To my mind, this is more a parenting issue than a technology one. The easiest method would be to join Facebook yourself and become one of your teens’ ”friends” on each account they have. That might not sit well with your kids, but if you’re willing to be tough, you could make that a condition of their being on Facebook. You could also insist they use the network’s extensive privacy controls to guard their detailed information and activities from strangers.

There is a paid service called YouDiligence that claims it will notify you if certain words appear on a child’s Facebook page. But it requires that you be one of your child’s Facebook friends, so it is mainly a time-saver. Also, because it focuses on words, it doesn’t flag photos or other Facebook activity.

Another paid service, called imView, automatically takes pictures of the screen of the PC your child uses, at intervals you select, and allows you to view these screen shots at your leisure, from any Internet-connected PC. Its maker touts this as a way to monitor Facebook activity. I haven’t tested either of these two services.

I want to transfer my Mini DV taped videos from my video camera to my Mac. But my new MacBook has no Firewire port, which is the only port my camera includes — only USB ports. Am I stuck?

Maybe not. One option would be to see if you can borrow a Mac or Windows PC that does have a Firewire port, convert the videos to digital files on that borrowed machine, and then transfer the resulting files to your new Mac using an external hard disk or flash drive. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to have to do this often.

Another option: A company called Pixela (pixela-1.com) claims to have a Firewire-to-USB cable meant for exactly your situation. It is for Windows only, but might well work if you installed and ran Windows on your Mac. However, a glance at the company’s Web site shows it is out of the version of the cable that works with the North American, as opposed to European, video standard. If you are in North America, you might check with the company to see if and when the correct version will be available. One important caution: I haven’t tested it, so don’t know how well it works.

My computer crashed last fall, and I lost thousands of iTunes songs. I would like to copy all the songs to my new computer from my iPod, which still contains them. However, iTunes allows only purchased songs to be returned. Is there software that would help me?

Yes. There are several utility programs designed to copy the contents of an iPod back to a Windows or Mac computer. The one I usually recommend, because I have found it works well, is called Music Rescue. It costs 10 British pounds, or about $15 at current exchange rates. It can be purchased at kennettnet.co.uk.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

I want to purchase an e-reader. Currently I use my Palm Tungsten, but the screen is rather small for reading books. I purchased the Amazon Kindle for my niece but I do not like the design of it. Are there any other e-readers on the market that have a full keyboard and can connect to the Internet?

A: There may be some obscure models that do, but the main competitor to the Kindle, Sony’s Reader, lacks a direct connection to the Internet. You have to purchase titles on a computer and then move them to the device. The Reader does have a keyboard, but it’s virtual, not physical.

I’m considering the new 13″ aluminum-body MacBook. I’m a nontech guy doing routine computing tasks. I own an iMac and I’m ready to add a laptop. The only downside to the new MacBook seems to be the absence of a FireWire port. Is that a deal killer?

I don’t believe so. At one time, FireWire (also called 1394 or iLink on some computers and peripheral devices) was much faster than USB, but now the two are about the same speed. At one time, plugging most camcorders, or many external hard disks, required FireWire. Now both types of devices typically use USB or offer both types of ports.

If you are a professional photographer, videographer or musician with a heavy investment in USB peripheral devices, then the lack of a FireWire port may make the new MacBook a non-starter. But for an average user, unless you have invested in FireWire-only peripherals, I don’t think its absence would matter at all. Besides, you still have your iMac, which includes FireWire.

• You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

A lot of the laptop companies seem to have abandoned the traditional docking station. These docking stations have a large rectangular connector that interconnects with the notebook from the bottom. The newer docking stations seem to be much smaller, with fewer connection options. Is a new trend in docking-station design emerging?

The kind of large, fully equipped docking station you describe was born years ago, when laptops were different. They tended to have smaller screens and hard disks, more-cramped keyboards, weaker batteries, only wired Internet connections, and many fewer ports and connectors.

But the need for such docks has diminished, since modern laptops come with more ports, larger screens and keyboards, better batteries, wireless connections, and more-spacious hard disks. The old-style, more fully equipped docking stations are still available for some laptop models.

I suggest you look around at laptops meant for large businesses, which typically have been the market segment most interested in these accessories.

My daughter was given a Sony laptop. It has a 40-gigabyte hard drive that has two 20-gigabyte partitions. What is the best way, either using software that comes with XP or an after-market program, to remove the partition and then have one 40-gigabyte hard drive again?

I suggest you use a program from Symantec called Norton PartitionMagic, which can either split a hard drive into partitions, or merge partitions into one, without data loss. It can be downloaded from symantec.com/norton/partitionmagic or purchased from various other merchants.

I notice on my iPhone calendar that I can’t get a “week at a glance.” Is there a solution or alternative available?

The only built-in alternative I know of is the calendar’s “list view,” which displays all your appointments in a scrolling list that is organized by day, but not by week.

There is a third-party calendar program for the iPhone called SaiSuke that appears to have a week view, as well as a detailed month view. It costs $9.99 and is meant to sync with Google Calendar. I haven’t tested it, so I can’t say how well it works.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox and my other columns online free at the All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.