Blogs

You have seen the hype around Apple's new iSlate, iTablet... nope... iPad! It was finally unveiled today amid much fanfare. While everything about the device is along expected lines, you will still marvel at how well it is done. Good job Apple!

Watch the video here.

Britain is to make online safety lessons for children over 5 compulsory under a new scheme which aims to echo road safety campaigns of the past. The lessons are part of a "Click Clever Click Safe" strategy which will produce guidelines for government, industry and charities on how to protect children using the web.

"The internet provides our children with a world of entertainment, opportunity and knowledge -- a world literally at their fingertips," said Prime Minister Gordon Brown. "But we must ensure that the virtual world is as safe for them as this one. We hope that "zip it, block it, flag it' will become as familiar to this generation as "stop, look, listen' did to the last."

The government says that 99 per cent of British children aged 8 to 17 now have access to the internet. However research has shown that 18 per cent of young people had come across "harmful or inappropriate" content online, and 33 per cent of children said their parents were unaware of their web activities. The new plans, drawn up by the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which is made up of over 140 organizations, including Google, Microsoft, and Bebo, would make online safety lessons compulsory for those over 5 from September 2011.

Brown said the aim was to make advice as well-known as the "green cross code" which was designed in the 1970s to give children information about road safety.

Webwisekids.org launched an online tutorial called "Wired with Wisdom" to educate Colarado parents about potential online dangers, and gives them tools for discussing topics with their kids. This is a free program and the information can be found at their website.

Mike Saccone, Spokesperson of CO Attorney General John Suthers, says it's important for parents to discuss the topics with their children before they become an issue. The program was developed in conjunction with the trade group Entertainment Software Association and Web Wise kids, which have launched similar tutorials in California, New Mexico, Utah and Virginia.

"Parents will be able to go to the site and download a program that will step them through how to confront these various issues ranging from online predators to texting, and how to broach these topics with their kids," he says.

The Federal Trade Commisison (FTC) has published a report that analyzes how easily minors can access explicit content in virtual worlds, and the measures virtual world operators take to prevent minors from viewing it. According to the findings, although little explicit content appeared in child-oriented virtual worlds, a moderate to heavy amount appeared in virtual worlds that are designed for teens and adults.

Virtual worlds are popular with children and adults because they blend 3-D environments with online social networking, allowing users to interact in and shape their own online content. Some virtual worlds designed for teens and adults allow – or even encourage – younger children to get around the worlds’ minimum age requirements.The FTC surveyed 27 online virtual worlds – including those specifically intended for young children, worlds that appealed to teens, and worlds intended only for adults. The FTC found at least one instance of either sexually or violently explicit content in 19 of the 27 worlds. The FTC observed a heavy amount of explicit content in five of the virtual worlds studied, a moderate amount in four worlds, and only a low amount in the remaining 10 worlds in which explicit content was found. The Commission makes five recommendations to virtual world operators to reduce the risk of youth exposure to explicit content:

• Use more effective age-screening mechanisms to prevent children from registering in adult virtual worlds;
• Use or enhance age-segregation techniques to make sure that people interact only with others in their age group;
• Re-examine language filters to ensure that they detect and eliminate messages that violate rules of behavior in virtual worlds;
• Provide more guidance to community enforcers in virtual worlds so they are better able to review and rate virtual world content, report potential underage users, and report any users who appear to be violating rules of behavior; and
• Employ a staff of specially trained moderators who are equipped to take swift action against rule violations

Meanwhile, parents can protect their kids and teens by using filtering tools like Mobicip Premium which allows them to block or unblock a virtual world based on their wise judgement on the age-appropriateness of the content in a virtual world.

Great story today on how the iPod Touch is being used in the classroom, and how it is loved by the students. Original article here, excerpts below.

At Somerset and other schools in the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan district, for instance, the iPod Touch has taken classrooms by storm.

For kids there, math and spelling activities that used to seem, well, boooring have a sudden allure on an iPod. This was clear on a recent morning in a room filled with students raptly tapping, scrolling and swiping.

Rivera's teacher, Jean Stai, had to impose little discipline as her kids lost themselves in Word Salad, a vocabulary program, TanZen, a geometry app, and States and Capitols, among others.

Her biggest challenge appeared to be prying the kids from one app so they'd switch to another. The students were handed sheets with short, personalized lists of apps each had to try.

"They're so engaged," Stai said. "Suddenly, it's not so horrifying to study your facts tables. It is like a game. What would be tedious with paper and pencil is no longer so with bright colors and things moving

The iPhone Mom is a real Mom who reviews and recommends apps for Moms, kids, families et. al. Here is her latest "Great Apps For Kids" recommendation for the holidays. Excerpts below, original article here.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of my favorite holiday tales. The other is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, in case you were wondering. The Grinch e-book is completely true to the original story and they haven’t messed with the illustrations, they look exactly like they do in the book.  Classic Dr. Seuss.

