What to do if your keyboard on the screen. And if there are dozens of screens: At CES, the Russian design Art Lebedev, the company shows upcoming Optimus Aux Optimus popularis keyboard with a mini and a series of six unique keyboard for data input devices on the key to the home screen.
These are so pretty and ridiculously easy and inexpensive! It's a fun activity for kids, too, if you let them design the colors and patterns of the beads. Just make sure a grown up does the baking because the plastic gets HOT!
Please take a moment to check out my other instructables and vote for the ones you like!!
Cheapy plastic 'pony' beads (available at craft stores for around $5 for a pound) A cookie cutter and cookie sheet or muffin tins or other shape nonstick metal cooking vessel (it doesn't ruin the pan.. you can still use it for food later) an oven, set to 400° Jewelry wire, or glass or metal beads and ribbon
I suffer from massive Eco guilt so when it came to getting rid of a single mattress, I wanted to take it apart and see what could be reused or recycled. We've just started growing some veg in our house so I decided to make a plant climber. The springs make a great support and look cool too. You'll need: A mattress A knife or hardcore scissors Wire cutters Spray paint Newspaper (to cover the ground when spraying) A few nailsThis was a bit of a hassle. I used a penknife to cut into the fabric of the mattress. There were a few layers to get through, the outer fabric and a layer of insulation. These were stitched together and attached to the bed springs with staples. Take the staples off and the bed springs come out as one big block
For most adults, talking to kids can be daunting. And not just in the "watch what you say" way but in the "they won't say anything to me" way. Luckily, science has stepped in to find the best methods for getting actual responses from kids.There are a lot of contradictory bits of "common sense" out there about kids. They lie all the time. They're innocents who don't know how to lie. They're only saying something because their parents told them to say it. They always say exactly what their parents don't want them to say. They say the darndest things. They say nothing. Really, what the research says is that all of these are true. What kind of response you get is dependent on how you act, though, not on the kid.Child InterviewingThe vast majority of information on speaking with children comes from research into the best practices for forensic interviews. Forensic interviews are interviews where the goal is to get a child to tell you, truthfully, everything he or she saw or happened to them. Most of the time, it's done when a child is the witness to a crime or the victim of one. For obvious reasons, these interviewers are always looking to minimize the chance that their questions will bias the answers children give, and are always trying to get children to do as much of the talking as possible. Currently, most of the current understanding of talking to children is incorporated into the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Protocol and the Ten Step Interview by Thomas D. Lyon, J.D., Ph.D. Thankfully, most of us aren't going to be talking to children for this purpose. We just want to be able to have a conversation with a child. Narratives, Open-ended Questions, and InvitationsIf you're trying to have a conversation with a child, these three things are going to be the most important. The NICHD Protocol and the Ten Step Interview both include what rapport building/narrative practice. That's basically what any conversation with a kid should look like. Since, in that situation, the practice is to get the child comfortable before asking about something sensitive. But you are just asking about some event and let the child tell you all about it. However, when a child is not responsive, a lot of us have the instinct to "help" them by giving them "easier" questions. So the invitation "Tell me about your dog" becomes a series of close-ended questions where the adult ends up doing most of the talking. Like:"Is that your dog?""What's his name?""Is he brown?"And the child is just saying "Yes," "Buster," and "No."Open-ended questions are questions that can't be answered by "yes" or "no" or a single word. In adult conversations, we use closed questions all the time without really knowing that they're closed. For example, most adults hear "Is that your dog?" as an invitation to tell you all about their dog. Kids only see a yes/no question, and will stop talking after giving an answer. What you want are open-ended invitations that get narrative answers from children. Invitations sound like like "Tell me everything about X" or "You said X. Tell me everything about that." A 2007 study, looked at the interviews of 52 youths who were victims of sexual abuse. The details given by the children were more likely to be confirmed by another source when they were given in response to invitations.Making sure the