Skip the Ties and Tools: Dads Want Gadgets

Yale professor warns against becoming a 'click-vegetable'

(NEWSER) - The Internet and iPads and smartphones are great for adults—but we need to take a hard look at what they're doing to our kids, warns a computer science professor at Yale. It may be tempting to let them sit down with an iPad come June, but such technology is preventing their minds from doing what they need to do: "rest and work," writes David Gelernter in the Wall Street Journal . Rest means "wandering freely," while work requires a climb up a "mental rope." More»

Adoption rate the fastest ever

(NEWSER) - Apple sold 3 million iPads in the first 80 days of its shelf life, and is currently selling about 4.5 million a quarter, making it by far the fastest-adopted piece of technology in history, CNBC reports. Its nearest competitor is the iPhone, and that sold a mere million units in its first quarter. The fastest non-phone device, the DVD player, sold just 350,000 units in its first year on the market. More»

Interesting idea, but bloggers are skeptical it will catch on

(NEWSER) - The concept is simple: a device dedicated solely to sending and receiving tweets. TwitterPeek—made by mobile email/text gadget maker Peek—launches today at a cost of $199 with free lifetime service or $99 with a monthly charge of $7.95. Neat, writes Don Reisinger on CNET, but this idea seems dangerously close to dead in the water. More»

'Anti-iPhone movement' inspired by range of technical frustrations

(NEWSER) - We’re supposed to be in awe of the iPhone, the device that “was supposed to be our savior.” But after owning four of the "smug, narcissistic little iPhones," Amanda Fortini is fed up. Amid reports that iPhones are overheating and blowing up, “I at last feel free to say it: The iPhone sucks. It makes life miserable. I loathe the iPhone,” she writes in Salon. More»

(NEWSER) - Nintendo's Game Boy portable gaming system has been around for 20 years today, and even has a spiritual successor in the DS. Benj Edwards takes a look at why the franchise is a lasting one on Ars Technica.

• Tetris: "Every new hardware platform needs a 'killer app,'" and that was as true in 1989 as it is now. The addictive game perfectly fit the capabilities of the tiny console that could.
• Battery life: The Game Boy could run at least 10 hours on 4 AAs, propelling the relatively crude monochrome system past its energy-guzzling color competition.