bang!klang?

WebbliWorld

My man Kai over in the UK sent this to me, it’s WebbliWorld.com!

“Aardman Animations and Enable Interactive have created a new Interactive portal for Kids at www.webbliworld.com. Commissioned by WebbliWorld Ltd., the virtual world was designed and developed by Aardman, the U.K. animation entity behind the Wallace and Gromit shorts and feature film, as well as DreamWorks Animation’s Flushed Away and the hit animated series Creature Comforts and Shaun the Sheep.”

Currently the site doesn’t do much besides look cool.  There are videos featuring webblis, and siloed searches based around specific interests, which are hosted by the three main webblis Wanda, Wez and Wij.

Kids can log on to create their own webbli avatar that inhabits their WebbliWorld page. They can also list their interests or hobbies, check out the pages of other kids and rate them.  As functionality continues to roll out the plan is to create a kid friendly search facility and more social networking tools.

The whole thing is being sponsored by Puffin Books and the World Wildlife Foundation. 

You can read more about it here.

The Magic Wheel

I can already see the SOMA hipsters drooling over this little contraption. But it’ll be the kids that really own the Magic Wheel.

Check out the original Core 77 post here and peep the video below to see it in action.

Participatory Design

“So you’re 6 years old, you love playing with building blocks and you think the coolest job ever would be to play with building blocks for a living.

Iwan Lloyd Roberts of Pwllheli, Wales, got to enjoy that fantasy yesterday when he was invited to the Montreal headquarters of Mega Brands, makers of Mega Bloks, for a brainstorming design session with the manufacturers of the popular toy.”

Apparently Iwan, an avid Mega Blok builder, wanted to know if he could get a job playing with his favorite toys. So, his mom helped him write a letter to the company asking if they had any such job. Long story short, the head of the company met Iwan and liked his ideas. The rest, as they say, is history.

Read the article here.

Grass in the Water

Slate has reviewed 7 kiddie pools for ease of pumping and filling, durability, capacity and splash factor!

Bear with me folks, all the people who write about things that don’t feature hot moms in bikinis are on vacation. Hopefully I can scare up some more thought provoking fare tomorrow. But right now, I’m headed out the backyard to get me some splash factor.

Keep It Simple

Reuters has an article covering two combined global surveys, by MTV/Nickelodeon and Microsoft, on kids’ attitudes and relationships to technology.

“The surveyors found the average Chinese computer user has 37 online friends they have never met, Indian youth are most likely to see cell phones as a status symbol, while one-in-three UK and U.S. teenagers say they cannot live without games consoles.”

Look at that breakdown and try to forecast which nation is going to win the tech wars of the future.

As unlikely as it sounds, my bet is on the UK and U.S. Why? Because content is king baby!

The future of technology does not hinge on social networking or wireless devices. The future of technology lies in entertainment. As China and India grow their middle class it’s platform agnostic delight they’ll be seeking.

We in the West are a veritable delight factory. What America gets like no other place in the world is that the seeds of innovation are nurtured by wonder and joy… see Pixar, Apple, Electronic Arts and YouTube.

As the Reuters article points out, kids take all this “new” technology for granted.

Who cares what’s in the box, it’s what’s on the box that counts.

Yo’Play!

Social Design Network, Design 21, sponsored a kids’ toy design competition:

“The DESIGN 21 series challenges designers of all disciplines to find solutions to social and global issues. It’s guided by UNESCO’s premise that education, science, technology, culture and communication are tools to spread knowledge and information, build awareness and foster dialogue.”

Yo’Play, a yogurt packaging system that doubles as a modular construction toy, by Italian designer Barro de Gast, won first prize .

This what judge Jean-Pierre Rossie had to say about it:

“Yo’play proposes very useful material for construction play, for a large range of ages (2-9 years), for girls as well as boys and in developing countries as well as in consumer societies. This play material doesn’t create extra costs to poor families and has little or no cost to the packaging industry – yet it offers an important added play value. A series of simple yet nice yoghurt pots become objects stimulating functional creativity and possibly the making of aesthetic or even artistic creations. “

Check out all the entries here.

