Heather, On Tech

Forget "Pre-Teens" - What About Younger Kids?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's been awhile since I posted, I know.  Today's going to be a good one though.  It's not really about a gadget, but it's a rant on something that needs to be addressed by the world, like NOW, because wake up people!

I have two boys, ages 6 and 8.  Believe it or not, they can read!  And even worse, they can write!  Oh my God, can you believe it?  Guess what else?  They have their own computers!  I realise that last part may not be completely mainstream yet, but as life and technology have evolved, more and more children - and I mean really young ones - will have their own computers, or at least access to them all the time.  Mine have had their own computers since they were roughly two years old (both my husband and I are software developers, and when you get a new computer every two years, you tend to accumulate them - may as well put them to good use).

Both of their machines are set up in a "public" area of the house - namely the family room.  They have no privacy while surfing the Internet.  But that doesn't mean that I'm sitting right there with them, either.  They are old enough to type in their own searches and look for and view whatever they want to on the Internet at their leisure.

Now, before you misunderstand and think I feel there should be parental controls on everything, please finish reading.  I know there are plenty of parental-type controls to install (remember what I do for a living?  I spend much of my time on the Internet myself).  I also know that a lot of those controls are all-encompassing for your household (if you block a site at your router, you're screwed; using online family tools requires everyone to sign up (sometimes); it's a hassle because frankly, there are plenty of sites that have perfectly suitable content for my children as well as things that are completely unsuitable for the entire world to see).  So, basically, I'm not talking about a children's browser or parental controls.

For instance, my kids adore YouTube.  There are plenty of child-friendly videos on YouTube that I let them enjoy, that's perfectly suitable for them to watch (and gasp! even age appropriate!).  The rub is that while they are searching for Harry Potter, they may stumble upon something that isn't really Harry Potter related, despite being tagged as such (for instance, a teenager home-made movie with lots of blood and gore in it and one of the characters is dressed up like Harry Potter).  I have no problem with those types of videos per se, and I certainly don't think they should be banned.  What I do think is that if you're going to have parental controls on your web site, they need to address the fact that people under the age of 13 are viewing it.

Now, I'm picking on YouTube because they are the flavour of the day (and the current problem in our house).  However, to their credit, they do mention that only people 13 and older are allowed to create an account.  I also have no problem with this; it's their business and they have the right to do that.  I just wish there were a way to convince them that really, just because a six year old has an account, they can still read and write, and they can type their own stuff in - and wouldn't it be nice to treat them as the (somewhat) responsible children they are and flag the material that's appropriate for them, just like the pre-teens?  What a concept!  It's what, one more record in a lookup table, right?  If the content is being flagged by the parents anyway, why not allow younger kids to sign up and be protected?  What about something like Fred?  My kids adore him, and he's perfectly safe for them to watch.  Why not let them?  Because if they type in "Fred" as a search item, they are also likely to get "Fred Kruger" of A Nightmare on Elm Street fame, which I don't want them watching.  If they were 13, I wouldn't care so much, or at least they would be better able to understand that the boogeyman isn't real.

And yes, I know there are plenty of sites out there for kids.  My boys actually spend a lot of their online time on Webkinz.  They've tried Club Penguin but my oldest found it boring.  We've checked out a few of the other online things for kids but they are either too new when we check them out (read: there are no friends to play with there) or it's made for kids five and under.

No, I'm not trying to absolve myself of any responsibility of protecting them.  I'm just saying, if you're going to have a policy for protecting children, it's time to go younger than 13, or even 10.  There are a whole bunch of kids on the Internet that are under that age, and who's to say there's nothing on YouTube for them to watch?  Maybe it's a better policy to opt-in on things like that, rather than opt-out?

I'm not saying I have all the answers, because I really don't.  I'm just sick of "everyone" assuming that "Internet safety" applies to ages 10 and up.  It doesn't - it actually applies to everyone, including the youngsters.

End of rant, thanks and have a great day.

