That’s The Way (Uh-huh, Uh-huh) I Like It – Part 3 of 3 Ford
October 28, 2008
Okay, now for the fun part. Well for me anyways! I get to tell you what I thought and what I learned that helped me to form my opinions about Ford and their new safety measures. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just pull up this milk-crate, climb up and get started.
I learned a lot in just 1/2 a day spent at Ford’s Dearborn Development Center. I’m sure for the professional journalists, it was sort of an ‘old hat’ routine. Come in, listen to presentation, test new stuff, interview key people – then go write article. They do it all the time and it showed by how comfortable they all were with the process.
For me? It was kind of a wonderland. I felt like the little kid who got to stay up late. I got to see inside this company I’ve known about all my life. I got to go on the bus to the super-secret place and see neat new stuff and get in cars and drive on the test track! Tell me that doesn’t sound like fun and I’ll tell you that you’re either a jaded automotive reporter or you’re just not getting it.
The really cool part was that the same enthusiasm I have above? It was also showing in the folks who work for Ford and took part in putting on this Media day.
From Sue Cischke (VP of Sustainability, Environment & Safety Group) and Paul Mascarenas (VP of Engineering) on down to folks like Jeffrey Laya (Safety Method Engineering Supervisor) who made me drive really fast toward a balloon car and then wait an unbearably long 2 seconds until the Collision Warning system alerted me to swerve around it, and Prashanth Shankar (Product Design Engineer) who managed to keep his lunch down and smile on his face the whole time he rode with us as we “drifted” in an out of lanes on the high-speed track to engage the Lane Departure Warning, the people at Ford were honestly and genuinely excited about this technology. It made it easy to get excited right along with them.
Prior to this day, I really wasn’t aware that Ford Motor Company has more 5-Star Safety Ratings than any other automaker. Seriously – it has the most top-rated safety picks of *any* automaker. Did you know that? Because honestly – if Alex Trebec had asked me on Jeopardy for $500 “this automaker has the highest number of models that have received top safety ratings” I’m not sure I would’ve come up with “What is Ford?” So I probably would’ve lost just due to that question. (But now I’m ready for it, so bring it on Alex! Just as soon as I brush up on my Geography & Opera again…)
Okay, all that Jeopardy-dreaming aside, the MyKey™ feature got the folks in the Center most excited. When they described what it did, I instantly understood why.
Yes, I know there are some who will think that the MyKey™ is “over-parenting” or maybe even bordering on “helicopter parenting” – but I don’t agree. Here’s why… because both of those phrases refer to parents who are trying to protect their precious offspring from any sort of harm or trauma. In this case? There’s more to think about than just your kids. When you put an unexperienced teenage driver behind the wheel of a car – you are handing him/her the keys to a deadly weapon.
Set aside (if you can) the fact that Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for young adults ages 16 to 20 and let’s focus on the fact that better than 50% of all U.S. car crash fatalities last year occurred when the vehicle was traveling 55mph or higher. 
Better than half. And those fatalities? Yeah, they weren’t all from the car with the driver at fault. Some of them were just ordinary people in the wrong place at the wrong time, doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. People and families just like you or me who were at the mercy of someone else in a multi-ton vehicle going really fast down the road.
Is it a good idea to limit the speed of a vehicle of an inexperienced driver? In my book, unequivocally yes. Then again, GeekDaddy and I have shared our “I don’t know how I walked away from those years alive” stories about youthful driving antics and stupid things we did behind the wheel of a car. So we acknowledge just how likely it is that Buttercup is going to grow up to take risks that could put not only her, but someone else’s child/spouse/parent on that fatalities list.
But we’re not going to tell her not to drive. It’s an important and useful skill. It’s hard to be vehicle-less in our society – and besides, we both love cars. So if Ford wants to help me make it safer for her to be out there? Well I’m thrilled. Yes, she’s a good 10 years away from that necessity… but it’s nice to know that other responsible parents will be out there making their kids safer too. Because I drive on the same roads as those inexperienced teen drivers and I’d like to come home alive too.
What it comes down to though is whether or not a parent will use it. There will always be parents who will and parents who won’t. We all parent in our own way and according to our own philosophies. But for those who will? Thanks Ford, for making it standard. Because safety shouldn’t come at a premium in my book when lives are on the line.
