Forget apps. Start the move with your existing contacts and phone numbers.  You did buy your phone to make a call, right?  Step one is to import your contact list from wherever it lives now.  If it’s large, it may be a good time to weed  – getting rid of those contacts  where you haven’t had any contact in a decade.  Immediately learn how your phone “finds a contact” and “places the call”.

Practice your touch. The single biggest complaint most new users have is getting used to a touch screen. They can be both overly sensitive and insensitive, very dependent on your perfect touch. Like my bowling, my touch finger has a hook.  I’m always one to the left of the key I really want to press. My solution was to get an Android with a keyboard; others learn to watch the autocomplete feature which finishes your word for you as you touch.

Take your old GPS with you on the maiden voyage.  Before you grab your phone and head off with its navigation app you should take a maiden voyage with your dedicated GPS as a backup. Nothing like rushing into the car to find out that you can’t read your GPS screen and can’t seem to make it talk. Plus, the routes suggested by a Garmin and an Android are strikingly different.

Make the fonts bigger.  Mobile phones are going to be the worst villains in the history of eye strain. Head to your settings and configurations and choose a font size that you can actually read.  Just getting the gist of an important email is not  enough.  Hats off to iPhone for the pinch and pull, by far the easiest way to enlarge. The rest of you?  Head over to your Settings.

 
Learn how to shut down/silence ringer.  Don’t even think about taking your phone into a public place until you can shut it off properly.  Can’t be fumbling for the first time in a darkened theatre.
Make it Secure  Studies show that mobile phones are the highest security  threat in the workplace. .  Most service providers have decent “backend” protection against hackers and malware but there are few things you should do:
A: don’t keep your Bluetooth or WiFi turned on when you’re not using it; it gives other devices a chance to hack into your system
B: Keep the number of apps that use location based notification to a minimum. Broadcasting your coordinates to your friends doesn’t insure that it stays amongst your friends.

Save Battery Power  A dead phone isn’t much good and smart phones are hungry phones.  Leaving your GPS on; forgetting to end a call, or leaving your phone connected to Wifi even when you’re out and about are perfect battery drainers.  I download an app called Advanced Task Killer – it’s like the RAID of mobile phones. It knock anything that’s running dead.
Now, we’re ready for some App device.

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Of course, if they browse without some structure or keep their IM and Facebook accounts open while working, the web can be a disaster. But if you help them hone in on the problem, the homework helpers on the web are pretty darn good.

Young kids need to reinforce what they learned (or daydreamed through in school). In the traditional classroom if you don’t “get it” when the teacher presents it, you’re bound to suffer as problems get complex.

I like Discovery Education because it’s engaging and fun. Its homework help site provides skill-building sessions in math, science, English, social studies, and others; many of the lessons use smart, engaging videos. Click on “Whole Number Multiplication,” for example, and you’ll get a video that walks you step-by-step through the problem using a marathon race and gym as examples. For English, you can learn nouns by taking a pictorial video tour of the desert.

OK, he’s got an unfortunate name, but one of the best stops for older kids (junior high and above) on the homework help circuit is BJPincheck’s Homework Helper. BJ started organizing websites that can help with various subjects when he was just nine years old. Today he’s in college and he’s still at it. He picks good references and indicates the targeted age.

Of course, every parent wants to know whether it’s OK or not to use Wikipedia when the kids are doing homework. Remember that Wikipedia is a collection of articles written by anyone who feels they have expertise in the subject. For the most part, Wikipedia is terrific, but there are biased and mistaken articles. Many teachers ask that kids use only one Wikipedia source, if any, in their research. In general, Wikipedia is more accurate with historical articles than recent current events. Recent articles are subject to more personal interpretation and less vetted by time.

Not sure of when the War of 1812 took place? If you want the facts–facts on every science from geology to weather and every period in history–try FactMonster for a quick dose of reality.

