Parental guidance on web video for children

By Warren Buckleitner, The New York Times
 
If you still need convincing that the digital future has arrived, consider this: By the time you finish this article, at least 10 more hours of new video will be uploaded to YouTube. Combine this with a young child’s curiosity and pocket-size video players, and you get the perfect recipe for parental distress. After all, what youngster would not want a million channels of TV?

Finding video these days that will hold a child’s attention is far easier than turning a dial. One or two carefully chosen keywords, like “moonwalking,” can give your child a moonwalking tutorial, or “rubber ducky,” for a dose of Ernie’s classic Sesame Street serenade.

For parents who grew up with only a few television channels, the idea of turning a curious child loose with such a vast amount of content can produce a fair amount of anxiety. YouTube has a policy banning children under 13 in its fine print. “YouTube is for teens and adults, not children.” said Scott Rubin, a YouTube spokesman.

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Venture capital firms invest in language, education startup businesses

SAN FRANCISCO—From the Central Intelligence Agency to Silicon Valley, venture capital firms are investing in startups using technology to improve language translation and education.

During the past month, investors have funded two such early stage language companies. Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Speech, raised a $2.2 million early stage round last week with funding from CIA-backed venture fund In-Q-Tel.

Meanwhile, EnglishCentral, a provider of Web-based conversation English language learning tools, raised an undisclosed amount from Google Ventures and Atlas Venture.

The investments come as businesses and government agencies worldwide struggle to find workers able to communicate in foreign languages. The CIA, for example, has been ramping up efforts to recruit Arabic speakers and expand its language training offerings. In Asia, English language schools are booming. But language educators are finding some shift in the skill sets that learners are seeking.

"Previously, most of the focus has been on reading, writing and grammar. But with globalization, everyone is realizing what they need is to be able to speak and listen," says the CEO of Carnegie Speech.

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How brain training games “give children a grade boost”

By Fiona Macrae, Daily Mail.co.uk

Simple brain training games can vastly improve children's school grades within a matter of weeks, research shows. A study found that games designed to improve memory increased literacy, numeracy, and IQ.

Some youngsters benefited so much from brain training they shot from the bottom to the top of the class, the British Science Festival was told this week. In contrast, other commercially available programmes have failed to make the grade when subjected to scientific scrutiny.

Tracy Alloway, the brains behind the JungleMemory computer programme, believes it could also give adults a workout for their grey matter, and help stave off memory loss and dementia in old age.

The programme - billed as the first brain training package to be clinically proven to improve grades - is available to all online. It works by boosting 'working memory', in which information is stored before being manipulated mentally.

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