ZRecommends

Links for 2009-07-17 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Some E-Books Are More Equal Than Others
"This is ugly for all kinds of reasons. Amazon says that this sort of thing is “rare,” but that it can happen at all is unsettling; we’ve been taught to believe that e-books are, you know, just like books, only better. Already, we’ve learned that they’re not really like books, in that once we’re finished reading them, we can’t resell or even donate them. But now we learn that all sales may not even be final."

Links for 2009-07-16 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Crocs Shoe Company Stumbles During Recession
"The company's toast," said Damon Vickers, who manages an investment fund at Nine Points Capital Partners in Seattle. "They're zombie-ish. They're dead and they don't know it."

Build your own walking R/C block bulldozer with the ZoobMover

2009-07-16T11:00:01-06:00

Zoob building sets' claim to fame is that their five-piece building system mirrors the five nucleic acids that are the building blocks of life. I'm not sure how that is relevant to the process of building a walking bulldozer Princess Jasmine can drive via an imaginary microphone, but I'm sure there's a connection.

If you haven't guessed already, this is what really got us interested in the Zoob system. We love building robots, and we aren't ashamed of our parasitic harvesting of parts from other toys and devices. We let other people do the hard parts so we can focus on being creative. And that's what we were looking for when we asked Zoob to send us their ZoobMover Power Building Set to check out. I'll get into the details of how it all comes together in a minute, but the first thing you should know about this toy is that it will have your child squealing with frolicsome delight while it noisily grinds around the floor, sucking juice from its five batteries (four AA, one 9V, all included).

Z enjoys playing with building toys, and we frequently review them - Plan's lovely construction set, Bonz, Tinker Toys, Automoblox, Wedgits. We got a lot of mileage out of Mega Bloks back when Z was a toddler. But I've been looking for a less, well, blocky building toy that would captivate her. A robot seemed like a good point of entry.

But the foundational architecture of the Zoob system has some surprising limitations. There is a ball-and-socket connection that forms a joint that moves in two directions, and notches in the center of pieces that allow them to snap in an X-shape; all well and good. But another of the pieces' primary connections is for the "sockets" to snap together, each forming two sides of a rounded rectangular linkage, and these linkages are both awkward to snap together (with a moderate error rate even for adult users) and don't have much structural strength (they collapse easily when you are building with them).

Overall, at least in the fifty-piece set of building pieces that come with the ZoobMover, the five building blocks had us more conscious of the constraints of the system than its possibilities. I think someone with a different background could explain this problem in more mathematical terms - the number of possible connections and variations - but my explanation will have to remain at this level: They didn't feel very open-ended.

Of course, that's less of an issue when you're building a walking robot. The ZoobMover's gearbox is a great idea - it has open sockets for six legs and rocking nubby parts at each end and on the top, and kids just build their own legs and jittery appendages. The motor is controlled by an R/C unit with two little joysticks, one for each side of its body; this means a reasonably adept user can turn tight circles as well as going forward or backward. (The controls are a bit tricky for Z at just under five, but certainly nothing too difficult for slightly older kids.) The resulting walker is the very kind of robot that is the most out of reach for amateur roboticists like Z and I. (Zoob also makes a set you can use to build an R/C car.)

And Princess Jasmine seems to enjoy patrolling the hinterlands of our kitchen and dining room in it.

The ZoobMover has an MSRP of $45 and retails for about $35 on Amazon. Other Zoob sets on offer cluster in the $30 to $50 range.

Links for 2009-07-15 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Cosmetic Surgery Company Settles Case of Faked Reviews
"The company had ordered employees to pretend they were satisfied customers and write glowing reviews of its face-lift procedure on Web sites, according to the attorney general’s statement. Lifestyle Lift also created its own sites of face-lift reviews to appear as an independent sources."

Disney magically refuses request for BPA status of kids’ water bottles

2009-07-15T20:00:30-06:00

We called Disney last week at a reader's request, seeking BPA information about their kids' stainless steel water bottles. The customer service rep was very friendly and her manner made me actually think we might get a straight answer. After all, these are stainless steel water bottles, with just a few small plastic parts.

We were also eager to add some Disney products to the ZRecs Guide, where every listing is based on detailed information provided by the manufacturer, as well as offering our impression of the quality of the data they provided.

This came in today from the Disney Store's Guest Services department.

Thank you for calling DisneyStore.com! I appreciate the opportunity to bring some magic to your day.

I am pleased to tell you that we have spoken with the maker of the stainless steel water bottle you purchased. There is no statement
regarding BPA related to this item, and while we do not have any testing results for this particular item regarding BPA, our items meet all
federal requirements and guidelines.

I hope you will find this information helpful. Please let me know if you have additional questions!

Sincerely,
Heather
Have a MAGICAL day!
The DisneyStore.com Team

And just like that - poof! - your interest in this matter disappears! Right? Come on, would Mickey do you wrong?

No. Mickey would walk across giant sticky traps to bring you a cool, refreshing drink in your Earth Day Mickey Mouse Water Bottle.

But please do not ask what you are drinking.

Links for 2009-07-13 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Want to keep your wallet? Carry a baby picture - Times Online
Richard Wiseman, a psychologist, and his team inserted one of four photographs behind a clear plastic window inside, showing either a smiling baby, a cute puppy, a happy family or a contented elderly couple. Some wallets had no image and some had charity papers inside. ...

