I control what they can and can’t install since they don’t know my iTunes password and even though iTunes will retain my password for 15 minutes after I load an application (by default), I keep an eye on the kids to make sure they’re not down loading more.

I was mistakenly allowing them to access YouTube and since they cannot spell yet I did not restrict access to safari or any specific web sites.

However, one day a few months back I happened to walk by and hear lots of giggling. With little ones, generally that either means fun or trouble.   Either way I’m interested to know what’s going on. So, I walk over to the kids and notice they are watching a video on the iPod touch where this annoying orange is yelling and cursing and they are cracking up about it. I don’t mind a humor in the least but I don’t want them running around using inappropriate language so it was time for a change.

I was interested in finding a way to block their web access but not completely. I did some research and ended up selecting OpenDNS.  It’s a free solution that will help block access to websites that I don’t want them to see yet.  Granted, this does not replace responsible parenting but it will help me have some comfort in knowing that most sites they are too young to view will not be visible to them. They have no need to social network or tweet yet so I’m good with a general block on most social sites since they often deal with more grown up oriented content.

On the flip side I do need social site access and so I don’t want to block everything for the whole house. There are a couple of places where a DNS entry can be effective for a home user (at the Router and on each device). In this case, since I want just the kids to be restricted, each iPod touch has to be set up individually.

Here are the basic steps

1. Go to Open DNS and set up a free account.

There are currently 2 free options and one paid – I’m content with the free Home option but you may want additional flexibility using a paid option.

You’ll want to make sure you’ve confirmed all your settings and the account is successfully set up before you go to the next step.

Note the name servers since you will need them

2. Find your iPod Touch, ipad or iPhone

3. Go  to Settings

4. Select General

5. Scroll to and select Network

6. Scroll to and select your Wi-Fi connection

7. Find your network connection and press the blue arrow off to the right side

8. Find the DNS entry and enter one of the “nameservers” provided by OpenDNS.

9. Save all your changes and you should be set.

Now most of the traffic going through your Wi-Fi connection from that one device will be routed through OpenDNS.  If it is deemed by them to be a “bad” site (depending on your settings) the device, and therefore your kids, will not be able to access them.  This works for me because the kids use the devices at home pretty much exclusively.  If they were to go to another house and connect to another Wi-Fi connection, the DNS server would need to be updated on that Wi-Fi account on the iDevice too.  As they get older, I’ll need more savvy solutions but for youngsters this works pretty well.

The kids get a little frustrated with me when they can’t go on YouTube but they can access other kid friendly video apps like Cartoon Network and still be entertained.

Lance

If the computer breaks, the network won’t connect or a cell phone is acting funny, the family calls me. I’ve worked in and around technology development for nearly 20 years. I’m a tech, information and football fanatic with a short attention span who is always trying out new things and sharing information about them with others. In my “free” time, I enjoy drawing, photography, writing, watching anime and spending time with my family. Follow me on Twitter | Facebook

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iPhone and iPod Touch users perceive the new operating system to be faster, but the proof is always in the data.

Thanks to the team at New Relic, we now have that data…

Essentially, New Relic compared actual page load speed for over 3000 sites accessed on both iOS 4 and 5 and that, on average, it takes a web page 9.6 seconds to fully load on iOS 4 vs 4.1 seconds on iOS 5. AND page load speed is 3X faster in iOS 5 Safari 5.1 than iOS 4 Safari 5.0.

Need more convincing? Check out the infographic below – then update your device!

[H/T Wayne Dixon and Sarah Saul]

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Previous Apple’s iWork suite was available as an iPad Only application, but now those without Apple’s tablet can enjoy the functionality of iWork on their devices as well.

There are some minimum requirements regarding installing iWork on your iPhone or iPod Touch. In order to use iWork you must have an iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, or an iPod Touch 3rd Generation or iPod Touch 4th Generation. Any other iOS-based device will not be able to run iWork.

The size of each application has increased, this is not surprising. The surprising part is exactly how much. For Pages, the increase has gone from 53.9MB with version 1.3.1 to 92.2MB, an increase of 71.1%.

Numbers increased from 73.4MB to 123.7MB. This is a 68.5% increase in size. Finally, Keynote increased from 70.2MB to 125.1MB. This is the largest increase at 78.2%. These changes are due to the new resources and universal code that is needed.

The three applications that comprise the iWork Suite, Pages, Keynote and Numbers are available for $9.99 each. If you already purchased any of these products for the iPad all you need to do is update and you will get the universal application automatically.

Wayne Dixon

I'm into anything technology related. I do some HTML/CSS/PHP development. I like to follow things that most people would find annoying or not worthwhile. I follow Apple, Microsoft, Google, The Cloud, cell phones and even programming. By Day I'm a Systems Administrator for a Library, which has it's own set of issues. Follow me on Twitter.

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“The concept for zMatch originated from the imaginative minds of our Minsk Mobile team. Once we saw the demo concept and how much fun people were having while playing zMatch, we simply had to release it as a full game,” stated Chris Howard, CEO of Softeq. “With zMatch, you match three or more of the same objects using the accelerometer, while also playing with burning match sticks. So yes, you’re literally playing with matches — in more ways than one!”

In zMatch, match sets of three or more shapes, and touch to burn or explode them. Burn bonuses or draw a matchstick to lengthen your time fuse, but don’t let the fuse reach the top! Light a matchstick to double your points while the matchstick is burning, or light several matchsticks to really get a high scoring run. zMatch supports OpenFeint for shared leaderboards and achievements. Achieve your own Towering Inferno or play long enough to Burn, Baby, Burn!

