We interrupt this completely esoteric posting stream to bring you this important announcement: HOLY CRAP, THE DISNEY BABY JUGGERNAUT! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE:I wanted to share some exciting news from Disney Baby as the brand announced its expansion into Mealtime, Bathtime,...
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Category archive: gear not strollers
February 7, 2012
Huh, The Disney Baby-Free World DOES End In 2012.
January 31, 2012
Heath Ceramics For Kids
Oh man, not only are these kid dishes from the pioneering crafty hipsters at Heath Ceramics gorgeous, they are also gorgeous. Let's just savor the gorgeousness for a second. They're available in fruit [top] and veggie [above] colors, and...
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January 16, 2012
Starck For Target Diaper Backpack
The color is basically like shooting pure, undiluted 2002 right into your veins, but unless the finish and quality are an problem, this new-condition, vintage Philippe Starck diaper backpack actually looks kind of nice. Diaper Back Pack - PHILIPPE...
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[read the full post...]
January 12, 2012
Nanna Bespoke Kid Management App By Jackie Ki
This is like seven kinds of awesome. Designer Jackie Ki created this custom kid management app for an extended family in Los Angeles, so that five parents could keep track of seven kids and four nannies. It syncs and reports...
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[read the full post...]
January 11, 2012
Cuppow: Mason Jar Sippy Cup
Bwahaha, a simple, BPA-free way to turn a canning jar into a sippy cup! I can't tell if this is real, or the flatout-awesomest Portlandia parody product campaign ever. Someone please spend the $7.99+shipping to find out, then let...
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January 10, 2012
How Awesome Is This Kid/Photo/Natural Rubber Pacifier?
OMG, so cute! Buy a natural rubber pacifier just like Andy from Reference Library and Stork Bite Man's peace sign-throwing kid! It's like the blogger version of People Magazine all up in here. Next up: Little Sartorialist's exclusive street...
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December 19, 2011
It's My Isamu Noguchi Zenith Radio Nurse In A Box!
Congratulations to Mondo Blogo, scored this fine example of the first electronic baby monitor, the Radio Nurse, designed for Zenith by Isamu Noguchi. I've seen several with the boring-looking transmitter end, but never one with the original box. I...
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December 7, 2011
Philippe Starck For Target Items Nobody Won On eBay
Speaking of vintage Philippe Starck-designed baby gear, I guess the only way I missed this was by never searching for it on eBay. An auction ended just last night for a nearly complete set of Starck For Target, a...
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December 5, 2011
40 Million Reasons To Get Your Kid An iPhone For Christmas
In reporting on a report that reveals only 3 million of the 43 million of kids aged 10-19 have actually sexted after all, Choire Sicha shows why he is. America's Greatest Kid-Free Parenting Expert:This is why you're supposed to have...
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November 7, 2011
Does The Bubble Bum Solve The Third Car Seat Dilemma?
The Bubble Bum is the third inflatable European booster seat solution to surface here on Daddy Types. Is it finally the one that actually works well enough to use? Frankly, I find it a bit extraordinary that the Bubble...
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October 14, 2011
I Am Unsettled By The Idea Of A Smartphone Ultrasound
Ultrasound should stay in the mall where it belongs. Ultrasound on the go? Smartphone-based imaging system released by Mobisante [geekwire via someone, thanks]...
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October 6, 2011
Im Memoriam: The Kid's First iPhone
I really wasn't going to post anything about Steve Jobs here, but then I started watching his 2007 unveiling of the iPhone [via kottke], and I kind of inexplicably found myself choking up over the scrolling demo, and the...
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September 13, 2011
Hey, Hippies! Dads Can Hate Fluoride Too, You Know!
Spotted by DT reader Katy on the back of a tube of Tom's of Maine kids toothpaste, which apparently also doubles as a non-fluoridated feminine hygiene product? Otherwise I cannot account for this....
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August 31, 2011
Kid Fills It, ABC News Shills It
How does this even become a news story? How does this exist? It is a giant landfill's worth of PR nonsense. According to ABC News--NEWS, PEOPLE!--"Designer Diapers Big Hit With Moms". What's the hook? What's the story? Patterned diapers exist?...
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Amsterdam On The Potomac: Bakfiets Spotted In The Wild
So I saw a dad with a bakfiets with in infant carrier in the box driving down the street in Washington DC today. He was too quick, and I was too slow to get a picture. But it looked...
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August 27, 2011
The Surf Guide Baby And Her Velzy Stick
This perfect image has just made land via my friend Christine's awesome tumblr of zen. The October 1964 cover of Surf Guide magazine featured a photo of Karen Gallagher taken at San Onofre. According to big sister Karolyn Gallagher's...
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August 22, 2011
Why Not... Wrap Your Old Digital Camera With Silicon Putty!
If there were a contest for a cute way to burn through a little $20 pack of Sugru moldabe, air-curing silicon putty, the bounce-proofed digital camera Stefan Stocker made for his 3-yo would surely have won it. And if...
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[read the full post...]
August 8, 2011
Gucci Diaper Bag Check
I'm not really a doubles guy, so I don't follow Daniel Nestor's long tennis career all that closely. But I am a fan of the Bag Check. And the rain delays last week at Legg Mason gave me a...
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[read the full post...]
August 3, 2011
Olie Bollen Goin' Out Of Business Sale
Sad news indeed to see that Olie Bollen, a pioneering online kids boutique, and one of Daddy Types' earliest advertisers, is closing up shop. On the bright side, they're having a pretty insane closing sale. Zutano clothing is 50% off,...
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[read the full post...]
August 1, 2011
Huggies Slip-Ons: Pull-Up Technology And Pricing, Now In Diaper Format
I am not really sure that slip-on diapers are really as "game-changing" as Huggies VP Eric Seidel wants them to be. I mean, they are just up-crystalled, downsized Pull-Ups capable of "handling multiple insults." But I am always glad...
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July 28, 2011
Spain Inventing Nipples As Fast As It Can
These tiny Spanish nipples updates are brought to you courtesy of Hemispheres Magazine, where I read some random, blurbicle about the Salon des Inventions de Geneve while the kid was baking cupcakes on my iPad. [image via] Seems that one...
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July 13, 2011
Computer Could Start By Removing All The Extraneous Bedding
Computer system designed to prevent SIDS deaths [gizmag via dt reader dt, who also wrote the unimprovable headline]...
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July 7, 2011
Big Cat Sleeping Bags For The Road
Last night we had some station wagon-loving, old-book-loving friends over for dinner, and so of course, I had to pull out the Ford Treasury of Station Wagon Living. Volume 2. And I guess I hadn't noticed before, but the...
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June 29, 2011
Day Tripper Totes By Guy Walker
Oh-ho-ho, these are awesome. In 2010 Brooklyn print foundry Forth Estate published artist Guy Walker's Day Tripper Bags, LL Bean tote bags monogrammed with the initials of one of six recreational drugs so popular with the kids these days....
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[read the full post...]
June 15, 2011
Baby Monitor Stick-On Chips
Some nerds want use the radio waves we're all soaking in to power little, battery-less chips:The creators envision adhesive sensors that send a baby's body temperature to laptops and ads that beam coupons to smartphones over short distances not necessarily...
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May 20, 2011
DT Friday Freakout: Apocalyptical Distance Edition
A passel of parenting and pediatric press to freakout your Friday, fellows. It's no Danny Stiles, but it'll have to do: So THIS is why the Tylenol PRs have been emailing me all this time. Big Acetaminophen is getting on...
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April 27, 2011
DTQ: A Rearfacing Convertible Infant Carrier?
DT reader David wonders if we've really entered the 3-car seat era:Our old Graco Snugride seems to be at the end of its lifespan, while our K2 is but 7 months old. It's possible Graco might fix it, but it...
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February 16, 2011
Michele Bachmann Bought Her Own Damn Breast Pump.
Ask and ye shall receive. Kaz was needing an Uma chaser after Rep. Michele Bachmann's first/last appearance on DT, and we are happy to oblige. Of course, it comes at a price:Bachmann Blasts First Lady And 'Nanny State' -- For...
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February 11, 2011
Disney Is Finally Making Baby Gear
And it won't stop until it sucks up $5 billion of parents' money each year, or until it falls on its face. Do I start with the disclosures? No, I'll start with a blogger's whine. I haven't wanted to...
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February 10, 2011
Some Gold-Plated Baby Gear Company Launches Wheatpaste Campaign
Army of 1yo? image via NY1 So someone hacked an 18-year-old public art installation in a subway tunnel, and replaced a photo of gold-plated subway worker tools with a photo of gold-plated diapers, Onesies and booties. And it took...
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OXO Is Finally Making Baby Gear
A generation ago, OXO's soft-handled potato peeler revolutionized the kitchen gadget market. Now, finally, they're making baby gear. And well, it kind of looks like every ergonomic and slightly designy toddler spoon and sippy cup on the market. I...
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February 1, 2011
It's Getting Slightly Harder Out There For A Crib Bumper Pimp
The CPSC is reversing its 2010 decision and will begin a review of the safety of crib bumpers, possibly with an eye to banning the useless, obsolete, and potentially deadly fashion accessories. Consumer Agency Tightens Scrutiny of Baby Sleep Products...
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January 21, 2011
7 Jason Kottke Parenting Tips You Can Use Right Now
Wow, a couple of days of single parenting is apparently all it took to unleash Jason Kottke's inner uber-dadblogger. He's been en fuego recently with the highly useful tips. [Apologies to my ad guy for not turning this post into...
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January 12, 2011
That Guy From Blues Clues Totally Dodged A Baby Bullet
He launched an entire network and changed the way a generation of toddlers interacted with their televisions. But being a disembodied animated face doesn't alter the future for a washed up TV star; it only delays it. And sure...
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January 5, 2011
'Central Park, Couple With Baby In Newspaper,' 1978
Paul McDonough is a Brooklyn street photographer. Streets and parks. And he lives in Brooklyn, but shot a lot in Manhattan, such as-- Do I really have to explain all this? It's a 1978 photo of a baby wrapped...
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December 14, 2010
DTQ: Can We Come Up With A Deadlier Name For Crib Bumpers?
DT reader Seth is onto something here:Even referring to them as bumpers is misleading as the name implies (as with cars) some added element of safety or protection.So if you wanted to accurately reflect the safety risks they pose to...
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[read the full post...]
December 13, 2010
Hidden Hazard? Hidden From Whom? CPSC Finally Launching A Crib Bumper Investigation
Crib bumpers were invented by ace salesman Leo Koltun because after selling every returning GI's knocked up wife a playpen pad made from WWII surplus padding, he still had a shitload of padding left over. The company he founded, Kolcraft,...
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[read the full post...]
December 10, 2010
iPhone Baby Quilt
First off, a high five to Grandma Harriet. This is absolutely incredible work. Definitely one of the top two iPhone baby gifts a grandma could give. But also, nice hustle on getting the domain name for the kid. Mazel...
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November 18, 2010
Superfresh Superlicensing! Keith Haring Superbib Drops At Duane Reade
Dude, this is so sick! Just when I thought the Tommy Hilfiger rainboot mashup would go down as the Keith Haring Estate's edgiest kid-colabo of the year, they pull this out of their sleeves! Just peep these rad bibs!...
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September 29, 2010
Lazy Environmentalist Puts The E-C In Eco-Friendly
What's a modern treehuggin' new dad--and the author of a green lifestyle book to boot--supposed to do when confronted with the absorbent hyper-convenience of Pampers Cruisers? Josh Dorfman aka The Lazy Environmentalist, we're looking at you, buddy:"Because we feel guilty...
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September 24, 2010
M-I-C See You In The Bomb Shelter!
If you've been waiting until you could find a cherry example with the box, your WWII-era UK Mickey Mouse children's gas mask waiting days are almost over. Sept 30, 2010, Item 2254: ENGLISH VERSION MICKEY MOUSE CHILD'S GAS MASK...
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[read the full post...]
September 8, 2010
On The Other Hand, The Company IS Called Amazon
The shocking transgression of gender roles has been central to Amazons' identity for thousands of years. And while much attention has been paid to the Amazon as warrior--the Iliad description, amazones antianeirai means "those who fight like men"--historians have...
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August 24, 2010
Yesterday In Baby Carrier History
So yesterday archaeo-anthropologist Timothy Taylor explained to Gizmodo that the discovery of 2.5 million-year-old chipped stone tools that are at least 300,000 years older than the oldest known homo fossils suggests that not only did humans not invent tools, tools...
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July 10, 2010
Oh! Bamboo Is Your New Bicycle Seat For Kids
While trying to figure out the Taiwanese family bicycle world, I stumbled across this bit of bentwood awesomeness: a Thonet-meets-bamboo kid's bicycle seat. Blogger AnMin spotted it last spring at a bike rental shop when the family went riding...
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July 8, 2010
Bottle From The Block
Celebrities are just like us, and on the web, everyone's a little famous, so I basically don't do any of that crap here, but this was hands down, the best press release I got all day:BPA-Free Baby Bottle - As...
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July 4, 2010
Introducing Benetton Diapers, The World's First 'Designed' Diaper
In 2000, the Italian personal hygiene products manufacturer Ledysan obtained a license from Benetton to introduce the world's first designed diaper. "More than just a diaper....It's an Italian designer garment," said a Ledysan promo. Benetton diapers were distributed to...
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June 24, 2010
Buffalo Holder
In 1965, Buffalo had a Festival of the Arts the likes of which Buffalo had never seen. It was wall-to-wall avant-garde art, theatre, music, dance, and film--and it was packed. Among the 150,000+ people who attended the John Cage...
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June 22, 2010
My Name Is Clek Oobr, And I. Am. An Awesome Canadian Booster Seat.
I've often wondered why more car companies don't get into the car seat business. Recaro is a rare example. And as auto hyper-expert and longtime DT reader David Traver Adolphus explains in an exclusive guest review, Clek is another. David...
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Cutting Through The Static On Isamu Noguchi's Radio Nurse Baby Monitor
What was the real story of the 1937 Zenith Radio Nurse & Guardian Ear? I've been looking at this thing, the first baby monitor, for close to 20 years now, and it's about time I found out. How did...
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[read the full post...]
June 7, 2010
The Future Is Here, And It's Riding A Retro Saab
Wow, I was on a hairy deadline, so I only just watched Apples's video for the new iPhone 4 [wipes tears away from eyes]. It almost makes me want to be a road warrior again, just so I can...
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[read the full post...]
May 18, 2010
Geek Dad Still Keeping The Geek Moms Down
Sorry this outrageous scandal got stranded on my iPad. It's really too important to ignore. That Ken Denmead, he's got some balls. Turns out Denmead, who edits Wired.com's project blog Geek Dad, is perpetuating our society's oppression of women by...
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May 13, 2010
The Dad Who Changes Diaper Brands Changes The World
From Brian last week at Rebel Dad:Dear Pampers, This evening, I received the following note from you: Hello BRIAN, Happy Mothers Day! Thanks, Mom for all that you do. On this special day, check out the tribute that Pampers has...
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May 1, 2010
The Changing Table That Saved The Union
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } The Changing Table That Saved The Union, originally uploaded by daddytypes. Spotted in the visitors...
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April 29, 2010
The App Cubby Jr Sale
David Barnard's stories of life as an iPhone developer on his blog App Cubby put a nice human face on the hard work and economic realities behind the supposed app gold rush. And also the hopes, such as the sharing...
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April 23, 2010
At Home [Depot] Dad Meets Changing Table [Saw]
Nice. After a few years of chronicling the presence and absence of mens room changing tables, I am glad to see some changing table rebellion--on any surface I'm not eating off of:My last trip to the great orange tool warehouse...
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April 22, 2010
Little Office Space
This is so wrong in so, so many ways. Like five ways at once. I know the Little Tikes Young Explorer were just a cubicle, it'd be fine. Ridiculous and depressing, but fine. This actually has a low-to-middlin', kid-tuned...
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April 15, 2010
Kids And Parents And Photos And iPads
Maybe it's because her camera was better than mine at the time, or because she was already all into her iPhoto, but my wife is the Chief Kid Photo Officer around here. She does the awesome, annual photobooks for the...
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[read the full post...]
April 13, 2010
Farmer Gram's Homemade Dog Wagon
I've had Jim's incredible, homemade Dog Wagon parked in my browser tabs for a week now, and I literally woke up at 5:00 and realized I had to post about it right now. Not because he basically invented this...
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[read the full post...]
April 9, 2010
It's The Little Differences, Ch. 1, Cont'd: The Bubble Bum
Is this all because RyanAir is charging £20 to bring a carseat on a plane? Where are all these Britons going without their carseats, anyway? It turns out inflatable booster seats are proliferating across England faster than CCTV cameras...
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April 8, 2010
How Different Are Car Seats In Europe? Ch. 1
You know what, it's the little differences. Like Czech-made inflatable booster seats, that inflate in "under one minute," and that supposedly fit three across [even though they don't tell you the dimensions], and that fold up to about the...
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March 30, 2010
Flimsy Slats Not Just For Cribs Anymore! Evenflo Recalls 180,000 Stair Gates
We have no stairs, so unlike, say, the global pandemic of umbrella stroller finger amputations, the recall Friday of 180,000 Evenflo wooden Top-of-Stair gates feels a little far from my own parenting experience. But 142 reports of broken or...
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March 27, 2010
Ferrari Plush Steering Wheel, &c.
From cutrate car seats to baby-sized pit crew jumpers, Daddy Types has long documented the hilariously tacky crapitude of Ferrari's licensed merchandise. No car brand I can think of has such a chasm between the autos themselves and the...
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[read the full post...]
March 24, 2010
恋恋风尘
A massive Mongolian sand storm has descended on Beijing. The AFP's Liu Jin captured this sweet photo of a dad, packing his kid with a blanket and a mask. More photos and the story: Sandstorms sweep into Beijing [guardian.co.uk]...
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After Reports Of 3 Deaths, Infantino Recalls 1 Million Fugly Slings
Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and--uh, no. It is not. The CPSC, Health Canada and Infantino just announced the recall of one million slings in the US and 15,000 in Canada [so few!] after reports of three...