Still with me? Or am I getting too preachy up here on my soap box? Well, I’ll assume that some of you still are and cover the other safety features now.
Collision Warning with Brake Support – I totally could’ve used this to avert my last ‘accident’ a couple of years ago. The guy in the van in front of me kept stopping short for a couple of miles. I kept telling myself I ought to get out from behind him… But I wanted to stay in that lane for where I was going so I didn’t. We stopped at a red light. (I say we, because of course I had a very young Buttercup in the back seat strapped in her carseat at the time… shudder.) The light changed to green. The traffic (including the big white van in front of me) surged forward. I put my foot lightly on the gas, then glanced down. I swear it was a glance. But it was long enough for the guy in front of me to decide (once again) to slam on his brakes. Did he have a reason? No. Did the laws of physics care one whit about that? No.
If I had been driving a Ford equipped with Collision Warning with Brake Support, my glance would’ve turned into me stepping on my pre-primed brakes thanks to the light & sound alerts and swearing at Van-boy and hoping Buttercup didn’t pick up any of those words. Instead, we slammed into his very solid bumper going about 10-15mph. This resulted in some serious front-end work on my car and a ticket from a nice officer who gave me a break b/c he knew just what I was talking about with the short-stopping so he only cited me for ‘unsafe driving for the weather conditions.’ It could’ve been a lot worse. But it could’ve been avoided altogether if I’d been driving a Ford with this system. Definitely a thumbs up in my book.
Lane Departure Warning – this seems like it’s got a number of different potential markets. Elderly drivers in my neighborhood seem to have a penchant for drifting over into the next lane. But it’s not just the elderly who are often paying attention elsewhere or suffering from conditions that might make for lane-drifting. The first year of Buttercup’s life, GeekDaddy and I were suffering from a level of sleep deprivation previously unknown to either of us. To say that she was a poor sleeper would be akin to saying that War & Peace is ‘a bit long.’ We spent that first year (and part of the next) going through life as zombies. In particular, there were many days that driving to and from any place was more a matter of half-awake routine. Lane-drifting? I know we both did it. Would’ve been nice to have the warning!
But let me add a note here. When I say ‘drift’ I mean drift… as in ‘gently moving slowly from one lane into the next without really being aware of it.’ One of the gentlemen of the press – who shall remain utterly nameless out of respect – in my party of 3 with the esteemed aforementioned Mr. Prashanth Shankar driving around the high speed track to test out the alerts had a hard time with this concept. After an entire lap of him veering sharply from lane-to-lane and remaining unsuccessful in his attempts to set off the alert, I felt compelled to try and keep my breakfast down in the back seat by speaking up and telling him “drift! It’s drift! Not lunge! Think ‘talking to someone in the passenger seat and drifting over’ not ‘try to take out the pedestrian for 50 points!’”
Granted, I was a bit um, strident. But I was trying to keep my bagel & cantaloupe from redecorating the back seat. May I also mention that Stephanie Brinley of Auto Pacific has nerves of steel and a cast-iron stomach? She managed to look down and write her review of the systems from the back seat during all of this. That woman is amazing!
Anyhow, the point of this test wasn’t so much the camera-driven Lane Departure System as it was Ford asking for feedback on the types of alerts. In the end, we all agreed that it would be nice to have a series of options, the audio alert that came from the speaker side that was being drifted to, the seat vibration alert on the same leg, a combination of both, and the ability to turn it off. No one was particularly impressed with the steering column alerts. Mostly because they didn’t really serve to tell you which direction and partially because it felt more like something was wrong with the steering than an alert. In my case, the last alert would have been useless in Colorado in the winter – as it pretty much felt exactly like what driving down a snow-covered street feels like. But I liked the solution we all did. I’d even probably ante-up the extra money for it, given the chance.
Blind Spot Mirror – I didn’t get to test, so no opinion. It seems like it makes sense, but I’m aware there’s a number of aftermarket options like this… so unless it was standard, can’t see that I’d pay extra for it.
BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert – I loved this. But more for the parking lot functionality than anything else. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been parked between two huge Suburban Assault Vehicles and needed to back up out of a parking space “blind”. You slowly creep backwards, craning your neck, hoping that nothing is —-ZZZZZZZZZZOOOM!—- Suzy Suburbia in her haste to get to the nail salon goes whipping across, threatening to take out your bumper, your rear quarter panel, and any stray animals in the area. You jam your brakes on, the car lurches, you breathe a sigh of relief and start creeping out again.
With the Cross Traffic Alert? Long before Suzy gets even remotely close to you, a light goes on and an alert sounds, and you get an idea which side she’s trying to cut you off from. This would work just as well to keep Timmy the Paper Boy from trying to embed his bicycle in your wheelwell too. Or Buffy the neighbor-child from seeing if she can wedge her tricycle underneath your bumper.
The BLIS part? Where it tells you if someone is in your blindspot while driving? I’m torn. I think it’s really useful – but I’m sort of afraid that it would replace the tried and true “look over your shoulder first” method. It’s just sort of one more thing that can be helpful – if you’re the sort who would like the extra protection like I am.
I don’t know that I’d pay extra just for the blind-spot while driving alert, but bundeled with the ability to back up without having to worry about Suzy or Timmy or Buffy? Yeah, I’d probably go for it.
On the way back to the airport, I had a conversation with one of the writers from Wired’s GeekDad. We were discussing whether or not such technology makes people inherently lazier. Do we start trusting the technology rather than watching out for ourselves?
That’s a tough one.
I have friends who can’t get anywhere without their GPS navigators now… and no one seems to ever remember phone numbers because they’re stored in their phones. Do we come to rely on technology too much? Perhaps. But if the technology provides us with something that we clearly aren’t doing? Then I think it’s a good thing. So yeah. The odds are darn good that Buttercup’s first car will be a Ford if they keep pushing the safety technology envelope forward.
Thanks for letting me come play with the big guys for a day, Ford. But more? Thanks for making my world, and my family’s and friends’ world, safer all the time.
And just because I owe them a big shout out, Thank You to the following people at Ford for working so hard to make that day happen: Braine Bennie, Shuml Bhuva, Jim Buczkowksi, Sue Cischke, Sheryl Connelly, Jerry Engelman, Stephen Kozak, Jeffrey Laya, Michael Lopez, Paul Mascarenas, Thomas Miller, Matt Niesluchowski, Andy Sakisian, and Prashanth Shankar. But a huge thanks also to Zoe Siskos of Social Media Group and the best dressed man in Social Media, Scott Monty of Ford, for letting me have this opportunity.
Just The Facts, Ma’am – Part 2 of 3 Ford
October 28, 2008
Part Deux (haven’t you always wanted to have a reason to use that phrase? me too – I know it’s pretentious, but I love it so it’s staying in there!) at long last!!
Enough about me and my adventures – the reason Ford let me come out to Detroit with all of those amazing journalists was so that I could see, experience, and write about their new safety features and initiatives. Since it only took me, oh, 3 weeks to finish this? I’m going to be thorough, dang it!
Let’s start with MyKey™ – because honestly? If you have kids (especially those of driving age or thereabouts) this is going to be the dream function for you!
I’m going to go out on a pretty secure limb here and say that this will be an industry standard down the road… Ford’s just way ahead of the curve on it.
MyKey™ is a programmable “smart” key that will be standard (that’s right, I said *standard* not optional-will-cost-a-fortune-but-would-have-been-nice-to-have) on all Ford cars by 2010. They’re rolling it out with the 2009 Ford Focus first, because that’s the most popular car for teenagers in their lineup.
Through a series of simple, easy steps, using the “Administrative key” (read: magic key which controls the universe! Parents or wives only! heh) any of the smart keys can be programmed to be a MyKey™. The Administrative key can be used to change any of the settings at a future date if desired.
What the heck is a MyKey™? Well, it’s a key you can give to your teenager (or *cough* spouse) that makes driving just a little bit safer in today’s world of distractions like cell-phones, texting, loud-music and general, you know, driver-distracting mayhem.
