Features of the Apex DT502 DTV Converter Box with Analog Pass-Through and Smart Antenna. Order this box and the Apex Smart Antenna from our site and get the User Manual here at EZDigitalTV.com.

Features of the Apex DT250 Converter Box with Analog Pass-Through, S-Video and Smart Antenna. Order this box and the Apex Smart Antenna from our site and get the User Manual here at EZDigitalTV.com.

Online social networks can be great virtual gathering places for teens and tweens, but also pose some real risks. We enlisted Kathy Sena, Consumer Reports' social media reporter (more about Kathy here), for some tips to help keep your kids safe while they're texting, tweeting and tagging. Here's her advice.

Whether they're posting silly party pictures, answering "what-animal-are-you-most-like?" quizzes or just chatting about their day, today's kids, from middle school through college, share their lives with their friends via Facebook, MySpace and Twitter—when they're not busy texting, that is.

But while parents can use software filters to limit kids' access to unsavory websites (see our guide to security software here), on social-media sites, privacy settings—and constant vigilance—are what keep kids from getting in over their heads.

Nancy Willard, director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use, advises parents, educators, librarians and policy makers on how kids can use the Web safely. She offers these tips for safe social networking:

1. Be involved. Teens whose parents show interest in their online lives engage in less risk-taking behavior. Most teens dislike the idea of Mom or Dad monitoring their account, but if you show positive interest in their profile and online friends, most will open up.
2. Take age restrictions seriously. For most sites, the minimum age is 13. Some kids lie about their age online, so it's up to parents to monitor online behavior. The services themselves can't keep your child from signing up.
3. Explain (and check) privacy options. When teens use privacy settings, and are careful about the material they post and the people they link to, these sites can be fairly safe. Generally, with the proper settings in place, the only people who can see what your child has posted are the people your child has linked to (sometimes called "friending" or "following"). But privacy policies can often be filled with complicated legal terms—and can even change without notice. Be sure to read every word, and check the terms periodically to make sure you're familiar with the latest version.
4. Warn kids about quizzes. You know those quizzes and contests that ask for your preferences on everything from pizza to music? Explain to your kids that these aren't just for fun. They're a means of soliciting personal-interest and contact information so that advertisers can better determine what kinds of messages to send to them. Some games—in particular those that ask for a cell phone number—can also lead to unexpected recurring monthly charges for services buried in the fine print.
5. Make sure your kids accept new "friends" carefully. Tell them to start by linking just to friends they know and trust in the real world. As they get older, and if they show good judgment online, allow them to expand their friendships to include acquaintances—people they know exist in the real world because they have met them or a trusted friend knows them.
6. Explain when to take things offline. A verbal fight between teens often continues online and via text messaging—and can get nastier in the social-networking medium. If a child receives hurtful messages, he should tell the person to stop and then block the person from communicating with him via social networking until the disagreement has been resolved offline.
7. Teach your child to guard her reputation. If someone posts something damaging about her on a social-media site, she should tell the person to remove it. If things get worse, she should tell you. If it is not removed, file a complaint with the site.
8. Explain that online means "forever." Teens must understand that anything they post (or even send to just one person) can easily become public and permanent. If a photo or post is embarrassing or demonstrates that they make bad choices, this material can be used against them and can damage their reputation, relationships and opportunities. 

For more on information on surfing the Web safely, visit the Consumer Reports Guide to Online Security. —Kathy Sena

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 space landing, an event that achieved the simplest of impossible missions: perform a manned lunar landing. And among the wonders of the day, and the entire mission—when viewed from a 2009 perspective—is the relative modesty of the tools and technology that NASA had to work with, specifically, the main computer carried aboard the Apollo 11 capsule.

According to FlightGlobal (“Serious About Aviation”), the Apollo Guidance Computer, or AGC, had just 64KB of memory and only 0.043 MHz of processing power. That was enormous at the time, of course, but compare those specs with those of modern netbooks—the pint-sized laptops that are considered underpowered by today’s computing standards.

The typical netbook has over 100 GB of capacity – more than a million times that of the computer on which NASA staked an historic mission and the lives of three astronauts. And a netbook’s 1.6GHz processor is several thousand times faster than that of 1969’s AGC.

On the ground, the mission depended on a host of mainframe computers, including a number of IBM System 360/Model 75. Each of these IBMs occupied an entire large room (as shown in the photos) and cost at least $2 million.

But as archaic as the Apollo programs hardware is now, it was monumental and groundbreaking for its time. For instance, the FlightGlobal piece says “the modern integrated circuit, or the silicon chip that is used in computers today, stems from the creation of the [AGC’s] operating system.” And, puny as it was, that IBM software—used to monitor the environment outside the capsule and the astronauts’ biomedical data—was described by the company, at the time, as the most sophisticated ever written.

Now, some forty years later, we can use our personal computers to access digitally remastered footage of the launch and landing. We can even access NASA satellite images at Google Moon (which works in a similar fashion to Google Earth—only for the Moon), where there are tags up for not only Apollo 11, but for the other Apollo missions as well (just don’t waste time looking for the Apollo 13 landing site). If you zoom in, the landing sites are broken down to show points of interest—like where Neal Armstrong took his first steps after the Eagle had landed—and some tags include pictures from that first, 250-meter stroll around the landing area.

Every now and again, we have a moment that gives us perspective on where we have been and—perhaps more importantly—where we’re going. On this, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, share your memories of seeing the landing, including anything you remember about the technology involved, or simply share your reflections on other projects—space-related or not—that provide you with a perspective on the pace of technological change.—Will Dilella and Paul Reynolds.

Since we’re in hurricane season, and thunderstorm season, having a battery operated TV is a great thing to have on hand. These portable sets are hard to find in stores, but you may be able to use your old analog battery operated set. I’m using my old Casio portable TV, which has a video and audio input jack on it. If your battery operated set has a video input on it, it’s really easy to convert it to digital!

Some converter boxes can be adapted to a battery pack or car power adaptor if it has an external power supply, or wall wart. Any box and TV can be operated for hours on a UPS, and I highly advise everyone to have a UPS on their digital Tv or converter box. (I used mine to make coffee during hurricane Fran) They have many uses, but it’s imperative to have one to protect your new electronics.