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Are 'Brainy' Toys for Babies a Waste of Money?

Babies need time, books and love, not genius gear.

Newhouse News Service-Landov

MORE BUSINESS COVERAGE

• IRS warns of online tax scam
The IRS warns of a late-breaking Internet tax scam, just before the April 17 deadline. Are you at risk?

• Student-Loan Secrets
A national scandal over for-profit college lending deepens.

• Eleanor Clift: Why White Men Don't Matter
News execs may pretend they fired Imus for moral reasons. But his sacking really tells us that advertisers are losing interest in white men.

• Redstone: CBS Will 'Do the Right Thing' on Imus
Media honcho Sumner Redstone on the fate of shock jock Don Imus

• A Shock Jock Hall of Shame
Imus joins a host of, well, hosts who have gotten themselves into deep trouble over lamentable ad-libs, dirty talk and bad behavior. A brief history of talk radio’s on-air excess

• The Ugly Truth About Imus, Power and the Press
Don Imus's words did not just offend black America. They also provoke a necessary conversation about the mainstream media, and what it finds acceptable.

• When Tax Avoidance Crosses a Line
Good accountants know how to save their clients money on April 15. But the demise of a respected Dallas law firm shows that some of the nation's leading tax specialists went too far.

• The Uranium Market Heats Up
Prices are soaring and the market—despite security jitters—is white-hot. But is uranium just another bubble ready to burst?

• Samuelson: 'Boomsday' Is Approaching
We self-indulgent baby boomers have planned big tax increases for our children to cover our retirement. Guess what? They may not go along.

• Sloan: Pumping Hormones Into GM's Nest Egg

• The Pets We Love--And Drug
Meds for animals are booming. Really.

• Book: Paula Deen Spills
She promised a warts-and-all autobiography and she delivers, starting with her 20-year bout with agoraphobia.

• Marriage & Money: What You Should Know
Getting hitched? Don't even think of it before you've had 'the talk' with your beloved. No, not that talk. The one about money.

• Naughton: Who Will Buy Chrysler?
Kirk Kerkorian enters the bidding for the troubled automaker with an ace up his sleeve.

• Naughton: Can Detroit Go Green?
Spurred by a Supreme Court ruling this week, environmental activists are stepping up pressure on carmakers to cut down on CO2 emissions. Will Detroit get the message? Backstage at the auto show.

• Opinion: Debunking the Myths of Credit
Congress is now holding statistic-thick hearings on predatory lending. But in order to make sense of the modern credit industry, you must first understand its biggest myths.

• Expert Advice: Love by the Numbers
Your new marriage is bliss—until the bickering over finances begins. How to keep money from wrecking your home life.

• Quinn: The Nasty World of Subprime Credit Cards

• Geico's Cavemen: Ready for Prime Time?
They're hairy, hostile and sporting designer clothes. Geico's prehistoric pitchmen are on TV every commercial break. But are they ready for a sitcom of their own?

• Sloan: Blackstone Is Hiding Its Private Parts

• How Will Viacom-Google Fight End?
How the Viacom-Google fight could impact copyright law for years to come.

• Quinn: How You Can Pay for Costly Old-Age Care
Gaming the Medicaid system is legal, but I hate it. New rules, effective last year, make it harder for the rich to get on the rolls.

• Does Shopping for a Good Cause Really Help?
Socially conscious marketing campaigns like Bono's 'shop for AIDS' are all the rage. But can shopping solve the world's problems?

• Hollywood's New Moguls Shake Things Up
Superrich Sidney Kimmel and Sam Nazarian are out to shake things up in Tinseltown. But will the old guard shake them down before they get the chance?

• Latino TV Gets Serious
A new Spanish-language network hopes viewers will choose highbrow talk shows over trashy telenovelas.

• Samuelson: The Enigma of Private Equity
Do leveraged buyouts permanently improve companies and ultimately raise living standards? Or do these deals merely enrich the already rich?

• Sloan: The Double Dummy Can Be Very Smart

• Driving Forces: GM Stuffs the Ballot Box!
Slipping behind Toyota in sales, the giant automaker manipulates a Newsweek online survey, turning out the vote in a drive worthy of Karl Rove.

NEWSWEEK On the News

Reporting and commentary on the day’s events from NEWSWEEK correspondents on Washington Post Radio

• April 17, 2007: NEWSWEEK's Michael Isikoff on whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will keep his job after testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee on fired U.S. attorneys

• April 13, 2007: NEWSWEEK's Mark Starr on the 2016 Olympics

• April 12, 2007: NEWSWEEK's Michael Isikoff on new developments in the U.S. attorneys dismissal controversy, including e-mails that may not be admissible as evidence before Congress

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ENTERPRISE

Table of Contents

• Lego: Building an Empire

• My Turn: Cal Ripken, Iron Businessman

• Levy on Pandora's Music Box

• Q&A: Pfizer's CEO

PERSPECTIVES

More | NEW: Video Perspectives

"Our forces are stretched."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on the decision to extend the tour of duty from 12 to 15 months for troops currently in Iraq and Afghanistan

MOST-POPULAR STORIES

• What Made Him Do It?

• Inside the Tragedy at Va. Tech

• Voices From Campus

• Criminologist: 'The Most Likely Motive'

• Va. Tech Shooting: Portrait of a Killer

PHOTO GALLERY

Auto Erotica

• Detroit’s annual auto show is as much about sex appeal as it is new cars. 2007 was no exception.

TIP SHEET MONEY GUIDE

• Jane Bryant Quinn: Taxes 2006

• Financial Planning: Wills and Other Ways

• Tips for Real Estate Sellers

SMALL BUSINESS

• A Dry Cleaner Leads Debate Over Toxic Solvents

• Video: Mr. Green Clean

More Business News

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United We Owe

• Q&A: How Middle-Class Families Go Bankrupt

• Soaring Medical Bills Squeeze Families

• Coping With Credit-Card Debt

• How To Avoid Credit-Card Pitfalls

• Real Estate: Rising Rates Take Their Toll

• Q&A: Why Middle Class Is Deeper in Debt

• 'Bubble' Blogger on Market Perils

• Tips to Get Out of Debt

• Quiz: Test Your Financial IQ

SMALL-BUSINESS PROFILES

• Becoming a Greener Dry Cleaner

• Designing Sisters Start a Fashion Label

• Pizzeria Owner Beats the Odds

GLOBAL INVESTOR

• Global Investor: The Puzzle of Private Equity

• Biggs: Japan’s Big Undervalued Market

• Investing: A Boom in the Desert

• Global Investor: Trade Starts At Home

• China Exports Trouble, Too

The Boomer Files

The generation that vowed to stay forever young is turning 60. But for the 3.4 million Americans who were born in 1946, life still holds plenty of promise and surprises.

• Read our complete coverage

• Test Yourself: Boomer Trivia

NEWSWEEK ON AIR

Don Imus, Duke Case Dismissed, Iraq and the War Beyond, Non-Human Intelligence, and Preparing Infants for Success

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