Here’s a list of settings you can program with the MyKey™:
- If the driver’s seatbelt isn’t fastened? The alarm will continue to sound (no shutting it off) and better yet? The stereo/music system will not function until it is fastened. It will display a message to that effect to remind the ‘forgetful’ driver to buckle up for safety!
- Speaking of stereos… the MyKey™ allows you to set a maximum volume for the sound system (44% of maximum) when that key is being used. No worries that your teen won’t hear the firetruck behind him because his MP3s are blasting at ear-shattering levels!
- Which of course leads to another safety bonus – no disabling the traction control! Your teen won’t be spinning his tires or peeling out to look cool.
- And there won’t be any “I ran out of gas!” with this MyKey™ – the Gas Light goes on at 75 miles left rather than 50. That curfew at 10pm won’t be broken due to being low on gas!
- But I did save the best for last, of course. Speed. It’s what every parent worries about. Because we know that without years of experience, you just don’t have the reflexes at high speeds to react in time to avert danger. The Ford MyKey™ allows you to set a maximum speed on the vehicle – 45, 55, 65 or 80 mph. And the driver will be alerted as s/he approaches the maximum speed. So when you say “no driving on the highway” you’ll be able to back it up with “remember, the car won’t go past 45, so stay off the highway, kiddo!”
So you have all these features – but the best part? You can program up to 8 keys for the car. They cost the same as any smart key would, no extra. So there’s the “fully functional” parent car and the “safety enabled” teen driver car all in one – just by taking 2 minutes to program the MyKey™. Give your newly fledged teenage driver her own MyKey™ and you’ll be more likely to give her time to drive it, knowing that she’s not out trying to impress her friends while picking up her little brother & sister from school or driving to the mall.
Okay, so that’s the MyKey™ – the thing that’s had me all excited since they showed it to us. What else? Well leave it to Ford to keep bringing on the safety features. The same day we learned about MyKey™ – they introduced us to Collision Warning with Brake Support, Lane Departure Warning, the Blind Spot Mirror, and BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert. Not just one major new safety feature, but *five* in one day! And they are rolling these all out by the 2010 models if I understood correctly.
In the interest of time and bandwidth, I’m going to hit these pretty fast. I’ll be giving you my thoughts on them in the next post – but if you really want more information on any of the features than I’m giving here? You can spend a ton of time drifting about the Ford.com website (I know I have!)
Collision Warning with Brake Support
This one is so simple yet brilliant. A last minute alert, a radar set behind the front fender uses a brilliant (and very fine tuned) algorithm to determine if you are approaching a vehicle that is slowing too fast or stopped and you are headed for a rear-end collision. At the last possible moment to avoid the collision reasonably, the system alerts you visually and audibly and also primes the brakes for use. (One note: priming the brakes is not the same as engaging them – sometimes, the best way to avoid a collision is to swerve around the other vehicle and accelerate. The car doesn’t choose for you, it just makes sure that if you choose to brake? The response is faster.)
Don’t worry – the algorithm is very good – it’s not going to keep going off in traffic. It really only goes off if you are about to hit the car in front of you. Having tried this in real-life on the test track? I can verify that it’s really a last-minute, you’re-going-to-hit-this-if-you-don’t-act-now alert.
Lane Departure Warning
This one essentially just lets you know if you are slowly drifting out of your lane. Cameras determine if you are drifting over the painted lines and alert you. While we were there, they were testing 4 different types of alerts. The first was an audio alert that came out of the speakers <i>on the side of the car that you were drifting toward</i> so if you are listing to the left? The beeping came from the passenger-side speakers. The second alert was a vibration that came up thru the driver’s seat on the leg side that the car is drifting toward. This alert only the driver feels. The third and fourth were both steering column alerts which are non-directional. One a vibration, the other a pulse.
But I’ll cover that more in part 3 – where I discuss the difference between ‘drift’ and ‘lunge.’
Blind Spot Mirror
This was mentioned – but I didn’t personally experience it. This is apparently an inset mirror that allows you to see a vehicle that has entered and is driving in your blind spot.
