Any review

mardi 28 juin 2016

- Fisher-Price Medical Kit Fun is in the bag! This medical kit features everything a pretend doctor needs. With a working stethoscope and a blood-pressure cuff with a spinning gauge to pump up play time. Plus, a thermometer, an ear scope, a spring-loaded syringe and a bracelet-style bandage that all fit easily into a soft bag for storage and travel. Ages 2 and up Model no. J2526

This is a plastic set of doctor/nurse tools that of course is steered toward both girls and boys for either profession. It is noted for children 3+. This medical set seems to be a safe toy to have around with younger children in the home with no small parts that can be accidentally ingested or caught in small airways. It is well made and bright in color. In the kit one will find...

A Working Stethoscope
Blood Pressure Cuff with Spinning Gauge
"Sick to Well" Thermometer
Pretend otoscope,
Spring Loaded Syringe,
a Bracelet-Style Bandage
Everything easily fits inside the soft bag.

Yes, indeed the stethoscope really does work and I believe gives a sense of wonder to children about the human body. To actually hear a heart beat, I believe, makes a real connection to the inner workings of the body.

The blood pressure cuff is for small arms but is used nicely with the stethoscope though there is no real function to it.

The thermometer is over-sized and a basic addition to the kit.

The pretend Otoscope (no, I didn't know its function by name) is over-sized in that it cannot penetrate or hurt a "patient" when used to examine ears.

I do like the spring loaded syringe. The spring load adds a different dimension to the doctors tool, even if it isn't a real function of the real deal.

The bracelet style bandage looks like an over-sized band-aid in what one might call a general "flesh" color (cream colored) that of course adults realize isn't the same for all skins of the human race. That, to me, also offers a teaching moment with a young child noting the differences in peoples perhaps in skin color and features and yet we are also so much alike and these tools are for ALL people.

The small cloth bag, with a white cross on the front, that all fits into is perfect for the make believe visit and for simply keeping everything stored for the next time or turn of role playing.

Additional Thoughts from pops

In addition to the "teaching moment" just explained I believe this set is wonderful for role playing to better understand the position and importance of doctors and nurses. Boys and girls can be encouraged to role play either position. This Fisher Price Medical Kit can also be an introduction or preparation for a child's own visit to a doctor having less "stressful anticipation" or confusion as to what the doctor may be doing and using during the child's own visit to him/her and why.

My wife and I have gifted medical sets for children for the past thirty years having five children and now ten grandchildren. Though the sets have changed slightly in these past decades, (I believe I recall at one time having a bottle for "medicine,") the idea of role playing and "examining" the workings of the human body, even at the make believe level is an important part of growing up.

Of course precautions should always be taken with unsupervised older children and closed or locked doors playing "doctor."

I recommend the Fisher Price Medical Kit.

Keep your house spick and span with the Eureka As1001a upright cleaner. Featuring AirSpeed technology, this 12-amp Eureka vacuum cleaner uses wide tubes which allow more airflow and suction for better removal of dirt. As it is lightweight, this upright cleaner is easy to maneuver along your carpet or floors. Furthermore, with this Eureka vacuum cleaner you get a stair and upholstery turbo brush that allows you to effortlessly clean smaller areas such as stairs and upholstery. The Eureka As1001a

I have two tuxedo cats that love to go up and down my stairway. I keep their litter box in the upstairs bathroom and I really hated dragging my vacuum sweeper up and down the steps. So I went to Walmarts and purchased an EurekaAS2001A for $59.96. I just wanted something that was lightweight but effective in keeping my carpet and stairs cleaned. I really love this model because it has a turbo nozzle that moves the air and gives my carpet a deeper cleaning. It is lightweight, and is bagless with a cyclonic dust cup. It has five different settings for height to allow for proper cleaning. It also has a 25 foot cord.

This bagless upright vacuum has a 13" width cleaning path which means I can sweep quicker. This lightweight vacuum has a washable filter. I remember all the times I had to run to the store to get a bag to fit my older sweeper and it was usually not the right bag. Now those days are over. I also like the clear view brushrool window. It also has a scuff-resistant furniture guard. It comes with a one year warrantry.It does come with a dusting brush that attaches to the back of the vaccum.It comes with an easy to step on power switch. I love the neon green color of the hose and cord.

I would recommend this vacuum for anyone that wants a great vacuum without spending your vacation money to pay for it! I love the Eureka brand and the performance of this vacuum.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations is pretty much identical to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood with a few
tweaks. That game was thrilling from beginning to end and really made for the best game in the series. This game is the identical formula. The game adds a new weapon type, bombs, a few cool travel additions (Ziplines, a claw to grab ledges and a parachute) but it doesn't feel as intense as the last game in the series.

