The California-based company, known for its educational-based LeapPad tablets for kids, has just introduced a new device aimed at helping youngsters learn to read and write.

Called the LeapReader, the pen-like tool reads audio books aloud and teaches basic writing skills, reciting letters and words aloud as the child is writing them. It will also offer games and other incentive-based learning tools.

If you’re familiar with LeapFrog’s product line, the LeapReader will remind you a lot of the Tag and Tag Junior audio pens. The Tag systems, however, are limited to electronic book-reading, and don’t include the writing tutorials, which LeapFrog says will offer a more complete learning solution.

The rechargeable device has an expected battery life of five hours and can hold up to 40 downloaded titles, available through LeapFrog’s library. LeapFrog says there will be 100 digital content audio titles — like audio books and trivia challenges — available by year’s end, including titles in the Clifford series, “The Velveteen Rabbit” and Little Golden Books. These range in price from $5 to $10.

The LeapReader itself costs $50, and will come to market in July. It supports English-language learning only. Oh, and there’s another cost to factor in: The LeapReader works with “interactive learning paper” and Learn to Write workbooks — about 35 to 42 interactive pages — that cost $20.

Most notable was Apple’s hit, dropping the company’s share price under $400 for a brief moment — the lowest point since December of 2011 — before rising and hovering just above the $400 mark. Apple’s dive came after multiple negative reports for the company, including a Digitimes report claiming iPad mini shipments could tumble in the June quarter due to lack of demand.

Apple is expected to miss its estimates in its upcoming quarterly earnings report, come April 23.

Cirrus Logic, one of Apple’s components suppliers, noted on Wednesday that it will record a net inventory reserve of $23.3 million for the fourth quarter, citing lower volume of one of the company’s top product shipments as an unnamed customer transitions from one component to another in its products. Investors pounded its stock, sending shares down almost 14 percent.

Apple wasn’t alone in its dip downward on Wednesday afternoon. Shares of Facebook were trading off almost 1.5 percent at around $26.50, while the usually well-performing LinkedIn was down as much as four points at $178, a 2.5 percent drop, before regaining some ground.

Google was also trading down around 1.5 percent this afternoon, following recent news that software giant Microsoft had reached a licensing agreement with Foxconn parent company Hon Hai, which from now on will pay royalties on every Android and Chrome device manufactured by one of its companies.

The Dow was off about 1 percent overall on Wednesday afternoon.

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s leading PC manufacturer, fell by more than 2 percent in the wake of a disappointing earnings report from chipmaker Intel. Cisco Systems fell nearly 2 percent. Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices fell by more than 1.6 percent. Salesforce.com fell by more than 1 percent.

Standing in the Starbucks line at the tail end of my last day in Austin, I’m not happy. I’m tired and somewhat underwhelmed by the tech-focused things I’ve seen during South by Southwest’s Interactive sessions. My feet hurt like hell. To top it off, some jerk accidentally steals my iced Americano.

And then it happens — a “South By” moment. The jerk, whose name I learn is Andy, returns with my coffee (already half-sipped), and we start chatting as the barista makes our new drinks. Turns out he went to college with my colleague Liz Gannes, and is a now an employee at a major tech company I’m interested in. We exchange numbers, and promise to meet for coffee at some point after the conference. And then he asks the usual question that bookends every SXSW conversation: “So, what parties are you headed to tonight?”

Moments like these are fast becoming the value of South by Southwest Interactive, once considered a premier place to discover the latest trends in tech, and the companies that will define the landscape of devices and the Web in the years to come.

Instead, many make the trek from Silicon Valley, New York, and other tech hubs for the chance to meet like-minded people, perhaps wander in and out of a few panels, and network, network, network.

“I have one friend who comes to South By exclusively for the parties, without going to a single panel,” said Nick Tommarello, founder of the Y-Combinator-incubated startup WeFunder, who was attending South By for the third time. “I come here to hang out with all of my friends.”

The parties are indeed something else. Venture capital firms rent out entire restaurants off Austin’s Sixth Street thoroughfare, offering open bars and top-tier music acts. Big-time Internet companies like Twitter host rooftop ragers, with throngs of people waiting around the block to get in. And then there’s the Path party, the highly exclusive, not-so-secret shindig that’s been thrown by the social startup for the past few years. It’s become so difficult to get into that even its own investors were rumored to be turned away at the door.

Make no mistake — this is where the real work of South By is done. Young, nerdy engineers and slick biz-dev types hop from one party to the next almost systematically. Partnerships are forged, secrets are traded. And the hosts use the occasion to attract promising talent, each party offering a glimpse into the “good life” after recruitment.

“The budgets for some of these things that I’ve seen are insane,” one Silicon Valley venture capitalist, who preferred not to be named, told me. “They just keep getting crazier and crazier.”

As a result, fewer startups use the occasion to launch significant product updates and releases at South By, in fear of being drowned out amid a sea of loud marketing noise, raucous parties and ridiculous publicity stunts.

“I’ve seen no apps that I really care about here,” said Matt Ceniceros, director at Austin-based marketing company PulsePoint group. Indeed, it’s almost a complete 180 from last year, when apps like Highlight, Banjo, and other location-based discovery apps gained much buzz — some would call it hype — at the conference, and then failed to take off in the months that followed.

Even larger companies like Facebook held only small, informal gatherings targeted mostly at members of the press, with no significant product launches. Twitter took the opportunity to treat many of its ads and media brand partners to a night of fun, but had little to say in the area of news.

“We felt there was way too much noise and distraction for the press at SXSW to choose this as a effective launch venue,” one startup employee told me, who preferred that I not name her, as her company was still in ‘stealth mode.’ “This was a good call,” she said.

