I've done it, have you? I have a feeling most of us have passed our cellphones back to a kid in the backseat so we could drive in peace while the child (who has been hounding us to let it happen) plays a game app. Of course, increasingly, this is happening with really little kids, because the bigger ones have their own cellphones ("way back" in 2010, Pew/Internet reported that 75% of US … [Read more...] about Surge in kids’ apps: Parents & providers sorting it out
mobile apps
Parenting & the mobile app ratings in the works
As mobile apps multiply like rabbits and the number of kids downloading and playing with them seems to keep growing, the usefulness of app ratings to parents seems to be growing too. CTIA – the mobile phone industry trade association – gets this. It recently announced an app rating system it has been working on since 2010, Investors.com reports. The system, which CTIA worked on with the … [Read more...] about Parenting & the mobile app ratings in the works
Videogame ratings: Ask the app while shopping
This is smart. Now, while you're standing in a store aisle staring at a bunch of videogame titles – or right when your kid's saying, "That's it, that's the game on my list, Mom/Dad!" – you can get details from the game-rating source on the spot, pretending you got a text message (feigning disinterest so s/he'll be surprised later). Sure, a lot of us shop online, but the convenience is real, and … [Read more...] about Videogame ratings: Ask the app while shopping
US phone-based social media use growing fast
Social networking is rapidly getting more mobile in the US too. I say "too," because one of my biggest takeaways from attending an international conference in Kenya this fall was that 3G cellphones (what we call "feature phones") are and will increasingly be the typical way most East Africans access Facebook, Skype, Twitter, etc. But even here with our ubiquitous computer use, mobile social media … [Read more...] about US phone-based social media use growing fast
Facebook deleting Deals, adding Messenger
In the next few weeks, Facebook becomes a little less local in one way. It's eliminating the Deals feature, Facebook's answer to the popular Groupon deal-of-the-day-at-a-retailer-near-you service. "The program is being dropped after four months of testing in select markets in Texas, California and Georgia," the Washington Post reports. This development probably has something to do with Facebook … [Read more...] about Facebook deleting Deals, adding Messenger