Glubble Makes Firefox Family Friendly

It sounds fairly nice actually, I do prefer the whitelist approach for kids. Cuts off a ton, but you can always take them elsewhere in your browser if they need something. This is great for those times you can’t exactly be over their shoulder every second.

Fantastic stuff! This was definitely a great thing to see coming in this morning. I have used SafeEyes for a while, which basically filters a lot of stuff. This looks to take a lot better approach for just browser based access. I am going to install this on my 5 year old’s box tonight when I get home and give it a go.

This ounds realy great! I will give a try immediatly.

this reminds me of Netnanny (looksmart i believe). Any ideas on their status and difference to Glubble?

I’ve got two at the age where this will be incredibly useful.

Thanks for the heads-up!

As a parent of a young child, I would be interested in using such a system. Thanks for the post and bringing this new service to our attention

Hey morons from Glubble, how about trying something new. Glaxtar has made a similar product like this and it has been launched more than a year ago!

another good one that we start using after porn popped up in the middle of disney is - buddy browser - it’s free and very very cool.

I have tries to use this Glubble but it froze my firefox and tells me that there is a login problem not allowing me as the parent to fix it ……. NOT GOOD

To all you parents out there - try Buddy Browser

# tokkabokkasikka - who is the moron ?
Glaxter are the ones that making Glubble

I love the white list - preload Idea with 300 domains….

- also the “ask your mom” feature is great!

- I remeber being a “AOL” teen .. and getting banned for downloading “progz” and “Punterz” … heh

- everything cool ended with a ‘z’ - RB

I installed it, did all the pre-registration process, loaded it up for my 4-year old son and I got an error before the page loaded that Glubble does not allow my son to view the Glubble website!

I just clicked the ‘x’ button on the Glubble toolbar, and the page with all the kid-friendly websites loaded up, but then when I clicked on the links, the browser kept reloading the page again!

Methinks this plugin still needs some cookin. To be honest, I really didn’t troubleshoot if there was a problem, just clicked on Tools -> Add-Ons -> Glubble -> Disable.

This was exactly what I was looking for my kids, and I’m a little bit disappointed.

There seem to be a problem on the Mac. I tried it on the PC and it worked like a charm

Reminds me of KZUK, and all the trouble that ended up causing:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2.....ills_kids/

This seems to be very similar to KidRocket (http://www.kidrocket.org). There is definitely a need for something like this. I like the idea of a Firefox extension if it can be pulled off correctly.

Great idea; excellent execution.

After un installing this I noted that all my Firefox extensions were switched off. Not good, but worse is that some of those extensions’ settings are lost.

Painful for me to go roll back.

Be wary.

Even disney’s playhouse site is one click away from the shopping page.

These sites shouldn’t be considered safe unless you can’t click from them to the shopping site.

I think this work per page, so any requested page, no matter where they come from, is checked and blocked if that’s the case.

tokkabokkasikka -> Glubble is from Glaxstar

Glubble differs from what I see on buddybrowser and kidrocket by having a flexible whitelist instead of coming pre loaded with a static whitelist. Pretty much the responsibility falls to the parent to monitor what domains or links their kids can see.

Thanks for the clarification, Nick (i should’ve read more carefully). The asking for approval for a link is a nice touch. Not sure about their monetization idea as people will disagree on what’s OK.

I don’t know why the limited, as in small, whitelist idea isn’t more popular. It should have been built-in to browsers ages ago. Kidzmail is an email example, where kids can receive and send email only to approved addresses. It comes with a drawing surface as well to send drawings along with text.

I really don’t think anything of this will be useful for the kids. Before the parents even blink the kids will be able to figure out how to un install that Firefox plug-in and have a go at all the porn in the world they want to see.

Remember, the kids are ten times as smarter as their parents. They are just at that amazing age to have this edge over the elders.

I expect to see Glubble in the TechCrunch Deadpool soon.

Well it is not the parents who have created this browser, remember that.

Disney and Nickelodeon? And they’re supposed to be kid-safe? Only if you’re a marketing wonk after our hard-earned cash the easy way - via our kids.

Microsoft already has this in beta, called family safety - https://fss.live.com/ it’s free, and work on xp, can be remotely controlled by parent, preapproved whitelist and blacklist, can manage multiple kids within the same interface…. and it’s free.

so check it out and see, I am using it for my 3 kids, there are different predefined settings for different age group too. the only thing I will complaint is that is a bit slow, but it also monitor IM stuff, and give audit trail on all the sites that the kids has visited recently, which is great.

GREAT idea, even if it still needs a bit more baking. I also like the whitelist idea.

