Featured Guest Series

by Todd Jordan

In the previous articles we’ve talked about a variety of tools you could use to keep your kids safe online. There are browsers, suites, and toolbars, but each requires something not included in the package.  

That something is parental involvement.

Increase Your Knowledge

Internet safety is more about knowledge of the pitfalls and coming along side children instead of waging a war of prevention.  Each of the tools already mentioned require downloading, installing, setup, and monitoring.

That said, they lull parents into a false sense of security.  They make us tend to set and forget, and hope for the best.  What can we do to step out off attrition mode?

Get safety smart and get involved.

Get Safety Smart … Get Involved

So what’s a parent to do to get educated and take part?

I recommend play!   You can have a good time and learn a bit at the same time, so dig in!

Get an account on your kid’s favorite network  – (let’s take Faceboook for example, very popular these days)

 Step 1:  Set up your profile

1. Don’t share your birthdate – real friends will know, for the rest it doesn’t matter

2. Don’t share your phone number – again, your real life friends should already have this

3. Leave the address information blank – it adds no value, and those that need to know do

4. Leave the Political views blank – not only do your friends know, this is a magnet for trouble

5. Religious views – this is a safe one to fill in – but realize this won’t ward off folks of opposite beliefs

6. Instant message – leave it blank to start with

7. Work and college info – leave it blank – this is not picked up on by Facebook except for ads – there is no automatic connection with others involved

       
      A little more common sense about our profile

• What is in your profile is visible and searchable by others, at least in part?

• When you make someone a contact, they have much higher access to your profile information.

• Leaving fields blank isn’t dishonest. (Don’t be trapped into the myth that only predators keep information private)

• Anything shared with your profile that’s public is not only searchable, but likely to be permanently available in Internet archives.

More… »

Featured Guest Article

by Robert Hruzek

Photo by M. Ryan

Hey, do your digital photos tend to come out looking pale and washed-out?

Mine sure do!

Are the colors not quite as vivid as you remembered?

Yep;  that’s me, all right!

The Free, Fast, & Easy Software

When it comes to capturing those great moments with today’s cameras, well, I must admit to being something of a dweeb.  I’ll tell ya; I can never figure out how to get the best out of ‘em.

The good news is, help is available! For instance, there’s a great photo-editing tool available that’s easy, fast and – best of all – free! (Don’cha just love that word?)

Trust me; it’s easier than you think.

Edit It & Store It

With just a couple of clicks I will show you how to use a free web-based photo-editing tool called Picnik to make even ordinary-seeming photos come alive. But here’s the best news: Picnik has partnered with Flickr in such a way that they’re practically joined at the hip!

More… »

• Microsoft Word 2007: introduction

• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007: introduction

• Microsoft Excel 2007: introduction

• Writing a high impact business plan

• Build your business identity with a new logo

• How to build your first website

Microsoft® Word 2007: introduction

Word 2007 enables users to create professional-quality documents, such as letters, brochures, newsletters and web pages. In this class, you’ll learn the basics of using Word 2007, and then move on to customizing the Word environment.

You’ll also learn how to create and edit documents, work with graphics, use editing and proofing functions and more.

• Learn the Word 2007 environment and become comfortable manipulating that environment to make workflow more efficient for individual style
• Create documents and edit documents
• Use formatting and page-layout functions
• Use editing and proofing functions
• Create graphics using SmartArt
• Create basic tables and use Quick Tables

More… »

Featured Guest Series

by Todd Jordan

In part one of this series, Keeping Kids Safe – Parental Control Software, I talked about software suites like NetNanny. These aren’t the only tools available to parents. For those of you who are less technically inclined who may find a package of programs complicated, browser replacements are much easier to manage.

Internet Browsers

The majority, over 80%, of internet users are using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer to access and visit web sites, with a handful more using other browsers. In most cases, concerned parents are not given the expertise nor are the parental control settings adequate in these browsers. To make life a little easier for parents, especially those with younger children, easy to use browser replacements are available.

Locating And Evaluating Browser Replacements

It’s easy to locate these browser replacements by doing a good search engine search. Here is the search criteria that I used. I would like to point you to a couple of promising choices:

• KidRocket
• KidZui

I’ve only mentioned two, but there are several choices available. The key point to understand is that each bowser offers a different experience at a different price. It is worth your time to spend a little time evaluating the differences and finding the right choice for your family.

More… »

“You are Democrats and Republicans and Independents.

But you all served together, and fought together, and bled together under the same proud flag.

You did not serve a Red America or a Blue America – you served the United States of America.”

— Barack Obama VFW National Convention August 19, 2008

Quick Question

Are you a Republican? A Democrat? An Independent?

Quick Answer

I don’t care about your political preference, this is a rhetorical question.

With the upcoming presidential election, many American’s have drawn their lines in the sand. We hear ‘military’, ‘troops’, or ‘soldier’ and man y people relate it back to the war, the current president, or a political party.

The effect is that many people are confused about their support for such organizations as eMail our Military. I think Barak Obama making this and other statements will help bring healing and a realization that these soldiers are American’s, just as each of us is. Any line drawn in sand can be easily erased and is not permanant.

“eMail Our Military is composed of volunteers from all walks of life who understand that regardless of our political views, our military service members deserve our respect, support & encouragement.”

— Trish Forant, founder eMail Our Military

What Is eMail Our Military?

Due to the anthrax scare, two major letter writing campaign’s to our troops were canceled. These programs were the Department of Defense’s “Any Service Member” and Dear Abby’s “Operation Dear Abby“. When Trish Forant heard about these campaigns ending, eMail Our Miliatary was founded in 2001 as direct response to the cancellation of these two programs.

More… »