Do the YouTube and Google search fans at your house know about SafeSearch and Safety Mode? Google made these safety tools available starting a few years ago (see my 2009 post about the former here), but software engineer Matthias Heiler just posted a heads-up about them for users who might be a little more active online during summer vacation. Even before summer was in full swing, 182 million … [Read more...] about Safety tools for summer video viewing & search
Facebook’s new photo-syncing tool
Facebook just caught up with Google+, Dropbox, and its own little sib Instagram (which it acquired last spring) where photo-uploading convenience is concerned. [I've found photo-sharing much easier and more fun since my kid introduced me to Instagram last summer.] My ConnectSafely co-director Larry Magid explains here how to use the new Photo Sync feature in your Facebook app to upload photos from … [Read more...] about Facebook’s new photo-syncing tool
Check out our ‘Parents’ Guide to Google+’!
I'm tooting our ConnectSafely horn, here, but we had a launch of our own this week: that of our Google+ guide for parents. You can download the PDF at PlusParents.org, or read it chunk by chunk at the Google Safety Center. In it, my co-author and ConnectSafely co-director Larry Magid and I offer you a little context on where this service fits into both the rest of Google and teen social networking … [Read more...] about Check out our ‘Parents’ Guide to Google+’!
Google+ for teens launched
Google has just made its Google+ social networking service teen-friendly. What that means is, all the features that some 90 million Google+ users have now – Circles, Hangouts (group videochat), photo-sharing, games, etc. – are available to people under 18 but now with added protections in place. For example, the San Jose Mercury News reports, "Google+ will ask [teens] to confirm a public post … [Read more...] about Google+ for teens launched
Google’s data-security ed campaign & site
This week Google launched an ad campaign and Web site headlined "Good To Know," according to a report at the Washington Post. Aimed at teaching Net users the basics of protecting their data in our increasingly social media environment, the campaign has ads appearing in "dozens of U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal, and magazines, including Time … [Read more...] about Google’s data-security ed campaign & site