May 20, 2014

Less “Stranger Danger” – Kik Messenger Updates App Over Privacy Concerns
Back in mid-2012, I wrote an article about the "dangerous" combination of Kik Messenger and Instagram. The article turned out to be quite popular (and controversial) in a few ways. Parents didn't know about Kik nor how the "Kik me at" functionality was working with Instagram. Over 2 years later, Kik Messenger has taken a new approach to privacy and…
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March 25, 2013

5 Reasons Why Social Media Might Actually Be Good for your Child
WARNING: The repeated use of Social Media can be dangerous to your child's well-being. Should we have a Surgeon General’s warning label slapped onto each and every social media site out there? What about some sort of age rating system like we have for movies, music and video games? No, of course not. The Internet is all about freedom of…
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March 6, 2012

How Internet Security Savvy Are You?
If you have read any of my articles in the past, I find it extremely important to use technology as a tool to better your life. Some of those "tools" are for entertainment, and others are for security and safety of yourself and your family. Entertainment is obviously fun, as it should be, but security and safety is not as…
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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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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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May 18, 2011

How to Pre-Populate Twitter Status Updates the NEW Way via Links & Web Intents
About a year and a half ago, I posted a "How To" article to teach people on how to tweet out messages from your website via a URL or web link. Unfortunately, that method no longer works as of a few days ago. Twitter has updated the process for doing this. However, I now have the NEW way to do…
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May 9, 2011

LocalMind Makes Social Check-ins Engaging, Interactive and Helpful
We all know about social check-in services like Gowalla, FourSquare and even FaceBook Places. These services allow you to announce that you are at a particular venue, event, company or location, quickly and easily all via your mobile device. With some, the more places you go, the more credibility and achievements you get (e.g., badges). Some people might question why…
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March 16, 2011

IMPORTANT: Enable SSL on your Social Media Accounts NOW! – Twitter and Facebook
As hacking into people's accounts has become a "clear and present danger", it's important to note TWO quick and easy configuration settings that you can now enable within both Facebook and now Twitter that can make your Social Media account just a bit more secure. While it won't protect you from other types of hack attacks, phishing or other social…
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May 28, 2010

Keep Track of your Kids through Social Media & a Cell Phone, But BE CAREFUL!
I have always been a big proponent against the use of Social Media by children, especially when they are in elementary school. Interacting with Social Media is not something you want your kids doing at an early age, at least not until they can really understand its implications. However, as they grow older and more independent, loosening up the reigns…
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May 20, 2010

From Virtual to Physical – Actually Meeting Another Cast of Dads Member!
This past Tuesday, I had the good fortune to actually meet one of the Cast of Dads members in person, Jeff Sass from Dadomatic.com. Jeff happened to be in town for the SF MusicTech Summit and since I'm based in San Francisco, we managed to meet up at an event called SFBeta. Our backgrounds are very different but we share…
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May 20, 2010

The Ripple Effect of Social Media – Get Mobile for More Waves!
We all know the well used imagery of throwing a stone into a pond and watching the ripples spread out from the center. The same imagery can be applied to social media, I believe. But there are different ways choose the rocks and throw them. Most of the time, I stand in the same place, casting similarly shaped rocks into…
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May 11, 2010

Social Media for the Rest of Us
I heard an interesting statistic today that the smartphone sales accounted for only about 20% of all of the cell phones sold this past quarter. I was actually a bit surprised with that number. I would have thought that the percentage would have been a lot higher. Of course, I live in a technology bubble. Not only do my various…
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