Now, the greatest guilty pleasure of the school-aged set…YouTube. Kids will watch fart movies or fornicating kitty cats for hours, but when tamed, YouTube can be a homework helper. For older students and lifelong learners, the YouTube Education site has lectures and talks from the great universities and professors worldwide. For kids, all you need to do is filter out the crap and leave the benign. Special web software like Vidzui or Kideos weed out inappropriate materials. Both are fun and carefully arranged from ages pre-K through grade 9.

If all else fails and you parents haven’t a clue as to what the gerund in the sentence is, you might consider an online tutor like the ones at Tutor.com. You register at the site and specify the problematic subject and your grade level. Just like a good date, you’re matched with the perfect tutor for a one-to-one session. There is a charge, but there are lots of ways to pay–for a single use, a monthly fee, or a number of sessions.

In the Air

My first safe haven to go was the airplane. A flight was a place to read a book or watch a movie without guilt. It was a forced vacation from email and calls. Lately, I’ve been flying Virgin America, where one of the many perks is an in-flight wireless connection to the Internet. Even worse, Internet-connected flights come with an electrical outlet (and USB port) at your seat, whether it’s in first class or coach. That means you’ll never run out of juice.

Virgin Air announced its in-flight Wi-Fi in 2008. By June, it will be available on the entire Virgin fleet. The planes are outfitted with antennae that pick up the wireless signals from specially equipped cell towers as they jet across the country. Gogo-connected in-flight Internet will set you back about $12 to stay connected. For penny pinchers like me, there’s an added incentive to make every minute count and stay connected.

On my first Virgin America cross-country flight, I fought the temptation to fire up Gogo. For two hours of the five-hour flight I eyed the Gogo instructions but refused to succumb. Somewhere past Chicago and this side of the Rockies, my willpower gave out. For $12, I checked my email (mostly junk) and filed a few posts. Since the rest of the flight experience is so lacking these days, logging in is probably the best thing you can do to transport yourself out of your thirsty, hungry, and cramped self. American uses Gogo on certain of its planes. The big holdout is Continental, who, according to the Houston Chronicle, is betting that folks would rather be unconnected for a few hours.

On the Road

With connectivity in the air accomplished, I turned my sights to the road. At the New York Auto Show I drove around Manhattan in a Cadillac limousine tricked out with a Wi-Fi router in its trunk. The product/service was created by AutoNet Mobile.

You install a wireless router in the trunk of your car (a docking station lets you remove the router if you wish). Since it’s hard to maintain a good Wi-Fi connection while you’re in motion, the technology involves making sure that the signal is not dropped.

Sterling Pratz, the company’s CEO, sat in the backseat watching YouTube videos and checking out Facebook profiles. In the front seat we were listening to Pandora radio over the Caddy’s built-in HD Radio. You can connect your phone, iPod, or anything else with a Wi-Fi connection.

Car connectivity comes at a price. The router is $500 and the service starts at $29 a month. Will the kids fight in the backseat over which YouTube video to watch? Will they revert into their own Wi-Fi in-car bubble and not even look up to see the scenery? Will that precious family car time disappear, turning the car into just one more boob tube experience?

We all need to set boundaries to our connectedness, but each time I think I’ve got it under control, a new technology appears that lets me log in from some previously impenetrable space. Over-connecting may be the cyber equivalent of overeating. With overeating, one of the cures is to limit access to food. What do we do for over-connectedness?

The first generation of Internet safety products to help parents protect their kids from the dangers of cyberspace were all about saying “no.” This next generation is all about negotiation and conversation. And that’s a good thing, since what most kids need is education about the Internet and not a lockdown.

Today, Symantec launched Norton Online Family, a web-based service to help families facilitate the conversation that parents and kids should be having about the Internet. The site encourages kids to stay in touch and earn their parents’ trust by showing them that they can ask for permission and that they’re willing to live openly, not secretively, on the web.

So, for example, with Norton Online Family a parent can choose to be notified each time their child wants to add a new friend to their IM list. A parent can choose to monitor the child’s web usage, set time limits, or be notified when their child wants to visit a blocked site. Because of the built-in communications and alerts, this new generation of software promotes a discussion rather than a parental dictatorship.