Kolcraft recalls one million play yards due to epic fail

2009-07-09T20:30:54-06:00

The strangulation death of an infant in a "Sesame Beginnings" Travel Play Yard led the privately-held baby products giant Kolcraft, which brings in estimated revenues of $33 million a year, to recall nearly half a million play yards under several brands in September 2007.

As it turns out, however, a changing table with a dangling strap wasn't all that was wrong with Kolcraft's playpens. Three hundred and twenty-seven failure reports and 21 injuries later, the CPSC has issued a recall of 984,000 Kolcraft play yards due to a failure of its side wall to latch, causing it to collapse when leaned on by a child inside. This near-million-unit recall includes those previously recalled for the strangulation hazard.

The remedy offered by Kolcraft for both the strangulation hazard and the newly announced fall hazard are repair kits. Kolcraft has a retrofit request form on their website, or you can call them at (888) 655-8484.

The difficulty of making recalls by companies like Kolcraft effective is that their products are marketed under so many different names - in this case, Kolcraft, Carter’s, Sesame Street, Jeep, Contours, Care Bear and Eric Carle. I encourage you to check not only your own play yard but those of other caregivers in your life, and send links to friends who have young children or are expecting.

Kolcraft's history with child safety is a checkered one. Its founder, Leo Koltun, made his name in the late 1940s by inventing the bumper pad, an innovation which probably made sense in an era before ASTM crib standards but have offered greater risks than benefits since the mid-1980s. (ZRecs advises against the use of crib and play yard bumpers, which have been identified as entrapment, suffocation, and possible SIDS hazards by the Journal of Pediatrics and many others.) The company has had several recalls since the CPSC began publishing recall information online, including a 1993 recall of Preskool-branded portable cribs due to a problem that sounds eerily similar to the one that triggered yesterday's recall: a collapsing side, which in that case created a "V"-shaped hinge that led to the entrapment and suffocation deaths of three infants in the four years it was on the market.

Below is a graphic showing all 19 of the Kolcraft play yard designs being recalled with this notice. You can see bigger images of each one in the CPSC's recall notice.

Recalled models:

Kolcraft Travelin’ Tot

Kolcraft Travelin’ Tot LTD

Kolcraft Travelin’ Tot 2-in-1

Kolcraft Travelin’ Tot 3-in-1

Kolcraft Travelin’ Tot 4-in-1

Carter’s Lennon Travelin’ Tot

EMU Carter’s Travelin’ Tot

Carter’s Travelin’ Tot

“Sesame Beginnings” 2-in-1 Play Yard

Sesame Travelin’ Tot VT

Jeep Sahara, Jeep Sahara SE Play Yard

Jeep Sahara Limited Play Yard

Jeep Sahara XT Play Yard

Jeep Sahara Limited SE Play Yard

Jeep Sahara Limited XT Play Yard

Contours 2-in-1 Travel Playyard

Contours 3-in-1 Play Yard

Contours Deluxe Play Yard

Contours Travel Play Yard

Care Bear Play Yard

Eric Carle Play Yard with Activity Gym

Model numbers: 18709-BH, 18709T-BH, 18709T-DV, 18709-NF, 18709T-NF, 18710-BE, 18711T-BD, 18711T-BE, 18713T-LB, 18714T-WD, 18714-WD, 18724T-SQ, 18725-CG, 18725T-FF, 18730T-BZ, 18730T-HJ,18731- DV, 18731T-BZ, 18733-CU, 18733T-CU, 18734T-DV, 18744-BL, 18751T-BZ, 18751T-CU,18751-DV,18751T-DV, 18910-MQ, 18910T-EB, 18910T-LN,18920D-OW,18920-OW, 18925-GS, 18925-LA, 18931-EZ, 18931T-DV, 18931T-PV, 18933T-CU, 18934-SW, 18934-DV, 18935T-UT, 18935-CH, 18942-EC, 18945T-CT, 18945T-ER, 18946-AR, 18950-GV, 18950T-GV, 18951T-DV, 18951T-GS, 18951T-MO,18960-KK, 18960T-PP, 18961-AR, 18961T-AR, 18961-CT, 18961T-CT, 18961-PP, 18961T-GF, 18961T-RV, 18962-AX, 18962T-FZ, 18962-OQ, 18962T-ZT, KP001-BND, KP013-BPA, KP013-HGF, KP013-JFR, KP013-NRB, KP013-PPL, KP014-JGY, KP015-BPA, KP015-JFR, KP016-OW, KP027-JGX, 18740-UE, 18740T-UE, 18736T-LJ, 18737-LJ, 18737T-LJ, 18726-KA, 18726T-HM, 22361-VT, SP001-SBK, SP004-SBK, 55200-JC, 55220-JC, 55225-JC, 55225T-JC, 55235-JC, 55237-JQ, 55237T-JQ, 55237-XC, 55237-XV, 55237T-XB, 55770-XA, 55770-XI, 55772-XE, 55773-XY, JP002-XSP, 18604-OC, ZP001-MON, ZP001-MYS, ZP003-MAL, ZP004-MAL, 18960-KK, 18763-EK, 18763T-EK

Wedgits: A fabulous water toy in disguise

2009-07-07T21:41:24-06:00

We received a sample set of Wedgits, a building toy with some curious geometry behind it, several months ago. We were sent a small "Starter Set" ($15 on Amazon), and honestly were challenged to make much of it, although we'd played with a much larger set at a trade show and were aware of the toy's possibilities. Then, the other day, we had an epiphany.

Wedgits - even a very small set - make a fabulous water toy.

