Miscellaneous Tech News
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
When they are very young, playing and learning are the same thing. What extra "learning" would a laptop provide?
idk, first time parent here. Give me a break!
I have 16 months old, our first too, he's very keen on pushing buttons, I had to put plastic cover on receiver and disconnect power button in the server, but iPad button gets abused. I'm also thinking about getting something dedicated for him.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@bnrstnr SoaS has been around for a long time and is a solid option.
Because all she doesn't right now is slap the screen, externally attached devices may not be best though.
Yeah, my son just turned 4 and he's still not totally used to using a real computer, I feel like SoaS might be a good transition. We've had the Fire tablets for both my son and daughter since they were like 18 months old. Can't beat the price, especially on prime day/black friday/cyber monday/etc.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
When they are very young, playing and learning are the same thing. What extra "learning" would a laptop provide?
idk, first time parent here. Give me a break!
Computers are tough for little kids. They aren't designed for casual use, and aren't designed for child interactions. Keyboard, mice, etc. are non-intuitive because of the way that kids are interacting with the device and don't type.
Touch screen laptops only help a little because they are still touching a screen that is built around keyboard and mouse. Tablets are different, they are designed for a graphical interface that is tactile. Totally different experience.
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So you're saying an free beater laptop with touchscreen/tablet mode with a decent kid OS on it would be wasted effort and that I should spend under $100 on a tablet and case for her to play with?
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
When they are very young, playing and learning are the same thing. What extra "learning" would a laptop provide?
idk, first time parent here. Give me a break!
Computers are tough for little kids. They aren't designed for casual use, and aren't designed for child interactions. Keyboard, mice, etc. are non-intuitive because of the way that kids are interacting with the device and don't type.
Touch screen laptops only help a little because they are still touching a screen that is built around keyboard and mouse. Tablets are different, they are designed for a graphical interface that is tactile. Totally different experience.
Right. Get a tablet.
Look at all the Leapfrog stuff in the store and then get apps with similar stuff.
As your child progresses, move up. Children absorb information extremely fast.
You would also be better to have a solid second language started now. But typical American families don't have any way to truly reinforce that.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
So you're saying an free beater laptop with touchscreen/tablet mode with a decent kid OS on it would be wasted effort and that I should spend under $100 on a tablet and case for her to play with?
Yes, there is no such thing as a decent Kid OS.
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@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
When they are very young, playing and learning are the same thing. What extra "learning" would a laptop provide?
idk, first time parent here. Give me a break!
Computers are tough for little kids. They aren't designed for casual use, and aren't designed for child interactions. Keyboard, mice, etc. are non-intuitive because of the way that kids are interacting with the device and don't type.
Touch screen laptops only help a little because they are still touching a screen that is built around keyboard and mouse. Tablets are different, they are designed for a graphical interface that is tactile. Totally different experience.
Right. Get a tablet.
Look at all the Leapfrog stuff in the store and then get apps with similar stuff.
As your child progresses, move up. Children absorb information extremely fast.
You would also be better to have a solid second language started now. But typical American families don't have any way to truly reinforce that.
Her mother is Vietnamese, so she speaks to her in Vietnamese, I speak in English, her grandparents also speak to her in Vietnamese.
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@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
But typical American families don't have any way to truly reinforce that.
So hard to do, we were able to get a nanny early on that was Spanish at home, so that helped a little.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
When they are very young, playing and learning are the same thing. What extra "learning" would a laptop provide?
idk, first time parent here. Give me a break!
Computers are tough for little kids. They aren't designed for casual use, and aren't designed for child interactions. Keyboard, mice, etc. are non-intuitive because of the way that kids are interacting with the device and don't type.
Touch screen laptops only help a little because they are still touching a screen that is built around keyboard and mouse. Tablets are different, they are designed for a graphical interface that is tactile. Totally different experience.
Right. Get a tablet.
Look at all the Leapfrog stuff in the store and then get apps with similar stuff.
As your child progresses, move up. Children absorb information extremely fast.
You would also be better to have a solid second language started now. But typical American families don't have any way to truly reinforce that.
Her mother is Vietnamese, so she speaks to her in Vietnamese, I speak in English, her grandparents also speak to her in Vietnamese.
Aweomse, so not typical american. 100% do it.
