Fortunately this story has a happy ending. Apple realized it was a mistake and decided to refund the Kitchens. However, there's a lot of lingering questions. How could this happen, and more importantly, how can you prevent it from happening to you?
The blame obviously lies with the parents themselves. Apple had emailed them an itemized invoice for 70 pounds the next day. They ignored it assuming it was sent in error. In fact it's likely the spree would have continued had the Kitchens' credit card company not called. That's mistake number one. Any charge that you did not make on your credit card should always be cause for alarm. ALWAYS check your receipts. I can't stress this enough.
The second mistake was allowing a five year old unsupervised access to the family computer. Kids are a lot smarter than we adults tend to give them credit for. It's truly amazing how much trouble they can make in such a short time. Especially when you give them the means to buy things when the child has no concept of money.
"Free" games targeted at young children frequently use micro-transactions for in-game items. These items range for $1 all the way up to $100 or more for something as stupid as a "Trunk of Diamonds" in one particular farming simulator. The kid is smart enough to know that more resources make the game easier. What they don't know is these items cost mommy and daddy real, finite money.
Lucky for you, it's very easy to protect yourself from what's happened to the Kitchens and countless others.
1. Never let kids use the computer unsupervised.
Don't treat it as a babysitting tool. If your child wants to play a game, play it with them. As any parent knows, kids that young can start a world of trouble if you take your eyes off them. For the love of god never share your passwords with your children either. Heck I can remember hacking my dad's user account when I was eight because his password was too obvious.
2. Familiarize yourself with your computer's security and parental controls.
It's amazing how many people rely on technology to run their lives, but are still technologically illiterate.
In iOS, under the settings tab, go into General and click restrictions These are your parental controls. The list labelled "Allowed Content" is what you're interested in. Particularly the two at the bottom. By default, iOS allows in-app purchases and waits 15 minutes before requiring a password to buy and download new content from the App Store. You'll want to set these to OFF and IMMEDIATELY respectively. This will prevent kids from accidentally buying things without your permission.
 |
| Turn off "In-App Purchases" and set Require Password to "Immediate" to prevent accidental charges |
The biggest problem with iOS is you can't set up separate accounts for different users. HOWEVER, what you can do is set up multiple iTunes Store accounts which can be used on a single device.
It's very easy and requires about five minutes of your time. Sign out of iTunes on your computer, then hit sign in and select "Create Apple ID". Don't tie a credit card to this account. Just select "none" as your payment method. Now that your kid has their own account, which you will monitor, they cannot download any apps or in-game content that aren't free.
4. Teach your kids the value of money
It's never too early to start teaching your kids the value of a dollar. Get them to do some chores to earn money, or if they like playing games on your iPad, some iTunes gift cards. Let them know that once they spend the value of the card, that money is gone and they'll have to earn another. Not only will this prevent you from financial heartache, it will set them up for a responsible future.
5. When all else fails, don't count on a bailout
The Kitchens got extremely lucky here, in that Apple refunded them. However, they are a business not a charity. Once these incidents start happening too many times, they won't be as forgiving. If you take the above steps to protect yourself, you shouldn't encounter problems. That is unless your kid is Bart Simpson and is smart enough to steal your credit card. But that's a whole different kettle of fish.
Sources:
ArsTechnica
BBC News
It it's usual rock star fashion, Apple lifted the lid on its new iPod lines. Pundits seem to agree that there was a little less excitement at this event than past ones. Apple seems to be loosing its edge when it comes to producing something completely unexpected from behind the curtain. That's partially due to a slew of Internet leaks. But, the declining favour in the company towards the venerable iPod has just as much to do with it.
iPod Touch
The new touch is exactly what we expected it to be. It's basically the iPhone 4 without the cell chip. Interestingly, Apple has chosen not to use the new minimalist chassis. Instead, they opted to use the same rounded case style used in past Touches. There's not much to complain about. It features improved battery life, the new retina display, Apple's A4 processor, three-axis gyroscope, front and back cameras, and 256mb of RAM.
UPDATE: I originally reported the new Touch had 512mb of ram, but teardowns show it only has 256mb.
The new Touch: looks like the old but new guts and new cameras
Aside from that, Apple has also introduced a slightly cheaper 8gb model along side the 32 and 64gb. They start at $229.
iPod Suffle
The third generation Shuffle was a mistake. Apple knows that. The tiny player had no buttons, just a rocker on the earbud wire which used complicated commands. Plus, you couldn't use third party headphones with it..
The new fourth generation Shuffle is a blast from the past. Apple has gone back and resurrected the design of the of the 2007 model. The click wheel has made a return. It's a little smaller. The wheel now takes up the entire front. Button controls are a welcome return for fans of Apple's smallest and cheapest player. It starts at $49.
iPod Nano
This is the one redesign that has everyone talking, and not for the good. It's the most radical change the mid-sized iPod line has ever seen. The fifth generation gave people what they wanted with their Nano. A bigger screen and a standard definition video camera. All was good. The sixth generation took that away.
The new Nano looks like a Shuffle on steroids. The device is only slightly larger than it's little brother. While it has a small touch screen, it's actually a lower resolution than the older model.
Apple has really taken the knife to the Nano. Gone are video recording, video playback, and even the photo album. The FM radio tuner and Voice Over are still there. Apple hasn't added anything at all to the device. They've only made it smaller. Heath nuts are already complaining about the lack of physical buttons.