We think Wedgits are a fun, unusual building toy in larger sets - not as versatile as standard building blocks, but they allow for some interesting building experiments, including complex balancing and nesting of pieces. But as water toys, even a very small set plays to some interesting strengths. Wedgits' phthalate- and BPA-free plastic pieces float, for one thing. (All hard Wedgits are made of a #6 styrene, and are thus not only phthalate-free but PVC-free; the company's "Weegits," an infant line of Wedgits, are made of phthalate-free PVC.) And the pieces fit together in ways that create very small gaps, allowing the user to create chambers that slowly leak water. Z has always loved water play, and even at nearly five years old she could play in an inch of water for hours. Here's what she did with her Wedgits when we offered her a 9x12 casserole dish and a pint or so of water:

These could be a lot of fun in a sandbox, too!

You can buy Wedgits from their manufacturer, ImagAbility, or on Amazon.com. Set prices range from $15 to about $40.

Links for 2009-07-02 [del.icio.us]

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Between Diapers and Jump Shots, Parker Has Her Hands Full - NYTimes.com
"Within the organization, Parker’s no-show prompted some hand-wringing. Even on maternity leave, Parker, the highest-profile player in the W.N.B.A., is invaluable to the league. Seated in street clothes at the end of the bench, she is a living, breathing promo, a reminder of what fans have to look forward to if they keep watching. Beyond that, some people privately wondered if Parker’s torn allegiances were a harbinger of her road ahead as she attempts a daunting juggling act. As the summer progresses, Parker’s dual - and, some might say, dueling - roles as Lailaa’s mother and the marquee star of the W.N.B.A. are certain to challenge her physical and emotional range."

Green Toys’ Jump Rope: Doing the simple things so right

2009-07-02T19:30:07-06:00

Jump rope, why do we love thee so? Let me count the ways...

Two-part handles allow rope to spin freely (plastic parts are turning rather than relying on the rope to turn itself, which has more friction)

Chunky handles easier for young users

100% cotton rope - no nylon or other plastics in the rope itself

100% recycled plastic handles

USA made

Really, who knew you could ask so much of something so simple?

Our nearly five-year-old daughter Z is slowly learning how to master this thing. She loves the idea and we have plenty of YouTube videos to inspire her. This sort of activity is right up her alley - physical, intense, and fun!

At $10, this makes a great first jump rope - once a kid starts really tearing it up, you will probably need to move to a lighter-weight rope.

I now have but one request: Please, Green Toys, make double-dutch jump ropes! A long rope turned by two people is the easiest way for a young child to learn to jump rope.

Other Green Toys products we've loved: Vehicles [review | teardown], dishes

ZRecs Audio Story #4: “The Baker and the Monsters”

2009-06-30T21:00:40-06:00

Tomorrow (Wednesday) morning at 6 a.m. CT we'll publish "The Baker and the Monsters," a new ZRecs Audio story, over on Punnybop. It's the skewed translation of a Bohemian folk tale without the hellfire, and it's our funniest kids' story yet!

If you haven't heard our previous ZRecs Audio Stories yet, you can hop on over and listen to them here.

Nature Box III

2009-06-30T13:37:56-06:00

Jeremiah and Z have been saving up a variety of items for another "Nature Box," and spent a couple of hours this weekend putting it together. It's more varied than their previous nature boxes, and includes:

A real or concrete-generated fossil of a small clamshell Z found in our driveway

A tuft of animal fur from the road, probably rabbit

Half of a geode purchased at a museum and smashed in our driveway with a hammer

A painted shell Z bought in on a trip to Galveston with her grandmother

A dragonfly found in our yard

Two moths, one found on our porch and the other in our garden

An inch-long thorny leaf tip from a century plant (large agave) from our driveway

A dead ladybug and a dead cranefly, both from our home office

Part of a bird's egg found on a walk in a local park

One of the most interesting developments for this project, though, was the "map" they created in the box lid to identify specimens. Jeremiah drew circles to indicate each object, and then Z labeled them, and learned in the process how the "map" (a legend, really) can show a viewer what is in the box, without directly labeling the objects themselves. We've been working a lot on maps lately - a topic we'll discuss in another post soon on Punnybop, as it all started with a couple of great kids' books - and this plays into that learning well. As Z is busy learning to write, we are also very keen to use applications that are highly purposeful and meaningful to her, and labeling something she can refer to later offers tangible evidence of the value of writing things down!

SSS Reader Rescue Poll, Part II: Vote for your favorite toddler to pre-K sippy or straw cup!

2009-06-29T15:18:18-06:00

So we've told you what we thought were the best, pretty good, not so hot, and worst sippy and straw cups for kids from toddlerdom through the pre-K years. We think there were actually some pretty good cups in the Middle Tier this round, and even some decent ones in our Bottom Tier - the competition was tighter, for sure! So we're particularly curious to find out what cup readers - that's you! - will vote to rescue from this division's middle and bottom tier and strongarm into ZRecs Top Pick status!

Photos of all the contenders are below, as well as those already awarded Top Pick status, for comparison. The poll is in the Z Recommends sidebar. If you'd like to reread our reviews and scoring to remind you of which of our reviews had us most vigorously shaking your head in protest, here they are:

Middle Tier

Bottom Tier

World's Worst

Don't miss your chance to vote up your favorite from among our unchosen - we'll keep this poll open through July 7. Use your vote to promote the cup you think is most deserving of "Top Pick" status!

