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Please note: The reports in this section are not product reviews or tests; they're meant to spotlight options for you to consider, as well as milestones in children's online-safety technology development. Comments from readers on their own experiences with these products and services are most welcome - and, with your permission, we publish them. Do email us your own product reviews anytime!
From our overview of new kinds of online-safety options - and products that represent them - on display at the June '99 Digital Kids conference in San Francisco...
Closed online services for kids (June 18, '99 issue)
These are like AOL, Prodigy, and CompuServe in the old days, back in the early '90s - in the sense that they're closed online services. Though they use the Internet for distribution, you can't get into them from the Web, and you can't get to the Web from within these services. The difference is the fact that they're for kids (they generally target 2-12-year-olds, but we think 8- or 9-year-olds are probably the outer limit). Because they're closed, they promote themselves as totally safe solutions, which is right for the most part. They have total control over the child's experience, so if you like their values and content, consider your child safe.
Unlike most online experiences for people who dial up, these are also media-rich, fast-downloading services - which can be important to kids who like to play with CD-ROMs. You could almost call them updatable CD-ROM environments.
We've looked at two of these. One, Boston-based JuniorNet, just became available this spring; the other, out of Los Angeles, will have many similar features. Both are repackaging famous children's media "brands" for online delivery. In JuniorNet's case, it's Bear in the Big Blue House, Highlights, Zillions (from Consumer Reports), Sports Illustrated Kids, WeeklyReader, and other famous names in print and broadcast. The cost of JuniorNet is $9.95/mo. for up to four kids in a household. There will be no advertising or e-commerce on the service; all their revenue is from subscriptions. For the other service not yet unveiled, revenue sources haven't been finalized, but we suspect there will be a subscription fee.
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