If you haven’t turned on SSL in Facebook and Twitter and you use any network outside your home, check out Firesheep. Turning on SSL is the best protection for this type of hacker attempt….
Turning on SSL will make both Facebook and Twitter just a bit more secure. While it won’t protect you from other types of hack attacks, phishing or other social media scams, it will protect the traffic between your browser and two of the most popular social media sites on the Internet.(It also won’t protect against family members who find you logged in and ‘borrow’ your account to leave you a message (visible to everyone you know)…
SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. You can read more about it on Wikipedia. This is DEFINITELY a setting that you should enable within Twitter and Facebook.
Check out these articles on enabling SSL in Facebook and Twitter
I am a SAHM/WAHM of three boys ranging in age from 13 to 29. We are working on saving enough for college at the same time as dealing with school and our older independent kids. I author a few blogs, including http://teched4kids.com. I have in the past taught computer information technology classes for the local university and taught workshops for kid's in technology education besides being the Kentucky State FIRST LEGO League Championship Coordinator from 2005 to 2008. I now work as a computer consultant, run a handmade home business, and am available for workshops. Life here is always an adventure!
We just got the LeapPad Explorer for out 4 year old son and so far it has been great! It is the best of several recent LeapFrog toys in one–it has games like the Leapster Explorer, a camera like the camera that is sold separately for the Leapster Explorer, but the camera is built into the LeapPad, it has downloadable interactive books like the tag system.
Pros/Great features of the LeapPad Explorer:
-It has a slot for game cartridges like the Leapster Explorer (in fact you can use the games from the Leapster Explorer on the LeapPad)
-It has downloadable “apps” (games, interactive books, and videos) for $5-$10 that you download on your computer and load on the LeapPad via USB cable.
-It also has several apps included with the LeapPad like a story studio where you can write your own stories, photo/video app where you can take and edit photos and videos, art studio where you can make drawings, and one additional app that you can choose when you first hook it up to the computer.
-It has a built-in camera and microphone so you can take photos, video and record audio.
-It has a large, bright touch screen that works with your fingers or one of the 2 included styluses, the stylus is held in the side of the LeapPad magnetically and can be tethered to the LeapPad and it comes with an extra stylus for when the first one inevitably gets lost. Others have said they don’t like the stylus, but I think it is an important learning aspect of the LeapPad in that it helps my 4 year old practice holding a pencil correctly and there is also a game included with the LeapPad that lets him practice writing his letters correctly.
-It is rugged. He has already dropped it 4-5 times from about 3-4 feet up on our tile floor and it is just fine.
-It has a good speaker and headphone jack.
-Very easy to use
One of the coolest things about the LeapPad is all of the things that allows my son to be creative. Although the games are great and educational, eventually he will get tired of them and want to buy more games, but when he gets bored of the games he can always go to the camera and take photos and pictures and make them look funny, or go to the story studio and make a story or record his voice or our voices for his story. He can pretty much spend an unlimited amount of time (as much as we will let him) on the creative apps just making stuff up and still be entertained.
Cons:
-No rechargeable batteries. This is not a huge issue since 1. The batteries last quite a long time and 2. We just have 8 Sanyo eneloop rechargeable batteries that we bought on Amazon, 4 are in the LeapPad and the other 4 are recharging so there are always fresh batteries.
-No Wifi. It would be nice not to have to connect the LeapPad to the computer to update it, load new games, and upload pictures, but really it is $100 so I am not expecting it to be like an iPad. Also I like that e can’t get access to the internet on it when he is playing it by himself so no wifi may be a pro or that reason.
-The LeapPad has to be updated right when you get it to load al of the included apps. This takes quite a long time (over an hour). It would have been nice if it came preloaded. This may be fixed in the future.
-Games, books and video are not inexpensive, but that is pretty much what Leapfrog products are like. The nice thing about the LeapPad though is that there are a lot of included apps that allow unlimited creativity. And it is like several Leapfrog products in one so I just have the LeapPad and it is like having a Leapster Explorer, addon camera, and Tag reading system in one.
I will update with more info if any more pros or cons should arise. Overall, though it is a great purchase!
Saved as a favorite, I love your blog! 🙂