State do-not-email laws: No help

It has to be tough being a lawmaker these days - especially one concerned about online kids' safety - as everybody struggles to keep up with tech-literate kids and their favorite technologies. The great majority of child-protection ideas aired in hearings and promoted by lobbyists are undoubtedly well-meaning, if not always useful. But there's one type of "child-safety" legislation that can actually increase the risk of what it claims to fix: the do-not-email laws that have created email address registries in Utah and Michigan and that are under consideration in Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, and Iowa. Who says? The US Federal Trade Commission in its "National Do Not Email Registry: A Report to Congress." The FTC concludes: "Any Do Not Email Registry that earmarked particular email addresses as belonging to or used by children would raise very grave concerns…. The possibility that such a list could fall into the hands of the Internet's most dangerous users, including pedophiles, is truly chilling." For the reasons why and for some parenting ideas where young online communicators are concerned, please click to this week's issue of my newsletter.

Heavy.com: Site for guys

You know a Web site's a phenomenon when the New York Times publishes a profile of the site and nothing but the site. In this case that would be Heavy.com. The site is heavy on the ads, targets males in their late teens/early 20s, and "mixes animation, music, video games, grainy home movies of oddball characters, supermodels in bikinis and pop culture parodies" in a fast-paced, sensory-overload sort of way. Like many Web 2.0 sites, it's lowering its targeted age. "This year Heavy will increase its production of original programming tenfold, to 600 segments. It will spin off one of its popular channels, 'Teriyaki Strips,' which features animation with an Asian theme, into a separate site aimed at teenage boys." Some ads test on the site, then move to television. The site "commissions amateur videomakers to create short videos featuring the masked king character who now appears in Burger King's TV commercials." But they have to be made less risque for TV. Virgin, Unilever, Verizon, and NBC Universal are among other advertisers.

iPod's help for ears

Apple Computers is celebrating its 30th birthday this week, but its customers are the ones getting the birthday present, it seems. In response, it appears, to a spate of news stories about how earbuds can damage hearing, Apple now offers free software that lets you limit the volume on your iPod, CNET reports. "The free update, available for video iPods and all iPod Nano models, also includes a parental lock option. After setting the volume limit, parents can lock the setting with a combination code to prevent children from raising the maximum volume without their knowledge." Here's the page at Apple's site where the update can be downloaded.

More tunes on phones

Cellphones are still way behind MP3 players in the mobile-music biz, even in the UK, but phone tunes are definitely on the rise, the BBC reports. "Nearly 7% of all chart music [including ringtones] bought this year has been downloaded through a mobile service," says the BBC, adding that "the mobile music business, including ringtones, is now thought to be worth 3.2 billion pounds [$5.6 billion]." Of course, that's a fraction of the music being downloaded to computers from music retail sites (representing "86% of all legal digital downloads of chart music"), which are still a fraction of music CD business. But the ground is shifting under the music industry's feet. In the UK, Vodafone has a new service offering phone tunes for 1.50 pounds each (about $2.60), and Orange will soon follow suit, the BBC reports. Meanwhile, ClickZ Stats reports that mobile video is "set for growth" (that would include music videos as well as audio), and PC World reports there are more and more opportunities to watch TV on our phones in the US.

6,000 students, 6,000 hackers?

Having a handle on 6,000 students' Net use doesn't seem to be that big a deal to Southwest Allen County Schools' network administrator Mark East, even though he jokingly told the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette that's about how many hackers there are on his network. The article provides insights into how some public schools are handling students online safety. Most of the districts in this part of Indiana block blogging and social-networking sites, but workarounds are found. For example, "senior Larry Buchanan, 17, said when he wants to access his Facebook account, he goes to the Web site ProxyKingz.com, which will bypass any blocks put on a site by the school system." But countermeasures work both ways. "Computer lab supervisors keep track of which students are using which computers at a certain time and the Web sites they visit leave somewhat of a fingerprint…. East said if he notices a particular student doing inappropriate things on the computer three times, he'll turn the evidence over to the principal, who must decide how to handle the situation." One assistant principal told the Journal Gazette that's happened 32 times at his school so far this year, and "punishments have ranged from suspension from computer class for one day to all-day in-school suspension." Searching for pornography would spell "an out-of-school suspension, but that hasn't happened this year."

More important is monitoring the information students upload more than what they're trying to download. One smart principal sent a letter to parents advising them to monitor their kids' blogging and told the Journal Gazette he tries to do the same, sometimes going to a student's profile with him or her in his office and talking about how much info s/he's providing and who could be reading it. Now that would be a memorable encounter with one's principal!

Cyberbullying study

A new study in the UK has just given Britons a cyberbullying reality check. The BBC reports that a MSN/YouGov survey found that more than 10% of UK teens have been bullied online; 13% say cyberbullying is worse than physical bullying; 24% know a victim; 44% know someone who has been threatened via email or instant-messaging; "about one-third know of instances where bullies hacked into mail or IM accounts and sent embarrassing material from them"; and 62% know of rumors or malicious gossip being spread online; 74% did not go to their parents or anyone for advice last time they were cyberbullied (reportedly out of fear their Net access would be shut down). Meanwhile, half of parents are unaware of cyberbullying. It might be good for parents to bring this subject up over a meal sometime – maybe to say the Net won't get shut down if cyberbullying comes up, and we are there for you if it does, so come and tell us (there are links to parent guides to cyberbullying at MSN UK and Cyberbully.org in the US). Meanwhile, the survey didn't appear to cover another obvious online venue for cyberbullying, including Bebo.com in the UK: social-networking sites where young users post comments in each other's blogs and profiles (see the Marin Independent Journal, which singles out MySpace because it has the lionshare of traffic).

Student's school-filtering fix

The best part of this 16-year-old's commentary in the Salem [Ore.] Statesman Journal is not about the flaws in his school's Web filtering system, though he presents a convincing case – e.g., "some sites are blocked for strange or false reasons, leaving students scratching their heads as to why something on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Web site is blocked for 'jokes'." The best part is his fix. It respects students' intelligence and involves accountability. For example, "Start by giving each student a personal logon and password. Then use new software that would start out with a basic list of allowed sites…. If a student were to try to access a site unknown to the software, a screen would be produced that would inform the student that the visit would be recorded and the site would be reviewed by the school district's network administrator." I doubt there's any discussion about protecting online kids that wouldn't benefit from the subjects' input. Most adults have developed a certain amount of life literacy and most kids have considerable tech literacy; both are needed in the discussion.

