Beejive’s already quite usable Beejive IM iPhone app just got an update to 2.0, adding file transfer and voice messages to its multitude of IM connectivity.

Currently, you can connect to “AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN/Live, Myspace IM, and Yahoo messenger” with Beejive. With 2.0, you can send in-line photos, audio and video files, PDFs and Office docs to anyone you’re chatting with, provided the recipient has an IM client from the last 10 years.

The best part is the voice message feature, which you can activate with the microphone icon.

Google recently released its annual rundown of popular searches for 2008 - what they call the “zeitgeist” list - and it’s a reminder, once again, of how much we reveal about ourselves every time we type into a search bar.

I’ve always been very proud of the fact that I started using the computer at nine years old.  I remember the days that my brother and I would spend countless late nights on the old Franklin 64, playing text-based adventure games off a floppy disk, as the computer itself had no hard drive.

Fast forward just over two decades, and I now find myself worrying about the online activities of my two young girls, now aged 6 and 8, both of whom started using the computer when they were just three years old.

The Importance of Child Safety Online

While I’m the last person on earth who would advocate limiting the Internet in any way, when you have very intelligent and inquisitive kids who enjoy searching the Internet for random information - you’ve got a recipe for trouble.  All it takes is a single search for seemingly innocent information in order for a list of dangerous websites to appear before those two little eyes.  These are the thoughts that keep parents like me up at night.

While Google and Yahoo SafeSearch settings go a long way towards easing those concerns, there are always harmful websites that make it through the filters.  Setting up a filter on your own Internet firewall is another option, but again - as long as your kids are connected directly to the Internet, nasty things like dangerous websites or child predators can always make it through somehow.

This is where a free web browser created specifically for children, like KidZui, can completely remove that parental worry.

KidZui Basics

KidZui offers a free basic membership that does everything any worried parent requires.

• An “alternative” internet for kids, with over a million reviewed websites.
• Additional features that make the browser fun for kids.
• A safe social network where kids can communicate with other “parent-approved” friends.
• Kids can create their own “Zui” character.
• A parental account that reports the last 30 days of your childrens’ activities.
• Activity reports automatically emailed to parents.
• The ability for parents to customize their child’s access by adding or removing approved sites.

Using KidZui to Protect Your Computer From Your Kids

One of the last things I ever want to do is make my two girls feel as though they are being “locked down” and prevented from enjoying the internet.  That’s why I like KidZui, because there are so many additional features for kids, that they actually feel like this browser is a vast improvement over the drab old Internet browser that dad uses.  The front page is filled with unlimited possibilities for kids to explore web pages, multimedia, play games, and connect with friends.

The “explore” menu on the left and the “community” menu on the right both collapse so that the center browser space can view and scroll in full screen mode like a regular browser.  The explore bar gives kids fast point-and-quick access to video, games, cool websites, and other content for kids.

Google has figured out that it can save money by getting product ideas from users rather than engineers. After all, you can’t pay engineers in “shout outs” on their blogs like their offering for users.

Yes, the tanking economy is hitting the mighty Google just as hard as every other company out there, and they’re having to cut costs as a result.

Making good on Google’s continued pledge to not limit Android to just phones, two guys at VentureBeat got Android up an running on their Eee PC 1000H. But a question comes to mind: why?

Apparently it was a piece of cake to get Android to support everything you’d need for functional computing, including sound, graphics (at the Eee’s native resolution) and wireless internet.

9 to 5’s latest Apple rumor is that the iWork suite, Apple’s Office competitor, is going to the cloud.

Which is good news because I hardly use Office and find myself in Google Docs when I need to use a word processor or spreadsheet. If true, there’s no doubt in my mind it’ll require use of the paid MobileMe service, which is right now a bit over priced.

First Google Street View captures a person peeing on the street, and now they drive right by a bunch of Porsche prototypes in Colorado.

We’re not sure how old these photos are, but they’re supposedly of updated “Boxters, Caymans and even a 911″. Is nothing safe?

HTC’s confirmed to Engadget that the “cupcake” OS Update will should be available to the T-Mobile G1 some time in the future.

No specification on when the over-the-air update will hit, though. [Engadget]

Chris from Engadget just told us that it’s still up to T-Mobile and Google whether or not the update will hit, but HTC believes it will—but they can’t mandate it.

This is the Israeli Defense Force’s official YouTube channel, where they are posting several gun camera videos per day of bombs falling on Gaza. That is, until Google temporarily shut it down.

It’s back up now, but a message on the idfnadesk channel’s profile (Age: 60, the wit) explains:

We were saddened earlier today that YouTube took down some of our exclusive footage showing the IDF’s operational success in operation Cast Lead against Hamas extremists in the Gaza Strip.

Speeek is an app that can recognize up to 1,500 spoken Japanese phrases and translate them into either English or Chinese. Pocket Babel Fish? Yes please.

This is, of course, only for Japanese speakers, and it only covers basic hello/goodbye/where is the bathroom type phrases, but this doesn’t seem like too far of a leap for Google’s voice search app, which would be pretty exciting.