KIDO’Z Offers Ample Protection For Web Browsing Children

KIDO'Z is a web browser that has been designed with children in mind. Easy to use and safe with parental controls to help families get the most out of their web browsing.

Mixed Feelings About The Internet

I hate the internet. I love the internet. There are times I feel like the Greek mythological god, Janus, with two faces looking in opposite directions.

Yet, that’s exactly how I view surfing the internet: it can be a wonderful tool to bring together people from all over the world as well as offering a much more level playing field for participants seeking to add their voices to the discussion. But, the internet has a darker, unseemly side, one which can be challenging enough for unsuspecting adults and downright dangerous for youngsters.

Downloading A Children’s Web Browser

For the past several weeks I have been following some of the blog comments and reviews related to a new children’s web browser, KIDO’Z, and decided to download it (along with the required and free Adobe Air that powers the browser) to test for myself.

My wife and I have two young boys and have been supervising their web activity very closely. Lately, as our sons have been doing more school-related research, we realized that we were nearing a crossroads: add annoying and constraining web filters or come up with another plan. I’m happy to report that KIDO’Z (pronounced kiddos) successfully meets the latter.

Operating under the tagline, “Safe, easy and fun internet for kids,” KIDO’Z is proving to be all that and more. I must admit that I didn’t do much of the initial testing myself because no sooner had I downloaded the web browser and set up the account, my oldest son got on our family computer and my wife took over to observe what he was doing.

So Very Easy To Use

Both of my sons and my wife were immediately impressed by KIDO’Z starting with its big and colorful welcome screen to its easy to use interface with big button pictures of sites they like (such as Thomas the Tank Engine) and on to more games than they could have ever imagined. Even some of their favorite shows such as Tom ‘n Jerry are included allowing them to safely view family friendly cartoons too.

No typing is necessary for children to access what they want through KIDO’Z. Pointing and clicking a mouse works just fine and, if you have touch screen technology, you can find your way around with that set up too.

Free To Use And Free Of Ads

KIDO’Z is absolutely free with no annoying ads popping up and getting in the way. A premium feature is in the works and will roll out within the next few months, but with full parental control over KIDO’Z and lots of nifty features included, the standard package is very impressive.

Yes, you can add your own sites to KIDO’Z which can be ideal if your children need access to sites not yet vetted by the moderators who work to ensure that all content items are safe for children. You can even share your finds with other KIDO’Z users which is a great way to make sure that fresh content is regularly added.

KIDO’Z was designed for children ages 3-7, but our boys are slightly older and still like what it has to offer.  Eventually, they’ll be using something like Quintura when their researching needs change, but for now the younger members of our household are satisfied with KIDO’Z and all that it has to offer them.

See Also — Wolfram Alpha: The Only Search Engine You Need?

Photo courtesy of KIDO’Z.

Firefox 3.0 Debuts, Server Crashes

Like so many people who have expressed their fondness for the web browser, Firefox, I have been patiently waiting for the release of version 3.0. Yesterday, I downloaded my copy, snagging it between server crashes.

Yes, Mozilla’s server crashed, probably several times during the day, as the company could not keep up with download requests. Blame Mozilla for this event anyway — they were trying to set a Guinness record for the most downloads in one day with hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of people doing it on June 17th. Hence the broken server issue.

Anyway, if you haven’t downloaded your copy yet, then head over to Mozilla right now and get one immediately.

As far as the latest version goes, Mozilla says they made over 15,000 improvements over the previous version. Version 3.0 is faster, safer, and smarter (so they say) and my quick take on it is that it is easier to use.

I’m one of the early users of Firefox, having gotten fed up with Internet Explorer and making the switch over soon after its November 2004 release. I hardly ever use Internet Explorer, but I still have to in order to see how IE scrambles my blogs. It is so easy to be comfortable with Firefox and forget any other browsers exist, though I do use Opera on my laptop as Firefox got fried and I still can’t use it!

Some of the other big changes with version 3 include:

• An improved address bar that will try to guess where you’re going. So far, this has worked out okay, but it hasn’t always guessed what site I want. Just pay attention to what the toolbar is doing and then choose the right URL to go to.

• Bookmarks, history, and start page all carry over from version 2.0 which is great; previous updates meant doing this all over again — what a pain that could be when you had scads of bookmarks to handle.

• Malware protection is new — if you attempt to download something harmful to your computer, Firefox will warn you before you can.

• New web forgery feature could be useful. Yes, stolen content won’t see the light of day with Firefox.

There are countless other updates that I am just now finding and you’ll want to explore on your own once you download your copy.

Got to love Firefox. Together with Word Press, working online has gotten a whole lot easier!