This is a fantastic version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We are loving all the Grinchiness on my iPhone right now. Thank you Oceanhouse Media…I’m hoping this is the beginning of much more Seuss to come for my iPhone!

Once again, a new update of Mobicip's Safe Browser is now available on the App Store. So what is new in this version? This is an incremental update with a mix of bug-fixes and some new features listed below:

Login Problem Fixed

About a dozen users had run into a rather innocuous bug that was forcing parents to login again. 

It was, strangely enough, tied to the orientation of the device at the moment you close a tab or window inside the Mobicip Safe Browser. It was causing associated data like bookmarks and login information to be erased. We are relieved that the issue is now fixed.

Forward Links by Email

You can now touch the Bookmarks icon and send the current website as a link via email. This is a Safari Mobile feature that has been added to Mobicip's Safe Browser.

Better Handling of Web Forms

A handful of users had reported that certain school and bank websites were not being handled correctly. This has now been fixed, bringing Mobicip's browser closer to Safari in functionality compared to most other browsers on the App Store.

Other Bug Fixes

A few other bug fixes for crashes in corner cases have been included in this update. 

Download

As usual the update is free for anyone who has downloaded Mobicip before from the App Store. Simply use the same iTunes account that you used to download the app before, and you will not be charged for the repurchase.

In summary, this is a minor update in terms of new features, but a major update in terms of bug fixes and improved reliability. Download the update now, try it and let us know what you think.

I have been actively following the K12 Online Conference 2009 the past few days. It is a unique concept and has a huge fan following among K12 educators. Learn more about it on the conference website, and follow the tweets and mentions here.

Today, I was excited to follow a presentation on "iPod Touch in the Classroom" by Kern Kelly. Several K12 applications including Stanza, Dictionary and Storykit were discussed. It was more like a tutorial session on how to download applications and use them in a classroom environment.

According to Mr.Kelly, there are several tasks that are performed in classrooms today using iPod Touches in his school district. These include but are not limited to technology surveys, self grading quiz, scores, attendance, administrative observation walkthroughs, disciplinary action forms, etc. They use Google docs for most of these activities. You can see the full presentation here - http://www.tinyurl.com/itouchineducation

Most of us understand the value of providing an iPod Touch to the students' hands as an educational device. It can more or less replace an expensive laptop or the netbook.However, do these applications and browser keep the students safe inside/outside the classroom? The default browser in iPod Touch allows unfiltered internet including content inappropriate for the students. 

Mobicip understands this problem very well and provides a safe browser with CIPA compliance for iPod Touch. Mobicip, the best selling parental control filter for iPod Touch/iPhone, has played a key decision maker to adopt iPod Touch as an educational device in several schools. If your school is considering to buy iPod Touches for your classrooms, remember to install Mobicip before handing them over to your students. Your students can be safe inside and outside school, anytime anywhere!

For more information on the valuable service offered by Mobicip for schools, visit www.mobicip.com.

Facebook has issued a press release on creating its online safety board.

Below is the article published in ABC News:

Social networking site Facebook on Monday said it is creating a global safety advisory board to protect its users against online predators such as sex offenders.

The board will comprise representatives from five Internet safety groups: Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute.

Facebook said the formation of the board formalizes relationships it has had with the groups. It also may expand the board to include more international representatives.

In early 2008, Facebook signed an agreement with attorneys general in 49 states to help protect children against online predators.

Last week, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said more than 3,500 offenders registered in New York have been kicked off Facebook and MySpace in recent months.

Over the last two years, 25 states have passed new laws requiring sex crime convicts to register their e-mail addresses and their dwellings.

Wow! This was a Thanksgiving surprise for Mobicip!

It is certainly an honor to be recognized, especially when it is unexpected. Thank you iPhone Apps Plus team. See the original article and review here. 

To the thousands of Mobicip parents and users out there, thank you very much for choosing Mobicip and telling your friends about it, not to mention your continued support and feedback.

Mobicip crew

A recent survey publshed by C.S.Mott's Children's Hospital on Children's health reveals that parents are very concerned about internet safety for their kids. 62% of Parents monitor their kids’ internet and 48% use filtering services or tools to protect their kids from inappropriate material and online threat. Among parents with kids on the Internet, nearly 1 in 3 are “very concerned” about online sexual predators, and 1 in 5 are “very concerned” about the loss of privacy and with their children viewing pornographic material.

