Michele McGraw

Michele McGraw was our guest on our Mother’s Day special show 5/11/13.  Here is a list of the blogs sites which she recommends that are hosted by hi-tech moms.

• http://5minutesformom.com
• http://momitforward.com 
• http://dooce.com
• http://teachmama.com
• http://thepioneerwoman.com
• http://momspark.com

Geek Vs. Geek: Is Windows 8 Dead?

Rick Broid, Gadget Guy

Our  Gadget Guy Rick Broida never misses a chance to criticize

Dave Johnson, eHow Editor

Microsoft’s Windows 8 OS.  This time he tackled the subject of whether

anyone should move to Windows 8 with eHow writer Dave Johnson.

If you are considering moving to Windows 8, this might be the poison pill for you!  Rick, we are worried you may be on a Redmond hit list; keep your head down.

Full Article

Computer help forum:

Why do all Window systems slow down over time?

by: Lee Koo (ADMIN) January 31, 2013 3:48 PM PST

A couple of weeks ago it was discovered that it’s possible for viruses to quickly spread among unsecured or WEP-encrypted Wi-Fi routers in densely populated urban areas. The FBI has Strongly Recommended that all users Immediately Disable Windows’
Universal Plug n’ Play Support.  Steve Gibson is a noted security expert and has been featured on Internet Advisor in the past.  He has a simple one step, free test to see whether your computer/network are vulnerable.

i9 Sports is the first and fastest growing franchise of youth sports leagues, camps, and programs in the United States. With over 500,000 members since 2003 and 275 locations in 30 states, i9 Sports offers the most popular team sports for kids with a focus on fun, safety, and good sportsmanship.  I9 Sports just released survey results and the timing couldn’t be better with the Super Bowl tomorrow. Chris Cristian is the owner of i9 Sports Ann Arbor.

About i9 Sports®

Based in the Tampa Bay, Florida area, i9 Sports^® is the first and fastest-growing youth sports franchise company in the United States. With more than half a million members from New York to Hawaii, i9 Sports offers leagues, camps, and clinics for boys and girls ages 3-14 in today’s most popular team sports such as flag football, soccer, basketball and baseball.

A privately held company, i9 Sports was founded in 2003 by CEO Frank Fiume on the principle that the number one reason kids play organized sports is to have fun, not to become a draft pick.  Reinventing the industry, customers enjoy the i9 Sports Experience which emphasizes fun, safety and convenience as well as teaching the value of good sportsmanship.

Named #1 Children’s Fitness Franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine, i9 Sports has been ranked in their prestigious Franchise 500® issue the past six years. i9 Sports has also been listed among INC Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies for the past three years and received Franchise Business Review’s Top 50 in Franchise Satisfaction Award for four years in a row.

For more information on i9 Sports, visit www.i9Sports.com . To learn more about the low investment, low overhead i9 Sports franchise model, visit www.i9Sportsfranchise.com .

Surprising Survey Reveals Most Dads With Football-Related Concussions Want Young Sons Playing Tackle Football

90% of dads who suffered football-related concussions want their kids to play tackle football

43% of football player dads say there’s too much hype over concussions

(February 1, 2013) - Despite increasing awareness about concussion dangers for young athletes, a new national survey reveals 90% of men who played tackle football at the high school level or higher who suffered or suspected they suffered a football concussion want their sons to play tackle football.  77% of all football-playing dads polled say tackle football is safe for children under age 12 even though more than 3 in 5 of these dads suffered a concussion themselves during their playing days.  43% of all football playing dads surveyed say there’s too much hype over concussions in sports. And even more surprising, dads say most moms (61%) agree with them that tackle football is safe for young athletes. 

The survey of 300 dads who played tackle football at the high school level or higher, was commissioned by the non-profit arm of i9 Sports, the nation’s first and fastest growing youth sports franchise.

• More than 2/3 of football dads polled (65%) say if their son had a concussion they would let him continue to play tackle football after healed.

• 53% of football dads  say kids who play tackle sometimes think getting a concussion “is cool”, or “ a status symbol” that means you are “tough and play hard.”

• Almost 1 in 5 football dads (19%) say despite concussion awareness, there have been no noticeable changes to the policies and procedures of youth sports.  

• More than 1 in 3 football dads (36%) say their son’s competitive youth sports coach (any sport) is more interested in a win over safe play.

“This frightening survey shows even though concussion awareness is permeating youth sports today, often parents, young players and perhaps even coaches don’t heed the warnings,” says Brian Sanders, COO and President of i9 Sports, which has more than 565,000 members at 275 locations across the country. “It’s scary to us that dads who suffered concussions encourage their young sons to play tackle. Studies show a concussion can be more dangerous for young athletes because their brains are still developing. Still these young athletes perceive concussions as a ‘cool status symbol.’  That’s why we recommend flag football until high school.”

