Let’s start by separating the “lazy parent” argument from the “kids shouldn’t have devices” argument. You can be a good parent and let your kids play on the iPad, and you can be a bad parent with a house full of encyclopaedias.

As a tech-savvy parent wanting to raise tech-savvy children, I’ve certainly heard pushback from well-meaning but ultimately wrong-thinking friends and relatives who think that my children’s use of technology, whether it be iPad, iPod or whatever, makes them soft or is an example of lazy parenting.

Marshall talks about how his daughter’s exposure to technology and media has helped her develop more critical thinking skills, patience and reinforcement of good behavior. That parallels my own experience.

“When they replaced sharing with +1 on Google Reader, it was clear that this day was going to come,” he said. Wetherell, 43, is amazed that Reader has lasted this long. Even before the project saw the light of the day, Google executives were unsure about the service and it was through sheer perseverance that it squeaked out into the market. At one point, the management team threatened to cancel the project even before it saw the light of the day, if there was a delay.

Nice article from Om Malik.

I like the people at Feedly and the service. This could be a good alternative to Google Reader and they’ve promised to work with developers, so hopefully apps like Reeder will support the service as well.

“I appreciate children are their target audience but it is not right and there needs to be specific controls in place to stop this from happening.”

There are, dipshit. Check your settings.

Our long global nightmare is over, folks.

Great news. You’ll now know the viewing preferences of your friends’ kids on Netflix, thanks to the service’s foray into social sharing via opt-in Facebook integration, announced earlier this morning. Because the company rushed to launch the feature ahead of a product release, which would allow family members and other shared account holders to set up their own profiles, that means parents will be inadvertently opting their children in to sharing their preferences for “Rugrats,” “My Little Pony,” and “Dora the Explorer.”

This is a great point I hadn’t considered when Netflix announced the service yesterday. Like Sarah Perez, I’m not the only Netflix user in the house – my kids use it too, since Netflix works on the Wii. When my 12 year old has sleepovers, he and his friends will often cue up cartoons, anime or action movies they want to watch.

I readily admit that not every Netflix user is in the same boat as Sarah Perez and me, but I don’t think we’re edge cases either.

Just like Amazon regularly tells me about products that I don’t want, Netflix makes recommendations based on “my” viewing I don’t care about, and here’s the thing – I don’t care enough to curate.

Do I mind people thinking that I’ve watched an entire season of Soul Eater? Not particularly. But if the goal here is to enable Facebook friends to see what each other likes on Netflix, the results are going to get skewed for parents and other people using shared accounts.

Apple recently updated its online store to reflect availability of a new VESA mount-compatible iMac, with the tweaked version of the thin all-in-one costing in at $40 more than standard models.

Just the thing if you want to hang your new iMac on the wall or on an articulated arm.

According to several sources, Google has started sending notifications to developers with ad-blocking software in the Google Play Store regarding these apps’ removal. Players like AdBlock, AdAway, AdFree and more are being whisked away.

Anyone surprised? Google will let all the Malware in the world in the store, but not ad blocking software.

Schiller did an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.

One of Google’s most useful products. Gone.

ShellyBlog:

Each year’s SXSW conference turns my hometown into a giant carnival of music, food, and strangers from strange lands.

My contribution to SXSW coverage is a listing of free music downloads and samplers, featuring bands who will be in or near Austin next week.

A lot of techies may not realize that while the first five days of SXSW is a tech conference, there’s a huge live music component too. Even better, a lot of these undiscovered bands make their music available for free online. Shelly Brisbin has collated some of the links to these gigabytes of MP3s.

Jim and Dan talk about truth in reporting, trusting the news and news agencies, android users in the air, twisting numbers, Rubin stepping down, “cheap” guitars, and more.

Sponsored by Hover (use code DANSENTME for 10% off), Shutterstock (use code DANSENTME3 for 30% off), and Squarespace (use code DANSENTME3 for 10% off).

Fast forward to today. The pace of innovation has never been greater, and Android is the most used mobile operating system in the world: we have a global partnership of over 60 manufacturers; more than 750 million devices have been activated globally; and 25 billion apps have now been downloaded from Google Play. Pretty extraordinary progress for a decade’s work. Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android—and with a really strong leadership team in place—Andy’s decided it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google. Andy, more moonshots please!