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BLIS (Blind Spot Information System) with Cross Traffic Alert
Now this was interesting. The BLIS performed two functions – both of which use radar to increase your awareness of the blind spots and traffic that poses a hazard. In the first case, radars set in the rear bumpers detect cross traffic when backing up out of a parking spot. With more coverage than either reverse sensing systems or rear and side-view mirrors, this gives the driver nearly a 180 degree safety zone. Backing up, the radars will detect vehicles (or children on bikes or pedestrians) crossing the car’s path – especially at a 90 degree angle.
The second function identifies a vehicle driving behind you entering into your blind spot (as seen above) and alerts the driver using a light in the side-view mirror as well as a message. Again, the algorithm here is well tuned. Passing other cars won’t set off the alerts – only a car approaching your car’s blind spot from behind will do that. The intent is to let the driver be aware that there is a car that has crept into that spot.
Okay – so now you can kind of see why it took me so long to get this written up, huh? So many new safety features! Seriously, I kept saying wow. But I’m going to leave that for Part 3. Now that we’ve gotten the details? Next I’ll give you my own GeekMommyish reviews!
Thanks for your patience. I expect if you’re like me, you’re now impatient to find out when and how you can get some of these features! Well, that’s another thing I’ll refer you to Ford.com for! Next up – what it was like to experience these features and what I thought of them.
All images courtesy of Ford – http://media.ford.com – all Ford trademarks, images, and terms are used solely to refer to the products reviewed and remain the sole property of Ford.
Getting There is Half the Fun – Part 1 of 3
October 12, 2008
A week ago on a Sunday afternoon, my family dropped me off at the airport. I got on an airplane thinking I was headed to Detroit… only to go nowhere pretty fast for the better part of an hour & a half. Sitting on the smallest commercial jet I’ve been on in years, watching the rain stream down the windows and the pilot and flight crew attempt to charm a planeful of cramped, cranky, unhappy passengers armed only with a microphone and their wit* I thought about taking out my laptop to start this first post and realized that there was no way I was going to get it unwedged from beneath the seat in front of me.
You’re probably thinking ‘well, at least it would’ve been posted sooner’ and I’d reply yeah, but I don’t usually post that many curse words. So instead, I sat there reading People magazine and thinking about how I had gotten there.
This is the first of 3 posts I’m going to write about this. I decided to break it down into three for what seem to me to be very plausible reasons. Reason #1? Because if I didn’t break it into multiple posts my usual long-winded tendencies might overwhelm even the most dedicated of readers – there’s so much to write about after what I experienced in a short 24 hour period. Reason #2 – there are really 3 different types of posts. This first one is all about the trip itself. My usual rambling narrative (for those of you familiar with these little jaunts of mine) that talks about the trip itself, the adventures and mishaps, how I ended up going – you know… GeekMommy’s life as brought to you by the fine folks who keep the Internet up and running for us!** The second one will be one of those ‘all facts, all tech, all wicked cool! Wish you could’ve been with me to hear this in person’ posts. Because honestly – if you got to this site from a search engine query related to Ford Safety Media Forum keywords the last thing you’re going to want to hear about is my travel drama and you’re just going to want to hear all about the cool safety features they were introducing. The third and final post? Well that’s my opinions. Yes, technically, I could be all journalistic and just leave it at number two – but the thing is? I’m not a journalist. I was there with dozens of really talented, really professional journalists and I know that some of them have already done some amazing writeups on the information so you can Google away and read those if you want impartial. Me? I’m a geek, a parent, and blogger – you ~know~ I’ve got an opinion (or 3) so I’m going to express them here. But I will be putting that in its own little post. Again, because not everyone cares to hear what I think… (yeah, I know, right? heh!)
So where were we? Oh yes. Sitting on the plane, in the rain, not writing.
You see, last week, I got a contact from Zoë Siskos – an amazing woman who works at The Social Media Group and whom I happen to follow avidly on Twitter. She wondered if this event that Ford was having Monday would be something I’d be interested in covering. She sent me a brief overview of some of the new features. I wiped the drool off of my keyboard and emailed back that of course I’d love to go!
