family posts

Facebook adds private groups for families

by Jay Hathaway Mar 27th 2009

As if having your mom on Facebook weren't awkward enough, Facebook has rolled out special groups for families, aimed at getting everyone in your family to join the site. The groups are private, so none of your family activity should end up in your friends' streams, and family members who didn't want to join Facebook might feel comfortable joining for this. Other than the privacy aspect, and the ability to send invitations to non-Facebook family members, family groups operate just like regular groups.

This feature is definitely targeted more at new users who have been reluctant to join Facebook for privacy reasons, or because they didn't see the point of sharing so much information. It doesn't really add anything if you're an existing user, especially if you're already exchanging wall posts with your dad, and making fan pages for your pets. If your family members aren't already on Facebook, and you'd rather keep it that way, it might be best not to mention this new feature.

[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tags: facebook, families, family, groups, privacy

Filed under: Internet, Productivity, Web services

Chore Wars makes a boring game out of boring chores

by Brad Linder Jul 25th 2007

Tired of staring at the dry erase board on the fridge reminding you to take out the trash? Sure, you could sign up for a useful online service to help you and your roommates/family remember whose turn it is to pay the bills. Or you could try to make a game out of it.

Chore Wars takes the latter approach and almost kind of sort of succeeds. The web service is designed to resemble a multiplayer role-playing game. You can create characters, join guilds and go on adventures. But while the way to "level up" in most games is by performing repetitive tasks like slaying monsters, in Chore Wars you perform repetitive tasks like washing dishes.

Every time you complete a real world task, you can sign in to Chore Wars to check it off a list. You'll be rewarded with gold and experience points. Of course, both of these are meaningless in the real world. In fact, when you set up the tasks, or "adventures," you can select how large the reward should be for each activity.

You can also create monsters and treasures that you might encounter each time you complete a task. If, for example, you run across a rat when taking out the trash, you can read the blow by blow description of the battle you've had, although you have no control over it. Like some Greek hero (Sisyphus perhaps), if you die you get a little gold and experience anyway and have to take out the trash again tomorrow.

Is Chore Wars going to make you or your kid any more likely to make your bed or vacuum the house? Probably not. But we've seen your house, and we're going to root for any service that might prompt you to clean it up.

[via WebWare]

Tags: chore wars, chores, ChoreWars, family, schedule

Filed under: Fun, Internet, Kids, Productivity, Web services, web 2.0

Get things done around the house with Chore Buster

by Chris Gilmer Jul 25th 2007

Make sure everything gets done around the house with Chore Buster

Forget about pen and paper, its all about family scheduling online with Chore Buster. This online application still isn't going to work any magic, or ensure the kids clean up their mess, but it will help you to stay a little more organized.

Signing up with Chore Buster is free, and ad supported. Schedules are emailed out weekly, complete with how often chores have to be done, and how hard they are to complete. It's a great tool to use for the entire family to ensure that things get done, and fair chore allocations are divided.

Another great family chore tool is Cozi. This downloadable application created by a few ex-Microsoft employees helps create family schedules.

[via ehub]

Tags: chores, family, schedule, web2, Web2.0

Filed under: Internet, Kids, Productivity, Web services, Social Software

OpMom brings moms together for social networking and more

by Lisa Hoover Mar 7th 2007

Moms looking for a neat way to meet other mothers to compare notes and swap stories really ought to check out OpMom.com. A cross between iVillage and MySpace, OpMom -- shorthand for Operation Mom -- bills itself as a social networking and web service site for busy mothers. Though clearly in its infancy, OpMom already has sections filled with reader-submitted recipes, theme party ideas, and "circles", groups where mothers with common interests can gather and get to know one another in smaller settings.

Registration is easy and doesn't require users to cough up a lot of personal information. After registration, users have the option of creating a profile with as much (or as little) information as they are comfortable sharing. You can opt to simply provide a screen name for other users to see, or you can detail the ages of your children, your hometown, and even your religious affiliation. Privacy levels are easy to set as well, ranging from full access by all the site's users to only those whom you specifically allow to view your information.

Tags: family, kids, organization, parenting, social networking, SocialNetworking

Filed under: Fun, Kids, Productivity, Web services, Microsoft, Social Software

Cozi, family-ready software

by Chris Gilmer Feb 14th 2007

Cozi was created by a group of ex-Microsofties to help address the complex dynamic needs of a family lifestyle nowadays. They created a complete scheduling environment to help families stay productive and on schedule. Cozi is a downloadable PC application that serves as a central location where families can plan, schedule and manage all the things they do in life. There is also a web-based version that supports Mac users.

Through Cozi users can access their family calendar, schedules, and notes information that are stored in the family's personal system, even when they are on the go. Reminders can be sent out and accessed by any PC or mobile phone you choose. This sounds like the ultimate family planner, 2.0 style. Did I mention it's free?

More screenshots after the jump...

Tags: calendar, cozi, family, notes, planner, scheduling, tasks

Filed under: Fun, Internet, E-mail, Web services

Create a family tree with Geni

by Chris Gilmer Jan 17th 2007

Creating a family tree seems like a boring thing to do. Don't get me wrong, its great to know where you've come from, but jotting it down on paper or in a massive, messy Excel document are not that appealing. Enter Geni. Michael Arrington broke the news on this intuitive family tree tool created entirely in Flash last week, and it just launched on Tuesday. Geni is like a living organism that beautifully expands your family information, and molds in to others on the web. Its ultimate goal is to create a family tree of the world. When you start to enter your information, you have the option of entering email addresses for each person added. Geni will then send out the tree to them as well. They add their data, thus expanding the tree further. It's a far cry from the pen and paper most trees are created on, and also much more interesting to navigate through.

Tags: family, family tree, FamilyTree, geni, heritage, internet

Filed under: Web services

JotSpot Family Site

by Jordan Running Apr 14th 2006

JotSpot has introduced a new twist to the hosted wiki market with JotSpot Family Site, a private wiki service geared specifically toward extended families. JotSpot Family Site provides birthday and event calendars, Google-powered maps, family trees, polls, and a family blog. As someone who has a large extended family, it sounds like a great idea if they can make it easy enough for anyone to use. JotSpot Family Site is in beta and most appealing of all, free.

[Via Emily Chang's eHub]

Tags: family, free, jot, jotspot, wiki

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