Existing Top Picks in this division are:

Natural, gender-neutral pretend play with Ryan’s Room

2009-06-25T11:00:53-06:00

Ryan's Room toys first attracted us with their all-wood and cloth construction and relatively gender-neutral themes, a great alternative to plastic dollhouse furniture and dolls that are mostly directed towards girls. Figures are poseable, and play sets offer a wide variety of pretend play options.

The company sent us their Happy Campers play set and Utility Room set of furnishings and appliances, at our request - the former because we are always looking for good indoor/outdoor pretend play items, and the latter because we figured the quality of furnishings in this set would tell us a lot about the quality of construction in the wooden furniture Ryan's Room produces - as we've seen with other mass-marketed wooden toys like Melissa & Doug, quality control can be an issue when you're mass-producing small wooden toys for young children. The Utility Room set includes items with small bits of cloth and string and a washer and dryer set with opening doors and small painted parts.

The Utility Room furnishings did not disappoint - washer and dryer doors opened smoothly on wooden pins, all parts were firmly connected with no visible glues, and the vacuum was very handy for cleaning rabbits.

We have since purchased several other sets of Ryan's Room furniture, and have been very happy with it. (Other plastic toys above were introduced by our toy tester.)

Our hammock was a little... snug, but I think we could have just tied it a little too tight. We love these trees - they are wooden poles with fabric donut-like rings that create bands of greenery. Really, these trees are a lot cuter than we made them... For proper installation, please see the setup below.

At any rate, these toys have been played with, put out of sight by well-meaning reviewers looking to move on, and dragged out again by Z to be played with intensively.

The tent, which deserves a better photo, has a nice design - a two-part "A-frame" that fits together with notches to make a four-cornered support under the one-piece fabric tent. The Happy Campers set comes with two of Ryan's Room's cute poseable figures. Note that a Polly Pocket has snuck into the hammock.

You can check out the wide variety of Ryan's Room play sets, including a full range of dollhouse furniture and wooden dollhouses, on Amazon.com. Many items are offered there at significant discounts, and you're likely to find occasional sales at your favorite big-box, doesn't-know-good-toys-when-they-see-them retailer.

2009 BPA-Free Sippy and Straw Cup Showdown, Toddler to Pre-K Division, Top Picks

2009-06-19T22:46:28-06:00

Welcome to our favorite straw cups (and in one case, sippy) for kids from older toddlerhood through the pre-K years. These five drinking vessels are our highest recommendations for this age group, based on their ease of use and care, durability, eye appeal, and value. Let us know what you think of them in the comments if you've tried them!

Up next will be our Reader Rescue Poll, in which you can vote to have one of our Middle or Bottom Tier picks elevated to Top Pick status.

Contigo Autoseal

Design:A 9-oz. cup with a non-skid base, contoured body, and button-powered drinking spout.
Price: $9 | Shop for the Autoseal Kids Cup on Amazon | See all Contigo listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: The simple button release of Contigo's Autoseal line give this product the best of both worlds when it comes to kids' cups: Total, unassailable leak-proof performance matched by a fast flow through a sizeable opening when its button-release is pressed. The non-skid base has a sneaker-like look and feel and this cup is sturdy, durable, and attractive. The button assembly contained in the lid could conceivably get dirty, but has enough holes to be easily flushed clean. It's hard to beat the features and "Aha!" functionality of this great cup, and we think it will be worth the price for a lot of families.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 9. Durability: 10. Eye Appeal: 8. Value: 7. Total points: 35/40.

Playtex Coolster Tumbler

Design: A 9-oz. insulated cup with Playtex's standard "figure-8" valve and a drinking slot much like an adult insulated mug.
Price: $5-$6 | Shop for the Playtex Coolster Tumbler on Amazon | See all Playtex listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: Playtex's Coolster Tumbler offers an unbeatable package: A virtually indestructible insulated cup with Playtex's nearly-spill-proof, easy-to-clean valve. Playtex's astonishingly low price point for this product is certainly a factor of the manufacturing giant's economies of scale. But the ability to swap lids and valves across every cup in Playtex's line cannot be so easily dismissed: It is the sign of a company's belief in their full product line and their respect for consumers. Lids for newer Playtex sippys, like this one, also feature a tab that enables in-lid storage of the valve while washing and storing the cup. Like the Contigo, its size, look and functionality mean that this cup could last your child for several years without looking "too young." In sum, this is the kind of product that keeps a big name big.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 9. Durability: 9. Eye Appeal: 8. Value: 9. Total points: 35/40.

Nalgene Grip 'n' Gulp

Design: A 12-oz. translucent cup with a sippy-style spout and internal valve.
Price: $6-$9 | Shop for Nalgene Grip 'n' Gulp on Amazon | See all Nalgene listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: Made of BPA-free Tritan copolyester, the industry-favored replacement for polycarbonate for its clarity and shatterproof strength, Nalgene's Grip 'n' Gulp is a worthy kids' version of the company's storied water bottles. We would have included this one in our Baby and Toddler Division due to its relatively slow flow - the Grip 'n' Gulp lacks any way for air to get in through a secondary route, so it "locks up" after moderate sips and requires the user to let go to allow more air back in - but its circumference and volume makes it more suitable for older children, and Z doesn't seem to mind the flow rate one bit. In fact, it's one of her favorite kids' cups, and it isn't hard to see why - Nalgene's Grip 'n' Gulp is a gorgeous sippy in hard candy colors. The internal silicone valve is chunky and easy to both install and to wash, and the cup is leakproof when left on its side, and leaks very little when shaken. Many parents will also appreciate the translucent body, which allows you to see how much liquid is left.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 8. Durability: 8. Eye Appeal: 9. Value: 6. Total points: 31/40.