Parents were asked if they take specific actions to protect or monitor their children’s use of the Internet. Overall, parents report the following actions:

• 65% disable pop-ups

• 62% monitor social networking sites

• 61% check history of websites

• 49% block websites they don’t want kids to use

• 32% use child-safe software

68% of parents report taking 1 to 4 of the above actions, while 19% take all 5 the of the actions listed. However, 13% of parents whose children access the Internet report not taking any of these actions to protect or monitor that use. Although most parents are taking some actions to protect their kids online by using filtering services like Mobicip or similar, some are taking no action and many others may not be certain how effective different strategies are.

There are many resources available for parents to educate themselves about internet safety. Here are a few: www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguidee.htm

www.wiredsafety.org

www.filteringfacts.org

www.netfamilynews.org

According to a recent survey by mobile advertising network Greystripe, mothers with iPhones regularly let their children use their phones, download games specifically for their children, and often use their phones at grocery stores to compare prices and check grocery lists. The conclusions are based on 1294 responses to their survey and offers detailed behavioral characteristics of moms in their iPhone ad network.

Not too long ago, mothers were still considered to be a hard group to reach through mobile applications because they tend to be late adopters. The iPhone's mainstream success has changed this, however, and iPhone moms have now become a desirable target demographic for marketers.
 
The report shows several interesting patterns. For example, over 59% of iPhone moms surveyed say they let their children use their iPhone. And 41% of moms who own iPhones download apps specifically for their children to use. Twenty percent also download educational content for their kids. Close to 60% of iPhone moms depend on their phone to locate the nearest store around them while 41.94% of moms use the iPhone to keep track of shopping lists.

Moms are looking to the iPhone as both a valuable organizational tool and an entertainment portal, making the iPhone a valuable advertising platform. While Greystripe says that this demographic have tended to be late adopters, I’m not so sure if this is true considering the rapid growth of “Mommy bloggers” over the past few years. There is a blog that’s devoted to iPhone Moms and offers recommendations for kid and baby-friendly iPhone apps for moms to download. Also, The iPhone Mom recommends Mobicip as one of the first applications that needs to be installed before handing over the phone to a kid.

Google has for long allowed parents a SafeSearch filtering setting that keeps kids from using the search engine to find inappropriate sites like those with explicit sexual images or text. Without additional protection, like the strict SafeSearch enforcement offered by Mobicip, the problem was that kids could easily change those settings.

Starting Wednesday, however, the company is allowing parents to lock those settings to make it harder (though not impossible) for kids to bypass the settings. To change the settings, the parent will have to log into his or her Google account and enter a password. Once the settings have been changed, the Google search engine will change in appearance to indicate that it’s locked. The new page will have large balls in the upper right corner so that parents can see from across the room that their kids are on the safe search page.

The settings, which places a cookie on the machine, must be configured for each browser the child uses. If you set them only for Internet Explorer, for example, they won’t restrict access from Firefox, Chrome, or other browsers. Also, according to a Google representative, the child can get around the settings by using the private browsing feature that is now built into the latest versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome. So, while this will keep kids from accidentally using Google for inappropriate searches, it will not deter tech-savvy kids who are determined to bypass the filters.

If you need additional protection where kids are not allowed to turn off SafeSearch, Mobicip is a good option for you. Mobicip adds an additional layer of protection by enforcing the SafeSearch feature always, regardless of the user selection or setting.

With all filters and controls, it’s important for parents think about how you use them to help teach your child to exercise self-control and critical thinking so that, eventually, they can safely use the Web without filters or adult supervision.

The iPhone Mom is a popular app review blog run by a real iPhone Mom. The blog was featured recently in ABC News and Tech Crunch and has a big fan following.

The iPhone Mom has published an excellent review of the Mobicip Safe Browser and Premium parental control service. Excerpts below. Read the full article here.

I’m impressed with what they’ve done and the resources they’re using to filter out all the icky stuff. Plus, they’ve done it in a way that doesn’t really slow down the internet access. When I was browsing and using Mobicip I didn’t find much of a noticeable delay in the internet speed.

The app comes with preset bookmarks and the kids can also add their own. They’ll be able to create and use bookmark folders just like you do in Safari. The Google search is also still present at the top of the screen, only when they use it in Mobicip it’s subject to their search restrictions.  I was surprised to find that it offers search suggestions. I tried a search for Hannah Montana and by the time I’d typed in Hannah it had pulled up a list of suggestions for what I might be searching for. Another really cool feature is the ability to use multiple tabs, just like in Safari. The iPhone’s copy/paste feature will also work.

About the Premium service.

The user interface on the parental account is extremely straightforward and user friendly. Exactly what I needed. I haven’t the faintest idea how all the technical voodoo works to block/allow websites so I’m grateful they’ve kept the parental account features simple.

In conclusion

The icky possibilities of the internet are endless and if Santa manages to put an iPod Touch on his sleigh for my kids this will be one of the first apps that I install.

Thanks iPhone Mom, for an excellent and thorough review!