“Family” collection
Navigate the intersection of family life and technology with expert advice on household gadgets, digital parenting, and home safety. This section focuses on tools and strategies that enhance family connections and simplify domestic logistics in a digital-first world.
HTD Tech Briefs
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August 5, 2011
10 Ideas for Facebook Parental Controls and What You Can Do Until They Are There
Facebook needs parental controls - although I will bet that if you ask kids between the ages of 13 and 16, they would say that it definitely does NOT need ANY type of parental control whatsoever. But, being a parent and a bit of a social media junkie, I know that something is definitely needed. Children are simply too young…
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August 4, 2011
How to Get Hostnames to Resolve over a Mac OS X VPN Connection
Yesterday I ran into a little issue. I tried to use my Cisco VPN client on my Mac after having upgraded to Lion. For some reason, it was not working. I did find some ways to correct that (the Error 51 issue) and how to migrate your Cisco setting over to the native Mac OS VPN client, but that will…
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July 11, 2011
The Pitfalls of Summer – a Parent’s Financial & Scheduling Nightmare
What happened to the good old days of unstructured play during summer vacation? You headed out to your friend's house in the morning, checked in with your parents around lunch (maybe), and then were out until it was dark or dinner time. You had fun, it was raw, it had what little structure you imposed on it. There were the…
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July 2, 2011
“Gamecocks to Bull Horns”- 4th Of July Cast of Dads Podcast #43
Happy 4th of July holiday weekend! Hopefully nobody is actually reading or listening to this podcast during the 3-day weekend and they are out enjoying friends and family. But in case you do take a glance at your computer or listen to the podcast, I wanted to wish you a stellar Independence Day. Let's also be sure to remember those…
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June 27, 2011
My Kids & I Have Fun with the “Cool” Features of the Lincoln MKT
Over the Father's Day weekend, my kids and I had some fun with the 2011 Lincoln MKT AWD crossover. In the past, with other autos like the Ford Flex and the Lincoln MKX, I approached my articles about these vehicles with more of a "reviewer's perspective." This time, I just thought that I would let me kids "drive"...well, not the…
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June 24, 2011
How To Use Chrome Instant Search to Test Twitter Status Updates & Use Reserved Characters via Web Intents
Back in May, I wrote a post on "How to Pre-Populate Twitter Status Update the NEW Way via Links & Web Intents". Essentially, Twitter updated the method for creating a link to "tweet" using their new Web Intents platform. Many developers (e.g., of WordPress plugins) and other designers are updating their code to support this new (and better) way of…
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June 16, 2011
He May Be Someone Else to You, But To Me, He’s Just My Dad
With Father's Day just around the corner, we are all hopefully thinking about our dads. Dads have it tough, you know, compared to moms. We don't have a clue about parenting, or so we are told regularly by our wives. And we don't have that bond with our kids the way that mom's do ("YOU didn't give birth to these…
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June 13, 2011
Teenage Humor & a Father’s Day Contest – “Weiner, Junk & Tools” – Cast of Dads Podcast #42
It's alive! Yes, that's right, after a bit of a hiatus, the Cast of Dads are back with another action-packed…er…humor packed…uh…informative podcast appropriately titled "Weiner, Junk & Tools". Being a dad is a busy enough "project" in itself, but then coupling our other "jobs" into the mix and finding time to get the 5 dads together is something that warrants…
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June 8, 2011
Tips for Improving your Child’s Safety Online – An Interview with AVG Internet Security
Last week I spent some time speaking about Internet Security for your kids with Tony Ascombe, "Ambassador" of Free Products for AVG, an Internet Security firm specializing in keeping your business and home safe from Internet threats. My feeling is that these types of discussions should take place regularly, and not just with security experts, but also in the home…
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June 6, 2011
Hey, No Messaging While Driving, Unless It’s Your Car Doing It – Ford Safety Technology Preview
Last week, Robert Scoble (Scobleizer.com), Mark Hachman (PCMag.com) Xavier Lanier (Notebooks.com & GottaBeMobile.com ) and I squished into a Ford Explorer to get a preview of some new safety technology that Ford and other auto manufacturers are starting to develop. With this new tech, appropriately outfitted cars actually "talk" to each other, many times a second, sending information about speed,…
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June 1, 2011
HighTechDad’s 2011 Father’s Day Gift Guide – Products I Have Reviewed & Like
Father's Day is almost upon us and I wouldn't be doing my part for the Dads out there if I didn't put together a Father's Day Gift Guide. Gifts are obviously very personal in nature so I can't tell you what to get your dad. What I can do, however, is provide some ideas on some things that might make…
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May 25, 2011
WARNING: Mac Malware Variant “MAC Defender” Even More Crafty – No Password Install Required
And you thought that Macs and Apple products were immune to virus and malware threats? Think again! At the beginning of May, Intego, a developer for internet security and privacy software for Macs, identified a pretty scary piece of malware, dubbed the "MAC Defender" (also now has names like "MacSecurity" and "MacProtector" and "MacDefender"). What is malware? It's essentially a…
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