Dale Chihuly's 'glass House' Shines In Seattle

BY ED GODFREY egodfrey@opubco.com“We have put our hearts and souls into this place,” a weary Debbie Orr said Tuesday afternoon as she scanned the devastation at the Orr Family Farm. The southwest Oklahoma City farm, which for the past decade has been a place of memory making for families, was in the direct path of Monday's monster tornado. Making a trip to The Orr Family Farm is a fall tradition for many Oklahoma families.

Asian stock markets were mostly higher Wednesday after investor confidence was boosted by a Federal Reserve official's comments that the U.S. central bank should stick with its super-easy monetary policy.

New and emerging technology has always been associated with the younger generations. Older people tend to be set in their ways, leaving those under a certain age to discover gadgets and gizmos as they arrive on the scene. Younger people learn more quickly, and that goes for technology in the same way it goes for everything else. However, how young is too young for kids to be exposed to technology? It’s a question all parents have to answer during their children’s early years, deciding when they should allow their offspring to embrace the future with gadgets such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. And it’s a question that formed the basis for last week’s ‘We Ask You‘ discussion. The Results We asked you, At What Age Should Kids Be Exposed To Technology? We had a great response from the MakeUseOf readership, with a good number of you airing your views on the subject. The range of opinions was huge, with some people declaring that there should be no minimum age restrictions, and others having definite ages in mind for particular gadgets. There were extreme views on both sides, but the majority of people take a common sense approach to this quandary. They let each child choose their own interests, and that goes for technology as much as anything else. However, some level of control is usually put in place. This means that kids will be exposed to technology slowly, and then have that exposure moderated by their parents and/or guardians. As the comment of the week demonstrates, a big thing is ensuring your kids have a rounded set of hobbies, which may include technology but not be wholly reliant on it. Some thought that the question posed ought to have been slightly different, and that it’s more important to ask how kids are exposed to technology rather than at what age they are exposed. We’ve covered this issue in the past by asking, “What steps do you take to protect your children online?” Comment Of The Week We had great input from the likes of Alexander Mackenzie, Mel Johnson, and null, to name just a few. Comment Of The Week goes to Schvenn, who, as well as the respect of myself and hopefully everybody reading this, receives 150 points to use for MakeUseOf Rewards. My son watched me use the computer his entire life. When he was 30 months old I sat him on my lap and went to Bear In The Big Blue House’s website. I clicked on a jigsaw puzzle they had there and was about to tell him what it was when, to my surprise, he took the mouse from my hand and without looking, started moving it over the pieces, clicking, dragging and dropping and putting the puzzle together. Up until this point, he had never touched a computer before. He had only seen his mother and I use them, but never had the opportunity himself. We quickly grabbed our video camera and started capturing the moment on film. He had his own computer at four. We let him online at twelve, albeit with great supervision. We gave him a smartphone at 14. We weren’t going to do so that early, but he’s proven himself very responsible, so we have rewarded him with that trust. He also knows that with my level of technical knowledge and ability to monitor, I can at any point, determine whether or not that trust has been ill-conceived. Yes, he’s a gamer and loves to play inside more than we did as kids. However, he is also a member of our local YMCA, works out every Saturday and volunteers every Saturday evening. He has just been accepted as a member of our city council’s youth advisory board, is joining the local volunteer ambulance service, is a member of a youth engagement squad (involving the city, school board and YMCA) and he has a couple strong possibilities for his first summer job. He’s now in his second year of highschool, an honor roll student and wants to become an architectural engineer. I like to think that his constant exposure to technology has had something to do with his successes. He has excellent communication skills, more opportunities available to him than we had as children and a better CV under his belt already than many people I’ve hired in the many years I’ve spent in management. While it may seem like our son is an over-achiever, he’s really not. He has all the challenges a typical teenager does and we are not the type of parents to push, just to encourage. However, without technology opening up his opportunities to communicate and learn, I doubt he would be doing as well as he is now. So, once again, there is no minimum age. Our children absorb more than we think and we should never underestimate them. We need to trust, encourage and reward them. Technology can be a fantastic tool for parents and children, if we use it responsibly, as well. We liked this comment because it takes us through a personal experience, with a father recounting how his son got to grips with technology. It also shows how technology isn’t harmful to a child’s education in socializing and being an active member of society when it’s experienced in moderation. We will be asking a new question tomorrow, so please join us then. We Ask You is a weekly column dedicated to finding out the opinions of MakeUseOf readers. We ask you a question and you tell us what you think. The question is open-ended and is usually open to debate. Some questions will be purely opinion-based, while others will see you sharing tips and advice, or advocating tools and apps for your fellow MakeUseOf readers. This column is nothing without your input, all of which is valued. Image Credit: Paul Inkles The post At What Age Should Kids Be Exposed To Technology? [You Told Us] appeared first on MakeUseOf.

