Recently in parental controls Category

Disney's iParenting.com has awarded SMobile Systems its "2009 Outstanding Product" award for its Security Shield Parental Controls software, which is designed to protect children from the growing dangers of online predators, sexting (sending sexual texts or picture messages), cyber bullying, spyware and device loss and theft.

The super parenting app, SMobile Parental Controls enables parents to:

• View pictures taken by the device camera and sent or received via text or e-mail.
• View the content of all text and e-mail messages.
• Automatically receive alerts when keywords are sent or received.
• View the child's contact and address book.
• List all applications installed on the device.
• Display the location of the child and device in an online map (GPS)
  

"Thanks to SMobile's Parental Controls software, parents now have the ability to prevent potentially dangerous situations from occurring or escalating," said Neil Book, president of SMobile Systems. "Our software's unique ability to allow parents to monitor the actual content of their child's SMS messages and view pictures taken, while also protecting the device against spyware and viruses, provides parents with unprecedented security for their children."

SMobile (www.smobilesystems.com) makes apps for Windows Mobile, Symbian (Nokia,) BlackBerry, iPhone, and Android Smartphones. The service costs $29.99 a year.

Mobicip.com Premium, a web-based parental control service is available for iPhones and iPod Touch devices to track Internet usage and ensure they are protected from inappropriate content.

For a $9.99 per year, the Mobicip.com Premium service enables parents to protect their children while they browse on their mobile devices - often times away from direct supervision.

Parents choose from three predefined age-appropriate content filtering levels (elementary, middle school, high school) derived from education-class technology standards that meet Federal Child Information Protection Act (CIPA) requirements.

Parents can customize disallowed categories, and build their own list of allowed and disallowed websites.

Using four stages of content filtering technology, Mobicip.com blocks inappropriate content and tagged photos even on allowed websites. The service also features a web site that parents can use to track Internet surfing history and to adjust their parental controls. For simplicity, adjustments are applied to all the mobile devices that are covered under the Mobicip.com service.

AT&T  is now offering Smart Limits for Wireless that lets parents set limits around their children's access to the mobile Internet with a monetary or a megabyte or gigabyte usage limit. This is could also be a great way for parents to reward their children for good behavior.

AT&T  Smart Limits for Wireless is a web-based suite of tools that customers managing their children's mobile phone usage.AT&T is the first major carrier to offer usage ceilings for mobile web browsing as part of its parental controls lineup. In addition to surfing the internet, popular tasks such as updating a social networking profile and downloading a game require a connection to the mobile web.

Limits can be adjusted at any time. For example, parents can allocate a certain number of megabytes for mobile Web use but offer to increase it for a child who completes household chores on time or improves his or her grades.

T-Mobile will be offering Family Allowances, allowing parents manage when and how their family members use their T-Mobile phones and service.

With Family Allowances, parents can give their teens an upfront monthly wireless allowance that works on all the phones T-Mobile offers. The feature lets parents set and change limits for minutes, messages and downloads (e.g., games, ringtones and wallpaper) using an online tool.

Once the allowance is reached, the feature shuts off service for that specific element and parents receive a notification. Parents can stay in contact with their family members by setting up "Always Allowed" numbers that will continue to connect, even after allowances have been spent. Any unlimited calling features that are included in a family's plan, such as myFaves and T-Mobile-to-T-Mobile, can also still be used, which preserves the value of the calling plan. Additional controls are available so parents can choose to set allowances on unlimited calling features, if desired.

After finding problems with 911 connectivity, AT&T is temporarily suspending its "Smart Limits" plan which lets parents set  limits on their children's wireless phone activity. No matter what limits were set kids, could dial 911 but there appeared to be problems if a 911 operator need to call the phone back if the call was disconnected.

Customers money will be refunded while they resolve the issue.

The controls allowed parents to block text messages and calls to and from specific numbers, disallow calling  during certain times (school hours or late night) and also block wireless Web content.