Playtex Insulator Twist 'n Click Straw Cup

Design: A 9-oz. insulated cup with a two-piece straw and flip-top.
Price: $7 for two | Shop for the Playtex Insulator Twist 'n Click Straw Cup on Amazon.com | See all Playtex listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: Built with the same insulated body as the Coolster Tumbler, Playtex's Insulator straw cup has one of the simplest and easiest to use straw assemblies we've seen. The two-part straw inserts more easily through the cup's lid because it does so through a straight hole, with the sliding top folding it down to create a leak-proof vessel when closed. The cup leaks only slightly when shaken upside down. Ultimately, we think Playtex's Insulator features the kind of straw assembly other straw cup manufactures have to design around, adding complexity to avoid getting into a patent war. After you take apart and put together this cup a few times, other, slightly more awkward straw and lid designs just seem to make a little less sense.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 9. Durability: 10. Eye Appeal: 5. Value: 9. Total points: 30/40.

Sigg Kids' Water Bottle

Design:A .3 or .4 liter aluminum bottle with twist-to-open sport top and flip-top half-dome cover.
Price: $13-$20 | Shop for Sigg on Amazon.com | See all Sigg listings on the ZRecs Guide
Observations: Sigg's aluminum bottles are coated with an epoxy the company has declared BPA-free, and in recent years they have made two improvements to one of the cutest kids' water bottles on the market: They've switched their flip-cap from a simple plastic loop to a hinge that helps keep it out of the user's face when drinking, and made their twist cap easier to open, which means little hands can do it themselves. We still think Sigg makes one of the best kids' bottles on the market, and it's hard to find something this sustainable and this cute at the same time.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 7. Durability: 8. Eye Appeal: 10. Value: 6. Total points: 31/40.

Have your kids used any of these cups? What do you, and they, think of them?

Today

2009-06-18T20:19:18-06:00

We need another day to get our Sippy and Straw Cup Showdown's Toddler to Pre-K Top Picks ready for prime time, but in the meantime, you can find out why Z loves this doll so much over on Gardenaut - and what getting it has helped teach her!

Links for 2009-06-17 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Alice and Kev
"This is an experiment in playing a homeless family in The Sims 3. I created two Sims, moved them in to a place made to look like an abandoned park, removed all of their remaining money, and then attempted to help them survive without taking any job promotions or easy cash routes."

DIY Hugging Robots

2009-06-17T14:01:36-06:00

I recently ordered a package of a dozen poorly-made "Jumping Jellybean" wind-up toys from the Oriental Trading Company to use for DIY toy-building. Inspired by the TOMY Bumbling Boxing set we found at a garage sale a few weeks ago, Z and I cut the upper portions off a couple of the jellybeans (old scissors work fine), acquired the heads of some small discarded stuffed animals, and taped them up for painting, with adding arms to allow these two creatures to rush into each others' arms. We call them Hugging Robots.

This particular behavior is a favorite way for Z to greet a loved one who has been absent for some time. She doesn't just make a point of dropping what she is holding and racing into the arms of her beloved, who is expected to behave in a similar manner - she actively coaches them in advance over the phone that this is what they should do when they meet.

2009 BPA-Free Sippy and Straw Cup Showdown, Toddler to Pre-K Division, Middle Tier

2009-06-16T20:38:09-06:00

Welcome to the middle tier of our showdown! Yesterday we showed off five cups for kids from toddler to preschool age that were our least favorite. You may notice that the spread between yesterday's "best" and every one of the cups listed here is a single point - we found this division to have much tighter scores than those in our Baby and Toddler Division, so we encourage you to look at the ratings breakdowns to select cups that meet your own key criteria. This time there are some cups we really like even in the Bottom Tier - but the five cups below are, in our view, even better.

Thermos Funtainer/Foogo Straw Bottle

Design: Thermos' Foogo and Funtainer have gone through design changes over the last year that have brought their designs so close together they'd be indistinguishable except for their colors and graphics. Both feature a double-walled vacuum container with a plastic base and screw on lid with a three-part straw and button-powered flip top.
Price: $16 | Shop for Thermos straw bottles on Amazon | See all Thermos listings in the ZRecs Guide to Safer Children's Products
Observations: Thermos' latest design is its easiest to put together, and is leak-proof when closed. The vacuum insulation keeps liquids cold for hours, even in a very hot car. ZRecs has had some reports of bases of these cups coming off in the dishwasher, posing serious laceration hazards, and have seen photos of the damaged bottles; however, our own use of Thermos' Foogo and Funtainer over time does not substantiate these claims directly, and we believe this cup should be safe if hand-washed - which we'd recommend for any plastic cup anyway. We strongly urge consumers interested in this bottle to hand wash it and to pay attention to the fit of the base, but believe it is a good investment and a great kids' straw bottle.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 7. Durability: 7. Eye Appeal: 9. Value: 7. Total points: 30/40.