Cellphones & exams in the UK

Will this be happening in the US soon, as student per capita cellphone use approaches that of the UK? Across The Pond, "students can be marked down or even failed for just having a mobile phone with them during exams, whether they use them to cheat or not," CNET reports. The number of students penalized for cheating was up 27% last summer over the previous year, and possession of cellphones during exams accounted for about 25% of the penalizing, according to the UK's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Of course, phones possession wasn't the only issue – other offenses included "plagiarism, collusion or copying another candidate's work, typically in coursework done before a final exam" … "cheating or disruptive behavior during exams, writing obscenities on their exam papers, or failing to follow instructions." Still, the number of people penalized is relatively low: "less than one incident for every 1,500 exams taken."

Webcams flying off shelves

That's good and bad. Webcams are being used for some creative films that are being uploaded by teens to video-hosting sites like YouTube.com. On the upside, for example, a creatively edited 75-second video called "Breakup," by 17-year-old "Bowiechick" (her YouTube screenname), received more than 210,000 pageviews as of yesterday, CNET reported. It's not clear, CNET says, how much "Breakup" affected sales, but "after Bowiechick posted a second video, it was revealed that she shoots her clips with Logitech's Quickcam Orbit MP, which retails for about $100," and Logitech's Webcams "were among Amazon's 100 best-selling electronics items on Friday." By yesterday, "two more of the company's cameras broke into the top 100, including the Quickcam Pro 5000." It's the Webcam sales part that's good and bad. The kind of creativity and initiative "Bowiechick" showed is great, as long as that's what all these Webcams are used for. But they can also be used for child exploitation (see "Kids & Webcams: Disturbing story"). And CNET hints at the potential for a different kind of exploitation: "after reviewing 'Breakup' and another video where Bowiechick demonstrated Logitech's avatar effects, [Logitech spokesperson Nancy] Morrison said the company would like to know more about the budding filmmaker," though Morrison said the company has had no contact with her. It's good her public only knows her as Bowiechick; maybe she'll strategize with some trusted adults before she reveals her real name. [Is YouTube the next MySpace? Since the site's launch in December, it has gone from 3 million video viewings/day to 30 million and was the "talk of Tinseltown" this week, CNET reports.]

Bebo.com craze in UK

In terms of "local" traffic, anyway, it looks like it's Cyworld in Korea, MySpace in the US, and Bebo in the UK. All of these sites are international, of course, but there does seem to be a cultural element to social-networking. Bebo.com has "racked up more than 22 million members" in its 13 months of existence, the BBC says, and – though targeted at people 13-30 – enjoys major traffic from school and college students. And this will sound familiar to Americans: "But this popularity has come with a price. Some schools and colleges have stopped pupils from using the site and block access to it during the school day." The BBC makes a distinction between Bebo and another popular UK-based site called Friends Reunited, a distinction that sounds like that between MySpace and Friendster.com on this side of The Pond. Friendster and Friends Reunited reportedly have more controls on the user's experience and are less about the personalization and customization so popular among teens exploring and presenting their identities. As for cultural elements, there do seem to be fewer distinctions between the English-language sites MySpace and Bebo (Cyworld's homepage is in Korean). Besides language, having online populations tied to the physical headquarters of a company may be mostly a question of marketing reach. [For more on Cyworld, see my item on it last week.]

Behind France's iPod law

It hasn't passed both houses of France's legislature yet, but it has stirred up some interesting and important discussion about digital music and consumer rights. The Los Angeles Times has an editorial today that suggests the motivation behind a law meant to open up iTunes to all music players: "The rationale for the measure, two [National] Assembly deputies told Reuters, was to 'prevent the emergence of a monopoly in the supply of online culture'." That makes sense (even though France often argues for *French* cultural protectionism), because both the Times and a Washington Post commentary say there's an obvious workaround plenty of consumers use anyway. Post tech writer Rob Pegoraro explains that "you can burn a copy-restricted download to an audio CD, then copy that CD's music right back to the computer in an open, unrestricted format. All the big music-download stores allow this untidy workaround." Rob thinks Apple – which, with its 70% market share, could probably afford to pull out of France - should just license its FairPlay copy-restriction tech to other online music providers. Because if laws don’t open up iTunes, hackers will. "Trying to stop a mass-market, proprietary format from being deciphered by motivated, skilled outsiders is like pushing water uphill with a sponge." [For more, see my item on this last week.]

Web 2.0 and parents

Back at the turn of the year, "media convergence" was the buzzphrase. That has morphed into "Web 2.0," which actually says it much better. This new version of the Web we and our kids are experiencing actually involves a lot more than the mere converging of media – text, images, TV, film, and music - on the Web. It also involves more than the Web's arrival on all sorts of devices at home, anywhere (the Web we take along with us). Web 2.0 is all that plus multi-directional communication, publishing, and advertising. On this Web, kids are publishers, communicators, advertisers, connectors, filmmakers, pundits, etc., too. But this is so new that most of us haven't totally absorbed it yet. Even people in the tech industry and children's advocacy are scratching their heads and holding conferences to understand the implications, much less come up with child-protection solutions. The only part of this that has become a society-wide story is teen social-networking, because of a few widely reported, alarming cases of child exploitation (and because few households with teens don't have social-networkers in residence). Web 2.0 is still mostly a business story. Please click to my editorial this week to see why it affects everybody.

Technology & humanity

One very candid columnist in the Richmond Times-Dispatch says our technology is outpacing our humanity, citing a school hallway fight between two girls captured with a cellphone camera and posted on the Web by a third girl. "Everyone, it seems, wants to be a star," Michael Paul Williams writes. "Unfortunately, these young folks too often are channeling Al 'Scarface' Pacino … as their motivation. Toss in an explosion of technologies their elders don't always comprehend, and the implications are frightening." He may sound like a Luddite, but he's pointing out something that turns up in a lot of places, online *and* offline, where there is unmediated, private interaction in a homogenous group of people who are angry or otherwise not thinking of the implications of what they say and do. Humanity goes missing. Williams has a point when he says, "In the movies, robots invariably rebel against humanity. But with our demonstrable capacity for cruel and inhumane treatment of each other, who needs Terminators? We must create a culture of responsible use of portable technology, before it becomes a menace to society" (or at least to the well-being and reputations of people who aren't using it responsibly). We parents can be there for them, not to spy or overreact, but to keep the communication lines open and, when there's receptivity, help them stay alert, think before they post in public spaces, and show the same humanity online that they would in "real life." We need to parent the same in cyberspace as we always have offline.

Parenting smaller Net surfers

Post-millennial kids have never known life without a computer or, in most cases, the Internet. That would include 3-year-old Josh, son of Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Fry, who is refreshingly candid about this factor in Josh's life: "Joshua was born into a world of ubiquitous computers with Internet access. He'll need a guide into that world, sooner rather than later. That guide will be me. And I have absolutely no idea what to do, and pretty conflicted feelings about what awaits my son." Jason's last paragraph says a lot. It reflects both the lack of confidence so many of us feel about raising tech-literate kids and an important observation – that tech and the Net are no different from any other part of parenting. We're figuring it out together as we go along, and the more parent-child communication along the way the better. To read of other other parents' dilemmas and reactions to Jason's column, go to this page and scroll down about four screens.

