- Video game smarts for parents
Of course it's predictable that most Web-based
gift guides are about techie gifts. We'll get to those because they're
useful too, but first the best part of Christmas: gifts for kids. With
that (and us parent shoppers) in mind, we'll start with game reviewer
Gen Katz's advice and picks for video and computer game giving (Gen is
editor of Games4Girls.com, but
this commentary is not gender-specific):
"Looking for games? Here are a few suggestions.
"The 'E' rating ('Everyone') for games states
that it is suitable for kids 6 and over. There is a problem with this.
There is a world of difference between 'Emperor' and 'Barbie Secret Agent,'
and both are rated 'E.' That merely indicates that it will have a minimum
of violence, leaving it up to you to decide if it will be too hard for
your child or if s/he will finish it in an hour. A well-designed game
will allow for a range of difficulty so it can grow with a child.
"Games from The Learning Company all have a self-leveling
feature that increases the difficulty depending upon performance, so gaming
is always a challenge. The self-leveling can be turned off for those who
do not wish to be so challenged.
"TLC's latest game, 'Liberty's Kids,' has players
doing investigative journalism for Ben Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette.
The boy and girl reporters work on covering both sides to incidents around
the American Revolution and assemble the most cogent facts to make a good
story. In spite of the simplistic graphics, the interactiveness of the
game makes it even more compelling than the TV Show.
"A welcome new series from TLC, 'Star Flyers,'
has a girl leading the pack on intergalactic adventures to planets like
Funopolis, and Chocolopagus. It has some of the most creative arcade-like
games I have seen in a while. The snaky hand elevators give a new look
to the now worn out task of leaping from platform to platform. The designers
have taken a whole bunch of things that kids like and put them all together
to make these two games. I am hoping for more. There is a new Zoombini-
Island Odyssey, but you don't have to buy the latest to get the best -
all of the Zoombini titles are great and offer a challenge to kids and
parents alike.
"The Nancy Drew mysteries are up to No. 7 - but
pick them by where you would like to spend a couple of days working on
a mystery. Each mystery takes place in a new venue - back stage ('The
Final Scene'), a castle transformed into a ski resort ('Treasure in the
Royal Tower'), a museum ('Secret of the Scarlet Hand'), a backwoods shack
('Ghost Dogs of Moon Lake') and my favorite, a Victorian mansion with
a Chinese legacy ('Message in a Haunted Mansion'). "The variety of game
platforms has grown larger and larger. Currently there is almost nothing
on the Mac, with the exception of TLC's games - because of their edutainment
leanings and the fact their used in schools. Games on the PC are more
story-oriented - something that girls like. Action is slower - after all,
you're working with a mouse. The games will also play on a variety of
versions of Windows. A game of the year, 'Syberia,' has a sophisticated
female lawyer in search of an elusive and maybe mad heir of a defunct
robotic toy factory. Its Web site alone is enough
to keep you entranced for hours.
"When you buy a game for one of the consoles -
Xbox, Game Cube or the PlayStation 2 you are into arcade games with more
quick finger thinking than cognitive puzzle solving. Action takes precedence
over story. New games are not downward compatible, so games made for the
PlayStation 2 will not play on the PlayStation, new Game Boy Advance games
will not play on the Game Boy Color. The Xbox and Game Cube are still
too new for that to happen.
"Games for consoles are often derived from the
assets of television and movie companies such as Nickelodeon and Disney,
and popular features will regularly appear in console games. This not
only affords them brand-name recognition, but also primes players as to
what to expect - the stage has already been set for Harry Potter and Jimmy
Neutron. This advantage is paramount in the games on the GameBoy machines.
"A couple of tips for parents. If you like the
game, check out the company that produced/distributed it to find others
with than quality. Most people focus on the title on the box. Inveterate
game players not only know who distributes the game but also the name
of the developer and even the lead designer. Also, you know those cards
that ask you to register the program. Send them back with your comments
on them - a quick way to make your opinion known.
Please note: Prices, photos,
distributors, etc., for all the games Gen mentions can readily be found
at Games4Girls.com.
- All types of kid gifts
Disney's Family Fun magazine surveys more than
1,000 kids each year to get their own Top
10 toy picks. On this page, you'll find toys by category - e.g., Quiet,
Imaginative, and Active Play - and age group. (Our thanks to "Neat New
Stuff" for pointing out this resource.)
For two other important perspectives - a parent's and a toy engineer's
- the New York Times offers "A
Parent's Strategy" on "hot holiday toys" and - in "Building
a Better Cat" - insights into how an engineer tries to fold emotion
into a robot toy.
- For tech toys and gadgets, the best resources
we've seen are:
- Teen murdered by a man met in chat
It looks like this week's was the second such
murder since the death of 13-year-old Christina Long in Danbury, Conn.,
last summer (a South African newspaper told Christina's story just this
week at Dispatch.co.za).
