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The LeapMove is a gamified camera designed to get kids off the couch

The LeapMove is a gamified camera designed to get kids off the couch

The Verge2 days ago
LeapFrog has announced a new electronic learning system that swaps controllers for a camera. In fact, the LeapMove looks like an oversized, kid-friendly webcam, but is designed to connect to TVs like a console and get kids off the couch using educational games that require full-body movements to play. It's reminiscent of the Xbox Kinect or the PlayStation 2's EyeToy, but simpler and much cheaper than competitors' products like the $249 Nex Playground.
The LeapMove will be available through retailers including Target, Walmart, and Amazon for $69.99, and comes with 25 motion-based games designed for kids aged 4 to 7. It might be hard to pull the older end of that demographic away from games like Roblox, Among Us, and even Fortnite, but in addition to motion detection, the LeapMove uses its camera to make players appear as themselves or 'whimsical characters' in several games, which may appeal to younger kids.
The games cover 'foundational school subjects' including math, reading, and spelling, and require players to do everything from dancing around to waving their arms and even attempting to catch on-screen objects. The LeapMove connects to a TV over HDMI, and instead of rechargeable batteries it needs access to a power outlet. It can be used either sitting beneath a TV or perched atop it like a webcam using a fold-out support.
LeapFrog says additional games will be made available for the LeapMove at a later date, which can be loaded by connecting the device to a computer and using the company's LeapFrog Connect desktop app. They won't be free, but unlike the Nex Playground, the LeapMove doesn't come with any subscription fees.
Parents concerned about privacy, particularly with devices that rely heavily on a camera, may appreciate that the LeapMove has no wireless connectivity. In 2018, VTech, LeapFrog's parent company, agreed to settle for a $650,000 fine after the FTC alleged it collected kids' personal information, including names, emails, and genders, through its KidiConnect mobile app. The LeapMove is completely standalone and keeps track of up to three players' progress locally.
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A ton of Apple devices are on sale on Amazon right now — some of them are even at their Prime Day prices
A ton of Apple devices are on sale on Amazon right now — some of them are even at their Prime Day prices

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

A ton of Apple devices are on sale on Amazon right now — some of them are even at their Prime Day prices

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If You Need Help Entertaining Your Kids This Summer, These 36 Products Will Surely Keep Them Busy
If You Need Help Entertaining Your Kids This Summer, These 36 Products Will Surely Keep Them Busy

Buzz Feed

time2 hours ago

  • Buzz Feed

If You Need Help Entertaining Your Kids This Summer, These 36 Products Will Surely Keep Them Busy

An Elmer's glue slime kit since slime is easily your kids' favorite craft. From butter slime to glow-in-the-dark slime to color-changing slime — this'll def be a craft your kid will always be in the mood to do. The kit includes regular slime activator, crunchy slime activator, butter slime activator, glow-in-the-dark slime activator, cherry limeade scented activator, glitter glue, clear glue, color-changing glue, glow-in-the-dark glue, and translucent glue. Promising review: "My kids loved this kit. Hours of fun! Did it make a mess? Yes… but it cleaned up easily. I didn't allow the slime on carpet or fabric furniture, so I don't know how easily it would clean up off of that type of material. The mess was totally worth it for me. For reference, my kids' ages are 15, 10, and 7. They all enjoyed it." —Michael it from Amazon for $30.82 (available in one other kit). A pack of 12 reusable, latex-free silicone water balloons to keep the battles going all summer long. You know what this means, don't you? You won't have to pick up alllll those tiny pieces of destroyed balloons! A waterproof version of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza so you can avoid the "I'm borrrred" whining during adult swim this summer. Your kids may not even wanna get back in the pool cuz they'll be so into their fave game. Dolphin Hat Games is a small biz that specializes in family-friendly card play, pass out all of the cards to players and have everyone keep their pile facedown. Everyone takes turns putting a card in the middle while saying "taco," "cat," "goat," "cheese," and "pizza" in that order. If the picture on the card that's placed down matches the word that's been said, everyone races to slap the center pile of cards, and whoever slaps the pile last has to add the center pile to their personal pile. Oh! 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You Want To Speak Memorably? Try These Smart Tips
You Want To Speak Memorably? Try These Smart Tips

