Munich ends its long-running love affair with Linux

When Munich decided to ditch many of its Windows installations in favor of Linux in 2003, it was considered a groundbreaking moment for open source software — it was proof that Linux could be used for large-scale government work. However, it looks like that dream didn’t quite pan out as expected. The German city has cleared a plan to put Windows 10 on roughly 29,000 city council PCs starting in 2020. There will also be a pilot where Munich runs Office 2016 in virtual machines. The plan was prompted by gripes about both the complexity of the current setup and compatibility headaches.

According to Mayor Dieter Reiter, having two operating systems on municipal PCs is “completely uneconomic” — it’d make more financial sense to simplify. And unfortunately for Linux advocates, Windows was more likely to win out in this case. Munich’s council has had to keep a minority of Windows PCs around for apps and hardware that absolutely needed Microsoft’s platform to run, and those were destined to stay.

Reiter also pointed to complaints about IT performance, although there are disputes as to whether or not reverting to Windows is the solution. Only a minority of staffers have argued that returning to Windows would fix the problems, and even the city’s IT lead claimed that compatibility issues had been solved.

Whether or not the decision is wise, it’ll be expensive. Munich estimates that the rollout will cost about €49.3 million ($58.8 million), which isn’t a trivial expense for one metropolis. In other words, the city is willing to pay a high price to streamline local government tech, even if it means giving up some of the software independence that prompted the Linux switch 14 years ago. This isn’t as much of a blow to the Linux community as it would have been in the past (Android and Chrome OS have spread the platform far and wide, including in government), but it’ll hurt for those who hoped that conventional Linux had a strong foothold.

Via: ZDNet, TechRepublic

Source: Munich (PDF, German)

Here’s how NASA transformed Voyager 1 data into a beautiful (and super geeky) song

Outer space may be silent, but within the void lie symphonies waiting to be heard.

For years, scientists have tracked charged particles as they zoom through the cosmos, using deep space probes to measure the particles’ paths and mapping algorithms to translate the data into musical scores. Now a team of space-music buffs have premiered a new composition to celebrate one of NASA’s most ambitious missions using measurements from mankind’s most distance creation — the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

The composition was created by Domenico Vicinanza, a researcher at GÉANT, and Genevieve Williams of the University of Exeter. Together they turned forty-years of cosmic data into a three-minute score, featuring instruments like a violin, flute, French horn, and glockenspiel. It was recently premiered at the SC17 Supercomputing Conference in Denver, Colorado.

“As scientists we are intrigued and fascinated by the universe around us,” Williams told Digital Trends. “And we have a passion for space and space exploration in particular.”

“Space data arrives at NASA’s Space Physics Data Facility as numbers, not orchestral notes.”

Launched by NASA a little over four decades ago, Voyager 1 now throttles away from Earth at 17 m/s, carrying equipment that still manages to relay information to Earth despite being past its prime. After completing its primary mission in in 1980, the spacecraft embarked on an extended journey through the Solar System that would see it enter interstellar space and become to first probe to beam back data on from the medium beyond.

But this information arrives at NASA’s Space Physics Data Facility as numbers, not orchestral notes. To turn the data to music, the researchers use a process called data sonification.

“Sonification is the translation of information like numbers and scientific measurements into audible signals, like sounds, music notes, or melodies,” Williams said. “It is based on mapping certain characteristics of the initial information to audible parameters, for example the larger the number, the higher the pitch of the note.”

NASA

In the case of the Voyager 1 data, Vicinanza and Williams used an algorithm to map the time between measurements made by the spacecraft’s Low Energy Charged Particle (LECP) detector to intervals between notes on a scale. Increasing data became increasing pitch. Decreasing data became decreasing pitch.

“In this way the music inherited the structural characteristics of the data, its regularities, its character, its behavior,” Vicinanza said.

The idea that space holds music dates back at least to medieval Europe, and was explored by Johannes Kepler in Harmonices Mundi, in which the astronomer mapped the velocity of planets to pitches in order to express their elliptical orbits.