invitations are open ended is equally important. In a 1997 study, Sternberg et al. found that children 9 and older, produced around 50 details when given yes-no prompts and 140 details when narrative practice was used. Open-ended questions mean that children will tell you more. Yet another study not only found that "free-recall" (i.e. open-ended) questions produced the most response from children, but that closed-ended questions produced more details only as children get older. When the children are older, they've learned not to take close-ended questions as literally as younger children do. They are closer to adults, who understand close-ended questions as invitations to tell a narrative. But for most children, close-ended questions will elicit the shortest answer possible. More than that, close-ended questions may even get a child to tell you things they know aren't true. They feel pressured to answer close-ended questions. SFor example, a study by Amanda H. Waterman, Mark Blades, and Christopher Spencer titled "Do children try to answer nonsensical questions?" In this study, 73 children aged between 5-8 were asked 3 sensible open-ended questions (ex: "What do birds eat?"), 3 sensible close-ended questions (ex: "Is summer hotter than winter?"), 3 nonsensical open-ended questions (ex: "Where do circles live?"), 3 nonsensical close-ended questions (ex: "Is a box louder than a knee?"), and two "scrambled" questions (ex: "Than is louder thunder whisper a?").All the children were told that they could say they didn't know the answer and, when asked three weeks later, nearly all of the children correctly identified the questions as making sense or being "silly." Almost all of the children answered the sensible questions, both open and closed, correctly. And 90% of the children answered the open-ended nonsensical questions correctly, saying they didn't know. However, 72% of children tried to answer the nonsensical close-ended questions, even though they later said that the questions were "silly." Now, as much fun as it is to ask children nonsense questions and watch their faces as they try to answer them, if the goal is have a conversation, stay away from close-ended questions. InstructionsThis is something that only really comes up in the forensic interview context, but the implications are important for anyone talking to children. The first is letting a child know that he or she can answer "I don't know" at any point. A 1999 study asked 157 children aged 9-13 a number of misleading and neutral questions, both open- and closed-ended, about their trip to a science museum. In the first part of the study, the if the children attempted to answer questions they couldn't know the answer to, the interviewer reiterated that they could say "I don't know" and asked again. This did decrease the answers to the misleading questions but also decreased answers to the non-misleading ones. This implied that restating the "I don't know instruction" throughout the interview made the children believe that this was a correct answer. Basically, children are incredibly susceptible to the cues you give when you talk to them. In the second part of the study, the "I don't know" instruction was expanded to also encourage giving correct answers, which fixed the problem. For everyday talking to children, this indicates that you should watch your own responses. You may not think you're doing it, but smiling at a certain answer or giving a certain response may make the kid repeat the answer, in hopes of pleasing you.(Note: This study also reinforced the open-ended questions thing: even when told they could say "I don't know," children had trouble not answering the close-ended misleading questions)The other interesting one is a 2008 study into truth induction. In this study, 99 boys and 99 girls aged 4 to 7 spoke with an interviewer who then left the room. Another adult entered and did one of four things: 1) play with coin and Lego house; 2) play with coin and Lego house, but the adult encouraged kid to keep the play a secret; 3) only play with coin; and 4) play with coin, but child encouraged to say they played with the house. Then, the interviewer returned and did one of three things: interviewed the child normally, reassured the child that they could tell the interviewer anything and they wouldn't get in trouble, or ask the child to promise to tell the truth. Reassurance did not have a positive effect, but the oath did increase the number of children to tell truth, regardless of what had happened in when they played with the other adult. This implies that asking a child to tell you the truth will greatly increase the chance that that's what you get., Don't Try to Get Time and/or Numbers Always remember that time and numbers are really difficult for children. One study by Wandrey et al., asked 167 6 to 10-year old children their age, birthday, and current month. By age 10, almost all of the children were answering the questions correctly. Additionally, all