France & 'digital freedom of choice'

iPod users everywhere might be interested in this story. France's National Assembly has voted yes on a law for "digital freedom of choice," the New York Times reports. The proposed law requires online music stores like iTunes to make songs available to any MP3 player, not just the iPod. "The bill also introduces relatively lenient penalties for digital piracy by individuals, with proposed fines of $45 to $180," according to the Times. The BBC reported that Apple called the legislation "state-sponsored music piracy." The law, which has been "fast-tracked" by the legislature next goes to France's Senate for a vote expected in May. If it passes, the BBC says, Apple would have the choice of complying or shutting down its iTunes store in France, which the BBC says represents just 5% of Apple's global business. The Times adds that, "while the iPod would be the device most prominently affected by the legislation, others, like Sony's Walkman digital music players, operate on a similar principle." France seems to be becoming a national-level consumer advocate in a global marketplace - the country already requires that iPod earbuds sold there have a maximum volume to protect French ears.

Canadian cybersex study

Toronto-based dating site CampusKiss.com conducted a nationwide survey that found 87% of Canadian college and university students "admit to having virtual sex over IM, Webcams, or the telephone," Christian news site AgapePress.org reports. The article quotes Donna Rice-Hughes, president of online-safety organization Enough is Enough, as pointing out that a high level of exposure to virtual sex isn't just happening at the college level and certainly isn't just about exploitation by adults. "As an example she notes that in statistics provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one of the largest categories of online perpetrators who were soliciting sex from other minors were minor children themselves." For a psychiatrist's survey of the latest research see "Online sex & child protection" in my 3/10 issue.

Blogs, wikis, etc. at school

An article in TechLearning.com refers to the new "Web where little is done in isolation." I think that's a symbol of a *world* "where little is done in isolation." Physical isolation sometimes, maybe, but today's teen social-networkers are showing us that even when they're alone in a room at a connected computer (cellphone, gameplayer, or video MP3 player), they do very little in isolation. Smart educators are using blogs, wikis, email, collaborative podcasting, etc. to help education keep up with students' lives. The article is by Will Richardson, supervisor of instructional technology at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, New Jersey. He's summarizing his new book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. The Poughkeepsie Journal reports on how K-6 students in different states use videoconferencing to share research and collaborate on writing projects. And a Penn State press release tells of how an adolescent psychology professor uses teen blogs and social-networking profiles as her "textbook" in students' study of adolescent behavior. There are now ed-tech companies offering blogging and videoconferencing services to schools, as well as a network of classrooms to connect with, e.g., a collaboration of ePals and Scholastic.

Kids too wired?

That's a question being asked in Time magazine's cover story this week, "The Multitasking Generation." Because the whole story isn't available to nonsubscribers of Time, I'm glad CNN provides a summary. We all know that, in many cases, "by the time many kids get to college, their devices have become extensions of themselves, indispensable social accessories." But the summary seems to be saying that it's not so much the technology as their "highly scheduled lives" and related pressures that's the bigger problem. It's "important for parents and educators to teach kids, preferably by example, that it's valuable, even essential, to occasionally slow down, unplug and take time to think about something for a while," according to CNN. Don't miss what Sudbury, Massachusetts, psychiatrist and author Edward Hallowell says in the very last paragraph of CNN's summary. I think he's nailed it. [Time's sidebar, "A dad's encounter with the vortex of Facebook" offers a readable, balanced perspective.] Then there's a ClickZ.com commentary on a new study by BBDO Energy of 13-to-18-year-old "super-connectors": "They want the world to conform to their views, meaning personalization and customization are imperatives, not nice-to-have extras. They want conversations in the world of many-to-many, not broadcast dictums from on high."

Social-networking, Korean-style

Could this be the future of US social-networking? I'm referring to South Korea-based Cyworld, as described in Business Week. At 15 million users (nearly a third of South Korea's population), it's proportionately even bigger than MySpace. Business Week says 90% of Koreans in their late teens and early 20s are hooked on Cyworld. So what is it? It's basically a social-networking site where people create their own home pages that are like rooms and "can accommodate an unlimited numbers of photos, documents, and other goodies." What makes it even more addictive, BW says, is little "extra twists" like the way users can decorate their "rooms" with digital furniture and art, and enhance the visitor's experience with music and videos (a virtual couch costs about $.60 in real money – Cyworld makes money selling these virtual goods). Everyone has his/her own avatar. "Since avatars stop by, the idea is to make your space as cool as possible." Users can access Cyworld by mobile phone as well, which is something MySpace is working on (see "Phone as fashion statement?", in my 2/24 issue). "One feature that has helped Cyworld take off is 'wave riding.' It works like this: When you're reading posts on bulletin boards or looking at photo files, you can click on the name of someone who has added a remark or photo you find interesting and you'll be transported to that person's digital room. If you like the art or music, you can introduce yourself and put in a request to become a 'cybuddy.' If accepted, you can use your buddy's goodies - from art to photos - on your own page." People with similar tastes turn into virtual and real-world clubs and communities. [BTW, MySpace, at about 64 million members now, only needs about 35 million more to reach Cyworld's one-third-of-its-country-level of membership.]

Videogames' 'true impact'

This is an interesting, maybe even exciting, prospect to consider: Because our children are growing up with videogames, "they'll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption," writes Will Wright, creator of The Sims, in Wired magazine. If we watch our kids playing videogames, we'll notice, he says, that "the last thing they do is read the manual. Instead, they pick up the controller and start mashing buttons to see what happens. This isn't a random process; it's the essence of the scientific method. Through trial and error, players build a model of the underlying game based on empirical evidence collected through play. As the players refine this model, they begin to master the game world. It's a rapid cycle of hypothesis, experiment, and analysis. And it's a fundamentally different take on problem-solving than the linear, read-the-manual-first approach of their parents." He explains how game design and production is changing - how, increasingly, the player is actually participating in game development, as gameplay and community are combined (in massively multiplayer online game worlds).

*How* to protect ears?

We hear a lot about earbuds' riskiness, but not a lot about how to *avoid* damaging ears. Eliot Van Buskirk, a writer and musician who says music lovers are particularly at risk, has a whole list of things people can do to reduce ear-damage risk in this age of highly mobile music. At least until better-designed earbuds are sold. The list is on p.2 of his article in Wired magazine.

