And so, Haunting Melissa, his newest work, is an app, but unlike other apps, it’s not delivered in one download, or in any form of regular episodes. Instead, it’s delivered like a drug—anytime that Edelstein’s tech-heavy back engine is convinced that you need another dose of plot. (And don’t even try to jump ahead in the story, or skip a bit.) In Edelstein’s world, you are not in control.

This makes for an unsettling experience. Over the course of 11 episodes Melissa’s story unfolds. The next installment can come anytime, in an email, a text message, in 5 minutes segments or 30 second teasers. A tinted bookmark marks your progress through the story. But the plot twist of not knowing when (never mind what) will be next adds to the plot.

I watched the trailer and a bit of the opening scene of Haunting Melissa. It follows a typical horror genre form and its greatest appeal will be for teen girls who love a good scare. A teen girl has disappeared. She believes she’s being haunted by her dead mother. In a style that’s sort of “Blair Witch meets The Exorcist”, we meet the pretty young girl and we’re teased by her descent into madness and the unknown. The acting, lighting, dialog and sound all display serious commitment to the art of the story. The woodsy scenes have an Andrew Wyeth-like dreaminess, and the sets have all sorts of eerie religious symbols.

Edelstein’s passion for exploring the temporality of digital media is evident. “I didn’t want to make a movie and just shove it in app” he said. His company, Hooked Digital Media, is already working on Haunting Melissa sequels and he believes the telling of the tale can go deeper into various episodes as well as further along (or past) in time.

Haunting Melissa’s first episode is free from the iTunes app store. It’ll run on iPhone, iPad and touch. Subsequent episodes will cost $1.99 each, or $10.99 for a standard-resolution season pass. For just a taste, watch the trailer. Or, download the app. Project Home Page.

The idea behind Story is really simple; the technology is elegantly complex. Story will scroll through the photos and videos on your phone using an algorithm that groups photos and videos that share certain similarities in location and time stamps. At a wedding? At the beach? Graduation? It can grab all those shots that might have otherwise languished on your iPhone for years.

As it gathers your photos and videos, it’s also creating your personal digital story book. Immediate gratification. You’re free to add a few personal touches. Choose from a few different layout templates. Rearrange the photos and videos. Add captions to tell your story. You can even toss in a clip art Mickey. What you can’t do in this version is add music or recorded voice.

You share your creations using email or Facebook only – at least in this first version. Sharing provides others with a link to view your creation. Your creations are limited to a maximum of 20 photos and two videos (up to one minute in duration each) in each story. But you can add as many pages of text as you want. Your stories live in cloud storage and you can view them on your Story account page.

I expect people will get creative about using Story for family travelogues, family cookbooks, histories, class trips and vacations. While there are numerous other apps that take your photos and videos and organize them based on time and place, Disney’s real mark here is on the power of creating a quick story that looks darn good. If you’re an iOS user you’ve got one less excuse to NOT share those family stories.

Disney Story

 Free, for iOS only. Available on iTunes

To unlock the new virtual world you’re going to need to shell out $75 for a starter kit of characters.  The characters are endowed with NFC  (Near Field Communications) much like the popular Skylanders  game.  When you place the figurine into its base, the online game is activated.

According to a pre-release notice from Disney, Infinity will have a Toy Mode that lets you build your own world and populate with characters.  So go ahead and build racetrack for Jack Sparrow if you’re so inclined. 

A second, more challenging mode involves a logic editor that allows you to create a full game or adventure, where actions have reactions.

You can pre-order the character sets now and there’s no doubt that Disney will be releasing lots of accessories both real world and on.  The packs support PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita.

While you won’t find any of the old classics like Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, if you’re kids love modern day Pixar/Disney tales they should be happy from now to InfINity when Disney releases the product this August. 

ADD and ADHD, according to the  The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have reached alarming rates, with 11 percent of school-age children in the United States—and 19 percent of high-school-age boys—diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Over 6 million kids have been diagnosed with ADHD at some point in their lives, a 16 percent rise since 2007 and a 53 percent increase over the past decade, The New York Times reported recently. Of course, the symptoms of ADD and ADHD: inattention, hyperactiveness and impulsiveness, make it pretty easy to make a case for an attention span being the impossible dream of the information age.

