Rebecca VanderMeulen just wrote an excellent article on Education.com titled Is Your Child Spending Too Much Time on Facebook? She interviewed me for the story along with Monica Vila, founder and Chief Technology Mom of  The Online Mom.

I’m not going to quote VanderMeulen quoting me, but I will point out a couple of questions that Vila asked, “is she isolating herself from family and friends so she can log onto Facebook,?” and “is she spending a lot of time in her bedroom by herself.”

More from Larry Magid about kids and Facebook

Click to listen to Larry’s Tech Talk Radio Segment on Kids spending too much time on Facebook (1 minute MP3)

Survey: 7.5 million kids under Facebook minimum age

Facebook ought to allow children under 13

Online safety tied to real world behavior

Pediatrics group misdiagnosis ‘Facebook depression.’

From Anne Collier, NetFamilyNews

Parenting & the digital drama overload

Developing self in the digital age

Thoughts for a new year (in the digital age)

11 Best Travel Apps (AOL)

Apple iPhone Apps for Traveling (from Apple)

Travelers learn there’s an App for that (MSNBC)

10 Essential travel Apps you should download before taking off (Business Insider)

FlightTrack (Mobiata)

by Larry Magid
This article first appeared in the 5/23/11 edition of the San Jose Mercury News

There’s quite a bit of conflict and confusion over a proposed California bill that would require social networking sites to have users opt in before the site could display any information other than the user’s name and city of residence without the user’s express agreement.

The bill’s author, state Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, said in an interview that the proposed law, which also would require websites to explain privacy options in “plain language,” would apply only to information that could lead to identify theft, fraud or endangerment. But a coalition of companies, including Facebook, Google , Yahoo, Twitter, Zynga, eHarmony and Match.com, says the proposed legislation, SB 242, would have all sorts of negative consequences.

In an open letter to Corbett, the companies argue that her bill would result in less privacy because it “would require social networking sites to force users to make decisions about privacy and visibility of all of their information well before they have ever used the service.”

Out of Context

I agree that it’s hard to make privacy decisions out of context. It may sound paternalistic, but I think people need to understand that sharing information about themselves doesn’t necessarily bring them any harm. In fact, there are benefits to be gained by some information sharing — including your name, hometown, schools attended and places of employment — if that information helps unite you with people you want to become acquainted or reacquainted with.

I can understand why Match.com and eHarmony oppose this bill. Their business depends on users sharing enough information to entice strangers to consider dating them. I also agree with the companies’ contention that “contextual” or “just-in-time privacy or visibility controls” make more sense than agreeing to a disclosure before using a service, even if that disclosure is written in plain English.

In our rush to take advantage of these services, many of us often mindlessly click “accept” when asked to grant permission to websites. It’s a lot more useful to get a notice just before you’re about to take an action about possible negative consequences. I’m reminded of a dispute I had with a credit card company that charged me a fee for a cash advance based on a disclosure they sent me when I opened the account years earlier. It would have been more helpful if they informed me right before I applied for the advance.

The companies also say the bill is unconstitutional because it would “interfere with the right to freedom of speech.” I’m not a lawyer and have no idea how a judge might rule, but on the surface, it seems that this is not really a free-speech issue — at least for adult users — unless they can make a convincing argument that having to review and set privacy policies in advance of using the service would have a chilling effect on speech.

Free Speech Issues for Teens

However, there are free-speech issues for teens because the bill gives parents the right to order the removal of personal identifying information about their children who are registered as under 18. Although I support the right and responsibility of parents to supervise their children, I think we need to tread very carefully before passing legislation that could limit teens’ ability to reach out to others.

I also worry about this provision endangering teens with a parent or guardian who is abusive, neglectful or unsupportive of their political or religious views or their sexual orientation. There is also the issue of how the person claiming to be the parent can prove custodial rights. Of course, teens can get around this by lying about their age, but that prevents the companies from providing minors with extra levels of protection, as does Facebook and some other social networking services.

Corbett assured me that this provision is designed to empower parents to take down personally identifiable information, not postings or opinions. But I’m concerned that it could be more broadly construed, especially since the bill’s definition of personal information includes name and location, which can help teens connect with friends.

Another issue is whether it makes sense to regulate the Internet on a state by state basis. It’s hard enough on a national level, but it makes no sense to have 50 different state laws to regulate an industry that transcends state, let alone national borders.