Nuby No-Spill Flip n' Sip Cup

Design:A smaller, two-handled version of Nuby's No-Spill Flip It Straw Cup, which ranked at the top of this division's bottom tier. Note: This cup looks almost identical to a previous version of this cup, the 2-Handle Cup with Flip-It Straw Top, which contains BPA and is still on some store shelves and sold on Amazon.com. Only purchase this cup if it is labeled as "BPA-free," or you are probably buying the old, BPA-containing cup!
Price: $5 | View all Nuby listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: The two-piece straw is compatible with Nuby's larger cup if you have the extension, and this one's a cinch to hand wash and has fewer parts to lose. Overall, we like this straw cup as an easy-to-use, early straw cup for older toddlers.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 8. Durability: 8. Eye Appeal: 6. Value: 8. Total points: 30/40.

Innate Me-Me

Design:The Me-Me is a stainless steel and plastic cup cup with a sippy lid which comes either with an indentation that fits a silicone band or without. Its lid has an interior silicone valve and an air vent with a small silicone plug.
Price: $20 ($15 for cup, $5 for sport lid)
Observations: The sippy-lidded Me-Me was the top-scoring contender in our Baby and Toddler division, thanks to its secure cap fit and its well-sculpted combination of stainless steel, plastic, and a silicone band that eliminates the problem of unmanageable silicone sleeves while offering the same functionality (grip and insulation for little hands). To be perfectly honest, Innate's Me-Me would be a Top Pick if it was sold with in this combination of the sport-top lid and cup body. Instead, consumers have to buy the Me-Me with the sippy lid and then buy the sport top separately. This means it makes great sense if you start with this cup when your toddler is in the sippy stage, but for those buying one for an older child now, the value is reduced.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 7. Durability: 10. Eye Appeal: 8. Value: 5. Total points: 30/40.

Munchkin 9 oz. Insulated Straw Cup

Design: A 9-oz. insulated cup with a flip-straw lid and one-piece silicone straw.
Price: $8 | View all Munchkin listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: Munchkin's Big Kid Insulated Cups have gone through cup redesign, but they are still very durable, and the company stuck with their basic flip-straw design, which we'd argue is the best in the industry for all plastic straw cups. The straw-flipping mechanism detaches easily from the cup but fits firmly, making it easy to reach all parts for cleaning and easy to thread the straw back in, and the one-piece straw means fewer parts to lose. The straw is also made of a slightly more durable-feeling silicone than competitors' straw bottles or Munchkin's own Sport Bottle. Our only complaint about this cup is that Munchkin chose not to make its 9-oz. cup lids compatible with its other sippy and straw cups, diminishing the value of a relatively expensive plastic straw cup.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 8. Durability: 8. Eye Appeal: 8. Value: 6. Total points: 30/40.

Munchkin Mighty Grip Flip Straw Cup

Design: A 10-oz. cup with a flip-open straw.
Price: $5 | Shop for the Mighty Grip Flip Straw Cup on Amazon | View all Munchkin listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: The Mighty Grip features the same basic flip-straw design we love in Munchkin's Insulated Straw Cup - the straw-flipping lever is easily removed to allow the straw to be removed and replaced, and for all parts to be cleaned easily. This cup's competitive price for its level of quality makes it one of the better inexpensive straw cups out there.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 9. Durability: 7. Eye Appeal: 7. Value: 7. Total points: 30/40.

Tomorrow, our Top Picks for sippy and straw cups in the Toddler to Pre-K Division. After that, we'll move on to youth and adult water bottles!

Learning science through mini-golf

2009-06-16T12:41:06-06:00

The New York Times has an interesting piece on a new miniature golf course at the New York Hall Hall of Science that helps teach kids astrophysics:

At the geosynchronous-orbit hole, where the ball swirls around a large bowl before dropping into an opening, Dr. Shara showed the boys how the ball was following parabolic arcs that kept abruptly changing, or precessing.

“This happens in real space time, too,” Dr. Shara said, explaining how objects would follow similar paths down into a black hole, and how Mercury’s parabolic orbit precesses. “The Sun’s gravity is warping the space around it, so Mercury does the same crazy kind of thing that the golf ball just did.” [Link]

This isn't the first time a science museum has used mini golf to teach science. Ithaca's Sciencenter has a similar astrophysics "course" and The Science Museum of Minnesota has an intriguing "Earthscapes" miniature golf course that "provides a fun - and challenging - way to learn how water moves from mountains to oceans and shapes the landscape along the way. With water hazards like you've never seen before, this 30,000 square-foot course demonstrates that rivers and streams are alive and ever-changing!"

Links for 2009-06-15 [del.icio.us]

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 PDT

Dave Moulton's Bike Blog: Consumer protection gone crazy
Exemption was denied, but a temporary two year stay on enforcement was granted, to give the bicycle industry time to find an answer to this problem. Not a real problem, just one of bureaucratic making. The reasons given for denial by the CPSC was, and I quote: "We are compelled to deny the petition because the language of the statute does not give us the flexibility to do otherwise, even though our staff does not believe that lead exposure from using bicycles and related products presents a risk that they would recommend the Commission regulate. The risk assessment methods traditionally used by the Commission in evaluating exposure to lead are no longer available to us under the CPSIA."

2009 BPA-Free Sippy and Straw Cup Showdown, Toddler to Pre-K Division, Bottom Tier

2009-06-15T19:55:54-06:00

The five cups below are among our least favorite sippy and straw cups for kids ages two-point-fiveish to fiveish; elsewhere on Z Recommends you can see how we ranked 24 sippy cups for babies and early toddlers, or what we named the World's Worst Sippy Cup and the World's Worst Straw Cup. Yes, we are obsessed with this stuff! It's why you love us...

A reminder of the rules of engagement for this division:

Look to the scores to see why we ranked a cup the way we did; sometimes there were things we really liked about a product, but another category killed its chances at a good ranking.