Since we were short on time and since I had a bunch of other stuff on my plate, I didn’t really push for too much information. I knew that @QueenofSpain (Erin Kotecki Vest) had attended a similar Ford event and had really enjoyed the experience so I signed on board and trusted that the folks at Ford & the Social Media Group knew what they were doing inviting me. I suppose that turns out to be for the best, because otherwise I might’ve been too intimidated to go. There were a couple of other parent/tech bloggers there – Dave Banks from Geek Dad, and Daddy Troy and Daddy Brad from Dad Labs were there as well. Which made me feel a bit less overwhelmed when I found myself in a room full of serious automotive journalists… but only a bit.
Fortunately for me, the amazing @scottmonty (Scott Monty) was along for the ride and he put me at ease right away – as did every person I met from Ford during the experience. So I kicked over into “interested parent mode” and “avid driving enthusiast perspective” quickly and watched as the event rolled out around me.
I will back-track a moment to say though that I did experience my moment of panic. Thanks to the storm, I didn’t get in to Detroit until just past 11pm and didn’t get into my hotel until nearly midnight! Which meant when I found myself without the next day’s agenda in my room, I didn’t dare bring myself to wake someone else up to hold my hand and reassure me that I was in the right place. Again fortunately for me, Tony McCloud from Ford and the aforementioned Scott Monty got me thru the rough bit in the morning without reacting negatively at all to my sleep-deprived mildly hysterical antics.
I should mention that I discovered a neat Catch-22 about traveling by plane these days! You see, as we were boarding, there was a storm looming… we would’ve made it out in time, except that the one lavatory on the jet needed to be serviced before we left. That 10 minute delay meant that we were sitting on the plane waiting to back up when the lightning storm hit. In a lightning storm out on the plains, the Airport Manager (a job my sister-in-law’s Dad used to fill at DIA for many years) can and usually does call for the ground personnel and ramp attendants to come off the tarmac. This is apparently because there have actually been incidents where someone was struck by lightning. So, when this happens, there’s no ground guy to back the plane up – so the plane can’t leave the gate. Additionally, the gate agent isn’t allowed down the ramp, so there’s no way to deplane the passengers. This means that you’re officially stuck in limbo. Can’t fly out. Can’t get off.
Yes, yes – I know “passengers bill of rights… yadda yadda…” but honestly? Nothing the crew can do about it. They’re just as stuck as you are. In this case, they tried to make the best of it, but we sat there in the rain for an hour and a half wondering if the 3rd engine that powered the lights, air conditioning, etc was going to use all the gas before we could take off.
So then. Now that we’re done with the plane drama – back to the event itself.
I found myself getting on a shuttle and going over to the Ford Product Development Center with many other badged folks… most of whom were asking each other if they ‘were in Paris last week? ‘ A bit of Googling that night let me know that they were all abuzz about the Paris Motor Show 2008. As I said – these were some very serious automotive journalists. Fortunately, there were a number of women amongst them. So although I was the only non-Dad blogger there, I didn’t stand out simply due to my gender. Which was a welcome surprise that told me not a little bit about my own preconceived bias.
photo by Erin Kotecki Vest
They started out by feeding us. Then gave us a presentation on the new My Key (which as I mentioned earlier will be covered in the next post!) and an overview of what safety features we were going to be seeing and testing that day. The overview included rules of the track – because yes, we were allowed to drive (under the supervision of some very helpful and knowledgable engineers) on the actual high speed test track in order to experience some of the features in action – and what we were going to be testing for the time we were there. Then we piled into vans by colored bands (mine was blue… and when the blue group was merged into the remaining purple and green groups I noted that I could be either by the simple addition of a different primary color! Yes, I know… ubergeek) and headed out to the facility.
After the tests we were fed yet again – Lunch! And most excellent, I might add – while listening to a more in-depth presentation on My Key showing us a computer simulation of the programming of a key.
It all ended way too quickly. Personally? I wanted to go badger the engineers more, asking geek question after geek question… but that’s not really what I was there for. Shortly afterward we were whisked back to the hotel, then I got in a car with Dave from Geek Dad to head to the airport as we said goodbye to the guys from Dad Labs while they did the same.