Social Networks for Small Children

I am no longer a Facebookuser.  I've had "issues" with Facebook since the beginning; not what it was, but how it was done.  Facebook does not respect my privacy, and I got sick of only hearing about what games everyone was playing, and I used it more like Classmates than I care to admit.

For those not in the know, I have two boys, ages 5 and 7.  They are both pretty computer savvy (despite the 5-year-old not yet being in Kindergarten or being able to really read).  They can navigate their way around just about any website, once they've seen it a time or two.  Lil P, the 5-year-old, knows his letters so we can actually call out letters to spell things for him and he can navigate that way as well.  They are YouTube fanatics, although we have to constantly monitor what they're watching on that (their computers are in the family room; there is no private surfing for them until they are 18!).

I've been debating how to get them involved in social networking, but everything just seemed so overwhelming.  And of course none of their friends are on anything yet, so I didn't see how it could be any kind of good thing to sign them up for Facebook (although I think Little E would love the hell out of Twitter - and I'm still thinking about that one).

Today I discovered (via ReadWriteWeb) a new site called Togetherville.  To sum it up, it's "Facebook for Kids" and it even links to the parents' Facebook accounts to allow for certain friends to be grandfathered.  Which I find interesting, because just because I'm friends with someone on Facebook does NOT mean I want them talking to my child online (see my Classmates reference above).  For some reason, that strikes me as a bit creepy.  But, nonetheless, I can't keep them from climbing the social ladder forever, so maybe I'll let them try it out.  It does have a parent-controlled friends list, so that's a plus.  Oh, and the parents have a separate login, which is nice for the child; it gives them some sense of privacy.  The downside is that they have to use their real names and a real photo.  They are touting security here but you never know...

Some things that make it safe:

• no private chat
• all friends approved by parent(s)
• no uploads
• drop-down, pre-set messaging (wow, so they can't say "I got in a fight with my bro and beat him up"?  Frankly, that sucks)

If you don't have a Facebook account (or, like me, you've deactivated it), you are shit out of luck for this one until further notice.  They do have a way to sign up for them to notify you when it's available for non-FB users though.  I dunno, maybe I'll reactivate my FB account and let Lil E sign up.  Sigh, the sacrifices we make for our children!  That doesn't mean I have to post anything though, right?  Right?

The trick will be getting Little E's friends involved.  I don't think many of their parents are very tech savvy, and it won't be any fun to do it without people he knows.  And since the school year is drawing to a close, there's not a lot of time to get the word out.

If we sign up, I'll let you know what I think.

**Update: I reactivated my FB account and I'll sign Lil E up later.  So, now I'm back on FB. They've really wormed their way into life, haven't they?  UGH.

Folding Hot Wheels?

Yeah, you read that right.  According to CNNMoney, Mattel will be releasing some new Hot Wheels late this summer that actually fold flat.  Just pull them out of their case, which also serves as the remote control (did I mention that these are RC cars?), and they pop up, ready to roll.  How cool is that?

Apparently they are "the size of a credit card and abut as thick as a cell phone" - which makes them easy to keep up with just about anywhere (read: you can throw it in your purse when your kid asks you to hold it!). 

So far there are five cars that will be available initially: two cars, two tanks, and a Batmobile Tumbler.  You know you want that one!  They are evidently rechargeable and do so relatively quickly.  Best of all, your child will get about 30 minutes of play time out of a full charge, which is probably plenty of time to break something in your house.

The cars will hopefully be available in August and will run around $25, which isn't too shabby considering the novelty of them.

Office Shenanigans: Paintball Land Mines

I have to admit, this sounds like fun.  Wouldn't you just love-love-LOVE to get your coworker with a paintball land mine that's filled up with Liquid Paper or Cool Whip?  Oh yeah, I can see this in my future.

The RAP4 land mine is only $65 and it's rechargable so you can re-use it time and again.  It makes a loud noise (as you would expect) and of course blows whatever liquid you fill it with all over the place.

The best part is, it works for good friends as well as foes.  And, I know just the person to try this on...oh yes, I am evil!