I applaud Corbett’s intentions and hope that her bill gets thoughtful scrutiny. I’m not sure it’s the right bill, but it’s the right time for a conversation about making sure we understand how to control our own information.

Disclosure: Facebook, Yahoo and Google provide financial support to ConnectSafely.org, the nonprofit Internet safety organization where I serve as co-director.

The iPad 2 may be on backorder for consumers, but Apple doesn’t seem to have any shortage of them when it comes to its own uses. On Sunday, the company started using the popular tablet to replace paper signs at its retail stores.

At a visit to its Palo Alto store (just about a mile from the home of CEO Steve Jobs), visitors could interact with nearly 60 iPads placed next to most products on display.  The iPads were inside a plastic case that’s attached to the table, making it impossible to pick up or walk away with.  And the device’s home button was disabled, so visitors couldn’t get to the home screen or run any software on the iPads other than the point of sale display dedicated to the product sitting right next to it.

The iPads have detailed information about the product next to it which varies depending on what it is.

One option on the device allows you to page a sales person.

Apple hasn’t talked about other retail uses of its iPads but it’s not hard to image this becoming a product line for them. It’s easy to imagine how other retailers could use tablets to describe, promote and enhance products ranging from tennis shoes to turnips. I could see how a clothing retailer could use it to help customers not only learn more about the garment (such as care instructions) but also see if their size or favorite color is in stock or available at another location or via the web.  A grocery store could use this technology to provide nutrition information and recipes.  And some day, I could easily imagine a waiter handing you an iPad 2 instead of a menu which would not only display your options, but send the order directly to the kitchen and tally up your bill.

I’m writing this post on a cool Spring day in Silicon Valley, but we are getting close to summer when temperatures rise and PCs occasionally act up. Although modern PCs are built to mostly work fine in hot environment, heat can cause a PC to shut down or malfunction. Typically, if a system gets too hot it will shut down and can be restarted after it cools off. That’s because machines have sensors in them that determine if they’re starting to exceed safe operating temperatures.

Some machine will kick the fan into overdrive if they sense too much heat, allowing you to keep working.

Occasionally machines will simply malfunction. It’s not common, but what might seem like a software bug could be a processor, memory or other component that’s hiccuping because of the heat.

Regardless of how hot it is in the room, make sure that your computer is getting plenty of air flow. If it’s a laptop, make sure you’re not putting papers, bedding, clothes or other things in the way of the air vents.  Desktop PCs have obvious fan (typically in the back) which need to have some space around them for airflow. Be especially careful if  the PC is in a cabinet or other enclosure.

Also, check for dust build-up around the fan. You can very carefully use a vacuum to suck up dust or a slightly moistened cloth to wipe dust from the fan blades.

If the problem persists take the computer to a technician to have them check the fans and heat syncs which are designed to cool down the processor.

Prevention

It’s not always practical to air condition a room with a PC but you can place a fan in the room, or even near the computer, to cool things down. Since heat rises, it might be a good idea to put them PC on the floor, where it’s often cooler and be sure the PC isn’t up against a wall or any place else where airflow might be impeded.

Resources:

Lifehacker: How to prevent your computer from overheating

Overheating computer: How to detect and fix

How to fix your PC’s Overheating

eHow: How to reduce overheating in a computer

San Francisco — Day one of the annual Google I/O developer’s was all things Android. The day began with a recap of Android’s growth in the two and a half years it’s been on the market. Google says that there are now 100 million activated Android devices, 400,000 new devices activated every day, 200,000 apps in the Android market and that Android users have so far downloaded and installed 4.5 billion apps. Those numbers aren’t as gargantuan as what Apple can claim, but they’re respectable and indicate enormous growth for the only serious competitor to Apple’s popular iOS operating system that runs on iPhones, iPads and iPod touch devices.

The company announced update to Honeycomb, the version of Android optimized for tablets but also said that later this year they’ll ship a new version of the operating system, called Ice Cream Sandwich, that supports both phones and tablets. The just released Honeycomb 3.1 adds resizable widgets and a new task switcher.

Google also announced an update to its Google TV platform which will soon run applications from the Android marketplace.

Thinner Tablet

In the past couple of years, Google has given out Android phones to developers attending Google I/O but this year they handed out an as-yet-unreleased tablet from Samsung. The Samsung Tab 10.1, which will be available to the public sometime this summer, is actually thinner and lighter than Apple’s iPad 2 and feels great in the hand. I’m not going to declare this device an iPad killer, but it’s certainly a contender. The device connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi, there is no 3G cellular option available as there is with the iPad, Motorola Xoom and several other tablets.