Instead, companies like hers found it better to meet reporters and potential investors for drinks, or perhaps a chance introduction in a hotel lobby bar. Even for writers — people like me — it’s a time to meet new sources, VCs and startups, with the aim of formally catching up after the conference is over.

Later that evening, Andy from the coffee line ends up texting me. He’s at the Mohawk, an outdoor bar and late-night music spot, and wants to know if I want to join him in wandering around to different parties later in the evening. With just 12 hours before I have to catch a flight back home to San Francisco, I tell him I’ll be meeting him shortly.

It’s time to get to work.

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If you were itching to get your hands on a pair of Google Glasses … well, you still can’t.

But! Google did tease more details on what exactly one can do with the wearable technology, with its new official promo video, posted to YouTube early this morning.

Shot from the point of view of the Google Glass wearer, the video shows skydivers, ice skaters, ballerinas, skiers and pilots enjoying all of the augmented-reality and photo-capturing goodness of the glasses.

Of course, there’s a smattering of kid-playing and bubble-blowing and more accessible activities in there, as well:

Microsoft argues that, with Surface Pro, you don’t need a MacBook Air. In tech marketing, this is known as the Surface-to-Air missile.

– Ross Rubin, via Twitter

We’d all be much better off simplifying our technological footprints and consolidating our trust in the few services that provide us the greatest value with the fewest unintended side effects.

– Gdgt co-founder Ryan Block, in a guest column for the New York Times, “Why I’m Quitting Instagram”

After announcing in October its plans to create a yet-unnamed app store where Leap users can purchase and download apps, the company said today that it is shipping out 10,000 Leap units to verified developers, to aid in the creation of more software applications that will broaden the device’s appeal.

Some of the fruits of Leap Motion’s developer relations efforts are already apparent: I’ve seen early versions of a few Leap apps — which range from 3-D molding to music apps to the just-announced game shown in the video below — and the demos are impressive.

If you haven’t seen the Leap in action yet, here’s how it works: All that motion-sensor tech is compressed into a tiny, two-inch device that you place in front of your desktop or laptop keyboard. (Right now, the sensor works with Macs, Windows 7 and Windows 8, with a focus on the latter operating system.) Acting as a kind of mini-Kinect, Microsoft’s popular motion-sensor device, the Leap lets you use your fingers as controls, waving them just a few inches in front of the screen to input, create, shape or play.

The Leap Motion sensor, positioned in front of a MacBook

Leap Motion says it has taken in more than $10 million in preorders across 140 countries since the device was first announced this past spring.

After bringing former Apple execs Andy Miller and Michael Zagorsek onboard to act as president and head of marketing, respectively, it’s no surprise that the start-up, co-founded by Michael Buckwald and David Holz, is placing emphasis on building solid relations with the software development community.

While Leap Motion has declined to give an exact date for when it will ship its $70 motion-sensor device, the company said that Leap should be hitting retailers in the first quarter of 2013. It’s also unclear exactly how many apps will be ready for launch.

Check out the video below for a glimpse of how Leap works with one of the new apps, a Jenga-like game called Block 54:

But what if they’re just too clunky for you?

That’s the problem former Apple CEO John Sculley and business partner Sonny Vu have been tackling with the Misfit Shine. Under the company name Misfit Wearables, the duo recently came up with a metallic activity tracker the size of a quarter; it can be worn as an elegant bracelet or go almost unnoticed as a pocket clip.

Now, after crossing the $500,000 mark on Indiegogo.com, where Misfit is raising money to fund production of the Shine, Sculley and Vu are moving all that compressed tracking tech from the wrist to the neck. The company plans to make a leather activity-tracking necklace, designed with a small, connective metal pendant that users can click the Shine device onto. You can take a look at the picture above for an idea of what the Shine looks like; Misfit says images of the necklace design aren’t available yet.

Like the Shine wrist gadget, the necklace will then track activity levels, including steps taken, and share the data to apps on the iPhone 4, iPhone 5 and most Android devices. It uses Wi-Fi, not Bluetooth, to share the data, and in addition to tracking basic activity levels, it will record aerobic activities like running, cycling and swimming, since it’s waterproof.

But it doesn’t track sleep patterns, unlike the Jawbone Up, Fitbit or Lark bands, and the company hasn’t integrated any kind of food-monitoring system into the Misfit Shine, either.

“We do think the user experience isn’t complete without great software,” Vu said in an interview with AllThingsD. “But if you don’t wear the product in the first place, there’s no start. There’s no data start. So we really think the whole thing starts with wearability.”

Vu says Misfit plans to sell the necklace accessory for $79 at retail, though preorders on Indiegogo will cost either $49 for just the necklace, or $199 for the Shine-plus-necklace package.

Philips Electronics makes a similar product, called DirectLife, that costs $149 and can be worn as a necklace. But that product requires the user to plug the activity monitor directly into their computer, via USB, to transfer data.

Misfit Wearables expects to ship the Shine in a few months (although, as we have seen with some of these crowdfunded gadgets, delays are always possible).

The start-up is based in San Francisco, and in addition to crowdfunding money for production, is backed by Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures.

Bon appetit!

1. First, demonstrate that you know the difference between Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT. As Walt Mossberg points out here, Windows 8 comes in two versions — one for standard PCs, and one called RT, for tablets. Windows RT will only run on devices running ARM processors from companies like Nvidia and Qualcomm. Windows 8 will run on devices powered by Intel chips.

On Intel-based PCs, you can run both old Windows apps and new tablet-style apps. On the tablets, or RT devices, you can’t run traditional Windows apps, except for a new version of Office (which doesn’t include Outlook). Confused yet? It’s wise to offer up this gem before you’ve had a few Thanksgiving cocktails.

2. The bad news: BlackBerry maker RIM is missing the key holiday season with its late launch of BlackBerry 10, which is expected in the first couple months of next year. The good news? Some wireless carriers seem to be giving early positive feedback on BB10. While discussing BlackBerry, argue for/against tactile keyboards on smartphones.