of these children were in foster care. Half were asked about their last move and half were asked about their last court date, which would appear to be events that would stick in a child's mind. However, even only 56% of the older children could correctly answer questions about their most recent move and only 52.78% of them could correctly answer the questions about their last court date. That's barely better than chance. Yet another study staged an event around Halloween for 86 4 to 13-year old children. Three months later, the children were asked about the event. Fewer than 20% remembered that it had taken place close to Halloween, and they were no better than chance when asked if it was before or after Halloween.When talking with kids, stay away asking about time. Chances are that they won't be able to tell you when something happened. In terms of numbers, the same Wandrey et al. study above also looked at how accurate children were in answering questions about how many times they've moved or been to court. Very, very few of the children could correctly give the number. And only about two-thirds of the children could correctly answer the more leading "One time or more than one time?" version of that question. Other Things You Can Do To Make a Child Talk (And Things Not To Do!)Here are a few other things that studies have shown encourage a child to speak:Using the child's name (Hershkowitz, 2009)"Back-channel" facilitators like "Uh-huh" and "Oh" (Cautilli et al., 2005)And a few things not to do:unclear invitations like just saying "Tell me more" (Hershkowitz, 2011) or even "Tell me more about that" (Walker, 1993)Invitations as questions. This is a huge one for those of us from California. The invitations "You said X. Tell me more about X." can become "You said X?" with the right inflection. That turns it into a yes/no question and will pretty much stop a kid's narrative. (Evans & Roberts, 2009; Evans et al., 2010)Thanks to Thomas D. Lyon, J.D., Ph.D., whose seminar on child interviewing inspired this article.Top image: Astro Boy. Other images by takomabibelot/flickr, Boston Public Library/flickr, mufffet/flickr, ThomasLife/flickr, woodleywonderworks/flickr, mpimentel001/flickr
Wallpapers generally come flat. While we don't expect (or want) anyone to pop on a pair of 3D glasses to change that, you can add some attractive depth to your desktop with isometric renderings.Download this wallpaper | mister-meh on deviantART 2000x1306Download this wallpaper | NASC 1920x1357Download this wallpaper | PC Gamer 1920x1080Download this wallpaper | Passy's World of Mathematics 2560x1440Download this wallpaper | ATSkill on deviantART 1920x1200Download this wallpaper | Rick Acosta 1600x995Download this wallpaper | BreAuna on deviantART 2600x2472For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share? Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Submitting your own work is highly encouraged!
Video game consoles aren’t just for gaming. They also make great set-top boxes that stream video and music into our living rooms, and the upcoming Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are no different. Each console brings a little something different to the table, so let's take a look at how those new consoles will bring entertainment other than video games to your living room.While many of the announcements thus far have focused on games, hardware, development, and all the stuff that video game enthusiasts love, they haven't focused on how well each console would perform as a media center. Let's see what the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One, and—even though it's already available—the Wii U offer in the home theater department.When Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One back in May, most of the announcement event was spent discussing the console's entertainment features. The word "television" was thrown around a lot, which was understandably aggravating to gamers, but to anyone who uses the Xbox 360 as a set-top box and is thinking about an upgrade, it was all useful data. Here's some of the big talking points we got from that event (and from E3):The Xbox One is designed to be a media center, not just a game console. There’s no question about this. Whether it'll be any good at its new responsibilities remains to be seen, but it's clear that Microsoft wants this device to be a complete home entertainment system, from interactive games to streaming movies and music to your physical media collection. Hence the catchphrase "all in one."It'll be a region-free Blu-ray player. Your music, DVD, and Blu-ray collection will work just fine in the Xbox One. While the console was originally going to be region-locked, Microsoft's about-face on the Xbox One's DRM removed its region-restrictions, so you'll be able to play Blu-rays and DVDs from anywhere in the world on it without hassle. (We know there's a difference between game and movie region restrictions - our understanding