Family Tech Blog

Tag: familytech

  • Parental Control Hardware “Circle” Announces Integration with “FamilyTech” Apps

    Parental Control Hardware “Circle” Announces Integration with “FamilyTech” Apps

    Circle is one of our favorite resources to recommend to families. With its simple to use app and customizable, profile based filters Circle is one of the most accessible parental control options out there. At a price tag of only $99 it’s affordable too. Today, Circle announced Circle Connections, the roll out of integrations of some new resources to make it one of the most extensive filter and time management apps available. These integrations will soon add the ability to stop notifications from social media apps while your child is driving and allow you and your kids to use Amazon Alexa to set and monitor your time limits. Launching first, however, is a partnership with FamilyTech.

    The new platform, Circle Connections, allows Circle users to connect other partner apps, devices, and services to offer rewards, automate features, and much more. These other pieces of Circle help leverage some of the biggest drivers of family life: screens, physical activity, teen driving, and social media.

    FamilyTech launched late last summer and is a chore/time management system developed by CEO Chris Bergman. The system features four apps. Mothership, the hub for setting chores and giving rewards. ChoreMonster, an app for kids that rewards them for meeting their chore goals. Honeydo, a way for couples to communicate what needs to be done and get more accomplished. And Landra, the home productivity solution for older kids and teenagers. This partnership is going to set Circle up to be one of the most extensive time management and parental control options available to parents.

    For Example

    With Circle’s time limits, the integration with FamilyTech can do a lot for parents. Imagine your child has an excellent week of chores. The choremonster app asks what reward they would like and they choose to extend their bedtime. ChoreMonster will communicate with Circle and their bedtime will be extended to whatever reward time you’ve set up. Pretty much automated rewards. That sounds awesome.

    As mentioned, some of the functionality will be released in future updates but the integration with FamilyTech is rolling out now. If you have circle, be sure to update often and take a look at what FamilyTech’s apps can do for you. If you don’t have Circle yet, maybe this will be a pretty good reason to give it a go.

  • YouTube Kids Adding Original Shows and SmartTV Support

    YouTube Kids Adding Original Shows and SmartTV Support

    YouTube Kids has now been around for over two years. I’m still amazed how many parents don’t know about the curated kids streaming app. It is a pretty good safe alternative to YouTube’s more open and unsecure content. An announcement today could make YouTube Kids an even better option for your family.

    Today YouTube announced that they are going to launch four new original shows on the kids app. The shows will use people who already have a strong YouTube presence and be available only to YouTube RED subscribers. Shows like “Fruit Ninja; Frenzy Force” will be designed for younger kids while there will be a couple of shows, such as “Hyperlinked” (starring tween YouTube Music stars L2M) that are geared for children a bit older. There are more shows scheduled for the lineup and they range from animated cartoons to unscripted reality shows.

    Along with this announcement, YouTube has said they will soon be rolling out support for YouTube Kids to be viewed on SmartTVs from Samsung and LG. This will mean that content from YouTube Kids can come to life on a larger screen and be viewed more easily by more of the family at the same time. It seems that YouTube is really working to become a major player in the streaming entertainment world. New YouTube Red shows are coming out all the time and you can see many YouTube stars being interviewed on more mainstream media talk shows like Jimmy Fallon to promote YouTube’s original content. We are entering a new age in digital entertainment so be ready and pay attention.

    What Parents Should Know

    YouTube Kids is a good option for parents whose children enjoy watching videos on the streaming service. It’s a lot better than the YouTube app in which they can be as few as two clicks away from some type of violent or inappropriate adult content. While YouTube Kids is better, it isn’t without it’s faults. You will still want to put your eyes on what your children are watching every now and then. The original content means that, if you’re a RED subscriber, you will have a bit more than the clips from PBS shows, lets play, toy unboxing, and science videos. That’s a good thing but you’ll want to be aware of which shows are designed for what age audience. The trend is for messages in kids entertainment to lean towards kids a few years older than the target age of the shows.  That means you young daughter could be watching a show by music sensation L2M about what it’s like to be in High School. This could lead to eventual trouble if you aren’t aware of the message they are getting from the show.

    I always recommend parents having a total knowledge of what their children are spending their time doing. These original content shows may be designed for children but it’s important to remember that only you can decide if they were designed for your children. Nobody knows your kids like you do so only you can make the right entertainment decision for them. You should just allow unsupervised viewing of anything you’ve never seen, even if it is meant for children. Should your kids watch streaming content on YouTube Kids? If they are already using YouTube then absolutely yes. Should they watch the original content and use your tv to view it like other shows? That’s entirely up to you, just be sure your decision is based on knowledge, not a trust that the term “KIDS” always means safe.