Forbes

time3 hours ago

  • Forbes

You Want To Speak Memorably? Try These Smart Tips

In today's high-stakes professional world, the ability to communicate isn't just a competency—it's currency. Are you leading a team? Strong communication skill is one of your most important tools. Pitching a product? Ditto. Navigating a job interview? Ditto. In most every workplace situation, your presentation style can be the defining factor between influence and invisibility. Bill McGowan understands this better than most. This Emmy Award-winning TV journalist and bestselling author is a top communications advisor to leading names in business, tech, entertainment, sports, and finance. He's coached the founders of Amazon, Meta, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Spotify, Snapchat, and Airbnb … as well as Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy winners and World Series, Super Bowl, and Olympic champions. McGowan's latest book is Speak, Memorably: The Art of Captivating an Audience. His experience in TV journalism underscored many of the lessons he now provides as a coach. For example, when McGowan worked on ABC's popular '20/20' show, the executive producer would share the minute-to-minute ratings of a segment. Any time an on-camera personality told a story, viewers' interest spiked. Stories, McGowan learned, are much more compelling than statistics. You want to break out of the conformity zone? McGowan recommends avoiding 'corporate speak' and communicating concisely with clarity and simplicity. And at every opportunity, use pertinent stories. While it's important that every part of a presentation be interesting and relevant, McGowan highlights what psychologists call the primary-recency effect: people tend to remember the first and last items in a sequence better than those in the middle. That's a clue on where compelling stories, challenges, or facts should be in a presentation. To underscore the importance and power of simplicity, McGowan tells of a CEO who was in a media interview about a struggle his company was experiencing. The interviewer asked the CEO, 'Why do you think your IPO underperformed vis-à-vis the other companies in your competitive space?' McGowan says that instead of blaming the market or a poor valuation or even suggesting that they didn't have the right financial institution leading the offering, the CEO simply said, 'We underperformed because we failed to come up with a narrative that could fit on the back of a cocktail napkin.' McGowan used that story to kick off a speech he made to a group of communication clients. Using a 'through line,' the connective tissue that helps explain the relevance of a story, he spoke on the subject of simplicity. Citing research studies, McGowan says factual information embedded within storytelling becomes 22 times more memorable 'than if you just fire hose talking points and data points.' McGowan coaches his clients to communicate the visual, the specific, and the anecdotal. When you speak abstractly and theoretically, it's pictureless, he says. 'We human beings have this movie reel spinning in our heads at all times. If a speaker doesn't give us imagery to work with, that movie reel keeps spinning in our head—only now it's spinning with the images we've created. That's what daydreaming is.' In what ways has the rise of remote work and virtual meetings affected the way people communicate? In addition to what many people now call 'Zoom fatigue,' McGowan talks about 'Zoomnesia.' That occurs when people attend a seemingly endless string of remote meetings in which they're sitting in the same room with the same potted plant on their desk and the same view out the window and with no contextual clues. That circumstance makes it even harder for people to retain information, and it underscores the value of well thought-out communication practices that engage people's thinking. McGowan frequently uses metaphors in his coaching. For example, he talks about what he calls the 'pasta sauce principle.' You put a pot of tomato sauce on the stove and cook it down for about three hours. You then have something with about half the volume but a lot more flavor. 'But it takes time and effort to get that reduction going,' McGowan says. 'The same is true for speaking.' It wouldn't be accurate to say McGowan has written a cookbook. But Speak, Memorably certainly provides the ingredients for welcome servings of appetizing communication. Whether you're giving a TED talk, speaking at the local Rotary Club, or just trying not to lose people in your Monday morning staff meeting, McGowan offers insight that will boost your communication mojo.

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