“What we did with Voyager 1 data is really similar to what Kepler did,”  Vicinanza said. “Our sonification is based on the measurements coming from the LECP, mapping the number of particles that reached the detector to sound. The higher the count, the higher the pitch. Every number from the detector becomes then a music note, creating a melody that follows the entire journey of the spacecraft.”

As a result, the score depicts Voyager 1’s journey, including its dramatic approaches to Jupiter and Saturn, and entrance into interstellar space. Like Kepler, Vicinanza and Williams hope their composition helps colleagues — and laypeople – appreciate and better understand the workings of the cosmos.

This isn’t the first time Vicinanza has turned science data into sound. In 2012, he transformed data about the Higgs Boson particle discovery into a musical motif, and a few years ago he created a separate composition from Voyager 1’s 37 years of data.

But the spacecraft won’t be able to beam back information forever. At some 140 astronomical units from the Sun, Voyager 1 can no longer rely on solar power, and its generators are only expected to last until about 2025. At that point, the probe will truly go silent.

Drones and smartphones help fight malaria in Tanzania

The fight against malaria has been improving, but there’s still lots more work to do. For one thing, anti-larval sprays are both expensive and time-consuming — you can’t always afford to spray an entire area. Thankfully, a mix of technology is making that mosquito battle more practical. Wales’ Aberystwyth University and Tanzania’s Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme have partnered on an initiative that uses drones to survey malaria hot zones and identify the water-laden areas where malaria-carrying mosquitoes are likely to breed.

An off-the-shelf drone (in this case, DJI’s Phantom 3) can cover a large rice paddy in 20 minutes, and the data can be processed in the space of an afternoon. You can discover and spray trouble zones within hours, preventing outbreaks from getting started. And there are expansion plans, too. The next step is to bring the drone imagery to smartphones to both guide the spraying teams and track their progress. Instead of having only a general idea of where to go, sprayers can make a beeline for affected areas and report back when they’re done.

It could be a while before drone-assisted spraying finds widespread use. There are concerns that drones may interfere with local wildlife and spark privacy concerns. The creators hope that familiarizing residents will make them more comfortable with the technology, though, and mindfulness could prevent clashes with the ecosystem. So long as that happens, it might be possible to virtually wipe out malaria in entire neighborhoods without having to spend a fortune or waste valuable hours.

Via: Quartz

Source: The Conversation

When cheap phones can do everything, what happens to flagships?

We’re getting to the point where Android, and the phones that run it, can all do the same thing. Where does that leave the flagships?

Have you heard? There are no more bad phones. The change happened slowly, almost invisibly, over the past couple of years, but the cycle is now complete.

How did it happen? The replacement of components with clear technological bottlenecks — thermally inefficient processors, terrible cameras, lifeless displays — with ones largely free of issues has catalyzed an industry. The proliferation of good cheap phones is the best thing to happen to the internet ever, in my opinion. We spend a good chunk of our time talking about the expensive and the beautiful, but what about the practical? The reliable? The good?

The problem is that good doesn’t garner the interest, and generate the clicks, that we need to run a media business. There is nothing salacious about fine, nor disruptive about usable.

The proliferation of power users is a direct result of the democratization of good, cheap Android phones.

But that belies the true size of the iceberg that lurks underneath, the hundreds of millions and billions of Android phones that will be sold in the years to come, almost all of which will be cheaper and better than we think, be it in the $50 range all the way to what we consider the mid-range, $500 or so. You can quibble over camera quality and app performance, but the reality is that as long as they’re running a recent version of Android, with a turnkey set of Qualcomm or MediaTek (or perhaps Samsung or Rockchip or any number of companies producing SoCs based on ARM’s architecture) chips, they’ll be fine.

Chances are, if you’re reading this on a phone — if you visit Android Central regularly — it’s not your first device. But there are millions of people across the world that have yet to gain access to the mobile internet, and there’s a good probability their first phone will run Android. We take for granted the tasks phones have replaced or made easier — I know I do — from simply browsing the internet to transferring money to keeping in touch. When the experience of such mundane tasks comes with almost no friction, the things that need to get done get done. It’s as simple as that. The software gets to do its job, and content gets consumed or created as the owner sees fit.

