Window Vista Parental Controls Are Awesome

I posted a little slice of praise for these parental controls on my personal blog. In the 1st couple hours, I got a comment and two emails asking for more info. Wow, I didn’t realize there was that much interest in the subject. Anyhow, I decided to share this on Mobilitysite although it’s kind of off topic.

I have blocked internet use for my kids for a long time, but now it’s getting to the point where I need to let my 14 year old daughter get online to do some things. I am not going to allow her the run of the net like many have at that age, but I am going to unlock the information superhighway a little…

Anyhow, if you haven’t messed around with the Parental Controls in Vista, DO SO NOW. They are really nice.

This is nothing new, but today was the 1st time that I took the time to setup these controls and I am really in awe at the power. I used to own a license to an after market program that was quite costly and not as nice.  Read on for screenshots of the setup controls…

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How to Save Wet Devices

This is pretty good info for many devices, I’ve saved a laptop from a quart of Gatoraid and a cell from a swimming pool. Conversely, I’ve lost several phones from washing machines .  So, I’d consider it a miracle to be able to recover a device from a dunking and if you are lucky enough to benefit from this, remember to be grateful.

Sooner or later every cell phone goes in the drink. For some it may be the bathtub, for others a glass of scotch. For many, the toilet. (No need to explain.)

Hey, you spent hundreds of dollars on that handset, so it’s understandable that you might decide to attempt to rescue it. But how?

The Cell Freak has all the collected wisdom on the topic, including some advice I’d never heard, like soaking the phone in 95% alcohol to dissolve all the water trapped inside. I’ve personally had good luck with low-level heat for wet phones and laptops: A few hours on the lowest setting inside an oven (150 degrees or thereabouts) can dry out a gadget and make it good as new.

Regardless of which method you try, remember to remove the battery from any device you attempt to salvage. If this hasn’t been made clear by now, batteries are deeply susceptible to damage from heat and foreign substances. They’re also relatively easy to replace, so don’t even try to save a battery if it’s been compromised. However, batteries are by design well-sealed to prevent water or other materials from getting inside, so a quick wipe with a towel should be all you need to save a power cell.

Remember that these methods are not foolproof; in fact, they’re far from it. Water and electronics just don’t mix. My personal record on saving wet gadgets is about 50-50, but those are pretty good odds in my book, and with this advice, they’re even better.

Link 1: http://tech.yahoo.com/blog/null/6837

Link 2: http://www.thecellfreak.com/how-do-i-save-a-wet-cellphone/

Is "My space" safe?

There are few places is the cyberspace that I do not visit. One of them is “My Space”. In my case the main reason is that hate pages with loud songs playing in the background, that and the poor web design in My Space Webpages of the majority of the people with pages there, and that includes my own daughter page. Now on top of what I just said, I have found another reason why I should keep things in the way they are and stay away from that “zoo park”. Here is a report posted recently in the Exploit Prevention Lab blog.

Now, we keep finding MySpace pages that have had some sort of image-background link injected, that are reaching out to a different site in China that is both throwing exploits and using social engineering to install rootkits and (probably) dns-changers.

 

When I was watching this report it reminded me when a few years ago I had to clean my daughter’s laptop from about two different virus infections and when I was asking her what pages she was visiting to get that kind of infection her answer was very simple, she was visiting Britney Spears’ web site which according to my daughter, who was 14 at that time, was a “safe” website.

What NOT to do with your cell phones

I’m sure that many of us have an old drawer of old cell phones and occasionally a child might find one or be given one as a toy. You might want to choose something else to allow the kids to play with.