from current press materials is that the console will be region unlocked for movies as well. Again, this is subject to change, and depends on the MPAA's approval as well.)The new Kinect brings voice and gesture control to your home theater. Whether you actually want this is up to you. Waving your hands to switch channels or telling your Xbox to increase the volume can come off cool and futuristic, or it could be a colossal waste of time. For an example of voice or gesture control already in action, AllThingsD points to Samsung's Smart TV line—which are great sets, but the futuristic control options have suffered from poor adoption.The Xbox One plays up SmartGlass (and second screening) in a big way. If you don't already use your phone when you watch TV as a second screen, Microsoft is hoping you will with the Xbox One. They're pushing Xbox SmartGlass with the new console, which lets you use your phone or tablet as a remote, looks up maps and character bios for the show you're watching, and connects you with other fans.It'll feature HDMI pass-through for a seamless TV-watching experience. Ideally, you'll connect your cable or satellite TV source to your Xbox One, and then connect the Xbox One to your TV (or your receiver). At the May 21st event, we saw some of the features that'll be enabled using HDMI pass-through, like the option to pause live TV, custom channel guides, and the option to build a personal guide of pinned shows that you enjoy....But it's only seamless if you have cable or satellite, don't need a DVR, or don't need on-demand programs. Cable cutters, DVR owners, and more advanced TV watchers should take note that the Xbox One's TV features really only come to life if you're paying for cable or satellite. Plus, you'll still need your regular DVR or cable box for on-demand programming or recording. Long story short: The Xbox One is not a cable cutter's device.If you do have cable, you can leverage some great apps and other features. NFL on the Xbox, ESPN, HBO Go, and other premium apps will be a huge benefit if you are looking for some on-demand programming. Of course, access to all of those services requires that you prove that you're currently a paying subscriber with a package that already includes those channels, but if you are, you'll be able to enjoy them anytime.Even if you don't have cable, you can still enjoy plenty of streaming video and music. Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, VUDU, Pandora, Xbox Music—there are apps for all of them available already for the Xbox, and there's no reason to think they won't be available for the Xbox One. You'll need accounts for those services, of course, but they're there for you to use, and if you already use an Xbox 360 as part of your home theater, you'll be able to continue with the Xbox One as if nothing happened. As long as you have XBox Live Gold, which we'll get to in a moment.You’ll Need Xbox Live Gold for All Streaming Features. There's still the nitpick that in order to use any streaming service, you'll need an Xbox Gold subscription, and that's a bitter pill to swallow if all you're looking for is streaming media and home theater capabilities. Granted, Microsoft has updated the program to include some free games, but from a home theater angle, it's not a big help. To make the most of everything, you'll wind up paying a monthly cable bill and a annual Gold subscription to get all of these great features—and that's by design. The Xbox One is designed to either replace your Xbox 360 or fit snugly into your home theater—despite its promises of being "all in one," it's not really going to replace anything you already own.So the story on the Xbox One is a mixed bag. If you have basic cable—no On Demand, no bells and whistles—the TV overlay and pinning features could be really cool for you. If you do use On Demand or have a DVR, you'll still find yourself switching inputs and using a remote control over the Xbox One's new Kinect voice and gesture controls. If you're a cable cutter, there's not much here to cheer about—nothing you can't get in an Xbox 360, anyway. Still, points to Microsoft for trying something new.Still, there are some elements that aren't clear yet. For example, we don’t know how the Xbox One will handle Windows Media Center devices, or whether it will function as a media extender. It's almost certain that the Xbox One will be a DLNA-compatible device, so our favorite streaming media servers and apps like Skifta or Twonky should work with it. We haven't heard anything about media sharing or streaming across devices on your home network yet, or whether the Xbox One will play nicely with downloaded media on a networked computer or NAS, but it would be unusual for Microsoft to take features available in the Xbox 360 and remove them from the Xbox One.Sony didn't put as much focus on television and movies when it unveiled the PlayStation 4. What they did say, however, was that you're not going to get much more for your home