Family Tech Blog

Tag: tv

  • Family Tech News From Apple’s Developer Conference

    Family Tech News From Apple’s Developer Conference

    WWDC was held last week at Apple’s Headquarters in Cupertino, California. Every year, the tech giant hosts a conference for developers and media from all over the world. The company’s Project Managers and Chief Officers all take their turns on stage to discuss what they’ve been working on over the past year in order to increase the hype around Apple’s products and software. Much of what is announced at WWDC targets developers and “tech-heads” who can’t wait to find out how to make apps for Apple products or what the next big thing is going to be. Some of Apple’s new feature’s however could bring some peace of mind to parents. Here is a break down:

    Apple TV+

    Apple’s streaming video device has been great for viewing other services but Apple’s streaming service itself has been lackluster. One thing that has been missing for a while is the ability to make separate accounts or profiles for viewers, including children. Apple announced at WWDC that this is changing. They are making it possible to create profiles for every member of your family. Your viewing history and suggestions will be sorted according to your accounts and best of all, your recommendations won’t be overloaded with shows that your children love to watch.

    Apple Music/iTunes

    iTunes is officially no more as Apple will be separating iTunes offerings into multiple apps. Books, Podcasts, and Music will all be separate now on the MacOS. When you plug in your iPhone to sync with your Mac, nothing will happen. Your phone will sync in the background. It has become pretty apparent that most folks don’t need software to manage their music collection. Streaming music has taken over and iTunes wasn’t very good at that job. Apple Music is taking over the music service and Podcasts is mainly accessed through the mobile app, not on desktop.

    iTunes has been around since 2001 and while there are those who have become used to the software, most have been aggravated by frequent updates and overuse of computer resources. Apple is likely accurate in thinking the software won’t be missed by very many people.

    Apple Arcade

    Apple is also working their way into the video game streaming world with Apple Arcade, due to release this fall. Apple Arcade will consist of a series of exclusive games made just for their system and will be playable through your phone, tablet, Mac Computer, or Apple T+. They have a controller that you can use with AppleTV but are adding support for Playstation 4 and Xbox One controllers as well. The 100 or so available games are a bit weak looking but they are sure to find some developers who are willing to put out some quality content for Apple before too long. They’re going to have to in order to compete with Google’s Sadia and the new service coming soon from Sony and Microsoft.

    iOS 13

    Probably the most relevant of updates from WWDC has to do the Apple’s latest smartphone operating system, iOS13. The software boasts a new dark mode, faster app launches and downloads, faster Face ID unlock, and a new (to Apple at least) “swipe” style typing system.

    Dark Mode is cool and faster downloads and unlocking features are great but the iOS update doesn’t really have anything going on that is relevant to parents besides their focus on data security. More on that below.

    Photos and Video

    Photos in iOS13 is getting an overhaul as well. With the ability to pinch to zoom in your galleries and a new sorting method that groups photos together based on the date they were taken. Photos will also include a new smart gallery that will remove images like screen shots from your view, only showing the photos you’ve taken with your camera.

    Privacy is a Key Theme

    Every update at this year’s WWDC had privacy as a key theme. Directors and Developers mentioned over and over again what Apple does and doesn’t do with your data. Apple Maps uses encrypted data to help you find your way, the photos app does its date and location tracking locally, and they even mentioned a new “Sign in with Apple” that allows you to sign in with your Face ID and create accounts with individual dummy email addresses.

    Data security and privacy has been in the news a lot lately and Apple has been very vocal about their desire to keep their user’s information secure. Whether it is a direct attack against other tech companies who have made most of their money by collecting and selling data or just an honest desire to maintain their user’s trust, the result should be a bit more confidence that your information is safe if you are using their products. I always advise, however, that you continue to make efforts to protect your own privacy. Be careful what you share online. Turn off location access to apps that don’t require that information to work properly and most importantly, teach this approach to privacy to your children.

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  • iPhone, Netflix, and Instagram are Dominating Teen’s Time Online

    iPhone, Netflix, and Instagram are Dominating Teen’s Time Online

    A new survey by research firm Piper Jaffaray called “Taking Stock with Teens” has highlighted some of the most noticeable trends in teenagers’ purchasing habits and tastes. The survey polled more than 8,000 teenagers about how they spend their money and what influences their purchase decisions. The average age of teens surveyed is 16 and the survey is done every spring and fall. The Fall 2018 survey revealed a dominating presence by iPhone, Netflix, and Instagram.