3. “HP is in a jam.” Say this with authority, then point toward Tuesday’s earnings call and the developing Autonomy fraud story. Note: Don’t pretend to be too much of an authority on HP or you will, at some point, be asked to fix a relative’s printer.

4. Zynga is in a jam, too, except even worse, if possible. Key executives are leaving, and the company cut 5 percent of its workforce in October. Also, the company needs a new hit game. (Admit it, you got bored with Draw Something pretty quickly.) Pro tip: Turn the sound down on your phone so the Words With Friends chime doesn’t give you away. If that fails, move on to Groupon’s failings.

5. “Why would I go to stores on Black Friday? I do all of my shopping online.” This might sound pretty familiar by now, so take it a step further: Specify that you do all of your shopping on mobile. Argue that “favoriting” things on Pinterest on your iPad late at night counts as mobile shopping.

6. A favorite topic of discussion: Should you buy your mom/brother/child/significant other an iPad mini? What about Amazon’s new Kindle Fire or the Google Nexus tablet? Read Walt’s review of the iPad mini; this chart will help you figure out some of the specs of the others. And for a great retrospective of Apple devices throughout the years, check out this skit from Jimmy Kimmel.

7. There’s a new and improved Jawbone Up — the techie wristband that suffered technical problems its first time out of the gate. Launch a full-blown debate about which is better: Up or the FuelBand from Nike, a brand that’s more likely to resonate with most people. Talk about how motivating activity trackers are, right when you’re on your third piece of pumpkin pie.

8. YouTube is no longer just about cat videos. It’s true! Just read this. Full disclaimer: Many people sitting around you still might not believe this. Not my chair, not my problem.

9. The launch of the new Nintendo Wii U, which has been in development for a few years, hasn’t gone very smoothly. And The Wall Street Journal’s Katherine Boehret said in her review of the new gaming device that “despite the Wii U’s refreshing features, its sluggish behavior makes it a product I can’t fully recommend.” For fun, quiz others around the table to see who remembers the old Contra code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start).

10. Take photos of the turkey with your phone, especially if you’ve purchased the new iPhone 5/Samsung Galaxy S III/Nokia Lumia 920 and need a reason to casually pull it out of your pocket. Blast-share the best pic with your social networks using a new app that you believe is the new Instagram-meets-Socialcam-meets-Twitter.

Bonus: Get ahead of the times by dropping some knowledge about the government investigating Google for anticompetitive behavior around how its search engine ranks its own sites above competitors’ sites. News on that is likely to drop right after the holiday. But be careful: Talking antitrust could turn into talking politics, and in some families that’s a recipe for disaster.

Double bonus: Free food! Free smartphones! Free air! Yes, Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s new CEO, is a magical unicorn executive who will make you quit your Gmail and go back to Yahoo Mail. Keep repeating to your clan until it’s true. (Warning: This might actually take a few quarters.)

Now put your phone down and actually enjoy the holiday.

The new Jawbone Up

But now, nearly a year after the company pressed “pause” on its first activity-tracking wristband, Jawbone is giving it a second go.

The new Up band, announced today, promises to fix earlier issues with the product, and comes with much-improved mobile software that offers a more comprehensive data-tracking experience.

The Up looks pretty much the same as it always did. But the company says the band has improved water resistance — one of the reasons why the first band couldn’t hold a battery charge — and better circuit-board pliancy, allowing it to be flexible while protecting the tiny components inside from damage.

In addition to recording activity, the Up mobile app now includes a Trends tab that allows side-by-side comparisons of personal metrics. There are also Moods, which allow the user to say if they’re feeling cranky or like they’re going to conquer the world on any particular day; and more detailed food logging, with a bar-code scanner for scanning food items.

With the last Up, Jawbone’s solution for food tracking was to tell users to snap and add photos to the app. Now, Up provides actual data, like calories and grams of sugar in a particular food item.

And for users who want to track intense workouts, there are now options to log running, yoga or cycling sessions, among other activities.

The wristband costs $129 — $30 more than the original Up — and hits the market today. It’s available through the Apple Store, AT&T, Target, Best Buy and Jawbone’s own Web site. The free app works only on iOS devices to start.

The redesigned Up arrives 11 months after Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman had to issue an apology to some Up owners who were complaining about technical and design issues with the first wristband.

Jawbone also initiated a “no questions asked” refund program (which the company says is technically still in effect, for those who haven’t yet requested a refund on the original Up).

Since then, the Bay Area-based start-up has conducted 46 weeks of user tests and trials, across “thousands” of Jawbone Up devices, the company said.

In the foreground: The guts of the new Jawbone Up, compared with the earlier model

While the redesigned band boasts some important features that weren’t in the previous version of the product, it’s coming to market at a time of increasing competition in the area where mobile health meets wearable tech.

Earlier this year, Nike introduced its own version of an activity-tracking wristband, the Nike+ FuelBand, which also syncs with an iPhone app. Nike uses its own currency, called “fuel,” to measure the wearer’s exertion level.

And Lark, maker of a wearable sleep sensor, just announced its own holistic wristband-with-app, called Larklife, that tracks activity, sleep and eating patterns. Lark CEO Julia Hu declined to give details on when the product will launch, except to say it will hit “this holiday season.”

Both the Nike+ FuelBand and the Larklife bands cost around $150.

But there’s likely to be more competition in the near future. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this coming January, the CEA expects to see more than 215 exhibitors — about 25,000 square feet of exhibit space — devoted to tech surrounding weight loss, body mass, calorie-tracking and other areas of health and wellness. Compared with last year’s CES, this is a 25 percent increase in tech health exhibitors, according to Jeff Joseph, senior vice president of communications for the CEA.

