So Apple is finally having to repay all the unauthorized app purchases made by children using their parents' Apple IDs and credit cards on file. I'm not sure who has the most blame here: parents, children, or Apple. Mostly because the entire situation is ENTIRELY AVOIDABLE.
In my job, we rolled out 500+ ipads to staff and walked them through Apple ID creation....with no credit card requirement for this very reason (hint you must do it on a mobile device with a free app to trigger this roundabout). So Apple does provide a way to avoid putting your credit card on standby even if it may not be well-promoted. And every store on the planet sells iTunes gift cards so you can purchase apps, music, etc in limited amounts. But the 15-minute window for not prompting a password to purchase should be closed immediately.
Parents should not be sharing their passwords with their children....particularly if those children do not understand the concept of monetary exchange. Do you give them your PIN number, too?! I am in my 30s and it wasn't until a few months ago that my parents even let me hold their debit card in my hands (to purchase their own groceries mind you).
There is also a little trick called Turning Off the Wifi. Can't purchase something you can't connect to. And if your children are normal, they are probably tapping away not truly paying attention to what they are tapping so without wifi they can't "accidently" tap a purchase right onto your credit card.
Lastly, children should be taught that if they are using someone else's stuff, they shouldn't be dinking around with personal things they might find. You might borrow someone's computer but do you start making changes to their documents? Do you start downloading new programs to their desktop? Did that curtesy stop when devices got smaller?
Let's just call it a $100 million dollar lesson for everyone....even though we all should have known.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Apps Gone Wild
Monday, July 2, 2012
Brick-n-Mortar Walls Come Down
By chance I came across a few articles this morning regarding virtual learning (See virtual teacher and scared of tech) I have strong thoughts on this having experience in virtual/distance/independent learning myself as both a student and a teacher. Like anything else, change brings fear....fear that something new isn't rigorous enough, fear that human teachers will be obsolete, fear that the petty social structures of brick-n-mortar institutions will disappear. The thing is all of these fears could happen....and some of them, quite frankly, should. Of course, I've never been one to support tradition simply for the sake of tradition. If teachers are really good and intentional with supporting content by whatever delivery methods available, the delivery methods are irrelevant - we don't have to talk to their live face between 8am and 3:300pm Monday through Friday during nonagricultural growing seasons. When you say it like that, doesn't sound completely moronic??
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Who Spiked the Kool-Aid?
This Yahoo article is one of the best non-partisan reviews of the last decade of economic failure. The take-away point is that investors are sheep that will follow whatever cookie crumbs are left hoping to find a pot of gold at the end; the ones leaving the crumbs are corporate gangsters who know the crumbs are the small leftovers of a meal already finished. Intuitively we all know this, but apparently someone spiked the kool-aid because how quickly we forget what we "learned".
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Sunday, November 20, 2011
Sale....Sorta?
So the shopping season has begun (but really when did it "stop"?) and sales are popping up galore - or are they? "Why Orange Juice is More Expensive on Saturday" discusses that stores are moving to prices changes hourly! And lo and behold, if you shop online, those pesky cookies are going to make you pay more if you have looked several times at an item!
Just one more reason to delete you browsing history, your cookies, and possibly start shopping flea markets or the classifieds for true bargins.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
It May Hurt But It's The Truth
Roland Martin is defending President Obama because he used the word "lazy" in context of discussing American work and employees. I have no problem because it is the truth even if it is politically incorrect.
For the past 35 years or so, we have been accepting the 800 lb pink elephant in the room because no one wanted to move his fat butt. So if we now find ourselves disgusted with his foul smell, unfortunate waste, and rude stares from others, it's clearly our fault.
Stop promoting unlearned students, stop hiring/keeping people that aren't good at their jobs, stop giving bonuses to executives simply because their employees are good, and stop with the political correctness - use our English language to be perfectly clear!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Absenteeism
"High Absenteeism plagues IPS' New Intercession Program" - I have to comment on this when I have more time to put coherent thought into it and not just preach from a soapbox. Needless to say, I'm fired up!
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Finally
Finally someone offers concrete solutions to failing education. It's time for real solutions not political fighting.
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