Teens 'crave' contact with parents: Study

There's a certain credibility to the results of a survey of 46,000 respondents! Boys & Girls Clubs of America has just unveiled its "Youth Report to America," "the largest national survey developed and administered by teens," BGCA's press release says. A number of news outlets highlighted what the 13-to-18-year-old respondents said about their relationship with their parents (of significance in the online-safety field), on p. 5 of the survey: "Today's youth maintain very close ties to their parents," BGCA says, with such findings as: 37% of respondents saying their relationship with their parents/guardians was most important to them ("interestingly, only 9% … listed their relationship with their counselor/advisor as most important). "Young people stated that their parents also help guide the choices that they make. Surprisingly, nearly half (45%) … feel that their parents most significantly influence their decisions, rather than their peers." BGCA quotes child psychiatrist and Harvard Medical School prof. Alvin F. Poussaint as saying that "youth value the opinions of their adult mentors, especially their parents' opinion. Our kids want to be heard." Here's coverage from TV stations in Waco, Texas and Sacramento, among several using variations of the headline: "Survey: Teens Fear War, Crave Parental Contact."

Yet another Apple patch

Apple today issued its third security patch in less than three weeks, but this week's is more a patch of a patch, Internet News reports. The patch will probably come automatically - this page at Apple's site explains how that works. Washington Post security writer Brian Krebs offers details and background links at the bottom of his blog.

Teen social-networking news

In this week's issue of my newsletter, a digest of the reams of recent news on teen online socializing and "collaborative publishing," as research firm eMarketer put it. The digest includes: three new factoids on Facebook, courtesy of the Stanford Daily; rankings and traffic of the top social-networking sites; growing awareness of repercussions and reputation issues; and some grassroots views (parent and teen). Just click here. To join the discussion on all this, post at the BlogSafety forum.

Teens prefer Net to TV

People 13 to 24 spend more time online than watching TV or talking on the phone, a new Yahoo-sponsored study, "Born to Be Wired," found. In its coverage, MSNBC reports that this age group spends "an average of 16.7 hours a week online" vs. 13.6 hours watching TV. Radio gets 12 hours, phone conversations 7.7, and books and magazines 6 (of course, a lot of that probably happens simultaneously!). Interesting: "Being in 'control' of how they surfed the Web and the ability to personalize their media content online is most appealing to them," but they "don't feel overwhelmed by the abundance of media choices available to them," MSNBC says. Meanwhile, now we find out – from a study at the University of Chicago - that TV doesn't rot kids' brains after all. The New York Times reports that the study tapped into "a trove of data from the 1960s to argue that when it comes to academic test scores, parents can let children watch TV without fear of future harm."

Inside online poker

The Richmond Times-Dispatch recently profiled a couple of avid online poker players. They're not teenagers, but the cost of joining in is so low and poker is so hot at colleges and universities that this inside view might be helpful to parents. "For the growing population of poker enthusiasts, the high-speed connection has become an all-access pass to the biggest virtual casino in history. And questions of legality aren't keeping them up at night," according to the Times-Dispatch. A college student Larry Magid recently interviewed for StaySafe.org isn't losing sleep over his poker experience. For the big picture on online gaming of all sorts, see my "Understanding Games & Gaming: A Parent's Guide" at Staysafe (the latest numbers on poker are in point no. 2).

'Cybersmears' on 'dissing sites'

They're along the lines of RateMyTeachers.com and RateMyProfessors.com, and they're all about exposing not just bad behavior, but actions the "disser" simply doesn't like. Calling them "dissing sites," the Chicago Tribune tells the story of a lawyer who left a pitiful tip (he said mistakenly) and found his name on the cheapskate list at BitterWaitress.com. "He was none too pleased that a waitress had lifted information from his credit card - his name - and posted it on the Internet." Then there's JobSchmob.com and Consumerist.com. The point in the kid-tech new space is how common it's becoming to take one's beef, whatever it is, public and how little the subjects of those beefs can do about it.

Mac, PC security updates

The patches were all over tech news early this week, on both the Mac and Windows sides of the OS spectrum. Apple issued its second security patch in less than two weeks, Internet News reports (here's more from Washington Post security writer Brian Krebs). Meanwhile, Microsoft has issued its monthly security update for March, CNET reports. It plugs a bunch of security holes, most in the Office software suite (including MS's update for Office 2004 for Macs). Brian elaborates on the Microsoft patches too.

New earbud-risk study

More than half of teenagers surveyed report at least one symptom of hearing loss, reports Larry Magid at CBSNEWS.com. Citing findings just released by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), Larry added, "High school students, according to the survey, "are more likely than adults to say they have experienced three of the four symptoms of hearing loss." These are turning up the volume on their television or radio (28% of students vs. 26% of adults); saying "what?" or "huh?" during normal conversation (29% students, 21% adults); and tinnitus or ringing in the ears (17% students, 12% adults). Less than half the high school students (49%) say they have experienced none of these symptoms, compared to 63% of adults." The survey also found that 1) "less than half of the parents were willing to place limits on the amount of time their children used these devices," and 2) adults tend to use earbuds for longer durations than teens, while teens tend to crank up the volume. Both duration and volume can involve risks, experts say. One audiologist gave Larry a simple tip: If there are people talking around you and you can't hear what they're saying, your volume's too high. Larry's article explains. Listen to his podcast for the view from ASHA's chief scientist, Dr. Brenda Lonsbury-Martin.

PlayStation 3's delay

By now you've probably heard (from your kids) that you won't be able to purchase them the PS3 as soon as they thought. Sony delayed its shipping date (see tongue-in-cheek coverage of this, for gaming industry shareholders, very serious story at this San Jose Mercury News blog, which links us to "So that's one PlayStation 3 – will that be cash, credit or your firstborn?" and "PS3 to launch with indentured servitude purchase plan"). The good news (for your kids) is that this handy little multipurpose, Net-connected, much-hyped console will still be available in time for the 2006 holiday shopping season, Reuters reports. The reason for the delay is given in Greek (your kids can translate): Sony says it "hadn't yet been able to finalize the console's digital rights management technology, an important component of the device, which will read media and games stored on high-capacity Blu-ray optical discs."

Fighting child porn: New help

Great news in the fight against child pornography: On Capitol Hill today, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children today unveiled the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography. Made up of 18 of "the world's most prominent financial institutions and Internet industry leaders," according to the NCMEC's press release, the coalition includes multinational companies that enable transactions online, such as Citigroup, Bank of America, Visa, American Express, PayPal, as well as Internet companies such as AOL, Yahoo, and Microsoft. It's a logical and ethical development, since – as the National Center's presser says – "child pornography has become a multi-billion dollar commercial enterprise and is among the fastest growing businesses on the Internet." The number of child-porn sites is hard to capture, but the NCMEC's CyberTipline (CyberTipline.com or 800.843.5678, for reporting online child exploitation) shows that growth this way: "In 2001 [the Tipline] received more than 24,400 reports of child pornography. By the beginning of 2006, that number had climbed to more than 340,000." [The Observer UK recently reported on growth both in Web sites and in attempts in the UK to access them.] The coalition will be collaborating with international anti-child-exploitation organizations such as Child Focus of Belgium, the European Federation for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children, and the International Association of Internet Hotlines (INHOPE). In related news, US and Canadian law-enforcement officials today announced they'd cracked an international online child-porn operation, arresting 27 people in four countries, CNET reports.

