Google Map in Mobile Phones

Today Google began offering mobile phone users in more than 30 U.S. major metropolitan areas the ability to view highway maps with live traffic updates.

The users can get partial information for smaller cities as well, Google said. The search engine's mobile map service for cell phones is also available as a small download for compatible models. Traffic information will be provided as an additional layer that users can toggle on and off. Routes are shown in green, yellow, or red depending on the severity of traffic congestion, along with detailed information on incidents. So mobile phone users will now see the expected drive time as well as any unexpected traffic delays, making travel planning much easier and more effective.

Another new feature -- the ability to store their favorite searches and driving directions -- will allow users to access frequently used routes and compare traffic conditions on them. To date, none of the major online services offer such a service in their own map products for mobile devices. Yahoo offers traffic conditions in the desktop version of their product but the mobile version does not.

Caution: MySpace

Coming under a storm of complaints and protests from parents, MySpace, the popular social networking website, announced today new restrictions on how adults may contact its younger users. The site already prohibits kids 13 and under from setting up accounts and displays only partial profiles for those registered as 14 or 15 years old unless the person viewing the profile is already on the teen's list of friends. Under the changes, expected to take effect next week, MySpace users who are 18 or over could no longer request to be on a 14- or 15-year-old's friends' list unless they already know either the youth's e-mail address or full name.

Kids in schools are spending more and more time in internet. With growing number of kids on the internet, it's more important than ever to make sure that our kids are safe online. Even though sites like MySpace could bring forth some positive attributes, including development of communications skills and enhancing self-esteem, these may expose your child's private information to the widely open internet and your kid may not even know the danger of that.

You may find out if your child has a membership to MySpace with a profile and a blog. If so, take a few minutes to do the following:
(i) Make sure that they have not posted their real name, school name, contact information, photo of themselves (especially sexually suggestive photos) or any other information which someone could use to find them. Check if they are lying about their age pretending to be adult.
(ii) Remind your child why it's important not to post sensitive or private information about themselves and have them edit their profile.
(iii) Establish rules against emailing and contacting strangers.
(iv) MySpace allows members to link to each other's sites. Check up these linked sites too, if your child has any. Check if those sites have any private information of your child.
(v) Continue to monitor your child's site regularly. This is not a violation of privacy. This is a safeguarding measure to protect your child from someone trying to exploit his/her innocence.

Broadband Connection and Speed

A recent report found American broadband users have increased from 60 million in March 2005 to 84 million in March 2006 -- an increase of 40%.

The speed of your internet connection is measured by two numbers -- speed of download and upload. The DSL service has typical download speed of 1.5 Mbps (Mega bit per second), whereas cable connections can go upto about 4Mbps. Upload numbers are typically lower than download numbers. Compare this with about 56Kilo bps for dial-up services.

Service providers of broadband service tend to quote higher numbers to customers. Some providers have 3 or 4 types of services with monthly charges based upon speed and, in most cases, you may find you are not getting what you are paying for. If you ask your provider, the typical reply you may expect is: "Oh! That's the maximum speed -- not the speed you can expect daily".

How to check your internet speed? Visit any of the following websites and check. These three are our favorites because they have good graphics to represent the speed of your connection:
speakeasy.net/speedtest/
reviews.cnet.com/7004-7254_7-0.html
myspeed.visualware.com/voip/index.html

[Disclaimer: LiveInUSA has no connection with these websites. We're providing these links only because we think these would be helpful to our readers]

Secure Home Wi-Fi Network

From one comfort we move to further comfort. A mere convenience of an access to internet satisfies us no more. More and more households are now setting up wireless networks in their homes for the convenience of remote access to the Internet. Most importantly, in recent times prices have fallen rapidly for wireless access points and wireless routers. Nowadays all laptops come with built-in wi-fi capability.

The main advantage, however, is that many users can access internet from anywhere in the house without disturbing others, if the household has many computers. If they have laptops, family members can move to any room they want and still use internet without bothering themselves about length of ethernet cables.

But here is the caution: It's very important to make sure that no stranger in the vicinity of your home can get access to your wireless network. It is particularly important for those living in apartments or condominiums where their proximity with others may bring unwanted guests to their network. The "Wired Equivalence Protocol" (WEP) security feature provided on early wireless devices has already been compromised. Newer wireless devices are certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, a non-profit industry standards group, and they use security protocols called WPA or WPA2.

For an easier and faster setup, many people may just "plug and play" without bothering to use the security features on their wireless networks. Such networks are heaven for computer hackers who can easily connect directly to your network and capture your bank or credit card account names, numbers and passwords, or penetrate the computers connected to your network. So, as soon as you purchase your wi-fi equipments and set it up, always have the security features on your network enabled and configured properly. Change the admin password, and block or change your network name (SSID). Use MAC address filtering if your network equipment supports it. And Do not forget to install and enable firewalls.