With the rise of the Internet and children becoming more technologically savvy, parents have to be on-guard against nefarious websites that are set up to either damage the family computer or may cause direct harm to your child. Many machines comes with anti-virus software right out of the box, but how do you protect your child from going to those websites that have malicious software or pornography without expensive or difficult to set up software?

The fine folks at OpenDNS are here to help with their FamilyShield product. Here’s how it works:

1. FamilyShield works at the DNS level, where domain names are mapped to corresponding IP addresses. OpenDNS keeps a database of offending websites and incorporates it into their products.

• Adult websites that are unsuitable for kids
• Proxy and anonymizer sites commonly used by savvy kids to bypass traditional Web filters
• Phishing sites that aim to trick you into handing over personal or financial information
• Some virus-spreading malware websites

You can help! File a report here or on Twitter to let others know when you’ve encountered a bug or outage.

In Spaces, you could assign applications to certain hot key combinations, such as CRTL + 1 and this would bring up, let’s say, the Safari web browser. You could also assign other applications to other Spaces and switch to them by pressing CTRL + 2 and so on.

Mission Control is a little different but the effect is the same and can be re-created by doing the following:

1. Go to Mission Control under System Preferences.

2. Uncheck the option Automatically rearrange spaces on most recent use.

3. For example: Scroll up with 3 fingers simultaneously or launch Mission Control from the Dock. Click on Desktop 3. While you are in Desktop 3 launch iPhoto. Double check with a right click on the iPhoto symbol in the Dock. Choose options. Confirm This Desktop

* To make the behavior more like Spaces, uncheck the box When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application.

The process was straightforward enough: click on the app in the store and press purchase. An icon appears on the desktop that shows that the software is downloading and you wait, or in my case–you wait, and wait, and wait…6 hours later, thanks mostly to a poor AT&T 1.5Mbps DSL connection, it was ready to install.

Before I went forward with the installation, I decided to burn myself an install DVD so that I didn’t have to wait another 6 hours in case I decided to do a clean install instead of simply upgrading. The amazing blog Lifehacker has step-by-step instructions on how to make either an installation DVD or a bootable USB drive (I just read that Apple will sell USB installs of Lion for $69 later on). After creating my disc, I was ready for installation.

Installation

The installation couldn’t have been easier, and I must say, was a tad boring. Apple does such a good job of making things simple that I actually made myself dinner while waiting for everything to get done. Once it was done, I noticed and revamped screen and I knew that it was party time.

New Features

While the new OS X does have many new features, I was most curious about particular ones, namely Mission Control, Full Screen Apps, and LaunchPad. After logging in for the first time, I noticed the pretty new icons sitting on my desktop and I decided to take them out for a spin. The LaunchPad app isn’t anything particularly exciting but it does make viewing your installed applications much easier to find. I removed the FaceTime icon off my Dock immediately because it was something that I would only use from time-to-time and so it was just clutter at this point. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited about it because my daughter has a new iPod and now she can see me when she calls me–cool huh? I cycled through some other apps like Mail, Address Book, Contacts, and iCal and I’m very impressed by what I saw. Now, it was time to tackle what could make or break the whole process…Mission Control.

Houston, We Have A Problem

Mission Control is suppose to be an improvement of Expose, Dashboard, and Spaces. I could care less about the previous two programs but I absolutely fell in love with Spaces and I considered it a killer app. When I realized that the Spaces icon was missing from my toolbar, I couldn’t help but freak.

To cut to the chase (and to save some typing), Mission Control is convoluted and confusing. I’ve spent hours trying to make it do remotely what Spaces did, and so far, no dice. Several posters to Apple forums have been complaining for the exact reason and have been strongly voicing their frustration. I’m sure that with a little time, I’ll be able to figure out certain things because every operating system has a learning curve, but I think this one is inexcusable and will definitely affect average users.

All in all, the upgrade was easy and it was only $30; it’s not like going from Windows XP to Windows 7 and buying a new PC in the process. Apple always has features up their proverbial sleeves and I’m sure we’ll found out why things were changed the way they were. I still love my Mac and Freemium Technology Services uses Apple products all over the office so I don’t think we’ll be abandoning them any time soon.

1. Open your iPhone’s Photos app.
2. Choose the album containing the photos you want to send. If you took photos using your iPhone, they’ll be in an album up top called “Camera Roll.”
3. Tap the button in the upper righthand corner that looks like a rectangle with an arrow coming out of it. This will initiate edit mode.
4. Tap the photos you want to send. You can only send five by email at one time.
5. Tap the action you want to take from the bar at the bottom. In this scenario, you’ll want to tap the Share button.
6. You may be presented with a few options. If you are, choose Email.
7. Your iPhone will now compose a new email message and, within a few seconds, you’ll see your photos added to the body of the message. Up top, enter the name or email address of the person you want to send the photos to. Also enter a subject line for the email if you’d like. When you’re done, tap the Send button.
8. Before the message sends, you’ll be asked what size you want the emailed photos to be. Small is very small but takes up very little data. Medium and large are both good sizes for viewing but take up more data. This means they may take longer to send. Actual size means your iPhone will not shrink your photos at all and send the original copies. This is what you want to choose if the person you’re emailing is going to print out copies of the photos. Make your selection and your iPhone will start sending the message. It may take some time, but eventually you’ll hear a “woosh” sound indicating that your message has been sent.

While the easy answer is to toss the old gear in the curbside trash, such out-of-sight, out-of-mind disposal isn’t environmentally friendly and, depending on where you live, might not be allowed. Also, if the item still works, what’s outdated to you might be considered as good as new by a charity or school. For both reasons, it’s important to think before you trash.

TV Time

As the popularity of flat-screen televisions increases, more of the clunky, older models are bound for the dump; this is an environmental problem for many reasons,but chiefly due to the cathode-ray tubes inside old televisions. Unfortunately, these tubes contain large amounts of lead. Many of the retailers that collect computers for recycling don’t accept televisions. However, most public recycling centers do collect TV’s, VCR’s and DVD players for a small fee.