In other survey findings:

•  39% of football dads say they DISAGREE with their son’s mother over tackle football because she says it’s not safe. However, more than 2/3 of football dads (61%) say they and their son’s mom AGREE that tackle football IS safe and the right choice for their son.

• More than 1/3 of football dads (36%)  say youth athletes don’t understand concussion dangers and don’t take precautions

• More than 1/3 of football dads (31%) say coaches understand concussion dangers but don’t take precautions

i9 SPORTS CONCUSSION CRUSADE:

• i9 Sports Leagues play flag football – NO TACKLE. Former and current NFL coaches and players have/had their children playing i9 Sports because they don’t want their kids playing tackle football at a young age. (Ronde Barber, Brad Culpepper and Morten Andersen)
• “When in Doubt, Sit Out” Policy An athlete in i9 Sports who is suspected of sustaining a concussion or head injury will be removed from the practice or game immediately and will not be allowed to return to play without written clearance from a licensed health care provider.   (i9 Sports was one of the first organizations to enforce this policy, but it has since been passed as law in 39 states with 6 more pending.   More information can be found at this link if interested: http://www.nflevolution.com/article/Concussion-Legislation-by-State?ref=767#MN)
• i9 Sports is the first national youth sports organization to institute a Parental Pledge for safety and good sportsmanship. Plus, after each game, one child earns an award for exhibiting the e best sportsmanship and fair play with teammates and opponents.
• i9 Sports has added a Concussions Safety Information page to the online registration process that parents must read and sign.  i9 Sports has also provided concussion information, including the signs and symptoms to look for, in guides for coaches and officials. (i9 Sports was one of the first organizations to include concussion safety to online registration but new laws make it mandatory in 39 states with 6 more pending)

###

*Editor’s Note: Please cite the non-profit arm of i9 Sports as the source for this survey.
(i9 Sports Association)

*This online survey was done by a third party and commissioned by the nonprofit arm of
i9 Sports. Survey participants had no affiliation with i9 Sports.

*The survey included 300 respondents, all dads who played football at the high school level or higher with son(s) ages 8 – 14.

FAST FACTS ON CONCUSSIONS:

• Football leads all sports in the occurrence of concussions among children and youth ages 5-18. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, emergency room visits for concussions sustained in organized team sports doubled among kids ages 8-13 between 1997 and 2007.*

• Approximately 3.5 million American children 6-14 play tackle football, even though it is, as described in a 2009 article in Pediatric Radiology,  one of “ the most hazardous organized sports in the U.S.”**

• It’s estimated that there are between 1.6 and 3.8 million sports-related concussions in the United States every year, leading The Centers for Disease Control (C.D.C.) to conclude that sports concussions in the United States have reached an “epidemic level.” ***

• Children who are seen in a hospital emergency room for a head injury, concussion, skull fracture or intracranial injury) are more than twice as likely to sustain a subsequent head injury of similar type within 12 months as are children seeking care for an injury not related to the head, regardless of their age. ****
• Researchers believe young athletes may be more vulnerable than adults to lasting damage from head injuries because their brains are still developing. Several states have adopted or are considering tougher limits on when athletes can resume play after a concussion, as have some schools, amateur leagues and the NFL. *****

• Researchers found that some head impacts in youth football . “Nobody expected to see hits of this magnitude,” said Stefan Duma, lead researcher and head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering. ******are equal in force to some of the bigger hits seen at the college level. And 3.5 million kids ages 6-13 play tackle football, compared to just 2,000 NFL players

###

* Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics

** Pediatric Radiology

*** CDC

****The American Journal of Sports Medicine

***** American Academy of Pediatrics

******Center for Injury Biomechanics, Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University

SPECIAL NOTE: Links can be provided upon request

About i9 Sports®

Based in the Tampa Bay, Florida area, i9 Sports^® is the first and fastest-growing youth sports franchise company in the United States. With more than half a million members from New York to Hawaii, i9 Sports offers leagues, camps, and clinics for boys and girls ages 3-14 in today’s most popular team sports such as flag football, soccer, basketball and baseball.

A privately held company, i9 Sports was founded in 2003 by CEO Frank Fiume on the principle that the number one reason kids play organized sports is to have fun, not to become a draft pick.  Reinventing the industry, customers enjoy the i9 Sports Experience which emphasizes fun, safety and convenience as well as teaching the value of good sportsmanship.

Named #1 Children’s Fitness Franchise by Entrepreneur Magazine, i9 Sports has been ranked in their prestigious Franchise 500® issue the past six years. i9 Sports has also been listed among INC Magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Companies for the past three years and received Franchise Business Review’s Top 50 in Franchise Satisfaction Award for four years in a row.

For more information on i9 Sports, visit www.i9Sports.com . To learn more about the low investment, low overhead i9 Sports franchise model, visit www.i9Sportsfranchise.com .

