Kids today are more technologically advanced compared to kids a century ago. Because they have better educational tools and opportunities, they also have advanced more quickly with advanced technology. They are also more mature than previous generations because of these advances. Parents should be aware of the need to provide mental stimulation to their children whenever possible through whatever means are available.

Innovative products can teach them a passion for different things that they may not be aware they are interested in. High academic ratings are needed, but you also have to provide other means to develop artistic, musical, literary and dance performance or inclinations to make them a productive and well-rounded adult.

A child’s creativity can be harnessed and further developed with a kid’s camcorder. There are a lot of different kinds, sizes, colors and designs, as well as price ranges available online and in local retail stores. It may take patience in order to find the one that is best suited for your child’s age and skill level, but you can get a good camcorder for a decent price. I think you will be impressed with some of the benefits that a kid’s camcorder can offer, when it comes to your child’s development.

The first benefit that comes to mind is the ability of a kid’s camcorder to keep boredom from setting in and destructive behaviors to surface. Your son’s or daughter’s attention span may be short for things that are less interesting and they can go from being bored to death with their surroundings to becoming connected and stimulated by them with the magic of a kid’s camcorder. It’s a great way for them to spend their time and develop their interest in more creative avenues such as making short films or documentaries. Child directors tend to record their favorite subjects and when they are full grown adults, it can give them a good laugh.

Imagination and communication or social skills can be developed as they are stimulated creatively, since these can become part of their moviemaking with friends or other participants. This is like taking advantage of a two edged sword.

Another advantage of a kid’s camcorder is that it gives them a better understanding of media equipment and subject contents. They are more likely to tune the television to something educational or informative in order to get ideas for their documentaries or short movies. Current events, politics, religion, culture or lifestyle shows are great ways to keep them up on real life knowledge and give them subject ideas.

Lastly, having a kid’s camcorder will teach your child about responsibility. Just like in the blockbuster hit and cult movie Spiderman, the saying ‘With great power comes great responsibility’ rings true in this case. If your child was granted the privilege of owning a camera at such a very young age, then it means that he is also responsible for it. It doesn’t only entail knowing how to operate the camera, but also being aware of how to take care of it such that minor malfunctions and technical troubles may be avoided. If they break some of the ground rules that you have set, then you have the option of taking away their camcorder, either temporarily or permanently so that they would truly understand its value.

As you have just read, there are wonderful benefits in getting a kid’s camcorder. May you be influenced so that your child will also gain much more than a simple material possession! A kid’s camcorder is an amazing gadget that can open up a world of infinite possibilities.

I am sure I’m not the only one with piles of film from my pre-digital days. I had half a fridge door full, and just couldn’t bring myself to throw it out. I needed a fun project to put it to good use.

April 26 marks the 9th annual Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day, and what better way to use up old film than in a pinhole camera?

Making pinhole cameras out of everyday objects has been popular since the 1500s, and I’m sure you all have experimented with boxes, coffee cans, etc. While they certainly work (and some quite well), it can be inconvenient to have to load and unload film in total darkness, and figuring out how to get 35mm film to work can be quite tricky. Here are a few cameras that use 35mm and 120 film that can be loaded in daylight:

Pinhole Blender Pinhole Blender makes cameras from what looks like cookie and tea tins with knobs on top (for turning the film). They accept 35mm, 120 and 4×5 film (the 4×5 has to be loaded in the dark though), and are really very affordable, ranging in price from $20 to $80. Best of all, they come with instructions and exposure suggestions. You can obviously get as creative as you want with that, but it’s nice to have a starting point at least.

Holga Pinhole The medium format (i.e. uses 120 film) Holga Pinhole Camera is another inexpensive option ($60, which includes 4 rolls of film). It looks like a regular camera, but instead of a lens, it has a tiny pinhole with an aperture of f/192. You can use any 120 film you want - color, slide, b&w - and there is only one shutter speed: B (which means that the shutter stays open as long as you press the button). The suggested time is anywhere from 2 seconds to 30 minutes, so you’ll have to experiment with that. (There is an optional cable release available, which I think is a very worthwhile investment). You can advance the film as much or as little as you want in between each exposure, so if you want to try double exposures, just don’t advance it at all before taking your next shot, or if you are creating a panoramic shot, advance just a little bit, and the photos will blend together into one long image.

