Increasingly connected online kids

For a long time in online safety talks, we've been stating what is probably obvious but deserves some family discussion: The number of devices on which and access points (friends' houses, wi-fi hot spots, etc.) at which youth can social network and otherwise use the Net is growing fast. The newest iPod is yet another example of the latter. It joins Microsoft's Zune as something that young people will probably deem a very cool way to access the Net. The new iPod Touch "is a touch-screen device that lets anyone in range of a wi-fi hot spot buy music or surf the Web. The version with 8 gigabytes of storage will cost $299 and the 16-gigabyte version $399," the Los Angeles Times reports. Microsoft has cut Zune's price in response, PC World reports. Apple also cut the price of the iPhone by $200. Here are a PC World blog's "Fifteen Random Thoughts about the New iPods." Google News linked to some 1,700 stories around the world on Apple's announcement. BTW, I mentioned family discussion up there. What I'm referring to is discussion about kids making good use of and developing the "filter" between their ears as they access the Net via all these places and devices.