This game again follows the same character, Ezio, as he is now an old man in Constantinople. The last three games went from Italy, to Rome, to Constantinople respectively while capturing the beautiful architecture of each world. I liked that in the last game there was a heightened level of justified violence and bloodshed that made the whole experience more intense as the combat was made into something really defined and even addicting like the platforming was. In the last game, the main character in the real world ended the game by stabbing one of the major characters in the stomach to death because a golden apple from templar history possessed him. This apple is pretty much the focal point of this game's story as well as the ancient artifact. You use it once in the game and it kills all enemies on the battlefield instantly.

This is an action stealth game with an emphasis on blending in and killing from a distance. In some ways, it's amazing how fluid and well executed these games are. Ezio is a trained assassin. If you played all three games, you've basically watched the character from birth to middle age, which is pretty cool. Not that he moves that much less fluidly in this game. Climbing is pretty much automated when you run toward something and point the d-pad toward the thing you want to scale. It's not challenging, usually, but it's very fun. The game adds a claw you can retract with "O". This allows the player to grab ledges that are slightly out of reach, but it doesn't always work because the extra reach is so minor you have to be exact in knowing what you're trying to grab that's out of reach. More importantly, this claw can be used at certain swinging lamps to throw yourself forward instead of swing around. Very cool addition, and adds challenge. Also the parachute is great, though it's not used much since you have to really climb a structure high to get usage out of it. Constantinople has some tall buildings, but it's still pretty level ground.

There are also ziplines, which are a feature that ultimately end up in every game given enough time. Jump on zipline, slide to the end. You can assassinate at the end of ziplines, but the enemy has to be standing directly near one. And why exactly are there just a bunch of poles with lines attached to them throughout constantinople? Was it the earliest tin can on a string telephone service? It really makes no sense.

The game took the horses out, or at the very least I didn't see them. That was disappointing because while the horses weren't great, they added a dimension to the gameplay that was lacking. The combat is still very awesome, though now there are so many ways to kill enemies it's obviously too easy. You can pick up parts from looting dead enemies to get pieces to assemble bombs at a table. The bombs come in three varieties that are both tactical like smoke and allow the player to blow groups of enemies up. You can select different ingredients to make them sticky bombs, proximity bombs or explode on impact. The enemies don't react at all when you throw a tiny ball at their chest that later blows them up. The player is impervious to the impact of these bombs as well.

You also have the assassin's blade. The real way to play this games is to kill enemies in strategic groups, stalk them and blend into crowds. Blending into crowds is barely used in this game. The game forgoes most of the stealth aspects since the combat is so easy. You have the bombs, you can also call in groups of assassin's to run in and kill targets for you. This aspect of the game is way too easy. There's no risk when you call in assassin's. I suppose they can die in battle, but you can always get more. You can recruit them and send them on missions to level up like in the last game. This aspect, again is not really a minigame even though it should be.

You can fight bare fisted, or steal enemy's weapons. You can also buy weapons and armor at the shop. Not necessary to complete the game because it's easy. When enemies attack, you can counter, grab their weapon and kill them. A simple three hit combo kills 90% of the enemies in this game. In the event that you kill an enemy, you can chain together one hit kills indefinitely. Again, way too easy. Usually you're just doing what the game tells you on missions. Follow a certain guy or find a way to a waypoint. It's a lot easier than the last game overall. I think the only point that I had any trouble was when a waypoint was above my character so I had to take the long way around. The game attempts to add challenges for more "sync" like "Kill five enemies from a haystack". While most of these add challenge and integrate into playing the game well, aka stealing a key off an enemy instead of killing him for it, many aren't. Specifically the haystack one because the easy mission is now bogged down into a mission of leading enemies all over the map to a single haystack. If that itself was the mission, the game would suck, so why make it an optional mission nobody wants to do? The sync just adds to the completion percentage. I beat the game with about fifty percent sync just finishing the ones that weren't out of the way.

There are a ton of optional sidequests as well. One is a weird "tower defense" game that seems to be added in only because tower defense games are popular. These are games where you build barricades and troops to wear an enemy down before they reach a destination. These games usually only require skill near the later stages, and that's the case here. One cool thing is that you as Ezio can attack the troops after you've laid down your defense. Only one of these missions is necessary to beat the game.

You also backtrack to the first game during certain segments to play as the original Assassin's Creed's Altaier. The game is already short, so fluffing it with missions that aren't a part of the character you're supposed to be playing as is kind of silly. I actually wish the whole of the objectives in this game were meatier. There are a couple exploratory areas, but there's nothing really resembling a dungeon as they're very linear. It seems like the exploration was scaled back from the last game along with everything else. Overall, Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a very fun game that's worth playing through, but with six of these games out as of now I don't really see what sets it that much apart from the third game, though the combat is better than the first two.