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March 22, 2010
The Mothering Magazine Babywearing Agenda Is The CPSC's Babywearing Agenda
I haven't mentioned the CPSC's recent baby sling advisory notice, partly because I figure the hippieparentblogs have it well in hand. But then DT reader Sara forwarded the official response from Mothering Magazine, a longtime supporter of the babywearing and...
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March 11, 2010
Shh, No Questions. You'll Scare Them Away
The NY Times has breathless, slightly dangerous account of traveling into the exotic, unwaxed, third world-y wilds of babywearing. Well, technically, they just visited some basecamps on Park Avenue and 7th Avenue, Brooklyn to meet some intrepid adventuresses. And considering...
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March 10, 2010
Mathowie's iPhone Apps For Kids
It might look like I'm slow to finally link to Matt Haughey's recommended screenful of iPhone games for kids. But really, I was just waiting to see how long it would take his commenters to mention Pee Monkey, the best...
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February 23, 2010
Five Teething Sticks & A Couple Of Nuts
What's that, five carved ivory teething sticks not enough for you? Fine, they'll throw in a couple of carved oriental nuts. And one nut stand, but not two. And that's Bonham's best offer. Whoops, that's today: Feb. 23, 2010:...
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February 17, 2010
Kush
I know it says it's perfect for pregnant women and nursing mothers, but if there's one place the Kush intra-breast sleep support device fits perfectly, is on the top of The List Of Stuff You Probably Should Check With...
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[read the full post...]
February 1, 2010
Anorak iPhone App For Kids
The awesome kids magazine Anorak is published in the UK, and the positively colonial exchange rate and the fact that they have to fly copies over on the Concorde means it's too expensive to buy regularly in the US....
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[read the full post...]
January 29, 2010
Oh Now I Get It. Jackpot. Jack Potty.
Wow, a toilet that teaches a kid to piss and to piss away his retirement savings at the same time? Who could have thought of such innovation? A Dorel Company: Safety 1st Jack Potty, $34 [amazon] Or at least...
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[read the full post...]
December 30, 2009
About That London Baby Cage
The caption on this Hulton Archive photo reads:27th January 1934: An example of the wire cage which East Poplar borough council in London propose to fix to the outside of their tenement windows, so that babies can benefit from...
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December 29, 2009
Bring'em Onboard! Traveling With The Steele X Reference Library Tote Was Awesome
No offense to the family on our flight who successfully recreated a domestic oasis among the benches at Heathrow using their Orbit Stroller and massage-table-sized folding travel crib, but we like to travel as relentlessly light as possible. One...
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[read the full post...]
December 16, 2009
Barbour Hunting Jacket With Diaper Pocket
Here's an awesome report from our man-from-London-in-Paris, DT reader Wesley:I recently purchased a Barbour Beaufort jack [from Harrods but they have the same thing at Orvis.] Although I didn't know this at the time, the "game pocket" in the...
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December 10, 2009
I Pity The Cool
Now don't get me wrong, I like Cool Hunting, and I always will. They're like blogfamily, we go way back. So it's not that I'm pissed to see the Babyplus Prenatal Education System, the pregnancy industry's most thoroughly bogus...
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[read the full post...]
December 8, 2009
Babyphone, By Koert van Mensvoort
Dutch artist Koert van Mensvoort used this image, Babyphone, to put out a call for propsals for Next Nature a conferetition he organized in 2008:Nowadays, children know more corporate logo's and brands than bird or tree species. The average...
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[read the full post...]
November 30, 2009
As Like-A-Bike As You Can Get
It's taken a few years and a pile of knockoffs, but Kokua has reached the ontological limits of the Like-A-Bike: Inches in Germany? Like-to-Bike 16-in. children's bike, by Kokua [liketobike.de via dt reader nelson] Update/flashback: BMW's walking bike has a...
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[read the full post...]
November 27, 2009
'Children Don't Know What A Tauntaun Is.'
Rob Walker writes about ThinkGeek's awesome Tauntaun sleeping bag for the NY Times Magazine. I guess sometimes being blatantly targeted for your own childhood memories isn't so bad after all:The actual bag is adult-size. Parents, Liotta says, are the real...
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November 16, 2009
Announcing The Daddy Types Footmuff & Fleece Emporium
The nights are getting colder, K2 is getting bigger, and we're getting leaner, at least gear-wise. I put a few choice, fluffy pieces of gear on eBay last night. Here they are in order of brand-spanking newness: Here's a set...
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[read the full post...]
November 12, 2009
NO WAY, ThinkGeek's Tauntaun Sleeping Bag Is REAL
Eight months from April Fool's Day joke to delivery of the first batch, that's pretty incredible. And the design is nearly perfectly intact, right down to the light saber zipper pull. That's right, ThinkGeek's awesome Tauntaun sleeping bag is...
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[read the full post...]
Win A Baby's First Fondue Pot Today! At Parents Magazine
Ahh, fall is in full swing, the nights are getting colder, and the blogs are full of stories of children getting hurt sticking their fingers where they oughtn't. What better time for Parents Magazine to be giving away a...
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[read the full post...]
November 3, 2009
Ill. Dad Files Class-Action Lawsuit Over Crossed Baby Monitor Signal
So while an Illinois mom breastfeeds in the nursery at all hours of the night and day, the dad chats with the new dad neighbor about how they must have the same brand of baby monitor, because they can...
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[read the full post...]
October 20, 2009
Show Me Your Monday Mommy Mailbags!
Monday Mommy Marketing Mailbag? Ha, I've still got tabs open for the Friday Freakout I missed. But it's not every day I get an email about an absolutely "New 'must-have' product for moms!" so I had to spring into action:...
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[read the full post...]
October 19, 2009
FTC Investigating Babies R Us For Widespread Baby Gear Pricefixing
From a report in the Baby Industrial Complex section of the Wall Street Journal--yes, it has its own section now, thanks, Rupert!--we learn that the Federal Trade Commission has opened an anti-trust investigation into price-fixing at Babies R Us. The...
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[read the full post...]
October 18, 2009
The Man Who Changes Diapers In The Ladies Room Changes The World
With his invention of this revolutionary, printable warning sign, Andy from NonToxicReviews has written a glorious new chapter in the history of the involved dad rallying cry, "The man who changes diapers changes the world." Until he figures out...
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[read the full post...]
October 4, 2009
Like-A-Segway: Gyrowheel By Gyrobike
The old way to teach a kid to ride a bike was training wheels, of course, and the new OG way was on a pedal-less walking bike like a Like-A-Bike or one of its many knockoff/competitors. Now there's a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 13, 2009
I Hope A Dad Wins The Hell Out Of That Free Orbit Stroller
For future reference, the weekend our Disposall eats a Pyrex bowl and explodes, I doublebook a parent's party for the kid's kindergarten with the ABC Kids Expo, and we spend five hours at an outlet mall keeping K2 from...
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[read the full post...]
August 31, 2009
New & Improved Hooter Hiders, Now With More Boning!
This just in from the DT Mommy Mailbag:Hey Greg - my client Bebe au Lait is introducing a really fun new collection of nursing covers for Winter/Holiday ~there are six new styles in the group which is part of their...
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August 28, 2009
Marketers Turning To Dadblogs, Says Dadblogging Marketer
I love it when a marketing plan falls together. A couple of days ago, DT reader George heard a public radio news report about how dadblogs are the new marketing hotness: Sony markets to fathers with 'DigiDads' Sony has launched...
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August 27, 2009
Playgrounder Comes Out To Play
Before the kid was born, and I had a hard time finding any baby gear I could stand to live with, I thought I'd keep a list, so the next guy Googling around for an industrial-style changing table could use...
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August 26, 2009
Linux Baby Rocker Stuck In v0.9
Macjonesnz wrote this elegant MythTV code to rock an infant carrier by opening and closing the CD/DVD tray all the way back in January 2008, but it doesn't seem to have been picked up and expanded upon by the...
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August 21, 2009
DTQ: What iPhone Picturebook Apps Do You Use?
It just gives me a headache to wade through the iPhone App Store. And the few picturebook apps I've seen look like crap: a jury-rigged reader with a couple of dopey clip art-lookin' titles no one's ever read twice. Still,...
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ZRecs: Sigg Totally Knew It Had BPA In Its Aluminum Bottles All Along
Day-um, I'm sure glad I'm not a baby bottle manufacturer trying to pass my expensive aluminum gear off as BPA-free. Because I'd live in daily fear of Z Recommends totally busting me some day. And if I were the CEO...
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August 9, 2009
Nomadic Car Furniture: Ford Treasury Of Station Wagon Living
We're Ford country, y'all! This is so awesome, it's like someone slammed on the brakes, and I just got plastered by all the awesomeness bouncing around in the back of the Country Squire Wagon. Lash it down, people! As...
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July 28, 2009
Lil Sprout Photo-Equipped Growth Chart
The problem with tracking the kid's height on the door frame is that your house gets foreclosed on, and then you're living in your minivan, and so you're just leaving a trail of context-free single Sharpie marks on the...
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July 22, 2009
Slate's Toddler Tuesday Reminds Me Why I Hate Consulting
Between Slate's trademark pseudo-scientific shopppertainment, blurby non-review of a couple of sippy cups that would work better as a PowerPoint slide, and their bone-dry, scandal-less recap of the FDA's BPA review panels that feels like it was torn from the...
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July 15, 2009
M-I-C See If We Tell You B-P-A Actually, We Won't! M-O-U-S-E
Wow, Disney's refusal to disclose whether their new stainless steel kids' drinking bottle contains any BPA is so cheerful, friendly, and upbeat, it makes me want to take the kids to Mickey's Toxic Toontown right now! Disney magically refuses request...
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July 8, 2009
Right Start Restart: Liberty Media Gets Into The Baby Business
This weekend in Pennsylvania, we passed a mall that had a big Right Start sign on the street, and I thought, huh. Are they actually still open? [They were not.] And then tonight I get an email from DT...
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June 17, 2009
Endless Summer Of Luvs
Looks like the NY Times' advertising columnist Stuart Elliott recently caught the Broadway revival of Hair:The moon may not be in the seventh house. And only an astrologer knows for sure if Jupiter has aligned with Mars. But it...
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June 16, 2009
How Do Moms Do It? Stroller Suspenders
Don't you just see an incredible invention sometimes, and you wonder how a mom ever came up with that brilliant idea? And then you wonder, wow, it's so obviously awesome, why has no mom ever thought of it before? Because...
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DT Monday Mommy Mailbag: On Tuesday
Wow, it's Tuesday, and I completely forgot to do the new Monday Mommy Marketing Mania Mailbag or whatever! I guess parenting really throws off your estrogen levels or something! Hi, Leave it to the minds of moms to solve some...
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June 10, 2009
Puj Origami Tub
Ooh, that's nice. The Puj tub [rhymes with judge, fudge, kludge, nudge, smudge--whoops, got carried away there. I blame the kid and her infernal car ride games.] Anyway, the Puj tub is an ingeniously shaped and scored foam sheet...
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June 4, 2009
Pinhead-Sized Swim Goggles Maker Aqua Leisure Treats Customer Service Email As Spam
For companies who solicit customer service requests via email on their website, and then take SEVEN WEEKS to answer, some free advice: Even if your company has Leisure in the name, check your customer service inbox more than once...
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May 26, 2009
Actually, Someone Did Put Baby In The Corner
Miss Ann M. Coleman graciously donated this painted wood & iron baby tender, complete with seat, to the Nantucket Historical Association in 1895, baby tender being the olde fashioned term for "crate fo fmall it renders a child immobile...
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May 21, 2009
Bad Day At The Sit-n-Stroll Factory: NHTSA Recalls 55 Units For Faulty Harness Straps
Attention SkyMall Shoppers: Or buyers Sit-n-Strolls wherever you are. If you bought one of the Barcalounger-shaped stroller-carseat contraptions in the last year or so, check your manufacture date. NHTSA has just issued a recall for the 55 units made on...
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May 15, 2009
iPhoney: Gorgeous Handcarved iPhone Teether
This is so beautiful. Corey Jones made a hardwood iPhone for his somebody's daughter to gnaw on. It's so precise, I assumed it was laser-etched, but the flickr photoset says it's all handcarved. Just fantastic. iPhoney photoset on flickr...
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May 1, 2009
Huggies Pure & Natural Hypoallergenic Latex-Free Organic Cotton Huggies Brand Initial Steps Toward Environmental Improvements!
I was one of two finalists to give the student address for my business school commencement. My speech was a hilarious [obviously] reminder that we'd be more effective business leaders if we learn to avoid knuckleheaded jargon and "speak...
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April 30, 2009
Living On The Earth [While Mostly Naked, And With A Kid]
As soon as I saw the cover of Alicia Bay Laurel's Living on The Earth at the library sale, I knew I was buying it, and as soon as I opened it and found out the whole thing was...
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April 14, 2009
Wasilla Area Man Is At-Home Dad
Luke Dittrich did a Hangout With Todd Palin article for Esquire. It stars piles of laundry, car seat bases, kid handoffs, trips to Target, snowmobiles, splitting childcare with your pregnant eldest daughter, Google Alerts set up for media mentions of...
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March 29, 2009
W Magazine Gets To The Bottom Of Octomom Media Frenzy, Finds Booster Seat
If you're like me, you've been ignoring the Octomom story because either there wasn't a clean baby gear angle, or the whole thing was an annoying, degenerate, media cluster(#*%$. Now thanks to some eagle-eyed reporting by a west coast correspondent...
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March 2, 2009
DT@CPAC How-To: The NRA Changing Pad
For all the hubbub about focusing on the family, CPAC, the big conservative movement gathering, was almost totally devoid of anything kid-related. I didn't see the 13-year-old kid who was apparently elected to lead the Right out of its...
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March 1, 2009
DT @ CPAC: Supporting Your Right To Hunt Baby Gear
So I'm watching Ana Marie Cox's flickr stream fill with photos from CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, and I'm like, "Dude! I known that parking garage-turned-exhibition-hall! It's right down the street!" Sure enough, the same hotel that was...
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February 25, 2009
DTQ: When's The Best Time To Install Safety Latches Under The Kitchen Sink?
It's funny, I get this question all the time, and I never would have said "G." Is the answer: A. As soon as you find out you're going to have a kid, so you can get used to opening the...
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February 20, 2009
The Right Start, The Sudden Finish
Sounds like the Right Start is not going to make it to the finish line. DT reader Jay files this report from California:Just wanted to give you a heads up that Right Start retail stores are selling off their entire...
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February 18, 2009
Can You Think Of Two Worse Things To Buy If You Have A Kid?
Seriously, worse than a ceramic remote control, and an indoor fire table? I dare you. [via dt reader eric]...
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February 13, 2009
What, Not Cable Guy? Adorable Electric Man Really Not Helping
Power cables and power strips are the #1 and #2 most popular toys around our house, to the point where I almost want to just give K2 my cell phone and video camera just to keep her away from...
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February 11, 2009
DTQ: Forget The Must-Haves. What Are The Won't-Misses?
Some friends are expecting their first kid in a couple of months, and when we had them over for dinner, the wives took the nursery tour while the men adjourned to the library to talk about important stuff, like US...
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February 3, 2009
Use Up Your Gift Cards Right Quick: Right Start Files For Chapter 11
Well, it seems to be official: the blog Strollerinfo is reporting that Right Start, the baby retailer who bought babystyle out of its own bankruptcy last Spring, has filed for chapter 11 protection itself. Sure enough, I just saw the...
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January 22, 2009
Why Does Consumer Reports Want To Kill The Used Bugaboo Market??
The March issue of ShopSmart, the no-ads shopping guide published by the Consumer Reports folks, includes some tips for figuring out which used baby gear is still considered safe to use. [Get the pdf of the article here.] Though the...
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January 12, 2009
CES WTF V2.0: Lok8u Nu•M8 GPS Child Locator
I've largely ignored CES this year; I find that my interest in baby-related gadgets and my tolerance of trade show hype shrink in direct inverse proportion to my accumulated experience as a parent. Frankly, it's an alarming position to...
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January 8, 2009
CPSC Tells Junksellers: CPSIA Is Not The Big One, We're Not Coming For You
The CPSC says the "clarification" issued today about the new CPSIA lead-testing regulations which go into effect Feb. 10. is "Intended for Resellers of Children's Products, Thrift and Consignment Stores." But it's also great news for thrifters, eBay sellers, craigslisters,...
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January 6, 2009
There's A Sale At Vinnie's!
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop shopping! Because of the mailing list thing, the previous customer thing, and/or the DT advertiser thing, I get these heads up [heads ups?] about sales from companies that I keep meaning...
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December 18, 2008
Stork Tools: Help Me, Rebel Alliance-Lookin' Diaper Bag, You're My Only Hope
Dr. Moz began helping out the new dads with a humorous-yet-informative [? informative-yet-humorous?] DVD, The Goodfather. Now the cinematic allusions and dad-affirmation have made the jump to hyperspace as it were, with the Stork Tools collection of diaper bags....
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Teddy Bear-Shaped Garbage Bags Are Not Helping
I know it'll help her kick little Philippine kids' butts in the New Depression, but it still bugs that K2 loves to play in the garbage so much. Turn your back for a second, and she's pulled out all...
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November 28, 2008
To Shop: Reference Library @ Kiosk, Nov. 28 - Dec. 7
If you shop at only one blogger-curated pop-up store this holiday season, make it Andy Beach's Reference Library Mini-Exhibition at Kiosk in SoHo. Despite his fame as a retail artist/design guru/dad/ex-DT guest blogger is probably best known for his...
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November 16, 2008
iPhone Baby Monitor App: The Call Is Coming From Inside The Crib!
I don't know about your kid, but K2 does not have an iPhone. So that means I'd have to load CodeGoo's Baby Monitor onto my iPhone, and then program it to call me on my other phone when it...
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November 7, 2008
What Do You Make Of This? There's A Sale At Amazon!