Other Internet safety companies are also revising their approaches to reflect a more discursive approach to protecting kids on the Internet. We’ll be seeing more and more products that aim to protect through conversation and dialog rather than putting up blockades on the Internet.

Full disclosure: I serve on a Board of Advisors that was assembled to test the beta design of the product and offer feedback to Symantec.

Where does technology fit into the back-to-school equation? Friend or foe? Solution or problem? It’s all a matter of how you choose to use it. Here are a few things I’ve learned about technology in my years of getting ready for the start of the school year.

1. Set Screen-Time Limits: I can guarantee that if your child is at the computer for hours each evening they’re doing more than just homework. If you’re having 12 IM sessions while doing your math problems, it doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that your homework will take longer. And don’t let your child get into the habit of doing their homework in front an active TV screen. (Can’t you predict the winner in a contest for attention between geometry and “Lost”?) If you find that setting limits isn’t doing the job, there are a number of hardware devices on the market like BOB, a physical switch box that cuts off the computer or TV at the appointed time. Most parental control software lets you control screen time as well.
2. Get Ergonomic: Research proves that kids who study in well-lit, well-vented areas do better. In a perfect world, they should be sitting up on a chair of the right size and height and that has good support. The computer keyboard should be level with their forearms in the typing position. Sure, it’s OK to slouch down with a book every once and awhile, but for the important homework milestones they should head to the desk.
3. Know Your School’s Tech Policy: Does your school allow cellphones and iPods? Are there restrictions about when they can be used? Can your child take pictures with their cameras in school and then post those photos from home? Can kids record class onto devices and post it? If the school has no rules, what rules do you want? Be explicit about your ground rules (no Facebook until you’re 16, no IM during homework hours) so you can all enjoy the technology instead of arguing about it.
4. Check Options and Preferences: Whatever software you use, I’ll bet it can be made safer with a few clicks on your part. Take Google, an application you’ve probably all used. Did you know that Google has a safe search as one of its options? Toggling the safe search to on means that your kids will not get inappropriate sites or images during a web search. In the same vein, instant messaging programs have blockers to keep out unsanctioned guests, music sites can block explicit lyrics, and multiplayer games have settings to limit who can play with you. Sit down with your child, review the various options, and you’ll be a lot safer.
5. Balancing Computer With Non-Computer: Here’s a familiar scenario: The kids get an assignment to write an essay describing three causes of the Civil War. Five hours later your child is still in front of the computer and hasn’t written a word. Instead, they’ve been surfing the web, taking virtual tours of the Appomattox, or watching The Simpsons episode tagged “Civil War” on YouTube. The Internet is great for chewing up time that should have been spent on the task. I like to take kids away from the computer, plot a roadmap for what they need, talk about more targeted searching, and then send them back to their work with a real-life lesson of how distracting the web can be.
6. Create a Folder System: A hard drive can be a hard place to find what you’re looking for if you have no organization scheme. Sit down with pencil and paper and make a list of all of your child’s classes and extracurricular activities. Then create corresponding folders for each class. Kids should get in the habit of not just hitting “save,” but also saving their file with a system that will help them retrieve it.
7. Proofread on Paper: Everyone knows that it’s easy to let your eye skip over mistakes on the screen that you’d easily catch on the printed page. Print a draft copy of reports and edit on paper.
8. Bookmark Heavily Used Sites: Whether it’s a calculator, dictionary, reference guide, news alerts, or your school’s website, make sure that you’ve got the tools at your fingertips by bookmarking them. You’ll save time and stay on track.
9. Buy in Bulk: At the start of the school year, buy some tech supplies along with the notebooks and pencils. A few reams of paper, batteries, and printer ink will come in handy (these always run out at 10 p.m. when the kids are ready to print their final report and every store is closed). Use the web to do comparison shopping. Look for student discounts. Microsoft, for example, offers student discounts on its expensive Office package.
10. A Little Multimedia Goes a Long Way: Some educators lament that kids can’t even write a paper anymore. The kids, they say, use their word processors to pad the margins and pump up the text size. Other educators are attuned to the benefit of multimedia (photos, music, video) to create reports that leap off the page. They say that multimedia is the new language of learning, and that photos, videos, music, and narration are the building blocks for the 21st century learner. Kids will cultivate an important life skill when they’re able to learn to communicate in the style an individual teacher prefers.
11. Cyberbullying: Cyberbullying (being hurtful or malicious using online tools) has become increasingly prevalent. Make sure your kids know that they can turn to you if they, or someone they know, feels threatened online. Make sure you know who all of their online friends are and that the online friends are, in fact, people your child knows.
12. Delay, Moderate, and Be There. Technology is a great tool, but it still doesn’t come close to the tool we have between our ears. As parents, our job is to moderate and delay risky behavior. When it comes to technology, we need to be just as vigilant about risky behavior as we are with other dangerous acts.