Like Christina, Kacie Rene Woody, also 13, had met the man who killed
her in online chat and reportedly had been chatting with him for about
a month, NBCSanDiego.com
reports. Both she and the man were found dead in his van, in Conway,
Ark., on Wednesday night in what police reportedly believe was a murder
suicide. Officers told reporters they believe she was abducted and did
not go with the man willingly. The alleged killer, David Fuller, was a
resident of San Diego and, according to Reuters,
had traveled to Arkansas about a month ago.
- The Net in US high school
"School assignment or digital dalliance?" That's
the question increasingly coming to parents' minds as the line between
schoolwork and personal projects blurs, the Dallas
Morning News reports. But sometimes the "digital dalliances" may be
pointing to future careers. Take, for example, the parents of Erich -
17-year-old graphic animator, high school senior, and de facto master
of the household Compaq PC. Sometimes for 30-hour stretches they can't
touch the family PC because it's working on Erich's projects, "rendering
thousands of images into slick, smooth video gamescapes." But his computer
interests are not unique, the Morning News reports. They illustrate recent
findings by the Pew Internet & American
Life project that show US teenagers wanting school Internet-based
assignments more engaging and relevant to their lives. Erich's fortunate
because his school has a computer animation class. The article is a wonderful
window on the world of high school-level Internet use in the US. (As with
the New York Times, access to this paper's articles requires free registration.)
- Dot-kids signed into law
For the record, dot-kids became law this week,
when President Bush put his signature to it. "The Dot-Kids Implementation
and Efficiency Act creates a dot-kids domain within America's dot-us addressing
space," the Washington Post reports .
CNN's report
says it was the death of sixth-grader Christina Long in Danbury, Conn.,
last summer that spurred lawmakers into action on the law. Christina was
murdered by a man she met in an Internet chat room (her story was recently
cited in a South African newspaper ).
- How Net Nanny blocked library's own site
Because a public library in western Ohio is named
after a former benefactor named Leo Flesh, the library accidentally banned
its own Web site - but only because Web filter Net Nanny blocked it. According
to the Associated
Press, the Piqua, Ohio, library's URL, or Web address, was www.fleshpublic.lib.oh.us.
Now the library is accessible with a new
address. Here's other coverage at the Dayton
Daily News if the above link goes away.
- Libraries & the Net: Bigger picture
Some libraries, such as those in Cleveland, Ohio,
wouldn't have a problem like the above because they don't install filtering
on Net-connected computers. "Libraries in Raleigh, N.C., have installed
software on all their 500 computers with Internet access to block sexually
explicit material. Libraries in Great Falls, Mont., require parents to
sign consent forms for their children to use computers," the New
York Times reports. "Many libraries have educational programs for
children and their parents to warn them of the dangers of the Internet.
And a growing number of public libraries use a combination of approaches,
even if they do not always work," which is why the challenge presented
to librarians by having their workplaces many communities' main point
of Internet access is not going away. Besides librarians' individual challenges
- such as doing what their job descriptions say instead of becoming full-time
"Internet police" - there's the general challenge of being right at the
intersection of free-speech and children's rights, and thus the focus
of a national debate. The Times's piece is great wide-angle snapshot of
a debate in process, one that awaits a Supreme Court decision on library
filtering in mid-2003 (see "Supreme
Court & library filtering," 11/15).
- An e-greeting links to porn
It looks harmless enough - an email with a link
to an online greeting card that appears to be sent by a friend. But it's
not. The sender is a porn publisher and the link is to X-rated Web pages,
CNN
reports. "E-mail marketers - many of them porn sites - are increasingly
borrowing tactics used by hackers to trick potential customers into seeing
their messages," CNN says, "and often, they use Microsoft's ActiveX Controls,
which are meant to make Web pages more interactive, to instantly download
their unwanted programs." There's no virus or downloadable file involved,
so virus-detection software won't help. Parents and kids be alert! In
particular, watch out for e-cards from "FriendGreetings." Wired
News's piece on this goes into more detail about legitimate e-greeting
companies - with e-cards ok to open.
- 40 years in prison - at least
...before parole will be considered, and a 60-year
sentence, is one of the longest sentences yet for a child pornography
conviction to date. If not the longest. The National Center for Missing
& Exploited Children tells us this case - involving an eight-year-old
girl and cited in the Minneapolis
Star Tribune - started as a CyberTipline report *by the perpetrator*
to the NCMEC. The 23-year-old man was turning in a partner in this crime,
but "two days later his mother told a social worker that she had found
a pornographic picture of a child and girl's clothing in her son's bedroom,"
the Star Tribune reports. The partner received a four-year prison sentence
and 30 years' probation for "aiding and abetting first-degree criminal
sexual conduct and use of a minor in a sexual performance." This is horrifying
material to report, but important because of the milestone it represents
- in matching sentences to child-victimization crimes - and because of
the recognition it gives the National Center's CyberTipline, a vital resource
for child protection. The Tipline can be accessed via the phone or Web
(800-843-5678 or CyberTipline.com) with equally quick results.