THE NEW FUJIFILM X70 compact camera was announced at the same time as the larger and more powerful X-Pro2. I reviewed that X-Pro2 last month, and it’s truly excellent. But looking at both cameras born on that same day, in many ways it’s the smaller, less expensive, and less “pro” X70 that’s the more interesting camera.

RECOMMENDS 2016

FUJIFILM X70

8/10

LEARN HOW WE RATE

WIRED

Amazing image quality coupled with a small and lightweight design make the X70 an excellent travel camera. Powerful manual focus modes make is a great street photography camera, even though it lacks a viewfinder. The articulated LCD touchscreen helps, making it good for shooting from the hip. At $700, the X70 offers a lot of camera for not a lot of dough.

TIRED

Physical buttons are difficult to push. Video recording is often marred by lens noises. The 28mm lens, while compact, is not for everyone.

BUY IT NOW | FUJIFILM

It’s FujiFilm’s smallest compact shooter yet—so small it slips easily into a pocket. But that size is deceptive. This is a powerful camera with the same 16.3-megapixel APS-C size X-Trans CMOS II sensor you’ll find in the rest of FujiFilm’s X series. Having experimented with most of themicro four thirds compacts and the newer offerings likePanasonic’s LX100, I can say without hesitation that the X70 delivers the highest quality image in the smallest package of anything in this size range. Especially consider that you get an APS-C sensor that fits in your in your pocket for $700, it’s tough to go wrong.

The X70 might appear like a slightly stripped down version of the company’s popular X100 series cameras. It is missing the optical viewfinder of the X100, but it actually blows the X100 out of the water in two very important ways: autofocus speed and image buffering. The X70 is extremely fast, as it borrows the AF system from the larger X-T10. It’s not DSLR-fast, but try shoving the Nikon D800 in your pocket. Trade-offs are always necessary. The X70’s single-point focus mode offers a 49-point focusing grid while the Zone and Wide/Tracking modes use a 77-point area to capture moving subjects. Both work well, and when coupled with the camera’s impressively fast shooting speed, you’ll rarely miss a shot due to the blackout on the LCD screen.

Gain Some Focus

There are three manual focus modes, which is enough to handle a variety of situations. To switch to manual, you just flip the focus switch to “manual” and use the lens control ring to set the focal distance. The LCD display automatically zooms to help you judge the focus. This can be tricky in bright, backlit situations, but for street photographers who pre-focus at a fixed distance, it works just fine. There’s also a handy (optional) depth of field scale along the bottom of the LCD.

The touchscreen's usefulness also extends to playback mode, where gestures can be used to flip through images and pinch to zoom.

The second method of manual focusing is Focus Peak Highlight mode, which outlines the subject in focus, much like what Sony pioneered with the NEX line. The third focus mode in the X70 is split screen mode, which taps the old manual focusing methods of SLRs in the ’80s—somewhat ironic considering the X70’s rangefinder-inspired design, but never mind that.

In all three modes the manual focus ring is exceedingly clever—spin it faster and the distance changes quickly, turn it carefully and it grows more sensitive, moving through the distance scale much more slowly.

The attention to detail in manual focusing possibilities reveals what seems to be one of the X70’s target markets: street photographers, especially those who don’t care about a physical viewfinder. Indeed, more than a smaller X100, the X70 feels like FujiFilm’s answer to the Ricoh GR II, which has nearly identical specs but lacks the X70’s articulating touchscreen. The X70’s screen can flip up 180 degrees (selfies, yeah) and down 90 degrees, which makes it even easier to shoot discreetly from the hip.

This is also the first touchscreen for FujiFilm. It’s a nice bright screen, 3 inches with 1.04 million dots and three modes for shooting—off, touch to focus, and touch to shoot. All three work as advertised, though I happen to prefer leaving it off. Actually, the touch-to-focus mode is handy for moving the focus point around quickly. It’s not as nice as the X-Pro2’s “nib” focus point controller, but given the space constraints of the X70, it’s the next best thing. The touchscreen’s usefulness also extends to playback mode, where gestures can be used to flip through images and pinch to zoom.

The Eye Has It

The X70 differentiates itself further from the X100 series in the choice of lens. The X70 comes with an 18.5mm f/2.8 lens (28mm in 35mm-speak). That’s a bit wider and slower than the X100, which uses a 35mm f/2 lens. The X70 does offer some digital crop modes for 35mm- and 50mm-equivalent images, which saves you post-production work. I’ve always found 28mm an awkward length—it’s not quite the landscape-friendly 24mm, but it’s wider than the street-friendly 35mm. That said, the lens choice is a compromise that makes sense for the X70. It might be less well suited for any one thing, but it’s a good general length when you might be shooting a little bit of everything.