    The survey concluded that 82% of teens owned an iPhone and 86% planned to buy an iPhone for their next smartphone. The iPhone has dominated the marketshare for a while now but it’s still growing in the Teen market. Only 10% of teens said they planned to buy an Android phone. Nearly half of those surveyed said that the brand of a product had a major influence on their decision to purchase.

    Instagram is now the social media leader among teenagers passing up Snapchat and Netflix provides the most streaming video to our adolescent kids at 38% of the share vs 33% for YouTube. Other interesting info from the survey is that food is the highest budget priority for teens, they prefer to shop online, and the majority of video game purchases are now made through online download.

    What Parents Should Know

    This info is meant to help marketers plan their products and advertising campaigns but it can go a long way to help moms and dads and other guardians of kids better understand how our teenagers tick. The emphasis on the iPhone speaks to the exclusive nature of the brand, the appeal of feeling like you belong to a niche group causes kids to move towards a brand that is considered to be more premier than the rest. Instagram has passed snapchat by adding much of the features that kids loved about Snapchat without changing the core timeline of the app. Snapchat has admitted to making a mistake by altering what made their app popular with the younger crowd. After going public, Snap made decisions to buffer their ability to become a marketing destination for companies. This undermined their core fanbase of kids and teens who are more likely to skip an ad or unfollow an account that seems to be too “pitchy.”

    Netflix is now a more popular video streaming service among teens than YouTube, though not by much. The focus on original content and many of our kids’ favorite stars creating shows and movies for Netflix is driving them to use the streaming service. There has also been a surge in younger people enjoying television shows from the past twenty years or so because of Netflix’s ability to keep those shows streaming on their service. While YouTube is pushing their own TV solution, Netflix is just continuing to build upon the genres they created and it seems to be drawing in folks from most demographics.

    I want to conclude by mentioning again that kids are buying their video games through online downloads. This means that the restrictions on games have to be set digitally or your kids can buy whatever games they’d like. If you have set up their Xbox Live or Playstation accounts to make purchases then they can buy whatever games they’d like without any restriction. You have to set that up yourself. There is no longer a cashier at the store who will ask to see your kids id when they try to buy a game that is rated M for mature. It is up to you to get those settings set up.

    This data is super helpful for us, as parents, to understand our kids’ preferences and influences. Information like this can help us make quality decisions and chose the right battles when trying to protect our kids from adult content, online predators, cyberbullying, and other dangers of using the internet with no filters or boundaries. Subscribe to our newsletter, our YouTube account, our Twitter and Facebook, and to our podcast to stay in the know as to what’s happening in the digital and connected culture your kids are growing up in.

  • Musical.ly’s New Original Shows Could Undermine Your Internet Safety Goals

    Musical.ly’s New Original Shows Could Undermine Your Internet Safety Goals

    Musical.ly has joined the ranks of the social media apps that are bringing original show content to user’s feeds. The lip sync music video producing platform launched a couple of shows today. One of the shows is from MTV/Viacom and one is from Seventeen Magazine, with two more from the same companies coming out on Saturday.  New shows are also coming from NBC, E!, and Telemundo. Musical.ly isn’t charging networks for this content or even selling ads for it, they’re really just using it as a test for future network deals. Whether or not this programming will provide value to the social media platform is yet to be seen. What is very apparent, however, is that there will be more content for your kid to watch than just the lip sync videos they’ve enjoyed thus far.

    What Parents Should Know

    Musical.ly is on my uninstall list because there is no age verification. Users can log in and watch other people’s videos without telling Musical.ly how old they are. This means you don’t know who’s watching you or sending you private messages. Most of the trending video sections are filled with tween and teen girls and boys acting out the different challenges or songs. The lack of age verification has brought some criticism to Musical.ly and many didn’t like their CEO’s response to such criticism. It seems they’re happy to allow people of any age to use the service without proving their age.