- UK teen's child-porn library
A child-porn case in the UK ended in quite different
results. "A computer clerk who ran Britain's biggest and "busiest" online
child pornography library was jailed for two years by the Old Bailey yesterday,
The
Independent reports. He was only 19 when his activities were discovered
by police. In one particular four-day period, his 2,000-image online library
had 3,000 visitors. Our thanks to the Safer
Internet newsletter for pointing this piece out.
- Child porn: How US police are doing
The US General Accounting Office (GAO) recently
released a 36-page report
to Congress about law-enforcement efforts to combat child pornography.
Electronic media such as chat rooms, newsgroups, and peer-to-peer file-sharing
have made child porn images more accessible than ever before, the report
says, creating more challenges for law enforcement. The challenges include
coordination ones because multiple government entities are involved in
the effort at the federal level alone: US Customs, the Postal Inspection
Service, the Secret Service, and the FBI and other parts of the Department
of Justice. In its brief "Recommendation for Executive Action," the report
recommends that, for better coordination, the Postal Inspection Service
and Secret Service be allowed to receive reports of child pornography
from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Right now only
the FBI and Customs have access to the tips received by the NCMEC through
its CyberTipline (www.cybertipline.com
or 1-800-THE-LOST). Our thanks to the NCMEC
for pointing this report out to us.
- US's 2nd virtual child porn law tabled
We try to keep you up to date on the fate of law
and policy concerning online kids. The last time this subject was in the
news was in June,
when revised legislation for combating virtual child pornography was believed
to be on a fast track. The latest news is that the law, which quickly
passed the House of Representatives last summer, has been tabled until
the next legislative session because the House and Senate couldn't agree
on the definition of "virtual child pornography" in their respective versions
of the proposed law, PCWorld.com
reports. (Last April the Supreme Court struck down the first such
law on constitutional grounds, saying the definition of "virtual child
porn" was too broad.)
Meanwhile, Canada this week introduced new anti-child-porn
legislation "It seeks to address some of the newer challenges created
by the Internet," according to BNA Internet
Law. "For example, the bill criminalizes online voyeurism." Here's
Reuters on this
from Ottawa.
- US Naval Academy students as 'pirates'
The latest "big story" on student file-swapping
in the US media offers insights into many aspects of the phenomenon -
from media piracy to media entertainment, college-style, to frazzled university
network administrators. On that last topic, schools have tried everything.
The New
York Times reports that they've "closed off the portals used by file-trading
services, installed software to limit how much bandwidth each student
can use, and disciplined students who share media files. But nothing,
so far, has proved entirely effective." Student countermeasures are getting
increasingly sophisticated, for example, learning how to "burrow through
network firewalls and spread their downloading activities across multiple
computers to avoid detection," according to the Times.
As for the US Naval Academy: It "seized nearly
100 student computers suspected of containing illegally downloaded music
and movies, the toughest action yet in higher education's struggle against
the trading of copyrighted material over colleges' Internet servers,"
the Washington
Post reports. The Post adds that the students' punishments could range
from loss of vacation time to court-martial and expulsion. "Higher education
lawyers suggested that the academy took stronger action than most institutions
because it is a federal installation."
Meanwhile, all this just confirms what a new study
found: "Record industry attempts to stop the swapping of pop music on
online networks such as Kazaa will never work," the BBC
reports.
- Ringtones as fashion statement
Downloadable ringtones are hot wherever there
are teens using cell phones. This - a new revenue stream - makes record
companies very happy, reports TheFeature.com,
while giving mobile communicators a way to personalize their aural self-expression.
The piece is written from Silicon Valley, but it gives insights into this
teen tech phenomenon in countries, like the UK and Japan, where cell phones
are more like appendages than accessories. So are they downloading ringtones
at your house yet?
- European study on online kids
New research looked at the Internet's increasing
role in European children's lives. According to EuropeMedia,
the study, which surveyed 2,100 European children 6-13 and their parents
and teachers, found that half of children 6-7 are online and 94% of 12-to-13-year-olds
use the Net. "Younger children seem to almost exclusively use the Web
for play, whereas older children use a wider range of Internet offers
such as email, information on their hobbies, activities or chat. Research
for homework does not seem to be a major reason the use the Web: only
14% of the younger and 25% of the older kids mentioned this activity,"
EuropeMedia reports. Contrast those figures with the 45.7% who say they
use chatrooms and the 73.4% who send emails on a regular basis.
- Emailing Santa
In Berlin-datelined "Dear Santa: You've Got Email,"
Wired
News takes in the situation at the North Pole Post Office (including
what's received in the Virtual Mail Department). See the article for the
URLs of a couple of Santa sites that actually respond to children's emails
- a German market research company has been evaluating Santa sites for
two years.
