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New Media News Every Morning

myNOGGIN.com combines preschool curriculum-based learning and gaming

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mynoggin.gifNickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group continues the expansion of its casual gaming experiences for kids and families with the launch of myNOGGIN, a personalized, premium subscription-based service for preschoolers and their parents.

Featuring curriculum-based learning through game play, and starring kids’ favorite Nick Jr. and NOGGIN characters, the advertising-free service provides preschoolers with core educationalbuilding blocks through fun and entertaining games.

It is designed to closely follow kids’ school curriculum and aims to helps children learn all of the major skills from preschool through
grade one (ages 3 to 6). As children play the levels of each game, the site uniquely adapts to their individual skill levels.

The premium service has three different subscription packages: $5.95 for a 12 month commitment; $7.95 for a six-month commitment; and $9.95 for a month-to-month commitment.

Originally posted on October 23, 2007 @ 4:36 am

DivideTheRide.com helps parents in carpool scheduling

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901amDivide The Ride is a newly launched carpooling website designed to help busy parents by creating carpool calendars based on their schedules and driving availability.

It aims eliminates the time, effort and often confusion that can go along with traditional carpool scheduling.

It utilizes web based technology and is remarkably fast, easy, and free of charge to use. Most importantly, Divide The Ride is safe
and secure.

Getting started is simple. Parents choose families they know to join their carpool. Once carpool members are onboard, all participants enter their driving availability and Divide The Ride creates a carpool schedule for them quickly. The carpool schedule is emailed to everyone in the group along with text messages and email reminders.

Originally posted on October 22, 2007 @ 4:26 am

Is your child a cyrberbully?

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cyberbullying1.jpgA research conducted by the University of New Hampshire’s Crimes against Children Research Center among 1500 young people ages 10 to 17 across the nation has revealed that 1 in 4 (27%) teenagers are cyberbullies and 6% harass or bully others online frequently.

“Youth who harass others online are twice as likely to have conflict with their parents. It’s important to involve parents in Internet safety efforts, but it’s important also to engage teenagers,” said Dr. Michele Ybarra, the principal author of the study.

There is a Website called Cyberbully411.org for teens involved in Internet harassment and provides roadmap to thwarting teen cyberbullying.

Recently, public concern has focused on accounts of children and teenagers being sexually solicited and harassed on social networking sites. Some politicians and lawmakers are advocating measures to restrict children and teenagers’ access to these sites as a means of preventing sexual exploitation of young Internet users.

Originally posted on September 12, 2007 @ 7:32 am

Age verification software for social networking now available

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cybersitter.jpgIn response to the requests of many parents and government officials to develop age verification system for social networking, a new patent-pending technology called CYBERsitter V-Token allows parents to specify the ages or age ranges of their children and what types of content or activities that should not be allowed when their children visit a web site.

Parents simply need to download a small program that allows them to configure their preferences for each restricted user. Whenever a user visits any web site, these preferences are sent automatically to the remote server with every page request.

“It is simply not reasonable to encumber parents with an age verification process for every popular site their kids want to visit. Nor is it reasonable to inconvenience millions of adult aged users who may want to remain anonymous. CYBERsitter V-Token technology allows parents and content providers to cooperate in offering a safer environment without overburdening anybody,” said Brian Milburn, president of CYBERsitter developer, Solid Oak Software.

Originally posted on September 11, 2007 @ 8:05 am

FamilyEducation.com offers safety tips on the recent toy recall

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geotrax.jpgOnline publisher of practical parenting guidance FamilyEducation.com has created a “Recent Toy Recalls” slideshow to help parent determine which recalled toys their children have and keep them informed of new recalls and safety information with links to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s complete list of toy manufacturers’ sites.

“When parents turn on the news and hear that millions of toys are being recalled — often some of their children’s favorites — they are confused about what to do and concerned about how to ensure their kids are playing with safe toys. As one of the first places that parents turn for information, FamilyEducation is committed to providing parents with the latest toy recall information, helpful safety tips and other resources and expert advice for avoiding the most common hazards in toys,” said Jess M. Brallier, publisher, FamilyEducation.

Originally posted on September 12, 2007 @ 6:54 am