Big Mouse Mother
Disney is launching a mobile phone service that will enable parents to track their children’s phone activity, reported the BBC. Parents will also be able to limit calls and locate their child using GPS. The service, called Disney Mobile, will debut this summer, provided in conjunction with Sprint.

Blogger Bylines?
Pluck is launching BlogBlast today, a blog syndication service that will provide commentary from 600 bloggers to newspapers, “further blurring the lines that divide blogs and mainstream media,” reported Wired. The service is starting in the US but is expected to expand to overseas publications. Newspapers already signed up are The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle, along with the whole Gannett Corporation, which owns USA Today. Newspapers are likely to use blog content, edited by BlogBlast staff for quality control, in sections that do not have dedicated writers like travel, food, technology and local news.

A military video game with no weapons
University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute has developed a video game to teach American soldiers about Iraqi non-verbal communication dos and don’ts. In the Tactical Language Training Program, “players navigate a set of real-life scenarios by learning a set of Arabic phrases, culturally relevant gestures and taboos,” reported Wired. Players advance by building a rapport with other characters.

“Cultural taboos unknown to Americans can also lead to problems. For example, in Iraq, introducing yourself without also introducing everyone else with you is impolite. Hannes Vilhjalmsson, the project’s technical director, recounts one situation in which an Iraqi man gestured to a female soldier by rubbing his fingers together. It was meant to indicate friendship, but the soldier interpreted the action to have an offensive sexual connotation.”

So far, about 300 soldiers have used the program, but that number is expected to be in the 1000s by year’s end. There is even the possibility that a civilian version of the software will be developed.