For everyone who’s spent hours of time asking people they don’t even like to be their friends, writing on walls, or reaffirming the complications of their relationships, you’ll get a kick out of this YouTube video   that parodies real life.  It’s making the rounds of the viral videos, but there’s more to it than a […]

Listen to a bit of the dialog from Grand Theft Auto IV, the newest release of the game classic that has come to epitomize violent gaming, and you’ll think you’re listening to a parody of a bad gangster movie. The game features an illegal Eastern European immigrant as a low-life thug trying to get his […]

Think of parental controls like you’d think of those tummy-tightening undergarments. They help to a degree, but the best way to hold your stomach in is with exercise and diet. <sigh>
While there are no silver bullets in these products, they each provide options for parents to feel a bit safer. They also […]

Joining Intel’s Classmate PC and the One Laptop Per Child PC, the Mini-Note is the latest foray into the sub-notebook PC for the classroom.
To laptop or not to laptop, that is the question many schools are asking. Parents should take heed. More and more schools have begun to require a laptop and at younger […]

It’s raining new websites for kids, and ZooKazoo is one of the newest in the shower. ZooKazoo is both a social network and a casual gaming site. It’s housed inside a safe environment that you enter with a subscription bought by parents.

Many of you have asked me to post a recent copy of my presentation for parents. Here you go. The first part of the presentation sets the stage for why the Internet is causing such a rift between parents and kids. The next part looks at the economics of the Internet, which explains […]

You remember it, don’t you? A paper plate with a fastener holding moving paper arms that rotated around the plate and pointed to your next familial task: mow the lawn, do the laundry, set the table. At our house, we got our allowances in return for doing what the wheel said. Some […]

A few weeks ago, I noted that KidThing, PBS Kids, and others were kicking off a new wave of new and promising websites for kids. Add a few more to the list: KidZui, a web browser and service, Handipoints, and ZooKazoo are three newcomers to the ever-expanding world of communities for young kids […]

Kids inevitably grow up to become adults. If adults are ill equipped to use the Internet safely, we’re going to suffer big-time in the world economy. Debate about who should be funding Internet safety education (hardware manufacturers, Congress, schools, the FBI, service providers) goes on and on. Some of the most aggressive education […]

If you’ve been watching Facebook over the years, you know that it’s not the same place it once was. First a haven for college kids with a .edu address, Facebook expanded its community in both directions. Upward to accommodate the working world (a Facebook network can be your place of business) and downward […]