Lauren & Gary Baker 1998

Lauren Baker was a guest during the first year of our show at age 5.  During high

Teen Tech Advisor

school as the Teen Tech Tipster, she had a 12 minute segment on the show once a month to bring up topics interesting to teens and bring in interesting guests.  Today as a Junior in Sports Management at the University of Michigan while she is busy with classwork and projects she is certainly not too busy to call and congratulate us for providing good value in an entertaining way to our listeners for 15 years.

Among other activities, Lauren is:

Lauren & Gary 2010

One of the Student Managers for the U of M Men’s Lacrosse Team   – there is a game today between U of M and Marquette at 1pm at UofM in Ann Arbor.

Working with the Central Collegiate Hockey Association  – there is a game today between U of M and MSU at 4:05pm at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Working with i9 Sports in Ann Arbor with the owner Chris Cristian.  i9 Sports  is the first and fastest growing franchise of youth sports leagues, camps, and programs in the United States. With over 500,000 members since 2003 and 275 locations in 30 states, i9 Sports offers the most popular team sports for kids with a focus on fun, safety, and good sportsmanship.  I9 Sports just released survey results and the timing couldn’t be better with the Super Bowl tomorrow.

‘Malwarebiter’ (an obvious attempt to copycat  Malwarebytes, the excellent anti-malware software) is being advertised as the ‘Worlds Greatest Anti-Malware Software.’ It is really a fake Anti-Malware software product that identifies legitimate files as malware and fails to detect any real malware.  In addition, the “Malwarebiter” web site is actually spreading malware, a drive-by exploit in the form of a Zeus Trojan delivered either by Java or a PDF. 

DO NOT VISIT THIS SITE

This is a serious threat but ironically  if you google Malwarebiter, Malwarebytes comes up….just another way for the cyber mafia to damage business and commerce online.

Here is a screenshot of the fake Malwarebiter cyber scam:

Sweetim is a nasty piece of download malware that is showing up all over my family’s PC’s.  Hijacks your search by burying itself as an extension in IE and Google (don’t know about Safari and Firefox yet.)  Found a super site on the Net with a full solution that may fix a bunch of other viruses/malware on your computer.  Check this site out and follow the directions completely to get rid of Sweetim malware.  If you don’t follow all the steps it will reappear thanks to some registry entries.

Gary Baker

Technology Predictions for 2013

Well, the easiest predictions are to predict the trends that we saw in 2012 will continue in 2013 and for the most part that will be true.  It is easy to predict that we will continue to see:

• Mobility gain more mindshare
• The cloud being used more by even some larger businesses
• Security breaches making headlines
• Publicly available Wi-Fi continue to expand and become more available
• Social media start to mature and be the place people spend the most time online

Yes, all of this will be true and the sky will continue to get darker at night too.

A little deeper look into my crystal ball reveals a few riskier predictions.

• Mobile apps will become more hybrid.  The US will follow Europe’s lead and combine mobile websites using responsive design and HTML5 with mobile app functionality for easier maintainability.
• BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) to work and hook it up to the corporate information will gain momentum as the security concerns become adequately addressed.
• Sensing technology will be used in more and unique ways.  Sure Google has a driverless car and there are now refrigerators that sense their content and determine when to replenish, but what’s next?
• Security regulations will become more cross-boarder as more governments cooperate to stop the bad guys.  Unfortunately, the bad guys will continue to get better and more devious.  Look for a real battle this year, but there won’t be a cyber-war, at least not this year.
• Podcasts will become much wider-spread and the downloads will almost double.  This is a testament to the changes in viewing and listening habits of people inundated by information.  We want what we want, when we want it.
• Laptops and tablets are converging into hybrids and convertibles or a combination of the two.  The lines are blurring largely because of the success of the tablets driving by their intuitive touch screen design, Win 8 which really works better on a touch screen, and Google Chromebook which at less than $250 provides a compelling solution for the lower cost segment of the market.
• Social media will see a shakeout with the big sites getting bigger and the small sites without a real niche advantage become marginalized.  Look for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Slide Share, LinkedIn and a few others to start to pull away from the rest because they can monetize their content better.
• Content marketing will really come into its own in 2013.  Companies will start to figure out that content marketing and social media are made for one another, just look at Slide Share.
• Big Data is starting to really become a competitive advantage for the more visionary companies with other companies just starting to figure it out as well.  The tools to abstract, gather, transform and combine internal and external information are becoming mature enough to use affectively.  Combining this information with “insight” provides knowledge.  This is where the industry is heading next.
• Google glasses with heads-up display or less than $100 hit the market last year.  This year they will start to become more that proof-of-concept.  They will be adapted for a few special uses for specific companies in 2013 with more wide-spread uses happening in future years.

I’ve tried to provide a little different view of technology and some interesting predictions for 2013.  Of course, some of these won’t happen the way I think they will.  Can you predict which ones?