Channels are refreshed automatically according to parents' instructions. Every channel provides new content at least weekly, Brian Pass says. Parents can use passwords to prevent children from leaving YOW, meaning kids can't sneak onto the Web or rummage through Mom's My Documents folder without permission. Parents control YOW in other ways. They set up profiles for each child, complete with snazzy desktop icons and other customized features.
Parents also can view on-screen reports that that show the kids' channel preferences and activities.
YOW has limited content, especially when compared with the vastness of the Internet. But Passport plans to add channels from the Learning Co. and other sources at a brisk clip. YOW will eventually incorporate e-mail features, and a Macintosh version is tentatively slated for summer. Apple's free KidSafe, a Macintosh-only service that integrates with the Mac OS 9 operating system, seems to offer the most reliability along with the best breadth of content. The child-protection service is perhaps the most powerful iTool because it gives parents great latitude to regulate their kids' Internet use, yet is easy to use.