As phones become more capable of replacing other tools in our lives for mundane tasks, it becomes more difficult to justify spending all that money on the most popular and expensive phones. Those that choose to do so often call themselves “power users,” and our frenemy Android Authority has a great summary of what exactly that means in 2017.

But the central thesis assumes that there are devices out there, usually expensive, large, and with a focus on a particular demographic, that can do things other phones can’t. The ZTE Axon M, for example, can fold out to reveal two displays; the Razer Phone can fill a room with sound; the LG V30 can intelligently zoom to a subject when shooting video. These are great features, but they’re extensions of existing ones, not entirely new paradigms (though one can argue that the Razer Phone’s 120Hz display is disruptive in a whole new way).

I’m reminded of a blog post I read by analyst and investor, Ben Evans, about what we do on our phones.

Conversely, what is being done on ‘phones’ – or rather, on these small touch-screen computers that we all carry around with us? We write – people have been writing more on phones than on PCs since the days of SMS – and we share, take pictures, create videos, play games and talk to our friends. That is, we do most of things that those 90% of PCs are used for, but we also do everything that you can do with a touch screen and internet-connected image sensor, and GPS, and all the other things a PC doesn’t have, plus everything you can do with all of the billions of app downloads.

Every Android phone with access to the Play Store has roughly the same access to these billion-plus apps. Some may not work as well on older hardware, and certain games may not run at all, but the true mobile revolution is that most people can perform most important tasks on phones today, be it creating or consuming. There will always be a subset of users that need something more powerful, or larger, or more specialized, but just as fewer and fewer people need dedicated computers to get through a day, soon only a few people will need powerful expensive phones.

I think of a device like the BlackBerry Motion. It costs around $400. It doesn’t do anything better than anything else. It’s merely a good phone that represents the current ethos of what makes a great Android phone; decent hardware and a commitment to plugging holes in the software. Android is in a place right now where, without major feature updates, most people would be pretty happy with the experience for a few years. With hardware powerful enough to prevent “bit rot,” and a commitment to security, the proliferation of good, cheap Android phones is the best thing to happen to mobile in years.

That’s why you’re going to see us do a better job in the coming months and years covering these products in a way that elevates these devices to a place that, without sensationalizing them, acknowledges their importance in the industry. We already have a full set of rich buyer’s guide content in the under-$100 to under-$400 scale, but you’ll be seeing a lot more smart, level-headed commentary on why the category is so important.

And now, this:

• Black Friday was a big deal around these parts. If you didn’t have a chance to check out Thrifter’s live blog and overall coverage, Cyber Monday is going to be just as big a deal.
• Nice to see some older devices like the Sony Xperia XZ, OnePlus 5 and Nokia 8 getting Oreo.
• If you’ve been holding off getting a password manager because it’s too hard to use or doesn’t work with your platform of choice, may I ask you to reconsider?
• The fight for Net Neutrality is coming down to the wire. Let’s win this one.
• Remember Android Wear?
• I hope you Americans had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving!

See you in a few weeks,

-Daniel

Cyber Monday Stream: All of the best deals in real-time

Cyber Monday 2017 is here with all of its deals, and the Thrifter team will be covering all of it right here!

That’s right. Team Thrifter will be bringing you complete coverage of all things Cyber Monday right here, and we hope you’ll join us. Our live coverage of the fun will begin on November 26 at 10 p.m. EST. There will be deals from just about every retailer you can think of, and some will definitely be better than others. Cyber Monday deals have been known to sell out quickly, so this is the quickest way to be alerted to these deals as they are happening!

Join the Thrifter Deals Stream

Time’s struggle to adapt to digital brings it near a sale (update: official)

Time Inc. hasn’t had the easiest time adapting to an online world: although its brands have been pushing boundaries in digital storytelling, it has made some questionable decisions (MySpace, anyone?) and is in the midst of an overhaul that could see it selling print publications as it focuses on the internet. And now, it appears ready to receive a lifeline in a bid to stay afloat. Reuters sources claim that Meredith, the publisher of Better Homes & Gardens and Family Circle, is close to a deal to buy Time for roughly $2 billion. The move would let Meredith boost its publishing chops while spinning out its broadcasting wing.

