This week on Mario’s Top 3, Emmy-award winning TODAY show contributor Mario Armstrong discusses the changing privacy settings on Facebook and how they affect teenagers, the new Microsoft Surface 2 tablets, and the new way to send cash from Square.
Category: Parenting
TODAY: Medical apps, sites to keep your family healthy
This week I had the pleasure of working on a segment with Dr. Keri Peterson, Internal Medicine and contributor to Women’s Health Magazine! We discussed some incredible medical apps and sites that we feel people should really consider for their own benefit. Oh, and I was joined on-air by Al Roker and none other than Brooke Shields!
HLN: Must-have back to school tech!
Mario’s Top 4 Baby: The best tech for new and expecting parents (TODAY Show)
In this special edition of my Top 3 on the TODAY show called “Mario’s Top 4 Baby” I show off the top tech gadgets and gizmos for new and expecting parents on the TODAY show! Check out the video, and the read below to learn more about the tech I mention.
Katie Couric Show: Accidentally Outed as Gay on Facebook
Today on Katie, Mario Armstrong talked to two young people, Bobbi Duncan and Taylor McCormick from Austin, Texas, who were accidentally outed as gay to their families and friends on Facebook. Despite both of them having been very careful with their Facebook privacy settings, due to a flaw in how pages work on Facebook, when they were added to their university’s Queer Chorus group’s Facebook group. The president of the chorus had added them to the group, which then notified their friends and families they’d joined, revealing their sexuality to many people from whom they’d been keeping it secret, including their parents.
Parents Need to Be Concerned About the Xbox One, coming in November for $499
For any parents watching Microsoft’s Xbox One press event at E3 today, there was a lot to be concerned about. Not just about the console itself, which promises to usher in a new era of socially connected home and entertainment, or even the price, which is an increase across the board, but in the continued focus by Microsoft on the ultra-violent games that will be the flagship titles for the new console.
Safe Browsing and Parental Controls (TODAY Show video)
(Having problems with the video above? Click this link and try and view this video directly on NBCnews.com)
Apps Mentioned in this piece:
Private WiFi – Encrypts your data so anything you transmit online (usernames, passwords, credit cards) aren’t visible to anyone else using the same WiFi network.
Private Browsing – A feature on many major browsers tooday, including Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. You can use this to keep your browsing history safe on a public or shared computer.
Parental Controls – No matter what devices your children are using, there are parental controls you need to be using! Here are some instructions for setting them up on Windows, iPhone, Mac, Blackberry, and Kindle Fire.
The Best Apps for Autism Awareness Month
April is Autism Awareness Month. There are an enormous number of children and their families who are suffering with this condition every day. I want to tell you about a few apps that might make living your life with Autism a little easier.
Anyone can learn to code – why I’m backing code.org
The fact is, anybody can learn how to write computer code. It isn’t like basketball or football. where you either have the talent or don’t—learning to write code is something that can, and SHOULD, be taught to everyone in school. The problem is, not all students have access to computers and the training materials or teachers necessary to actually learn how to do it. That’s why I’m getting behind code.org, an organization dedicated to getting programming curriculum and technology into every single classroom.
CES 2013 Innovation Award: The WeMo Baby Monitor and App
The Innovation Awards at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) helps sort through the tons of gadgets at the show to highlight some of the most useful, interesting and groundbreaking. The focus is really on new stuff that you might actually want, and will be available to the general public.
First up? The WeMo Baby Monitor & App from Belkin. It’s great for any new parents or parents-to-be. It’s a baby monitor that can go in your child’s room, but uses an app on your phone instead of a second receiver. That means you can check up on your child with your iPhone or iPod Touch, and you don’t have to carry a second device around the house with you.
This is already available from retailers like Best Buy and Amazon, and costs $84 from both of those retailers (as of right now). A new baby monitor from Amazon (without the iPhone capability) can run you anywhere from $40 to $140, so the WeMo is a good deal with extra added convenience.