[Update] The folks from A Story Before Bed contacted us and have offered a coupon code that allows users to try the site including sharing a story for free. The code is good until the end of November. Just enter MT9C-WN6Y-TF6J at the point of checkout, when you're asked to pay for the story you recorded.

Having to be away from your young children at bedtime is probably the absolute worst part of having a job that requires travel. Worse, sometimes it's not practical to call and talk to them before bed. A Story Before Bed is a site that is looking to solve this problem for traveling parents.

The idea behind A Story Before Bed is that you choose one of the stories in their library, then you record yourself reading it using a webcam. You can then send a link to your child's caregiver, who can then open the book on their computer, and watch as you read the story to them. They see the full pages of the book with your face inset, and the experience even includes animated page turns. To make sure that what you are reading relates to the page being displayed, the video of you reading is actually split up on a page-by-page basis, so you can only ever be listening to the correct voiceover for a given page.

A Story Before Bed is not a free service, but recording a story is free. The service charges $6.95US if you want to keep your recording so that you can pass it along to the young people in your life.

Despite Microsoft's recent efforts to include parental controls in their products such as Windows, XBOX, and others, they say features alone are not enough. Microsoft is launching a campaign to help parents understand and take advantage of the features that exist in Microsoft products to protect their kids from unwanted content. The "Safety is no game" campaign aims to teach parents how to block access and use other parental features to protect their kids. Microsoft has also partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Best Buy to help spread the word on their new campaign. This is a great idea, and since parents are so busy these days, this campaign will ease the worries of some who cannot be home 24/7 to monitor their child's activities by helping parents put a leash on their kid's gaming before leaving the house. Microsoft is also doing themselves a favor by helping parents feel more secure about their products, and will most likely see positive numbers in their bottom line as a result of this campaign. As a parent myself, I jump on board with just about anyone trying to help me do my job better or easier, without more hassle or cost.