The insiders believe a deal could be announced sometime this week if it goes forward. Meredith has already tried to buy Time twice, first in 2013 and again earlier in 2017.

While an acquisition would keep one of the US’ best-known magazine publishers afloat (it’s responsible for Fortune and Sports Illustrated in addition to its namesake mag), there are worries about what this would mean in a country where media consolidation is becoming an increasing concern. An affiliate of the Koch brothers is reportedly backing Meredith’s bid, raising concerns that Time may lose its editorial voice if the conservative billionaire duo asks the publisher to mirror its political agenda. You may get more streaming video and VR productions, but at the expense of a diversity of opinions.

Update: And it’s already official. The deal will be worth about $2.8 billion and should wrap up in the first quarter of 2018 if it goes smoothly. Also, Meredith states that the Koch brothers won’t have board seats or have editorial control. While that may be reassuring to some, this could still lead to reduced competition in the media realm.

Source: Reuters

Hacker in massive Yahoo breach expected to plead guilty

While it’s doubtful that the US will catch the Russians accused of participating in the massive 2014 Yahoo breach, a third culprit appears ready to cooperate. Reuters has discovered that Canadian citizen Karim Baratov is slated to appear for a “change of plea” hearing on November 28th, indicating that he’s likely to plead guilty to helping Russian officers (Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin) swipe 500 million Yahoo accounts. His attorney has declined to comment, but he has already waived his right to avoid extradition from to the US.

Baratov was part of a larger scheme where Dokuchaev and Sushchin paid hackers to access email accounts, including those outside of Yahoo. At least 50 of the 80 accounts Baratov infiltrated were hosted by Google, and the batch included a mix of Russian officials and business executives. He’d previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, which included multiple fraud charges and identity theft.

Provided Baratov does plead guilty, it’s not certain what will have changed his mind. It may be the only conviction in the case, at any rate. When the other suspects live in Russia and may have the blessing of that country’s government, the most the US can do is impose travel sanctions.

Source: Reuters

Steam hits 17 million concurrent users, with nearly 7 million playing in-game

Valve’s digital distribution service Steam keeps surging in popularity, setting new records for users nearly every month. After hitting 16 million online gamers in October, the lure of Black Friday deals (with an assist from a little game called PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds that you may have heard of) resulted in a new high, with 17,683,804 users signed in simultaneously.

According to the tracking data over at SteamDB, the number of online players reached a high of 6,813,617. Those were people actively playing games, rather than just idly browsing through the deals on the site. Of those, nearly half (2,940,359) were enjoying some frenzied multiplayer action in PUBG.

The total number of actual Steam users is harder to track, as many have multiple accounts and others have been dormant for years. In 2014, Steam announced that it had reached 75 million users, and then boasted more than 125 million “active” accounts at an event in 2015. Still, it’s hard to deny that Valve’s downloadable games service has become a near-universal platform for PC gaming.

According to Steam’s figures from earlier this year, more than 25 million Steam users have gaming rigs that are ready for virtual reality. That figure has nearly doubled since 2016, indicating that widespread adoption of VR as a gaming platform may be right around the corner.

As far as the actual games on the service go, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is PUBG at nearly 3 million, Dota 2 comes in second with a peak of 1.2 million, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is a distant third with 850k. It’s worth noting that PUBG reached its peak in 2017, while the other two topped out in 2016. As PCGamesN notes, the number of PUBG players is likely to explode well past 3 million once the game releases the new desert map and then expands into Asian markets after the recent deal with Chinese publisher Tangent.

Valve has recently made its service more open to indie developers with the Steam Direct project. Gamers can also opt for projects that are still in development with Early Access, providing feedback to the developers and participating in discussions as the game reaches its final iteration.

Steam looks to be a juggernaut in PC gaming, at least for the foreseeable future, as it shows no signs of slowing down.