Andy Rubin started Android back in 2003, before it was acquired by Google. Google CEO Larry Page, who wrote the blog post we’ve linked to, didn’t offer details on what Rubin is doing next.

Sundar Pichai is taking over Google’s Android efforts. He’s a senior VP at Google who also heads up their Apps and Chrome efforts.

Heavily weighted to American readers, but there’s some good general info in there about how to have a political discussion with someone without turning into a raging asshole.

I think Kate pretty much nailed it.

Also: “Hee Haw Folks” made me laugh.

For the traveling photographer—or anyone who shoots in the field—the release of the iPad offered the possibility of a much lighter, easier field kit. Unfortunately, for the first few years of the iPad’s existence, the software did not exist to facilitate a pro-level workflow. Over the last few months, though, a few new apps have hit the store, and they’ve brought some important new post-production capabilities. Depending on your post needs, you might now be able to get away with taking only your camera and an iPad into the field.

The lovely and talented Ben Long offers workflow advice for pro photographers thinking about replacing a Mac laptop with an iPad, for traveling work. Some great suggestions for ways of getting your photos to the iPad and what to do with them once they’re there.

Gone are the days of not being able to categorize your audio recordings and voice memos or remember important moments. With CaptureAudio, your audio recordings can be sorted into binders and notebooks. More importantly, during a recording you can quickly and easily mark significant moments with audio markers called “flags” to immediately start playing from that moment during playback.

I’ve been using this app for a couple of weeks and it’s great.

Starting today, Netflix members in the U.S. can share their favorite shows and movies on Netflix with friends by connecting to Facebook and agreeing to share.

The new feature adds rows to the Netflix interface that show you what movies your Facebook friends have rated highly and what they’ve recently watched. If you’re concerned about letting your friends know about what Netflix calls “guilty pleasures,” you can tell Netflix not to share those details too. Netflix says the feature will roll out to all U.S. customers by the end of the week.

I’m waffling about whether this can be used positively or if it’s just another excuse for social media junkies to overshare every detail of their personal lives.

I’m downloading this today and giving it a try. You can slowdown a song to make it easier to learn how to play, which a lot of apps do, but the app will also show you the chords and when to change when you load an MP3 file into the app. I also like the feature for solos where you can isolate and mute the solo, which means you can play along with the song.

The child’s potty seat with the built-in iPad holder is the one that just makes me shake my head sadly. Here’s to a new generation of Twitter shitters.

“We obviously are interested in bringing out new ideas, but at the same time we also have our hands full with trying to bring many of our popular franchises to new systems,” he said. “So, the struggle for us then becomes, how do we find the balance in there and try to deliver the content that people want while also surprising them with something new?” Miyamoto said.

As Jony Ive is to the industrial design of Apple products, video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto is to the games that run on Nintendo’s consoles. He’s created some of Nintendo’s most successful video game franchises and characters, like Mario, Donkey Kong and the Legend of Zelda.

As the Papal Conclave happens in Rome, the cardinals spend their days in the Sistine Chapel. Here is a very cool VR of the inside of the chapel.

io9:

The relatively cheap shipping container is a good foundation for a strong, mobile, and post-apocalyptic home. In the last two decades, architects have been looking for shipping containers for sale in NY and incorporating these shipping containers into everything from schools to houses — for aesthetic reasons, but also out of economic necessity. Here are some of their most eye-catching creations.

You’d think living in a shipping container means your life couldn’t get much worse but take a look at some of these beautiful and innovative homes and tell me you wouldn’t want to live in any one of them.

This is really good.

A touching account of Karyn’s sudden battle with brain cancer. Be well Karyn.

Boing Boing:

Imagine my delight when I happened to discover Netflix had added the legendary ‘50s TV show, “You Bet Your Life” to its streaming service. The reason for my delight? The host of “You Bet Your Life” was none other than my grandfather, the one and only Groucho Marx.

But I also couldn’t stop thinking about how close every one of those classic episodes of “You Bet Your Life” came to being destroyed many years ago and how my grandfather and I managed to stop that from happening.

I’ve always been a huge Marx Brothers’ fan and especially of Groucho Marx. I’ve only ever seen short clips of “You Bet Your Life” but I’m happy to hear they were saved and are on Netflix!