Tasks are divided into groups: Happy Tasks (doing the laundry), Healthy Tasks (brushing your teeth), and even Smart Tasks (educational games that will be added to the site). The reward system is intricate, but it’s clever. Points are assigned to each task. Tasks can be one time only or recurring. As you complete the chores, the points you gain can be redeemed for all sorts of fun web activities like outfitting your avatar or watching an on-screen video.

It’s possible to redeem handipoints for off-screen activities, too. A parent can make handipoints worth allowance money, a family trip, a new toy, or even a charity. Parents are the ones that determine if and when their child has earned what points and parents can tweak the point system so that it’s either grade-based or task-based. Custom tasks (practice violin) can be created as well. It’s a very flexible and robust system.

While I was on the Handipoints website, I read some of the parents’ discussion groups. They were lively and thoughtful and covered all sorts of parenting issues. Of course my mom and dad would forget about our chore wheel for weeks at a time. And to tell the truth, we concocted all sorts of inside deals amongst the four of us (mostly we paid my youngest brother slave wages to do everything). It remains to be seen whether or not digital parents will find the process worth maintaining and whether kids can understand the subtleties of chores tied to various incentives.

If used regularly, I’m sure it will be a far more fulfilling system than our paper plate work wheel since it’s been created to foster a dialogue with parents and their children. For now, user membership is free. Promise you’ll check it out and I’ll give you 3 handipoints.

But Google has done surprisingly little to educate the next generation of information searchers. As a matter of fact, sometimes I think that Google would love it if kids stayed blissfully ignorant on the subject of how a query is searched. Except for all but a few of the most techno-curious, kids don’t really think very much about how Google works and why they get the results they do.

Until Google makes search education and special search features for kids parents are on their own. Here are some of things parents should be noticing:

Search. What happens when your 7-year-old searches for a daisy to illustrate her school report? Well, she’ll get images of Daisies, but many will be of the human variety. Every parent knows the dangers of searching for everyday terms like “cheerleaders,” “toys,” or “teens.” You’re bound to turn up some very inappropriate answers. Google has a safe search feature as one of its options, but few parents know the feature exists or where to find it. And there’s no way to give the parent any special control over these search result options.

Media Literacy. The web is a great place to get information; it’s an equally good place to become misinformed. One 16-year-old just told me how she messed up meiosis and mitosis in a science paper because it was messed up on Wikipedia.

Many schools and parents try to keep kids from doing too much research on the web. Many schools limit the number of citations that you can attribute to the web in your papers because they want students to get in the habit of using books, which they believe are more carefully vetted. But students need to learn to vet the web as well. They need to learn the difference between a bogus URL and a real one, between a .edu address that belongs to a freshman who earned a “D” on the paper versus the scholarly article of a Ph D. professor.

Time Management. Every parent knows that kids get lots of homework, but do they really get more homework than other generations of kids or are they simply inefficient about how they’re spending their homework time?