Note: these "land mines" are filled with CO2 cartridges and used in paintball wars.  In theory, nobody gets hurt with them, so quityerbitchin.

hat tip: Wired magazine

iHat MP3 Beanie

So, now it's cold.  I live in Florida, and the high today is supposed to be 46 degrees F.  That may not be so cold to people "up north", but that is usually the low this time of year, not the high.

On days like today, when you want to listen to your mp3 player, but you know, you don't want your ears to get cold, you could try the iHat MP3 Headphone Hat.  It's essentially a beanie with built-in speakers!  Just plug it into your mp3 player and go.

The hat costs about as much as a regular set of headphones, at $25 and can be bought at Gadget4all.com.  Too bad it doesn't have bluetooth/phone capabilities, then it would be perfect!

Hat tip: GeekAlerts

Organize Your Legos With Box 4 Blox

Do you have kids who love Lego's?  Do you have roughly 10,000 of them laying around your house in various areas, and you step on them in the middle of the night?  Do you spend hours a week looking for "that one part" that Junior just has to have right now?

If you answered "yes" to any of those questions, you need to read on.

Anyway, other than the blocks being on the floor (for which there is really no cure other than to train your kids well), the other hassle is the question, "Mommy, can you find me some fire?  I really need some fire for this <insert destructive device here>."  (Remember, my boys are just five and seven years old, so "finding things on their own" lasts about five minutes.)  Now the fun begins.

We were keeping all the Lego's in a giant box.  It's actually one of those fold-able cubes.  So, how do you look for a smallish piece when you need it?  You dump out all 10,000 pieces and sift through them.  Sometimes it would take hours of searching.  You can't just pick up handfuls and dump them back in the box; you have to sift through each handful.  Tedious and boring, not to mention aggravating for the kids trying to patiently wait for the coveted block.

So I did some searching.  I didn't want to organize the blocks by colour, or snap them on top of each other, but I wanted to organize them somehow.  Size seemed like the reasonable approach, but how to do it?  Compartmentalized storage is easy to come by; I could use tackle boxes or sewing boxes or little tool boxes or whatever.  But nothing really appealed to me.

Until I started searching on the Internet and came across Box 4 Blox.  It looked a little cheesy, but I thought it was perfect.  It's an inter-locking stack of boxes with smaller and smaller holes in them on the bottom, so the Lego blocks use gravity to sift through.  The smallest pieces end up on the bottom, and the larger pieces stay on the top.  I ordered two sets of them and they arrived in short order.

We've been using the Box 4 Blox or a little over a month now.  I am so happy I bought these!  It's rare that the boys call me for help to sift through the blocks anymore.  They just take the boxes apart and look for the piece themselves.  Everyone is much happier and I don't spend hours looking for that one special pieces.

The box sets are just under $30 but in my opinion they are worth every penny.  I need to get two more boxes, but I'm actually waiting until after Christmas because ultimately I might need about three.  The site claims the boxes hold roughly 1,500 pieces, but I'm pretty sure I got more than that in there.  I did leave the "giant" pieces out though.

The owners are located in New Zealand and email you a few times to keep you posted on when the boxes have shipped, when they should be there, etc.  I like that personal touch, as I am a small business owner myself.  I'm really big on customer service and they certainly provided that (even though I didn't need it for any problems).  Despite them being a world away from me, the boxes shipped from within the US and I actually received them in about a week.

If you need to organize your Lego's, this is a great solution to your problem.  Of course, I haven't figured out how to get the pieces to put themselves in there, but at least I don't have to individually place each tiny Lego blog into a specific section; I can just shake the box and they all go quite nicely to their intended home.

Chancellor Palpatine's Reputblic Attack Cruiser (Lego)

Are your kids Lego freaks like mine?  I think my boys have every Lego configuration that is made, that costs under $50 (and a few that don't).  They are really funny about their Legos; they want everything made, but at the same time, they take the stuff apart almost immediately and commence to building something else out of the blocks.  That's what makes Legos so great though, right?

Now you can get the LEGO Star Wars Venator-class Republic Attack Cruiser for your kids.  We all love Star Wars, and who can resist Chancellor Palpatine?  They don't make enough of the bad-guy stuff and you can't have good guys without bad guys!