Parents might want to think twice before giving their old cell phones to their children to play with because although an old cell phone may not have a service plan, the phone can still dial 911.
The wireless 911 call center at the Framingham State Police Barracks has been receiving prank calls from a young child using such a phone that can’t be traced, police said.
“We handle approximately three (thousand) to five thousand wireless 911 calls per day,” said Tom Ashe with the statewide emergency telecommunication.
In one of the prank calls, the child says, “Can I have an extra large cheese pizza please?”
“So far today, this dispatcher received 16 911 calls from this one unutilized phone,” Ashe said.
Police say parents are giving their kids old cell phones, not knowing that they still can connect to 911 even though they’ve been de-activated.
The phone can still connect to 911 because the FCC requires any cell phone, even ones no longer on a service plan, to be able to reach 911. All it requires is a working battery.
Problems arise with the issue when calls come in and the dispatchers’ hands are tied because the phones no longer show a call-back number.

However, if the phone is yours, you might want to find someone other than a 911 operator to vent your frustrations to.

WBZ has learned that legislation will be filed Monday that would make it a crime to make bogus calls to 911 operators.
Non-emergency calls to the emergency line are a huge problem.
More than 300,000 calls a year taken at the wireless 911 center in Framingham are not for real emergencies.
Many are downright abusive.
“Well the issue is the system gets congested with all these inappropriate calls from people calling for directions or complaining about road construction,” said Tom Ashe, the manager of wireless 911.
State Police estimate that 1,000 wireless 911 calls each day are for non-emergencies. A thousand tying up dispatcher after dispatcher for precious minutes.

…

State Senator Jim Timilty, (D) of Attleboro, has heard enough.
As chairman of the Public Safety Committee, he will file legislation Monday to make it a crime for people to tie up emergency 911 lines.
“Somebody who needs the help won’t get the help because someone is taking out their frustrations on a 911 dispatcher,” he said.
“I don’t want to see that happen. That’s why we made it a year jail or a $1,000 fine.”
Only the most abusive callers would be subject to arrest.
But right now that could easily be more 100 callers each week.
States like Tennessee and Georgia have already passed laws making bogus 911 calls a crime. Tennessee has collected more than $400,000 in fines.

The old cell phone given to your child as a toy might come back and bite your wallet.

 

Links: http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_249233601.html

http://wbztv.com/local/local_story_281095318.html

Cars That Fight Thieves

While this isn’t exactly “Mobilitysite” fodder, this is the integration of technology that will usher in new levels of convenience and security.

Say some clown steals your car from the parking lot while you are hard at work.
If it’s equipped with General Motors’ OnStar service, he could be in for a big surprise and you could get a little revenge - and even see your car again.

Starting with about 20 models for 2009, the service will be able to slowly halt a car that is reported stolen, and the radio may even speak up and tell the thief to pull over because police are watching.

OnStar already finds 700 to 800 cars per month using the global positioning system. With the new technology, which OnStar President Chet Huber said GM will apply to the rest of its lineup in future years, OnStar would call police and tell them a stolen car’s whereabouts.

Then, if officers see the car in motion and judge it can be stopped safely, they can tell OnStar operators, who will send the car a signal via cell phone to slow it to a halt.

The integration of GPS, Cellular technology, remote computing, and some form of carputer will work to make car theft a minimal occurrence.. or at least make it harder to get away with it.

The eventual evolution of this technology in my opinion could lead to the recording of the conversation in the cabin, data logging of the vehicle’s position, electronic lock out the next time the car stops at an intersection, even other “deterrents”… something about 160 decibels and strobe lights would make it very difficult to concentrate as well as making the vehicle stand out

It would even be very convenient if the car via OnStar could “bluejack” any cell phones that might be in the car at the time… I’d imagine that most people have a “Home” entry in their cell phones, even car thieves.

 

Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/09/tech/main3346016.shtml?source=mostpop_story

AT&T Suspends Cell Phone Control

It was too good to be true.  Hopefully they will come up with a workaround for this valuable service.

 

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — AT&T Inc. has suspended a service allowing parents to put limits on when their children’s cell phones can be used because it could restrict return calls from 911 operators.

AT&T’s Smart Limits service allows a child to call 911 even when restrictions are in effect. But if a child called 911 and was then disconnected during restricted hours, a 911 operator would not be able to call back, said spokesman Michael Coe.

