Your Tech Story

Wifi

How to Keep Your Kids off Wi-Fi and Take Control of Your Internet

How to Keep Your Kids off Wi-Fi and Take Control of Your Internet

Leave a Comment / how to, Tech Tips, Tech tips / By
How to Keep Your Kids off Wi-Fi and Take Control of Your Internet

Image Source: pcmag.com

As our kids become more and more engrossed in the digital world, worries about improper content exposure, cyberbullying, and online threats have intensified. Only 23% of parents, nonetheless, proactively keep an eye on their kids’ internet use. This may be addressed by following this brief advice, which explains how to take charge of your home internet and give your children a safer online experience.

Router for Parental Control

Put web filters on every device: Invest in a parental control router to act as your house internet’s choke point and impose online filters on all of your children’s gadgets.

Control via your router: To reduce tampering, deactivate wireless remote administration, put the router away from children, and enable site prohibitions.

Plan Outtime for Internet Blackouts:

Encourage balance by establishing clear guidelines and planning regular internet blackout times to promote family time and offline activities.

Personalise downtime: Choose the best times to limit internet usage to improve family time and sleeping patterns.

Ban Unsecured Wi-Fi Networks:

Perform a Wi-Fi search to find and ban networks that might be dangerous for your kids.

Engage in conversation with your neighbours: Bring up the significance of internet safety and ask them to protect their Wi-Fi networks.

Parental Controls for Mobile Devices:

Aura is a family safety software that lets you set time restrictions, monitor and block particular websites and applications, and get notifications concerning cyberbullying.

iOS devices: To manage access and schedule downtime, use Apple’s Screen Time settings.

Android devices: Use Google Family Link to monitor and manage use online.

Game Console Parental Controls:

Set deadlines: Establish time limits for gaming under the American Academy of Paediatrics’ recommendations.

Make use of safe gaming resources: Turn on parental controls on game consoles to keep an eye out for offensive and cyberbullying content.

Don't Leave Devices in Common Areas:

Establish ground rules for the home: No electronics in the bedrooms during certain hours, unless used for homework.

Shared workspace: To provide a regulated atmosphere, set up a shared study room for family activities and gadget charging.

Also Read: OpenAI Is in Talks to Raise New Funding at Valuation of $100 Billion or More

Promote Social Media Conduct That Is Responsible:

Determine maturity: Before giving your child access to social media, determine whether they are ready.

Privacy awareness: To reduce hazards, teach kids how to share personal information online responsibly.

To combat cyberbullying: teach kids the consequences of their actions online, encourage compassion, and provide them with the resources they need to file reports.

While parental controls are useful tools, developing an open line of communication with your children on safe internet usage is just as important if you want to earn their trust. Parents may actively participate in creating a safe and responsible internet environment for their children by putting these strategies into practice.

After JetBlue, Delta Air Lines to Provide Free WiFi to its Passengers

News, Tech News / By
delta air lines
Image Source: fortune.com

The internet has become quite essential for every human being, and when they have to fly, the extra cost they have to pay for the WiFi becomes out of their interest. Though if required, many do not mind spending the money. But what if one gets it for free? Pretty cool. Right?

On Thursday, Delta Air Lines announced that starting from 13th May, the company will start testing free WiFi on its aircraft for a period of two weeks. There will be 55 of the Delta domestic aircraft which will get to test the free WiFi, and the crew will notify the passengers onboard if their flight is also a part of the test.

The company has said that the test includes getting the feedback from the passengers, see how the free WiFi works, and to test the strain on the system. Providing free WiFi on the flight can be a bit of a difficult task, as the number of the users will automatically increase and handling such a big number of passengers in the air will be a challenge. It may also stress the plane’s bandwidth.

According to the Wallstreet Journal, the Delta passengers will be able to read articles and open their emails through the free WiFi, but not stream online videos. Delta is already providing free movies and video streaming on the plane partnering with the other media companies.

Gogo is the WiFi network provider for Delta Air Lines, and according to Gogo, currently, only 12 per cent of the passengers use the paid WiFi. Gogo has also expressed the concern that if WiFi is offered free for the passengers, there can be issues with the bandwidth of the plane itself.

The test will require Gogo to increase the bandwidth of the network it provides, and this will lead to more expenditure on the WiFi from Delta. Though it is beneficial for Gogo only, it depends on the company if it is ready to provide such large bandwidth to the airline or not. If not, Delta is free to move on to other options. Currently, JetBlue is the only airlines in the U.S. offering free WiFi to its passengers. Now we need to see how the tests turn out to be after two weeks for Delta Air Lines.

Robert Pera : The Wireless Wonder of Silicon Valley

Founder, start-up, Story, Tech Story / By

The CEO of Ubiquiti Networks, Robert Pera, is one of the youngest entrepreneurs and a self-made billionaire of the Silicon Valley. With the passion for designing products, he left a lavish job at Apple and started a company in an economical $650-per-month apartment/office, reminding himself that he must not fail. A media-shy entrepreneur who is living a lean life has the ambition to create internet connectivity that is available everywhere.