@Harshal, don’t allow access to the Firefox add-ons page and/or disable an option for adding add-ons. Basically, the account (i.e., the child’s account) does not have the necessary permissions to download ANYTHING. And then they’re restricted to a whitelist.

Will some geeky kids figure a workaround? Perhaps. But this idea should work for controlling the browsing activities of most children.

I forgot to mention one key concern: A 3.8 MB add-on?

My add-ons already total over 10 MB and I’m noticing a much slower Firefox experience. I wonder if there’s a way to have user-specific Firefox installations? (I’ve never needed this, still don’t. But it would be one solution to an already bloated Firefox.) Sure, I know that there’s a way to alter the add-ons; CLEO and FEBE do this. But it wouldn’t be as easy as simply logging into another account and having Firefox customized for that specific user. (Maybe it would be, but it doesn’t seem like it.)

Anyway, my point is that 3.8 MB seems like a HUGE add-on, at least relative to the other 50+ add-ons I have.

Hello Folks, please permit me to Introduce myself, my name is Ian Hayward and I’m the Founder of Glaxstar, the authors of Glubble. Firstly thank you Nick for writing an insightful and balanced article, I appreciate you taking the time to do so, thank you.

I have read the comments here over the course of today (19th June PDT) and I think it may be beneficial to a few contributors on this thread if I were to clarify and respond to a couple of points raised here today if all of you do not mind? (edit – after a re-read, sorry Nick there’s a long commet post here )

As some may already know, I’m lead admin of spreadfirefox.com, as such I’m not the kind of guy to state opinions so please take my feedback here in the spirit of open collaboration in an attempt to help clarify a couple of things for you.

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tokkabokkasikka said, “Hey morons from Glubble, how about trying something new. Glaxtar has made a similar product like this and it has been launched more than a year ago!”

Reply, “ LOL, now that is just plain funny, in fact that made my day Thanks tokkabokkasikka its was really pleasing to see someone defending Glaxstar against an apparent pretender But rest assured it is us who have produced Glubble! Thanks dude wow I appreciate your sentiment from Glaxstar perspective, makes me feel kind proud actually, please ping me and see if we can talk some more? To be honest just shows we got our communication a little but wrong from our side Oh, sorry folks, for the benefit of others, I think tokkabokkasikka is referring to a previous R&D project we had called OwnArea with kids accounts that was the pre-cursor for Glubble!

jayen Said, “I installed it, did all the pre-registration process, loaded it up for my 4-year old son and I got an error before the page loaded that Glubble does not allow my son to view the Glubble website!”

Reply, “That was my personal decision Jayen, because the only sites allowed into the Glubbleworld starter pack are house hold established brands and this means that Glubble did not make the criteria! I don’t think it would be fair for us to force our own domain on parents, for me the kids come first even over our own business! Our Editorial integrity is absolute, you are free to add the site to your child’s Glubbleworld of course but, I would advise against it simply because we have a public help forum at http://www.glubble.com/help – This is not to be confused of course between the preview site called http://www.glubbleworld.com that lets parents see what is bundled with Glubble. Kids see their own personal version of this homepage when they use Firefox.

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Jayen said, “ I just clicked the ‘x’ button on the Glubble toolbar, and the page with all the kid-friendly websites loaded up, but then when I clicked on the links, the browser kept reloading the page again!”

Reply, “ I know what this is. I think the user interaction on this page could be improved sorry, what it is, is that when you click on a brand icon, the page does actually reload with a different set of links but they are very close to the bottom of the page (aka underneath the fold) so its real easy to see the page reload and think that nothing has changed on the page! Scroll down you will see the difference, but I agree this sucks! We will rethink the layout and maybe add brand icons on left hand side of page.

Jayen said, “This was exactly what I was looking for my kids, and I’m a little bit disappointed.”

reply, “I’m so pleased to hear you say that this is what you were looking for for your kids, because that means you are just like me! I created this whole concept for my kids too, so please stick with it please, because you will soon find it fulfils your expectations, I thank you so much for taking the time to provide this excellent feedback and I assure you that we are here to listen, learn and help you to help us shape Glubble into the product that we can all be delighted with.”

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Steve Hooker said, “ After un-installing this I noted that all my Firefox extensions were switched off. Not good, but worse is that some of those extensions’ settings are lost.”

