The Online Mom Blog - Summer camps beckon but leave that smartphone behind!

When I think of summer camp, I think of toasting marshmallows by a campfire, stepping in the mud on the bottom of a lake, and itchy mosquito bites. But for a lot of kids these days, summer camp has started to have a new meaning. Brought up on a daily diet of texting, video games and Facebook, they are steeling themselves for the anxiety of going up to eight weeks without any technology!

In response to what many believe is a severe digital overload for our children, modern and traditional camps alike are steadfastly sticking with a tech-free environment. Cell phones are banned, personal computers and gaming systems are also being prohibited, and even iPods and other music players are heavily restricted.

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Preventing Bullying: Where Should We Start?

By Stacey Ross

Gone are the days when bullies would only gang up on other kids in the schoolyard. Now, “cyberbullies” are turning to e-mail, chat rooms, Facebook and other social media sites with devastating effect, often causing greater harm than traditional forms of harassment. It seems as if media headlines and stories about cyberbullying are everywhere, with a growing percentage of our youth exposed to online aggression and abuse.

Most articles on cyberbullying typically focus on the impact of abuse or how to respond if you are a victim. However, the real emphasis should be on prevention and addressing the root of the problem early on. This process involves examining underlying symptoms, as well as intervening with those at risk before the damage is done. But who, exactly, is going to deal with the rising tide of cyberbullying before it escalates? And who is in charge of this task?

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Taking your smartphone overseas

While we all love our smartphones and can’t bear to go anywhere without them, even the savviest cellular customer has a little apprehension about planning an overseas trip. We’ve all had those vacations where we have congratulated ourselves for staying within budget only to find that our cell phone bills were hundreds of dollars more than we expected. With international calling rates, costly data charges, and unexpected roaming fees, it’s easy to think that taking a phone abroad is far more trouble than it’s worth.

Thankfully, times are changing. Phone manufacturers and wireless carriers recognize the difficulties associated with cell phone use overseas and have made enormous strides in trying to simplify the process and help control the costs. However, despite the improvements, traveling overseas with your phone can still be a costly experience. Here are some tips on how to make it a little more affordable:

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Getting to Know Facebook Graph Search

By Tracey Dowdy

Way back in January, Facebook started to roll out Graph Search, a clever way to filter through your friends’ posts to find specific content. It’s still in beta phase and hasn’t been rolled out to everyone as yet, allowing the development team time to work out the kinks in the system.

Graph Search is built on semantic search. In other words, the algorithms used not only search what you type, but they interpret your request by context and search for what they think you mean. Sometimes semantic search is accurate and provides enlightening results, other times not so much. Think of when you search using Google. When I recently typed “Why” in the search box, Google guessed the rest of my question would be “…is the sky blue”, “…am I so tired”, “…did the pope resign”, and “…do cats purr.” Clearly Google doesn’t know me as well as it thinks, since I’m not really a weary, contemplative Catholic who is interested in cats, but based on previous queries, Google made some assumptions.

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7 Cool Features On the New BlackBerry Q10

By Paul O’Reilly

The BlackBerry Q10 just became available on Verizon Wireless’s 4G LTE network, bringing smiles to the faces of all those BlackBerry fans that longed for the Z10 but couldn’t live without the beloved BlackBerry keyboard.

But although the Q10 looks and feels like a traditional BlackBerry device (albeit with a bigger screen), don’t be fooled. It’s packed with enough state-of-the-art applications and eye-opening tricks that even die-hard iPhone and Android users will sit up and take notice. Here are a few of my favorite features:

• Type and Go
  If you want to initiate an action or search for anything, there’s no need to scroll through multiple screens or look for the browser icon. Just start typing and the Q10 will find what you’re looking for. Want to send an e-mail? Just type ‘email’ and the name of the person you want to send to and the Q10 will automatically open a new e-mail addressed to that person. Type ‘FB’ to reach Facebook, ‘TW’ to open Twitter, or just start typing your search term and the Q10 will do the rest.

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