Michael Apstein, CEO of Focus Education, takes a different tack. He and his colleagues have developed an “As Seen on TV” program to help kids focus and pay attention. The standard edition, just $14.95, includes a computer game, audio cd, and other materials. There’s also a $199 deluxe edition that extends the program into the areas of fitness and nutrition. ifocus has shades of the old Hooked on Phonics approach, but for an ADD generation. 

iFocus is based on a series of kids games called Jungle Rangers. The nine games in the series emphasize simple, repetitive tasks to increase the length of attention span, selective attention (being able to focus with distractions), and recall. The program uses a leveling mechanism so that children who need extra help with these tasks master the basics before moving on. And the parent gets reports on the each kid’s progress.

The web demonstrations of the game don’t give you much to go on. They all seem reminiscent of games like concentration or Simon or other simple task games, but leveling and some serious science in the sequence of the tasks give it a legitimacy that goes beyond most kids software games. Besides, like most As Seen on TV products, there’s that “money back/satisfaction guaranteed” clause that makes it seem like a good bet, regardless of outcome. 

* this story was updated on May 21, 2013

What do you get when you mix a Project Runway designer and the laser accuracy of  Brother’s latest sewing machine?   Entertainment TV caught up with them at our MommyTech Summit at CES to have a look.  To watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDL0ryD3Mwc&feature=youtu.be

The answer, says Silje Vallestad, creator of MobileKids, a new app for mobile kids safety centers on the features already in most phones:  GPS, the call feature and the text feature. With this combination MobileKids can serve in three ways: as an alarm system, a “where is my child locator” and as a reporting device for parents who want a bit of insight into their kid’s mobile life.

In its simplest form the app has a single red button that appears in the center of your phone. The parent’s version of the app allows them to set up designated contacts:  parents, a caregiver, and relatives.  A child in trouble only needs to press the MobileKids red button three times. That activates a series of calls and text messages to all designated guardians.

Parents can also follow their kids on Mobile Kids much the way they can on other personal family networks like Life360 Family Safety.  Kids clicking on an  “I’m here” button sends a notification about their location or they can chose to be followed by their parent as they travel.

The most novel feature of the program is the premium service that provides an overview of your child’s mobile phone behavior.  Each week you get a usage report detailing everything from how many hours your child talked, who they talked to, which hours they’ve talked, how many texts they send and more.  It’s pretty easy for a parent to quickly see whether they’re child is abusing the privilege of having a smartphone… maybe texting during class or uploading to Instagram a bit too often for comfort.  That sparks a conversation about appropriate behaviors. Mobile Kids  isn’t making  any judgment call; it’s providing information that you can act on to set timers and/or limits, block downloads or otherwise manage phone usage.

Mobile Kids  is available for free. A  premium service that furnishes reports costs $5.90 per month of $60 per year.  The service works on iOS and Android phones and with any carrier. Plans are to bring it to Blackberry and Windows, too.

An interesting aside? Women, in particular, were so taken with the functionality of this app that there’s now an adult version for women to notify their designated guardians in times of emergency with their exact locatoin. That app is called besafe.

To download for iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/no/app/mobilekids/id571731385?mt=8

To download for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bipper.app.mobilekids&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwiY29tLmJpcHBlci5hcHAubW9iaWxla2lkcyJd

Today, 13 states don’t even have mandatory vision screening in schools. Others rely on untrained parent volunteers. And for the most part, they rely on some sort of standard wall chart.

The standard eye chart has been used in schools for over 100 years. Despite well intentioned efforts, not all children receive screenings. Even when vision is tested, some children with vision problems still get overlooked. Tracking and focusing problems lead to reading problems. Reading problems lead to self esteem problems and on goes the vicious cycle.

