While not entirely scientific, the pattern supposedly grabs a baby’s attention and holds it long enough to get a decent photo. ShutterBuddy’s PR team managed to cook up this gem: “The ShutterBuddy is a revolutionary new product that uses the science of infant vision development and pattern recognition to capture and hold a baby’s attention so that you can get a great picture.” Making your kid smile on command is another story, but I’ve heard things that squeak or jingle sometimes do the trick.

At $US20, the ShutterBuddy is cheapish. Could be worth a look if you’ve got a bunch of holiday greeting cards to send out this year. Oh, and a baby. [Shutter Buddy via CrunchGear]

Now if I can get one for myself then I will get one for each of us. Warp nine, Sonny Boy. [Brother MaxDexigner via Core77]

The makers of the app claim that it is “accurate 96% of the time” in interpreting “the five baby cries universal to all babies, regardless of culture or language; hungry, sleepy, stressed, annoyed and bored.” I don’t have a baby nearby, nor did I manage to make anyone cry long enough to test the app, but I sincerely doubt the statistic. I really hope no one makes any serious child-raising decisions based on the $13 iPhone app (promo price until November 11). Then again, with some people it might actually improve their parenting. [Cry Translator via Wired]

So far Lynsee has blogged every detail of her pregnancy for the blog, Moms Like Me, but now she’s taken them up on an offer to live stream the labour and childbirth for all of the internet to see. There are promises that it’ll be “tasteful” and that only already registered users of the blog will be able to make comments on the live stream, but I’m a bit weary of the entire event.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not prudish about seeing some girl parts, nor am I squeamish about watching a live birth, but I do wonder how the internet community will react. [Boston via Switched]

So damn cute. [Brands On sale via Likecool]

When a one-year-old has difficulty with movement, it impairs brain development, since researchers say babies form neural connections through exploration of their environment. How do you get around this? With a bad-ass robotic chair.

Physical therapists and mechanical engineers joined forces to create robots that allow babies with disabilities to move around. The robots controlled by a joystick that’s simple enough for a one year old to use.

The chair is unlike a regular adult motorised chair, since it has sensors and a remote control feature that’s usable by parents to help kids ride around. All in all, pretty awesome. [Vodpod via ABClocal]

Houses are a dangerous place for toddlers. There are all sorts of hard edges, acute angles and unforeseen swinging things. Such as doors. Or an older sibling’s cricket bat.

To help your toddler survive this cruel stage of their younger years, a stage punctuated by a great many minor accidents that thankfully they will not remember (unless there’s scarring involved), there is the Thudguard.

Otherwise known as an “Infant Safety Hat”, the Thudguard is the ideal precursory step to introducing your toddler to a life wrapped in cotton wool. Correct me if you think you need to, but how did humankind manage to make it this far without wrapping our youngsters’ heads in shock absorbent padding? Surely, learning to avoid collisions through the excellent teacher that is a sharp dose of pain is actually how we learn to survive?

One last Babymodo entry comes in the form of the baby toupee. That’s right. Wigs. For babies. Because some people don’t have poodles. They have kids. Or… they didn’t get a Thudguard and need to conceal the misfortunes that follow a knee-high existence.

Here’s the logic. According to the TummyTub web site, the shape of the TummyTub is intended to mimic the feeling of being in the womb. “The shaped form conveys a feeling of reassurance and security to the baby.” We buy it. No, really, we do. It makes perfectly good sense, though some of us think babies need to get over the womb thing and move on with their lives.

Our problem is not so much the product but the web site. Actually, not. To be honest, we do have a problem with the product. After all, it’s a bucket, and while the TummyTub people had the forethought to deny the usefulness of a household bucket (check the site’s FAQ) we can’t help but think a good quality bucket would likely get the job done anyway.

But that’s still not what’s got us creeped out. This is. The site has a bath time photo gallery. You know the scene in The Simpsons where baby Maggie is left at a day care centre and she engineers a “great escape”? Before the escape sequence, there’s a scene where all the babies are sucking on their pacifiers. Got it? Well, the photo gallery reminds us of that. And the hatchery in Alien. The original Alien. Brrr.

There’s also a section of the site labelled thus: How do I bath my baby in an original TummyTub? Well, er, let’s see… baby, bucket, water. Put the baby in the bucket. But not head first. There, we just saved you reading that page. Thanks, Gizmodo.

Seriously, if you need directions for this, you just failed your parenting permit. Oh, that’s right. Parents don’t need permits. Which is how we end up with this.

Linking through to local resellers, we discover this womb-like plastic baby receptacle will run you $49.95. That’s a pricey bucket. But that’s not all. You’ll need a purpose-built stand, because the TummyTub people had the good sense to design the TummyTub with a narrow base. For extra stability on a tiled floor, we presume. Because when your baby is resting neck deep in warm, soapy water, the last thing you want is for the bucket to tip over. The stand will cost you $79.95. We’re now talking about $130 for some shaped plastic so your newborn can simultaneously bathe and reminisce about life on the inside.

Come on, now, do any parents out there actually own one of these? Is our cynicism horribly misplaced? Are we being unfair? You know what to do. Comments below, please.

The Lula Sapphire website tells us this seat is a firm favourite with the Hollywood A-list. Gosh, it must be good. It was created, we are told, by European design house Bloom to “encompass state-of-the-art functionality and bring premium quality infant fashion into the home for the first time”. Infant fashion. Because infants care.

It’s got everything that the 21st century baby/infant/toddler should have and be able to enjoy in a quality chair — multiple configurations, pneumatic assistance, five-point harness, enclosed castor wheels, 360-degree swivel seat and, of course, the all-important enclosed storage compartment for small parts and instruction manual.

Yes. Instruction manual. Of course, you know you’ll never read it. What kind of tech-head are you, anyway? Hell, the kid can’t read, not for a while yet, so why bother with a freakin’ instruction manual? And a compartment to keep it in? Well, because it’s satisfying, that’s why. When lesser mortals (ie your parents) are struggling with that five-point harness and swivel seat, you can tell them in a self-satisfied tone that an instruction manual is available should they require it. And that it has its own compartment.

We’re pretty impressed with this sleekly-styled marvel of child containment technology but a little disappointed about what it’s missing. There’s clearly room for a touchpad and a 5in OLED screen on that tray. Modders, to your workbenches!

A baby. An old optical disk drive. A piece of string. A few lines of Linux script. Combine these disparate components to see something both magical and absurdly lazy take place. [via technabob]