Reply, “crud - ok dude - this is serious, please lets see exactly what happened here as his is totally not acceptable I agree. Rest assured if Glaxstar can not resolve this issue pretty much no one can, I will assign one of our top engineers to resolve this situation for you, please email me (ian at glaxstar dot com ) and I will personally make sure this situation is resolved for you. I would also be super appreciative if we could seek more details like platform etc.. to replicate this bug to help others avoid the same nightmare! We are currently experiencing over 100 new user registrations per hour on our first day of launch and this is the first report we’ve had like this. Lets see how quickly we can solve this for you”

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Shambhu said, “Even disney’s playhouse site is one click away from the shopping page. These sites shouldn’t be considered safe unless you can’t click from them to the shopping site.”

Reply, “ I so much love your passion Shambhu you sound like a great parent (or maybe a great future parent I do not know), the beauty of Glubble is that its all about trust, and like beauty, trust in in the eye of the beholder. This means that Glubble matches your beliefs and trust values perfectly.

If you do not want your child to see playhouse site, then you have the power to take it out of your child’s GlubbleWorld with just two clicks! A Glubble can be 3 sites or 3000 sites it is you that decides, no one else. This is why Glubble is not a branded walled garden its something that you can make match your own values no one else’s.

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Harshal Vaidya. “I really don’t think anything of this will be useful for the kids. Before the parents even blink the kids will be able to figure out how to un-install that Firefox plug-in and have a go at all the porn in the world they want to see…. I expect to see Glubble in the TechCrunch Deadpool soon.”

Reply, “Ah, Harshal, the certainty of a youthful opinion and your use of the third person “the parents” and “the kids” tells us your stating a semantic opinion With respect please, this is a serious topic for us parents of young kids, let us be the judge you can be the jury. Glubble is for young kids, of the age that still “want” to hold their parents hand in crowded malls, this is another world my friend, please leave us to it

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abba-daddy. Said, “ another good one … is - buddy browser - it’s free and very very cool … To all you parents out there - try Buddy Browser”

Reply, “I have tried browser buddy and my wife found it terrible, in three clicks of the free version of buddy browser she went from neopets, to childline to beebo where a young lady was very descriptive about what she would like to do with her opposite gender. I also don’t think its really healthy that I should pay a few lousy bucks to a company for a kiddy browser to protect my kids online. Btw did you know Glubble is free? Its a gift to the world, just like Firefox is

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Michael Clarke. “Disney and Nickelodeon? And they’re supposed to be kid-safe? Only if you’re a marketing wonk after our hard-earned cash the easy way - via our kids.”

Reply, “Its up to you Michael, you decide what is in your kids Glubble, no one else, not even a marketing wonk! As a parent myself I too have a particular distain for marketing wonks! This is why I contribute to community marketing of Firefox, we are collectively about as wonk free as any community can be Bottom line make Glubble as small or big as “you” want. Its free, its your web, no strings”

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David Scott Lewis said, “ GREAT idea, even if it still needs a bit more baking. I also like the whitelist idea.”

reply, “ Thanks dude, join us, help us help more kids online, peace!”

David Scott Lewis also said, , “@Harshal, don’t allow access to the Firefox add-ons page and/or disable an option for adding add-ons.”

reply, “Well David, this is Glaxstar, time for a warm fuzzy feeling Try to install any add-on into Firefox while signed into Firefox with a Child Glubble username try to download from a link, or drag drop into the browser.. you’ll find we are a step ahead, we’ve disabled this functionally all together There is a reason all the biggst blue chips on the web use us for their Firefox service developments, we write industrial strength code and we are seasoned in pure Firefox development DNA where the best features are always the ones you least expect and only use when you really need them”

David Scott Lewis also said, “ I forgot to mention one key concern: A 3.8 MB add-on? … seems like a HUGE add-on, at least relative to the other 50+ add-ons I have.”

Reply, “yes it is David, its a super extension ; ) it does a lot already, its our aim to only reduce its payload over time till our public launch in the fall of 2007. Over 50+ extensions is amazing would you like to work with us as a tester? Sounds like your a real add-on pro”

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rcman. “Microsoft already has this in beta, called …”

reply, “Ok, enough already dude, please don’t talk about microsoft betas they have done precious little to help young kids on the web over the last ten years and parents like me are simply tired of it, so they have a beta? Great where is their PR? Why is it not announced on Techcrunch? Why have they not been round to demo Nick a working demo already? Enough said, Reman, if your not a Microsoft employee and you are genuinely posting here out of concern for your own kids, cool dude, come work with us, I guarantee you’ll get more results helping us shape Glubble than you will playing with yet another Microsoft beta.”

ENDS - Ian Hayward, Founder Glaxstar

Let me start by saying that I am an avid Mac and Firefox user, but I have to correct the Microsoft comment left by Ian Hayward. In my opinion, they seem to be the only major company with a search engine (MSN) that makes an effort to address Internet safety for kids. The beta previously alluded to is probably OneCare Family safety. I know very little about the project, but I know it exists. They have also spent considerable money promoting Internet safety through their a collaborative project with i-safe. Finally, why Firefox? Techies like myself use it, but IE has ~87% of the browser market and 98% of the kids browser market.