We did not leak-test straw cups except when their lids were closed, and all the cups in this showdown passed that test without incident.

We'd love to hear your impressions of a product, whether you agree or disagree with our assessment - we (and other readers) love to hear how these products fared in your own home, as no design is perfect for everyone, and each is sure to have its advocates.

Last but not least, don't forget that you'll have the chance at the end of the week to vote up a cup you see here or in our upcoming Middle Tier that you believe deserves Top Pick status!

And now, on to the rankings! Our Middle Tier and Top Picks for this division will follow tomorrow and Thursday.

Nuby No-Spill Flip It Straw Cup

Design: A 12-oz hourglass cup with a flip lid and three-part straw (top portion, firm straw, and straw extension).
Price: $3.50 | Shop for Nuby's No-Spill Flip It Straw Cup on Amazon | View all Nuby listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: Nuby's flip-top lid features a straw design that takes a bit more fiddling to thread through the opening than competing designs by Munchkin and cannot be completely disassembled, leaving some nooks and crannies that cannot be completely exposed for cleaning. The soft silicone straw tip will lose its shape over time and could lead to increased leaks, although the flip-it top offers a firm seal when closed. Our favorite thing about this cup is that the straw assembly's two sections make the components interoperable with a smaller Nuby straw cup, which made our Middle Tier of ratings (not yet published).
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 7. Durability: 8. Eye Appeal: 6. Value: 8. Total points: 29/40.

Zak! Designs Licensed Character Aluminum Bottle

Design: An aluminum bottle with a pop-up sport-style top and built-in cap with a flexible plastic loop to hold it on. Bright paints and popular licensed characters.
Price: $13. | View all Zak! listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: The cap fits snugly but can take a bit of fussing to press into place, and the neck is narrow, which means ice is out of the question and cleaning can be a chore. Lid and bottle are interchangeable with Born Free's stainless steel bottle, but not with Sigg bottles.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 6. Durability: 7. Eye Appeal: 8. Value: 6. Total points: 27/40.

Munchkin Mighty Grip Sports Bottle

Design: A plastic bottle with a "sport" style lid.
Price: $4 | Shop for Munchkin's Mighty Grip Sports Bottle on Amazon | View all Munchkin listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: What can you say about this bottle? The narrowed gripping area of the bottle makes this a bit of a pain to clean, and the silicone straw-like spout won't stand for much wear and tear. Plus, it's pretty ugly. Decent for the youngest segment of our demographic here, as it encourages straw-like mouth formations that are developmentally friendly, but otherwise, meh.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 7. Durability: 5. Eye Appeal: 5. Value: 5. Total points: 22/40.

Nuby Sports Sipper Cup

Design: A plastic bottle with a "sport" style lid.
Price: $3 | Shop for Nuby's Sports Sipper Cup on Amazon | View all Nuby listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: Nuby's Sports Sipper doesn't have a lot to recommend it for young users other than its price tag. A "grippy" surface attached to the bottle's side doesn't add much for young users, and the super-soft spout deteriorates with use. See Munchkin's Mighty Grip listing above for more - these cups are functionally identical.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 7. Durability: 5. Eye Appeal: 4. Value: 6. Total points: 22/40.

Born Free Stainless Steel Water Bottle

Design: A sturdy stainless-steel bottle in 9 or 12 ounces that has a sport style top opened by a front button, and a built-in cap with a flexible plastic loop to hold it on.
Price: $11/$14 | Shop for Born Free's stainless steel water bottle on Amazon | View all Born Free listings in the ZRecs Guide
Observations: Born Free's bottle is heavy-duty and has a clean look, but the logo sticker begins peeling after a few uses. The lid has a complex tangle of parts "under the hood" that allow the button to function, but the result is that they are exposed to the elements when the bottle is in use; for any liquid other than water, this means limited access to parts that can require cleaning. The cap fits snugly but sometimes with a bit of difficulty. The narrow neck means no ice for the kiddos, and it can be a pain to clean. Bottle and lid are interchangeable with the Zak! aluminum bottle, above, but not with Sigg bottles; the failure to make parts interoperable with Born Free's own bottles is a missed opportunity.
Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 3. Durability: 7. Eye Appeal: 6. Value: 5. Total points: 21/40.

Meet the World’s Worst Straw Cup: The Rubbermaid Litterless Juice Box

2009-06-15T12:00:21-06:00

You might be tempted to toss a few Rubbermaid Litterless Juice Boxes in your cart at the grocery store, and we wouldn't blame you - they sort of creep up on you in the food storage aisle, while their closest price competitors, colorful $3 products by Nuby and Munchkin, are off somewhere with the baby stuff. The Litterless Juice Box also has a durable, hard plastic straw built into the lid, so in theory they should last longer than straw cups with silicone straws you have to occasionally separate from their cup lids. And if you're looking for a slim drink container to fit into a child's lunch box, this may be just the thing.

But for young children, the Litterless Juice Box has three problems, two minor, one major. First, it has a vent that is really just for show - it utterly fails to allow air into the container when drinking, which means suction builds up quickly and allows only for small drinks. Second, its straw is so flimsy, you'll think someone just cut a disposable straw a little short and dropped it in the package, yet the diameter does not match most standard straws, so you cannot easily replace it. But the worst infraction of this little cube is that, just like the juice boxes that are its namesake, the Litterless Juice Box can't hold it's juice: A gentle squeeze pushes liquid up through the straw, and a more forceful one ejects it like the world's best squirt gun. How long will it take your four-year-old to figure that out?

