National Journal Community Of e-Experts

Growing up many of us no doubt wished our favourite toys could communicate with us. The unfortunate reality was they were lifeless bits of plastic with no social skills to speak of. Dramatically, this is all about to change courtesy of a burst of innovation from Toymail. Their creation, the Mailmen, utilise social media and the latest mobile phone technology to allow the toys to talk!

Toymail co-founders Audry Hill and Guari Nanda have created a product which can vary its discourse with children – it isn’t merely a pull-string doll with three catchphrases. As Nanda explains, “Our team created the Mailmen, the toys that deliver your Toymail. Then we developed an app where you connect to kids you know, record them a message, and send it right from your phone to their toys.” The Mailmen effectively act as an escapist version of ...

The Moto G packs most of the styling and features of Motorola’s flagship Moto X handset at a fraction of the cost. It’s now available off-contract in the United States starting at $179 for the 8GB version and $199 for the 16GB version. That makes it one of the cheapest phones you can buy without signing a two-year contract.

The unsubsidized phone is currently supported by AT&T and T-Mobile, but Verizon is expected to roll out support early next year. A subsidized, on-contract version is expected to be available through the three major U.S. carriers starting sometime in January.

So what makes this affordable phone such a steal for business users?

Android 4.4 KitKat

The Moto G is shipping with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, but Motorola says an update to the version 4.4 KitKat is coming very soon. That’s good news for frugal ...

The holidays are a time of joy and giving thanks. But like any occasion that involves families gathering to enjoy good food and each other's company, accidents can happen.

LiveScience asked emergency room doctors about the weirdest, funniest or most unfortunate reasons for a visit to the ER over Thanksgiving and other holidays. From deep-fryer burns to in-law anxiety, here are some of the most notable:

1. Turkey troubles

Nothing says Thanksgiving like cooking an obscenely large farm bird. Perhaps it's not surprising, then, that emergency rooms see a lot of fowl-related injuries on Turkey Day.

Deep-frying turkeys poses a major hazard. If the turkey is wet or partially frozen when it hits the oil, the bird can catch fire, or even explode. "We've had fires that singed hair and eyebrows, and splash burns to the face," said Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency physician at ...

A construction site can be a hazardous environment for your employees with chemicals, equipment and other work related materials. To ensure that your job site is safe and poses no threats, you can provide education for your employees on the proper practices and increase construction site safety awareness with the following five tips.

You need to do a proper walk-through of a job-site routinely to ensure that the environment is safe. If you see any hazards or unsafe conditions, you need to write them down and immediately get them taken care of. You can also notify the managers or higher up personnel in charge of the construction site, so they can make the necessary changes.

Before you enlist the help of any of your employees, you need to train them on the proper techniques ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Human body armor has come a long way since the steel-plated suits of the Middle Ages, but protective animal structures — such as some shells and scales — still beat the most sophisticated man-made gear in terms of mobility and rigidity.

Researchers at MIT are now using3D printing to bring humans up to speed with their animal kin by studying some of the sturdiest forms of animal armor, particularly fish scales, to design gear that matches the flexibility, comfort and durability found in the natural world.

"We want to understand how the scales interact with each other to provide mobility, but then also how the scales, at a global level, provide structure, rigidity and flexibility at the same time," Swati Varshney, a graduate student at MIT, told LiveScience during a symposium on smart clothing here at Harvard University ...

While Apple released a new operating system and two new phones in 2013, you may still not be impressed enough to stay with your iPhone. But what about all of your personal data–your contacts, calendar, photos and apps? Don't worry. We've put together everything you need to know to make the transition from iOS to Android hassle-free.

The first step in backing up your iPhone is to create a Google account if you don't already have one. Not only will you use the Google account to download apps on your Android phone, but having one will also help transfer your data from your iPhone to your Android device. Google’s built-in services are the easiest way to transfer your calendars, for example, to your new device.

1. Moving your Contacts

The easiest way to transfer your iPhone contacts to Android is My Contacts Backup, ...

Would your financial worries be solved if you just had more money -- say, $1 million?

Maybe. But according to a recent study by the folks at UBS (UBS), even millionaires -- multimillionaires, in fact -- fret over things like making ends meet and having enough to achieve their life goals.

The news from Wealthville is rather surprising. Researchers found that only 31 percent of millionaires consider themselves wealthy. Even among those with $5 million or more, only 64 percent of them are confident that they'll meet their own goals.

For anyone having a hard time making ends meet on their income -- no matter whether you're in the middle class or the upper class (or extreme upper, upper class) -- there are ways that you can improve your financial condition.

Don't Let Your Cash Sit Around and Languish

Whether you ...

Paying down your mortgage faster can seem smart -- it's always a good idea to pay off your debts as soon as possible, right? Not always.

Making extra payments on your mortgage?  Many people do — they’re anxious to get that mortgage paid down as quick as they can.  But especially with interest rates this low, that might not be the best place to put that next dollar.

So what are the top five reasons to postpone that mortgage burning party?

1.  Your emergency fund is on the scrawny side

Before you send another extra dollar to your mortgage company, beef up your cash reserves.  Sure, you are saving more in interest than you’re earning in your bank account, but what happens if you lose your job?  You can’t rip out your bathtub and sell it on eBay for grocery money.  And the ...

A single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine may be enough to protect women against infection with the virus over the long-term, a new study from Costa Rica suggests.

In the study, women who received one, two, or the standard three doses of the HPV vaccine all produced antibodies against the virus that remained at stable levels in their bodies for four years after vaccination.

In addition, women who received one dose of the vaccine had an immune response that was five to nine times stronger than that seen in women who were infected with HPV naturally. [5 Dangerous Vaccination Myths]

However, women who received only one vaccine dose produced antibodies at levels lower than those of women given two or three doses. Still, researchers don't yet know what level would be "good enough" for protection. It could be that the ...

The rate of preterm births in the United States dropped to a 15-year low of 11.5 percent in 2012, according to a report released on Friday, but the country still came in dead last among industrialized nations on this measure of infant health.

The rate reflects six straight years of declines, possibly due to factors such as a drop in smoking among women of childbearing age, said the March of Dimes, the nonprofit group that produced the report.

The improvement comes during an acrimonious, partisan debate in Congress about health insurance centered on President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law.

The Affordable Care Act requires all insurance plans to cover maternity care, spreading the cost of healthy pregnancies across society.

That provision led to a testy exchange on Wednesday when Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, testified before a ...