Two free Parents' Guides help parents demystify and take the fear out of popular photo-sharing apps

Kids are flocking to mobile photo-sharing apps and leading the way are Instagram and Snapchat. Kids love Instagram (now owned by Facebook) because it's an easy...

I recently wrote about Snapchat, the popular photo sharing app that allows users to share photos that will self-destruct from between one and 10 seconds after they're viewed. As I said in that story, there are many reasons people use the popular Android and Apple iOS app and...

With $7.5 million in start-up funds from Redpoint Ventures and some individual investors, Curious.com is open for business as a marketplace that allows teachers of all kinds to market video lessons...

As we celebrate "Earth Week" (its too important for just one day), I can't help but think about how technology both helps and harms our environment.

On the positive side, tech is helping cut down on the use of some resources. Reading newspapers and documents on screens means chopping down...

Back in the early '90s, then Vice President Al Gore spoke of the Internet as an "information superhighway." While that's a somewhat imperfect analogy, the Internet and highways do have some things in common. Both can move traffic and both can become too clogged up for traffic to move swiftly.

We hear a lot about kids bullying* other kids and it is indeed a problem. But what about adults bullying other adults, or adults bullying kids?

True, bullying is a problem among youth. The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in 2009, 28 percent of 12 through...

My son and daughter, both in their 20s, are part of a growing group of people who have "cut the cord" and no longer watch video via broadcast, cable or satellite TV. The apartments they live in are among the more than five million U.S. homes that, according to a...

I've been a board member at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) for several years and I've heard a lot of horrible stories about children who have been abducted or abused. Every story is tragic but the ones that turn my stomach the most are cases where...

March 12th is World Day Against Cyber-Censorship (source: Reporters Without Borders)

Reporters Without Borders has declared Tuesday, March 12 as World Day Against Cyber-Censorship in support of an "Internet without restrictions and accessible to all."

The last time I checked, the word...

Sometimes I think there should be a big sign in front of some schools saying, "Welcome back to the 20th century."

True, virtually all schools...

As I watched Sony unveil the PlayStation 4 at a press conference on February 20th, I was struck by how much data the new device would be collecting from its users.

"We're changing the rule when it comes to social gaming," said David Perry, the CEO of Gaikai,...

The Obama administration has unveiled its Cybersecurity Executive Order and Congress is considering the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which worries a lot of privacy advocates because it allows companies to share information about cyber attacks that some say could include users' information. But,...

One of the best tech-related commercials I've seen is the Samsung ad that shows a young person waiting in line for the iPhone, only to reveal that he's actually saving a spot for his parents. He and other youth are far more excited about their Samsung Galaxy III...

A recent story from the Gilroy Dispatch gives me concern about the unintended consequences of our recent campaigns to stop bullying. The report, which lacks specific details, quotes police officials referring to the children involved as "suspects"and "victims." It reads more like a crime blotter than a serious...

There has been a lot of speculation about whether Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o was the victim of someone claiming online to be the love of his life or whether he was in on the hoax. It all came to light in a story published Wednesday...

As I'm sure you noticed, no one "owns" the Internet. We all have a stake in it and it's time for all of us to take some personal responsibility when it comes to how we manage what we do on the net.

Sure, there are companies like Facebook, Google, Amazon...

Family Contract for Online Safety from SafeKids.com.

Several years ago, my site SafeKids.com, developed a Family Contract for Online Safety and every few months I make sure it's up-to-date. The idea of a contract, or series...

Chart shows that younger children are more likely to friend their parents (Source: Facebook)

Researchers at Facebook took a look at friending patterns within families and discovered that teens -- especially young teens -- are more likely to friend their...

One of the biggest obstacles to online shopping is the fear of fraud or a security scam. Although longtime Internet users may already know how to protect themselves, we're seeing a lot of new people shopping online this year as Internet use become ubiquitous. And most of us are new...

Based on what I've seen lately, things don't look promising for Microsoft. This is not wishful thinking. I've been a fan of its products for decades and am writing this column in Microsoft Word on my Windows 7 PC, which I like.

The company should be in a celebratory mood....