Essential Phone vs OnePlus 5T: Budget Android flagships go head-to-head

The OnePlus 5T is finally here, boasting top-of-the-line specs at a reasonable price. This time around, OnePlus has made a few big tweaks to the phone’s design — bringing a nice, edge-to-edge display to the device.

Of course, there are other phones in the price range with an even more edge-to-edge display — like the Essential Phone, which made a splash in the Android world earlier this year, and just recently got a pretty big price cut to $500. That puts it in direct competition with the OnePlus 5T. But which phone is better? We put the two head to head to find out.

Specs

Essential Phone

OnePlus 5T

Size
141.5 x 71.1 x 7.8 mm (5.57 x 2.80 x 0.31 in)
156.1 x 75 x 7.3 mm (6.15 x 2.95 x 0.29 in)
Weight
6.5 ounces (185 grams)
5.7 ounces (162 grams)
Screen
5.71-inch LCD
6.01-inch AMOLED
Resolution
2,560 x 1,312 pixels (504 ppi)
2,160 x 1,080 pixels (401 ppi)
OS
Android 7.1 Nougat
Android 7.1.1 Nougat
Storage
128GB
64GB or 128GB
SD Card Slot
No
No
NFC support
Yes
Yes
Processor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835
RAM
4GB
6GB or 8GB
Connectivity
GSM / CDMA / HSPA / LTE
GSM / CDMA / LTE
Camera
Front 8MP, Rear Dual 13MP
Front 16MP, Rear Dual 16MP and 20MP
Video
4K at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps, 720p at 120fps
4K at 30 fps, 1080p at 60fps, 1080p at 30fps, 720p at 30fps, slow motion 720p at 120fps
Bluetooth
Yes, version 5.0
Yes, version 5.0
Fingerprint sensor
Yes
Yes
Other sensors
Gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, proximity, barometer
Gyroscope, accelerometer, compass, proximity,
Water Resistant
No
No
Battery
3,040mAh
3,300mAh
Charger
USB Type-C
USB Type-C
Quick Charging
Yes
Yes
Wireless Charging
No
No
Marketplace
Google Play Store
Google Play Store
Color offerings
Black Moon, Pure White
Midnight Black
Availability
Essential, Sprint
OnePlus
DT Review
3.5 stars
4.5 stars

Both the Essential Phone and the OnePlus 5T feature Qualcomm’s latest and greatest chip, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, but that’s about where the similarities in specs end. The OnePlus 5T features either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and either 64GB or 128GB of storage, depending on the model you choose. The Essential Phone, on the other hand, only offers 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Neither of the two devices offer a MicroSD card slot, so you’ll want to get as much storage as you need up front.

There’s a bit of a trade-off here. The base model of the Essential Phone offers a lot more storage than the base model of the OnePlus 5T, but the OnePlus offers more RAM in both situations. Now, for day to day use that probably isn’t going to mean much to you — but it does mean that the OnePlus will get a slight performance boost over the Essential Phone for mulititasking.

Because of the extra RAM and the fact that you can get just as much storage on the OnePlus 5T, it’s the winner here.

Winner: OnePlus 5T

Design, display, and durability

Essential Phone

OnePlus has made a few design tweaks for the OnePlus 5T, overall giving it a much more modern look. The design now includes a so-called “edge-to-edge” display, which has also resulted in the fingerprint sensor being moved to the back. It’s a pretty good look, despite the fact that there’s still a forehead and chin on the phone that some may not like. That’s unlike the Essential Phone, which features a true edge-to-edge display. It’s so edge-to-edge, that there’s a small cutout at the top for the phone’s front-facing camera. Like the OnePlus 5T, the Essential Phone does have a fingerprint sensor on the back, along with a dual-sensor camera.

One major point of difference to keep in mind is the fact that the OnePlus 5T has a headphone jack — while the Essential Phone does not.