Key Features of zMatch include:

• Accelerometer-based matching play
• Innovative matching and matchstick gameplay
• Quick to learn yet fun to play again
• Adaptive difficulty stages
• Achievements and Leaderboards

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James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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In a press release this morning Netflix announced the availability of its free Netflix App for iPhone and iPod touch, allowing Netflix members on plans starting at just $8.99 a month to instantly watch a vast selection of TV episodes and movies streamed to their iPhone or iPod touch at no additional cost.

The Netflix App is available for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or via the link here.

“Apple has changed the game for mobile devices,” said Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and chief executive officer. “We’re excited that our members can now carry Netflix around in their pockets and instantly watch movies and TV shows streamed from Netflix right to their iPhone or iPod touch.”

The Netflix App delivers a high-quality viewing experience, a broad array of movie and TV choices and a clean, intuitive interface. It is available via both Wi-Fi and 3G networks. TV episodes and movies are conveniently organized into a variety of categories based on members’ personal preferences, popular genres, new arrivals and members’ individual instant Queues.

Members can choose a movie or TV episode from any of the lists and just tap the innovative Multi-Touch user interface to watch instantly or to save the title for viewing later.
Additionally, users have the option of fast-forwarding and rewinding the video stream, and stopping at any time. When users want to start watching again, the video stream starts exactly where it was stopped, even on a different device capable of streaming from Netflix.

The Netflix App supports any iPhone or iPod touch device running iOS version 3.13 or later.

[via]

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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The official online Star Wars shop has begun selling its very own iPhone case resembling one of your favorite droids – R2-D2.

This is only available for the 3G and 3GS – sorry iPhone 4 early adopters…

You can pre-order the case today for $30 and it is expected to ship in October.

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, etc. have made experiencing the vastness of the interweb and sharing your findings with others incredibly FUN !

There is, however, one problem with all this, there are so many tools and apps that perform very similar location-based functions and, if you subscribe to a handful of these services you could become a victim of “check-in fatigue” – caused by logging into each system separately to update your status, gain your new badge and climb to the top of the mayor pile.

For that problem, let me introduce you to a solution – Footfeed, an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch (that I wrote about back in July here), has recently released a very significant application update.

By definition, Footfeed is a check-in aggregator. Allowing you to check-in to location-based services Brightkite, Foursquare, and Gowalla simultaneously. Sounds like a winner so far doesn’t it ?! Well add to that the capability to post your status on your Facebook wall and you’ve pretty much got all the major social circles covered.

This latest update, version 1.1, brings about some much needed stability to the application and some hints of future capabilities. As far as new features and enhancements, Footfeed 1.1 brings:

• Much higher resolution graphics (it’s all about the retina display when you’re talking iPhone 4)
• iOS 4.0 enhanced support – including fast application switching
• Added nearby Favorites
• Added checkmarks on Nearby Places screen to show you where you’ve checked in previously (this is actually more handy than I initially thought it would be)
• Added location category icons to Places

One thing that was inevitable, was the integration and support for iAds. I actually don’t have a problem with the way the developer, Pocket Laundry, has implemented iAds – they’re not obtrusive and only show up on the main check-in page.

For their next release – which I’m thinking will be even more significant, I’m hearing that there will be features like:

• Tighter integration and support for Twitter
• Improved location matching (that’s a big one since you have multiple services you have to match the same location to)
• Location search
• Location tips
• Maybe even some check-in offers (sounds interesting…)

and I’m noticing more space in the Connected to section of the check-in screen (see images below). Does that mean services like Loopt and Twitter could be in the near future? Only time will tell.

Footfeed 1.0 Check-in

Footfeed 1.1 Checkin

Footfeed (@footfeedtweet) is a free app and you can grab it in the App Store here.

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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The new app gives you quick and easy access to catch up on the latest news while on the go, and the category view gives you the ability to focus on reviews, interviews, contests, or updates for your favorite gaming platform. In addition to reading the site, you can use the search feature to find something specific, share your thoughts using the built-in comment feature, browse through the image and video galleries, send in news tips to the Joystiq team, and listen to recent podcasts for both the Joystiq Podcast and the Xbox Fancast.

The app is available for free on the App Store. For more information head on over to Joystiq (@joystiq) to check it out.

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Image via Wikipedia

It only seems logical that the next gadget from Apple to get a makeover will be the iPod Touch. But what could they do to the thing?

The interweb is buzzing with the possibility of the following top updates to the iPod Touch:

• Dual-camera system similar to the new iPhone 4, allowing iPod touch users to make FaceTime calls with iPhone 4 users
• Hi-res “retina display”
• Apple A4 chip and additional memory and battery
• A smaller “iPod touch nano” with a hi-res display to replace the iPod nano

What do you think could be next out of Apple ?

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James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Image via http://si.wsj.net

The company has developed what it calls a touchscreen version of a landline telephone, in the hope that it will provide an alternative to mobile phone technology.

The device, which has no name or price yet, will go on sale in the UK next year.

It was revealed by the chief executive of BT Retail Gavin Patterson at a strategy day yesterday.

Analysts were shown a prototype of the product, which will be smaller than Apple’s iPad but bigger than the iPod Touch.

The company has denied the tablet is BT’s answer to the US company’s product and has instead described it as a mini-PC designed for the kitchen or lounge with voicemail, emailing and text messaging.

It will also have “apps” to quickly tell users the day’s news or weather.

BT said the device is not meant for use out of the home at all, unlike the iPad.

The product will be sold on its own but will also be part of the internet and communication packages BT offers.

[via]

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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