Notes from the Pickle Jar
Kids say the darndest things. When my son says something particularly memorable or poignant, I like to write them down or blog them on my personal blog under “Notes from the Pickle Jar” (Pickle is his nickname) .
Now a new website makes the process even easier with a Twitter-like interface for capturing those precious memories. Kidlee is easier than maintaining a blog and more private than posting everything on Facebook.
The way it works is that you sign up to join Kidlee and then begin capturing memories.You can customize for multiple kids to include their name, age and even a photo. Posts can be up to 140 characters, just like Twitter.
You can then invite “followers” or family and friends who will be permitted to access your feed or receive weekly email updates.
Awesome!
Found via Macaroni Kid
Minority Report?
Do you remember the scene in the Tom Cruise flick “Minority Report” where he has to gouge out his eyes and replace them avoid id recognition? The problem was that the world was equipped with iris scanners for identification all over town from advertisements to points of purchase and security.
Well, that future is not far off for the city of Leon, Mexico which is currently compiling a database of citizens’ irises. Currently only criminals are required to opt-in, but planners say that they expect most residents of the city of more than 1,000,000 to participate.
Frightening doesn’t even begin to describe how this makes me feel. And I thought Facebook knowing where I was was bad. I guess we are going to have to face this someday in the ongoing balance between privacy and convenience/security.
Should teachers “friend” students on Facebook?
Social networking is an amazing boon to communication, but what are its limits? Teachers returning to school in at least one district in Florida are being asked to not “friend” students on Facebook or to communicate with them via social networks.
The Lee County School District has issued guidelines (not rules) to teachers warning them of potential workplace issues that could arise from inappropriate contact with current students. Most school districts have websites and other online avenues for communication.
What do you think? Do you “friend” your child’s teacher? Have your children “friended” or contacted teachers online?
See also:
Should teachers “friend” students on Facebook? is a post on Digital Landing
Consumer Reports gives you Facebook security tips
While the next generation may not be as concerned about online privacy as their parents, there are still some improvements we all can make. Consumer Reports offers up 7 things you should stop doing on Facebook.
Among the tips are no-brainers like not announcing when you will be on vacation, but also some you may not realize like turning off the public search feature to your page to avoid web browsers picking you up. Read the full list here.
How do you stay safe on Facebook and other social networks?
See also:
Protecting your children on social networking sites
Privacy is so old-school apparently
Consumer Reports gives you Facebook security tips is a post on Digital Landing.
Facebook to add “face detection” for photo tagging
Facebook will soon add face detection technology to its photo sharing to make it easier to tag your friends on photographs you put online. Similar to digital cameras who can locate faces automatically, Facebook will now pre-select faces and you have only to answer “Who is this?” to tag your friends in albums large and small.
I have to admit when I first read this story I thought that Facebook was going to automatically suggest the name for each person, which I have to say, freaked me out. I’m sure it isn’t far behind (my iPhoto does it now), but somehow the thought of Facebook “knowing” my face from all the millions of faces in its system was a little disturbing.
Fortunately it’s nothing so sophisticated, but it is still probably a little useful.
Donate Facebook status to honor a fallen veteran
When most kids think that Memorial Day is just the day the pools open, its time to get in touch with reality. The White House Commission on Remembrance has joined forces with Facebook to debut a Memorial Day campaign to remember the more than 2 million American soliders who have died in service.
The app goes live on Memorial Day and users can push a button to pay tribute to a soldier selected randomly from a database or honor a loved one by inserting specific information to create their status.
The status will read: “For Memorial Day, I would like to honor (name) who died for our freedom in the (war name). Join me in remembering all our heroes and let us live honoring our fallen every day. Click below to honor a hero in your status and join me, wherever you are at 3 p.m. to pause for the National Moment of Remembrance in this act of national unity.”
To see all the names visit www.remember.gov
Facebook projects that the app could reach 5 million users, accodring to its developer. I sincerely hope it is more!
Found via MSNBC
Togetherville–social network for kids and parents
Togetherville is a social site for kids under 10 to play games, create art, and learn new things alongside their parents and people you know and trust to supervise.
Parents create their kid’s “neighborhood” using friends and family through Facebook.
On the site, kids can play ad-free games, create artwork, watch pre-screened videos and connect with approved friends.
The site says that parents can use the site to help teach their kids to be good members of the digital community.
As we know from other reports, kids are going to need all the help they can get.
Only parents can create a child’s account and parents are encouraged to use a child’s real name and photo to build real-world relationships. Togetherville builds a neighborhood for your child by drawing from the parent’s own Facebook network and linking with friends and children who are using Togetherville.
“Togetherville is social-networking training wheels for families,” said Anne Collier, co-director of ConnectSafely.org and co-chair of the Obama administration’s Online Safety & Technology Working Group.
My children are still a little young for this, but it could be a nice option as they age and start asking for their own Facebook pages.
No Facebook, says principal
A New Jersey middle school principal implores parents to keep their kids off of social networking sites like Facebook and Foursquare.
Anthony Orsini, the principal at Benjamin Franklin Middle School, sent an email to parents asking parents to help him get all of his students off social networks and keep track of their text messages.
He says his primary problem with the sites is that kids are psychologically prepared to withstand internet name-calling. He said that many posts by this age group are mean-spirited and often anonymous.
He writes:
He also rightly points out that the threat from another teen online is more prevalent than those of sexual predators.
According to Facebook, children under the age of 13 are officially prohibited from having accounts.
Talk with your children about their online behavior and set appropriate limits. If you need help, visit wiredsafety.org or other similar sites.
Olympians to tweet, Facebook from the games
It’s that time again–the Olympics is just a few days away. I still remember my first Olympiad I was old enough to remember. It was the 1984 Los Angeles games. I remember watching Lionel Richie sing on my old rabbit-eared TV.
Like the summer Olympics a few years ago, this year’s games will be aired in high def with wall to wall coverage. New this year though will be the number of athletes tweeting and Facebooking.
Hundreds of athletes have social networking accounts where they can give updates on their training, thoughts on the games and other peeks behind the scenes
Not to be outdone, the media is also employing social media to keep in the loop. The AP is hosting a Winter Olympics Facebook page that will be an aggregate site for news stories and more informal journals and such. The IOC has prepared for the onslaught of social media newsmaking by amending the rules to include what is and what is not appropriate for athletes to share (i.e. personal experiences–good, injury reports or video of ceremonies–bad)
It should all be very interesting!
Here is a quicklist of some of the Olympians tweeting the games
1 in 5 divorces blame Facebook
I saw that headline and it hurt my heart. 1 in 5 divorces blame Facebook. It makes sense though. It’s another open door (if you open it) to take time away from your relationships. Of course, Facebook isn’t to blame, people are. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc just make it easier to do what used to be done in bars, office cubicles and on email alone.
According to a study by Divorce Online:
Facebook was named in one out of five American divorce petitions this year alone. The most common reason is that spouses are conducting inappropriate sexual chats with Facebook friends. The study, consisting of 5,000 divorce papers, also revealed that MySpace, Twitter, and Bebo also contributed to marital deterioration.
So, want to protect yourself or your spouse, consider some of these safeguards:
1) Place your computer in a public place within your home (obviously this doesn’t work if you also have access via phones, etc, but it can set the proper tone).
2) Consider having a joint Facebook page. Couples often create shared pages featuring both of their names. It makes them harder to locate, but wouldn’t that help fend off searches by old flames.
3) Share your password with your spouse. Knowing that your significant other can access your account can help ward off temptation.
4) Talk about who you are conversing with on Facebook. If you find yourself wanting to hide a friend or a conversation, you might need to figure out why.
Good luck!