Amazon's Baby Store is holding "4-Day Super Sales-Every Weekend in November." Which is funny, because weekends are only two days long. No matter, I'm sure they used all their math skills to calculate "Big Savings" on such things as...
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November 6, 2008
Beaba Babycook By Svan: The Innovation Award Is For Actually Answering The BPA Question
So early in the summer, Williams-Sonoma began selling the Beaba Babycook, a miraculous food processor/steamer/reheater from France that had been a grey market importing sensation for a couple of years. The only problem: Bisphenol-A [BPA] awareness had kicked in...
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October 29, 2008
Streicher's: It's An Entirely Different Kind Of Diaper Bag Altogether
It's an entirely different kind of diaper bag. For a long time, when we had one, normal-sized diaper bag, I was not a fan of the dad bag concept. It was easier to have one gender-neutral bag that was always...
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October 25, 2008
Babywearer On Elm Street
We're not in the city this weekend, so I am very bummed to be missing the New York Art Book Fair. Thankfully, Paddy Johnson is taking some inspirational photos of the event, which is how I found this. It's...
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October 16, 2008
Dad Fights The Car Seats, And The Car Seats Win
David is a new dad and one of the car guys [little c, little g, Magliozzis, relax.] at Cars.com. Well, the kid's six months old now, and Dave's care-free days of swapping the bases for his son's infant car seat...
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October 8, 2008
Wow, Mark That To Market: Noguchi Baby Monitor At Wright20
If you have an extra one of those Zenith Radio Nurse and Guardian Ear sets designed by Isamu Noguchi in 1937 lying around, you might want to dust it off. A very fine-looking example just blew through the pre-sale...
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October 2, 2008
Chicco And The Man [And His Natural Sucking Instinct]
Did you know it's actually pronounced "KEE-koh", not "Chee-koh"? Just one of the many things I learned from Pamela Paul's book, Parenting, Inc. One thing that's not in the book: the Italian word for pacifier. Succhietto. [SOO-kyee-Etto] And I...
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Kind + Jugend '08 Bath-Time Highlights
I've totally dropped the ball on the Kind + Jugend-themed Oktoberfest this week. But here are a couple of bathroom beauties, courtesy of the K+J Presse folken: The Flexi Bath folding infant bathtub is from Danish bathing startup, A Real...
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September 30, 2008
Happy New Year, Jews! Now Why Are You Reading This Today?
I wish I could tell you more about where Haifa-based designer and Star of David otaku Hayim Shtayer got this super-Israeli bottle and pacifier. Unfortunately, I only hung out at the JCC long enough to learn how to swim,...
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September 29, 2008
The Okbaby No Shock: Finally, A Crawling Helmet That Doesn't Make Your Kid Look Like An Overprotected Dork!
Haha, just kidding, it totally does! On the plus side, he looks like an overprotected, dorky equestrian. Okbaby is, of course, the Italian firm that brought us the Colibri, the largest portable [sic] changing pad in the world--for moms....
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September 27, 2008
Or Is It High-Margin Quackery 1st? "Safety 1st Babyplus Prenatal Education System"
If you will recall, after seeing one too many "Ooh, look! New gadget!" blog posts about the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System last year, I decided to investigate. At first, I was satisfied to find that not only was the...
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September 26, 2008
Where All The Wooden Pacifiers At?
K2 is having a great time sucking on the wooden doorknobs on the kids' Via Toy Box doors. [Remember to glue, not just screw, those bad boys on, btw.] And one of the puzzles she loves [un]doing has these...
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September 12, 2008
DTQ: How Many Diapers Does It Take Before You Realize The Whole Pack Is Bad?
So you're going along, changing the kid's diaper, and she's covered in sodium polyacrylate crumbs, so much it looks like someone sprinkled parmesan cheese all over her butt. But you just wipe it all off, and put the new one...
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September 3, 2008
Baby Moov Lovenest: Is French For Head All 'Round
Leave it to the French to name a kid's first source of good head the Lovenest. Produced by Baby Moov, this sculpted foam headrest is designed by a pediatrician to safely produce "une tête bien ronde!" literally, a well-rounded...
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August 18, 2008
At Least 7 Kid-Friendly Apps For The iPhone Generation
Bah! Kids and their dads' iPhones! Back when I was a boy, the phone was on the wall, and we weren't allowed to play with it. We had a toy phone made of wood, that made some ringing noise, and...
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August 16, 2008
Safeway Is Apparently A Mom, Who Knew?
Hey girlfriend! Have I got a store brand for you!Finally, a new line of high-quality baby products designed and created by moms, for moms. As moms, we want nothing but the best for our babies. So when it comes...
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August 15, 2008
Is BabyTracker:Nursing The Only Decent Baby App On The iPhone?
Darren Andes' Baby Tracker: Nursing is a tap-friendly iPhone app that allows moms to log their breastfeeding activity, whether it's to keep track of how much and how long the kid's eating, or just to remember which side the...
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August 8, 2008
Win A Yo Gabba Gabba! Keycap In The DT WTF? Licensed Product Contest!
The Mall: The kids and I went to Hot Topic yesterday at the mall. [Actually, at the second mall; the first mall we went to on Wednesday didn't even have a Hot Topic. What the point of our country's...
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August 7, 2008
Speaking Of Random Foreign Baby Appliances: Pipila UV Pacifier Cleaner
Seriously, no one reviews a baby product like AJ. Especially if it's from some faraway land where you have to unscrew the battery compartment lid backwards and upside down to open it. Australia, I'm looking at you! In just...
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August 6, 2008
If Only You'd Bought An Awesome Beaba Babycook Last Year...
Ahh, 2007. It was a much simpler time. We were all younger then. And richer. And dumber. And when we saw the miraculous French baby food-maker, the Beaba Babycook, on Thingamababy, and we saw that it steamed, it blended,...
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July 21, 2008
Sweet Price On A Slightly Used Maxi-Cosi Cabrio EasyFix
What'll it be like for the Facebook Generation [sic] whose whole life is documented online? Well, for one thing, it'll be easier for them to sell their slightly used car seats on eBay because bidders can go read their blog...
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July 18, 2008
You Have No IDEA
First off, kudos to Skip*Hop and Scott Henderson: the awesome Splash Bottle Rack won a Bronze in the Home Living category of the 2008 Industrial Designers Society of America's IDEA Awards. Besides being extremely practical, I love the way the...
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[read the full post...]
July 13, 2008
Hippie Directive: Deliver Plant To Apple Superiors
So how's it going for the hippie farmers who want to teach the world to sing, and furnish it with iPhone 3G's, grow apple trees, and save the honey bees on the snowy White House lawn? [cue Mr. Burns...
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July 8, 2008
Hippie Farmers, Kid, Camp Out For iPhones, Publicity
I don't see what the mystery is, GearDiary: some hippies have figured out a simple, 4-step plan for saving the earth: 1) Solicit donations and email addresses for a non-existent non-profit with a TBD mission statement ["#1: Draft mission statement...
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July 4, 2008
NYT Reviews Backpack Carriers In Five Words Or Less
The NY Times has tiny, Zagat-style reviews of five backpack carriers, four new, and one ratty old Chicco, which still does just fine. Whatever the results, the product list reads like some sort of shroom-fuelled branding poem: Deuter Kid...
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July 3, 2008
The Bugaboo Car Seat Is Here! And Other Things To Say When You're In Europe
"Wow, so many diesels!" "I prefer a $1=1EUR exchange rate, please." "Does it come in gold lame?" OK, so you'll only need that last one if you're Gwen Stefani. But otherwise, if you're paying $9/gallon for gas, showering with...
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June 30, 2008
What To Expect When You're A First-Time Expectant
I was talking with a baby gear company executive last week, and when she offhandedly used the term "first-time expectants," I stopped to quiz her about it. It's pretty obvious what and why the concept exists--if I were selling piles...
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June 29, 2008
What A Tool: 25th Anniversary Sterling Silver Leatherman
Wow. This 25th Anniversary Leatherman Charge has a sterling silver handle and comes in a limited edition of 999. Even if I didn't have a fine, broken-in Leatherman, this would make no sense at all. But I still totally...
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June 26, 2008
Unidentified Local Man Has White Bavarian Bull Leather Car Seats
Next time I get a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe, I'll remember to have Bespoke re-cover my kids' car seats covered in matching Bavarian bull hide, too. image detail via pacific coast news online [celebuzz via my wife, who...
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More Silicone Please, Not Just Awesome Squishy Bowls
When I saw Josh Guyot's cast silicone Squishy Bowls on MoCo Loco last week, I had a feeling they'd be awesome for kids, not just for their original target market: fetishy backpackers willing to pay a premium for just...
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June 20, 2008
American Post Office, @)#($* YEAH! Children In The Mail
And I'm proud to be an American Where at least I know I'm free To mail children via parcel post by sewing stamps to their clothing. But then the Postmaster General did stand up! And changed the regulations about...
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June 18, 2008
War & Sweetpeace: Graco Rocking Robot Single-Armedly Tackles Nation's Reading Crisis
Thanks to CBS News, we all know there's a reading crisis in America. An NEA survey shows that barely half of adults read a book in 2004. Reading proficiency is dropping dramatically in every age group. [Except for 9 year...
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June 11, 2008
Does "3-in-1" Count As A Kids' Product Line, Method?
From a Salon.com article about NY Times consumption reporter Rob Walker's new book, Buying In: The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are:"The only thing less plausible than paying a premium for high-design dish liquid simply because...
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John McCain's Hat, Integrity, $25
Looking to help John McCain earn $50 the easy way? You can buy a "Dads For McCain" cap and his integrity for just $25 apiece. Oh, sorry, it's just an Integrity t-shirt. Too bad it's not a fragrance: John...
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[read the full post...]
June 10, 2008
Magical Baby Butler Somehow Frees Up A Hand
Through some unexplained miracle of strap technology, the ingenious Baby Butler enables you to free up a hand while you're giving the kid a bottle. With that free hand, you can do anything you like, say, read a children's...
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[read the full post...]
June 4, 2008
Papa Pillow For Metrosexual Dads
Now that we all wax our chests regularly [wait, right? right??], an entire generation of infants are at risk of growing up deprived of the vital kinesthetic imprinting that comes from falling asleep on dad's hairy chest. Fortunately, recent...
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June 3, 2008
Whoops, More Store Closing Sales At Babystyle
That's what this blog needs: secret shoppers. One of Chris Moseley's blog operatives has learned that the North Park, TX location of Babystyle is set to close, making it the seventh store to close as part of the company's Chapter...
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[read the full post...]
June 1, 2008
Blogger Dude Gives Dude's Perspective On Etsy
It's becoming nearly impossible for me to surf Etsy anymore; there's just too much stuff, and too much of it is crafty schlock [different strokes, I know, but hey.] Fortunately, dad, cyclist and blogger Matt Haughey met Bre Pettis, who's...
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[read the full post...]
May 29, 2008
Duluth Trading: Plan Station Could Also Be World's Manliest Fold-Down Changing Table
Damn, surfing around Duluth Trading's website, makes me want a job-site. They sell this awesome, portable plan station as a time-saving alternative to building your own temporary table: "Simply pound 2 nails into the wall, and slip 2, 24”...
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No Sweat, Duluth Trading Still Makes Their 2nd Manliest Diaper Bag
In their Father's Day newsletter, Stephen, a happy, manly, satisfied Duluth Trading customer thanked the construction and contractor outfitter for helping him be all the man he can be:“My quest for a diaper bag took me through the forest...
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[read the full post...]
May 26, 2008
NYT: Flip Is For Chicks, But Dudes Like It, Too
Rob Walker performed his consumer marketing analytical magic on the awesome enough Flip Video camera in the NY Times Magazine yesterday. Turns out it was designed to encroach on dad's traditional turf as Chief Family Cinematographer, but that's just fine:Consider...
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[read the full post...]
May 21, 2008
DT@ICFF: Baby Furniture Swagdown
I hate getting stuff at industry events; it feels very wasteful to me. At a gig like ICFF, most companies are just giving out tote bags anyway, tote bags designed to swallow all the folders and discs and stuff...
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[read the full post...]
May 16, 2008
Eyes On The Bjorn
The stroller's in the trunk, so I broke out the Bjorn for the first time to run some errands this morning. Once again, I'm reminded that strapping a happy baby to your chest can give a man new-found appreciation for...
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[read the full post...]
May 14, 2008
Dapipa Creature Bags Are Dadorable
You don't have to be Japanese to know that putting little eyes on something makes it exponentially cuter, but it helps. That's part, but not all, of the kawaii genius behind the Dapipa Creature Bags, designed by Kamakura-based design...
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[read the full post...]
May 6, 2008
They're Baaack! Amazon $20/99 Deal On Pampers & Luvs
Well it has certainly been a while, but Amazon has brought back a classic deal for the month of May. If you order $99 worth of Pampers or Luvs products by May 31st, Amazon will give you a $20...
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Daddy Improvises: The Ikea Stroller
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Ikeahack: Car Seat + Ikea Bag + Cart = Stroller, originally uploaded by daddytypes. Here's...
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Amazon's BPA-Free Baby Store, Now 33% BPA-Freer!
On Friday, Jeremiah at Z-Recs reported that Amazon had launched a BPA-Free Baby store--which included several products that were not, you know, actually BPA-free. [Z-Recs knows from BPA; they have been building an exhaustive product list, cross-referenced with manufacturer information,...
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[read the full post...]
May 5, 2008
Sorry, BPA! The Mob Has Spoken
So despite the totally objective wisdom of the JPMA, we gave in to the media hysteria. Actually, my wife just got tired of me making BPA jokes about K2's Playtex bottles, so she picked up a Born Free tempered glass...
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[read the full post...]
May 4, 2008
Hey-o, Julianne Moore's Tripp Trapp Is On eBay
Seriously. Moore and her husband Bart Freundlich have donated a "gently used" Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair to Johnson's Celebrity Hand-Me-Down Auction. All proceeds go to some dizzying constellation of kid-related charities. [And all goodwill goes straight to Johnson's....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 29, 2008
Elmer The Unambiguously Awesome Dishware Set
You know, I thought it was just a phase, but I'm liking Elmer the patchwork elephant a lot more these days. Not sure why. And that goes for this pretty sweet-looking Elmer tableware set, too. Not that we'll be...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 26, 2008
Surprising No One, The My Pee Pee Bottle Was Her Husband's Idea
Wow, how in the world did a dad ever come up with the idea of peeing in a bottle when you're on the road? If only the My Pee Pee Bottle weren't made of BPA-laden polycarbonate, it'd be damn...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 24, 2008
Why Is This Awesome Tummy Tub Video Being Supressed?
It doesn't have the money shot of the last one, where an entire roomful of babies sits, cooing happily in buckets, but the latest promotional video for the Tummy Tub, the Dutch-designed vertical infant bathtub, is pretty awesome. But...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 20, 2008
New York Times Been Bery Bery Good To G
From the NY Times Magazine Green Issue on the intractable environmental questions of the cloth vs. disposable diaper debate:Apparently the only way between the two sides is to do without (which means teaching babies to use a toilet) or adopt...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 18, 2008
BPA BFD: Hysterical, Hippie Boutique Wal-Mart Turns Back On BPA-Loving America
In a move clearly designed to exploit the misguided media confusion over the baby industry's most successful puberty hastening plastic compound, a publicity-craving, yuppie boutique in Bentonville, Arkansas has grandly announced that it will stop carrying baby products with BPA...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 14, 2008
Bugaboo Blanket Schmanket, Check Out This Bugaboo USB Drive!
"For information and images on the Bugaboo micro fleece blanket, please insert enclosed flash drive." You mean this sweet, Bugaboo flash drive, complete with a lanyard?? Anything you say, Madam Publicist! OK, so it's only 512Mb, it's still pretty...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
We Need A Montage! Children And Their [Babywearing] Fathers
While the wife and K2 were in NYC, the kid and I went to the book sale at the library over the weekend. It was in unusually good form: seven books for an embarrassing $1.40, including Bruno Munari's Zoo;...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 10, 2008
NYT Gives Camp-Friendly Cribs The Zagat Treatment
Alternate article title: Q: How many little Coloradans can you stuff into a Phil & Teds Traveller? [A: At least four.] The NY Times enlisted a young, large family to try out five travel cribs of various sizes, price...
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[read the full post...]
