Lock Down the Net - Stolen?

By Alan

As a followup article from last year: Lock Down the Net, talking about ways to lock down a home network or computer, we thought this was an interesting development.

There are preliminary news reports that the company that manufactured the Cybersitter software is suing the Chinese government for $2.2 billion in damages in a federal lawsuit. Cybersitter, a family run company, provides Internet filtering software originally intended to prevent inappropriate website access by children in the household.

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Stereotypes with Stereos

By Alan

Most people who think about those who like technology usually picture the stereotypical image: someone who avoids the sun, skips physical fitness as boring, and stays on the couch playing on the computer rather than doing anything else. However, it's pretty obvious to anyone who might have ventured into a fitness center, gym, or even a YMCA, that technology plays a pretty significant part in modern physical activity.

Technology has played an primary role in organized physical fitness ever since 1952, when Dr. Robert A. Bruce, took the treadmill and stuck it under a human for stress testing of the heart and lungs. If you think about it, exercise equipment has to be able to last through thousands of repetitions, look cool, provide good behavior, all while not killing the person using the thing. Exercise provides stimulation to the heart, lungs, muscles, nerves, and even digestion. And while exercise is definitely beneficial to the brain, the act of exercising is not necessarily all that stimulating. When you run outside, at least you have the scenery changing, but running on the treadmill is... well... boring. The only scenery change will be the next sweaty person on the mill next to you, who is also disappointed in the brain stimulation going on.

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All News, All the Time

By Alan

More and more, people are either supplementing their news gathering from both TV and newspaper by reading articles and headlines on the Internet.

The New York Times recently published results from a study that showed more people are checking the Internet as part of their morning routine. Breakfast Can Wait. The Day’s First Stop Is Online. It's quite apropos that the Times was writing that story, since they have quite a transition with their newspaper changing from traditional physical paper to online content.

However, going online for news doesn't always mean that people are getting their news from traditional journalistic sources. Many of those surveyed are checking with email, Facebook statuses of their friends, checking Twitter for the latest microblog comments, as well as browsing web news articles from traditional news organizations and non-traditional news sources like blogs.

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How Can Kids Search The Internet Safely, And Still Learn Something?

By MAD21

AskKids is a kid safe search engine that allows age appropriate searches of the internet for answers to common (and uncommon) questions.

This site was created by the makers of Ask.com, who decided it was not appropriate to let all answers be shown for any topic asked if children were the ones asking.  So, AskKids was born for kids age 6-12.  Every website result is hand picked for cleanliness.

The main page looks like notebook (including being able to scribble on it with pen, pencil, and highlighter, and stickers).

Top level sections include Schoolhouse, Movies, Games, Video, and Images.

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What Is Technology?

By Alan

This column tends towards talking about new technology, and as a result, tends to concentrate on computer, internet, or websites. But, what really is considered to be Technology?

One of the preeminent Internet personalities Leo Laporte has a weekend radio show called “The Tech Guy” that he broadcasts from his cottage in Petaluma, California. He opens his show with a definition of “Let's talk technology: computers, TVs, cellphones, anything with a chip in it.” But, he agrees that technology is much more than that. There's materials science, there's biotech (which may soon redefine what a “chip” is); there's optics, applied thermodynamics, nanotechnology and micromachines. Find the silicon chips in those things.

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