I think this would be interesting if they could get it to work on the scale needed to be profitable, but I don't see it happening.
I am guessing (and maybe incorrectly) that there are 2 kinds of Linux based web book users:

1) the proto typical techie who likes the freedom of configuration choices that it gives you or
2) the person who got it because it was cheaper or didn't know the difference and doesn't care, as long as they can get email and surf the web (and use their web based apps).

The evil capitalist in me thinks this would be a great thing for the revenue stream, if you could lock them into using our store and only our store (contrary to the open source concept), but I don't see that happening.

I realize this is slightly off topic, but I find it ironic that the mobile phone platform that seems to be the most open to allowing you to write and install what ever program you want is windows mobile (yes, that is what I currently use). Everyone is talking about "The" apps store, but WM phones don't have 1... they have an untold number of sites to get apps from, several dedicated to free (of cost anyway) sites, but this fact seems to be left out of the Iphone/Pre/Android discussions by various tech sites.

back on the original topic, I wish them all the luck, as it is nice to get compensated for your work, but I don't know if there is enough commonality to get enough return on investment for the vendor on setting up an app store. If this can be achieved, then it would pave the way for the developers to benefit as well.
 

This is probably your most feasible solution. A cell phone is going to be able to accomplish most of these items, without being a giant brick.

Sprint ( I do not work for them, but do use them), has a service that works like this:
http://www.nextel.com/en/services/gps/family_locator.shtml

And I am sure that others do as well. I think the one saving grace about this, is that it sends a text message when it "locates" a person, so they know, that you know, where they are.

I am probably going to start using a service like this once my son gets older, just because of the peace of mind of "yes, I do know where my kid is at 2 in the morning".

The thing that I am having issues with is:

A. What age to I get it for him?

B. Will this conflict with school policy? Ideally, the phone will be in silent mode during the school day, and my son will have enough discipline to not get himself in trouble with it, and have it confiscated as a result.

Good luck

I think people are missing half the point.

Think of this as a different question:
"How do I change the search results on my own name?"

Yes, you could point him to a SEO document, but that may not be as applicable for an individual (or maybe it is).

What are some other techniques for "improving" the results on his name to have it come up before/instead of the one with the negative association?

Yes a good HR check should be able to distinguish between the two, but what about his new peers and co workers who want to know more about him? If a casual search engine check is going to show up with a sex offender, then it wouldn't be a bad idea to try to modify the results a bit.

Of course, worst case scenario, you could end up having your portfolio show up right next to the sex offender.
Then you will guarantee that your name will be associated as a sick criminal by the gossip pool that learned about using "the google" to check up on new people from their celebrity news mag :p

Good luck, and I hope to see some other suggestions on how to change a page ranking without spending a ton of money on it.

All right apple fanboys, lets here your response on this one.