When it comes to the display, the two phones are very different. The Essential Phone features a 5.7-inch LCD display, while the OnePlus 5T’s display comes in at 6-inches and is an AMOLED display. The trade-off, however, is resolution — while the OnePlus 5T’s resolution comes in at 2,160 x 1,080 pixels, the Essential Phone steps things up to 2,560 x 1,312 pixels — and the slightly smaller size makes it a much sharper, pixel-dense display.

Neither of the two phones offer water-resistance of any kind, and you’ll want to be careful to not drop them, as the large screens are likely prone to shattering.

Because of the more edge-to-edge display and higher resolution, the Essential Phone is the winner here.

Winner: Essential Phone

Battery life and charging

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

With a higher resolution comes a tax on battery life, and the fact that the Essential Phone has a smaller battery to begin with could well amplify that. The device offers a 3,040mAh battery, while the OnePlus 5T’s battery comes in at 3,300mAh. The OnePlus 5T also has OnePlus’ Dash Charge, which has consistently been rated among the best fast charging technologies available. The Essential Phone doesn’t offer Qualcomm’s QuickCharge tech, but it can get fast charging through USB-C PowerDelivery, providing you have the right chargers.

Because of the larger battery and better fast charging tech, the OnePlus 5T is the winner here.

Winner: OnePlus 5T

Camera

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

The OnePlus 5T offers a dual 16MP and 20MP camera, with an aperture of f/1.7, phase detection autofocus, and a dual-LED flash. Those are pretty decent specs — but as any photographer would know, specs alone don’t make for great performance. The Essential Phone’s camera, on the other hand, comes in with a dual 13MP sensor with an aperture of f/1.9. It also has both phase and laser detection autofocus, and an LED flash.

So which camera is better? Well, we’ve extensively reviewed both of these phones, and the OnePlus 5T offers both better photos and an easier camera experience. In our review of the OnePlus 5T, we found that while the camera isn’t on par with the likes of the Google Pixel 2, it’s still very good. We found that the Essential Phone’s camera did take decent shots, but still not as good as the OnePlus 5T, and the app was a little frustrating to use too.

Winner: OnePlus 5T

Software

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Both of these phones offer a pretty stock Android experience, which we see as a good thing. That doesn’t mean it’s totally stock. The OnePlus 5T offers OnePlus’ OxygenOS, which is currently based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat — though an upgrade to Android 8.0 Oreo is on the way. Small tweaks include things like more features in the camera app, and Face Unlock — a feature similar to the iPhone’s Face ID.

The Essential Phone, on the other hand, offers pretty much stock Android, with only a few tweaks to optimize the display for the notch at the top of the phone. That means that the phone gets pretty quick updates, and in fact recently started its beta for Android 8.0 Oreo. The OnePlus 5T beta for Oreo will be coming a little later this year.

Because of the faster updates, the Essential Phone is the winner.

Winner: Essential Phone

Price and availability

The phones are in the same price bracket — and they both offer excellent value for money. The Essential Phone has been available for some time now, and can be bought for $500 from Essential or from Sprint.

The OnePlus 5T is also now available — and the base model costs $500, while the 8GB RAM version comes in at $560. It’s available from OnePlus.

The phones come in at the same price for the base model, so this one’s a tie.

Winner Tie

Overall winner: OnePlus 5T

The design and edge-to-edge display on the Essential Phone are nice, but they’re not enough to beat the OnePlus 5T’s better performance, camera, and battery. Those are all major features of a phone, and most people will find them important.

That doesn’t mean the Essential Phone is a bad choice. In fact, it’s still an excellent option. The difference between these phones is seriously minimal, and if you prefer the design of the Essential Phone and want a higher-resolution display, then it may be the better option for you. For an all-around great phone, however, you’ll want to get the OnePlus 5T.

Sorry kid, access denied: Our favorite, free parental control software

Proper parenting isn’t easy in the digital age. There was once a time, prior to the internet, when a social network strictly referred to you and your band of cohorts, when “following” someone was considered illegal, and when the only pornographic images available lined the glossy interior of publications like Hustler and Penthouse.