A pediatric ophthalmologist and a computer/ electrical engineer founded VisionQuest, a not for profit company offering a simple computer program to automate vision screening and even make it fun. The program, EyeSpy 20/20 runs on a standard laptop, includes instructions for a novice to administer the test, and uses gamification techniques to keep the child engaged in the test. The game’s complexity increases with the age of the child.

EyeSpy 20/20 asks the kids to play simple video games like matching shape games, using eye patches and simple 3D glasses as part of the game, but all the while, it’s testing for amblyopia (lazy eye) , strabismus (eye misalignment ), cataracts as well as corrective problem like nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.

The co-founders are enthusiastic about using 21st century technology to make certain all children have access to quality vision screening so they can get their vision problems detected early when treatment such as eyeglasses and eye patching work best. Amblyopia and strabismus, for example, if detected early can be corrected easily.

The software is sold to schools and institutions directly. The founders say that the cost of each eye exam is about $5. In addition to the software, there are accessories like red/blue glasses and eye-patches to complete the test. Watch this Fox TV news clip featuring the program http://www.visionquest2020.org/thesolution.asp, then talk to your school download and get instructions from YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Qxd5EQ2Kk about whether it’s a good choice. 

For some of us the end of one year and the beginning of the other signals the coming of the International CES as much as any other event. While we try squeeze in as much of the holiday season as we can, we can’t help but turn to some of our high tech partners to get us through the end of the year and off to Vegas.

We’ve survived Hanukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day and Kwanzaa relying on decorating tips from Martha Stewart, movies from Netflix and video games from Nintendo. With N

ew Year’s celebrations looming before us, we have a few tips and recipes from some of our other friends to ring in the New Year and get us ready for the International CES 2013. A few helpful hints from our kitchen expert Lyn Cook of Whirlpool will make sure the gravy remains lump free and the

 last holiday meal of the season is a fabulous success.

• Gravy: Use those grease drippings!! The key to cooking good gravy is to collect drippings from the turkey. If the dripping is stuck to the bottom of the pan, use some chicken stock to loosen it up.

• To thicken gravy: Make a roux: you can use flour or corn starch by using 5 Tbsp of fat and 5 Tbsp of flour.

• Tools: Using a flat-botto

m whisk is easiest because it can get into the corners of the pot better than a normal circular whisk.

• Cooking: Let roux heat fo

r 2 or 3 minutes. Then add HEATED stock. If you add cold stock to the hot roux mix, it will cause lumps. Keep stirring to avoid lumps. Continue cooking until thickens. Remember, you can always add more stock if needed. If it’s too thin, just put it in the oven to thicken it.

• Lumps even after all of this? Put it in the blender

• Add spices as you like: garlic, paprika, a dash of mustard, a splash of ketchup

For one last burst of energy before CES don’t skip dessert.– unless of course you are hosting the Fitness Tech conference, but for those of you aren’t yet watching your waistline –here are a few delicacies to try before you make the New Year resolution.

• Eggnog Crème Brulee – Need I say more.

• The Champagne Cobbler from

 the NY Times.com is a great way to use the cheaper champagne stuck in the closet since last year’s New Year’s Eve Celebration

New Year’s Eve parties are adult themed, involving the kids can present special challenges. Here are a few tips and activities from our on-line friends for keeping the ki• Countdown Cheesecake – will keep the eyes open until the clock strikes 12 and signals one week to go before the International CES 2013 Since many

ddies involved, safe and excited for the New Year.

• This is Not an App – a fun app for kids from Keri Smith author of This is Not a Book – allows kids ages to start the year off right by recording, drawing and using their imagination to take a journey of discovery and exploring different media of electronic expression.

• Cubify – Creating on-line printing on the cube in your living room. Using the on-line site and the “cube” the first in-home 3D printer. Kids can create 3D photos, jewelry and toys using the on-line application and downloading and printing on their own printer.

• Learn how to say Happy New Year in Several Languages. Using the Google translator – the little ones can make fun cards with Happy New Year in different languages and ask the adult guests to guess the language and the pronunciation – make sure they have the key in phonetic spelling.

• Some good flicks to watch on New Year’s Day come from Reelz See you in Vegas! And happy new year.