March 22, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Plugging a USB drive for missing children
The AmberAlert.com portal -- which serves as an online resource for information about children who are reported missing -- is pushing for more businesses, state programs and community organizations to sponsor efforts to buy its Child ID Kit USB storage drives.
The ID Kits -- which are being built through a partnership with Kingston Technology, and retail from the site at $29.99 apiece -- consist of a USB flash memory stick that is meant for use by parents to store information on their children, including their physical appearance and photos, along with any medical conditions.
The device, which fits on a key chain, plugs into any USB-capable computer and asks parents to fill out a series of forms that cover a wide variety of information, from their home address to their family relations, which is also protected from any unwanted eyes by a password and onboard encryption.
In the case that their children should ever go missing, parents using the AmberAlert.com ID Kits would be able to get their kids' details into the hands of law enforcement officials more quickly, greatly abetting efforts to track down the missing individuals, according to the site.
One of the obvious but key selling points of the device is that it can be regularly updated with new information as children grow or change, including their latest photos and medical conditions. In addition to its portability, the USB device also figures to be fairly rugged (it is waterproof) compared to other forms of media, even traditional pictures.
As part of its pitch, AmberAlert.com also recommends that parents keep information on the devices up-to-date with their children's MySpace pages, instant messaging accounts and blogs. Such social networking sites and online communities have been exposed as potential hangouts for pedophiles, and places where children might post information unknown to their parents that can be useful if they go missing.
Posted by Matt Hines on March 22, 2007 04:01 PM
January 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)
The IDG veterans here in San Francisco are stumbling around in disbelief over news that Rex Farrance, senior technical editor at PC World, was shot dead in his Pittsburg (California) home on Tuesday night by four masked gunmen. To say this is a tragedy and grotesquely unfair is merely to state the obvious. Rex was one of the good guys: a family man, a popular and cheerful co-worker who gave his all to his job.
I worked with Rex at PC World (InfoWorld and PC World are both owned by IDG) starting in 1990 and promoted him to tech editor 1999. It was an obvious job for Rex, since his greatest joy at work was always explaining, as clearly as possible, how technology worked. As tech editor, he was fastidious in his role, examining the way manuscripts spelled out the technical details, and insisting on changes when an explanation didn't meet his standards. And he simply would not be rushed when issues of accuracy were at stake, even under deadline. He took his role as reader advocate seriously, almost religiously.
Rex was quirky, opinionated (but not overbearing), and almost invariably upbeat. When I returned to the IDG fold in 2003 after a three-year stint at CNET, Rex was one of the first people I bumped into in the hall, and he greeted me with his classic ear-to-ear grin. We immediately picked up where we had left off, conversing whenever we saw one another and sharing company scuttlebutt. We weren't particularly close, but I valued our interactions. Rex had a way of making people feel welcome; his enthusiasm for his work, for technology, and for his fellow employees was genuine. So too was his devotion to his family. For years, his PC desktop image was a silhouette of his wife Lenore, very pregnant with his son Sterling (who is now 19).
Police reports of the crime suggest there may have been drugs involved and that Rex was not a random victim. Frankly, that information doesn't gibe with the Rex I knew. The details of this heinous act will no doubt roll out over the coming days and weeks. Whatever the findings, I will cherish my memories of Rex Farrance.
Posted by Steve Fox on January 11, 2007 11:35 AM
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