The ergonomics of the X70 are quite good in spite of the camera’s tiny size. The body is all metal and feels quite solid without being heavy. There are the usual slew of manual controls FujiFilm is known for, including a shutter speed dial, an exposure compensation dial that covers three stops in either direction, and an aperture ring on the lens (the latter can be assigned to other functions as well). My main complaint is that all of the buttons are relatively flat and can sometimes be difficult to push. The dedicated video button is the worst; it’s nearly impossible to press.

Fortunately, FujiFilm offers the ability to assign pretty much any function to any button. So, I just swapped the Wi-Fi and video buttons. As with other Fuji cameras I’ve tested, video with the X70 is good, but not great. It can record 1080p movies at up to 60fps. The biggest drawback is that a fair bit of lens focus noise often ends up in your videos. This isn’t a problem unique to this camera (it’s fairly common among compacts), but it’s definitely annoying and can only really be solved by using an external microphone.

Powerful Software

The X70 sports the usual compliment of FujiFilm’s film simulation modes, though the very nice Acros mode that debuted with the X-Pro2 is not present (it apparently requires the more powerful processor in the X-Pro2). The JPGs straight out of the camera are excellent, though I still ended up shooting primarily RAW (now that Google has made the Nik filter suite free, FujiFilm’s film modes save less time than they used to).

You get both a mechanical shutter and an electronic shutter for shutter speeds up to 1/32,000 sec. The ISO range extends from 100-51,200, though after 6400 you’ll be shooting JPGs only. There’s very little noise (even in JPGs) up to 6400; after that you’ll start to detect a bit of noise.

The X70 also features all the bells and whistles you’ve come to expect from today’s cameras, including built-in Wi-Fi connectivity for quick transfers to your mobile device, a time-lapse recording mode, as well as support for all of FujiFilm’s various bracketing options (AE, Film Simulation, Dynamic Range, ISO and White Balance).

In my testing, I found the X70 delivers some of the highest-quality images you’re going to find in a case this compact. It excels as an all-around travel camera, a street photography camera, or as a pocket camera for times when anything more would be overkill.

IF YOU ASK, Alexa can tell you a joke and Siri will recite a haiku. Jibo will do that, more: the new home robot can sense when you’re feeling down and try to make you smile.

At 11 inches tall and about three pounds, Jibo isn’t much bigger than a vase of flowers. Cynthia Breazeal, a social robotics expert at MIT, designed the $749 bot to exhibit something approaching empathy. It isn’t the first—Pepper, ahumanoid robot from Softbank, does the same thing and arrives in the US later this year. But Pepper started in customer service and was adapted to home use. Breazel’s team created Jibo specifically for domestic interaction.

The oversized head is a bit too big for its body, like a puppy.

“We’re extremely sensitive to creating a personality that people can really live with and want to engage with daily,” says Blade Kotelly, VP of design at Jibo.

The team wanted to engineer a robot that develops a personality and expresses a range of emotions, but tune its reactions to ensure that “people don’t feel he’s overacting, but can still read the emotion clearly,” says Kotelly. The key was making Jibo emotive without being a chatterbox, because a robot that won’t shut up gets annoying. That was complicated by the fact Jibo doesn’t have hands or eyes, just a big round head on a squat, cylindrical body. The oversized head is a bit too big for its body, like a puppy. Still, Jibo’s gestures are surprisingly lifelike. Yell, “What the hell, Jibo” and it will hang its head and ask if it’s done something wrong, trying to learn from the situation.

Jibo learns by listening and asking questions. Jibo uses machine learning, speech and facial recognition, and natural language processing to learn from its interactions with people. It can discern what you might like for dinner or even tutor your kids. But don’t expect him to become a friend or confidant. “The conversations we can have with these robots are so limited,” said Kate Darling, a social robotics researcher from MIT’s Media Lab. “Once you realize the robot isn’t as smart as you thought it was, it kind of breaks the illusion, and that’s a little disappointing for people.”

Still, Jibo is a stepping stone toward more advanced robots. It’s probably best to get used to dealing with artificial personalities now, while they’re still trapped on a countertop and eager to make us happy, not their underlings.

AT THE TOP of the bustling consumer drone marketplace, two big names have been battling (sometimes litigiously) for dominance. DJI popularized drone flying as a hobby with its Phantom line, but lately, Yuneec has been whittling into DJI’s marketshare with its competing Typhoon line. Both company’s flagship quadcopters are equipped with excellent video cameras, both are accessibly priced, and both have autonomous and safety-minded features that make flying easy for inexperienced pilots.

RECOMMENDS 2016

YUNEEC TYPHOON H