April 9, 2008
Embrace The Butterfly
All your kid talks about is butterflies? Fine. Just run with it. They're just dinosaurs for girls. With the Butterflies of the World poster, your kid'll be the best damn lepidopterist this side of Vladimir Nabokov. Rainbows? All you...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 2, 2008
David Cronenberg Would Definitely Approve: Vintage Thumbsucking Guard On eBay
We're just at the stage where we wish/hope the new kid will learn how to suck her thumb and self-soothe, but instead of giving her the chance, we usually seem to take the instant pacification route by plugging the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 31, 2008
Hmm, BabyGap Home Seems To Have A Daddy Gap
Well, that didn't take long. BabyGap Home went live on the gap.com site today, and first impressions: not bad, for a total chickfest. It's definitely a small, tightly edited collection of brands and stuff; the BabyGap flagship product seems...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 28, 2008
Whoa, Get Ready For The Launch Of BabyGap Home
And where six babystyles close, more than a dozen BabyGap Home stores take their place. Fourteen, actually, starting with existing BabyGap stores in CA, NY, Chicago, and Dallas. Seems The Gap is getting ready to launch BabyGap Home, a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 24, 2008
BPA A-to-Z, Including TXT @ Z Recommends
While the CPSC sits by and does nothing, and the consumer and environmental activist groups go for the big, legistlation-changing headlines, parents who actually want to do something about exposing their kid to Bisphenol-A (BPA) are left in the lurch....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Two Doctors, Both Alike In BabyPlus Quackery
In Mimi Maternity where we lay our scene... You know what, life's too short and I'm too busy, so while I'd like to retell the entire BabyPlus saga in Shakespearean verse, I'd rather just be done with it. Hopefully you'll...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 23, 2008
BabyPlus Prenatal Education System: Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss
After identifying all the published evidence as self-promotional, unaccredited, non-science and the founder/inventor as a credential-faking huckster, I had figured my work with the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System was done. But then last week it turned up again, and the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 14, 2008
Steco Bike Accessories For Your Baby-Filled, Car-Free Life
As if you needed any more proof than the folding process of a Bugaboo that the Dutch are just not that into cars [seriously, I ended up putting the bassinet in the front seat the other day because I...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 5, 2008
I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Doodad Shelf
So I got a little sick of bottles strewn across the counter and little rubber valves slipping between the drying rack, and I bought a Skip*Hop Splash bottle rack and brush combo [Wow, $28? Seems a little pricey, but...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
This Is Not Your Father's Velcro Diaper Tab
Last time we heard from mad scientist Rob Cockerham, he was cataloguing all the machinery in the delivery room while his wife was doing the real work. [Oops, actually, that was the first time; the last time, he was counting...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 28, 2008
CPSC: We're Still Ignoring The #1 Safety Threat: Car Seat/Infant Carriers
Here's something that was mentioned but not discussed in the CPSC's new, bed&bath-centric, staff analysis report, "Nursery Product-Related Injuries and Deaths Among Children under Age Five": Car seats and infant carriers were the #1 cause of emergency department-treated infant...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
I'd Like To Thank The Crib Bumper Industrial Complex: CPSC Warns Of Crib Threat From 'Soft Bedding'
Is there someone at the JPMA who gets a bonus every time crib bumpers aren't mentioned in a CPSC alert about the dangers of "soft bedding" in cribs? From the AP: Parents are putting their babies at risk when they...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 26, 2008
Baby Leo Blankets 2: Electric Boogaloo
I can't find the link right now, but I'm pretty sure it's a violation of Daddy Types' charter for me to endorse "minkee chenille" under any circumstances and satin for anything but tracksuits, and only then for breakdance contests...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Playtex Bottles: If You're Not Part Of The Solution, You're Part Of The Problem
While trying to find any mention or pictures of the non-pastel bottles Playtex finally got around to making, I went to the company's website, PlaytexBaby.com. I thought I was long past the stage where cared enough to point out...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
DT Followups: Outsized Efforts Edition
Here are some follow-ups to recent posts on DT: From the NYT report that after spending several years and millions of dollars, Korean scientists have developed space kimchi:Ordinary kimchi is teeming with microbes, like lactic acid bacteria, which help fermentation....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 22, 2008
XCountry Dad Heartily Endorses This Event And Product
The word from Hemmings blog guru--and DT's man in the backcountry--David Travers Adolphus on the Tough Traveler Stallion backpack carrier: "Finally." The white thing seen dangling below, the all-weather hood, is a must--for a city kid. The word on...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 21, 2008
The Diaper Champ Does No One Any Good In The Basement
Youngblood's an architect who recently moved his family of four into the house they just built in Maine. He blogged about the construction and challenges of the modern project, which was inspired by the traditional form of a Native...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 17, 2008
DTQ: What To Do About The Plastic Bottle Crisis?
It figures that just as we get back into the swing of the baby bottle phase, and we break out a new pack of the Playtex Ventaire bottles--in mix-and-match pastel colors--a new study comes oot of Canada showing that all...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 14, 2008
A Message For Those Who Choose To Babywear: R-E-S-P-E-C-T
You sick of the gear-heavy, alienating inconvenience of the stroller/swing/playpen combo that 150+ years of Anglocentric parenting culture foists on us all, and you want to try some of that practical, bonding-friendly, elemental goodness of wearing your baby instead? Fine,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 8, 2008
StrollAway Giant Stroller Hook Fits "Most Models"
[Now about that stroller of yours:] It's huge, it cost you a fortune, and it's a neccessity. But where do you put it? The neighbors scowl if you leave it in the hallway (illegal they say, as it's a fire...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 6, 2008
Alright, I'll Take The Nestt Plunge
Several people have sent in tips from all over for the Nestt car seat concept by Chicago-based industrial design firm think/thing. In fact, one of the architect designers emailed me a couple of weeks ago, interested in my thoughts...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 4, 2008
From The Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time Dept: First Year Take & Toss Sippy Cups
Now we're satisfied customers of the low-key, no-frills functionality of First Years' Take & Toss lids and cups. We prefer to think of them as "losable," not "disposable," and until the Great Toxic Plastic Scare of '07, we used...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 28, 2008
I Suppose The Bisphenol A Industrial Complex Is To Blame For Shortages Of The Safe Sippy
Every new baby gear company needs a Big Vision. For the Baby Boomers who founded Munchkin, the dream was to "excite and delight parents" and make their "lives easier and more enjoyable." Which meant first, a baby bottle with...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Still Less Offensive Than A Dora Backpack
Brian is in BF Poland at the moment, tormenting some stranger with postcards, and snapping photos of the local kids' gear, like this embroidered backpack. Which somehow, is not the most unfortunate product he found. Poland Dispatch: Unfortunate Products...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 2, 2008
Dad Finds Out The Hard Way: Car Seats Have No Business In Cathay Pacific's New Business Class
A dad named James took his family--wife, two sons (5 and 2), and the nanny--along to Hong Kong for a combo business trip/vacation, Cathay Pacific both ways. On the way home, he's told that little Rex's car seat is...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 27, 2007
My Mom Made The New Kid Some Hand-Crocheted Receiving Blankets
One of my mom's things is to embroider crochet receiving blankets and matching burp cloths for baby gifts. They're 36-in square, double sided flannel that she gets hem-stitched at the flannel and quilting megastore in Bountiful, Utah, then she...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 21, 2007
Unboxing: One Laptop Per Child
Surprising absolutely no one, the One Laptop Per Child folks' Give One, Get One program was extended through Dec. 31. Which means you can still get a powerful, amazing-looking, kid-oriented computer for about $400 and give one to a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 19, 2007
Who CARES? The FAA's Car-Seats-On-Planes Policy Is A Total Train Wreck
This is getting ridiculous. Though the FAA approved the CARES safety harness for use on planes more than two years ago, a quick look at eight major US carriers' stated policies on flying with kids found seven different, contradictory treatments....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
One Canvas Flap Short Of A Halo 3 Diaper Bag
If only United Nations Space Command had added a canvas changing pad to this multi-pocket satchel ["This is neither purse nor 'man-bag.' It's a satchel big enough for your stuff." Yessir, Master Chief.], it would be a sweet diaper...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 7, 2007
Napfnapf: Double-Sided Suction Cups Hold The Kid's Plate Down
Not content to just watch the kid's design world and report as it goes by, the folks at Kidsmodern have begun designing products. First up: the Napfnapf, a set of double-sided silicone suction cups you can carry in your...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 5, 2007
Also, A Vibrating Cup Holder
All of Kiaohsung, Taiwan-based Je Mey Corp's R&D investment in simulation technology has really paid off. The sex toy manufacturer's new Bugaboo knock-offs look amazingly similar to the real thing, you might even say life-like. I haven't seen this...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 3, 2007
Your JPMA At Work: Are Boomers To Blame For Crib Bumpers?
In her ongoing exploration of The Problem with Parents These Days, Judith Warner wrote about the deadly new trend of Helicopter Parenting. Uh-huh. If there's a crisis in modern parenting, maybe it's that we lack context and historical perspective. I've...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 30, 2007
Bumper Bonnet: One Less Thing We Can Mock Australians About
When our domestic GM divisions blithely ignore our demands for family-sized El Caminos, and our international reputation and currency have been flushed [counterclockwise, btw, I just checked] down the toilet, Australia-mocking Americans could always take comfort knowing that at...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 27, 2007
Hello Kitty Hell Is Other People's Hello Kitty
I'm not posting this photo of a Hello Kitty car seat because I think anyone should get it. [Besides, I can't find the product info, which has something to do with Guardian, according to that brochure.] No, I'm posting...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 26, 2007
Does USAir Forbid FAA-Approved CARES Safety Harnesses?
DT reader Darren and his gang are planning a trip to France and Switzerland soon, and he was considering putting his kid in a CARES Safety Harness--which is FAA-approved--rather than haul a freakin' car seat around the Alps on a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 23, 2007
Ouno Trenchcoat Detective Bags As Diaper Bags? Ooh, Yes!
If I had to narrow it down to one fashion disaster per city, New York's would be commuter sneakers, while DC's would be trenchcoats. I'd sure like to believe when they're off the clock, all those middle-aged government schlubs...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 20, 2007
Cradleboard = Baby Backpack + Plagio Helmet + Supermax + Tatonka
From Henry Wood Elliott, Harper's Magazine, 1878:The writer in 1870 was taking a short-cut over the country near old Fort Casper, on the Platte, when he paused to kneel and drink at a clear little stream as he crossed....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 19, 2007
Hmm. Dadblogs Available For Subscription On The Amazon Kindle e-Reader
Hello, slightly random-looking, e-ink-based, wireless, e-book reading device from Amazon. Amazon wants to sell you a Kindle for $400, then sell you digital books and subscriptions to magazines, newspapers, and blogs [?!] to read on it. The content is delivered...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
In Greece They Do Potty Training The Old-Fashioned Way
They urn it. [Sorry, long weekend.] Tech exec Bill Bliss snapped this at the Agora museum in Athens. My question: is that image of mom & kid for real? Because it looks made up. Boingboing has a larger version. Of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 14, 2007
British And Knittish And Looking For An iPhone?
Right this way. Thanks for stopping by. It's four months on, and our 3-year-old daugther still loves her iPhone, by the way. The iPhone You Won't Have To Queue For [guardian.co.uk]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 13, 2007
OLPC G1G1 2WKS, 3-2-1, GO!
The One Laptop Per Child--aka The Laptop Formerly Known As The $100 Laptop before it costed out at around $200--started their Give One, Get One campaign yesterday. For two weeks, when you order two of OLPC's XO Laptops for...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 7, 2007
They Hate Us For Our BebeSounds Inflatable Birth Announcements
Whatever top secret military contractor developed the inflatable, lit-from-within, figurative nylon balloon technology that makes these 6' x 5' BebeSounds Inflatable Birth Announcements possible deserves every tax dollar they were awarded in their no-bid, sweetheart contract. Do they have...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 6, 2007
Wtd: The Minimalist-est Guy-Friendly Sling
So for The Other Kid, I'm really considering trying a sling. We have our Bjorn as a safety, but if there's a clean-enough, unfussy-enough, functionally excellent sling out there to try, I'd love to hear about it. [I don't...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 2, 2007
DT DDW Watch: Whoa, That Bassinet Thing Is A Gazelle Bakfiets
This photo from Core77 appears to show a bike company's booth at Dutch Design Week, and I wondered in print if that bassinet-looking thing was a bike sidecar. Turns out it's a bike frontcar. As you can see from...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 25, 2007
CPSC: Apparently, 1mm Bumbo Baby Seats Aren't Meant For Use On Tables
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; } .flickr-yourcomment { } .flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; } .flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } bumbo, originally uploaded by dulcesmommy. You know how Bumbo baby seats totally look like untippable...
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[read the full post...]
October 23, 2007
Chicco Is The Man: Ballistic Bimmer Blowout Barely Bothers Budapest Baby
So Balazs is blazing along the "Hungarian autobahn" in his BMW E61 M5 Touring--though to be honest, 180kmh is only 80mph 112mph, not very fast for an M5 or an autobahn--when he has a rear tire blowout, which starts...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Have You Gotten Anything Bronzed Lately And/Or Ever?
This just in, from an email titled "RE: Cool Product," kindershoe.com is a "website that offer [sic] a unique baby shoe bronzing service ideal for baby keepsakes or gifts." Really? Unique? Because frankly, nothing seems less unique or cool than...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 11, 2007
Pakistani Publicist Takes Wide Stance On Diaper-Changing Stroller
The BabyDeck is a changing station built into a stroller seat. It folds out like a La-Z-Boy footrest [actually, it folds out like the footrest on a Delta Business Elite seat, which is the opposite direction from a La-Z-Boy.]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 5, 2007
Toilet Ink
"Jeckida's groundbreaking Toilet Ink [TM], makes it incredibly simple to tattoo your toilet." Their videos are still the best in the entire toilet decorating industry. Toilet Ink videos [toiletink.com] Previously: We're No. 2! We're No. 2! DT reports from the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 4, 2007
Dude Buys The Only Non-Girly Sling On Etsy.
I remember being completely floored when I was walking down the street in Amsterdam, and right there in the store window was--a male mannequin wearing a grey pinstriped suit with a matching baby sling. Since I was kidfree at the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 1, 2007
Bwahahahaha Park Slope Like-A-Bike-Snobs-In-Training
From the parent report at Gowanus Lounge:We were on our way back from a great afternoon in Prospect park and my son was happily gliding downhill on his "Like-a-bike" type bike that happens to be made by another brand...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 30, 2007
Go Ahead Lead, Make My Day: The Innov-X Handheld XRF Analyzer
The government's been taken over by a bunch of pantywaists from Gucci Gulch who lobby to slash funding for eveything but their own wallet-lining pork. Corporate fat cats are selling the country out, making toys from who-knows-what in order...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 27, 2007
Is BabyPlus Inventor A Doctor? It Goes Without Saying
It just doesn't stop. Read the highlighted section of the biography of BabyPlus Prenatal Education System inventor Dr. Brent Logan [It's on a page called "The Science of BabyPlus - The Scientific Basis of BabyPlus"]:He also holds a teaching...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 20, 2007
BabyPlus Inventor Responds: 'I Am Not A Quack. Also, Buy My Book.'
Dr. Brent Logan, PhD., the self-esteemed neurogeneticist/psychologist, is the inventor of the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System, the only prenatal rhythm sequencer-on-a-beltpack endorsed by both 02138 Magazine: The World of Harvard AND famous pregnancy expert Nicole Richie. Logan invented the system...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 19, 2007
Great Expectations: Victoria Staten Baby Carrier
Last week's or whenever's posts about baby stuff you hear about online meeting expectations--or not, or exceeding them--prompted DT reader Adrienne to burn a few minutes of precious naptime sharing this story:After seeing the company featured on your site...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Gear Of Son Of Crunchgear
Gearblogger extraordinaire [and onetime DT guestblogger] John Biggs posted some highlights of his son Kasper's inventory at Crunchgear. There's a Quinny Buzz, some select Ikea, a few annoying plastic toys, and my favorites: actual obsolete gadgets and Polish-language toys from...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Adiri Breast-Shaped Bottle, Or Do Co-Sleepers Dream Of Eclectic Teats?
Yes, yes they do. DT reader Eric:So weird. I just had a dream last night that co-sleeping parents (like us) could help transition their kid to their own crib if there was some sort of fake boob in the crib...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 17, 2007
This Rosle Can Opener Is The Most Incredible Can Opener In The World.
The headline really says it all: I open like two cans a year, and so every time is like an all-new revelation of how easy, safe, comfortable, and good-looking this paradigm-changing can opener is. Rosle Can Opener, $35 [williams-sonoma.com]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
"The Mittens Stay On The Handle": Found PR Poetry At Kind+Jugend
I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing out loud at the inadvertent poetry of the 51-page [PDF] Kind+Jugend News & Innovations roundup. [Seriously, it was driving my wife crazy.] It's a perfect storm of PR hype, application packet formalism,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 16, 2007
Ausgezeichnet! The Bugaboo Car Seat??
Here's a picture from the just-ended Kind+Jugend expo in Cologne that seems to show some Bugaboo Bee-matching infant carriers. Either that, or Bugaboo and its car seat-selling expo neighbors drove around Cologne at night, stealing wood from construction sites,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 13, 2007
BabyPlus "Prenatal Education System," MC Hammer, Will Get Your Kid Into Harvard
From the current issue of 02138 Magazine [tagline: "The World of Harvard"], a cover feature [also on the cover: "The Harvard 100: The most influential alumni"] on getting your kid into Harvard:...Such grueling competition isn't going away. In fact,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 11, 2007
Hey, Nature Boy! Where You Planning On Biodegrading That Diaper?
DT reader Tania was stoked to find some Nature Babycare diapers from Sweden at her local Target recently. Why? Because they're "100% Biodegradable!" Finally!Nature Baby Care claims their disposable diapers are biodegradable as well as their wipes and entire line...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Flytta, Please: Stainless Steel Changing Table From Ikea Kitchen Cart
On the subject of stainless steel changing tables, DT reader Eric sends along this photo of their nursery, which sports a sweet Ikea Flytta kitchen cart--the bigger, 38 5/8", 3-shelf model, not the 23" wood-topped one. It has lockable...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 10, 2007
Go Figure: Go Home Australian Inflatable "Baby Spa"
Maybe I'm not quite grasping the concept here. Do Australian parents really have so much uncommitted time in their day that they blow up a whole bathtub, fill it with water, empty it, deflate it, and carefully hang it...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 7, 2007
Awesome: Day Of The Dead Dishes Set
Here it is, barely after Labor Day, and already, we're talking about El Dia de los Muertos. Skulls hanging from the grocery store ceiling, doily things draped across the food court at the mall. It's not until November, people!...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Great Expectations: That Space Shuttle Tableware Set
Sometimes the key to being happy about your online purchases is to have ridiculously low expectations to begin with. I kind of figured that Space Shuttle-shaped meal set would be a piece of junk in person, and when saw...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 6, 2007
Great Expectations: The Passchal Rubber Dad Bag
So I've been hearing good feedback from people about the Cinderella follow-up post. [Actually, most were bummed because they wanted the book to be better, but still.] We're so used to buying some things online, but when you start getting...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 5, 2007
Baby Time Capsule Will Still Not Outlast Disney's Control Of Pooh-Related Copyrights
What better way could there be to capture the love and joy of your child's birth and preserve it for the far off future, than with a stainless steel time capsule engraved with your child's name and birthdate in...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
No One Needs A Rubber Bracelet With 256Mb Of USB-Accessible Storage
I would need at least a gig. Besides, last time I checked, low capacity USB memory and rubber bracelets from annoying corporate mouthpieces were each selling for like a dollar. Which makes the Mouse House premium $22.50. Nice work...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 4, 2007
Media Frenzy: More Recalls, More Hollow Industry Reassurance
So when I posted two days ago that there were more Mattel recalls coming down the pike, I didn't think I meant today. But there you have it, the AP is reporting Mattel is recalling 675,000 Barbie accessories for lead...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 30, 2007
BabyPlus Prenatal Audio System Makes Normal Babies Look Like Geniuses Compared To Their Stupid Parents
So I'm reading and enjoying Joel's return to gadgetblogging at BoingBoing, when I see a post about the BabyPlus Prenatal Education System, [$150] which provides a "curriculum" of 16 audio rhythms, basically remixes of the mother's heartbeat, which get piped...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 29, 2007
Baby Paper? "Because Babies Love To Play With Paper!" Uh,
Somewhere in America, a car is parked in the driveway tonight. It's regular space has been usurped for months now by several dozen cases of [reams of?] CD jewelbox-sized, crinkly plastic-lined fleece hankies known as Baby Paper. ["Known" may...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Probo The Huggable Hospital Robot Is Obviously From Europe
The University of Brussels and the ANTY Project are developing a friendly, plush hospital robot for diagnostic and therapeutic use with children. Despite getting burned on the Teddy Ruxpin thing a few years back, Bill Gates is involved in underwriting...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 23, 2007
After BPA Blurb, Publicists Reach Out To "Headline Parenting" "Expert"
So while I didn't get on CBS yesterday, I did get a quote in the Washington Post's article about the latest developments in the whole Bisphenol A toxic plastic baby bottle controversy. [I guess that means I'm not TV-hot, only...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 22, 2007
Liveblogging The CBS Early Show Segment On 'Hip, Hands-On Dads'
A little while back, CBS's Early Show called, looking for one of the "new breed of dads" they could put on TV. He had to be: hip hands-on in the NY Metro area, and willing to let CBS show his...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 20, 2007
DTQ: What's Missing From The Non-Fugly Kids Market?