This is one step further in changing those statistics and promoting open source software. So why not Firefox? I think this is a great idea. It needs optimization and improvements, but this is why a beta is released. To get feedback and do something with it.

@ David, I am a parent of two young children under 10, I do not know if you are but if you are not we may as well end the conversation here.

Anyone who is not a parent of a child under 12 can not feel the problem because they are not living with the problem.

Bottom line when you say, “makes an effort to address Internet safety for kids” then that does not cut the mustard. So let’s loose the flim-flam that parents have had to put up with for the last decade. I do not want a service that “makes efforts” or “tries its best” I want a service that just does what it says on the tin. One that just works.

Glubble lets my kids look at the 50 or so sites they enjoy playing with plus is lets them ping their grandparents and aunt/uncle or my wife or I if they want to see anything else. period. The added bonus is that they can search Google or Yahoo and see search results and I’m safe in the knowledge that they will only encounter their Glubble World domains. Period, does what it says on the tin dude.

One more thing folks I would like to put out there as a thought, thank you.

Why don’t we all take a fresh look at the phrase “Internet Safety” in the context of Children, maybe its time we re-categorised that phrase an oxymoron?

Glubble concept is about, “you can’t make the Internet Safe for kids but you can make your kid safe on the Internet”.

Think about it, decide for yourself.

I am a parent of two. I have tried many surf controls but was very dissatisfied. I yearned for a decent Firefox add-on, as I felt proper surf control had been missing for too long. I have installed Glubble - I think it is the answer -I am happy to contribute any beta improvements that I can think of. One suggestion would be to de-americanise it a bit. Glubble will be a great asset to the wider world as well, both native english speaking as well as other languages. If the language, tone and content is too US oriented it could put punters off.

EEK! It is not safe for kids!

Check the screenshots I got when I searched for “sex” to test Glubble.

Even though the search results were on screen for a temporary time, it was long enough to read them.

I used to work for a K-12 library database for kids. One surefire way to test these “safe for kids” add-ons is to search for sex.

Parents, test before you let kids use. Glubble still has some big bugs to fix before it can be considered safe for kids under 12.

See the screenshots here:

http://www.associatedcontent.c....._safe.html

I tried this plug-in and it failed to allow a log-in or work at all. Worse was that it also seemed to have changed my thunderbird settings. So after I un-installed it I had the glorious moment of finding it had screwed all my mail and thunderbird couldn’t recover it and all firefox settings and bookmarks had got messed up too

I think it’s about time people stopped actaully launching real “Beta” versions and just came clean and confessed that they don’t have the time, money or inclination to test a product properly before launching it. Beta launchers are a marketing term to let people think they are in at the ground level. REAL Beta launchers are just LAZY. For a product that says “Hey, we want to protect your kids but you know what, we havent tested it properly so get your kids to find out if its working for us.”

That’s called child labour and smells wrong to me.

Pretty nifty idea. I’m also a fan of OpenDNS’ recent filtering technology.

Nice find, indeed! I plan on adding this one to my family blog where I talk about web safety. Thanks for the inspiration!

In response to Pam’s comment..

Just wanted to say that I’m new user of Glubble with my kids. I can not reproduce what you see when using one of my kids accounts? How do you do it I want to know its safe for them!

It works fine for me, if I do a search for “sex” at google.com when signed in as any one of them I don’t see any results at all, it works fine for me Pam how did you get this to show like this, I want to make sure they can’t do something by accident.

Mind you, it’s my understanding that it only shows results matching sites in my kids GlubbleWorld right? So maybe you added bad sites to the your kid account during your testing, if you did then I suppose these sites will show up too in a Google search if you have allowed them.

I saw your blog post because the headline grabbed my attention (its a bit sensational isn’t it? watch they don’t sue you or something) and I also saw your screenshot because I really wanted to see what was happening because my own kids are using Glubble now, and by looking at your screenshot I’m pretty sure you have added wikipedia and metcafe to your kids glubble world account, I would not add those sites to my kids account tbh so maybe that’s why it works ok for me?

I work in IT so I’m pretty good at things like testing, I can’t find fault with the search myself. There are some usability issues they need to fix but at least my kids seem better off now than searching the web without it.

Hope you sort this issue out. Emms.

Pam - Yes , can you detail the steps what you did to get those result, as I cant get the same results on my install. It blocks all results when I try and search on that term.