While we watch and wait for Mayer’s next move, Biz Stone has an idea for the newly crowned CEO: Pack up and head East.

The Twitter co-founder suggested in a blog post on Friday that above all else, a cross-country HQ relocation could provide the shake-up the stagnating company needs.

“Compared to newer powerhouse social and search giants in Silicon Valley, Yahoo seems faded and out of place,” Stone wrote. “The bold act of picking up and moving to New York City could cast Yahoo in the completely different light of a comparatively nascent and powerful player in the media capital of the world.”

It’s a flight of fancy that isn’t entirely pie-in-the-sky — every other week you’ll hear yet another story on the state of the burgeoning NYC tech scene. To boot, points out Stone, Mayer already sits on the board of both the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and of the New York City Ballet, and is apparently interested in fashion (Project Runway, anyone?). It’s a natural fit!

One minor quibble: While Yahoo has cast itself as a media company in administrations past — see interim CEO (and now ex-Yahoo) Ross Levinsohn’s area of expertise, for one — Mayer’s background and experience at Google suggest a product emphasis going forward. A move to New York, the so-called media capital of the world, may have made sense under Levinsohn. Mayer? Not so much.

But it’s Friday! The perfect time for throwing out ideas of what CEOs of faltering companies should do next.

Keep ’em coming, Biz.

Birchbox.com, a subscription service that ships monthly mystery boxes containing a handful of beauty products for $10, has just launched a men’s section of its Web site. Now, guys can sign up and, for $20 a month, get their own “Birchboxes.”

While most of these boxes will be comprised of items like shaving cream and socks, the brains behind Birchbox plan to add a fair share of tech in there, too, after a pilot Birchbox project for men that included Skullcandy headphones was well-received.

Products shipped in the boxes will include RumbaTime watches, Pokket Mixers and detachable Bookman Lights, Birchbox says, with more lifestyle and gadget-y items planned for the future.

Birchbox has nabbed about a hundred thousand subscribers since its launch in September 2010. It also snagged $1.4 million in seed funding from Accel Partners and First Round Capital just a month after its launch.

Co-founder Katie Beauchamp, who launched the company with Harvard Business School bud Hayley Barna, says the company is growing — and not just in subscribers. Birchbox also has an e-commerce portal where an estimated 40 percent of box subscribers go on to buy full-sized products. E-commerce revenue is now six times what it was a year ago, Beauchamp says.

In addition to the e-commerce portion of the Birchbox Web site, Beauchamp and Barna have hired eight writers to come up with product-specific content that supplements what’s in a Birchbox. By including limited descriptions and how-tos in the boxes, the crafty company wants to drive more people to that content online.

As someone who has received a couple of Birchboxes containing stuff that left me scratching my head, I can attest to the fact that some products do require additional explanation. The items shipped are determined by the company and can’t be hand-picked by the subscriber, though Birchbox says the company is getting better at personalizing the Birchboxes based on info provided by subscribers.

It’s an interesting model, one that has seen a fair amount of copycatting, and one that Beauchamp describes as more of an e-commerce “discovery” model rather than a traditional e-commerce business.

A new Nike+ “pressure sensor” is coming to Nike basketball and training shoes. The sensors will track data about wearers’ movements and transmit it wirelessly to their iPhones. The enhanced basketball shoes are meant to track the movements of players during practice sessions and games, including (but not limited to) how high the wearers jump. The training shoes are meant for casual and competitive athletes involved in any intense fitness activity.

Nike has been adding sensors to its athletic gear since 2006, though some of the products send data to an iPod or accompanying fitness watch rather than to a smartphone. The company says the Nike+ community has grown to more than six million “digitally connected” athletes.

Last month, Nike introduced the Nike+ FuelBand, a lightweight rubber wristband meant to be worn all the time to track fitness levels, which are measured in a Nike-branded activity currency called NikeFuel.

With these new basketball and training shoes, Nike says, workout statistics can be shared with friends on social networks. They also offer a “showcase” mode, which allows wearers to superimpose their live data onto a video that can then be shared with friends. So now, when a heated debate arises about who jumped higher on the court, you can take it inside, to Facebook.

A couple of unanswered questions — which I’ll ask Nike in a short while, and update as needed — is whether the sensor uses Bluetooth or another kind of wireless technology to transmit the data, as well as how far the reach of the sensor is. Most casual basketball players I know wouldn’t want to carry their smartphones in their pockets while playing (and I’m imagining it’s the same case with pro players). So would the user have to head to the sidelines or locker room and be within a certain proximity of his or her phone to transmit the data? Or does the data sync automatically?

And I’m curious to hear more about how verticals are actually measured. For example, if one foot edges higher than another, is the ultimate measurement an average of the two verticals? Or is it from the foot that got higher?

The company’s first sensor-enabled basketball shoe will be the Nike Hyperdunk+, which will cost $250 and hit stores this June. The first training shoes that work on the Nike+ system will be the Lunar Hyper Workout+ for women and the Lunar TR 1+ for men.

Nike has said LeBron James will wear the Nike Hyperdunk+ shoes this summer at the London Olympics.

Update: Nike’s vice president of digital sport, Stefan Olander, offered some more details on how the new pressure sensor works.

It reads four key pressure points in the foot to track when the feet leave the ground, Olander said. That data is combined with accelerometer technology to measure gravity and overall movement.

While data transmission in the “old” Nike+ sensors and running sneakers is enabled through Nike’s proprietary radio protocol, the latest Nike+ sensors use a new kind of Bluetooth technology that is said to be faster — and saps less power from connected devices. The data is stored locally on the sensor, and users can (wirelessly) upload the data to their iPhones when they’re done with their basketball or training session.