DT reader, advertiser, and mailing list drawing prize donor Mark from Sparkability took a break from his sweet kids design guru-ing to email his list of the Top Ten Most Needed Kids Products:Cribs under $400 Doll/Play furniture (crib/cradle/highchair) Cookie Jar...
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[read the full post...]
August 16, 2007
NYT Dad Inventors Story Requires Extensive Setup
The NY Times has a big feature today on "the new breed of involved dads" whose unique childraising perspective drives them to invent new and exciting products. And whose very existence still seems to require a lot of incredulous data...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 15, 2007
Petunia Pickle Bottom Diaper Bags For Dads: Hint For Them By Name
You know how secret shopper Paco Underhill says women will cut through the men's department, but if the women's department's right up front, men will not need socks after all; we'll just catch up with you at the food court?...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Dude's Selling A Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix On eBay, Also That Ikea Trofast Cradle
Now one of the basic rules about car seats is that you don't buy them used because you just never know for certain that they haven't been in an accident and had their structural integrity compromised somehow. That said,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 12, 2007
Louis Vuitton & Takashi Murakami Love The Little Children
Superflat Monogram [2003], Murakami Takashi's magical, animated tale of an adorable little girl named Aya and her keitai phone teaches us one of life's most important lessons: Louis Vuitton is a lovable, selfless panda with a heart of gold...
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[read the full post...]
August 10, 2007
Flickr Dad: It's My Kid In A Bakfiets Baby
Flickr user Hive carried a baby bakfiets home in a bakfiets. Then the baby put the baby holding the baby in the baby bakfiets. [note: it makes plenty of sense in Dutch.] Bakfiets op Bakfiets; Kinderbakfiets [hive's flickr stream,...
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[read the full post...]
August 9, 2007
Bakfiets In America! Bike Carriers In The NYT
The NY Times has a round up of new baby seats and carriers for bikes, including the WeeRide Kangaroo, some trailers [But not the Cougar Chariot?] and the Dutch bikebox, Bakfiets! suhweet. And yes, though the Bakfiets could hold...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Chinese Car Seats: The Perfect [Shit]Storm Of Child Safety?
When he sent along the link to Alibaba.com, the Thomas Register of globalized wholesaling, DT reader T tees up the issue beautifully:I, at least, assumed that the companies that slap their brand on car seats actually substantially design them,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 1, 2007
When I Hear JPMA Supports Safety, I Reach For My EU-Certified Car Seat
Proper use of a car seat is a vital and effective way to protect kids while driving. The lobbying and trade group for the Baby Industrial Complex, the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, says that car seat safety tests are "more...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 30, 2007
Ollie Kottke + Nintendo Mashup
Old blogger/new dad Jason answers the burning question, "iPhone, Wiimote, or newborn baby: which has the best built-in accelerometer?" [here's a hint: it's the one with the Moro Reflex plug-in installed]. Surprisingly, he doesn't make the next leap of logic:...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 27, 2007
Your Baby Industrial Complex At Work: Dorel Launches Maxi-Cosi, Kitchen Sink, In US
While we've loved--and hated and grown to like--the Maxi-Cosi car seats we bought from Europe, I'll be the first to admit, I've dropped the ball on covering the arrival of the multinational conglomerate Dorel's US launch of its highly regarded...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 24, 2007
Axiss Of Swivel Threatens Old Europe's Way Of Car Seat Loading Life
I always knew those French were up to something. Bebe Confort, the rival to our own Amurcan Baby Industrial Complex, has released the Axiss swivelling car seat for Group 1, the EU standard for kids 9-36 months old and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 11, 2007
DT Retail Scoutabout: Bugaboos And Space Shuttles Edition
image: Space Shuttle tray from Pecoware via superlocal's flickr stream Some news, sales and rumours from the retail wing of the Baby Industrial Complex: First, the bad news: DT reader Ndele reports that when he and his wife tried...
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[read the full post...]
July 8, 2007
Oof! Oeuf Baby Lounger Recalled For Frame Failure
Wow, a recall at one of the mini majors of the indie baby gear market. A recent batch of Oeuf Hang-Out Baby Loungers have been recalled by the company and CPSC after six reports of the tubular steel frame failing....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
The IKEA Diaper Bag & Changing Pad, Complete [Thanks Again, Mom!]
So a couple of months ago, after seeing Funk-Station's computer bag reworking of the classic blue IKEA bag, I wondered if you couldn't tweak it into a diaper bag, too. It has three separate pockets and both hand and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 5, 2007
Bamboo Baby Spoon By Bambu
Everyone has his special purpose; it's just a question of finding the right time for it. Bambu's is making plates and bowls out of bamboo. And the time to use it is now, when the earth is teetering on...
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[read the full post...]
July 4, 2007
My Mom Hand-Knit An iPhone
My mom was insanely cool even before she knitted an iPhone. Last week, as the hype was peaking, I braced for reports of kids across the country grabbing for their parents' new iPhones; it was a drool-soaked disaster waiting...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 29, 2007
Check Out The Vintage Baby Scale In This Japanese Bathhouse
Asahi-yu, somewhere in Shin-Nakano, on the Marunouchi line. I can't believe this sento is only a few minutes west of Shinjuku. It looks like the ones we used to go to in the mountains 20 years ago. Though I...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 17, 2007
Art Bee-Powered Pregalyzer
Regine's in the throes of art-meets-technology sensory overload at the Royal College of Art graduate exhibition in London. That's where she saw Susana Soares' project, Bee's, which explores "how we might co-habit with natural biological systems and use their...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 14, 2007
Eindhoven Graduate Gear Lifts, Separates, Carries
A bit of advice: if it's really that cold, maybe the kid should have some socks on. Just saying. Eindhoven Academy Graduation Exhibition 2007, designer unknown [reluct.com]...
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[read the full post...]
Baby On Board For Now Sign
This seems to be either a Romanian product, or strictly a DIY project. Have at it, send pictures. [pcnet.ro via core77]...
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[read the full post...]
June 12, 2007
Porter x Aprica UN Colabo: Dad-Friendly Baby Gear
Aprica is really on a roll. They've got the Italy thing, and they actually did a colabo [Japlish for cross-brand collaboration, see] with the venerable Yoshida Kaban to create a line of infant carriers, diaper bags, and other gear...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 11, 2007
Aprica UN Perpapa: Neoprene Carrier Clothing For Dads
You know what I was thinking just the other day? We don't see enough neoprene in the baby world. Especially functional pieces of gear for guys. [I know, I know, the guys at BuiltNY make neoprene bottle carriers and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 3, 2007
Zewi Fix Decke: We Are The Sheet; We Are The Children.
Yeow, the last time I saw someone as obsessed over a sheet as I am about the Zewi Fix Decke, it was Jason Patric in Neil LaBute's Your Friends & Neighbors. [If you don't know what I'm talking about,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 2, 2007
This Zid Zid Airplane Backpack Is Just Awesome.
Even at my road warrioringest worst, when I was flying somewhere literally every 36-48 hours for months, I refused to get a wheelie suitcase. None of the luggage companies I liked made them, and they just seemed like a sign...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
June 1, 2007
DIY Kid-sized Robot Rickshaw
So the kid's Miniboo is sitting in the corner of her room for a year-plus with one of the wheels broken off, meanwhile, a Mr. Wu of Somewhere Outside Beijing has made not one, but two robot-powered rickshaws, a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
No Idea Why This Was Called A Mickey Mouse Gas Mask
But it was. Doesn't look a think like Mickey, though. World War II-era. Gas masks for kids during the Blitz. This one's in a war museum somewhere near flickr user psmithson: Swansea, maybe? I have no idea. According to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 30, 2007
RUN! HIDE! JPMA Says Toxic Car Seats Are No Problem!
When I first saw the reports a couple of weeks ago of some hippie treehugger study that found significant levels of toxic, even carcinogenic, chemicals like lead, chlorine, and bromine in a whole range of car seats, I was like,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 29, 2007
Graco, You Wanna Take This Outside?
Happy freakin' Father's Day to you, too, Graco. Oh, and you're welcome. My dad asked me what kind of portable crib he should get for the beach [our kid sleeps in her own bed, but my sister's 1.5yo needed a...
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[read the full post...]
May 25, 2007
So Chicks DO Skate. In Germany. On The Mama Board.
A bit of friendly, unsolicited advice to the makers of the Mama Board: If you're gonna go and do something as awesome as engineering and manufacturing and marketing a skateboard that can latch onto a stroller, DON'T give it...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 24, 2007
The Thilde Pocket: Saddlebags For A Crib
So Pia Eriksson's idea for designing the Thilde Pocket was to buy her and her baby daddy some more time in the morning, by giving the kid [Thilde, obviously] something to entertain herself with. See, it just velcros over...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 18, 2007
Consumer Reports: Car Seat Handle Standards Need To Be Recalled
So yeah, all that stuff about how the Evenflo Embrace-n-Dump car seat recall was only the latest in a 10-year string of recalls for the exact same problem, and no one's really noticed or done anything about it, and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 17, 2007
Diapers Don't Biodegrade? BioUPgrade By Making A Rooftop Diaper Herb Garden!
The environmental impact of disposable diapers got you down? Which depresses you more? Their non-biodegradability, landfill fillability, non-compostability, non-recyclability, or their weird, chemically enabled absorbability? Well, cheer up, it's spring! The time of year when unpronounceable Dutch design firms...
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[read the full post...]
May 12, 2007
Heckuva Job, CPSC: 12 Million Car Seats Recalled For Baby Catapulting Since 1997
somehow not recalled for ugliness DT reader Throkky pointed out "the most sad/hilarious part" of the Evenflo Embrace 'N Dump car seat recall: It's actually Evenflo's third recall for the exact same problem. It gets sadder and hilariouser, though....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 11, 2007
Congratulations, You're Our 679th Faller! Evenflo Recalls Concussion-Prone Car Seats
The CPSC, NHSTA, and Evenflo have announced the recall of 450,000 Evenflo Embrace car seats because when the seat is used as an infant carrier, the handle can unexpectedly release, rotate the seat forward, and dump the kid on...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 10, 2007
DIY Pointer Sisters Pinball Clock From Sesame Street
If you're planning an old school Sesame Street disco pinball machine/Pointer Sisters theme for the kid's nursery--and who isn't? look at all the possibilities down there--brother, has Thydzik got the DIY clock tutorial for you. [There are even cleaned...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 8, 2007
The IKEA Diaper Baghack
I just heard today from diaperbagmaker to the stars Mia Bossi that blue is the new black: “We know blue is going to be a big color this fall, so we wanted to incorporate it into the line—but also...
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[read the full post...]
May 7, 2007
Ten Worst, Single Best Spiderman Tie-Ins
If I had to pick the most egregious examples of Spiderman 3 marketing asshattery we've seen, it'd be a tossup between the posters taped to the ends of the shelves and carts at our public library in DC, and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
May 3, 2007
JPMA Says Nothing Wrong With Wal-Mart's Vinyl Bibs Of Death
You know when I started to be unnerved about some kind of safety risk involving the lead in vinyl-coated bibs? When I got a press release from the JPMA titled, "JPMA Notes CPSC Declaration that Vinyl Bibs Are Safe: Inaccuracies...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
April 27, 2007
Amazon Baby Registry 25% Off Coupon Jiu Jitsu
I was wondering where Amazon's good old, "$25 kickback on your $99 Pampers order"-style deals went, and after trying to wrap my head around how this Baby Registry offer works, I miss them even more. Here's what I get...
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[read the full post...]
April 26, 2007
Buddhist-Made Fleurville Diaper Bag Helps You Overcome Attachment To Your $70.
They say life is suffering, but if more products like the Fleurville Mobi come out, I think we sentient beings could turn that around pretty darn quick. The folks at Fleurville wanted to build a "clean" diaper bag: "Clean...
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[read the full post...]
ReliaDose: PharmaNip BottleSyringe
The ReliaDose infant medicine delivery is basically a syringe-in-a-bottle. It's a way to fake out a feisty kid who won't take medicine via a syringe alone. It looks like it was invented while staring at a Dr. Brown's anti-gas...
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[read the full post...]
April 19, 2007
More Moo-Flickr Goodness: This Time, It's Notecards
Moo, the folks who turn your photos into beautiful little calling cards will now turn them into notecards, too. I still can't get over how awesome the Moo Minicards I got last fall are. They're printed with images culled...
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[read the full post...]
April 17, 2007
Dad Builds PBSKids.org Kiosk
We've expended an enormous amount of energy keeping the kid from touchscreening our laptops, so we're already doomed on this one, but maybe it's not too late for you. A dad named John loaded Firefox onto a surplus point-of-sale...
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[read the full post...]
April 12, 2007
Whodathought? Teething Ring/Toothbrush Combo
I'm usually wary of 2-or-more-in-1 inventions; more often than not, they end up doing neither thing very well. Like sporks, which are barely suitable for eating KFC "mashed potatoes", but nothing else. But this teething ring/toothbrush seems interesting, and...
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[read the full post...]
April 10, 2007
Wet Baby Dipper Alarm? Try Wet Baby Diaper Alarm
"Eastern Sale is a estore for Tecoserve," which is located in Maharashtra's second largest city, Pune [No. 1 is a quaint little 'burg called Mumbai]. They have over 20 years in the IT business, so you shouldn't worry too...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Vintage Eames Skateboard Decks For Girl By Tony Larson
And by "vintage," I mean 2005 at the latest. That's when Colin McKay--the vert guy with the Eames Rocker on his deck--stopped skating for Girl and joined Danny Way and the rest in the revival of Plan B. So...
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[read the full post...]
April 6, 2007
Pampers Finally Getting Rid Of VPL [Visible Pampers Lines]
Naturally, this would happen just as we're getting traction again on the toilet training. One of the things that bugged about Pampers is the needless decoration, which would hang out of the kid's pants and show through when she'd wear...
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[read the full post...]
March 30, 2007
If Found, Please Return This USB Drive & The Kid Wearing It
A geekdad adapted an auto-run software trick for adding an "If you're reading this, this USB stick is lost. Please return it to me at..." message to a USB memory stick into a kidtracking solution for the family vacation at...
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[read the full post...]
March 25, 2007
Tinkerbell LED Suitcase: I Don't Want To Be 'Trend-Right'
I don't know why the idea of a kid-sized pink and green vinyl Tinkerbell suitcase studded with LED's never bothered me before. Actually I do know why: because the merest possibility of the existence of a blinking fairy suitcase...
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[read the full post...]
March 23, 2007
CPSC Issues Recall For 100,000 Dad-Colored Infantino SlingRiders
There's one less option available for combatting against babywearer manboobs. The CPSC has announced a recall for about 100,000 Infantino SlingRider baby carriers. Apparently, the plastic strap adjuster can break and drop your kid on his head. Seriously, it's...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 22, 2007
Does This Baby Carrier Make My Manboobs Look Big?
In search of a way to carry his kid Bubba without straining his back too much, Chicago area at-home dad Howard Ludwig decided to check out a babywearing seminar at the local library. But unless you count a bunch of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 21, 2007
Beck Sketchel Diaper Bag, Beck Stickers, Beck Beck Beck Beck Beck
Beck loves the artists to do his album covers. He collaborated with a friend, Jeremy Blake, on a previous album, and on his latest release, The Information, he and twenty graphic/street/sticker artists from around the world put together various...
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[read the full post...]
Embedded Razor Blade Makes First Years Sleeper Extra Close, But Less Secure
On their way home from the hospital Ted, a new dad in Wisconsin, and his new mom/fiancee stopped by Target to pick up a First Years Close & Secure Sleeper for the kid. I'll let Ted's email to Consumerist...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 20, 2007
Consumer Reports Slams Consumer Reports For Flawed Car Seat Report
The car seat world freaked out a couple of months ago when Consumer Reports announced that 10 out of 12 major US car seat models didn't perform well on more stringent crash tests required for new cars. Then just two...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 14, 2007
Holy Smokes, Why Is This $300 Sunshine Carseat Only $170??
