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First, this is a response to a blog post here (via Techmeme). If you are too lazy to read it, here’s an executive summary: Google is saying they will delete 2 years worth of email and all other Google Account data for 10 years old Alex (Who is naturally crying now). All because he is under 13, which they just now learned about.

This one really hit home for me – as most of you probably know, we are completely Internet family here. Really – my 7 year old has his own laptop on his play table. It’s there for many years now and he feels extremely at home with it. My other kids are not under 13, but definitely were using Google and Microsoft and other services, for many years as well.

I must be missing something – but I definitely know that Yahoo has Family accounts Specifically for children under 13. In fact, that is how our 7 year old Elijah is able to safely enjoy email! Furthermore, there are now myriad of Online Social Games Designed for Children – such as Lego Universe he enjoys immensely this summer.

If other big companies, including Disney, Nickelodeon and many others, figured out how to let Children onto their site – is Google just incompetent or lazy?

And what about Facebook? There are TONS of children on Facebook under 13, we know for sure. They aren’t safe, because Facebook has no good parental controls or mechanisms! Either way – we keep telling our son that he needs to wait until he is 13, as lying is not something we do. There are countless times he gets upset about this, if only to be able to play those fun Facebook games (by Zynga and others) he keeps seeing others enjoy. Ridiculous – even Facebook has no excuse not to have some viable Parental controls and let kids onto their site! Does Facebook and Google think they are still young “dorm” startups, with no time or budget to ‘figure it out’?

Dealing with important Real World issues like parental-controls is what being big business is all about!!! Do they want the next generation to grow up holding a grudge against these companies, for not letting them onto their sites sooner?

I am excited, awestruck, humbled and overall happy and serene, all at once! What brought on these emotions is my first interaction with newest version of Google’s amazing Picasa product. But of course, it’s years of photos in my collection that bring on these wonderful memories, and combined with amazing new technology to present and organize them, is where Picasa really shines.

And Yes, Picasa is FREE, fully featured edition.
Thank You Google!!!!

The latest edition finally brings us Face Recognition, taking this already excellent photo organization and editing program to Whole New High!! I found a spot in Picasa that shows me all my photos in collection, hope you sitting down – 57,975 is the number, occupying 66.1GB space! Yes, that’s almost 58 Thousand Photos!!!

I find tagging experience especially amazing. I tried to start it off with tagging more recent (higher quality, clear faces) photos, and it went back and picked up same people over the years. Including Baby and Childhood photos!!! The mere process of tagging, where it presents the many stages of person, in one quick/easy to navigate view, is spectacular.

Yes, I do have 4-core computer, and it still takes a while to scan all the photos. It does that in the background, or I would recommend tagging few people in recent photos, and let it work overnight if you have a lot of photos.

Another tip is to find Confirm All button on top of Name tagging frame – do a quick scan to see if any need to be excluded (mistakes, especially happen during baby years, or with brothers and sisters, naturally). After that, quick press on Confirm All, and voila! I already have over 1000 faces confirmed and only 16k more to go

The recognition algorithm is really impressive, there were few rare occasions where I wasn’t even sure myself, but computer was right in face recognition!!! Even partial faces like this one here, recognized correctly!!!

There are countless other features, here is a quick run down of major new additions. Charge Forth and download this amazing piece of technology. It is Priceless (aka: Free) and is sure to improve your experience of this living we are all doing.

PS: Maybe I missed it, but I did not see much news about this in main media. Where are CNET or TechCrunch folks, or Scobleizer perhaps? No-one mentions this amazing leap forward, not just in face recognition technology, but in producing this overall package with such Ease of Use and convenience (and I didn’t even touch on massive web sharing options available).

"We are boring people to death" – I believe is the exact quote from non other than Electronic Arts CEO. He was referring to the endless sequels to established games, which bring little more than shinier graphics and few more features.

He has a point! Gaming companies need to get the ball rolling on more innovate gameplay! Still, as technology matures, there is always time to revisit the tried and true formula of Wolfenstein’s 3D first person shooter genre. Just few recent games come to mind that raise the bar across the board and really take this style to the next level. They bring us amazing improvements in graphic visuals, realistic sound, and most importantly very real physics. Two such games come to mind for this holiday season, and the most technologically advanced one is Crysis.

Just watch this short 30 second trailer. Make sure to watch it full screen to see high quality of real in-game visuals. Of course you will need DirectX 10 Windows Vista PC, with decent nVidia GeForce 8000 series graphics card. But, I hear it should run on lesser PCs also, just not with such shiny graphics.

Another holiday favorite this season is Halo 3 for XBox 360. This game has come of age, and is probably the most feature complete first-person shooter today.

Personally, I mostly avoid first person shooters.

After playing Wolfstein, many years ago, then later some Doom 2 — it’s really becomes more of the same. I am also not a fan of doing first person shooters using joystick. Really, this is exactly what the mouse was created for, to aim with and shoot, while running sideways or jumping, using the keyboard, of course.

Remember, both games are rated M for Mature! And I really think they aren’t kid or even teen material.

For your family, check out Playground, an up and coming fun title from EA. Looks like they are finally trying to avoid boring people to death, though, this one is just a fresh Wii style take on the classic Party games genre

In my opinion Gaming with your Family is the new spending time with kids. This is what they are into today, and joining in their activities, and showing them "how it’s done" is something that Parents must strive for, to maintain that all important link with your kids and have their ongoing trust of being Authority on All things Life.

I guess I walked into this one, who knew that this would be such popular topic on everyone’s mind

Disclaimer: The discussion henceforth is purely theoretical in nature.

I have been thinking lately about this whole Mistress as a concept. Especially after watching some good sexy yet mostly comic situations with mistresses in this new Dirty Sexy Money show.

The word itself, Mistress, is by definition a woman; also, according to Merriam-Webster, the word has been around since at least 14th century. Whatever your belief for human Creationism, it seems to me that tiny miscalculation might have occurred. Once a woman takes on motherhood responsibility, especially with more than one child, there is rarely enough time or energy left for the significant other. Second part to this is the whole "managing the household", where traditionally women are expected to take care of the home, adding yet another huge layer to their overall busyness and ultimate exhaustion.

On the other hand, the busy husband, though often tired as well (livelihood is hard!), appears to be Designed as a constant machine for sperm production! No monthly periods here, no yearly hiatuses, nothing!

I am not aware of any Male equivalent to the word Mistress, though feel free to enlighten me here. Thus, it appears that for many centuries now, human race recognized a specific position, almost like job description, of Mistress - woman other than wife with whom a married man has a continuing sexual relationship.

However, "miscalculation" in creationism (or maybe the ultimate correction?) continues here! By nature, Women are Emotional and Sensitive, so nothing "Casual" can work for more than a few times! And here’s ultimate trouble — if the two "jobs" are separate, then a woman will have to choose, whether to procreate or be a Mistress for a lifetime. Since, by our calculations above, if a woman ever stops being a mistress, and becomes a mother, than the position of mistress becomes available for the taking… (I am avoiding the whole reasons one may convince herself to be a mistress. Things such as Fun, Political/Business Influence, or ultimate attempt to "steal" a man, are usually delusions, and can only last for so long… )

In conclusion, if we really consider the implications for both men and women, the only recourse is to consolidate these seemingly two separate jobs into one person. And here’s my personal tip for achieving success here:

Guys – Remember that "managing household" and "motherhood" are only traditionally women job. Help balance this load and it’s a Win Win scenario for both of you!

Gals – Remember that guys seem to be "built" this way by design; so remember to pay equal attention to both important jobs that you have in the relationship!