Most kids these days are well versed in the tech-savvy art of computing. Many of us wouldn’t mind a little assistance when it comes to curtailing cyberbullying, blocking inappropriate websites, or simply limiting our childrens’ computer usage — for many, it now hovers around eight hours a day. Thankfully, there is plenty of free parental control software available to help.

If keeping your kids safe online seems like too much work right now, how about getting them to play with a real-world techy toy instead?

Built-in OS features

Although giving your kids technology designed for their age group is a good step to keeping them safe online, when they have access to more general computing devices, you can leverage parental control features built right into the operating system. The parental controls for both Windows and MacOS provide a convenient and acceptable means for restricting Web access and chat functionality, along with viewing detailed logs and monitoring email exchanges.

Windows Family Safety

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

For Windows 10, you need to sign up for a Family Safety account. You can then add a specific child account (or more) to your family account that your kids can use.

This approach may be a little complicated, but it comes with a variety of benefits. You get activity reports for all online activity from the child accounts, and can block any apps, games or sites that you want.

For an idea of what apps are actually beneficial for kids, take a look at some of our favorites.

You can also limit how much time they spend on the account, and strictly control their purchasing activity. There’s also some real-world safety features including the ability to track your kids’ location as long as you use Windows mobile devices.

MacOS

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

MacOS touts more than a few options when it comes to parental controls, each of which is accessible via the “Parental Controls” pane housed within the main System Preferences panel. The software includes options for blocking specified applications and websites. You can also block messaging with particular people you deem unworthy or inappropriate. Parental controls must be set individually for each person, but once done, users can also set time limits.

There are other options, such as the ability to hide profanity in most source content, and users can additionally prohibit the computer’s built-in camera and disc-burning utilities. If there’s more than one Mac on a single network, users can even remotely manage said parental controls from a different computer entirely. It’s a fairly comprehensive solution if you don’t mind spending some time in Mac settings making sure everything is set up correctly. The catch is that you can only manage parental controls by user, so you’ll need to set up separate accounts for each child.

Desktop/mobile programs

Window and Mac OS X offer a decent selection of parental controls, but they can’t do it all by default. In the same vein, parental control can be a challenge to set up on child-focused mobile devices. Here are downloadable programs that may be more suited to your particular goals.

K9 Web Protection (Windows/MacOS)

K9 Web Protection, the company’s first offering in the market of parental-control software, is as lightweight as it is speedy, offering phenomenal cloud-based filtering and a swath of features common among the best premium products. This includes blocking websites by picking from more than 70 different categories (drugs, porn, gambling, violence, and more), and activity reports. K9 promises real-time categorization of the latest adult/malicious sites so that new threats won’t be a problem, either.

You can also create custom lists that permanently block or allow specific websites based on your own decisions, or limit web access to only designated times. Most of your settings can be overridden by your parental password when necessary. Plus, it works on the latest Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android platforms. Really, it’s such a complete service that we’re surprised K9 hasn’t started charging yet. You may want to jump on this one quickly.

Get started at:

K9

Qustodio (Windows/MacOS/iOS/Android)

Qustodio has a very clean, easy-to-use interface that allows you to sign up for the free version of its software in moments. You manage everything from the dashboard, which includes social media monitoring, individual time limits for internet usem, games or apps, and the ability to track text messages and calls on the right devices. The real-time internet filter can detect pornography, and makes sure that everything is blocked, even in private browsing modes.

Compatibility options are impressive, since the software supports Kindle and Nook, as well as Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS. However, Qustodio is trying to make as much money as possible with this program, so many features (like game blocking, location tracking, etc.) are locked behind paywalls. You can also only use the free version on a single device, which limits its applicability. This is a great set of features, we just wish more of it was available for free.

Get started at:

Qustodio

Family Shield from OpenDNS (multiple platforms)

OpenDNS bought and fostered FamilyShield with the goal of creating a free, powerful parental control tool that was focused on the practical lives of kids. As a result, FamilyShield is both easy to download and provides a lot of unique features. That includes protection for Internet-connected game consoles, like Xbox One, automatic fraud blocking, and automatic blocking of proxy servers that might be used to get around parental controls.