The Sunshine Radian 80 carseat is probably the strongest car seat on the market. It's made from steel like an aircraft seat, not from plastic like a Happy Meal toy. It's also narrower on the outside while providing comparable...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 8, 2007
Dad Spends 22 Extra Nanoseconds With Kids, Relativistically Speaking
Tom Van Baak decided to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Einstein's theory of general relativity and the 50th anniversary of Essen's first cesium clock by taking his family on a trip up Mount Rainier, thereby demonstrating the time-dilating effects of...
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[read the full post...]
March 6, 2007
Puzzle Place Setting Teaches Kid Where The Fork Goes. In Europe.
Fresh outta school Dutch designer Wendy Boudewijns won the Red Dot Award for her Puzzle Dinner Tray. Everything fits together like a puzzle, and most things have those little red knobs on them.] "At Royal VKB, we like our...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
March 4, 2007
Sweet Tibetan Sheepskin Yakskin Baby Sling--And Birthing Center Vs. Delivery Room
This shot, titled "Father & Son," was taken in Amdo, Tibet, by Brooklyn photographer Raul Gutierrez, and it shows, among other things, an awesome sheepskin baby sling a yakskin robe being used as a baby sling [thanks for the...
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[read the full post...]
March 1, 2007
Sweet, Custom-Painted (Diaper) Bags By Studio Espinosa
Matthew Cruickshank cited the Boston-based character design firm Studio Espinosa as one of the inspirations for his Neo-Mickey animation. Espinosa is run by a husband-wife team who are just beginning to see their wealth of ideas realized. They have a...
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[read the full post...]
February 28, 2007
About That BOTTLE OF DEATH You Just Put In The Kid's Mouth. Again.
Bottles of Doom in order of descending toxicity, l to r: Avent, Evenflo, Gerber, Dr. Brown's, Playtex This just in from Environment California, an advocacy group which commissioned the University of Missouri to test five major brands of hard,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 27, 2007
This Landfill Is Your Landfill, This Landfill Is My Landfill
Idaho dad Anthony Doerr takes a break from hipster parenting to agonize over the devastating amount of trash his family generates. His, yours and ours, that is:Before I became a parent, I didn’t bother to think about garbage all that...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 22, 2007
Q: Has Anyone Ever Had Their Euro Car Seat Confiscated At Customs?
A freaked out British DT reader emailed, wondering if their Maxi-Cosi Cabrio was going to get confiscated by US Customs when they landed at the airport. Seems they were reading along in an otherwise uneventful and mildly informative messageboard thread...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 20, 2007
Baby Tattoos: "FDA and Mother Approved," Dad Vetoed
WTF is with the played out 100-year-old tattoo cliches? Look, if you're gonna tattoo your child, at least get a design that shows a couple of creative synapses are firing up there. I mean, it's gonna be on there...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 18, 2007
Quiltsrÿche: Put Them In The Quilted Maiden
Perfect post for a Sunday morning. Seattle metalhead artist Boo Davis picked up quilting from her grandmother, who, in her long quilting life, probably never realized the traditional Half-Log Cabin design would look good transformed into a giant, grinning...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 16, 2007
Some TV Mook 'Invents' Product That's Been Around For Years
It probably shouldn't be a surprise that the producer/host of some random, me-too reality TV shows, now thinks that he's invented a nipple that fits on a water bottle. The only thing he deserves credit for is getting them...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 15, 2007
Natural Cleaning Supplies Popular Among "Science Is Hard! Let's Go Shopping!" Crowd
Prompted by their school's switch to natural cleaning supplies, parents are switching, too...says Don Imus's wife, whose non-profit group tries to get schools to switch to natural cleaning supplies. And science schmience, if ammonia residue on the coffee table...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 13, 2007
Choke-Proofing Your Child-Proofing: Outlet Cover Edition
There are a couple of solutions for making electrical outlets safer for mobile kids. Especially when bite-sized outlet covers can be nearly as hazardous as the sockets themselves. In DC, the real electrical outlet threat is in the living room,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Headfake Your Medicine-Spitting Kid With The Kidzmed Pacifier
It may look like a harmless pacifier, but when you push the plunger on the Kidz-Med Medicine Dispenser--BAM!--the medicine hits the back of the kid's throat, bypassing his tongue, and most all his spitting reflexes. So if the trick...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 12, 2007
Sweet Britax Promotion - 20% Off Through 2/16
EliteCarSeats.com is a former DT advertiser who's got a sweet deal going on Britax car seats. Through Friday, 2/16, all infant carrier and car seat models except the Regent are 20% off. The deal goes for accessories like bases and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 9, 2007
$25? For Pampers? Meh. gDiapers Is Giving Away $4,500
Sheesh, February is officially Diaper Deal Month now. Turns out gDiapers, the amazing, flushable diapers that come with their own toilet bowl swizzle stick, is throwing a Happy Baby, Happy Planet Giveaway in conjunction with Wild Oats, the other organic...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 8, 2007
Waterford Crystal Baby Bottle Now Makes Perfect Sense
This Waterford cut crystal baby bottle seems nice enough, but what're the odds that it'll match your other Waterford crystal? Exactly, slim to none. Fortunately, it's for sale at Bed Bath & Beyond, so if you get one at...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 7, 2007
Method Kickback Madness At Amazon
At $57 a case, the Triple Concentrated Baby Laundry Detergent alone is enough to qualify for Amazon's $10 instant checkout kickback on Method Products. Personally, I would stare at six bottles of baby laundry detergent and wonder what happened to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 3, 2007
The Pampers Porsche & The Pampers Box
Set aside for a moment the glaringly obvious suggestion that Pampers should've sponsored a Porsche Boxster, not a Carrera, to promote their new diaper caddy, the Porsche Box. No one in the fast-paced worlds of diaper marketing and motorsports...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Kickback With Amazon, Bro: Pampers $25/99 Instant Rebate In February
Amazon SO wants you to be their friend, they'll give you $25 just to hang out with them this month. Hang out and buy $99 worth of Pampers, Bibsters, Luvs or Kandoo products in one shot, that is. Qualifying...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
February 2, 2007
Itzbeen Baby Timer: Good. Couldabeen Great
Who knew we were living in the midst of an at-home-dad-driven renaissance in baby tracking technology? While the Baby Industrial Complex was introducing such literally archaic devices as the Mom Abacus as recently as 2004, dadovators like Ben MacNeil and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 31, 2007
Sweet Stainless Steel Sippy
Good morning clean, cool water from a stainless steel sippy cup. Stainless Steel Sippy Cup [Klean Kanteen, Greenfeet]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 28, 2007
Cuusoo Seikatsu's Customer-Driven Design [For Kids]
Look, I just came back from the International Gift Fair at the Javits Center, so I think I know a thing or two about utterly useless crap for sale. Right now, the idea behind Cuusoo Seikatsu ["Imagination Life"] sounds pretty...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 27, 2007
Five Days Left In Amazon's $99/30 Huggie's Kickback Scheme
Just a reminder to the non-cloth, non-flushable, non-Pampers, non-treehuggers out there: Amazon's offer of a $30 instant refund on a $99 Huggie's order expires 1/31. True, you'll have to take the Hummer out of the garage to make room for...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 26, 2007
Consumer Repents: CR President Says Really, Really Sorry About The Car Seat Deal
Consumer Reports President Jim Guest apologized--again--for the testing errors that led to their alarming report on car seats a couple of weeks back. He also defended CR's practice of using outside labs for some of their testing, even as he...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 23, 2007
DIY Uh, Duct Tape Baby Bjorn
Good to see the many uses of duct tape are not lost on the new parents of the world. If anyone has made a full-fledged Bjorn-like infant carrier out of duct tape, definitely drop us a line. Miantro's album:...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
eBay Roundup: Changing Tables
clockwise, from top left: VINTAGE ART DECO SERVER BUFFET CABINET deskey rhode era Reserve not met. Located in Providence, RI. NYC delivery for $125. Perfectly sized for a standard changing pad (18" deep). Has a nice, little rail on...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 18, 2007
AWKWARD! Consumer Reports Updates Car Seat Study: 'Never Mind."
Yeah, so. Have you put that deathtrap carseat of yours on Craigslist yet? You might want to just hold off for a minute while Consumer Reports gets their glasses checked. They recalled their recent pot-stirring car seat test results after...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 16, 2007
The Gunslinger: You Can Pry My Cup Holder From My Cold, Dead Hands
I've got a full-blown review of the new Bugaboo Cup Holder in the works. But before we get to that, I want to make sure the newest dads in the audience fully understand the seriousness of the Bugaboo cup...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 13, 2007
Unidentified Local Hordes Fill Bags In Style Villa
Once when I was staying at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, I came back to find a stranger working at my desk, smoking,. Turns out they'd checked him into my room while I was at lunch. The...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 11, 2007
CES Update: Mercedes R-Class Still Not A Minivan
Just to be clear, it was Engadget who called the UWB-to-RSE-equipped MB R500 exhibited at CES an SUV. It is, in fact, a Not-A-Minivan [or Grand Sports Tourer in German]. As for what to call HD video beamed non-stop...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 10, 2007
Heyo, ModernTots The Website Now ModernTots The Store
I met Sarah and Bruce, the ModernTots.com folks, in Las Vegas last year at the ABC Kids expo. They were super-cool and surprisingly nice to me, considering the hassle Daddy Types' "Sure, it's custom-tinted, super-dense, has sweet bamboo veneer,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
No, Suck On The Other End
Let's look at the facts: Armies of towering stewardesses A bunch of hippiesploitation flicks that, one way or another, obsessed our parents' generation Tiger Woods' bikini model wife The beds in which 25% of Europeans were conceived Is it any...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 9, 2007
DT Car Seat Week: Not Safe Enough At Any Speed? UK Car Seat Test Results
After Consumer Reports' tough love car seat tests were announced, several people emailed me about similar tests conducted annually by Which, the UK's version of a feisty, take-no-crap, independent consumer advocacy and testing organization. The tests are remarkably similar in...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Leo Schmeo, Can You Get Me An iPhone?
Yeah yeah congrats, etc. to James Vincent on the birth of his son. Now about that phone... [actually, with this announcement coming the same day as my shipping confirmation and tracking number, it looks like I picked the wrong...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Sweet Juniper Butter Knife For Kids By Alfredo Haberli, $150
Swiss designer Alfredo Haberli created Kid's Stuff, a complete dinnerware service for kids, for the Finnish dish company Iittala [that's two i's, two t's, btw] in 2003. It's thought through to the smallest details, to like making sure the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 8, 2007
Tetris Blanket Damn, It's A Wall Hanging
"Hand wash only and low iron." Bah. There's gotta be some way to use this 29 x 24-inch, hand-pieced Tetris quilt as a baby blanket. Someone get me Grandma on the horn. Tetris quilted wall hanging, only $50 [etsy...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
DT Car Seat Week: JPMA Responds To Blows Smoke At Consumer Reports Test
Who knew? If you decry a whole industry's safety testing standards--and there are cute little babies involved--people get worked up. Reactions and discussion raged all weekend over Consumer Reports' announcement of its car seat crash test findings. Now the Juvenile...
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[read the full post...]
They're Baaack: Amazon Offers $30 Back For $99 Huggies Order
Seeing as how it's about to be filled with several months' worth of Huggies, I have a feeling you won't be parking in the garage for a while. I'd all but given up on Amazon ever trying to bribe...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 7, 2007
Spoka The Friendly Ghost-Shaped Night Light
The other day the wife and the kid went back to Ikea to get some toy bins. [Turns out they fit perfectly under the kid's Ikea bed, much better than the The Container Store ones. Plus, they're only a buck....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 5, 2007
Consumer Reports: Daddy Types Was Right About The Car Seat
Sheesh, for going on three years now, I've had to be all equivocating and diplomatic and hedgy when writing about car seats, and facing regular email criticisms about how we must not love our child, and how could we use...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 4, 2007
In The 1980's, Jamie Lee Curtis Focused On Glutes
It's well known that Jamie Lee Curtis immerses herself in the worlds of her characters. While her sweaty scenes with John Travolta grabbed our national imaginination in the 1985 aerobics thriller Perfect, they also tend to obscure the empathetic...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 3, 2007
Crumpler Bags: Australian For Insanely Customizable Bags
I can't believe I've been sitting on this for so long, sorry. [New Year's Resolution: clean out to-post file.] Crumpler is an Australian bag company that made a name for itself by giving away beer, and lots of it....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
January 2, 2007
Pampers Of The World: One Of These Things Is Not Like The Others
Unpacking the diaper bag today for the first time in over a month, and I realized we had Pampers from three countries: the US, France, and Japan. The Japanese ones [lower left] are far softer than either of the...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 30, 2006
Papa Bricoleur's DIY Baby Rocker
I've felt bad for not responding to the several emails I've gotten recently asking for advice on cool rockers or baby swings. For a long time, I thought that the reason I couldn't bear to post about them is because...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 18, 2006
iFrogz Tadpole The Imperfect Solution For The 4-iPod Family
Core77 gets all philosophical about the iFrogz Tadpole, a rugged, fun-looking iPod case for kids that's perfect for letting your kid watch videos at "the car, grocery store, bus stop, doctor's office, stroller and more!":could this be an indicator...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 17, 2006
Blog It Or Buy It? Sweet Baby Face Vintage Swatch
Can't. Stop. Blogging. Must. Keep. Mouth Shut. And. Bid. Arrghh... Oh, what the hey, I only use the clock on my cell phone these days anyway. If I bought it, this 1995 Swatch with adorable baby faces all over...
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[read the full post...]
December 15, 2006
Baby Gate Mod Lets Cat, Random Limbs Under
Struggling to make it work with a baby and a cat? "Why lay down 50 bucks or more for a gate (that has less than a 2' opening), when you can MAKE exactly what you need for next to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 13, 2006
Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away With The Kid. And The SeaSwing.
Cue up the Enya, baby, because come Springtime, we are finally going sailing again! Now that Kids Nautique has created the SeaSwing, we'll be able to clamp the kid onboard in a safe, upright position either in her Maxi-Cosi carrier...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 11, 2006
"I'm There For You, Son, 80 Perc--Hold On, Let Me Get This"
Parents ignore their kids to do email on their BlackBerries. The kids who are old enough to talk seem to take this personally, even the ones who play pretend Blackberry themselves:One of BlackBerry's biggest defenders, Jim Balsillie, the chairman of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 10, 2006
Hmm. Study Didn't Say: Smoking Moms 2x More Dangerous Than Car Seats
A study at the University of Auckland [NZ] looked at the cases of 43 babies who suffered lack of oxygen. In 9 of those cases, the survey found, kids were resting in an infant carrier for some extended period of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
December 4, 2006
TGI Not Freitag: Passchal Dad Bag Made From Recycled Tires
Reuters somehow uncovered a new diaper bag design for men from a Richmond, VA-based designer, Passchal, who works exclusively in the medium of recycled inner tubes and tires. It looks a bit like that eel skin that was so...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 28, 2006
Sweet DIY Stair Gate Currently In Testing Phase
And by testing, I mean that it's installed and keeping the designers' kid from tumbling down or escaping up the stairs, depending. Joel & Maria Piela, the dad & mom design team behind Blue Ant Studio, whipped up this...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 24, 2006
Philippe Starck Bottle Brush Looks Vaguely Tree-like, Vaguely Expensive
$27 shipped seems a bit steep for a circa-2001 bottle brush designed by Philippe Starck for Target, even if it is mint-in-box. But then again, this is the only one of these things I've seen turn up on eBay...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 21, 2006
Victoria Staten Gear Hits Market In Time For Ski Season
Whether you have a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills or a cabin in Deer Valley on the way to Stein Eriksen Lodge, you don't have to hide your kid away in the sleeping wing...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 14, 2006
Baby Roadies: Diaper Genie II Doesn't Stink
How bummed am I that the kid gives up diapers just in time to deny me the joy of filling a Diaper Genie II? Uh, not that bummed, to be quite honest. But as a fervent student of diaper disposal...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 10, 2006
BlackHawk Damn! The BlackHawk Tactical Battle Bag
DT reader Eric tips the rest of us off to a site you law enforcement and Close Quarters & Clandestine dads out there already know [way to keep a secret, Eric]: BlackHawk.com. If I were to order a diaper...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 9, 2006
Maxpedition Fatboy S-Type Versipack: Changing Pad Sold Separately
Here's a tip from DT reader John: When it comes to my son and traveling around town I've taken a very minimalist approach. I'm a stay at home dad and have been using a Maxpedition Fatboy sling to carry...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 6, 2006
Whoa. Inquarium, The In-Crib Aquarium, From Creative Playthings
Just when I think I'd gotten a handle on the whole Creative Playthings vintage toy thing, I get an email about this: The Creative Playthings Inquarium, The In-Crib Aquarium. Here's what the box says:The newest crib toy--a true departure...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
November 1, 2006
Dad Makes Life Casts Of Baby Hands, Feet, Unidentified Local Man's Abs
Dad Martin Kern began Magic Custard after creating some life casts of his son's hands and feet. Now he's working that in a West London studio, in a "world-renowned Magic Custard Mobile Unit," in the Mothercare [sic] flagship, all over....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 31, 2006
Unboxing The CARES Fly Safe Planeseat Harness
We're getting more Engadgety [Or is it Gizmodo-y?] every day. DT reader Don has had enough of lugging that Tripleplay Sit-n-Stroll around on plane trips. [You know the one. Looks like someone ripped it out of an RV and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 24, 2006
Here, Here: World-famous Designer Decries Cupholder Culture
Jessica Helfand is a designer's designer, and she plumbs deep meaning from the little things in our world the rest of us didn't even notice. This time around, not a moment too soon, she peers through the windshield of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 21, 2006
CVS Goes After Brand-Addled Chump Segment With Playskool Diapers
Even though the kid's been a toilet-using champ, we're still in diaper mode at night, on long trips [though she's done well there, too], and, unfortunately this week, at school, where the transition and stress seem to be translating into...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Arrested Development Fake Pregnancy Belly On eBay
Though it is neither Swedish nor a kitten [nor a penetrating (sic) expose' into America's addiction to porn], the flesh-toned latex pregnancy belly and bust worn by Julia Louis-Dreyfus during season 2 of Arrested Development has attracted considerable interest...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 20, 2006
The Swedish Pacifier Tree
There are a million reasons to subscribe to Cabinet Magazine, but here's one more: Mats Bigert writes about the pacifier tree at Stockholm's zoo in Skansen. Since they began to accumulate thirty years ago until they were last counted...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Cactus Pacifier Mod
DT reader Josh sends word of the Nuggiweg, a cactus-modded pacifier. Made in Germany. And with this simple how-to image, you can make one where you are, too. Cactus Soother [funny-town via josh]...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Unidentified Local Object Actually First Orbit Baby Car Seat Spotted In The Wild
Daddy Types has confirmed that what was mistakenly identified in early reports as "that crock pot" and "something," turns out to be the first known sighting in the wild of an Orbit Baby Travel System. The incident occurred this...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 19, 2006
Returnsforsale.com: Strollers So Nice They Sell Them Twice
Very interesting concept. Thanks to Niche Retail's Advanced URL Deployment System, it's always pretty clear what's for sale on a given site: JoggingStrollers.com, EliteCarSeats.com, ReturnsForSale.com, etc. You may recognize the first two from their flashy advertisements on Daddy Types. That...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 16, 2006
Skip Hop Counter Gear Not Just For Parents Anymore
The problem with going to trade shows, of course, is that you end up seeing--and reporting about--stuff long in advance of when it actually becomes available. And then you realize--as I just did--that it's been five months since I...