This ship comes with five "Lego men" as my boys call them (and the men are the most important part of any Lego collection, let me tell you), so you've got plenty to keep them busy for awhile.  This ship is for ages 9 and up with 1170 pieces.  Plan on a whole day of Lego fun!

From Think Geek, $99.99

Get a Robot Kit for Your Kid

My boys are both really into Legos.  And when I say "into" I mean that's about 75% of what they do at home indoors.  If they're not building something with some of the 10,000 or so bricks and other pieces, they're using the Lego men for something.  Little P, who is only four years old, can build the most intricate spaceships and cars with the things - he never ceases to amaze me.

So, I found The OLLO Kids Robotic Action Kit on Think Geek, and I think it would be awesome to get for both of my boys.  It's for ages 8 and up, but let's face it, if they can put together some of the Lego things they have, I'm pretty sure they can do this.  Apparently the directions are like the Legos - just pictures, no words.  If you've done any building of that sort lately, you know Lego does a most excellent job with it.

The Kit has 250 pieces and can be made into several different creatures or objects, and the best part is that they move!  It only uses one AA battery, too, so it's not like you'll be spending tons of money on eight D-cells or something.

The Kit costs $29.99 and can be bought at Think Geek.

Let Your Child Write a Story - and Become a Published Author!

My husband yesterday mentioned to me a link on Don Dodge's blog.  I also read Don's blog, but I had not gotten around to it yesterday when David sent me the link.  At any rate, Don was talking about some startup presentations he'd seen recently, and one was called TikaTok.

It's an interesting name, but what it does is even better.  It's a web site designed for children to write, illustrate, and publish their own books.  The best part is, registration is free, and actually printing the book only costs $20 - although I'm not sure whether that's per book or what. 

This is one of the coolest ideas I've heard of yet.  There are several online publishing tools, mostly for people (I assume of any age) to publish books they've written.  However, they cost more and as far as I know, none of them provide for you to create your own illustrations with them!

I have to admit that I have not registered for TikaTok - mostly because neither of my children are able to read yet.  However, Little E is quickly getting the hang of it, and if he continues in the direction he's going, he just might enjoy doing this someday.  If nothing else, I'm sure it will be something he does once, even if it's just to create a keepsake book for grandparents (and me!).

TikaTok was created by two mothers so you know it's going to be fun.  Good luck with your adventure!

Speed Racer RC Cars

I don't know about you, but I was a HUGE Speed Racer fan as a kid.  I mean huge.  At the ripe old age of 5, I was going to marry Speed and get to ride in the Mach 5.  I just had to figure out how to get rid of Trixie!  Before you start guessing how old I am, I'm pretty sure it was in reruns even then, and I watched it before school in the mornings.  This was back in the day when a 5-year-old could be left alone to walk to school (a mile away) early in the morning - and actually get there on time!

Times sure have changed, and reliving my second childhood has been fun.  In my 20s, the Sci-Fi channel came on the air and marked the return of The Six Million Dollar Man, The Incredible Hulk (ah, Bill Bixby; I so miss him), and...God knows what else.  It's nice that Speed Racer is finally hitting the big screen (Friday, people, May 9th!).  And, unfortunately, it is somewhat dwarfed by the return of Indiana Jones - because frankly I can only afford to get a babysitter one night a month and find the time to go out on a date with my husband...but that's a different story.

Anyway, for all the rest of you Speed Racer fans out there, Think Geek has a nifty RC car just for you.  You can get the Mach 5 or the Shooting Star, depending on whether you love Speed or Racer X (ever notice how, if you say "Racer X" fast, it sounds like "Racer-Rex", which was of course his name in reverse?  Think they did that on purpose?  Think it took me this long to figure that out?  (No)). 

These nifty little cars are only about three inches in length, so they're really tiny.  Fortunately, the controller is a tad larger, and has a steering wheel on it for easy maneuvering.  The cars charge on the docking remote; you get three minutes of racing for one minute of charging.  Not too shabby.

These mini radio controlled cars will set you back a whopping $10.  Get yours today!