By: Chris Brubaker

When I was a kid the rules for toys were no small parts, hard objects, or sharp pointy things. Today, parents have so much more to worry about. With so many toys imported from other countries and the variable standards of safety, it’s no wonder potentially harmful toys are popping up. From easily dislodged parts, to toxins ranging from Lead and GHB; toys are being recalled by the millions. With no government intervention insight, consumer advocacy groups are arming themselves with knowledge.

Two such groups are MomsRising.org and Heathlytoys.org collaborating to keep parents informed of potentially harmful toys. The two groups have developed a text-messaging program that allows parents to type in a toys name to find its toxicity level. Texting “HealthyToys [product name]” to 41411 will return a low, medium, or high rating on toxic chemicals in the toy. The system also allows you to search a particular retailer like Wal-Mart or Target informing you of how many toys are highly toxic and which ones are the lowest (ex. “HealthyToys low Target”). If you don’t know a toys name you can also search a type of toy or category (ex. “HealthyToys low doll”).

The two groups created the program to allow parents or relatives shopping for a child this holiday season to be able to find information on the go. Heathlytoys.org has so far tested 1,200 toys, and allows consumers to submit other products they would like to see tested.

Picking out that perfect gift for a child has become a lot harder these days, but groups like MomsRising.org and Healthytoys.org are working to make it easier.

Denver Real Estate

By: Chris Brubaker
 
The end is near, for landline phones that is. Consumers have always spent more money on landline phone service, but experts predict that’s about to change. In 2001, consumers spent about three times more annually on landline phones than cell phones. Six years later, it’s almost neck and neck, with [...]

By: Chris Brubaker

It’s been 15 years now since text messaging first started (see Text Messaging Turns 15) and the number of text sent per user has grown substantially each year. With the increase in texting, many wireless customers are looking towards subscription plans to help keep costs down, by the end of 2006, 50 [...]

By: Chris Brubaker

 
Frankie Muniz
Frankie Muniz who is most notably known for starring in Fox’s Malcolm in the Middle is no stranger to real estate, having bought and sold two previous homes by the age of 19. Muniz has now put his current and third home on the market. With around 2,000 sq. ft. the [...]

By: Chris Brubaker
 

Stuart McNae of West Yorks, UK, owns a Blue-fronted Amazon parrot; who’s exactly training who has yet to be determined. Stuart’s parrot has found a new game he loves to play by learning his owner’s ringtones. Once Stuart leaves the room, the bird mimics the current ringtone and Stuart comes [...]

By: Chris Brubaker

When planning a quick get together or a birthday bash using online invitation systems help automate the invitation process. One such company making it even easier to plan those holiday parties this season is Evite, an online party planner allowing users send out and respond to events via text messaging.
 

Evite works [...]