Kid safe browsing with Glubble
BrowsersMy oldest son is starting to use his computer more and more as of late. He has recently discovered the Super Mario Brothers clone SuperTux, and after beating all the levels has started experimenting with the built-in level editor to create his own. The Google search built into his browser has made it so easy for him to start searching to find answers on doing that, among all his other interests (Webkinz, USB Funkeys, and whatever other commercial just happened to be on TV). Prior to a recent upgrade to Ubuntu Gutsy on his machine, he used Ubuntu Christian Edition which uses Dan's Guardian parental controls. I have been very happy with that, but the weakness is that it takes a blacklist approach, meaning only sites that have been added by Dan's Guardian will be blocked. As good as they could possibly be, I can't count on them to catch everything. On his new operating system, I was looking for a good solution and came across Glubble, which is a cross-platform Firefox plugin that allows parents to white-list known good sites and allow kids to only see sites that have been approved.
I haven't set it up yet, but I just watched the video tour and it looks impressive! If you are looking for a solution to this as I am, go check it out. I will post back results after setting it up on his machine tonight.
Ian Hayward said:
Hi Dave,
My name is Ian Hayward, founder of Glubble and Mozilla contributor.
I happened to come accross your blog today via a Google alert feed for the keyword "Glubble".
Interested to read you post in terms of identifying you as a Father with similar values to myself, I'd be very keen to see how myself or my team here at Glubble can help you.
The Beta is basic at the moment, we are very close to a 1.0 launch that is far, far superior based on thousands of active parents like you and me that have given us feedback over the past months, I'm super excited about it.
Let us know if you need anything, email support@glubble.com
Take care, best regards,
Ian Hayward
My name is Ian Hayward, founder of Glubble and Mozilla contributor.
I happened to come accross your blog today via a Google alert feed for the keyword "Glubble".
Interested to read you post in terms of identifying you as a Father with similar values to myself, I'd be very keen to see how myself or my team here at Glubble can help you.
The Beta is basic at the moment, we are very close to a 1.0 launch that is far, far superior based on thousands of active parents like you and me that have given us feedback over the past months, I'm super excited about it.
Let us know if you need anything, email support@glubble.com
Take care, best regards,
Ian Hayward
Jim Priest said:
I tried Glubble but it was a bit too much. Passwords, usernames - too much overhead to setup. I'm not using a plugin called ProCon Latte. It's a simple plugin that just allows you to whitelist specific sites you want the kids to visit. It's been a bit of a trial adding sites - but overall I found it easier to setup the Glubble and the browser interface stays the same.
Ian Hayward said:
The overhead of setting up the Beta ( it is an early proof on concept to be fair ) is indeed high, that's a fair comment Jim I think your right in regards to the beta version.
I think you'll find the setup and adding/removing sites for Glubble 1.0 final version from Glaxstar a breeze. It's a huge step forward based on feedback from thousands of users.
We’ve also been busy shipping client projects like the recent Firefox eBay Edition.
What I find (scratch your own itch scenario) best about Glubble is the portability, I mean my children can have the same experience on any machine with Firefox and the add-on installed. This is really useful imo, plus they can ask any other (online) family member for new sites browser to browser. Glubble 1.0 really makes adding sites a breeze too. I for one am pretty happy with how it’s shaping out.
I think you'll find the setup and adding/removing sites for Glubble 1.0 final version from Glaxstar a breeze. It's a huge step forward based on feedback from thousands of users.
We’ve also been busy shipping client projects like the recent Firefox eBay Edition.
What I find (scratch your own itch scenario) best about Glubble is the portability, I mean my children can have the same experience on any machine with Firefox and the add-on installed. This is really useful imo, plus they can ask any other (online) family member for new sites browser to browser. Glubble 1.0 really makes adding sites a breeze too. I for one am pretty happy with how it’s shaping out.
Jim Priest said:
Not to bash Glubble but my experience was exactly the opposite. My 4 year old loved it. My 8 year old who uses Firefox at school didn't like the interface as it was different from what she was used to at school.
Ian - any idea on when the 1.0 is due? I will try it again when it finally ships as I think it's a neat concept.
