Author: stevewoda Page 1 of 13

"I was just, 'oh, he's cute, I'll accept him,'" a 22-year-old called "Nina" recalls.

She was 18 at the time, and didn't imagine that clicking "accept" would start her on a path to four years of prostitution across the country. "Nina" is a pseudonym; CNNMoney agreed to change the names of the victims in this article to protect their privacy.

Upper middle-class and college-bound, Nina had her plans derailed in her senior year of high school after her mother was sentenced to two years in prison for financial crimes. Lonely and looking online for male attention, she started messaging back and forth with a man who said he was falling for her. They talked about trips they'd take together as a couple, and about marriage, maybe kids.

"He sold me the biggest dream in the world," she says. "I thought he really did like me and we were going to live this fairy-tale life together."

They exchanged online messages for about a month. That September, while Nina's friends went off to college, she traveled the two and half hours from home to meet her Facebook beau in person.

The fairy tale ended fast. Almost immediately after she arrived in Seattle, he dropped her off on a street where prostitutes troll for customers and told her she was going to "catch dates."

via money.cnn.com

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I was floored by this article. It is hard to believe that this stuff can happen in the USA, but unfortunately, it does.

Parenting is hard. Digital parenting is harder. uKnowKids makes digital parenting easier, and keeps kids safe from bullies and bad guys online and on the mobile phone. uKnow is the world's first Parental Intelligence system for the parents of digital kids, and you can try it for free at http://uknowkids.com

If you are an entrepreneur, you will find this video to be pretty funny.  Have fun!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alZqXA4R2dI]

Cell phones keep us connected. They’re convenient, save us time, and could even save our lives in a true emergency. But when used irresponsibly, mobile phones can wreak havoc. And it appears that technology is blurring the line between right and wrong – for our kids, anyway.

One study from Common Sense Media reports that 1 in 3 kids use their cell phones to cheat on tests, but that 1 in 4 kids surveyed didn’t think that accessing notes during a test, texting friends with answers during a test, or using their cell to search the Internet for answers is cheating.

via www.uknowkids.com

Check out this article at uKnowKids.com's blog. Very interesting commentary about how things are changing with the introduction of new technologies.

Warren Buffett has said that when he is looking at his leaders for companies, he evaluates three categories of characteristics:

— Intelligence

— Energy

— Integrity

His fundamental belief is that if a person has 2 of these, the lack of the third can kill a business. Do the fast math on the negative side of the equation:

— Low integrity, high energy and high intelligence and you have a smart, fast-moving thief

— Low energy, high intelligence and integrity and you have a shop keeper, not an engine of growth

— Low intelligence, high energy and integrity and you have strong functionary, but not a great problem solver or visionary

via www.cbsnews.com

I 100% agree!!!!

Let’s face it: The Internet is a staple in the lives of today’s kids—and as a result, stranger danger has taken on a whole new form. Mobile phones and social networks make it all too easy for kids to get online—and even easier for them to find themselves in unsafe situations. Cyberbullies, internet predators and viruses abound! Luckily, parents are making it their business to be in the know. Not only are they aware of their kids’ online activity, but many are even implementing rigid household rules when it comes to Internet usage.

But are these rules enough for parents to really know what kids are doing online? Find out more stats about kids and cybersafety in this infographic.

via www.onlineschools.com

A very interesting infographic about kids and their digital safety.

In my experience, exceptionally bright, driven, visionary people commonly share a particular attribute: a high need for control. These characteristics are also hallmarks of the startup founder, who brings maniacal focus, evangelical passion and a penchant for multi-tasking to the table. As they bring on co-founders and early employees, you can often find the founder speaking with investors, working on the product, writing code, recruiting, and spending time with early customers. This is the province of the Founder CEO and is the right way to be early in the game, both out of necessity and in order for there to be a “single point of failure” with responsibility for the early product and customer experience. However, as businesses scale, functional specialists are increasingly retained to drive specific aspects of the operation, e.g., VP Engineering, VP Sales, VP Product, etc.  This makes sense as the complexity of servicing a rapidly expanding set of customers explodes, while also continuing to iterate on the product and scaling the back-end to meet these challenges. In other words, it takes a village to ramp a start-up, and part of this necessarily means that the Founder CEO give up a measure of functional control in order to lead an integrated organization forward. But this is easier said than done.

via informationarbitrage.com

As a serial entrepreneur, I have learned and relearned this lesson a number of times. This is a good article for every startup founder to read and reflect upon.

What are the conditions of giving your child a cell phone? Whatever is acceptable for your child, it’s important to clearly communicate those rules in a parent/child cell phone contract.

As adults, we have to sign a “terms of use” agreement for pretty much everything we do. It lets us know what’s expected of us and what happens if we break our word. Kids who receive a cell phone from their parents need exactly the same thing. They’ll roll their eyes at the idea of having to sign a contract before they get their hands on a shiny new cell phone, but it prevents misunderstandings later on.

Whenever giving your child a phone, especially a smartphone with camera or wireless capabilities, work together to create a “terms of use” agreement that outlines how the phone is supposed to be used. Some things to consider:

via www.uknowkids.com

Another interesting uKnowKids.com article for moms and dads of digital kids.