Perhaps the biggest news of the day is the Google music service and its video rental service. The music service will allow users to upload their own digital music files (up to 20,000 songs) to Google servers so that you can stream them or download them to a PC or Mac, an or an Android phone or tablet. With all your music in the cloud, you can synchronize it to a device via the net without having to use a cable to connect to a computer. Even though Apple CEO Steve Jobs has said that he expects many people to replace their PCs with tablet devices, the only way to get your music collection to an iPhone or an iPad is to connect it to a computer via a cable.

Movies and Music

Google’s movie rental service, which is now part of the Android market allows you to rent movies to instantly stream to a computer or an Android device. As with other movie rental services, once you rent a movie you have 30 days to start watching and once you start, you have 24 hours to watch it. Because it’s on the cloud you could start viewing a movie on a PC and finish viewing it on an Android device. One relatively unique feature is called “pinning” which allows you to download the movie to the device to watch when you don’t have an Internet connection such as on an airplane. Apple doesn’t currently support streaming so the only way to view a movie on an iOS device is to download it.

Connecting Hardware

Google also announced Android@Home that will allow Android phones and tablets to control home appliances, light switches and other devices. Another project, called Android Open Accessory, will allow hardware developers to create an interface between Android devices and accessories. One example is an exercise bike from Life Fitness that lets you play a fitness game on the Android phone while you peddle the bike. Another example shown at Google I/O allows someone with an Android tablet to control a labyrinth game with an Android tablet. I’m not talking about a virtual on-screen labyrinth but a physical board with motors that tilt the platform based on how you move the tablet. It’s not the most practical demonstration in the world, but it shows the potential for hardware accessories.

Based on what I saw on Tuesday, it’s clear that Google is a major force in both the tablet and phone market. On the tablet side, it’s a distant second to Apple’s wildly successful iPad franchise but its running fast in an effort to catch up.

ReadWriteWeb is reporting that a similar Wi-Fi  bug that affected early iPad users is now affecting the iPad 2.  Users are getting weak signals or being dropped completely. The problem apparently is also affecting some iPhone, iPod Touch and the original iPad.

Occurred after upgrade

The site reports that the problem occurs after upgrading to iOS version 4.3.3. “After updating my iPad to iOS version 4.3.3, I discovered this problem had again resurfaced, but it was even worse than before. My connection wouldn’t just drop after the iPad went to sleep, as it had in the past, it would lose the connection when I was actively using the device, even while surfing the Web,” wrote ReadWriteWeb’s Sara Perez.   She said that reports on Apple’s offical online support forum including complaints such as W-Fi disconnecting and reconnecting on its own, difficulty using Wi-Fi except in close proximity to the router and “Wi-Fi shows signal, but device can’t connect to the Internet.”

Workaround

Perez says that “A temporary workaround is to switch off the Wi-Fi connection, then turn it back on.”

Mac too?

I haven’t read anything about this but I’m having similar problems with my MacBook Air. It works most of the time but sometimes it drops the signal in my house in the same location that my Windows laptop is getting a strong signal. If I get closer to my router, all is well. Or if I wait awhile, the signal returns. I’m not sure there is any connection between this and the iOS problem nor do I know how widespread the Mac problem may be, but I am experiencing it.

Additional coverage of this issue can be found at:

Tuaw

Huffington Post

Cult of Mac

The White House on Thursday sent Congress a proposal for cybersecurity legislation that would, among other things, create a national data breach reporting system that is consistant across all 50 states. Currently 47 states have legislation to require businesses (and in some cases agencies) to disclose to consumers if personal information may be compromised.  The proposed law would also define penalties for “computer criminals” and promote “voluntary Government Assistance to Industry, States, and Local Government” and voluntary information sharing.

It would also “update the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and formalize DHS’ current role in managing cybersecurity for the Federal Government’s civilian computers and networks.” What the White House means by “civilian computers” isn’t 100% clear but there is some concern that the government could be overstepping  its authority.

CNET: White House proposes cybersecurity legislation

White House Fact Sheet: Cybersecurity Legislative Proposal

On the second day of the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco, PC makers Samsung and Acer announced that they will be shipping “Chromebooks” that run Google’s Chrome Operating System.

