Woa. I think I would have gutted a wireless device. That kids looks like he’s 30 seconds away from putting an htpc off its shelf.

Posted at 11:37 am on Apr 6th, 2009 by Andrew

Ha. I was thinking the exact same thing. Or you could use a chord that would break away… similar to the original xbox controllers. Wireless would be best though. None the less, good concept. You could do a lot more with this while using the Autohotkey program and language to run various scripts.

Posted at 12:20 pm on Apr 6th, 2009 by Tyler

It appears that the same could have been accomplished with a box with buttons connected to nothing. Not a whole lotta interaction going on here. Neat idea though!

Posted at 12:20 pm on Apr 6th, 2009 by blaze280

Introduce him to VLC media player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGYnkjH-CnY

Posted at 12:49 pm on Apr 6th, 2009 by kyoorius

yeah, right. Put them in front of the TV before they can even walk.

Posted at 3:40 pm on Apr 6th, 2009 by tom

hmm. I just taught my son to use a mouse at 2. He figure it out pretty quick…

Posted at 3:51 pm on Apr 6th, 2009 by matt

Why would a toddler need a remote? Here’s an idea – how about providing him with a parent instead or a gizmo.

Posted at 4:20 pm on Apr 6th, 2009 by VonSkippy

The key to integrating technology is to make sure they have plenty of creative interactivity, not just vegging out in front of a TV. The kids should play with the computer like they do with Legos, crayons, and playdoh. And don’t skip out on the social interaction either. Make sure to invite the neighbor’s kids over to play often.

Posted at 5:25 pm on Apr 6th, 2009 by kyoorius

Agree with Tom. I also have a toddler and we spend quality time out walking, playing, drawing, singing, with nature and spending fabulous time together with me and mom… sad some others have to ‘plug’ their kids to the TV-nanny or waste their brains watching TV… good luck!

Posted at 10:30 pm on Apr 6th, 2009 by sansan

I see a lot of judgement in previous posts.
Not a lot of constructive critisism.

How about you stop judgeing and whining as if you know this person or how he interacts with his kid.

He is probably spending a lot of quality time with their kid.

BUT the kid also has a neat toy to play with from time to time, because his father is a Hacker and will probably continue to make gizmos for him for years to come.

Posted at 1:22 am on Apr 7th, 2009 by PH

I don’t really think he understands what he’s meant to do with it…

Posted at 2:21 am on Apr 7th, 2009 by Sammy

Put that boy to bed! He really looks tired!

Posted at 4:04 am on Apr 7th, 2009 by liebesiech

@ph Sorry you don’t see the positive critisism here. The critisism here is that the parent shouldn’t give the toddler more tools to spend in front of the TV. And clearly the parent could have spent more one on one time with this toddler, rather than tinkering how to build a toy to plug the kid to the TV. But we may be missing the point here: the gadget is cool.

Posted at 6:56 am on Apr 7th, 2009 by sansan

@sansan, i did see the critisism, I just didn’t find it very constructive towards the source material. I agree that the tv is not a suitable babysitter and many of the other statements that were made.
What i disagree with is the rain of comments talking down on the poster as if he is a bad parent. how do you know that he isn’t home with his kid while his wife is working and finished this project while the kid was sleeping?

he just wanted to share the project and i think that hackaday is a very suitable place to do just that.

Posted at 7:40 am on Apr 7th, 2009 by PH

@ph and general: my wife and i we both work 50% so we both can spend time with our kid. I work from home, too, and I am a total geek. my point here is that regardless of the parenting skill we don’t think that kids should spend time watching and playing games on tv. instead, learn through knowing life, outside from a surreal tv world. the gadget itself may be cool, however, its purpose is not (to lock the kid to the tv), and this is what i argue. enough runt. btw: this remind me of the recent article on how to operate something using the cell phone ringer. that project was so grilled because the potential use of it. same here. ok, back to take care of my toddler. :)

Posted at 1:07 pm on Apr 7th, 2009 by sansan

i like this hack. i think it shows that you can create a unique interface with a small budget.
although,if you want to create a gamepad or joystick, this is not a good solution.

@sansan, in my professional life, i work with devices and systems that are controlled by the cellphone system. sending settings and commands,receiving data.
using cellphones to operate equipment is not connected to anything bad most of the time.

Posted at 4:19 pm on Apr 7th, 2009 by ph

It is a cool idea (I know that I would have liked one of those when I was little), but by the looks of the video, I don’t think the kid understands how to use the box.

Posted at 7:24 am on Apr 8th, 2009 by Laser Pup

@laser pup: well, if he doesn’t like what’s playing he can pick it up and throw it at the screen. That will get his message across.

Posted at 7:46 am on Apr 8th, 2009 by kyoorius

yeah if you want to make a break-away cord, just get a USB extension, that way where the 2 USB cords connect it would disconnect fill pulled to hard.

Posted at 10:25 am on May 2nd, 2009 by nick

Great article, I am about 3/4ths of the way through it. I will post some questions after I done. This is good stuff.

Posted at 8:58 pm on Jun 24th, 2009 by Toddler activities