Game about bullies protested

The Miami-Dade School Board has registered a protest against "a secretive new videogame about school bullies," the Miami Herald reports. "Little is actually known" about Bully, which was scheduled to be released last fall by Rockstar, makers of the Grand Theft Auto series, one of which, GTA: San Andreas, was the subject of a lot of controversy and fresh efforts to regulate videogame sales because of hidden sexually explicit content that was unlocked by modification code circulating the Internet. School Board member Frank Bolaños introduced a resolution against Bully last week. The full board unanimously approved a watered-down version this week, the Herald later reported. "The original language urged local retailers not to sell the game and parents not to buy it…. The approved version … urged retailers not to sell Bully to minors and directed the district to inform parents 'on the potential harmful effects to children of playing interactive video games containing violence'." Miami-Dade is "the first major school system in the country to take sides against Bully," the Herald adds. As for real-life student harassment, the Hartford Courant reports that a Connecticut teen has been charged with "threatening high school students on MySpace.com." The charges are for misdemeanors that, with conviction, could lead to a maximum sentence of two years in prison. His father told the court his son suffers from depression, "has not had troubles with school or police," and "stays up in his room…. Police say that may have been the problem," according to the Courant.

Mobile porn's fast growth

Parents might want to know that – although Cingular, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile "have voluntarily chosen not to directly offer any adult content for download" to phones, the San Jose Mercury News reports - there's certainly a work-around on Web-enabled phones. "Many mobile phones now have Web browsers, which can make videos, photos or text available for download with a credit card. Sales of dirty videos, naughty chats and pornographic images over mobile phones reached about $500,000 globally in 2004." The Merc cites Juniper Research data showing that figure to be $2.1 billion by 2009. The Web on phones is the explanation for that exponential growth. But right now, Google has found, porn accounts for about 20% of all searches conducted via cellphone – "quite a bit more than the 8.5% [of searches] conducted from the desktop" computer, a San Jose Mercury News blog cites Google researchers as saying.

The Windows Live snowball

Microsoft keeps rolling out more Windows Live services – mail, IM, search (Web and phones), maps/directions, parental controls, homemade media hosting, etc. (see 20 of 'em at a glance in CNET's handy chart. Microsoft "seems to crank out a new Windows Live service every five minutes," according to CNET. The parental-controls service was mentioned by several news outlets this week. Red Herring mentions an intelligent approach Microsoft is taking: "The company has been consulting with child development experts at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) to help set age-based guidelines for the service," and it's also talking with family organizations outside the US "to take into account cultural differences" and "help [Microsoft] set up localized guidance for parents in different parts of the world." Free, built-in parental controls for a single computer almost seem like a too-little-too-late for the 24/7 Web on all devices, but a lot of smart families still have younger members using a single PC plugged into the wall of a family room or other high-traffic location in the house, and it's logical that controls be built into the operating system for littler Web surfers. Plus, another tool for the parental toolbox never hurts.

'Paid for homemade'

That's one reason why young "auteurs" (homemade media producers) are flocking to sites like YouTube.com and iFilm.com – to get paid, yes. But more common reasons for all the "viral videos" up there on the Web are for winning contests, e.g., getting picked to produce a band's music video or – for most auteurs – just being able to upload their videos for all their friends to see. "The number of postings [of homemade videos] has jumped in the last few weeks since [iFilm.com] introduced a contest with the cable channel VH1 called 'Show Us Your Junk' that will feature the best submissions on the television program 'WebJunk20' and reward winners with digital gadgetry and flat-screen TVs," the New York Times reports. The Times gives many other examples of contests at sites like Metacafe.com, Current.tv, eBaumsWorld.com and even MSN and Yahoo, but auteurs don't just upload videos. There are cellphone-generated photos, mashups of photos, video, and animation, and text in recipes, book reviews at Amazon, blogs, Web pages, readers' comments on local events in newspaper sites, etc. The social, or interactive, aspect is the key to homemade media's popularity. The Times cites research firm Technorati data showing that the 27 million blogs that were on the Web in January are "doubling every 5.5 months, with 75,000 blogs created daily." See the New York Times also on "slivercasts" on the Web.

Lego gets fans' help

Do you have bins and bins of only occasionally Legos lying around your house too? At least we're supporting a very forward-thinking company that supports Lego designers of all ages. CNET tells of Lego's Mindstorms developer program, which harnesses customer power. "The 100 Lego fans named last week have a chance to help develop the product by road-testing it in ways Lego never anticipated, and then share their impressions with Mindstorm executives." More than 9,600 people in 79 countries applied (Lego execs told CNET they thought it'd be "really cool" if 1,000 applied). The 100 winners are in 26 countries (40% US), "range in age from 18 to 75, and are heavily technical. Only six are women. Mindstorms NXT is "a sophisticated and open-ended robot development kit masquerading as a kid's toy," CNET reports in a separate story. The box says it's for kids 10+, but Mindstorms obviously appeals to grownup kids every bit as much.

Online sex & child protection: New studies

I recently received an email about online sexual behavior from subscriber Jerald Block, MD. He'd reviewed the latest studies (online and offline) for a talk he just gave and kindly wanted to update me. With his permission, I'm featuring it in this week's issue of my newsletter, because 1) parents should have the latest information, and 2) nowhere have I seen the most recent studies pulled together in one place, much less so succinctly. Dr. Block is a practicing psychiatrist who deals with addictions (including Net-related ones) and is also on the faculty of Oregon Health & Science University. Note one of his findings: "More generally, open family communication seemed to be essential (rather than more covert spying and the such)."

Major videogame study coming

Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) have persuaded a Senate committee to approve what could be a milestone study by the Centers for Disease Control of the "impact of electronic media use" on children, CNET reports. "It appears to be intended as a way to justify" restrictions such as those imposed in legislation the senators have introduced against sales of violent videogames to minors." CNET adds that "a string of court decisions have been striking down antigaming laws because of a lack of hard evidence that minors are harmed by violence in video games."

'25 to Life' game boycott

Democrats in the Michigan House of Representatives have called for a boycott of the "25 to Life" videogame, "in which players try to kill police officers to win the game," the Detroit Free Press reports. "The call for a boycott joins a national campaign by the police organizations to keep children and families away from the game." "25 to Life" is rated Mature/17+ by the Entertainment Software Rating Board , which says "titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, and/or strong language." Gaming news site Gamasutra.com reports that the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund "has collected more than 220,000 signatures protesting" the game.