    My advice is pretty obvious. I recommend you uninstall Musical.ly. Mostly because I wouldn’t allow my kids to use an app where they can be contacted by anyone and everyone regardless of age and gender. The addition of these new shows just strengthens my belief that Musical.ly can undermine your internet safety goals. Content on these shows can reach outside the boundaries of what is allowed on TV. Unless you’re watching every episode of the original shows Musical.ly puts on their trending feed, you have no real way of knowing what your kids are consuming. Musical.ly will stay on my uninstall list and if I had the list in any particular order it would probably move up the rankings as well.

  • Original TV Content in Snapchat is a Sign of the State of Social Media

    Original TV Content in Snapchat is a Sign of the State of Social Media

    Have we come full circle? Maybe, because live-TV is becoming the trend. Well, it is now that television companies are bringing programming to social networks. Snapchat is the latest platform to announce that they’re bringing content from traditional TV to their feed. The shows will take the form of short-form supplemental episodes to direct Snapchat users to the shows on their networks. Snap has announced that Turner, A&E, ABC, the NFL, Vice Media, Discovery, and Fox are already signed on to produce this original content. Many of these companies are larger networks that can promote content from a large group of TV channels.

    Apparently Snap isn’t interested in advertising disguised as a show. They are after “true original content.” While the hope of the networks is to move users from their short-form shows on Snapchat’s stories to their programming on Television or their streaming services, Snap is hoping to provide more income from these companies. Especially since their first report after taking the company public showed some major losses. (They say most of the losses were due to paying shareholders after going public.) There is already data to support that social media content by TV networks improves their viewership:

    Nielson reports that media companies that publish Snapchat content see “notable audience growth” on TV and other platforms, and that the app delivered a 16-percent boost to the average monthly reach. – Digital Trends

    This means they shouldn’t have any trouble filling the Snapchat stories and discovery section with more of these shows. These short episodes will have ads that play before, during, or after. That’s where the income for Snapchat will come from.

    What Parents Should Know

    I think there are two things parents need to take into account as our social media becomes more inundated with traditional media and advertising. First of all, some parents are concerned with overexposure to media and entertainment. Setting restrictions on what content your child can see is getting harder and harder to do. Adding this content to their social media apps just makes it even more difficult. Moms and dads need to keep an eye on what shows and ads are showing up in these apps and take action if they see something that they’re not comfortable with.

    The second issue is time. Many of us are learning how important it is to watch the amount of time our kids are spending online or consuming TV, games, and movies. With Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and now Snapchat moving towards more original TV style content we are seeing social media become more about the entertainment and less about communication and sharing with friends. It’s important for parents to understand that social media platforms now count as entertainment. If you have a time restriction set on Netflix, Youtube, or Hulu, you should have it on Snapchat and Instagram too. That’s just where we are now. Social Media isn’t a trend. It’s basically the state of the internet in this culture. We have to treat it as such.

  • YouTube Kids Coming to Your Smart TV

    YouTube Kids Coming to Your Smart TV

    The kids version of YouTube kids has been talked about a lot. Mostly because of breaches in their algorithm based filtering system. Cartoons are disguised as silly kid shows and take a turn towards the inappropriate. The way YouTube Kids governs their content has been under scrutiny for months with mere apologies as a response. Well, now this service may be coming to your Smart TV.

    Specifically, the app will come to the following TVs: all 2015-2017 LG webOS TVs (via the LG content store); all 2013-2017 Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players (via the Samsung App Store); and, following a firmware update, 2016-2017 Sony TVs (with the exception of Android TV, which is coming soon). – Techcrunch

    YouTube Kids is an effort to allow children to gain access to the content that’s appropriate for them without coming in contact with more inappropriate videos. YouTube has even launched some original content, featuring some successful kid related YouTube entertainers. Millions have adopted this service and use it as a way to entertain their children. As mentioned above, there is always a concern when algorithms are used to filter adult content. I recommend parents eyes are on YouTube Kids often. In fact, I had a little rant about it the other day.

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    What Parents Should Know

    As I said, Parents shouldn’t accept YouTube’s algorithm as a foolproof way to keep your kids from seeing something they don’t want them see. There are those out there who disguise their more adult oriented entertainment as kid shows for whatever reason. Moms and dads should be checking in on what their kids are watching. I think the move to smart tvs is a good thing because making the screen bigger allows parents to more easily see what is being viewed. If YouTube Kids is available on your tv, maybe you could let them watch their toy unboxing videos on there next time and peak in on what they’re watching every now and them.