The way home saw me stopping over in O’Hare – where my flight to Denver had a wait list of 100 people and a ‘confirmed but not seated’ list of a couple dozen. They were asking for volunteers for a bump to the next flight with flight voucher – and since I can always use one of those, I called up GeekDaddy and let him know I was going to volunteer and would be in a couple hours later. Unfortunately for me, the 2 unhappy gate agents got distracted at the wrong time by the most inebriated woman I’ve ever seen in an airport… and they took my name off in order to bump me, but then forgot to, so they ended up putting me back on the flight. Given that the woman in question was passing out in the ‘premier’ carpeted line and that she didn’t know her own name or the name of the party that had her ticket? I can kind of sympathize. While waiting, I did hear the senior agent they called in to handle her figure out that she was a) in the wrong terminal, and b) at the wrong airline, and c) going to be taken away in a nice wheelchair now…
The flight home from there was relatively uneventful. I was in the exit row of a 757 tho, so I had leg-room for the first time in awhile. But I was happy to be home, yet thrilled to have been included. It’s not every day you get to see life-changing technology being introduced to the public. But as I said – that’s for the next couple of posts – which I fully intend to get to you tomorrow. Sort of a 2-for-1 since it’s late deal.
*apparently, when he announced initially that ‘at least we had free snacks’ the pilot wasn’t aware that United had cut back in that regard just recently and there wasn’t even a stale pretzel to be had in the galley… he retracted it and politely asked us not to mutiny
**and of course, the wonderful folks who host my site – lunarpages.com – and the fine folks at Ford who made the whole story possible.
Come Back Tuesday…
October 4, 2008
I’m totally going to explain this shortly – but I hope you’ll bear with me… I’m short on time this weekend.
Come Tuesday, I fully expect to explain that widget off to the right that you see that says YouData.com on it… If you don’t already know who YouData.com is, you’ll want to know. If you do, my apologies for the fact that it’s currently mangling the size of my sidebar. I haven’t had the time to tweak the WP template to accommodate it yet.
But I will. Tuesday. I swear.
It’s just that tomorrow I’m flying out to Michigan for something else truly exciting, thanks to the good people at Ford. But that will be something else I talk about on Tuesday.
Oh my gosh – I so totally have the coolest things to share with you. But not until Tuesday.
Did I mention that you should come back on Tuesday? Yeah. See you then!! 
And They’ll Tell 5 Friends… And So On… And So On…
October 3, 2008
Jack Leblond just called me out. No I swear, he did.
He wanted to know if I was registered to vote! What do you think? Am I registered to vote? Of course I am. I’ve been registered to vote since 1984. I take my rights very seriously – because the right to vote isn’t just a right, it’s also a responsibility. It’s a privilege and an honor to be a part of a country where I have a say – even if it’s just a small one – in what our government does. I exercise that freedom, that right, that privilege, and that responsibility whenever I can.
But I do so responsibly. I research the candidates, the issues, the positions, and try to vote based on both my values AND what I think is best for the country as a whole.
But here – tell you what, watch this – and you’ll see why I’m telling you DON’T VOTE!!
You know, in theory, I could make a list of folks to call out on this – but I’m just going to throw it at you – so, are YOU registered to vote? If so, link me to your post about this in the comments. If not, tell me why not in the comments, okay? Seriously, I’m interested.
Review – VTech KidiArt Studio
October 1, 2008
Last week, a very nice woman by the name of Kristin contacted me. She works at Edelman on the VTech account and was wondering if I was still interested in being part of VTech’s Demo Team.
When I was out at BlogHer this Summer, VTech had one of the most intriguing booths out there. They kept bringing out toys that I just knew I couldn’t go over and play with – because I’d end up buying every one for my darling daughter and also because I knew I’d feel guilty about it if I got to play with them and she didn’t. So I went over – made mental notes about what things were probably going to have to go on the Christmas list this year. Oh, and let them know that I’d love to be part of the VTech Demo Team given the chance.
What’s the VTech Demo Team? Basically, moms who will have a chance to test out VTech toys and share their experiences. It’s feedback for the VTech folks from real parents and their kids. In this case, it’s also information that I’m going to share with you, dear readers!
So when the box containing the VTech KidiArt Studio showed up on my doorstep last Friday? It was met with great anticipation! After all, this was definitely on the Christmas list… so a little Christmas in September wasn’t exactly unwelcome.
