LinkedIn opens up to younger users

Professional networking service LinkedIn has announced it is to lower the 18 age limit for users to enable young people to plan their careers

ComputerWeekly: IT careers and IT skills

Toronto’s Minuum Makes Its Beta Public, Android Users Can Try A New Kind Of Keyboard For $3.99 Now

University of Toronto-founded interaction design startup Whirlscape has made its beta available to the general public today, after a closed trial period following its successful Indiegogo funding campaign. Whirlscape’s first product is the MInuum Keyboard, a software input method that compresses a full QWERTY down to one line, opening up screen space while building in lots of text prediction to make it easy to type without thinking too much.

The Minuum project on Indiegogo raised $ 87,354, far exceeding its initial goal of just $ 10,000. Backers got early access to the keyboard app as a beta for Android, and now that pool of users is being broadened via the Google Play store. Whirlscape has decided to charge $ 3.99 for its app, even in beta form, which is a sure suggestion that it’s had a lot of interest in its early campaign. Backers actually bid a minimum of $ 5 for access, so it’s a discount from the original in fact, according to the company.

Often, makers of keyboard software on Android charge money for their products. SwiftKey is paid, and also charges $ 3.99, so it isn’t without precedent, and it’s harder to put the genie back in the bottle in terms of offering something free and then charging for it later than doing things the other way around.

Minuum has had a high user retention rate so far, with around 8,000 users active over the past two months of the initial pool of 9,500 who signed up for early access via the Indiegogo campaign. The iOS version is planned for the end of the year as a demonstration app aimed at developers (who need to build Minuum into their own apps, since Apple doesn’t allow a user to change the default software keyboard), Whirlscape’s Maria Lioutaia tells me. For now, users with Android smartphones or tablets can join in the public beta, however.

There have been a lot of updates since the first launch, but the beta label remain until Whirlscape can localize to a number of different languages, which is what the startup is working on next.

TechCrunch

Apple Says Apps For New Users Under 13 In iOS 7 Can’t Use Behavioral Ads Or Link Out Without Parent Permission

Apple has updated its App Store Review Guidelines (via MacRumors) in anticipation of launching iOS 7, and the new rules feature a number of changes focused on kids. For the first time with iOS 7, Apple will allow children under 13 to sign up for and hold iTunes user accounts, so long as they’re funnelled through an “approved educational institution.”

The 13-and-under rule is about Apple furthering its educational goals. iOS 7 has built in Mobile Device Management features aimed at educators, and it is increasing its efforts to get iPads and other devices in schools, as evidenced by the $ 30 million contract it announced recently with the L.A. Unified School District, through which it will provide iPads to students in all of its area schools.

Making apps available directly to younger kids will mean Apple faces a lot more scrutiny, both formally and informally. The new guidelines address both, including a couple of items that address Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requirements, and adding a whole new section about apps aimed specifically at the under-13 set.

The COPPA considerations include a rule that says developers can ask for date of birth “only for the purpose of complying with applicable children’s privacy statues,” i.e., not for gathering information on kids, and if they do, have to offer up something for the user depending on their age. So if an app is imposing an age gate, it can’t just shut down should the user be under 13 – it has to offer up an alternate and appropriate form of content or entertainment. There’s also a new rule stating simply that if an app can collect or share personal information, it has to comply with all applicable regulation.

Apps designed for the under-13 set have to include a privacy policy, can’t use ads that ask users to complete some kind of in-app activity or other behavior, and have to ask for parental permission before they can link outside of the app to the web or other software, or perform any kind of commercial activity (like in-app purchases). Kids apps will be split up into three categories based on age, spanning those 5 and under, those between 6 and 8, and finally kids between 9 and 11.

Of course, age gates can be bypassed and parental permissions faked, but at least Apple is putting measures in place to make sure that developers can’t easily take advantage of a highly suggestible new audience. The emphasis for the new under-13 accounts really is on education, since Apple stands to gain a lot from achieving widespread purchase in schools, so it will likely do all it can to keep favour with parents and teachers.

TechCrunch

Video: Mobile phone users prone to SMS mobile malware

Juniper networks has tracked more than 250,000 new instances of mobile malware in the last 12 months

ComputerWeekly: Internet technology

UK smartphone users wary of 4G

Almost two thirds of UK citizens with smartphones have no plans to upgrade to next generation mobile services, according to Ofcom

BBC News – Technology