I get a bit cross when basic standards of social networking aren’t adhered to, particularly when it comes to companies-who-should-know-better. Such as MySpace. Plus I’m always in trouble. I just muddle on, minding my own business, and whammo, I’m in deep doo-doos. Here’s my MySpace problem. See my age? Well it’s in ELF years. Part of my “grumpy elf with attitude” roleplaying thingie I’ve got going on. You don’t have to understand, like, or agree with it, but heigh ho, it’s the way I rolled it… Anyway, I checked my MySpace page the other day and noticed a message from Continue Reading…
Apr 232007
This is too sad for me to go into the details. Read the Sydney Morning Herald coverage here. AT JUST 16 Jodie Gater and Stephanie Gestier appear to have made an unimaginable pact. On her MySpace web page Jodie had written: “let Steph and me b free.” Yesterday, a week after they disappeared, the bodies of the two girls were found in bushland on the outskirts of Melbourne. It is understood Jodie and Stephanie had hanged themselves, after first posting apparent farewell messages on the internet. But I do want to ask – if you were to come across a Continue Reading…
Jan 152007
As most of you know, I do a bit of work with Mobiles2Go.com, the LBS GPS mobile solutions people. Here’s a brill story I picked up today from an email: Approximately 3 months ago my daughter took the ikids with her to the swimming pool. Later that day she calls me from a pay phone saying that she had lost it. I performed a ‘find’ and found that it was still in the same suburb. I then did a mobile route search a found that the i kids was in the same suburb but quiet far from where she was. Continue Reading…
John Reid, British Home Secretary had this to say: A”kite mark” standard is being planned by the home secretary to help protect children from internet paedophiles. John Reid told GMTV he planned a system of approved software so parents could feel assured their child was safe from paedophiles while online. He said the idea was to have a system which alerts parents if trigger phrases were used while their child was online. More details of the measures, which he called “a major step forward”, would be unveiled on Wednesday, he said. “Protecting children is probably the biggest obligation of a Continue Reading…
Nov 092006
A great Web 2.0 for children site! In the Chair is music education software that lets you practice by performing with professional musicians, bands and renowned orchestras. Be part of the band – hear the other musicians as you watch the video from your chosen spot – and perfect the piece with the feedback you receive as you play. With In the Chair you practice with real musicians, playing real music (not Midi) using your own instrument! Lots of widgets and Web 2.0 thingies to play with. Collaboration in the ultimate collaborative sector (making music). Very sweeeeet. A world first, Continue Reading…
Online Communities sometimes help to name and shame the bad guys, not just provide grooming grounds. From Columbian Missourian by MORGAN COOK. Facebook helps crack caseFacebook acted as an investigative tool when a resident downloaded child pornography on campus Before an MU student suspected of downloading child pornography became the subject of an MU Police investigation in August, he was the subject of an online community investigation that lasted a day and a half and was conducted over a public message board. Facebook played a role in what some Cramer Hall residents did that night to expose the student’s online Continue Reading…
The New York Times tried to block British subscribers from reading online articles about the airline terror suspects due to British court laws. It won’t work because there’s waaaaay too many aggregators blogging on about this stuff. Plus, of course, The Cloak can hide your identity and therefore give you anonymous access – they have anonymous proxy, encryption and keep the cookies at their site. The Cloak’s WHY? page has some intriguing tidbits – they let the news snippets speak for themselves. Here’s a selection: The leading Web advertising company [DoubleClick.com] plans to build a database of consumer profiles that Continue Reading…
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