As you can see in the slide show, it was taken out of the box as quickly as possible. But due to my own state of illness on that day – it was left up to GeekDaddy and Buttercup to set it up and get it going. Which they did.
Then Buttercup proceeded to get obsessed by it for the next 4 days.
She played with it until the batteries died. She begged for new batteries. She played with it after the new batteries were in. She showed it to her best friend T when she came over for a play-date on Monday… and they played with it until the arguments about who should get the pen got beyond bearable and I sent them off to play something else.
So. You’re getting the idea already that this particular toy is getting a thumbs up, right?
It didn’t take Buttercup very long to figure out the interface. One of the things we do with new tech toys is just let her start playing with it. Yes, we keep the manual nearby – but if it’s too hard for her to figure out on her own? It’s losing points pretty quickly. Fortunately, it didn’t take her terribly long to figure it out. The icons are easy for a kindergartner to figure out – the pen & table interface is pretty easy to get used to as well.
She played with all of the various features. She seemed to understand it better than I did… Then again, I’m all for a toy that she gets well enough that I don’t have to help her to every little thing with.
Buttercup is the kind of kid who loves playing with Microsoft Paint on the computer for as long as she can – or any other program that has “graphic capabilities” – so I figured that she’d like having her own ‘electronic art studio’ and I was right. What I didn’t count on was that she’d want it to do more than it did. She was a little disappointed that “make your own movie” was really about doing stop-motion photography with clip-art. She’s gotten too used to livestreaming video I’m afraid. (Go figure.)
Okay, so to shorten this up a bit – let me put this in more of a bullet-point list for you.
Things We Liked
- Easy to set up
- Easy to use – even for an almost-6 year old who hasn’t read the directions
- Lots of clip-art and different things the software allows for
- Ability to expand (apparently – there are or will be other cartridges available for this – or so GeekDaddy tells me.)
- Child-friendly environment – the sounds, little character voices, pictures and clip art provide a great atmosphere for kids.
- Having the ability to plug it into either the TV (using S-video jacks) or the computer is a nice perk.
- It continues to be interesting the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th day. Altogether too often, electronic toys lose their allure after about day 2 here. It’s only the good ones that stick around longer than that. This one has.
Things We Didn’t Like
- The batteries rand out rather quickly, despite putting 8 fully charged ones into it on Friday, by Monday morning, they were drained. GeekDaddy tells me he thought there was some way to plug a power-supply into it, but one wasn’t provided… and the site seems to imply that batteries are required.
- The camera isn’t the highest quality – and seems to have a strange delay that means that the picture is actually taken about 1 full second after the sound of the ‘click’ and the frame freezes… because when you see the actual picture, it’s not the same. Which is not good if you have a child who likes to squirm about right after the click.
- The camera also seems to “flip” the picture when it’s pointed at the child. Images from the desk come out as shown – images taken of the seated child do a mirror-image flip.
- The pen-drag interface isn’t as smooth as a mouse… so it takes a bit to “get it”. Buttercup picked it up after a bit, but Mom & Dad still have issues.
- Lack of light source – the camera doesn’t have a flash, and it doesn’t do very well in low light. We had to open the windows and turn on extra lights to get decent pictures. A flash would be nice.
When it comes down to it, the plusses actually out-weigh the minuses. This is a fantastic educational toy as well as one that masquerades as pure entertainment from the kidlet’s point of view. It improves motor function and fine motor control, spatial relationships and shapes.
On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being “wouldn’t use it even if it was free” and 10 being “impossible to drag the kids away from it, plus an amazing deal for the price” I’d give the VTech KidiArt Studio an 8.5 – but only because of the lack of a power supply and the weirdness with the camera. All in all, we *do* have to drag Buttercup away from it – which is how I know the battery thing is an issue.
So yeah, it’s worth putting on your Christmas list if you have an artistically inclined 4 to 7 year old in your house. I firmly expect that Buttercup will still be playing with hers through then!
Administrative note: This review was not paid for. The VTech KidiArt Studio was provided by the company for my review and feedback. The company had no influence or input on what is contained in the product review above. All opinions expressed are those of the author and those attributed to others specifically named in the review.