The service also uses automatic updates to ban adult and violent websites as they appear. The catch here is that you have to set up your router to be compatible with OpenDNS, which involves a little technical work, and some testing to make sure everything is compatible.

Get started at:

Cisco

Kidlogger (multiple platforms)

Kidlogger is a great option if you’d prefer to be covert instead of proactive. Instead of blocking sites, Kidlogger automatically tracks keystrokes and web history, as well as program use (and it automatically saves any screenshots taken on the computer). When installed on a smartphone, the app also automatically logs any phone calls made, by number and by contact name.

The free version of Kidlogger is OK, but the premium versions add some oomph, though some of its features are downright invasive. If you want to monitor your child’s phone conversations and record WhatsApp messages, Kidlogger can do that. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t have native password protection, so if you’ve got a smart kid, you could end up getting caught (ironically). The app is available for Windows, MacOS, Android, BlackBerry, and iOS. Like Qustodio, a free account limits you to one device, while paid versions offer more protection.

Get started at:

Kidlogger

Zoodles kid friendly web-browser (Windows, MacOS, Android)

HTC/Zoodles

Zoodles takes the dramatic step of replacing the entire web-browser with one built around children. Specifically good for really young kids just getting to grips with accessing content online, Zoodles combines a filtered online-experience with a walled garden of promoted, child-friendly content.

Available on a variety of devices and operating systems, Zoodles offers games, books, videos, and access to other age-appropriate content, all customizable by parents. There are activity reports to see what your child spends time doing, as well as an adjustable “recommender engine” which helps parents promote certain learning tools to their children through the application.

No matter if you use the free version with basic features, or the more advanced “premium” edition, Zoodles is a great tool for younger children. It’s easily circumvented once they know what they’re doing, however, so don’t try and force this one on your teens. For baby’s first internet-experience though, Zoodles does a great job.

Browsers, add-ons, and extensions

Since the Web is where most children spend the majority of their computer time — don’t we all? —  it’s not a bad idea to incorporate an add-on, extension, or even a dedicated browser featuring a basic filtering system and monitoring mechanics. They’re lightweight, install in seconds, and provide enough protection for young children — though like the Zoodles browser, older kids and teens may be able to find their way around extensions.

FoxFilter (Google Chrome/Mozilla Firefox Add-on)

FoxFilter is designed to provide users with a score of blocking filters based solely on individual keywords and sites (i.e. Playboy, lingerie, nude), while offering solutions for adding trusted sites to a curated list of exempt content. Moreover, the add-on’s sensitivity settings can be tweaked to scan body content as well as the title and URL, and users can set notification and alert preferences detailing the type of content underlying each blocked site.

This preference managing is great for blocking a range of websites according to your own goals, but it may also be tricky for inexperienced users. Use the wrong keywords, or too many keywords, and you may find nearly every website blocked. FoxFilter does offer free email support, so if you encounter any issues don’t hesitate to contact them.

Get started at:

FoxFilter Chrome FoxFilter Firefox

Nanny for Google Chrome, LeechBlock for Firefox (Browser Extensions)

As children get older, certain content concerns may go away. However, time management becomes a greater source of worry, especially for teenagers whose lives begin to increasingly revolve around social interaction — and, in turn — social networking sites. Nanny and LeechBlock are browser extensions that offer a simpler and more specific version of control: productivity control.

The extensions block particular sites at specific times of the day to prevent distraction and promote productivity, thus allowing you to block Facebook from noon until 6 p.m., for instance. The two add-ons also let you designate how much time your kids can spend daily on certain websites, which means you can allocate an hour or two of time on a specific site instead of blocking the domain entirely. The extensions might even help you with your productivity, especially considering how easy it is to fall prey to productivity-hindering distractions now and again.

Get started at:

Nanny LeechBlock

What’s next?

Now that you’ve made sure your kids are safe online, what about making sure your web activities are well protected too? Make sure you’re running a strong antivirus solution and keep your passwords shored up with our favorite password managers.

Updated 11/22/17 by Jon Martindale – Updated links and text.