(Reuters) - A unique first edition of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" annotated by author J.K. Rowling has sold for a record 150,000 pounds ($227,421) at a London charity auction,

So let’s get this out of the way: if you’re a Facebook user, you’re like cattle. To the website, you are not a unique individual. Instead, you’re part of a collective. You are just one of many consumers that other companies want access to in bulk. However, is it so wrong to graze in the green pastures of social networking? Perhaps not. I’d even go as far to say that, in actuality, the Facebook-to-user system is a symbiotic relationship that strays a bit from our initial livestock analogy. The social network provides us with a means to communicate with our friends and loved ones, and we provide the social network with real, in-depth, accurate market samples that they can sell as a product. Even still, some businesses will go beyond Facebook’s usual advertising methods in an effort to target their desired market. They use a variety of tactics, and while they are not illegal or against Facebook’s terms and agreements, they might be worth knowing about. Open Wall Popularity Facebook presents itself as being all about community, and for us end-users, it is. On the other hand, to businesses, it’s simply a way to put the entire target market under one roof and address it all at once. With that said, businesses are now forgoing traditional customer service routes and using their Facebook walls as their public representatives. By presenting themselves as members of the community, businesses are able to communicate more effectively with consumers. To be honest, this isn’t a bad idea. However, this offers just one more way for consumers to get sucked into loads of advertised promises. Once they know that a company is personal, they are more inclined to trust this company. In short, it’s the modern day equivalent to the old mom and pop stores where the owner knows everyone’s name. Besides that, certain posts and comments addressing issues by the business are more likely to be shared. Representation Through Images Images are a serious tool for getting things done in the Facebook marketing world. In fact, you could consider them to be a bit like billboards on your news feed. However, Facebook has a few guidelines for certain images that businesses post – else, they can get in a bit of trouble. For instance, cover photos on pages can’t feature price or discount information, a call to action, or a request for users to Like and Share (which inherently is a call to action). In other areas, it’s not much of an issue. However, do you really want an advertisement on your news feed when there are already enough on your sidebar? With that said, non-advert images play a heavy role when it comes to Facebook marketing. How many times have you seen your friends share images of athletes, humorous photos, or classic memes that they didn’t upload? Upon further inspection, you may see who the image was originally posted by, and in many cases, a watermark from a company’s logo may be added. This allows for the company to get the attention of its market and then let its presence be known without using annoying ad-like images. A Call To Action Whenever you look at business pages for Facebook (including MakeUseOf), you’ll see loads of “LIKE OR SHARE THIS TO…” posts. This is known as a a “call to action” seeing that it requests that users do something. Typically speaking, traditional calls to action are something along the lines of “Call for more information” or “Shoot us an email” so they can make a connection with you. In this case, the company is connecting with you and using you as a means for free advertising. Sometimes, as with the case of the images, there may be no call to action. The company may simply share an inspiring status update or a hilarious image, knowing that for some reason some users will feel the need to like or share it. You see, Facebook has already established the call to action for them. It’s right there under every post: Share or Like. Conclusion Facebook has changed the face of business, advertising, and marketing forever while also changing how we communicate. It’s a bit peculiar though. While you and I interact using Facebook, there are tons of businesses out there doing the exact same thing, trying to be like us. They are trying to fit into the community – trying to be our friends. In fact, they might even be a bit like other Facebook stalkers. What other methods have you seen businesses use to target consumers on Facebook? Have you seen these methods yourself? (By the way, don’t forget to Like and Share this post on Facebook.) Image Credits: *0ne*, zole-studio, LarimdaME The post Like And Share Carefully: How Marketers Target You On Facebook appeared first on MakeUseOf.