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[read the full post...]
October 3, 2006
Actually, Huggies DO Grow On Trees: Old-Growth Huggies
For several years, Kimberley-Clark, the manufacturer of Huggies and Kleenex, has had a stated corporate sustainability policy that "prohibits the use of wood fibers from ... ecologically significant old-growth areas, including ... temperate rainforests in coastal British Columbia." Trouble is--and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
October 1, 2006
Trying On The Bjorn
Paul Hammond's a techie in the UK who's expecting a baby with his wife any day now. His flickr photostream is studded with shots from daddy class, strollershopping, and this photo, taken at the very moment he realizes his...
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[read the full post...]
September 26, 2006
My Little Car Seat Pony: Casey And His Friends
I naively went to ABC Kids Expo execting to stumble across row after row of baby gear innovations. But when I got there, all anyone could talk about was The Zaky. These plush toys that attach to your kid's...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Nice Felterhosen: Mod Baby Swing From Austria
I'm trying to remember which magazine I saw these heavy felt baby swings from Austrian design firm Mohr Polster in; It was either in the launch issue of Cookie or that issue of Dwell where the entire editorial staff...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 25, 2006
Daddy, Where Do Diaper Genie II's Come From?
Another interesting industry tidbit that came to my attention from K+J: Congratulations go to Funny Handel, GmbH, the German distributor of the Angelcare Captiva diaper disposal system, which was named a finalist in the 2006 Innovation Awards, World of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Wingbo & Babybo: Like-a-Skateboards For Babies
he's saying "simply ingenious," btw I feel your pain--really, I do--but I've usually got next-to-nothing to tell you about where to find non-heinous-looking swings and exersaucer-like playgear. No matter how much bacon they ply me with, I have to say...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Hmm. Peeling The Phil & Teds Apple
As DT reader Throkky pointed out, this new/coming soon product from Phil & Teds, the Latte Shaker, looks like it's actually not new, at all. The patented Umix Travel Bottle [above left, er, I mean, right] has been around...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
ABC Report: Phil & Teds & Steve & Jobs
It was evident at JPMA, and again at ABC Kids: in two short years, Phil & Teds is really &ing up their brand presence and their offerings. I first heard of Phil & Teds when I walked into a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 24, 2006
Bamboo Fiber Diapers, People. Can You Get Any Greener?
I hear from the hemp folks that cotton is an extremely resource-intensive crop to grow. Organic cotton's better, I'm sure, but I really have no idea. It's all angels on the head of a pin to me, the guy who...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Lacoste Messenger Bag Lacks Only A Lacoste Changing Pad
It's "raid theapt day" here at Daddy Types. This sweet-looking Lacoste canvas messenger bag would make a decent, adaptable diaper/gear bag for any one as-is. If only it came with a matching Lacoste changing pad, and maybe a waterproof-lined...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 22, 2006
Warning Labels You Won't See
The latest issue of Make Magazine features some great warning labels that you probably won't be seeing on any animatronic or injection-molded plastic toys anytime soon. Danger: Early Brand Exposure The maker of this toy is trying to create a...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 21, 2006
The Diaper Bag Tactical Patch: Removable For Those Days When You're Feeling... Not So Tactical
I never would have thought to solve my unmanly diaper bag problem by accessorizing with a patch. I would've bought a different diaper bag. But I have to admit, it kinda works. Tactical Diaper Bag Patches, S or M,...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 19, 2006
While Marlin Waits In The River, Marcus Wrestles The Squirming Baby In The Minivan
Marcus Melnick's wife wouldn't let him wear his favorite 17-pocket vest on safari to Jamaica because "it made him look like a tourist." But that all changed when he realized it could also function as a masculine diaper bag...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Secrets Of The Burp Catcher
No secret, actually, it makes sense as soon as you see it. The Burp Catcher is a burping cloth with a folded pocket on the bottom, which catches burps. Now you can get all Beavis & Butthead about it...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 17, 2006
How A Kid Can Change Your Life, By Alain de Botton
After How Proust Can Change Your Life, philosopher Alain de Botton's books got a little too precious for me [out of the frying pan, into the fire, I suppose]. But I'll still check in to see what he's up to....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 13, 2006
Ferrari Car Seats? Che Fai? Che Pensi?
The first booth I stopped into after arriving at ABC Kids Sunday morning was Recaro, who have an increasingly prominent and impressive line of sleek, high performance car seats, as befits their racing and sports car reputation. [But more...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
The Tinkle Tube: "Honestly, It's Not Mine!"
In other countries, when a boy suddenly needs to pee in front of a Lamborghini, parents just have to grab whatever container is at hand. In the US, however, we're fortunate enough to have available The Tinkle Tube, from...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 11, 2006
Finally A "Scoop." Quinny & Maxi-Cosi Are Coming To The US In 2007
As befits a leader of the Baby Industrial Complex, the Dorel booth here is one of the old-school, enclosed, "do you have an appointment?" variety, not the wide open, "PLEASE PLEASE look at my little invention and help me pay...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 10, 2006
We're No. 2! We're No. 2! USA! USA! USA!
FLASH: In a stunning upset this morning here in Las Vegas, the USA was eliminated [sic] in the first round of the Potty Training Video World Cup, a sidebar event at the ABC Kids Expo. The hopes of the US...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 7, 2006
FAA: No Airline CARES, So Now Parents Can Buy Carseat Replacement Themselves
Plane travel with a kid is set to get easier, and by "easier," I mean "$80 more expensive and now involves checked car seats instead of carried ones." A while back, the FAA approved the use of seatbelt-supplementing harnesses as...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 6, 2006
Unidentified Local Families Just Stand There
Well, maybe not local. One family has New Jersey dealer plates on their Audi Q7. But they do just stand there. And yet somehow 173 photos don't even begin to capture the moment. In completely unrelated news, the CEO...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 5, 2006
Carbon Neutral Diapers, Now In Cloth, Too
Carbon Clear has been offering a carbon and greenhouse emissions offset for disposable diapers for a while now, inspired by the birth of company founder Mark Chadwick's daughter. Treehugger reports that Carbon Clear has just expanded to include cloth diaper...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
September 1, 2006
Daddy Types Eye On Breasts
They're important enough to get our undivided attention, so here's news from the breastfeeding front: Lactation rooms, company-supplied breast pumps, "sorry about the background noise" comments during conference calls, it's all good news for working moms who want to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 31, 2006
What's In Your Hospital Dadbag?
When we went to the hospital Sunday night before the kid was born, I actually brought my laptop--and a speakerphone. See, they had just released all 5,200 designs for the WTC Memorial competition, and I was maybe gonna be interviewing...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 17, 2006
"Baby Pinata" Was Taken, So They Went With "Babykeeper"
In an earlier phase of my fatherhood experience, I might have taken issue with Mommysential's decision to market the Babykeeper solely to moms [or more specifically, to "mom(s) on the go... (WHO HAVE) GOTTA GO!"]. Dads' gotta go, too, don't...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 15, 2006
'Thank You?' Try 'You're Welcome': Playtex Unwraps The DiaperGenie II
Well that only took two years. If it doesn't stink [and how could it, with a slogan like this: "Proven #1 with #2!"] I think that we daddy types can take full credit for spurring a cleaner design that's...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 14, 2006
O Yikes! Diaper Bag Used To Hold Your DJ Vinyl
In a welcome break from the purse and messenger bag paradigms, the O Yikes! slingback diaper bag is cross-strapped backpack, just like the one you bought when you were launching your DJ career back in your Williamsburg days. Now...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 10, 2006
Babies R Ass? Is Screwing Customers The New Company Policy?
While YOUR emails are always rational and compelling, I do get messages from my fair share of cranks. And while I try to read each one with an open mind, I like to think I can spot a Customer From...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Let My Toppers-To-Go Go, Please
Forgot about this, but unfortunately for the marketing director at Table Toppers, I was just reminded that they had handed out a free sample of their new product, Toppers-To-Go, to the visiting journalist(s) at JPMA. It's exactly this kind of...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 9, 2006
Barney Shopping Cart Saves Children's Lives--For A Dollar
How would the shorties of this world get around if it weren't for New Zealand? Think about it: Mountain Buggies, Phil & Ted's, Ents, TV Karts... The TV Kart is the most popular television-equipped, mini-car/grocery cart in New Zealand, and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 8, 2006
If Babies Were Robots, Bjorns Would Be As Light As This Aibo Carrier
When the Sony AIBO was announced, they sold the first 1,000 online. I reserved one--I think they were like two grand? four? whatever, it was some amount I did not want to float on my Amex for very long--and...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Trunki Suitcase: They're Riding Me Like A Horse
I cannot tell you how depressing it is to see little kids pulling wheelie suitcases around. Their bleak, road warrior future flashes in front of me, as I imagine them 25 years from now, schlepping through O'Hare on their...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Fetus Coasters
When I posted a mockup of a skate deck with ultrasound pictures on it, DT reader/skatechick Anna pointed out--rightly--that with every ollie and rail slide, you'd be sanding off your precious child's mug, and that's gotta have psychological implications down...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 3, 2006
Walking Wings: Here Come The Reins Again
+ = ? "Walking Wings is a first of its kind product that will revolutionize the way babies learn to walk." Now, I don't want to be a noodge, and I am certainly the first to encourage innovative parent...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 2, 2006
Does Anyone Know The Dimensions Of A Maxi-Cosi Cabrio?
DT reader Tina's wondering about sticking that badboy in a suitcase. I'm thinking that, unless it's one of those giant, going-home-to-New-Delhi-style mega-suitcases, it's highly unlikely. But our Cabrio is in the storage unit, so there's no way to measure it....
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
August 1, 2006
Zaky Pillow Simulates The [Muppet] Mother's Hand
Daddy's hands weren't always gentle Daddy's hands were hard as steel when I done wrong But Mommy's hands were soft as muppet pillows, singin' me a good night song:The Zaky is an ergonomic infant pillow designed by a mom...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Flash: Amazon Parents Prefer More Free Money, 7-to-1
Fascinating. When Amazon was running its $30/$99 diaper promotions, where they gave Amazon gift certificates a month or so following a large order of baby products, people placed an average of 5-8 orders/day. [I'm guessing here. Amazon reports what products...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
"Old Crapper" On eBay
Toilet training turns out to be like diaper changing, only more so: whenever you go out, you become hyper-aware of where the nearest toilets are. But I confess, even with my heightened potty sense, I never would've thought to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 29, 2006
More Euros Flying: British Airways Toddler Bassinets
A pond-hopping dad sent this in:Last year, as we took our boys to Finland, we encountered a variation on the typical airline bassiets which was quite useful. According to the BA staff, our 767s had an additional type of bassinet...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 27, 2006
No Manpurses Here, Fellas: Coolhunting's 12 Bags For Guys
Ami at Coolhunting.com has put together a list of greatlooking, high-function bags "to accommodate the gadget- (or diaper-)toting needs of the modern male. Jack Spade, Engineered Garments, and the Diaper Dude make the list, of course, but there are some...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 25, 2006
Luftikid Inflatable Car Seat: Der Junge In The Plastic Bubble
As Nightcrawler would say, Unglaublich. Sometimes you see a piece of gear that's so completely out of the prevailing paradigm, it's hard to even know how to approach it. The Luftikid is an inflatable car seat. It consists of an...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
What Carseats Do Euros Use On The Plane?
We just flew in from Las Vegas, and boy, are my arms tired. Seriously, we've been--to use the Henry Rollins phrase that launched a thousand dadblog--baby roadies all day, hauling the car seat around from rental car to shuttle to...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 23, 2006
gDiapers Now nytDiapers
The Aussie onslaught against America's vital landfill industry continues in stealth mode, and the media just stands there singing its praises. gDiapers, the flushable diaper technology from Australia, got profiled in the hopelessly liberal NY Times Magazine today. The message:...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 20, 2006
Scan That Breast To Make An Imprint Custom Nipple
Business Week's got a round up of baby products that take both design and functionality into account. It's about damn time, you say? Yeah, well, most of the examples in the product slideshow are just prototypes or concept studies, so...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 15, 2006
Baby On Deck? Custom Skateboards
People get tattoos all the time commemorating the birth of their kids. And skaters have been known to put a lot of thought into the design of their decks. But I've never heard of anyone creating a skateboard design...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
Dad-Driven Innovation At The Open Prosthetics Project
This is so cool, I don't know where to start. First, the Open Prosthetics Project is just that, a site and organization dedicated to the development and propagation of improved prosthetics solutions. The site rallies engineering, research, and manufacturing expertise...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 13, 2006
Now on Flickr: DIY Hippie Furniture, Cardboard Carseat
Alright, I am officially lookin' for fun and feelin' groovy. My copies of Mario Dal Fabbro's 1968 How to Make Children's Furniture and Play Equipment and Hennessey & Papanek's 1973 Nomadic Furniture arrived, and suddenly I feel like we...
[read the full post...]
[read the full post...]
July 10, 2006
Whoa, The Baby Bjorn Recall Almost Applied To Us
Let's face it; most people who bought Baby Bjorn Active Carriers between September 2003 and August 15, 2004 have retired them, so if the rear buckle was going to come off and drop your baby on his head, it's probably...
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[read the full post...]
July 4, 2006
Amazon's New Deal: $10 Off Pampers + Gummibears
Hm. It's already the 4th of the month, and Amazon hasn't turned up with a new $99/$30 diaper/gift certificate deal yet. Are they all played out? Or are they just too busy promoting their new Amazon Grocery business? Seems they'll...
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[read the full post...]
July 2, 2006
Amazon: Babies WERE Us
Amazon sent a notice today--the 2nd--saying that as of July 1st--um, yesterday--Amazon and Babies R Us/Toys R Us would no longer be in partnership together, and that "as a result of the improvements we'll be making to the site, some...
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[read the full post...]
June 28, 2006
This Is How We Roll: Great Plains Edition
A DT reader from gun country sent this in. He spotted it outside the local hospital. "Hopefully this isn't some newborn's ride home," he says of the Browning Special Edition Polaris Sportsman 700 outfitted with an Oshkosh infant carseat...
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[read the full post...]
June 27, 2006
Philippe Starck/Target Baby Stuff For Sale On eBay
Now that the kid's successfully inaugurated the third and final piece--the toilet booster seat--of the toilet training set Philippe Starck designed for First Years/Target, I can happily point you toward a couple of them for sale on eBay [don't worry,...
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[read the full post...]
June 23, 2006
Bunny Clock Is The Master Of Time And Space
The Bunny Clock is a children's alarm clock that uses a sleeping bunny to let kids know when it's time to wake up. Of course, if the kid can see the bunny's eyes are still closed, it means the...
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[read the full post...]
June 22, 2006
Huggable Urns
Lori Lemons' soon-to-be ex-husband is on trial for first-degree murder in the shaking death of the couple's two-month-old daughter NaKita last October. He told detectives he could not get the baby to stop crying. Mrs. Lemons found a teddybear-shaped...
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[read the full post...]
Tobi Or Not Tobi? That Is One Carseat Buyer's Question
I just read Jen's story of shopping for a new car seat, and I don't know what's more unbelievable: - that the Maxi-Cosi Tobi doesn't install correctly on cars with either cloth or leather seats [what's left?], - that the...
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[read the full post...]
June 20, 2006
Priceless: USB Found In Headless Bear
"No es facil coser una memoria USB al cuerpo de un oso de peluche." Ah, truer words have rarely been tacked onto a flickr photo: "It is not easy to sew a USB memory stick into a plush bear."...
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[read the full post...]
June 10, 2006
Unidentified Man Rocks Camo Car Seat Cover
Now we know what unidentified man was cheering about after unannounced baby shower a while back. The car seat itself is a Graco, most likely the SafeSeat. But seriously, I hope you're not basing your car seat purchase decision on...
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[read the full post...]
June 8, 2006
Building A DiaperBridge To The 21st Century
Yikes, if these DiaperBridge people had come out with their folding platform that turns any bathroom sink into a diaper changing table surface with just a few straps and belts [OK, a lot of straps and belts, but stay with...
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[read the full post...]
June 6, 2006
Amazon Doubles Down: Pampers & 7th Gen Promotions At Once
And I thought it was tricky when they ran a combined Pampers & Luvs promotion. Ahh, simpler times. Now Amazon's running a now-familiar $99/30 promotion on Pampers AND Luvs AND Kandoo products through June 30th. [Order $99 or more...
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[read the full post...]