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@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Yes, there is no such thing as a decent Kid OS.
iOS is about as close as you get. but the cost...
But the devices just last and last if the kids take care of them. With two kids, who each have had iPads since they were one year old, we've had a total of two iPads die ever. One from old age, and one which was mine and not theirs, got stepped on.
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The fire tablets are super limited, but super cheap, and moderately kid friendly from an interface perspective.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
The fire tablets are super limited, but super cheap, and moderately kid friendly from an interface perspective.
Limited how? All she needs is something that'l let her play and learn numbers, letters and shapes. She doesn't need nor does she now how a web browser works.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Yes, there is no such thing as a decent Kid OS.
iOS is about as close as you get. but the cost...
But the devices just last and last if the kids take care of them. With two kids, who each have had iPads since they were one year old, we've had a total of two iPads die ever. One from old age, and one which was mine and not theirs, got stepped on.
Right, personally, I highly recommend iOS for this.
This is why I bought an iPod Touch for my oldest when she was 4. I wanted her to have a learning device that had Japanese apps. Nothing against LeapFrog, but it is all American.
Instead she had apps speaking Japanese, like her mother, teaching her Japanese letters.
She also, on the same device had apps speaking English, like her father (minus the swearing), teaching her the roman alphabet.
And math, etc.
Prior to getting the iPod touch, she was using my iPad under supervision, in a case where it was no simple to break.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
The fire tablets are super limited, but super cheap, and moderately kid friendly from an interface perspective.
Limited how? All she needs is something that'l let her play and learn numbers, letters and shapes. She doesn't need nor does she now how a web browser works.
App limited.
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You can get a new iPad 6th gen for $240 from Microcenter. It is 100% worth the cost.
But shop around, find a used device, you can easily get something cheaper.
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@DustinB3403 things like this in a random search on the American App Store.
You can make a Vietnamese App Store account with an iTunes card from Vietnam. I did the same for Japan to get even better apps. Though in today’s world almost all of the apps are available in both regions.
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@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
The fire tablets are super limited, but super cheap, and moderately kid friendly from an interface perspective.
Limited how? All she needs is something that'l let her play and learn numbers, letters and shapes. She doesn't need nor does she now how a web browser works.
App limited.
Gotcha.
@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
You can get a new iPad 6th gen for $240 from Microcenter. It is 100% worth the cost.
But shop around, find a used device, you can easily get something cheaper.
Absolutely, I don't know if I'd want to part with that much money without doing some searching.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
The fire tablets are super limited, but super cheap, and moderately kid friendly from an interface perspective.
Limited how? All she needs is something that'l let her play and learn numbers, letters and shapes. She doesn't need nor does she now how a web browser works.
App limited.
Gotcha.
@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
You can get a new iPad 6th gen for $240 from Microcenter. It is 100% worth the cost.
But shop around, find a used device, you can easily get something cheaper.
Absolutely, I don't know if I'd want to part with that much money without doing some searching.
Just don't get too hooked on "that much money." It is something that will be used for multiple years. I had an iPad purchased in 2012 that was used until 2018. even considering the drastic improvements over those 6 years. Today, the improvements are less drastic.
$250 / 5 years = $50 per year.
For English learning games, I recommend Osmo for at home. Less useful out and about.
https://www.playosmo.com/en/little-genius-sk/They didn't have the Little Kids stuff originally. I was a Kickstarter (or what ever platform they used) backer for the original set.
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@JaredBusch said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Just don't get too hooked on "that much money." It is something that will be used for multiple years. I had an iPad purchased in 2012 that was used until 2018. even considering the drastic improvements over those 6 years. Today, the improvements are less drastic.
$250 / 5 years = $50 per year.Yeah, we've found them to be a pretty good value. It's surprising, but they hold up so well compared to the alternatives.
Now we are getting Fire Tablets on sale and get 3-4 years from them for more like $25-$35 / year cost. And that's x2 because of two kids. But the savings per year are pretty small considering it's the device that they use most in life.
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@JaredBusch That is true, it wouldn't be much at all over the life of the device. I was just saying for a used device I don't know if I'd want to spend it on it.
The osmo thing looks cool, but seems like it might be for another year or two down the road.
I think a tablet I could lock into a single app mode might be better.
