The Famundo Blog

Teens and Technology

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Thu, 20 Jul 2006 00:47:00 GMT

According to an article on DrugNewswire “America’s teens are using technology like text messaging and the Internet to facilitate their drug use, and others are being exposed to drugs through technologies such as chat rooms and social networking sites.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has publishing an Open Letter to Parents this week which focuses on the ways in which technology can aid- teen drug use and outlines how parents can monitor teens’ digital activities.”

Parents can also visit the The National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign’s web site Parents: the Anti-Drug for additional advice and information. The site features a complete, easy-to-understand tutorial about technology in teens’ lives, tips on decoding teens’ lingo online, as well as specific tools parents can use to monitor their teen’s use of technology.

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Colleges are doing it too

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Mon, 10 Jul 2006 00:54:00 GMT

It seems that parents aren’t the only ones using technolgy to keep track of kids.

According to this AP article, Colleges go cellular to contact students, some colleges are requiring mandatory cell phones with which the school can pinpoint their whereabouts on or off campus.

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Big Mother

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Mon, 10 Jul 2006 00:32:00 GMT

I’m not sure if this is going too far or not. Where do the boundries of trust end? Perhaps it is the society that we live in today.

Via pasta&vinegar, the SFGate.com has an article Parents turn to tech toys to track teens.

In addition to Verizon’s Chaperone service and Sprint’s Family Locator service, there are a number of companies that are offering technology to keep track of your kids.

SmartWear Technologies in San Diego plans to take GPS monitoring to another level in the fall, offering radio-frequency tags for children’s clothing

CarChip, made by Davis Instruments in Hayward, makes a device that plugs in beneath a car’s dashboard and records driving behavior. The data it collects can be downloaded to a computer, and the device can sound an alarm when the car speeds or accelerates too fast.

This is fascinating stuff. Would love to get your comments on it.

Read the article here.

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Bob

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 28 Jun 2006 01:00:00 GMT

One more quick post before I get back to work on Famundo, (we’re getting really busy!)

I came across a cute little product with the ulikely name of Bob.

Bob is an electronic time manager that works on all TV’s computers and video game systems. It seems simple to use, plug you device’s power cord into Bob and it turns the device off after their time is up.

It is password protected and supports up to 6 kids.

If time management is a concern, you should check out Bob.

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More from Phoenix

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 28 Jun 2006 00:31:00 GMT

Sorry for not posting in the past few days, but it took me some time to recover from the long hot drive back from Phoenix. It’s great to be back on the coast.

I found some more interesting booths at the National PTA conference.

ScreenOut! is a project of the American Heart Association, American Legacy Foundation and the American Medical Association, and is dedicated to getting tobacco out of Hollywood movies.

According to their site, Hollywood movies are now the primary recruiter of new young smokers in the United States. Getting the tobacco out of youth-rated movies — voluntarily, without government involvement — is the single easiest, cheapest, most effective thing we can do to extend the lives of this generation.

If you are ready for action, visit their web site.

i-SAFE is dedicated to educating and empowering the youth of America to safely and responsibly take control of their online experiences.

Supported by a grant from the U.S. Justice Department, i-SAFE’s goal is to educate students on how to avoid dangerous, inappropriate, or unlawful online behavior. i-SAFE accomplishes this through dynamic K-12 curriculum and community outreach programs to parents, law enforcement, and community leaders.

There are a lot of good resources on their site.

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Lot's of cool stuff out there

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Sat, 24 Jun 2006 01:40:00 GMT

We are showing off Famundo for Organizations this weekend at the National PTA Conference in Phoenix, AZ. (boy is it HOT here, 109 today!!!)

There are a lot of cool exhibitors here and I’ll report on them over the next few days.

This one really caught my eye, CommonSenseMedia.org is a site that offers reviews on all kinds of media, films, TV, games, web sites, music, books and more, by families, kids and the CommonSenseMedia editors.

It is a really good resource.

I like their mission statement, it really says it all:

“To give parents, educators, and kids a choice and a voice about the media they consume.”

They also have a blog, CommonSenseMediaBlog which has very timely articles.

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GPS for kids?

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:31:00 GMT

This is way cool. Verizon has launched a new service called Chaperone that allows parents to keep track of their kid’s whereabouts through the cell phone.

Basically the way Chaperone works is that for $10 a month, Chaperone lets a curious parent check on their child’s location, and for $20, Verizon can send alerts when the child crosses pre-set boundaries.

Unfortunately, it only works with the LG Migo at this time.

Engadget has the article for more information.

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More advice on social networking safety

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 14 Jun 2006 19:20:00 GMT

Here is some more helpful advice on kids and their use of social networking sites, such as MySpace, Xanga, et al, written by Grant Garrett, a Double Agent with Geek Squad!

Check it out

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When is too young for a cell phone?

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:48:00 GMT

An interesting article in the Myrtle Beach Sun News about the increasing usage of cell phones by kids.

I found quite surprising that “More than one-third of 11- to 14-year-olds have their own cell phones, representing the fastest-growing segment of the population getting cell phones, according to Consumer Reports.”

We’ve had a “family” cell phone in our houselold for a number of years, in the event one of our kids is on a playdate or spending the night at a friend’s house.

We finally succumbed to pressure and got our 14 year old his own phone this year. I have to admint it does come in handy, since there is no excuse now to not call home.

Read the entire article

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ChatChecker for Home Users

Posted by Richard Kuhlenschmidt Thu, 18 May 2006 11:34:00 GMT

I wrote about ChatChecker an Instant Message monitoring application in an earlier post.

Imbrella Software has now released a home version that allows the monitoring of one computer for FREE.

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