News

Despite all we know about the benefits of breastfeeding, nursing mothers are still harassed for daring to breastfeed their babies in public. One woman, Carnegie Mellon University teacher and artist Jill Miller, wants to do something about it. If she reaches her goal of raising $10,000 by July 27, Miller intends to create The Milk Truck, an old ice cream truck adorned with a giant breast that will swoop to the aid of breastfeeding mamas who are being harassed. A Batmobile for boobies, the truck will provide a comfortable place for mothers to feed their babies, with the added bonus of shaming anti-breastfeeding perpetrators.

The idea of a giant boob cruising around town is an interesting one, but will it really achieve its intended mission? When your baby needs to eat, he needs to eat, and unless the giant breast on top is actually a teleporting device, most hungry babies won't be able to wait around while the milk truck navigates rush hour traffic. As an art project/guerilla theater/pro-breastfeeding statement, it sounds great, but do you think it will work to aid harassed breastfeeders? Would you call the milk truck?

Photo courtesy of The Milk Truck

The horrific story of Leiby Kletzky, the missing 8-year-old Brooklyn boy who's body was found dismembered in a neighbor's refrigerator, has shaken parents to the core. Members of the media and the parenting community will continue to debate the various aspects of the case —everything from the right age to allow a child to walk home alone to how to give kids the freedom to be kids — in the days and weeks ahead. But one quote has stuck with me since I read it (though bleary, tear-filled eyes) yesterday. Over on The Motherlode, Lisa Belkin responded to a reader's request for tips to quell fears in new parents. She said:

All I can tell you is that the world feels more dangerous and personal when you become a parent. Some days — today is one — just reading the news feels like being rubbed with sandpaper. You are more vulnerable, and more aware of that vulnerability.

It touched a nerve. Do you feel more vulnerable now that you're a parent?

In a blog post this morning, Google announced that Target will be selling the iriver Story HD, the first device to integrate Google eBooks into its platform. With a price tag of just $140 and launching on July 17, the iriver will allow you to browse and buy Google eBooks over WiFi right from the reader. There are hundreds of thousands of books for sale and millions you can download for free. You can even pick up where you left off on another compatible device just by storing your books in the cloud.

The Story HD comes in at just 7.3 ounces with an e-ink display and reported six weeks of battery life on a single charge. It also comes with a full QWERTY keyboard and supports Epub and PDF formats. I'm curious to find out how many of you use Google eBooks now, and if you would buy this ereader. Let us know in the comments below!

We knew this day was coming — the end of Verizon unlimited data plans. Verizon confirmed it will switch to a tiered data pricing model for new customers beginning Thursday, July 7.

A Verizon spokesperson dishes on the details saying:

". . . new smartphone customers will choose from one of three options: $30 for 2 GB, $50 for 5 GB or $80 for 10 GB. There will be an overage charge of $10 per GB of data. Verizon will also charge $10 for 75 MB per month for feature phone users."

Good news is current customers on unlimited plans can keep their unlimited plans as they upgrade to new devices. AT&T also recently began usage-based data service; though, their 2GB plan is just $25 per month. Once Verizon's new data policies go into effect, Sprint will be the only top nationwide provider to offer unlimited data packages for smartphone plans.

For those considering a wireless carrier switch, act fast for unlimited data before Verizon's Thursday changeover. If you are already on a tiered data plan — which option do you use?

Study after study has told us to watch out for those empty, sugary calories in sweetened drinks like soda, but two new studies remind us about the dangers of diet soda — they too can lead to weight gain and may raise your risk for developing diabetes.

The studies were presented at a diabetes conference this weekend, and together they show that drinking diet soda may just be another thing in our diets that is making us fat. One study followed 474 older-age diet-soda drinkers and found that their waistlines grew 70 percent more than non-diet-soda drinkers, even when the researchers accounted for differences in age, physical activity level, and diabetes status.

The news gets worse; read on for how bad a two-diets-a-day habit is for your waistline.