Mobile gaming (on cellphones, iPads, etc.) is doing a lot more than entertaining kids. Yes, it's bringing out their inner scientist (with Project Noah) or cartoonist (via Toontastic) and fueling their outdoor adventures (see HiddenPark.com), and yes it's occasionally a digital babysitter. But it also offers lovely, gentle changes in family dynamics. Mobile gaming can add to the household scene … [Read more...] about Playing & learning with our kids easier than ever
mobile apps
4% of US online adults use location-sharing
Geolocation apps and services like Foursquare, loopt, Gowalla, and Facebook's Places are an online-safety frontier where consumer (much less kid) usage is the great unknown. Thankfully, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released some research on it – on adult usage, anyway (hopefully youth data coming soon). Pew found that 4% of adult US Internet users use geolocation services … [Read more...] about 4% of US online adults use location-sharing
Monitoring apps for kids’ cellphones
Parental control apps for cellphones – either downloadable ones or the controls provided by the carriers themselves – aren't new, but their numbers are growing. The toughest nut to crack in this category, according to the Wall Street Journal, has been monitoring kids' texts and calls, but that's changing too. "Due to privacy concerns ... carriers can't monitor the content of text messages and … [Read more...] about Monitoring apps for kids’ cellphones
Cellphone apps for citizen reporters, activists
More and more little mobile applications are expanding awareness of causes and enabling activists to support them. For example, the SpillMap app for Android phones allows people around the Gulf of Mexico to capture photos and video of oil-spill damage as they see it, then send the imagery, along with time and location info to SpillMap.org for a growing record of the spill's impact, Forbes.com … [Read more...] about Cellphone apps for citizen reporters, activists