The new Nano is a glorified iPod Shuffle. Despite slashing back its features, Apple still wants $149 for it. That price is much too high for what it is. Apple's competitors have it matched or beat, at a lower prices.
iPod Classic
The Classic is a dying breed. The last ancestor of the original iPod didn't even get a mention. It's looking more and more like Apple will eventually phase out this model. It's sad for fans who enjoy it's beefy hard drive space. As it stands right now, it's the only non-touch iPod that can play photos and video. But at $249, it's not exactly the best value anymore. If you want one, get one while you can. Apple will dump it sooner or later to focus on the Touch as its flagship line.
iPad
The iPad can print now. That is all. Well, it will once iOS 4.2 is released in November of this year. Aside from Flash, this was probably the biggest feature Apple omitted from the original OS. Despite having a word processor and photography apps, I guess Steve Jobs figured nobody would ever want to print something from it. Unfortunately, printing is wireless only. So if you don't have a wifi enabled printer, you'll need to set up a print server.
The iPad will also get AirPlay, which allows it to stream photos, videos, and music from iTunes. It will also get all the other features of iOS4.
iOS
Apple unveiled iOS 4.1. It's biggest new feature is the Game Centre. Game Centre will allow players to connect with their friends and others to play multiplayer games online. It's Apple's answer to the Playstation Network and Xbox Live. The iPhone and Touch have needed a unified online gaming system for a long time.
Apple also claimed to have 50% market share in portable gaming. I find that a little hard to believe. Not everyone who owns an iPod Touch uses it to play games. Though, there is a shred of truth if you factor in highly casual titles.
Like it or not, the iPad is the next big thing. Steve Jobs is calling it a revolutionary device. Portable computing is certainly changing. The netbook trend is giving way to sleek, all-in-one tablets. So if you're thinking of small system, you should definitely consider one. But what if you don't like the iPad? Here's four alternatives worth taking a look at.
JooJoo
Designed by Fusion Garage, the Joo Joo is billed as "the ultimate internet experience". It's a tablet specifically designed for web surfing. It allows users to browse the web and use a variety of web based apps. It can also play back full HD video and has a 720p screen resolution on a 12.1'' display. Perhaps the biggest one up on the iPad is support for Adobe's popular Flash media, which sites like YouTube use for video playback.
Unfortunately, the Joo Joo has a long list of problems, even before it launched. It was faced with numerous delays, and fewer than 80 pre-orders. That's compared to the 300,000 sales the iPad made on its first day. The device is also extremely limited in functionality. All it can do is surf the web. It has a 5 hour battery life to boot, which is half the iPad's. That's pathetic for what it does. The final nail is the price. At $499, it's the same price as the iPad with only a fraction of the functionality.
Engadget says the device was released with "terrible timing", saying it's unintuitive and delivers half baked software. This is one tablet you should probably skip.
HP Slate
It's not even out yet but this device is already causing quite a stir. HP has taken the netbook and compressed it down into a thin tablet roughly the same size as Apple's. Under the hood, it packs an Intel Atom processor, 1gb of RAM, 32gb of storage, a memory card slot, webcam, and a fully functional version of Windows 7 with HP's own touch support. A special graphics chip has also been added to enable full 1080p video through it's built in HDMI port.
This is probably one of the more powerful and flexible tablets out there. It can run any program that a typical netbook can run. This includes Adobe Flash. The downside is lack of platform specific apps that the iPad is known for. This includes games. On the plus side, it should be able to run many indie and older PC games. So it's not as if there's a shortage of software. The Slate will have a 5 hour battery life, which isn't great but isn't bad all things considered.
The Slate will retail for $549 for the 32gb model and $599 for the 64gb model. A 3G model is also planned. There's no word on a release date. Sometime in 2010 is all we've been told. This is definitely something to keep your eyes on.
Microsoft Courier
It may not even exist but it's still generating a lot of buzz. Microsoft calls the Courier a "digital journal." Mockups have shown a tablet with two screens that looks like a big Nintendo DS. Concept videos show it being used to take notes, plan schedules, edit photos, and create presentations.
The Courier could be the creative professional's dream. A practical device for content creation; instead of just watching what other people have done. Not much is known about the device at this time. It will input with a touch screen and stylus pen. It also runs a version of Windows Phone 7 on an nVidia Tegra 2 CPU. The same combo that run the Zune HD.
Some say the Courier will arrive in mid-2010. No word on price.
Archos 9
Archos jumped on the netbook bandwagon fairly quickly. The high end MP3 player manufacturer now makes a wide variety of portable computers. The Archos 9 is one of them. It's similar to the Slate, except it's bulkier and has a slower processor. It has a 1.1ghz Atom processor and runs Windows 7 Starter Edition. The Register ran several benchmarks on the Archos 9 and found it to be less than half the speed of comparable 1.6ghz Atom systems. A slow enough processor as is. Multi-tasking is almost impossible on a system this slow.
On the plus side, the Archos 9 is a fully functional Windows tablet, like the Slate. It also features a beefy 60gb hard drive and a HD webcam. It also has a user replaceable battery, extending the 5 hour run time. User input is by a touch screen. The 9 also comes with a stylus.
As it's name implies, it has a 9'' 1024x600 screen. While it can handle 1080p video, it doesn't have any video outputs. Archos requires you to buy a $75 "port replicator", which only gives you VGA connectivity. Sorry, no digital video.
The Archos 9 retails for the same price as the Slate; $549. Between this and the Slate, my money is on the Slate.