“We have no indications that this has ever occurred, and the person who originally made the call would be able to call the 911 operator back, of course,” Coe said in an e-mail.

AT&T suspended the service Saturday, Coe said. AT&T is notifying customers and will credit their accounts.

The service, which began earlier this month and is offered as an add-on for $4.99 per month per line, lets parents limit when cell phones can make and receive calls and restrict text messaging and talk time. It also lets parents set allowances for ring tones and other downloads. The service doesn’t require a contract.

Coe said AT&T will restart the service as soon as it resolves the problem, but that it has not set a timeline.

___

On the Net:
http://www.att.com

 

Source: http://www.baynews9.com/content/26/2007/9/25/290344.html?title=AT&T%20Suspends%20Cell%20Phone%20Control

 

First thread:

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/mobility-site-news/218000-about-time-parental-control-products-wireless-services.html

GPS - School Uniforms

When it comes to tracking people by GPS, there are two schools of thought. Either its a practical solution to all sorts of safety/security issues… or its the start of a 1984 type surveillance culture that will ultimately take all our freedoms away.

Actually the first time I did read 1984 was in my English class while wearing my school uniform… and now to add to the debate and scope for essay writing UK firm Trutex are looking at  adding GPS tracking to those very uniforms.

Apparently nothing is actually ready for shipping, and they’re looking at how it would be used..  but as units become smaller, cheaper and more power efficient it’s probably only a matter of time

Trutex marketing manager, Clare Rix told IT PRO that the badges and colours that are a feature of school uniforms already act as a safety feature, helping to identify which school a child attends and perhaps making it easier for truant officers to pick out truants on high streets. She added that the idea of adding GPS came as a natural extension to this.

“It seemed the next logical step, knowing the technology was out there to do achieve this,” she said.

Source: IT Pro

007-style gadget to aid soldiers

A wrist mounted translation device that could help save lives today, can turn into a tourist’s or businessman’s travel aid tomorrow. It could also be used by police in border areas or urban areas that have a specific 2nd language.

An Iraqi immigrant’s wristwatch-based translation device - designed to help British soldiers overcome language barriers while on patrol - could be in production by the end of the year, it has been announced.

The voice recognition-based technology would aid troops and civilians in high-risk and “hot zone” situations by translating buzz phrases such as “don’t shoot”, “stay back” and “help will be here soon”.

The technology - the idea of an Iraqi-born student who fled to the UK - generated international publicity when it was first shown at the University of Derby’s Arts, Design and Technology Degree Show earlier this year.

Link to full story here: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=paTranslator_Fri_00_Soldier_language_gadget&show_article=1&catnum=7

Lightning Strikes Reported by IPod Users

While the title of the story is targeting iPods, the body of the story is describing the effects of people struck by lightning just wearing personal electronics. The point being getting struck by lightning while having wires wrapped around your head is bad.

Listen to an iPod during a storm and you may get more than electrifying tunes. A Canadian jogger suffered wishbone-shaped chest and neck burns, ruptured eardrums and a broken jaw when lightning traveled through his music player’s wires.

Last summer, a Colorado teen ended up with similar injuries when lightning struck nearby as he was listening to his iPod while mowing the lawn.

Emergency physicians report treating other patients with burns from freak accidents while using personal electronic devices such as beepers, Walkman players and laptop computers outdoors during storms.

Michael Utley, a former stockbroker from West Yarmouth, Mass., who survived being struck by lightning while golfing, has tracked 13 cases since 2004 of people hit while talking on cell phones. They are described on his Web site,

Contrary to some urban legends and media reports, electronic devices don’t attract lightning the way a tall tree or a lightning rod does.

“It’s going to hit where it’s going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity,” said Dr. Mary Ann Cooper of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an ER doctor at University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago.

…

 

Read the rest of the story at: http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070711/ap/d8qakrd01.html