Ian - any idea on when the 1.0 is due? I will try it again when it finally ships as I think it's a neat concept.
Ian Hayward said:
@ Jim
The 1.0 launched yesterday to a small group of preview testers who have agreed not to blog about it just yet will we iron out all the early issues, we'll be rolling out each week to more and more users, we have over 40,000 users just like you who have helped with the first beta and over 4,000 active daily users which is a nice size for testing. If you think you'd like to help take the 1.0 for a preview ride please do get in touch via preview@glubble.com
(thanks again Dave for this post and enabling Dads to connect!)
The 1.0 launched yesterday to a small group of preview testers who have agreed not to blog about it just yet will we iron out all the early issues, we'll be rolling out each week to more and more users, we have over 40,000 users just like you who have helped with the first beta and over 4,000 active daily users which is a nice size for testing. If you think you'd like to help take the 1.0 for a preview ride please do get in touch via preview@glubble.com
(thanks again Dave for this post and enabling Dads to connect!)
Dave Shuck said:
Hopefully I will have better luck with the 1.0 release. I was never actually able to get it running properly. Anytime that I tried to connect as the owner of the glubble (with valid username/password only), I got an error that I was passing an invalid XML format. I sent a message to Glubble support about the problem, but even after following the steps that were recommended, I got the same error. Unfortunately I had to just scrap the plugin so that we could actually use that machine.
Ian, is there anyway I could get my hands on the 1.0?
Ian, is there anyway I could get my hands on the 1.0?
Ian Hayward said:
sure Dave you can email me direcly with the email I use to post on your blog here or if you prefer you can send an email to preview@glubble.com so we can find out your email address and send you an invite.
Dave Shuck said:
I actually don't have easy access to poster's email addresses, so I will send to the preview@... address. Thanks.
.: HIDE REPLIES :.
Ian Hayward said:
Hi Dave, I hope you are well.
Just wanted to let you know that a preview of the 1.0 Glubble Family Edition is available now at http://preview.glubble.com
As promised I?m giving you the heads up as we update Beta testers ahead of the official launch.
I think you?ll find it a whole new experience.
All the best, Ian
Just wanted to let you know that a preview of the 1.0 Glubble Family Edition is available now at http://preview.glubble.com
As promised I?m giving you the heads up as we update Beta testers ahead of the official launch.
I think you?ll find it a whole new experience.
All the best, Ian
Bartel Scheers said:
Hi Dave,
My name is Bartel Scheers and I'm with Ian's Glubble Team.
I thought it would be a courtesy to you and your readers to mention that Glubble Family Edition (or Glubble 1.0) is now available for public download at glubble.com.
Thanks again for posting about Glubble.
Best regards,
Bartel Scheers
My name is Bartel Scheers and I'm with Ian's Glubble Team.
I thought it would be a courtesy to you and your readers to mention that Glubble Family Edition (or Glubble 1.0) is now available for public download at glubble.com.
Thanks again for posting about Glubble.
Best regards,
Bartel Scheers
Dave Shuck said:
Bartel, thanks for the update. I actually installed that last night on my son's computer and started a "follow up" blog entry which I will publish in the next day or two. Without going into detail here, the experience is ***FAR*** better than the original beta. I am really pleased with what I see so far.
I already have a feature request! Is there any path for submitting those?
I already have a feature request! Is there any path for submitting those?
.: HIDE REPLIES :.
Bartel Scheers said:
Hi Dave, thanks for the kind words again. I'll look forward to your next post about Glubble. We learn a lot from these and are truly interested in what people think of Glubble.
We have a forum installed at glubble.com for any feedback or requests, but you're welcome to send any request to my directly at bartel [at the domain] glubble.com
Kind regards,
Bartel Scheers
We have a forum installed at glubble.com for any feedback or requests, but you're welcome to send any request to my directly at bartel [at the domain] glubble.com
Kind regards,
Bartel Scheers
Dave Shuck said:
To the Glubble guys that were subscribed to this thread, I just finally made an blog post revisiting this subject after about 6 months of using Glubble. Here is a link if you are interested:
http://daveshuck.instantspot.com/blog/2008/06/10/S...
http://daveshuck.instantspot.com/blog/2008/06/10/S...
Loading....