Early Life

Robert Pera was born on 10 March 1978 in San Carlos. His father worked as a business consultant, and his mother was a public relation officer. He was always interested in technology and computers. He started his first business when he was still in high school. He used to set up computers, networks, and some databases that ran the software. He was also a member of his school’s basketball team. The same time he was diagnosed by a heart-valve infection and had to leave the school for a year. After completing his school, he joined the University of California in San Diego, where he pursued a B.A. degree in Japanese Language and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He also obtained the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the same university.

Robert Pera
Image Source : networthstat.com

Career

Pera was a Steve Jobs admirer, and after completing his education, he got the opportunity to work at Apple Inc., as a hardware engineer. His work was related to testing the company’s Wi-Fi devices. After working there for some time, he discovered that the signal emitted by the power sources used by the Apple’s WiFi devices were below FCC limits, and the transmission range could be enhanced by boosting their power so that to make internet accessible at the places where the telephone and cable companies did not reach. He consulted his superiors regarding the same matter, but nobody took him seriously.

Founding Ubiquiti Networks

Pera had an idea, and he himself started working on his own low-cost, high-performance WiFi module, at his apartment for a long period of one year, and in early 2005, he quit Apple Inc. to form his own company, i.e., Ubiquiti Networks.

With the savings and credit card cash debt, he managed to raise $30,000 to invest in his company, and started Ubiquiti Networks, in March 2005. The main goal, to start this company was to wirelessly deliver the Internet to the underserved areas, using the existing wifi technologies. The first product series launched by the company included the Super Range mini-PCI radio cards SR2 and SR5.

The Super Range module used the Atheros chipset, operating at 2.4 and 5.8 GHz bands. The card received a successful welcome and was used by many small and medium scale Wireless Internet service providers, all over the world. Currently, the company deals in the four major products: airMAX, airFiber, airVision, UniFi and has spread its branches to other fields including wireless access points, security cameras and traditional networking equipment, etc., as well. Currently, more than 180 countries are using the equipment from Ubiquiti Networks, around the world.

Personal Life

The American entrepreneur secured a place in the Forbes’ list of 10 youngest billionaires in the world, at the age of 36. He is the 229th richest man in the United States, and the 642nd richest person, in the World Billionaire list. Pera took the company public in 2011 and raised US$ 33.5 million in the IPO. He owns the 64 per cent shares in the company.

In October 2012, he purchased the National Basketball Association franchise Memphis Grizzlies from Michael Heisley paying $350 million. Pera also supports the sports charity named Grizzlies Foundation operating in Memphis.

Facebook’s Express Wi-fi; All you need to know

Tech News / By

Everyone loves free Wi-Fi. Internet giants like Facebook and Google has been pushing for internet penetration around the world for many years.

Facebook started internet.org in 2013 to get about 4.5 billion unconnected people on internet. Since then, the company is moving straight towards its goal of bringing more population online with services like Free Basics and Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi. These programs are designed to provide fast, reliable and affordable internet to people from developing or underdeveloped nations, thus tempting them to at least try the basic online services including entertainment, study material, online booking, e-commerce etc. When it comes to developing nations, India is always there in top few. But even in India, out of 1.3 billion, only around 400 million people are online; says a report from Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI).

Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi comes as a flexible solution to poor connectivity problem of India by taking help from local entrepreneurs in establishing Wi-fi hotspots in their localities. The program started testing with various ISPs (Internet Service Providers) in India way back in 2015 and after 2 years of development, there are in total 700 Express hotspots at service spread over four states- Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujrat and Meghalaya.

Just Few days back, Facebook signed a huge deal with Airtel to plant additional 20,000 hotspots which is going to spread Express Wi-fi’s umbrella over other states in the country.  Although 4G network is growing really fast in India, but it will take years to become a mainstream option. Till then, Express Wi-fi will serve the needs of fast and affordable internet without any need of 4G device.  Munish Seth, head of connectivity solutions at Facebook, said about country’s connectivity problem.

One can say Wi-fi is the easiest possible way to access high speed internet. You don’t need a 4G sim card, or a LAN connection. Just you and your device supporting Wi-fi feature will do the job. The initiative will also bring new earning medium for local retailers who can resell internet to get a steady income stream. Moreover, Facebook is providing all the necessary software and data analytics free of cost along with giving full control of data prices to the entrepreneur.

“Anyone can access the Express Wi-fi network by signing up with an Express Wi-fi retailer and purchasing a daily, weekly or monthly data pack at a rate set by the local service provider. They will then be able to connect to the Express Wi-fi hotspot, register/ create an account, login and start browsing or use any app on the internet”. Seth further added explaining the whole process of getting internet over Express Wi-fi.

Free Basics was another such initiative from Facebook which didn’t get a green signal from TRAI for violating net neutrality. Hopefully, Express Wi-fi doesn’t face any issues in future and runs smoothly. As of now, besides India, the service is live in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria And Indonesia.