Hello Kitty Clock Radio and CD Player - My Daughter’s Review

My seven year-old daughter was needing an alarm clock for her bedside - not because she needs to set an alarm yet, but mostly so she could play CDs and listen to the radio on something that wasn’t a hand-me-down. The Hello Kitty clock radio had all the things we wanted (alarm, CD player and radio) so we decided to try it out and review it for Modern Day Dad.

This is what she thought of it:

The clock radio looks really cool in my bedroom because it’s pink and has Hello Kitty on it. I like that it has a radio and a CD player. The best thing about this alarm clock is that they put all of those things together. The clock is very easy to read (because it’s digital) and sometimes in the middle of the night I think to myself “What time is it?” so I look at the clock. It has an alarm too, but I don’t use it.

I do not like how you change the radio stations. It only has a little dial on the side and it’s hard to use. The CD player is easy to use - you just open it and then press the power button. The sound of the clock radio is good.

I think the people who should buy this are girls who don’t have a radio or an alarm clock and like Hello Kitty.

When given the choice between something that will function reliably and something branded with a cartoon character, most kids will usually pick the thing with the cartoon character on it. (And my kids are certainly no exception.) While the Hello Kitty “am/fm stereo dual alarm clock radio with top loading cd player” is certainly something you buy because it has Hello Kitty on it; for a kid’s clock radio it seems well built and more than reliable.

Hello Kitty Stereo CD Alarm Clock Radio, $69.99 at Sanrio.com (this version isn't up on Amazon.com yet)

CES 2011: Star Wars Is Coming to Blu-ray! (and other boring announcements).

This year was my eighth CES, and I have to tell you, I'm getting jaded. Even 30 live Stormtroopers and Darth Vader marching onto a stage wasn't even all that exciting. (Except the executive from Panasonic kept calling him "Lord Vader" which I thought was pretty funny.) The show was jam-packed with people this year (unlike the few previous years) and jam-packed full of stuff (very much like previous years) none of which I cared very much about.

But for my current hometown of Las Vegas, CES 2011 was great. Over 1.6 million square feet of convention space and over 150,000 attendees is definitely a step in the right direction. The economy sucks, but judging by the show maybe things are on an upswing. Maybe.

And no matter what people say (including me), there were some cool things at CES this year. There just wasn't any real innovation. I suppose it's because of the economy companies are dialing down development on the cutting edge and focusing on stuff that works and will sell. It makes sense, but it also makes for kind of a boring CES.

But there were some cool things, and I blogged the hell out of it. Check out all of my posts at Babble.com right here (list of posts below as well). I'm also going to write two articles about it at ManOfTheHouse.com, and when those go up I'll include those too.

• Razer Switchblade Gaming Device [Babble.com]
• 3D Bloggie Video Camera from Sony [Babble.com]
• Maxell Kids Portable DVD Projector [Babble.com]
• Amazingly Affordable 3D Printer from MakerBot Industries [Babble.com]
• Getting A New Verizon iPhone? Check Out This Solar Powered Charger [Babble.com]
• Purse-Sized Taser Now Comes In Pink! [Babble.com]
• ion iCade Makes Your New-School iPad An Old-School Arcade Machine [Babble.com]
• Portable Blu-ray Disc Player from Sony [Babble.com]
• ToughSkin iPhone 4 Case from Speck [Babble.com]
• The Sky Prodigy Computerized Telescope from Celestron [Babble.com]
• Ety Plugs - Earplugs from Etymotic Research [Babble.com]
• The AR Drone iPhone Controlled Helicopter [Babble.com]
• A Mobile WiFi Hotspot in Every Camera with EyeFi [Babble.com]
• Crayola i-Marker and Color Studio HD from Griffin [Babble.com]
• A Swiffer Robot Called Mint [Babble.com]

Modern Day Dad At CES 2010. Oh. And Lady Gaga Too.

Well, I did the quick calculation this morning, and this is officially the 7th CES I've been to, and while some were fun (the first few) and some were really underwhelming (last year), this year's is proving to be a little better, if only for the fact that I pretty much kicked it off by going to a Lady Gaga press conference at the Polaroid Booth.

You see, she's now a Creative Director at Polaroid for a special line of New Imaging Products or something. In the conference she made it very clear (while she tried her best to hide her face with her bizarre hair-hat), that this wasn't a typical endorsement deal, and that she and "The Haus of Gaga" (I couldn't make that up if I tried) were going to be very involved with new products.

Hey, that's great I suppose, and I know that Polaroid who haven't had anything exciting going on with them in about, oh, twenty years or so, are probably thrilled with the association. But all that stuck out to me during the whole thing was, there's a guy who works for Polaroid, one of the last great brands in photography, up on a platform saying "Lady Gaga" as if it were the most normal thing anyone ever uttered. Maybe I'm old or something, but it was kind of funny to me.

So anyway, if you're interested in my posts about stuff I'm seeing at CES this year, check out my posts over at Babble.com's product blog, Droolicious.

FakeTV Burglar Deterrant Keeps The Fake TV Glowing

I've bought a lot of hair-brained electronic crap in my life, and so when I told my wife about FakeTV, she just assumed this was another one of those things. And while I can't say for sure that this thing fulfilled it's purpose (and I'm happy about that, believe me), even my wife had to agree that it's a pretty cool little device.

The basic premise behind FakeTV is that burglars won't bother to break into a house that they know is occupied, and the number one way they can tell a house is occupied is the faint glow of a television being watched in the dark. The problem is, if you go away on vacation, most all televisions don't work on traditional power-timers. And leaving a television on for 24 hours while you're away on vacation is not only expensive, it's bad for the TV. That's where FakeTV comes in.

FakeTV is this little box (very little box actually) that you plug in and leave behind a closed curtain or the opposite end of a room from a window. When it gets dark in the room, FakeTV pops on and starts emitting random light patterns that, when viewed through the window from outside your house, makes it look like there's a TV on. It has three settings (on, dusk plus four hours and dusk plus seven hours) and works with low-power LED lights.

I've had one in my house for a month now, and while I can't say it's actually deterred a real life criminal, it turns on and off just like it's supposed to. And from outside my front door, it really does look like someone is watching TV.

Now I just have to hope criminals aren't reading my blog.

Check it out at FakeTV.com

Modern Day Dad at CES 2009: The Consumer Electronics Showcase.

So tomorrow I'm heading out to my sixth (can it really be six?) CES - the consumer electronics gadget extravaganza here in Las Vegas. And like last year I'll be blogging about a lot of what I see over at Babble.com. In fact this year I even got a special "Blogger" pass which, as far as I can tell, gets me free lunch in the blogger lounge (while supplies last), extra attention from exhibitors, and the slightly condescending looks from those holding orange "Press" badges.

Oh, and I got a free bag which, even though it says "CES" all over it, is pretty sweet.

I'll be looking mostly for anything related to children, parents, parenting or (of course) dads. If you've heard about anything that I should check out, please leave a comment and let me know. This show is so massive, it's going to be hard to even get to the stuff I'm planning, let alone find stuff I never even thought of before.

Wish me luck.

[Check out my posts from CES 2009 over at Droolicious on Babble.com]