Also, the new pressure sensors are put into both left and right sneakers — unlike earlier versions of Nike+ sensors, which slipped into just one shoe — to more accurately measure the wearer’s movements. Whether the user takes off from the left foot or right foot — for example, when shooting a layup or attempting to dunk — Nike knows the timing of the foot pressure; the company claims it has created an algorithm that is more than 96 percent accurate in measuring jumps.

I wasn’t at today’s press event, but here are some tweets from those who were, including, naturally, Nike:

Improve every time you step on the court or in the gym. Introducing Nike+ Basketball & Nike+ Training #innovate http://t.co/7dsnBBwq

February 22, 2012 8:23 am via Nike PublisherReplyRetweetFavorite

@Nike

Nike

Nike has just unveiled a Hyperdunk shoe with a pressure sensor that tracks every move & allows you to upload it.

February 22, 2012 8:21 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@darrenrovell

darren rovell

#Nike is arguing that it will bring the power of its own lab to any athlete through technology. I like the idea of the connected athlete.

February 22, 2012 8:18 am via Twitter for iPadReplyRetweetFavorite

@jeffjarvis

Jeff Jarvis

Nike+ will tell you how high you jumped when you okay bball!!! That’s unreal!!

February 22, 2012 8:23 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@omid

Omid Ashtari

Here’s a promotional YouTube video featuring Mr. James himself, showing off the sneakers and how another player’s vertical data is transmitted to the iPhone:

And for those who are into both football and geekery, tomorrow is kind of like the Super Bowl. Well, technically speaking, I guess tomorrow is like the Super Bowl for everyone.

Anyhoo. For everyone looking for some tech to go with their gridiron, there are lots of options.

First of all, NBC is streaming the Super Bowl live over the Internet, for those who can’t make it to a television or want a second screen to enjoy even more of the action.

ESPN president John Skipper said at D: Dive Into Media that he thinks giving away the game for free is a bad idea, but NBC paid for the rights, so they get to do what ever they want.

Verizon is also broadcasting the game live to the smallest of screens via its NFL Mobile service. (However, Peter Kafka notes their marketing of said service could use some work.)

Second, there are a ton of Super Bowl apps, including the official ones for both iPhone and Android, as well as a game program. Peanuts are still not downloadable, but content-tagging app Shazam is offering a variety of commercial tie-ins. Check here for even more game-day apps.

And of course, the big game will be the talk of Twitter, to be sure.

Lastly, as a special treat, AllThingsD will be offering live coverage of the game, the commercials and the social-media hoopla. We had so much fun in January with Footballmer, our liveblog mash-up of Steve Ballmer’s final CES keynote and the BCS championship, that we decided to do it again.

This time, though, I’ll actually get to watch the game, rather than having Ballmer duty. I’ll be commenting on the game, the commercials, the tech and the Twitter commentary. Check back tomorrow before kickoff for that.

The GPS shoes have a tracking device implanted in the right sole, with a GSM/CDMA antenna snaking up behind the heel so that the GPS signal is not blocked by the body; the shoe also includes a USB port, primarily for charging the product’s battery.

Made by footwear company Aetrex, with GPS technology provided by GTX Corp., the shoes cost $299.99, with the added monthly cost of a tracking plan. Caretakers can opt to have the wearer’s location recorded every 10 minutes for $39.99 a month, or every 30 minutes for $35.99 a month.

Customers can visit the Aetrex Web site to purchase the shoes, set up an account for the shoes through GTX Corp. and, using Google Maps, create a “geo-fence” encompassing what’s considered a safe distance around a wearer’s house or living community. The caretaker can opt to have messages sent via email or receive simple SMS text messages on a cellphone when the wearer wanders outside of the geo-fence.

The caretaker can then access the online portal to find the wearer’s location on a Google Map. There’s also an emergency backup system the caretaker can call for additional help; that requires the caretaker to share the GPS information with the emergency-care provider.

Aetrex began planning and designing the GPS shoes two years ago; the product was certified by the Federal Communications Commission in September of last year and began shipping in late December. Only a few hundred pairs have sold so far, but Aetrex president Evan Schwartz said the companies have done little marketing at this point, and have been focused instead on a strategic rollout of the shoes.

Schwartz also said the company will begin shipping to Canada and other countries soon, and that Aetrex and GTX have struck a deal with an international SIM card provider to make the tech available internationally.

For now, Aetrex and GTX are selling the shoes directly to consumers, but they have been in talks with the Alzheimer’s Association and the Veterans Benefits Association to explore partnerships for marketing the shoes to assisted-living communities and geriatrics departments.

While the GPS shoes could give caregivers some peace of mind if a family member is prone to wandering, the concept of trackable clothing could raise questions from both a technical and legal standpoint.

Aetrex says the battery life of the shoes lasts two days on average, but the shoes would be rendered ineffective if a caretaker wasn’t around to charge them, or the wearer forgot to do so. Also, if the person monitoring the shoe-wearer opts in for more frequent pings, the battery will die more quickly. Aetrex says the GPS shoe system does send email or text notifications to remind the caretaker when the battery is getting low.

There’s also the possibility, of course, that the wearer could remove the shoes, or simply refuse to wear them.

When someone purchases the GPS shoes and goes to activate the online monitoring system, he or she has to sign off that they are a designated caregiver, and that they have the authority to monitor the wearer of the shoes and make those kinds of decisions for the wearer. But, as with many of the technologies we have at our fingertips, there is always the possibility of misuse.

A recent Supreme Court case involving law enforcement officials’ use of GPS to track a drug-trafficking suspect has also raised some questions about the rights civilians have when it comes tracking others using GPS technology (our Wall Street Journal/SmartMoney colleagues did a good rundown of some instances where it can be done legally). Stories like these indicate that we’re still in the early stages of setting privacy standards when it comes to digital tracking.

