parenting

Jeff's better half Stacie Blair and Dan the Mantern fill out Friday's show, where once again, things go awry with the technical difficulties. I'm starting to think The 404 is cursed. Stories for the day include fake iPhone lineups in Poland, facial recognition technology at Dunkin' Donuts, parenting tips from The 404, and our new segment "Girlfriend of a Gamer."

Today's show is suppa greeen! We're very excited to welcome Stacie Blair into the studio! She jumps into the chatroom from time to time, but this is the first time ever in the … Read more

Though T-Mobile doesn't offer any cell phones specifically designed for kids and teenagers, the carrier on Thursday announced features that will allow parents to control how their children use their phones.

With the Family Allowances program, parents with a family plan can give their kids and teens a monthly allowance for using their cell phone. The allowance works on any T-Mobile phone and can cover all services including calling, messages, mobile Web browsing, and downloads. Once the allowance is used up, those particular features will stop working. However, kids will still be able to call any "always allowed&… Read more

For a free Internet filter, K9 Web Blocker does its job well, providing a broad collection of options for customizing your remote Web supervision needs. The app comes with a handful or so of predesigned filters and an option to customize. With more than 50 categories for organizing Web sites, and the keyword-free proprietary K9 rating system, the Web monitoring and blocking aspects of the software functioned well. K9 also has categories for blocking sites that have been detected as potential malware threats. Equally impressive--and a little bit scary--was the log that detailed not just blocked Web sites but also … Read more

Someday my son will hate me for this, but I just implemented a new way to record his daily achievements: A dedicated Gmail account. I got the idea for this tip from John Girard, CEO of Clickability, who sends tagged emails to his Outlook account. Anything with his special code in the subject means it's news about one of his kids, and he has filters to archive those notes into an offline file.

But it's so easy to set a new Gmail account, I thought, why not just do it this way? Plus, I can give account access … Read more

Two decades ago, video games, like comic books before them, were written off as a form of entertainment strictly for children. Just like the comic book industry eventually produced mature, extremely-not-for-kids books like Alan Moore's Watchmen or Garth Ennis' Preacher, the video game industry has produced mature, extremely-not-for-kids games like BioWare's Mass Effect and 2K Games' Bioshock. These games can have violence, sex, and very strong language, and are not appropriate for children.

Fortunately, each of the three major video game consoles (Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and PlayStation 3) include built-in security features to lock out mature games … Read more

Back from the weekend, Randall's parents get rid of their home phone...so that Randall can't call anymore. Nine Inch Nails is another band releasing their album free online. Seth MacFarlane is back in business with Fox and may release a new Family Guy spinoff, Cleveland. Semi-Pro was semi-awful, and if you want to meet men, go to the Apple Store.

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The Playstation 3 has many great games. Unfortunately, the majority of those games are violent, bloody, and utterly inappropriate for children. Fortunately, the PS3 has a parental control system that lets you make certain your kids can play Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, but won't be able to load the ultraviolent Ninja Gaiden Sigma or The Darkness. The Playstation Portable contains a similar control system, so this handy guide can help you watch what your children are playing, both at home and on the go.

Please note: Unlike the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, the PS3 and PSP don't use the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's rating system. Instead they use a series of numbered levels ranging from 1 for only the most acceptable titles to 11 for almost all games. Level 5 approximately corresponds with T-rated games, though parents should experiment with the different levels to determine which level is most appropriate for their family.… Read more

The Nintendo Wii has plenty of great games for children and adults. However, it also has a handful of incredibly violent titles that can be fun for adults but completely inappropriate for children. While Super Mario Galaxy is a fun, cute game children can enjoy, No More Heroes is an ultraviolent gorefest and Manhunt 2 will probably give them all nightmares. Fortunately, the Wii has a built-in parental control system that lets you limit what games your children can play. This handy guide can help you set up your Wii to make certain your children will only play appropriate games.

Please note: The Nintendo Wii uses game ratings designed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Like the MPAA and movie ratings, the ESRB divides games into age-based categories, including E for Everyone, T for Teen, and M for Mature. For more information on the ESRB rating system, visit their Web site.… Read more

The Xbox 360 has a ton of great games, but not all of them are meant for children. You may have fun chainsawing zombies in Dead Rising or immolating deranged splicers in Bioshock, but your young child could get nightmares. Fortunately, the Xbox 360 has a parental control system where you can set it to make certain that little Timmy only plays E- or T-rated games, while you can still enjoy your ultraviolent carnage. This guide will walk you through the process of making your Xbox 360 safe for your children.

Please note: The Xbox 360 uses game ratings designed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Like the MPAA and movie ratings, the ESRB divides games into age-based categories, including E for Everyone, T for Teen, and M for Mature. For more information on the ESRB rating system, visit their Web site.… Read more