Parents Worried About Pornographic Websites

The children's online security has always been a problem, even if their computers were protected with all sorts of software solutions. And nobody can guarantee 100
percent that the kids are secure, since dangerous websites appear every day and new threats rise up every hour. But even so, the parents are not able to monitor their children's online activity, a recent survey conducted by MoneySupermarket.com revealed, according to Web User News. "No less than 46 percent of the parents avoid checking the websites visited by the kids while only 21 percent installed software technologies to monitor the activity," the same source continued.

With continuously growing up social networking solutions, children must be protected because the threats are all around these websites. Not only can they be exposed to all sorts of dangers, but this kind of webpages connect people from all over the world.

Some time ago, the authorities discovered thousands of sex offenders who created accounts on MySpace and on Facebook to find teenagers and to demand from them explicit photos and adult material. Moreover, some of them attempted to meet the young users which is pretty dangerous since they usually provide false information and pictures.

"The results show parents are aware they need to monitor how their child is using the Internet but could do more. I would suggest setting rules and expecting children to obey them, especially teenagers, is not enough. At the very least the computer should be in a communal area. However, putting parental control software on your home computer, such as Net Nanny or WebBlocker would offer more security as well as give parents extra peace of mind that their child is safe when surfing the net," Rob Barnes, head of mobiles and broadband at MoneySupermarket.com said, according to Web User News.

€10,000 from Intel for the Winner of University Notebook Challenge

Intel launched in April, in the spirit of innovation toward energy-efficient technology, a challenge to European universities to design a device that would be capable of powering laptops by using sustainable and renewable energy sources. After seven months of creative work from the participants, the winners of the Intel University Competition On Renewable Energy (CORE) were rewarded yesterday.
The winners were given €10,000 as funding to support scientific research.

The three members jury had to judge entries from universities in Belgium, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. The three members, Nir Tessler, professor at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Eszter Morvay, IT analyst, and Ofri Wechsler, Intel employee, judged each entry according to several criteria, as ecological value, ingenuity of design or commercial viability.

The winner of the competition was the Spanish team, which presented a solution based on a pedal machine powered by human motion. The energy produced by the cycling action is turned into electricity by a power electronics converter and this way can power the laptop. The jury considered that this solution dealt with all aspects of the challenge, from ease of implementation to innovative quality of its components and also that it allows for a realistic usage model. The device is user-friendly allowing the user to adopt a flexible rhythm and take any breaks necessary. The power electronic converter is specifically designed to minimize charging time and to keep the energy flow at a constant level.

The Polytechnic of Milan from Italy and Delft's University of Technology from Netherlands, the runners-up will be recognized too for the merits of their designs. The Italian team designed a system that uses hydrogen fuel to power a laptop. This solution is noteworthy for its duration and also for being environmentally clean. Although it can not be found on Earth in its elemental form, hydrogen can be obtained through electrolysis from water. The Netherlands team presented a project consisting mainly of a rocking motion pedal mechanism. Both runners-up received a top of the line laptop.