Study on online dating

"Thirty million Americans say they know someone who has been in a long-term
relationship or married someone they met online," according to the latest Pew Internet & American Life study, which adds that 60 million "know someone who has at least dabbled in the online dating scene." But online dating isn't all upside. In its coverage of the study, USATODAY report that opinions on Net dating among the 145 million US Internet users in general are an even split: 44% agree "it's a good way to meet people," 44% disagree. But the percentage on the positive side is only growing. "Online daters are generally younger and more likely to be employed," Pew says. The project only surveyed adults, but it was "the youngest cohort (18-29 years old)" that "has the largest percentage of online daters within it." And with the number of teens using social-networking sites (nearly 14 million under 18 on MySpace.com alone), online dating and socializing is quickly becoming part of everyday life. An interesting finding in the Pew report that bears this out is reflected in a chart on p. 20 showing "Dating-Related Activities Online." Maybe social-networking is more for teens and 20-somethings and online dating is more Gen X and older? But wait, there's more: what USATODAY describes as "team online dating," which is like merging Friendster.com and MySpace.com with Match.com and eHarmony.com. "The result? TeamDating and eTwine in the USA and Compa in the UK. Users can sign up in groups of two or more and correspond with other duos, trios or quartets. The goal is to take the two cyber-squads offline, to the promise of mingling - and mating - opportunities."

More earbud ear-risk news

USATODAY adds a few more voices to the growing discussion about what earbuds are doing to ears. The article leads with a family of iPod lovers, the 43-year-old dad of which cranks the music up for hours every day, to drown out power tools at work, to ski to, and to listen while working at his computer. He's "concerned about hearing loss and already experiences ringing in the ears, called tinnitus, which is a symptom of damage. But he says he has no plans to cut back on his MP3 use." It's sustained use at high volumes that audiologists warn against most. "Using earphones for hours at high volumes basically causes 'shock and awe' to delicate hair-like cells deep within the inner ear that help the brain process sound," USATODAY cites one doc as saying, adding that "after years of abuse, those structures won't function anymore." A nice addition is the sidebar, showing the decibel levels of various everyday sounds - e.g., moderate rainfall, 50; conversation, 60; lawnmower, 90; movie theater, 118; earbuds 120 (basically the same as "live music concert" at 120+). The sidebar says anything over 85 exceeds what experts are calling "safe." Apple must be quietly scrambling to find safer, better-designed earbuds.

In game chat: Pedophile case

GamePolitics.com, a blog that tracks social and legislative developments in the videogame world, this week reports another case of alleged child harassment in game chat. It's the second I've seen reported (see "Teen exploited in online gaming"). "A 52-year-old man who helped manage the Green Berets, a competitive videogame clan, was busted by police in London, Ontario, following accusations that he solicited obscene pictures of [10-to-13-year-old] boys he recruited for the Green Berets' Counter-strike team," according to GamePolitics. He reportedly told them to lie about their age and used the Ventrilo game chat program to encourage the boys to send him nude photos, promising them computer gear and "clan leadership positions" in return (or getting kicked off the team if they didn't comply).

Tracking videogame politics

Earlier this week I blogged about the beginning of teen social-networking's politicization. Well, videogame politics have been tracked for a year by Philadelphia Inquirer game columnist Dennis McCauley at GamePolitics.com, MTV News reports. This month Dennis added a new page to his blog: a US map that tracks state and federal legislation against violent videogames (currently there's legislative activity in 20 states, I think - those northeastern states are so small!). But he started the blog "in an effort to track not just game legislation but many of the serious social issues related to gaming," according to MTV.

Swapping tunes, supporting musicians

Lala.com may be a sign of the music piracy tide turning. Or at least its marketing message is. On its About Us page, the new music site, which fully launches this summer, says it's completely legal and, "while there is no obligation to do so, 'la la' is setting aside 20% of trading revenues for musicians." It just may help make supporting musicians more cool than illegal file-sharing. The San Jose Mercury News calls lala "a mix of social networking, Internet swap meet and music store. It's MySpace.com meets eBay meets iTunes." It also represents another trend and buzzword for Web 2.0: "mash-up." Its founders say they're mashing together community, search, and retail (new and used) so people can "discover music the old fashioned way - through conversation," like in those local independent music stores depicted in the book and movie "High Fidelity." It's a great idea, but I wonder if it isn't a temporary solution (like NetFlix) or for an older user base - people who've had time to amass huge CD collections that are mostly gathering dust?

Auteurs at your house?

Probably. They're everywhere. Content is no longer king, conventional media people everywhere are finding out. "The customer is king," the BBC staidly put it, referring to uploaders, auteurs, or basically everybody on the Web. Bolt.com used the word "auteur" in its relaunch press release. It sort of means "author," but takes it further to suggesting a creator's control over all aspects of, say, a movie production. That's pretty much what Web users (including kids) now have, with zillions of sites (including Bolt.com, TagWorld.com, MySpace.com, YouTube.com, etc.) providing "storage" or hosting of all manner of media, virtually all of it home-made, by anyone who wants to register (for free). It's Web 2.0, now upon us. But even auteurs aren't king, really. Community is, I think – witness the popularity of everything from eBay to Craigslist to MySpace. Auteurs aren't happy without a community with which to share their creations (and inner-most thoughts). Evidence: The Los Angeles Times reports, "Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg, actor-producer Ashton Kutcher and reality TV impresario Mark Burnett are … grappling with a fundamental question: What defines a hit on the Internet?", and both the L.A. and the New York Times report that Yahoo has figured it out. While, it did invest heavily in professionally created TV on the Web, Yahoo is now focusing more on "user-generated content." Business Week ran the story too.

Parents on MySpace

I'm not talking about parents spying on kids' MySpaces – but about *parenting* groups on MySpace. I decided to look into it when Maggie in Vancouver posted in our NetFamilyForum(.org) about her own MySpace profile and her group's page, MySpaceMoms2006. Unfortunately, the link she posted didn't work, but clicking around MySpace Groups, I found dozens of geographically based parent solidarity and networking groups for moms (not so many for dads) in the East Bay, Tampa Bay, Tulsa, Vancouver, mid-Michigan, southern Maryland, New York City, Phoenix, and so on (there were also groups for single, teen, and stay-at-home moms, a group for "the alterna-parent crowd - Punk, Goth, DeathRock, Metal, etc.," and a "Daughters Against Moms on MySpace" group). This week Vancouver-based The Columbian led with the story of how one mom of a toddler was helped with a scary poison-control issue by another mom she met in MySpace. "The two Vancouver mothers are part of a growing group of parents who are raising children away from family or supportive friends. For this generation, that grew up with Internet access, cell phones and e-mail, meeting friends and getting advice online is not only easy, it's the norm."

