Computer

When does parenting go too far? A college senior got a court order against her parents that keeps them from contacting her for at least the next year. 21-year-old Aubrey Ireland wants space from her parents, who admit putting tracking software on her computer to see where she goes and who she talks to.  They often show up at her college unannounced and uninvited, driving 600 miles from Kansas to Ohio. They claim to be loving parents who catered to an only child all her life.

You takes notes all kinds of ways: with pen and paper, or maybe on your laptop. What about a pen that says it will not only let you write, but will also record every sound from that meeting or class you're in AND store it on your computer? That's what the $130 Pulse Smartpen claims to do. The one-gigabyte version says it will store 100 hours of audio.  And here's the amazing part:  tap your notes with the pen and you should be able to hear exactly what was being said you wrote those words.

Wouldn't it be great if you could stay fit while you work? Well, strap on the walking shoes. Indiana company Brown and Brown Insurance has installed treadmills on some desks. The idea came from the wellness committee..looking to break up the work day and get people away from sitting at the cubicle. It grew from just having employees stand while they work, to actually exercising while using the computer. We might try it here on the anchor desk, but that could get a little distracting for viewers.

A recent caller to our Answerback line says she is sick and tired of hearing us end stories by saying there is more information available at KWCH-dot-com. She said that not everyone has a computer, and it's unfair for us to "withhold" information from our viewers just to put it on the internet. We realize not everyone has a computer these days, but like it or not, people without on-line access are more and more in the minority. Our website is another path between KWCH 12 and our viewers, our customers.

By Kim Wilhelm A Kingman High School class gets an eyeful of inappropriate material.  Last week, students in a psychology class were learning about the Rorschach Inkblot test.  The teacher was using an online website which showed different inkblots and asked students questions.  But on one of the questions, instead of educational material, a pornographic video started playing.  As soon as that happened, the teacher shut down the computer which had been projecting the image on the classroom wall.

by Matt Mauro Maggie's got it all.  That's all the energy in the world.   "She's been a real fun dog, it's taken a while to get used to it," says her owner, Tom Glenn.  "She has a tremendous amount of energy and she's real curious. " One day Tom got kind of curious himself.  So he took Maggie, put her in front of his computer, pulled up a video clip with dogs and cars in it and Maggie went berzerk.  "Yeah, the computer gets her excited. "  So excited, the little girl could barely sit still; her face was about ready to swallow the monitor and her tail was wagging hard enough to almost fall off. "She especially likes her YouTube videos.

Linda Cooper knows how to entertain almost any child.  When she's at work as a school bus monitor for children with special needs, she relies on her phone to help her out. "I have a couple of autistic kids that if they start getting agitated, I'll put on some mellow music and it just calms them right back down,” Linda said. Linda's phone works just as long as she does. "My phone is pretty much being used from 6:30 in the morning until about 4:30 in the afternoon,” Linda said.

Most Kansans watched as the tornado ripped through Moore, Oklahoma.  But some had more concern than others.  They had family in the city.  Lacie Hutchins and Angle Clark used words like heartbreaking, devastating and terrifying to describe the day's events. They have finally heard from their relatives but say that's just the first step. "You're just kind of holding your breath.  You're just wondering, you're pacing, you're just worried," said Clark, who's cousins live in Moore.  "I was...

A viewer says I have upset his 98 year old mother. No, it wasn't a silly prank. Her complaint is that the contests and other special things we run almost always require use of the internet. He reminds us that many people, especially older folks, don't have computers. He's right of course. But so much is done by computer these days, we all need to get used to it. It's not going to change, and the powers that be here have invested a lot to provide us the most up to date equipment and facilities.

This month, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the coming of the iCloud. A free service launching this fall, which will be essentially a replacement for its surprisingly mediocre MobileMe. Jobs says that the iCloud "just works," but until it actually gets out of beta, we won't know for sure. But, I've been playing around with the beta version of it and so far I'm extremely impressed. Essentially, here's how it works. For music: Let's say that a few years ago you bought Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" record from the iTunes store.