Even Barbie's Gone Virtual

There is a new game out for girls called Barbie iDesign where you can either dress up your paper doll when you aren't around a computer or you put software in the computer and start working with virtual barbie. You can put the doll (who is now in the computer) on magazine covers or in fashion shows. It is actually a very creative environment for a child because they can customize and create their own fashion shows as well as the magazine covers that can then be printed! A child can either pick already created outfits or they can put together their own outfits for the model. In addition, there are even four computer games with timed design challenges and style-guessing competitions. Barbie is a lot more complex and exciting then it used to be.

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine driving through your neighborhood and seeing a robot or I guess a "LawnBott" mowing your neighbor's yard? I always wonder what the future will be like for us.. and I think that will be so weird if this type of new media actually sticks and there are robot type machines doing all types of housework. For example, I have already heard about a robot who cleans gutters or those who clean inside the house as well. I just can't imagine ever trusting a robot to do my work. But who knows right?

OR can you imagine your kids or I guess this is already available so can you imagine your friends playing a guitar that isn't actually in their hands. They are acting as if they are playing the guitar but they are really just looking ridiculous playing the air. I do think the air guitar sounds fun. Now, the most strange thing I read about was the MyVus which are sunglasses that play movies on the lenses right next to your eyeballs. I mean, really? I don't know but that seems to me like I'd either go cross-eyed or lose my eyesight quicker because that cannot be good for my eyes. But who knows right?

My first thoughts!

I figured to begin my semester full of new media that I should hear about the Consumer Electronic Show. So, I went to the New York Times Web site to research about it and they even had videos of the show. This is where I learned about a lot of really neat products that are out now. For example, one of the first things they showed was an underwater texting device for scuba divers. Then, there were lots of TV-related products including one TV with the skinniest width I’ve ever seen (the TV was basically like the width of a piece of paper - okay, maybe a little exagerated but man, it was small) and the Flywire, which wirelessly transmits information from High-Definition gear to an HDTV set. Some of my favorites were a GPS watch that had no buttons and a touch “pad” instead, a digital frame where you can send pictures from your phone and the frame will immediately update to show your photo, and a portable DVD player that has a battery life of 13 hours. Everything was pretty amazing and I can’t even imagine what will be around when I’m older.