  • QUICK! Go Set Up a Kids’ Profile on Your HULU Account

    QUICK! Go Set Up a Kids’ Profile on Your HULU Account

    The benefits of having a kids’ profile on your video streaming services are many. Keeping their eyes off of some of the obviously adult oriented content, collecting all of their favorite shows in one place so they’re easy to access, and most importantly (not really) keeping your recommended shows list clear of Daniel Tiger and Lalaloopsy. While the convenience of these profiles has been known for a while, some streaming services have yet to offer the option. Well, today Hulu has been added to the list of streaming options that will make it easier to protect your kids while they watch.

    While Kids profiles aren’t meant to be parental controls, they are a place for children to browse Hulu without accidentally running into mature content. A user with a Kids profile won’t be able to access Watchlist, search, recommendations, and auto-resume functions. – HULU Help Center

    Profiles will be available right away on hulu.com and soon on their mobile apps, smart tv, and media player apps. Just select the “Add a Profile” on the welcome screen or from the “Account” dropdown on the website then follow the steps to create your account. You can create up to six profiles and you will receive the option to label them “Kids” accounts. This will, as mentioned in the quote above, allow your kids to watch their favorite shows on HULU without the chance of running into adult oriented programs and suggestions. Some other features, including auto-resume (which is a bummer,) will be disabled but you’ll have a bit more peace of mind.

     

     

    Hulu is a monthly subscription streaming service that has many HBO and NBC shows as well as movies and original programming. Similar to Netflix, HULU has been creating their own shows for a little while now and have exclusive rights to become the only place to view some shows and movies. Hulu is allowing new users to sign up and receive a month for free, after the first thirty days they will be charged $7.99 per month for access with “Limited Commercials” or $11.99 for a commercial free account. Why not go create an account and a few profiles and take the next thirty days to see what you think about it. We’re just happy more services are jumping on the “Kid Profile’s bandwagon.”

  • DirecTV NOW is Not Family Friendly Yet

    DirecTV NOW is Not Family Friendly Yet

     

    It’s the future! I have been saying for years that paying for cable tv service is ridiculous. What if I could just stream the channels I want and not have to buy a whole package of useless Home Improvement and Movie Channels? Well, they aren’t exactly there yet but DirecTV is getting closer with DirecTV NOW.  AT&T announced yesterday that they’re offering a television streaming service called DirecTV NOW; it’s available for purchase in bundles starting today, November 30th.

    Yes! It’s exciting to see that our TV options are expanding and even keeping up with the times a bit more. With ChromeCast, Apple TV, RoKu, and mobile access available we are finally being offered a version the tv service we wanted. Unfortunately, however, after some time with my free trial I have noticed that there is absolutely no parental control options built in for DirecTV NOW. I looked at the menus and in my account settings (there’s no option to create separate profiles, i.e. a kid profile, either.) I also tried to find a “block” option per channel to no avail. Then, a search for “parental controls” on the support and FAQ page led to no results and that was pretty much my final clue. There is currently no way to protect your kids from unwanted content on DirecTV NOW.

    That’s a deal breaker for me, especially with so much of what has become acceptable on cable television lately. Sexual activity, language, and increasing violence are mainstays in both broadcast and cable television shows. Even the commercials seem to highlight all of the features we would like to protect our young children from. I guess “keeping up with the times” comes with its costs as well.

    What’s a Parent to Do?

    screenshot-2016-11-30-12-15-35I would say wait. Just wait for a while and I’m betting we will see parental controls rolled out on DirecTV NOW before too long. In fact, a quick search on the AT&T Community Forums showed several concerned parents had already begun asking about this feature and it’s in development.

    DirecTV NOW looks to be a great way to save some money while still getting the entertainment content we want. Thankfully parental controls and content restrictions are becoming commonplace these days and this will be no exception. It is literally “day one” for this service so we’ll give them some time and the benefit of the doubt. You can join the future too if you’d like, I would just recommend keeping your kids off of it until you can set up some restrictions.