June 2, 2006
Deutsch Baby in Dutch Tummy Tub
At ICFF, there was a pair of GIGANTIC ramen-bowl-shaped tubs--Dutch Tubs, they're called--right at the entrance. They're heated by wood, which is placed in a coiled pipe thing that sticks out the side. "Crazy Dutch, what'll they think of...
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[read the full post...]
May 31, 2006
Only A Few Hours Left To Get That Discount Mountain Of Huggies From Amazon
If you like Huggies, the Amazon $99/30 deal is the kind of thing you'll like. Their promotion, which includes a $30 Amazon credit for a $99 Huggies & stuff product purchase, ends today, 5/31. Me, I'm taking a pass. For...
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[read the full post...]
My Name. Is. Tobi. Maxi-Cosi's Inexplicably New Car Seat Model
I guess living in a country that produces automobiles makes me expect models to evolve slightly year after year, with new features added and improvements made, problems fixed, that sort of thing, and then every few years, there's a big...
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[read the full post...]
May 30, 2006
ABC Fun Pads: The ABC Stands For "Avoid Bruising Coffee Tables"
The inevitable flipside of "Hey, he can stand up!" is, of course, "D'oh, he just fell down!" And given the crucial role the coffee table plays in American babies' cruising skills development, it's probably the single-most fallen-upon piece of furniture...
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[read the full post...]
May 19, 2006
Well, That's Remarkably Easy. Carbon-Offsetting Disposable Diapers
Let's review quickly: carbon off-setting is the recently emerged practice of elminating the net greenhouse gas emissions from a given activity or entity, often by purchasing and retiring the corresponding amount of so-called "pollution credits" on the open market...
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[read the full post...]
May 15, 2006
Skip-Hop 2.0: Gifty, Plastic Stuff For Your Countertops
One interesting set of new products to show up at JPMA was from the diaper bag folks at Skip*Hop, who introduced a line of baby-task-specific molded plastic gear by designer Scott Henderson that is meant to be cool and...
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[read the full post...]
May 11, 2006
With A Booth Sporting Several Pieces Of Flair, It's Boon Time at JPMA
The little frog has grown into a great big prince of a baby gear company. the parent-company Boon showed up at JPMA last year with a single product, the Frog Pod, which scooped up the Innovation Award. This year,...
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[read the full post...]
JPMAWatch: Stroll-Smart Hands-Free Jogging Stroller Adaptor
When I saw this in the New Products pen at JPMA, it freaked me out. Why would you lash yourself to a stroller with that thing, I thought. And thus, I unwittingly outed myself to the world as a non-jogging...
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[read the full post...]
May 10, 2006
More JPMA Swag: ducduc & Skip*hop
From the posting so far, all I did at JPMA was go around and mooch stuff off of people who might prefer that I write favorable things about their company and their product. The only way I can prove...
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[read the full post...]
May 2, 2006
Amazon: Have A Heaping Helping Of Huggies! & Amazon Money!
Hah, it only took me a year to figure out that, with one $99/30 diaper promotion ending [7th Gen], Amazon might be launching a new one around the first of the month. But those sly marketing execs don't miss a...
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[read the full post...]
April 30, 2006
Notable Kid-Related Patents of 2002
Every once in a while, Totally Absurd Inventions has a kid-related patent, but they're usually rocket-shaped prams from 1930 or something, so they're usually untraceable. It's not that I doubt they're real, just that I like to see the documentation...
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[read the full post...]
April 27, 2006
Maxi-Cosi Cabrio: As Seen On Craigslist!
Just goes to show you what can happen to your ego after you go on The Satellite Sisters. DT reader Mimi sent me the link below with the headline, "THIS is how famous daddytypes is!" So with visions of Daily...
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[read the full post...]
April 18, 2006
Chippendads
All this time, I thought I was the only one, then suddenly, It felt like they were telling my story, right there in the New York Times! You know, the one about being a Chippendales dancer/actor/at-home dad with an artist...
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[read the full post...]
April 17, 2006
Adorable Humidifiers Shaped Like Animals
We're sort of moving out of humidifier season here in the Northeast; the last couple of months of winter/early spring, we had a humidifier/vaporizer in the kid's room a lot to help her not cough herself awake in the middle...
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[read the full post...]
Anyone Walking Down Prinsengracht In Amsterdam?
Who can tell me the name of that tiny workshop/store on the south side of Prinsengracht, located at about 7:30-8 o'clock, I think, which makes those awesome Swiss canvas bags? I think it's called something like "Swiss Canvas Bags." Anyway,...
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The Baby Bjorn Cycle
Finally, we have completed the Baby Bjorn Cycle [above]. We got a Bjorn carrier [original, blue] at the very beginning, and then soon after, we picked up the BabySitter 1-2-3 because it was the only non-offensive bouncy chair out...
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[read the full post...]
April 13, 2006
How Is This Amazon/Seventh Generation Deal Different From Every Other Amazon/Seventh Generation Deal?
Because you order a spare case of diapers for Elijah? Actually, even though Amazon's running these Mountain-o-diapers sales on a near-monthly basis, there are little differences that add up. This time around, Amazon's still offering a $30 gift certificate,...
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[read the full post...]
Wagonboo: Coocaroo, Where Are You?
I'm still a Bugaboo believer--we're heading out on the town as soon as I finish posting this, in fact--but I can't fail to notice that there are times when we use the Cameleon as a glorified wheelbarrow. Every time...
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[read the full post...]
April 10, 2006
Unidentified Local Man Drives A... What Is That Key? Anybody?
On Friday an unidentified Brooklyn man was seen toting his daughter to the car. The car seat is easy enough to identify--throw a rock in the Slope and you're sure to hit a Graco SnugRide [whether it's in Trek...
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[read the full post...]
April 8, 2006
The Boy In The Newly Invented Plastic Bubble Car Seat
So Make Magazine's blog has another recap of ABC's American Inventor series. The episode this week featured a dad who invented an egg-shaped car seat that allows the baby to rotate inside it in the event of an accident. Not...
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[read the full post...]
April 5, 2006
Camo Kozy Carrier Hiding In Plain Sight On Flickr
IMG_0763 Originally uploaded by mptmahoney. See, is there anything better in the world than finding a photoset called "Our Baby Carriers" on flickr? No, there is not.* MPT Mahoney's got one, and now it's got a daddytypes tag. We've...
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[read the full post...]
April 1, 2006
Birth Announcements For Little Rockers
You may know him best from his work with such bands as Cattle Decapitation and Vegitation, and with the now-legendary 2002 Oops! The Tour, sort of a return to the days when Lollapalooza was real, before they totally sold it...
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[read the full post...]
March 27, 2006
Hollywood's Most Glamorous Nursing Pads
Just something to file away in case you ever need to know it: Apparently, when the breastfeeding actresses step out in their milk-fortified-rack-flashing, lowcut gowns, they've been known to use these clear, rubbery nursing pads called LilyPadz that are...
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[read the full post...]
March 23, 2006
Have I Brainwashed My Daughter To Hate Generic Wipes?
A couple of stretches in NYC ago, we ran out of wipes; I'd forgotten to bring a new Costco brick with me, and the Pampers emergency purchase from a couple of months ago ran out--and anyway, those plastic tubs don't...
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[read the full post...]
March 18, 2006
Tricky. Amazon Runs A $99/$30 Promotion For Pampers AND Luvs
Now they've softened us up, they start freaking us out. Amazon has another in its line of "$99 diaper mountain now, $30 gift certificate later" promotions, only this time, it's for Pampers AND Luvs. Buy any combination of the...
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[read the full post...]
March 13, 2006
So The French Cell Phone For Babies Got Yanked?
While Firefly and i-Care and any number of other companies march ahead with their cell phones for toddlers without a worry care in the world beyond "How soon will it be before Jamie Foxx's kid is seen using it in...
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[read the full post...]
March 12, 2006
Amazing Papero Childcare Robot Mostly Just Sits There
The R2D2-looking Papero Childcare robot from NEC is a technological marvel; I'm sure it was a huge hit at the 2005 Expo Aichi last summer, and that the robot scientists who invented it should feel really proud of themselves. It...
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[read the full post...]
March 3, 2006
Oscar Presenters To Briefly Contemplate Keeping Firefly Mobile Phone For Kids
The Firefly mobile phone for kids [and people who don't know more than 20 people and like paying 25 cents/minute to talk to them] is included in this year's offical Academy Awards Gift Bag, which is given to presenters and...
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[read the full post...]
March 1, 2006
Oops. You're On Your Own For The Huggies
I forgot to mention that yesterday was the last day that Amazon would pay you $30 for ordering a pile of Huggies as tall as you are. Now you'll just have to buy them one at a time at the...
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[read the full post...]
February 27, 2006
Brooklyn Baby Store Bankruptcy Auction: Everything Must Go! Tomorrow, 2/28
MB Furniture Discount Store was in business for over 50 years in Brooklyn, until it went bankrupt. Now, all the contents of their retail location AND their warehouse are being sold at auction TOMORROW, Tuesday 2/28 at 11:00 AM....
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[read the full post...]
DT Comparison Shopper: Bathmat or Chelsea Loft?
Daddy Types is here to help make the tough decisions a new parent faces. Like should you buy the Blues Clues sunshade with suction cups you have to install yourself [$5] or the BMW 760Li, the only model that...
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[read the full post...]
February 22, 2006
How Not To Market Your Baby Product To Me
One of the most powerful motivating forces in a new parent's life is fear: fear of doing something wrong, fear of something happening to your baby, fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of the kid not getting into...
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[read the full post...]
February 21, 2006
gDiapers? Now It's Official: The g Is For "Green"
We all know how, by 2025, global warming will be so severe, that the ocean levels will rise and the only thing that can possibly save the cities along the eastern seaboard from destruction will be giant levees of disposable...
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[read the full post...]
February 18, 2006
Local Man Drives Bugaboo, Dares You Not To Look At His Crotch
Uh, wow. Dateline Los Angeles. An unidentified old man was seen driving a yellow and blue Bugaboo Cameleon along the boardwalk. In another incident, the same old man was spotted on La Brea or someplace with a Graco SnugRide...
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[read the full post...]
February 16, 2006
Yet Another Giggletastic Deal From Huggies and Amazon
Forget the landfills; Amazon is trying to stuff your house full of diapers. It's like they're trying to buy their way to the top of the diaperselling business, one $30 gift certificate at a time. Until Feb 28th, Amazon is...
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[read the full post...]
February 14, 2006
Baby Snotvac Attachment Market Heats Up
Behold the BabyVac, a sparsely described, sparsely illustrated, well-trademarked competitor to the Wiva-Vac, aka The Hungarian Miracle. Both products are desgined to clear out your child's clogged nasal passages using the vacuum cleaner you already have in your own home!...
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[read the full post...]
February 10, 2006
An Interview With MoMA's Paola Antonelli
I'd been stuck on a comment I read last fall by MoMA Architecture & Design curator Paola Antonelli before her exhibition, "Safe," opened about children's product design, and so I decided to get her take on the Baby Industrial Complex....
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[read the full post...]
February 5, 2006
New Dad Drains Whiskey Bottle, Refills With PC Hardware
Cory seems to think that the guy who built this Intel P3, 40Gb, 256Mb RAM PC inside a whiskey bottle is both Japanese and a new dad who had to " build it at night and in the office...
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[read the full post...]
February 3, 2006
Check Out The Skiphop Pronto, Pronto
Sure, I get review copies of books and DVD's and stuff, but as a rule, I don't accept freebies of gear, clothes, or gifts from companies who may be mentioned on Daddy Types--unless maybe it's a US-legal Mercedes B200 Turbo...
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[read the full post...]
January 31, 2006
Sigh. Groovy 1970 Car Seat From VW
Check out this sweet, Verner Panton-esque car booster seat, which was featured in the 1969 and 1970 Volkswagen accessories catalogues. The full page is available here, at kdf-wagen.de, which has scans of nearly all the printed matter pertaining to...
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[read the full post...]
January 30, 2006
Wow, Holland, That Is One Eco-Friendly, Family-Friendly Bike! What's It Called?
Could the Dutch possibly be any more innovative and progressively minded? I mean, wow, not only does this sweet bike have a place for the gear or groceries, it also has places for up to three kids, ages 9...
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[read the full post...]
January 28, 2006
One Step Ahead, Three Steps Back
The new One Step Ahead catalog arrived this week; it intersperses some basic gear with lots of SkyMall-type solutions for problems you didn't know you had. One problem jumped out at me, though, right on page 3. What're the odds,...
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[read the full post...]
January 27, 2006
Marc Anthony's New GIG
Here's a report from MSNBC: Marc Anthony "was at Fred Segal [on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles] last week and bought a Guys Infant Gear diaper bag for $120. He said something that made it pretty clear that it wasnt...
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[read the full post...]
January 24, 2006
Why I Love And Hate The Maxi-Cosi Priori
Except for the way the knobs stick out unnecessarily far on the sides and would often hit my leg, I totally loved the Maxi-Cosi Cabrio infant car seat. We went with it because it was the Bugaboo-compatible carseat in the...
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[read the full post...]
January 21, 2006
Amazon Wants To Bury You With Seventh Generation Promo
Just when you were beginning to see daylight peeking through the mountains of Seventh Generation products you bought last time Amazon offered a $40 gift certificate, they go and do it again. This time, you get $40 to spend at...
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[read the full post...]
January 19, 2006
Houston Car Chase: Can Your Carseat Do THIS?
An utter a**hole--I'm sure it's just a coincidence that he was driving a 3-series-- leads Houston police on an hour-plus-long car chase at speeds over 100 mph. When he hits traffic, he heads the wrong way down an on-ramp and...
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[read the full post...]
January 15, 2006
Crappy Diem: CES The Day, Boys
Alan at BIYF went to CES, and all he got was a--well, actually, it's a pretty bleak post about kid-related electronics gear. Sure, there's a TV lockbox [see how long that works], but despite gains in the furniture, toys, and...
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[read the full post...]
January 10, 2006
Vintage Car Seat Lets Child See Windshield Before Going Through It
When my mom told me she used to drive around with me lying on the front seat, or on a blanket in the footwell, I used to think those folks were crazy. But now I realize my parents resisted...
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[read the full post...]
January 6, 2006
BabyGearSpotting At CES: Ultrasonic Cribs & Car Seat Sensors
A big shoutout to new dad and Gizmodan John, who I hope did NOT leave his newborn son home alone with a freezerful of Healthy Choice while liveblogging from CES in Las Vegas. [You never know, though; that Nick Denton's...
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[read the full post...]
Nipple+Venus Flytrap = Keep-it-Kleen Pacifier
For the first year or so, when a pacifier gets dirty, you boil pacifiers or throw them in the dishwasher. Then at some point, you will find yourself out and about with only one pacifier between you and a melted...
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[read the full post...]
January 3, 2006
Hungarian Doctor To Snot: Resistance Is Futile
My philosophy about using a vacuum cleaner hose to suck the snot out of my kid's congested nose has always been, I'd only do it if a) there was a snot trap, not just a nozzle attachment, b) it's transparent,...
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[read the full post...]
December 28, 2005
Hugh Jackman Bags Babe, Is Stud
Hugh Jackman's kid Ava Eliot is 5 months old, which, in Australia, is old enough to wear a kitchen garbage bag made out of fleece. [If any Australians out there could stop gnawing on their placentas long enough to...
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[read the full post...]
December 27, 2005
Baby Monitor: Safety 1st, TMI Awareness 2nd
Neither of our places in NYC or Washington are big enough to put us out of earshot of the kid's crying, so we've never had a baby monitor. [Note to the various people whose emails about baby monitors I have...
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[read the full post...]
December 19, 2005
Pampers Changes Diapers: "Glitch" or "Enhancement"?
I remember when Pop-Tarts got smaller. Not signficantly smaller, mind you, just shorter, a little off the top. And then when they switched from six/box to eight? They started out as a free bonus pack. Those were the days. All...
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[read the full post...]
December 18, 2005
Awesome Japanese Wooden Clock Looks Like A Baby Nosepicker
Thanks to its meticulously crafted inner workings, Vinta's gorgeous Wooden Clock makes one complete rotation every twelve hours. It's innovative sculptural form enables you to "feel the time" in a spatial sense, not just "read the time." Just make...
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[read the full post...]
December 15, 2005
No Men Were Harmed In The Production Of This Babywearing Article
Sorry dads, but according to the NY Times, babywearing--as practiced in NYC using the baby wraps of the world, including "the mei tai from China, the Mexican rebozo, the Korean podaegi and the kanga from Kenya," and the "waterproof slings,...
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[read the full post...]
December 12, 2005
Sweet Digital Camera Helps Get The Dad's Job Done
Actually, my wife got it this summer, so I guess it's ideal for parents, but let's face it: more often than not, dads are still the Designated Photographer. The Fujifilm FinePix E550 is an excellent digital camera, but not just...
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[read the full post...]
December 11, 2005
Sometimes The Cover-up IS The Crime
Let's get one thing clear right up front: That patriotic little ditty by recording arist/false prophet/ex-Attorney General John Ashcroft? Let The Eagle Soar. The source of "building blocks to help [children] develop independence and self-esteem that leads to bright futures"?...
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[read the full post...]
December 6, 2005
Today Only: 7th Gen 50% Off At Drugstore.com
While Drugstore.com doesn't provide the visceral satisfaction of trampling old people on a budget underfoot or of wresting the last pack of newborn diapers from the bleary-eyed father of triplets, you gotta give them credit for trying to spark a...
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[read the full post...]
I Want A Kid-o Bib: A Must For Christmas
Not only a Kid-o bib, of course, will do, but I'm just saying. That all-too-familiar frustration with the horrible design of most baby gear probably intensifies when you open an awesome baby store, because Kid-o has introduced quite a...
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[read the full post...]
December 5, 2005
Dad, Playtex, Bond Over Diaper Genie Of Death
For whatever reason [selfless dedication to customer satisfaction? lawsuit-driven CYA?] Playtex does not want you to keep a Diaper Genie with a broken, exposed rotating razor blade. Who knew? Customer Service [jasons.org]...