Ratings: Ease of Use and Care: 5. Durability: 4. Eye Appeal: 3. Value: 4. Total points: 16/40.

The 2009 BPA-Free Sippy and Straw Cup Showdown, Toddler to Pre-K Division

2009-06-15T04:30:38-06:00

It took us a couple weeks longer than planned, but we're ready to launch the BPA-Free Sippy and Straw Cup Showdown, Toddler to Pre-K Division tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for being patient while we put 17 kids' cups through their paces as life continued throwing life events our way.

We covered infant and toddler sippy cups in our Baby and Toddler Division, and we're moving on now to cups for kids you aren't sure you can call "toddlers" anymore - everything from two-year-olds wiser than their years up through five-year-olds who could still use a little help. Some of these cups are great for older kids, too, but we're focusing here on how well they perform for children in the "toddler to pre-K" age range. This is the demographic where straw cups, sports tops, larger volumes, and cooler designs start playing a bigger role. We nixed the spill testing, as it's almost impossible to make a straw cup that doesn't leak when fully opened, unless you make it difficult to drink from.

As in our Baby and Toddler Division, every cup we are including in this showdown meets the guidelines of the ZRecs Guide to Safer Children's Products, meaning we've researched its chemical status with well-placed company officials at every brand and have given it a clean bill of health based on their published and verbal statements. Additionally, we've tested them all - we don't do armchair "reviewing" here at Z Recommends... everything we discuss has been thoroughly tested and evaluated here at the HQ.

Our first stop in this division of the showdown will, once again, be the crowning of a "Worst" - last time it was the World's Worst Sippy Cup; this time it's the Worst Straw Cup. We'll reveal it tomorrow morning and then step into the bottom of our three tiers of rankings tomorrow evening, with Middle Tier rankings revealed Tuesday and Top Picks announced on Wednesday or Thursday.

For those that may not have noticed, the Safe Sippy rocked the house in our Reader Rescue Poll from the Baby and Toddler Division, earning 41% of the nearly 200 votes cast. We've added the listing to the Top Picks post, and will be offering readers the same chance to raise an unjustly slighted cup in our Toddler to Pre-K Division to Top Pick status.

As always, we love to hear your own thoughts on the cups we rank and how they have worked - or haven't - for your family!

2009 BPA-Free Sippy Cup Showdown: Baby and Toddler Division Roundup

2009-06-15T04:11:17-06:00

Here's a roundup of the rankings from the ZRecs 2009 Sippy Cup Showdown's Baby and Toddler Division.

Top Picks

Innate Me-Me

Playtex Insulator

Tilty

Philips AVENT Insulated Cup

Thinkbaby Trainer Cup

Munchkin Cupsicle

Playtex Sipster Spill-Proof Cup

Reader Pick: Kid Basix Safe Sippy

Middle Tier

Boon Fluid

Klean Kanteen Sippy

Playtex First Sipster Spill-Proof Cup

Philips AVENT Magic Cup Sportster

Munchkin Mighty Grip Spill-Proof Cup

Munchkin Trainer Cup

Nuby No-Spill Gripper Cup

Nuby No-Spill Cup with Soft Spout and Handles

Born Free Training Cup/Drinking Cup

Thermos Foogo Sippy

Bottom Tier

Kid Basix Safe Sippy

Philips AVENT Magic Cup

Munchkin 9-oz Sippy Cup

Learning Curve/First Years Sesame Street Spill-proof Cup

First Years Take 'n Toss

World's Worst Sippy Cup Award: Gerber Graduates Tossables

Friends, reunited

2009-06-14T14:14:49-06:00

We thought we were smart when we got a body double for Z's favorite stuffed animal, Spot, when she was a toddler. Then, somehow, we managed to lose them both, and after a while Spot's absence began to hollow a little hole in Z's heart.

A big thank-you to Jamie, who responded to our tweet on Spot's long absence and offered to send a replacement. Thanks to her, Spot returned recently from a very long and exciting trip!

Health Canada recalls 125,000 Nuby teethers

2009-06-13T03:26:41-06:00

Health Canada has issued a recall of nearly 125,000 Nuby liquid-filled teethers - the Icy Bites Teether and Fun Pals Animal Teether - sold between May 2008 and May 2009, as well as over 7,000 Playgro "Toothy Teethers" (not sure those are even sold in the U.S.). The teether models involved in this recall are shown above, and we've noted the recall in the ZRecs Guide listings for each of these products, as well as adding a "viable bacteria" category of hazard for teether listings.

We have no word yet regarding whether this situation meets criteria established for a U.S. recall, but figured parents would want to know. The recall notice provides model numbers you should be able to check to see if teethers you own are part of the contaminated batch.

From Health Canada's recall notice:

Health Canada requires that infant teether fillings must not contain any living micro-organisms. Testing by Health Canada of these 3 teether products has revealed that the liquid filling of the teether is contaminated with the bacteria Bacillus licheniformis (in the case of the Playgro teether) or Bacillus cereus (in the case of the Nuby teethers). These bacteria generally do not cause illness. However, the bacteria can affect children with weakened immune systems, causing stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, if the teether is punctured and the liquid from the teether is ingested.

In 2006 The First Years recalled six teether models in the U.S. that were contaminated with bacterial strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida.

For the ZRecs Guide, we will begin flagging teether models that have incidences of bacterial recalls and label these as having a "low" confidence level of posing the risk.