“It’s all kinds of good and bad and ugly popping up when it comes to GPS tech these days, and that’s definitely a concern,” Schwartz said. “There are enough people who make jokes about tracking a spouse, or what if you threw the shoe in the trunk of someone’s car and they never know it’s being used for that, that sort of thing.”

“But at the same time,” he added, “this shoe has been designed to serve a purpose, and it’s to help caregivers, so we have a hard time believing someone would abuse this.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article said the GPA shoes support CDMA technology. The shoes do not support CDMA; the antennae in the shoes are GSM/GPS.

This year, none other than Justin Bieber is scheduled to stop by the event, while repeat attendee Lady Gaga is not.

And CES is also about to get Snookified.

Lady Gaga first appeared at CES in 2010, when it was announced she would be taking the role of creative director at Polaroid. Attendees and members of the press went a little goo-goo for Gaga, who certainly livened up the event. At last year’s show, the Lady of the hour again appeared at the Polaroid booth, and unveiled three new products (two of which, we reported earlier, have yet to hit the market, as is not uncommon for some of the products showcased at CES).

A spokesperson for Polaroid said Lady Gaga is still currently creative director for its Grey Label line, but is not scheduled to be at CES this year due to her demanding schedule.

So, let’s get to Bieber. The 17-year-old singing sensation is scheduled to appear at a booth for TOSY, a Vietnamese robotics company. I’ve been told he is not doing interviews, so all the 14-year-old girls out there wishing they were the Tavi Gevinson of consumer electronics coverage can hold off on bombarding the CEA with requests for press badges.

On to Snooki: The pint-sized “Jersey Shore” star will be there, not for high-tech tanning beds or electronic Bumpits, but to help hype iHip, a maker of audio accessories. Snooki, a.k.a. Nicole Polizzi, is hosting a fist-pumping VIP party at the Planet Hollywood Hotel and Casino during the week, and will also be making appearances on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Other celebs expected to be in attendance at the big show: Actress Eliza Dushku, who will be at the show as an ambassador for the Entertainment Matters program sponsored by Variety magazine and Ericsson; 50 Cent will announce new audio products through his company, SMS Audio; fitness guru Jillian Michaels will kick things off at the Sports and Fitness TechZone; Dennis Rodman is going as part of the launch of Paltalk’s Firetalk (and at 6’6″ won’t be hard to spot on the floor); and actor Seth Green will appear at the booth for Shodogg, a service for controlling video-watching across multiple screens, using a smartphone (we can’t hardly wait!). Finally, Ludacris will be there, representing SOUL Electronics.

Last year, “Survivor” star Jeff Probst made a CES appearance, during which he gave some tips on how to — heh — survive the show. Probst did, in fact, survive, but won’t be making it this year.

More notable names are likely to appear, but whether there will be anyone big enough to drown out the buzzing, pinging and ringing of the electronics — and the shrill sounds of Biebermania — is still to be determined.

MORE CES NEWS:

• Complete coverage
• HP’s Former CTO: Ultrabooks Are Nothing New, webOS Still Has Life Yet
• Walt Shows Off CES Gadgets for Fox Business News (Video)
• What Kind of Web Video Plans Does Sony Have? (Video)
• Fujitsu Seeking Way Into Crowded U.S. Smartphone Market
• Why Rhapsody Is (Probably) Bigger Than Spotify — In the U.S.
• Microsoft Beefing Up CeBit Presence Even as It Pulls Back on CES
• Inside the CES Lost & Found
• FCC Chairman Has New Tablet, but Same Script: More Spectrum!
• Verizon Wireless: We Want to Connect Five Devices for Every Subscriber
• Ultrabooks From HP and Lenovo That Are (Kinda, Sorta) Different
• Walt and Katie Take a Tour of CES (Video)
• Schmidt-Storm Alert: The Google Chairman Didn’t Like Your Question
• T-Mobile Expands Bobsled Messaging Service
• Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video)
• Motorola CEO: We’re Going to Release Fewer Phones This Year
• Kinect Helps Keep Aging Xbox at the Top of Its Game
• More From T-Mobile CEO: On Pricing, LTE and That Ever-Elusive iPhone
• Exclusive: New Boss Acknowledges Windows Phone Still Has “Awareness Problem”
• And You Thought Jawbone UP Was Going to Miss the CES Party!
• Interview: T-Mobile CEO Says No Second AT&T Deal Out There
• Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It
• BlueStacks Bringing Android Apps to Windows 8
• Why the Future of TV Won’t Be Here Soon
• Nvidia’s Tegra 3 Tries to Save Battery in All Sorts of Different Ways
• Dynamic Dual Coverage: Ballmer’s Last Act in Vegas and the BCS Championship in 3-D
• Microsoft Phoning In Its Last CES Keynote
• Myspace — Yes, Myspace — Says It’s Going to Sell You Web TV
• Samsung Unveils “Super” 55-Inch OLED TV
• Nokia Unveils That LTE Windows Phone It’s Been Dying to Share
• Steve Ballmer Gives Ralph De La Vega a Very … Vigorous Greeting (Video)
• Interview: AT&T’s De La Vega on LTE, Tablets and Life After T-Mobile
• AT&T’s De La Vega: Shared Data Plans Still in the Works
• LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way
• LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum
• Live: AT&T’s Vegas Act Stars LTE and, Making Her Return to the Stage, Nokia
• CES Notebook: The Constant Search for Power and Vegas’ Worst-kept Secret
• Belkin Bringing Mobile TV to Lots of Cellphones, Will Anyone Tune In?
• Acer Introduces “World’s Thinnest” Ultrabook and a “Me-Too” Cloud Service
• There Better Be Some Cool Stuff at CES, Because CE Holiday Sales Data Bytes!
• CES 2012: Snooki and Bieber Are In, Gaga Is Out!
• Coming to a Smartphone Near You: Gorilla Glass 2
• RIM Hopes Next PlayBook OS Will Impress at CES
• Ultrabooks, the Ultra-Fancy New Name for Laptops
• At CES, Expect More Gadgets Telling You to Get Off the Couch
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Microsoft Pulling Out of CES After Upcoming Show
• Intel to Detail Its Phone Plans at CES Next Month
• Dell Will Drop the Flashy Vegas Act for CES This Year
• Ultrabook Conga Line Preps for CES 2012

According to a new survey from Parks Associates, an international market research firm, age will be the biggest factor in tech purchases made between Nov. 1 and Jan. 1. Young adult consumers — defined as those between 18 and 34 years of age — are more likely than others to purchase laptops, smartphones, tablets and LCD flat-panel displays this season. Also, households with children are much more likely to purchase laptops and LCD flat-panels.