Some of the distractions come from working with text messages or TV or music on, but a lot of the blame goes to Internet wild goose chases and mindless browsing. You know how it goes: You start looking for one specific piece of information and then, before you realize it, you’ve chewed up hours reading esoterica on the web. There are many ways to help kids avoid this, including building a timekeeper into the browser window or creating a reminder if a child is clicking too much on Wikipedia.

Academic Search. Try this. Search for Ethan Allen. There’s a good chance that you’ve pulled up a lot of references to a furniture store, but that’s not the Ethan Allen that your kids had in mind. Chances are they wanted Ethan Allen the Revolutionary War hero. Google and other search engines have catered to commerce and the most popular searches. Chances are your kids aren’t looking for the most popular searches.

Google and others can help by teaching kids how to perform a better search more efficiently.

In the above example, if they’d searched for Ethan Allen, Revolutionary War, they would have gotten more accurate results. You would think that Google could come up with a way to cater to student searches in a better way. Parents and teachers should certainly teach media literacy classes, but there’s no reason why Google couldn’t flag certain URLs as questionable when someone requests the “the student version” of a Google search.

Meanwhile, parents can help kids by showing them how to do a more specific search. For example search for Arabian Nights, literature and you’ll avoid finding out about horses, movies, and TV. Kids should also be receiving pointers on how to tell whether or not a site is an authentic piece of work from a reliable source or an outright fake. Since parents and teachers aren’t always aware of how to do this best, there’s a lot riding on the search engines to pick up the gauntlet.

For those of you that are not aware, Google does offer a lovely service for the more brainiac scholars amongst us called Google Scholar. It’s an index of scholarly works.

Sometimes I think that the folks working at Google are so brainy and so intent on maximizing their company’s revenues that they forget there are young kids who like pressing keys, aren’t scholars, and don’t know beans about how the web works. Certainly Google is no worse (and is probably better) than many others out there, but if you’re going to be the 100-pound gorilla in the search world, then you’ve got to make sure that your future audience is ready to live in an information rich world.

For those who are curious about why a search turn up answers in the order it does, there’s a great primer on How Stuff Works.

The phones have full text messaging, cameras, and are Internet enabled. They work on a pay-as-you-go plan. One of the benefits of pay as you go service is no hidden costs. You always know what you’re spending and there are no cancellation or activation fees. No pesky two-year contracts either. You pay 35 cents a day, plus 10 cents a minute for talk time, 5 cents per text message (in and out), and 25 cents for every photo that’s sent or received. Of course, this could get pricey with a chatty or undisciplined child, and that’s where the parental input comes in. With Kajeet, parents can use a special configurator to go online and set some parameters around phone usage. A parent might decide, for instance, to pay the phone bill, but let the kids use their own allowance to pay for text messages. Or a parent could lock the phone down during classroom hours (911 and calls to parents always allowed). Individual phone numbers from undesirables can be blocked, too.

What’s intriguing about Kajeet is that it almost forces the discussion about how the phone will be used since you’ll have to visit the configurator in order to use it. You should start seeing these phones in stores this May, and it may be just the ticket to let the kids use full-fledged cell phones with parental guidance.

Unfortunately there is no such program. You can buy software like CyberPatrol (pictured here) that limits the amount of time you can spend on the Internet, but not at one single website . You can use programs like KidWatch to create a log of where your children go on the web and see how much time they’re spending at a given site. Or you can use any one of a number of programs that would block access to Facebook altogether. GetNetWise has a good list of products that do all of these various things.

But what parents are asking for is a program that would limit the amount of time kids can spend on a single website, and, as best as I can tell, there’s nothing for them. Wouldn’t it be nice, for example, if your child were addicted to RuneScape, to be able to limit the hours spent on that site? Or to limit a Facebook session to 30 minutes an evening? Parents would have increased peace of mind. Kids would learn to be better managers of their time.

It seems like a simple enough program to create, so consider this a formal request to all programmers out there. Let me know if you can help us out.