Instead of running traditional PC software, Chromebooks will boot into the Chrome browser to run web-based applications like Google Docs and Spreadsheets.  The devices don’t have much storage, but the Internet has infinite storage.

Starting about $349, the devices are going to be less expensive than most laptop PCs and, according to Google, will boot up in a few seconds since they don’t have to load a large operating system. Some models will have Wi-Fi only while others will have 3G cellular connectivity.

For more:

Mike Swift’s report in the San Jose Mercury News

CNET: “Samsung to unveil details of Chromebook”

CNET: “Acer Chromebook: A sold-state Netbook for $349”

Iconia Tab A500 (Credit: Acer)

by Larry Magid

started thinking about Android tablets the moment Apple introduced the iPad back in January 2010. After all, if Apple could find a way to make its wildly successful iPhone operating system work on a larger device, it seemed only logical that Google could as well.

Even before Google software engineers adapted Android to run on tablets, Samsung and some other manufacturers figured out ways to shoehorn the phone version of Android to work on larger devices. The results were mixed. But some products, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, did a pretty good job taking the Android phone experience to a larger platform.

Then in February, Google took the wraps off Honeycomb, a version of Android optimized for tablets.

Motorola was the first to employ Honeycomb with its Xoom tablet at a starting price of $800, which was $300 more than the least expensive iPad at the time. True, unlike the cheapest iPad, the $800 Xoom worked with 3G cellular service. But when Motorola started shipping its Wi-Fi only version, it priced it at $599 and, by that time, you could get a Wi-Fi only iPad for $399 or an iPad 2 for $499.

At those prices, Motorola didn’t have a chance of competing with the iPad. Not only was the iPad a lot cheaper, it had already established itself as the runaway leader. For anyone to seriously challenge Apple, they have to figure out a way to make their product either cheaper or better.

Well, Acer definitely succeeded, at least on the price issue. The new Acer Iconia Tab A500 sells for $449, which is $50 less than the entry level iPad 2 (though you can now order a refurbished iPad for $349 from the online Apple store). The new Acer is Wi-Fi only, but if you have a smartphone capable of creating its own Wi-Fi hotspot, you can use that to provide Internet service to a Wi-Fi only tablet or laptop.

Whether Acer succeeded in making a tablet that’s better than the iPad is a bit harder to judge. But if you prefer Android to Apple’s iOS mobile operating system and want some options like a USB port, a MicroSD card slot and the ability to use Flash, you now have a viable and affordable choice. The Acer also has HDMI out to connect to a TV set.

While Apple pretty much cloned its iPhone user interface to the iPad, Google’s Honeycomb is more of an adaptation. Android phone users will figure it out soon enough but there are significant changes, such as the lack of even a single dedicated button to navigate back to the home screen. Instead there are soft keys that show up at the bottom of the screen, regardless of how you are holding the screen. There is also a back key and one that shows you your more recently used applications. There is a physical on/off switch, volume control and lock to turn off automatic screen rotation between landscape and portrait mode.

Although it’s optimized for a tablet and is not based on an existing PC operating system, Honeycomb strikes me as a bit more PC-centric than the iPad. For one thing, it supports a more robust form of multitasking, allowing you to see the programs you’re running and quickly switch from one application to another.

And the hardware also gives you flexibility to add storage, thanks to the USB port and extra memory slots. For example, for $21 you can buy a MicroSD card that will double the device’s storage to 32GB. I plugged in a 16GB external thumb drive full of music and was able to play the songs and see the cover art, though it took a few minutes before the tablet could access the files.

Beyond the interface, Acer did a nice job on the industrial design with a combination brushed aluminum and plastic case. Yes, it’s heavier (1.7 pounds versus 1.33 pounds) and thicker (.5 inch versus .34 inch) than the iPad 2, but it also has a larger (10.1 inch versus 9.7 inch) display. Based on my very unscientific “how it feels in my hand” test, I’d say it’s slightly better than the original iPad, but not as good as the iPad 2.

At the end of the day, the biggest difference between a Honeycomb tablet and the iPhone is the trade-off between flexibility and simplicity. Apple has designed a system that’s very easy to use as long as you want to use it exactly the way Apple intended it to be used. Google offers power, flexibility and expandability.

Using Google’s Honeycomb and the hardware that supports it is a little like being around a real Honeycomb. It’s a bit complex and, if you’re not careful, you can get stung. But once you know what you’re doing, it’s very sweet.

This post first appeared in the San Jose Mercury News