'Spying' on IM-ers?

It's the other kind of "domestic surveillance," as Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus put it, and parents of teenagers all know it's just as controversial as the NSA kind. Ruth feels nostalgia for less "ethically ambiguous" times, e.g., the pre-instant-messaging and MySpace era, and some parents are heaving sighs of relief that their kids went off to college before they had to deal with these issues. A lot of parents shared their views on monitoring and how best to protect online kids during a discussion today tied to Ruth's column. Only one mom pointed to one of the biggest risks to social well-being, reputations, and futures that online communications present teens: how hard it can be to take something back. Whether it's a comment emailed/IM'd/posted unthinkingly or a photo uploaded impulsively, it can be copied and pasted to "places" where it can never be taken back. Whether or not and for how long it's re-posted, -emailed, -uploaded, -IM'd, -texted, or shared around global file-sharing networks (and stored on millions of hard drives) depends on the whim or good graces of friends, ex-friends, and strangers. In the vast majority of cases, nasty re-publishing doesn't happen, never will, but it can, and kids and parents need to know this. Your thoughts on this are welcome, via anne@netfamilynews.org or NetFamilyForum.org.

Politics & teen blogging

The politicization of teen social-networking has begun. "Jeanine F. Pirro, the Republican candidate for attorney general [of New York], has begun an attack on MySpace.com," the New York Times reported, "saying that it represents a threat to child safety." According to the Times, "Ms. Pirro said that her motivation for taking on the issue was a result of the work she did in her 12 years as district attorney as a zealous pursuer of sex offenders." Meanwhile, Reuters reports that US attorney Kevin O'Connor announced charges against two men for using MySpace to meet with teenage girls. Mr. O'Connor said "MySpace was not at fault and that full blame lies with the two defendants." But Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal "has called on MySpace to tighten access to the site and improve its age verification system," Reuters added. "MySpace and Blumenthal's office are in negotiations over the attorney general's request." Here's a Business Week interview with Blumenthal about MySpace that ran today.

Bolt.com's relaunch

It's not publicizing the move as such, but Bolt.com (which was hosting teen social-networking long before anybody heard the term) has a unique solution to the downside of the teen online social scene. It's segmenting itself. It has relaunched 10-year-old Bolt.com for 18+ users and unveiled Bolt2.com for 13-to-17-year-olds. "To provide value to its original audience, Bolt Media today also launched Bolt2.com, enabling kids, tweens, and younger teens to create content, meet people, and play games in a safe, no pressure, and age-appropriate environment," the company's press release says, adding that Bolt2 "is organized around games, pop culture and self-discovery" (here's early coverage at Adotas.com). It'll be interesting to see if MySpace and other such sites make similar moves.

Meanwhile, apparently to capitalize on both social-networking and media-hosting trends, Bolt.com is folding the two terms into "creative networking." Its relaunch includes "unlimited storage" of videos, photos, tunes, and blogs in its users' profiles. The site claims to have grown 300% in 2005 to 10.8 million visitors a month. Because of children's age-old desire to be older than they are, it'll be interesting to see if teens stick with Bolt2.com, but it doesn't appear there are any new limits on their networking and uploading. Besides allowing users to make their content "private" instead of "public," the only readily apparent safety features are requirements in the Member Code of Conduct and Terms of Service that members not falsify information they provide at registration and not "transmit, solicit or post extremely sexually explicit messages, text or photographs."

Site for young PC-security fixers

What a concept! Instead of having some adult know-it-all design a Web site for teens about PC security, have a smart teenaged person design it! You would think this intuitive, but it's actually unprecedented. Just-launched SORTED is the only teen-designed and -built Web site of its kind. It represents the low-key brilliance of London-based Childnet International, a nonprofit online-safety organization that puts a premium on the expertise of youth (yes, Childnet is a sister organization and I'm biased, but it's true even so). SORTED is an online guide to dealing with viruses, worms, phishing attacks, spam, spyware, etc. for teens, the people whose computers are most vulnerable to them – the people who most need to have it all sorted out (because parents are less likely to!). Why are the PCs kids and teens use most vulnerable? Check out this week's issue of my newsletter to find out. ;-)

Local band gets record deal (online)

Northern Michigan band Deja Norm'al won a recording contract with New York City label 10-34 Records in a competition conducted solely online," the Cadillac [Mich.] News reports. Deja Norm'al was trying to figure how to afford making a CD when a talent scout suggested they enter the "Hey! 10-34 Records, Sign My Band" contest in MySpace. They created a page and posted some of their music, along with some 500 other "hopeful rock groups posting their original songs." The bands "were rated half by a panel of five judges and half by fans voting on MySpace," according to the Cadillac News. "The band winning five times in a row would walk away with a recording contract and a national tour." Deja Norm'al is now shooting its first music video in preparation for their summer tour. 10-34 Records is "known for using grass-roots tactics 'to bring the best young artists to the forefront of music'."

Critical thinkers needed!

Their grey-matter filters need to be working better than ever to find facts on the Web. In his latest "Portals" column for the Wall Street Journal, Lee Gomes talks about something students and all Web researchers need to be aware of: "original content." It's a trend in the Web economy in which little businesses make money from Web sites by getting Web searchers to go to them. But the information in them has to be "original" if people are to find them in search engines – the search engines penalize sites (move them down in search results) if they simply duplicate info from other sites. So these little businesses pay writers (very little) to slightly reword and, in effect, fictionalize *real* information from, for example, the World Health Organization or Britannica.com. What to do? If you're seeking fact rather than fiction, it's a good idea to search Ask.com, Google, etc. for a known brand like the WHO or Britannica, then search those reputable sites for specific info. In another example, if you're looking for authenticity in pundits' blogs, be careful; we now know some companies are paying bloggers to get the corporate message out - or even writing parts of their blog posts. The New York Times gives the Wal-Mart example.

Arrests involving blogging

The Houston Chronicle's story calls MySpace "the Studio 54 for the Internet set. And just like the seminal disco-era nightclub, MySpace has transcended being a place 'to see and be seen' and become a cultural benchmark." But with no bouncers, and the "carding" at registration doesn't really work. There are some safeguards for younger teens who enter these social-networking "nightclubs," but they do little to stop contact with much older people. The Chronicle tells of two arrests in the Houston area, one involving charges of sexual assault, one that resulted from a sting operation, after the child told her father, who went to the police. In Connecticut, the Hartford Courant reported that "federal law enforcement officials implored parents Thursday to keep a close watch on their children's Internet activities as they announced the arrests of two out-of-state men they say had sexual contact with two young girls [14 and 11] they encountered on MySpace.com." Posts in the site led to phone calls, then to in-person meetings, in one case in the girl's home, in the other a Danbury mall. The Courant cites the view of an FBI agent on the case as saying that monitoring of kids is "crucial between 3 and 5 pm, when children are usually home from school and parents are still working." [Thanks to Det. Frank Dannahey for pointing out the latter story (see his commentary, 1/20).]

