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Ask Slashdot: Skype Setup For Toddler's Room?

Posted by timothy on from the long-distance-day-care dept.

New submitter mmmmdave writes "My parents love to Skype with my kid. My kid loves to mash laptop buttons and drool on the screen. And because we don't want to spend forty minutes every night holding the laptop outside of baby arms' length, we're looking to build some sort of wall-mounted monitor + webcam thingy. I'm sure there's a much cheaper option than sticking an iPad on the wall; what's more, non-touchscreen is probably better, so my daughter can't hang up the calls. Any ideas?"

13 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. What Year is it, Again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Did you name your kid Winston, by any chance?

    Bad idea, dude, bad idea.

  2. Plexiglass ? by polar+red · · Score: 3, Funny

    Can't you protect the laptop/baby with plexiglass?

    --
    Yes, I'm left. You have a problem with that?
    1. Re:Plexiglass ? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 5, Funny

      We tried protecting a baby with plexiglass once, but it was a disaster. We were thinking of getting Baby 2.0 to see if the problem has been fixed, but the delivery time is outrageous!

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    2. Re:Plexiglass ? by vlm · · Score: 4, Funny

      We were thinking of getting Baby 2.0 to see if the problem has been fixed, but the delivery time is outrageous!

      Instead of having one employee work on it, just assign nine, and guaranteed it'll be done nine times faster; maybe even faster with synergy. Don't they teach anything at MBA school anymore?

      --
      "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    3. Re:Plexiglass ? by idontgno · · Score: 3, Funny

      Where did you get your MBA, Bob Jones University?

      The obvious answer is to rightsource the job. You can get 18 contract wombs in India for the price of just one here. So, you can have Baby 2.0 delivered within three* weeks of specification.

      *Yeah, within three. Fabrication requires two weeks, but unless you're paying for teleportation technology, the fastest you'll get the baby delivered is a few days after completion of manufacturing.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
  3. Funny by AshFan · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's funny, because it's my parents, not my kids, who like to mash on laptop buttons and drool on the keyboard.

    1. Re:Funny by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, I don't know. Reading the summary and wondering how the fuck this question made it to Slashdot's front page made me drool and bash my head on the keyboard.

    2. Re:Funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ask Slashdot

      Hi, slashdot, I want to hook up a mouse to my computer. I already have a mouse, it's in a box on the sofa, and my computers across the room at the desk. I don't think the cord will reach that far, and I really don't want to use it from the couch anyway (my keyboard's at the desk, so I'd be walking back and forth a lot). Any ideas?

      -- AC

  4. Why do you want to torture your kids? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why do you want to torture your kids with 40 minutes of grandparent gooing on the screen?

  5. Re:what......? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    No, it's phukingeediot.

  6. E*TRADE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    whatever you do, don't install E*TRADE on said laptop

  7. Re:I'd start with a TV by vlm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why didn't my ask slashdot submission get accepted? I'm looking for a good way to copy my files from the computer in my living room to the computer in my bedroom without using wireless internet. Any ideas?

    Noobs. Us old timers know everything. Use the unix "split" command to make a bunch of little 2 kilobyte files, turn each into 40-L QR code each of which holds about 2900 bytes, print those bastards, hand carry or armed courier or military gunship escorted transport chopper, whatever is needed in your situation to approach the bedroom, then feed the QR codes thru ye olde sheet feeder scanner and use unix "cat" command to merge the binaries together. If you're really leet you'd use PAR files but I can be arsed to figure out the options to split down to 2 K. Bonus, it uses linux. This is also a pretty good backup scheme. The bad news is I assume you're transferring blueray dvd pr0n rips downloaded from u****t so thats gonna be about seven million pages at one QR per page. Well, if you wanna be 'leet you gotta pay the price.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  8. Re:Parenting? by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 3, Funny

    Put the laptop on a table, out of arms reach and hold the child on your lap. There. Problem solved. No need for restraining of hands, you just hold the child on your lap as you would any other time.

    But from the summary, thats not what the parent wants - he wants to stop several very easily prevented actions, such as touching, ending the call accidentally, drooling on the devices etc. All of those things would not happen if they were there supervising the child during the conversation.

    iF i hads athgsd toddler on 2 yasdr lap aright noas the s is aatht you'sda he reading.

    No, seriously. And it's not like my kid is especially wiggly, either.

    --
    I am not a crackpot.