teens

Google+ welcomes teens to the social network

Ever since Google opened the digital doors to its Google+ social network in June, it's been an adult-only area.

Today, the company changed the terms of joining the network, allowing in teens for the first time. In the United States and most other countries in which Google+ is available, anyone 13 or older can now join. Facebook has the same age requirement.

Google vice president of product Bradley Horowitz, a co-leader of the Google+ effort, announced the move in a post on the network, taking a swipe at competitor Facebook along the way, noting that teens have unsatisfactory networking … Read more

Facebook lawsuit gets green light

Google+ introduces improvements just before the holidays, text-sending teens increase their data usage by 256 percent over last year, and a federal judge rules that a lawsuit targeting Facebook's "sponsored stories" can proceed.

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

Facebook lawsuit can proceed Facebook private messages for biz Google+ improvements Teens text way too much Japanese touchscreen vending machines Saudi prince invests in Twitter Subscribe:  iTunes (MP3) |  iTunes (320x180) |  iTunes (HD) |  RSS (MP3) |  RSS (320x180) |  RSS HD

A fool-proof teen driver tracking device?

The keys to the family car are a teen's passport to freedom, but a new tracking device could help parents curb the wanderlust in young drivers.

The iTeen365 is the GPS equivalent of a toddler leash for cars.

Parents can purchase the iTeen365 device online, have it professionally installed in their vehicle, set up a geofence online, and sit back and relax. The tracking system takes care of the rest.

GPS technology embedded in the device tracks the vehicle location, which is visible online at the iTeen365 Web site with a user account. The online reporting tool also stores … Read more

Phones for your teenager (roundup)

I sometimes find myself in the middle of negotiations between teens and their parents about which phone to get. Invariably, the teens want the top-of-the-line smartphone, and who can blame them? What they eventually wind up with, however, is often further down the list.

I've rounded up a range of teen-friendly phones that includes some Android smartphones with youthful (or affordable) characteristics and a couple of other messaging phones that make a more visual splash than some of the other adequate texters out there.

Fired TechCrunch teen bounces back to give back

At age 17, Daniel Brusilovsky had his moment in the media spotlight, but not for reasons to brag about. In February 2010, the then-intern at TechCrunch was fired for allegedly soliciting bribes for a MacBook Air in exchange for start-up coverage.

"Unfortunately, without going into the particulars, I made a mistake and publicly paid the price for it," said Brusilovsky, now 18. "It's something I hope others don't have to go through, but I never lost sight of my vision to help entrepreneurs and specifically teens, and wasn't going to let this get in … Read more

Ruin your daughter's self esteem with this app!

Depending on your point of view, Top Girl is either a harmless game about "girl stuff" (shopping, dating, trying to look "hot") or a thoroughly offensive app promoting a stupefying array of sexist stereotypes.

Whatever your take on Top Girl's social and moral merits, this app definitely falls more under the category of time-waster (and freemium money-waster) than game. You start by choosing an impossibly curvy, underwear-wearing avatar, and then trick her out with clothes with varying "hotness" ratings (divided into "daytime chic" and "club" wear). You then go … Read more

Screech machine to drive away teen vandals

It's hard to get teenagers to go away.

Some thought that a little economic crisis might at least get them to be quiet for a while and stand in line for a job at McDonald's.

Yet as far as the town of Hastings in Minnesota is concerned, perhaps only technology can rid it of teen pests.

According to the Associated Press, Hastings suffers from teenagers who enjoy vandalizing Cari Park, an out-of-the way place that has no lighting.

So, ululating in the dark for a solution, the town has hit on the idea of using SonicScreen Technology, courtesy … Read more

Minor controversy: Zuckerberg wants young kids on Facebook

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview this week he would like to create a safe and educational social networking environment for kids younger than 13. (According to Consumer Reports, 7.5 million such American kids already use Facebook by lying about their age.)

"That will be a fight we take on at some point," Zuckerberg reportedly said of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, which mandates parental permission and other protections for young users. And here we thought China was Facebook's next big controversy...

iPad graphic novel teaches kids self-esteem

I had a hard time in middle school. Other kids picked on me, girls ignored me, and many of the friends I'd had in elementary school abandoned me.

Perhaps reading "Be Confident in Who You Are: A Middle School Confidential Graphic Novel" would have helped--if only it had been available back then.

Based on the actual graphic novel of the same name, Be Confident in Who You Are for iPad reads like a nicely illustrated comic book and addresses a number of important tween/teen issues: bullying, body image, problems with friends, peer pressure, and so on.… Read more