Everywhere parental controls

One sign of "media convergence" – the Web on phones, game consoles and handhelds, etc. – is proliferating parental controls. TiVo and Microsoft's Windows operating system are joining PlayStation Portable, Xbox Live, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS (soon), and cellphones (soon) with "KidZone" software and "Family Safety Settings," respectively. TiVo's parental controls "will be made available without additional charge in June to the 1.4 million users of [its] stand-alone set-top boxes," the New York Times reports. With them, parents can pick the ratings and programming picks of one of two groups, Common Sense Media or the Parents Television Council. "Children watch only programs the designated group deems appropriate for the age range specified by the parent," the Times explains. Microsoft's controls are called "Family Safety Settings." The company just sent out some email invitations to potential testers. The settings controls will be part of the new Windows Live services (like OneCare and the Safety Center) and will be included in the next version of the Windows operating system, called "Vista," CNET reports. With them, parents can "filter online content … create individual accounts for children, and see activity reports on the Web sites they visited," CNET says. Of course, parental controls are fine, they can be helpful, but I'm not sure their proliferation is giving parents any more control, the way the Web's developing. Do post here or in the NetFamilyForum - or email me - if you agree, disagree, or wonder what on Earth I'm talking about. ;-)

Pick-'n'-choose channels

It's "on the horizon," USATODAY reports, "thanks to new technology, shifting sentiment in Washington, and deep-pocketed rivals such as AT&T and Verizon." Bye-bye "expanded basic" with zillions of unwanted TV channels, apparently. And this is nothing new, globally speaking. US cable providers are behind those in Spain, Italy, Canada, Hong Kong, and the UK. Meanwhile, family-programming packages are either available or in the pipeline (here's USATODAY's handy chart with providers, prices, programs, and start dates).

'Big Brother' factor in blogging

Kids aren't just worried about parents reading their blogs, Business Week reports, and this is a good thing. Reportedly, it's sinking in with teen social-networkers that they need to protect themselves "not only from predators and scam artists, but from nosy employers and campus authorities" too. For example, Business Week tells of a University of North Carolina professor who scanned Facebook profiles "to determine which students to accept into his class." So interesting workarounds are developing. Some bloggers sprinkle their profiles with fiction to throw off readers outside their peer groups. Others are actually using the services' privacy features (blocking strangers). Some social-networkers who feel over-exposed just move on to other services, possibly creating fresh persona.

State of Web panhandling

It started a few years ago with SaveKaryn.com (Karyn got help offloading some major credit card debt), but it has gotten more complicated as the ranks of online panhandlers have grown, reports the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel. People are expecting something in return. Sometimes that's innocent entertainment, sometimes advice or commentary. Other times it's not so innocent and pretty risky. See "Porn revolution & teen girls" and "Kids & Webcams." And of course now there are sites "aggregating" panhandlers, as we're seeing in so many subject categories on the Web. Examples from the News-Sentinel: CyberBeg.com, DonateMoney2Me.com, and SaveMeSites.com. Fundraiser wannabes should be wary of the membership fees some of them charge. "Here's a good one," the News-Sentinel says: "At the dubious Millionairehelp.org, you can pay $35 to post your plea for six months - or $99 for a full year. Get the discount while you can."

WoW game: Highly populated

I'd say a population of 6 million could qualify a locale as almost a *real* alternate world, not just a virtual one. World of Warcraft, the global online game just passed that population milestone, CNET reports, citing game creator Blizzard Entertainment figures. "The game officially launched in North America, Australia and New Zealand in November of 2004, and has since racked up milestone after milestone, with launches in Korea, Europe, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau," CNET says. It reached the 5 million mark this past December and will soon be available in Spanish, in addition to its English, French, and German versions. For more on alternate-world games, see "Gamers 'outsourcing'" and "Virtual real estate mogul."

Apple-flavored home entertainment

Remember hi-fi's? (I'm dating myself in saying we had one when I was a really little kid.) Apple's bringing them back in its stylishly new/retro way. At least in name. Steve Jobs just announced the $349 iPod Hi-Fi (aka "iPod boombox" or "home stereo"), "an all-in-one speaker system housed in a case roughly the size of a shoebox," the New York Times reports. Apple is moving into home entertainment big time, Larry Magid of CBS News (and SafeKids.com) reports, with the iPod Hi-Fi and the new Mac Minis Steve also introduced. The Minis "are unique not only because they have Intel processors and are up to five times faster than the previous version … they connect to TV sets and are able to stream video, audio and photographs from other Macs and Windows PCs in the home directly to a TV set. Larry goes on to describe the products' pluses and minuses in detail at CBSNews. Here, too, are PC magazine (calling the Hi-Fi a "boombox") and USATODAY.

MySpace in short (film)

Indie filmmaker David Lehre, 21, co-creator (with his friends) of the 11-minute parody MySpace: The Movie, just signed with MTVU.com for further film development, the Associated Press reports. The film has gotten the kind of marketing MySpace enjoys: viral. Since Lehre first screened it at his birthday party a month ago, the AP says, is has been viewed more than 6 million times and has received a complimentary email from MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson (who's very famous among MySpacers because he's the first "friend" who shows up after everyone registers). Fans have grabbed it from Lehre's site and uploaded it to various online-media host sites, e.g., YouTube.com (where – though about 20,000 videos are uploaded daily – this is the most-watched video, the AP says). It's probably all over the file-sharing networks too. It's not pretty but, like many parodies, there's a certain accuracy to its depiction.

Schools blocking MySpace

Adding MySpace.com to their black lists of sites to be blocked is happening in increasing numbers of US school districts Reuters reports. For example, "the Rhode Island Network for Educational Technology, a nonprofit that handles Internet networks for the state's 36 public school districts, said 80% of the schools had requested an Internet filter to screen out MySpace.com," according to Reuters. It adds that "school districts in Florida and several other states and private universities have also installed filters on their Internet networks that block the site." I hope schools know that this might be only part of a solution toward student (and school) protection. Blocking one social-networking site doesn't stop students from moving to others. In its list of such sites, Wikipedia links to nearly four dozen, and it doesn't claim to be comprehensive. BTW, this wire story was picked up by papers all over the world, including The People's Daily in Beijing. The Associated Press reported later this week that 21 students at TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa, Calif., were suspended "for allegedly posting graphic threats against a classmate" in MySpace.