| Cult of Mac

Apple shareholders demand study on smartphone addiction among kids

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Summer camp is coming to an Apple Store near you.
Kids drawing on an iPad at an Apple Store.
Photo: Apple

An activist investor and pension fund with shares in Apple is asking the company to respond to a “growing public-health crisis” concerning smartphone addiction among young people.

Jana Partners and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, or Calstrs, sent a letter to Apple over the weekend, asking it to develop software to let parents limit phone use. They also want Apple to carry out a study investigating the impact of smartphone overuse on mental health. The two groups control a total of around $2 billion worth of AAPL shares.

Teach your kids healthy digital habits [Week’s Best Deals]

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This week's best new deals include an app for keeping kids on the straight and narrow online, and lots more.
This week's best new deals include an app for keeping kids on the straight and narrow online, and lots more.
Photo: Cult of Mac Deals

Fall is about to drop, and with the new season comes a bunch of great new deals at the Cult of Mac Store. This week, we’ve got a sleek 6-port USB-C hub and a lifetime subscription to Sticky Password. Additionally, we’ve got an amazing glowing guitar instruction tool, and an app for teaching kids more healthy online habits. Everything’s on sale at big discounts, read on for more details:

Apple’s free Summer Camp teaches kids to code

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Summer camp is coming to an Apple Store near you.
Summer camp is coming to an Apple Store near you.
Photo: Apple

Parents looking for a cool summer activity for kids will soon be able to drop their youngsters off at the Genius Bar for a programming upgrade.

Apple opened registration for its annual summer Camps this morning which give children 8 to 12 the opportunity to come into the Apple Store to learn coding, robotics, moviemaking and storytelling using iPads and Macs. Best of all, the three day camp is totally free.

Today in Apple history: Apple Logo teaches kids to code

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Apple-Logo-II-splash-screen
Apple Logo was Apple's first go at getting kids into coding.
Photo: Apple2history

tuesday14 Under Tim Cook’s leadership, Apple has been upping its focus on teaching kids to program — thanks to events such as its free “Hour of Code” classes at Apple Stores around the world.

But Apple’s been helping introduce young people to coding for far longer than that. In fact, years before Apple ushered in its Swift Playgrounds app as it did this week at WWDC, it helped popularize home programming thanks to Apple Logo, a basic coding language which found success on the Apple II.

Woz would have disagreed with Jobs about screen time for kids

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Steve Wozniak. Photo:
Woz would never tell his kids to stop being tech addicts.
Photo: HigherEdWeb/Flickr CC

Despite being a veritable genius when it comes to selling the masses on the latest tech product, Steve Jobs once candidly admitted that he set strict guidelines for how much time his own kids were allowed to watch screens at home.

It seems Jobs’ Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak, isn’t quite on the same page, however — as Woz argues in a new interview that kids should be able to spend as much time on the computer as they want.

Why you shouldn’t let an iPad raise your kids

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Yep, kids love their iPads.
The challenges of parenting in the digital age.
Photo: Payless

Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids play with iPads and, far from being out of touch with modern parenting, it turns out that he was being quite progressive.

That’s according to a recent study carried out by the University of Michigan, which found that parents with “difficult” children are far more likely to give them iPads to pacify them — particularly during high-stress times like eating, being in public, doing chores, or going to bed.

Apple offers kids free ‘Hour of Code’ programming classes

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Apple is doing its bit to encourage the coders of tomorrow.
Photo: Apple

Apple is once again supporting Code.org’s “Hour of Code” initiative by offering a range of workshops and other special events for kids aged 6 and above at Apple Stores around the world.

Other participating tech companies include Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon. Apple is presenting a range of interesting sessions, including a free one-hour introduction to the basics of computer programming taking place on December 10 at local Apple Stores.

Make your Mac safer for your kids

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Parental control 1
Keep your kids safe with these handy tips!

Keeping your kids safe on your computer is one of the more important things you can focus on as a parent. Mac OS X has a great tool built right in to do just that: Parental Controls.

It’s fairly easy to set up Parental Controls on Mac, but if you need a quick hand at making them work for you, our video will walk you through the process.