Pinhole Resource’s Hexomniscope For a truly unique pinhole experience, check out the Hexomniscope from Pinhole Resource. This 6-pinhole, 6-shutter, round camera uses 120 film and produces 6 overlapping 60 degree images. The shutters are individually operated, but have a single release. At $1,590, it’s not cheap, but the results are stunning.

Digital Pinhole SLR All you need to use your digital SLR for pinhole photography is an extra lens cap and a drill. Find the exact center of the lens cap and drill, from inside the cap out, as tiny a hole as you possibly can. Use the lens cap instead of a lens and voila! Pinhole camera.

And what about Worldwide Pinhole Day? Well, it’s an international event held on the last Sunday of April every year in honor of pinhole photography. People all over the world take pinhole photos of anything and everything and post them, good or bad, online. It’s not a contest, there are no prizes, but each year, a number of photos are chosen and included in an exhibit.

Pink in all shades was all over the fashion runways again this spring - evidence that the popularity of the color has not diminished one bit since last year. And manufacturers of all kinds of goods are adding more and more

Dell Wasabi Portable Printer This new little color printer is not only cute: it’s small (4.8″ x 2.9″ x 0.9″), lightweight (8 oz.), prints wirelessly (or via USB) and uses the advanced new ZINK printing technology. ZINK stands for “zero ink”, and the secret is in the paper. It looks like regular white photo paper, but consists of layers with embedded color crystals, which are activated by heat generated in the printer during the printing process. The resulting print looks like a regular photo. The Wasabi produces 2×3 borderless prints with peel-off sticky backs (great for scrapbooking) and can hold 12 sheets of paper at a time. It comes in black, blue or pink and costs $99.

Fluorescent Pink Diana F+ Camera When I made the switch to digital after years of shooting with film, I found myself with quite a bit of unused film in my refrigerator door, getting closer to its expiration date every day. I couldn’t stand the thought of just throwing it out, and kept hoping I’d come up with a creative way to use it.

If you, like me, have a bunch of old fashioned film you can’t part with, why not put it to good use? The Lomographic Society is a worlwide community of photographers who not only love shooting with film, but use really fun, creative cameras to do so. Classics like the all plastic medium format Holga and Diana F, as well as the multi-lens 35mm Actionsampler and Supersampler are some of the members’ (”Lomographers”) favorite choices.

Among their new cameras this spring is the Mr. Pink Diana F+, a fuchsia, medium sized (i.e. uses 120 film), plastic and very manual camera model that originated in Hong Kong in the 1960s. It produces beautiful, dreamy soft focus shots with unmistakable Diana-camera vignetting. If medium format is not your thing - don’t worry. You can get it with a 35mm back as well, and new this spring even an instant back, for Polaroid-esque prints. The price runs from $105 (for the basic kit) to $280 (for the camera with an instant back and a 10-pack of film).

Sony VAIO Desktop PC Decidedly iMac-esque, Sony’s VAIO JS desktop comes in a pretty pale pink and is slightly smaller and lighter than the iMac. The non-customizable VAIO JS has a 20.1″ screen, an Intel Pentium Dual-Core processor (2.50 GHz), 4GB of memory, a 500GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive, an integrated webcam and microphone with face tracking technology, 5 USB ports, and 2 Dolby Home Theater speakers. The price at time of writing is $949.99.

Colorful Inspiron Desktops From Dell Finally, someone is adding a rainbow of colors to desktops as well. While laptops are available in all imaginable colors and designs, desktops have remained in the silver/black range. Dell’s new Inspiron desktop line has so far only been released in China, but is scheduled to appear on the US market later on this spring.

The Inspirons will be available as both mini-towers and slim towers and the customizable fronts will come in black, white, blue, red, orange, green, plum, and “Promise Pink” (with $5/sale going to the Susan G. Komen Foundation). These desktops will have a multitude of upgrade options, and the base price for the least expensive configuration will be $299.

Pokens - Digital Business Cards Spend a lot of time on social networking sites? Is keeping track of your IDs and other info starting to get difficult? Then check out Pokens, keychain-sized figures (with a USB connector) that can store all that info in one place for you. But not only that, by having your Poken high five another Poken, you can easily exchange your social networking profiles with friends, making it easy for them to find you quickly on Facebook, MySpace, etc. And the makers of this little gadget have thought of everything: if someone asks you to Poken with them, but you don’t really want to, instead of rudely saying no, just press your Poken’s palm twice, and it will go into “discreet” mode, and all they’ll get is a “Ghost Card”, none of your information. They cost around $20, and 2 of the figures are available in pink: the Geisha and the Piggy.