Image courtesy of David Boyle/Flickr

Not surprisingly, tablets are the product of choice for big spenders, with higher-income households more likely to buy iPads and Android tablets. Some other interesting notes from the survey: Apple’s ecosystem of music, media and apps continues to drive interest in hardware, with 17 percent of consumers surveyed saying they’re looking to buy Mac laptops, trailing only Dell at 22 percent of intended purchases.

And in the smartphone category, there’s more bad news for BlackBerry: 83 percent of current iPhone users intend to buy an iPhone again this holiday season; 81 percent of Android OS users said the same, but only 41 percent percent of BlackBerry users intend to buy RIM’s iconic handheld device again this season.

The data, which comes from a survey of 2,000 U.S. heads of household and factors in purchases to date this year, as well as buying intentions, offers a somewhat optimistic outlook for consumer electronics this holiday season, with purchase intentions rebounding to near-2009 levels after a steep decline in 2010. Almost 50 percent of U.S. broadband-connected households intend to purchase a CE product from early November to Jan. 1, compared to 38 percent last year.

The fact that consumers began shopping earlier than usual this year may be giving retailers a longer window to move products, researchers note. Consumers also indicated that mobile shopping and mobile wallet options are increasingly appealing.

But it’s not all good news in gadgetland, as the economy continues to weigh on consumer confidence. Other data suggests that 2011 may still be a weaker than expected year for consumer electronics spending. Research firm IHS iSuppli recently reduced its consumer electronics growth outlook for the year, cutting expected revenue to $357.3 billion, a 1.5 percent rise from revenues in 2010, compared to its previous forecast of 6.4 percent growth for the year.

Parks Associates’ director of research John Barrett calls the slight boost in spending intentions this season the “keeping-it-home” phenomenon, noting that the people surveyed were more likely to make purchases for themselves this year, or for someone in their own household, rather than for gift-giving outside of the home. “The number of people buying something has gone up, but so have all the economic worries,” Barrett notes.

Readers, have you bought, or do you intend to buy, consumer electronics this holiday season?

Two of the more interesting online media properties are apparently joining up for a year-end online idea festival.

The AOL-owned Huffington Post, and TED, the massive conference organization and online site dedicated to its offerings, will jointly feature 18 of the best onstage speeches from TED’s excellent year-round global events.

The idea-thon will be called “Best of TED 2011: A Countdown of 18 Groundbreaking Ideas to Reshape the World in 2012.” A post on the Huffington Post site noted that it will feature the popular TEDTalks and combine them with “new blog posts written by the people who delivered them, examining how their ideas were impacted by being shared with a global audience.”

Out of a total of 300 possible choices, the number of speeches has been narrowed down to 18, because TEDTalks are limited to no more than 18 minutes. The talks range over a wide array of topic areas, including science, art, music, tech and more.

In an interview today, HuffPost majordomo Arianna Huffington said that the aim was to spur thinking around big problems the world faces.

“We are trying to be people to rethink everything in a super engaging way,” she said. “That is what TED is famous for and we wanted to shed a lot of light on it.”

Here’s today’s, with game developer Kevin Slavin on “How Algorithms Shape Our World”:

The emergence of Union Square as a destination for technology firms got its start several years ago. But the neighborhood’s tech community received a boost this year with the arrival of household names such as computer giant Apple Inc. and the impending arrival of user-review site Yelp.

Those big companies are among nearly a dozen tech firms that have signed leases this year for a combined 135,000 square feet of office space in Union Square, according to the Union Square Partnership.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Yahoo turned in another weak performance in the second quarter, with yet another decline in revenue.

This time it was five percent, compared to last quarter’s six percent. In other words, at least things are looking up as they go down!

While earnings per share rose smartly, Wall Street is still looking for strong sales growth from the Silicon Valley Internet giant, which seems unable to provide it.

Blamed most this time for the revenue fall: Yahoo’s changes in its display sales operations in the key Americas region, reasons for which were largely unspecified in the initial company press release. (You can see the damage in this slide deck from the company here.)

Maybe Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz will explain it all in its upcoming conference call with analysts (or she could try the I-don’t-know approach taken by News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch in PhoneGate hearings in Britain earlier today!).

2 pm PT: It starts with the usual regulatory blah-blah, which I always enjoy.

Bartz gets right into it, opening with the key problems with China’s Alibaba Group, as well as its display and search revenue weaknesses.

The fight with Alibaba is over its Alipay payments unit, which was spun out of the Chinese company without Yahoo’s say-so. Yahoo is a big shareholder.

Bartz says that the company was working on a settlement night and day.

But she quickly gets onto how display did not perform as expected in its key Americas arena. “Obviously, I am not happy,” she said.

Obvi! Neither are shareholders, Carol.

She says it was not about new competitive development. It was not about the economy. It was not about engagement.

So what was it? Changes in its sales leadership and organization, says Bartz, which has included talent walking out the door in droves.

A lot more than Yahoo expected, but no surprise to anyone who has been paying any attention to the brain drain at the company.