theater out of the PlayStation 4 than you may already have in a PlayStation 3. That's not necessarily a bad thing.While there's something to be said for going out on a limb and trying something different, Sony's approach is to give you more powerful hardware that does more of what you know and love. It's true from a gaming perspective, but it's also true from a home entertainment standpoint. Here are some of the new features Sony did announce:The PlayStation 4 is a game console, through and through. It's not trying to be something it's not. "Gamer focused," is the way Sony put it in their presser. While you shouldn't throw up your hands and assume it'll be useless as part of your home theater, be ready: this list is going to be much shorter than Microsoft's. Sony's focus is on getting great video games to you, and that interactive gaming experience is their first priority. However, they did dedicate a few moments to television and movies.It'll be a region unlocked Blu-ray player. The PS4 will be region free, meaning you'll be able to play Blu-rays and DVDs from anywhere in the world on the device without issue. (We know there's a difference between game and movie region restrictions - our understanding from current press materials is that the console will be region unlocked for movies as well. Again, this is subject to change, and depends on the MPAA's approval as well.)The PS4 will launch with Sony's Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited services built-in. This isn't much of a surprise, but Sony Music Unlimited a subscription music service with over 20 million songs and access via iOS, Android, web, PS3, and now the PS4, will be available to subscribers on day one. Sony's Video Unlimited will also launch with the PS4, offering over 150,000 Sony Entertainment TV shows and movies available to rent or purchase in SD or HD.Sony's "original programming plan" will bring music, movies, and TV shows to your PS4...catered to gamers. This includes movies like Gamer and Doom to the PS4 in the form of special programming packages. Yo dawg, I heard you're a gamer so I put games in your TV and movies so you can watch stuff about games on your gaming console while you're not gaming.If you're used to streaming on the PS3, you'll be able to do everything you're used to on the PS4.. Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand—all of the big names are available for the PlayStation 3 already, and they'll be there when the PS4 launches as well. Sony also mentioned that a new partnership with Verizon will bring Redbox Instant to the PS4, the PS3, and the PS Vita. However, even though Sony will now require PlayStation Plus for online multiplayer games, you won't need to pay for PlayStation Plus to use services like Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon VOD the way you would have to pay for an XBox Live Gold account. Essentially, no paying to use the services you already pay for.The PS4 will support 4K video output. Sony's making a play for 4K television, the next super-resolution video format beyond 1080p. Sony already has 4K TV sets on the market, and sells 4K cameras to movie and TV producers, so it makes sense they'd put it in devices like the PlayStation 4.That's about all we heard during the presser. That's not the end of the story though. As with the Xbox One, it's a safe assumption that Sony will make the PS4 at least as media friendly as the PS3 already is. That means ideally it'll be DLNA compliant, you'll be able to stream from external sources (and with luck, the PS3 Media Server will be updated to support the PS4), and external media servers that play nicely with DLNA devices will play nicely with the PS4 as well. Granted, none of this is specifically new or awesome, and if you already have a PS3 as the heart of your home theater, it might be a tough sell to upgrade if you don't use your console for gaming. Even so, it would be unusual for Sony—especially given their pro-user, "consumer trust" stance at E3—to take away features that you can already get in the PS3.The Wii U has been out since the holidays last year, but it still counts as a "next gen console" for the purposes of our roundup. The Wii U is very definitely a gaming device. It—like the Wii before it—isn't really a home theater system, and Nintendo never angled it as a replacement for or a compliment for a cable subscription or set-top box. The Wii U packs full 1080p HD video, which is great, and you can stream Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video on Demand (as long as you have accounts with those services) for no extra cost. However, the Wii U can't play DVDs, it can't play Blu-Ray discs, and it can't play audio CDs. Nintendo doesn't really offer streaming video content of its own, or any streaming video channels or services that roll into the Wii U aside from the external ones that we've mentioned, either.That's the bottom line: If you get your streaming content from Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon, you'll be able to enjoy it on the Wii U, but don't expect to replace your DVD or Blu-ray player with it by any means. The Wii U is a game console, and doesn't even try to be a multimedia device.At the end of the day, if you're the type who already has an HTPC that you love, will any of the next generation of consoles replace it? Probably not. The Xbox One is probably the only console of the three that takes a stab at trying to edge in on the media center space, but it does it in such a half-in/half-out manner that it's only going to be really useful to a specific group of people. The PS4 will bring some streaming content that, if you're interested, may make for an additional service to sign up for. The Wii U really doesn't even count here. None of those things are bad—it just means that even as game consoles are adding features that make them more like media centers, it's definitely not their focus yet.There's still a wide open place in your home theater setup for a small PC running XBMC, Plex, Windows Media Center, or whatever front-end you choose, mostly because you can tweak and customize it, and pack in as many features as you want. Want to record live TV as it airs? Install a TV tuner card and a nice big hard drive, and you're good to go. Want to stream your media to your phone, or to another room, or even to an Xbox or PS3 or an AppleTV? Sure, there are ways to do that. Want to play DVDs, Blu-rays, Hulu, Netflix, and other streaming services while you download TV shows to watch later? An HTPC is your best option, and none of the current generation of consoles—or the coming generation—looks to change that.If you're using a set-top box as your media center, you probably don't have much to worry about either. Set-top boxes are generally much more affordable than consoles, and while consoles are focused on gaming, set-top boxes are firmly focused on delivering TV shows, movies, and music to your home theater in the easiest possible way. Simple remotes, super-fast search, streaming HD, support for networked devices, and tons of channels and video options are par for the course. Don't toss out your Roku or WD TV because the Xbox One looks good to you—they're completely different beasts, and will more likely live side-by-side in harmony.However, there's something to be said for the services those consoles do provide. I cut the cable a long time ago, and my TV viewing is almost entirely Netflix and Hulu, with some over-the-air HDTV thrown in for good measure. In my case, I don't need the horsepower and features that an HTPC offers, and any of the current or future crop of consoles will suit my needs perfectly (although I still prefer an HTPC, personally)—if you're like me, you may not need to incur the cost (and the spike in your electric bill) that an HTPC represents. Examine your needs, and buy your next console accordingly.Photos by Nebulous81 and Simon Wüllhorst.
These are so pretty and ridiculously easy and inexpensive!
Cheapy plastic 'pony' beads (available at craft stores for around $5 for a pound) A cookie cutter and cookie sheet or muffin tins or other shape nonstick metal cooking vessel (it doesn't ruin the pan.. you can still use it for food later) an oven, set to 400° Jewelry wire, or glass or metal beads and ribbon 
I suffer from massive Eco guilt so when it came to getting rid of a single mattress, I wanted to take it apart and see what could be reused or recycled. We've just started growing some veg in our house so I decided to make a plant climber. The springs make a great support and look cool too. You'll need: A mattress A knife or hardcore scissors Wire cutters Spray paint Newspaper (to cover the ground when spraying) A few nails
This was a bit of a hassle. I used a penknife to cut into the fabric of the mattress. There were a few layers to get through, the outer fabric and a layer of insulation. These were stitched together and attached to the bed springs with staples. Take the staples off and the bed springs come out as one big block
Child InterviewingThe vast majority of information on speaking with children comes from research into the best practices for forensic interviews. Forensic interviews are interviews where the goal is to get a child to tell you, truthfully, everything he or she saw or happened to them. Most of the time, it's done when a child is the witness to a crime or the victim of one. For obvious reasons, these interviewers are always looking to minimize the chance that their questions will bias the answers children give, and are always trying to get children to do as much of the talking as possible. Currently, most of the current understanding of talking to children is incorporated into the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Protocol and the Ten Step Interview by Thomas D. Lyon, J.D., Ph.D. Thankfully, most of us aren't going to be talking to children for this purpose. We just want to be able to have a conversation with a child.