Sensix Allergy Alert System

Boston based design firm Essential has won a bronze International Design Excellence Award for their Sensix Allergy Alert System design concept.

“Sensix is a monitoring and response system for children susceptible to severe allergic reactions. It includes three age-specific monitors that are physically and aesthetically suited to each age group. When an allergic reaction occurs, the monitor alerts parents or caregivers while simultaneously identifying the location of the child and the medicine.

The automated epinephrine injector device is more compact, rugged and convenient than a standard EpiPen. It also notifies users when injectors need to be replaced. The system works in concert with proposed food labeling standards that would use graphical icons and colors on packaging to identify potential allergens before an exposure occurs.”

The this year’s IDEA awards are detailed in BusinessWeek.

Lila

This collaborative storytelling design concept comes from Michael Cruz and Julia Frederking. It was recently awarded a bronze 2007 International Design Excellence Award.

“Lila is a digital-physical play module that allows children to collaborate on storytelling. By plugging in different combinations of pegs, children create animations that then appear on the digital touch screen. They can add backgrounds and images by painting with their fingers on the screen. Finally, the entire creation is projected on the wall.”

Kind of horsey, but cool.

This year’s IDEA awards are detailed in BusinessWeek.

e-Puzzle

Lite-on Technology has won an International Design Excellence Award for this design concept, which is a refreshing take on very old game, and maybe the best application of e-paper technology yet.

“E-puzzle uses e-paper technology to provide an infinite range of puzzle patterns using the same pieces. Parents can download patterns from the Internet or even select family photos from their PC. Images are transferred to E-puzzle through a USB connector, which also transmits electricity to instantly change the puzzle pattern. After removing the USB connector, E-puzzle returns to a non-electrical state. The puzzle board looks like a photo frame; it even has an arm at the back to display the finished design with the pieces secured by an integrated magnet. E-puzzle is an economical and resource-conscious approach to play that is sure to keep children engaged.”

The this year’s IDEA awards are detailed in BusinessWeek.

H-Racer

This baby won a silver International Design Excellence Awards for consumer product design.

“The H-racer is not just a toy car: it is also a small-scale manifestation for environmentally sustainable, energy independent transportation based on hydrogen fuel cell technology. Children and their parents can watch as only water and the sun generate hydrogen in the fueling station and hydrogen fills the car’s light-blue fuel tank. No batteries are included because no batteries are required. The car is solely powered by the hydrogen fuel cell.”

The this year’s IDEA awards are detailed in BusinessWeek.

The Museum of Science and Trucking, it ain’t.

In Jersey City, where everything old is new again, the Liberty Science Center has reopened after an extensive remodel and shift in educational philosophy. The New York Times has the most cynical review of a museum I’ve ever read, which is somewhat warranted given the museum’s stated social and educational goals.

“The science museum, should provide “resources for living, learning, working in and caring for its surrounding area.” It should aim for “relevancy” and have the ultimate goal of leading its visitor to a form of activism.”

Sounds like a noble aim to me, but Edward Rothstein at the Times is a bit more nostalgic about his science museums.

“Ah, the difficulties of being human in the age of the new science museum! There was a time when such museums developed out of collections of objects that science created, used or studied. Science was an undertaking that required discipline and enterprise; it was somewhat imposing because it could seem so impersonal in its quest, and somewhat heroic because it was so full of mystery and possibility.”

I enjoyed The Exploratorium and The Boston Museum of Science very much as kid. They applied interactivity, objectivity and huge physical scale to create a raw experience with room for the imagination to wander. But, times change and our relationship to science is also in need of a change. Mr. Rothstein bemoans the personalization of science, as if scientist weren’t people and don’t make human choices within the pursuit of their facts and truths.

It is through the active cultivation of our humanity, in all aspects of our lives, that will allow us to preserver as a species. Through wars, poverty, and corporate greed, we have seen what damage can be done by embracing the illusion of scientific objectivity. It’s time to show kids that their actions do matter. That their personal dreams and attitudes have consequences beyond just their immediate experiences. Science is a creative endeavor, and as with all things creative, its excellence is defined by the choices we make or don’t make.

I choose to check out the Liberty Science Center.