to its owner via cell phone when strangers visit an empty house,'' KornTech CEO Lee Dong-hwan said.`

`In addition, the handset-directed humanoid can show what is happening with kids at home when their parents are away, as it is connected to the wireless Internet,'' Lee said.

Lee said Rogun will be able to play with children by showing video footage on a seven-inch liquid-crystal display monitor placed on its chest.`
`A computer is incorporated into Rogun, and so, its owner can access the Internet through the bi-pedal walker,'' Lee said. `

`People can also enjoy video calls on Rogun's monitor when the recipients or callers use third-generation handsets which are being introduced across the country,'' Lee said."

He's $100,000 and made to order.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2007/05/133_3122.html

World of Warcraft Rewards VISA Card

It's really here.

Not that much of a surprise (MAKE magazine speculated on this as early as 3/06), but this does indicate the growth of this target demographic, as well as the ability of credit cards to profess your individuality (and/or addictions).

Your REWARDS come in the form of game time.

I remember a few years back going to a local specialty bookstore and paying for a purchase with an amazon.com card. Definitely got some grumbling protests from the owners there.

Should be interesting to see the types of reactions WoW cardholders will get in every day life.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/visa/

Blow Light: Wind Powered LED Light

Cute, simple, $20.

From the website:

"Blow light is the world's smallest wind generator, making it a great environmentally friendly toy. To use it, you just blow on the rotor to light up the LEDs. When the rotor blade turns it creates electricity to power two blue and one green LED lights. "

http://www.nigelsecostore.com/acatalog/Blow_light.html