Bartz promises a new approach to sales, part of its endless turnaround, which is beginning to feel like a digital version of “Waiting for Godot.”

Search revenue, though, says Bartz, was better than expected.

2:11 pm: CFO Tim Morse is on now, running through the numbers and the display shortfall in the Americas region.

“We simply did not have appropriate coverage,” says Morse, noting consumer products, tech and autos as weak spots in the advertising market.

Thank goodness, then, for the guarantees from search revenue in the Microsoft partnership deal.

More numbers and then it is back to Bartz to talk about search, which is going better than the last quarter, when it was the culprit for the revenue decline.

She says that Microsoft and Yahoo were working together to improve the issues.

“We’d like to be further down the road,” says Bartz about the goal of search revenue per search growth, as well as settling all the other problems, such as the Asian issues.

And, by further, I am presuming she means actual forward movement, which is what roads are actually for.

2:27 pm: Q&A time, the part of our program where Wall Street analysts do not ask the questions that need asking (and where I win fancy journalism awards for pointing this delta out!).

Therefore, Bartz is first thanked for providing “color” about the display disaster and is not asked about more specifics of the disaster itself.

The second question still does not get to it either, but she does note Yahoo’s sales force has to sell beyond “Gee, we’re big” and come up with better ad solutions.

“The issue is we did not have enough sales people in front of the big clients,” says Bartz.

That’s because all those former Yahoos are now working at Groupon, LivingSocial, Facebook and on down the line and now in front of big clients for those hotter companies.

2:34 pm: Question about its Asian assets. Yahoo’s talks with Yahoo! Japan and Alibaba are separate, says Bartz, although I would add that they have non-movement in common.

And also a question about Yahoo’s interest in the acquisition of the Hulu premium online video service.

Bartz winks verbally and says nothing, which translates into: Of course, it is interested.

More on the reasons for the display fall-off, which Bartz makes clear is not due to big competitive threats, but internal issues.

Maybe she’s saving big competitive threats as the reason for a revenue decline in the third quarter!

I look forward to the quarter I get the finger pointed at me for causing revenue to fall, due to my snarky posts.

Now, we are into softball questions about improvements in engagement. It’s up, but no one asks why Yahoo is still not doing anything very cutting edge in product innovation compared to competitors.

I believe Google has launched at least 14 new social networks since this Sunday, along with its strong quarterly performance last week. And Apple, well, blew away its quarter today as it is about to release more cool new stuff later this week.

And that might be the crux of the issue for Yahoo, which might not solve its woes by throwing a more focused sales army at the issue.

That’s because Yahoo’s products are simply not nearly has social as Facebook or even Google right now, which might be the true problem as old customers move on to new advertising solutions.

Whatever the reason, Yahoo clearly needs a refresh of its ad products and how it sells them, especially in its fast-growing mobile, video and communications products.

Bartz talks about getting better expertise, a tighter regional focus and other issues of going to market, which is perhaps something she might have realized many, many quarters ago.

After all, she’s been in charge for a while, and these issues are not new.

In fact, in an earlier quarter, Bartz was stressing “tentpole” events and anchor media properties and the power of the size of Yahoo as a selling point.

This was in April, in fact, in the first quarter of this year.

As I wrote then:

“CEO Carol Bartz excited was the Silicon Valley Internet giant’s traffic gusher for big tentpole events such as the Super Bowl and the Oscars. In fact, Bartz practically sounded like a gushy “Entertainment Tonight” flunky when talking to Wall Street analysts about Yahoo’s Oscar news, games and other offerings. She proudly noted the site’s efforts generated more than a billion pages views.”

Now big is out! Moving on!

The last question is another about Yahoo’s talks with its Asian partners.

“It’s complex,” says Bartz.

You can say that again.

As readers of mine know, I write a semi-ranty post now and again about the lack of women in high-level tech jobs and on the boards of its major companies.

While things are a lot better in the digital industry than, say, in meat-packing, it is still a slow slog to equality in both power and influence, even with ever more enlightened male tech leaders.

Many years ago, for example, I posted a piece, titled “The Men and (No) Women Facebook of Facebook Management” There were none in the high echelons of the social networking start-up at the time.

More recently, I wrote a piece — “The Men and No Women of Web 2.0 Boards (BoomTown’s Talking to You: Twitter, Facebook, Zynga, Groupon and Foursquare)” — about how all the often touchy-feely men entrepreneurs of the hottest Web 2.0 companies had a glaring problem.

While most of them have women as a majority of their customers, they could not seem to find even one qualified woman for any of their boards.

This makes it a struggle even in programming our D: All Things Digital conferences. We have featured almost every significant female tech exec we could — from eBay’s Meg Whitman to Hewlett-Packard’s Carly Fiorina to Yahoo’s Sue Decker and, later, Carol Bartz to Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg to this year’s amazing DARPA head Dr. Regina Dugan.

But it is still definitely not enough and a failing we think about improving all the time.

I could go on — and I am going to go on even more this fall in the pages of Glamour magazine, which has asked me to write an essay on where all the women in tech are and what is their status today and in the future.

I will also be part of what I hope will be a provocative panel, moderated by Glamour editor-in-chief Cindi Leive, in New York City on October 11.

The panel, said Glamour, “will ask where all the women are and why don’t we see more of them — and tell why the next Mark Zuckerberg should be a ‘Marcia.’”

I am not so sanguine that that will occur anytime soon, but it will be good to talk about this important issue. Diversity is at the heart of true innovation and more of it is needed for tech to thrive in the coming years.

I will also be helping select the panelists for the Glamour event and would welcome any suggestions, especially some ideas that are not typical.

Until then, here’s the impressive Dugan at D9 last week, as well as a video of the movie trailer for 1995′s “Hackers,” in which Angelina Jolie plays a hard-charging techie who is her mostly dude colleagues’ equal.