Product reviews for trendy Moms & Dads, their children & pregnant moms
Loves Me Mini Laptop Case (I have one of these, I use it for my iPad!) - on sale for $24 (normally $48)
Happy Valentine’s Day!
There’s a few sales going on today including this awesome one from Vera Bradley: two prints, Make Me Blush and Loves Me are on sale 50% off through end of day Valentine’s Day.
Maybe it’s my inner geek but I would have loved to receive Nintendo’s 3DS Pearl Pink Bundle with Nintendogs & Cats ($227.00, free shipping on Amazon) for a Valentine’s Day gift. You hear that all guys looking for a gift?
Love it. Get it with free shipping on Amazon for $227.
Okay guys, this app is AWESOME. I saw Lindsay posting about this on Facebook and knew I had to download it. Called Stack the States, you have to answer various trivia questions with a multiple choice answer of 4 possibilities.
Kids learn about state capitols, state geography and so much more. (Which state houses which National Park and so forth.)
Nate (8) played this pretty much all day yesterday as he was in bed with a bad cold. You play to “earn” states and he’s earned 45 of his 50 states and I can’t tell you guys how much he’s learned in just one day. He can identify almost all of the states by shape alone, knows many of the capitals now and knows which states border one another.
Oh and you have to “stack” your states which can get pretty precarious! If your stack topples over you are starting over, so it’s not only educational but fun. (Because that’s the best type, right? The ones where my kids learn and they don’t even realize they are doing it…)
You can get a Lite (Free) version too but we only tried the paid version – get Stack the States for $.99 for the iPhone and $1.99 for the iPad on the iTunes store.
If I hadn’t just bought a $20 Stylus for my iPad, I’d be all over this one! Check out this deal for a 3-pack of Universal Touch Screen Stylus Pen (Red, Silver & Black) for $1.99 with free shipping. Not sure why it’s so cheap, they must be trying to clear out supplies but it’s too good to pass up if you don’t have a Stylus and are looking for one.
I noticed the reviews ae kind of mixed on these because of the rubber tip but I have the rubber tipped pen and it works great for me.
Because I love new technology, my family has tons of new electronics coming into the house at any given time. Which is pretty cool but also means we’re generating a lot of “old” electronic devices. I’ve already handed a few devices down to my tech-savvy kids but I’m always careful to take a few precautions before doing so.
I received these great tips from PBS Kids in honor of CES this week – it’s a helpful tip sheet on what to do when you get a new device and want to give the old one to your kids. While the end of the tips include some links to some PBS KIDS apps, I can’t agree more with these points including the one about apps that are marked “free,” for kids.
I’m finding it’s definitely worth it to spend a few bucks on an app you know is from a trusted educational organization (like PBS KIDS) rather than an app that may be free and will end up asking for money any time you want to do anything in the app.
Via PBS Kids:
Many states are banning electronics from landfills, requiring people to recycle them properly or encouraging them to pass it down to a child.
But parents should take some precautions before handing down the gadget, parents should prepare devices with the following tips from PBS KIDS:
1.Sweep it: All devices should be cleaned of any content including personal files, credit card information, etc. before handing down to kids. Parents should swipe all their browser cookiesť and perform an application sweep.
2.Secure it: There are parental controls on most tech devices that can turn certain features on and off. Settings on the iPhone, for example, that can be restricted include explicit song titles, Internet browser, YouTube, iTunes and the camera.
3. Set limits: As with any new toy, parents should set expectations and limitations with their kids when the device is handed down, and should encourage other forms of learning and play beyond the screen.
4. Find the right apps for your child: A good app is the perfect combination of education and entertainment, and should be appropriate for your child’s age and stage of development.
5. Avoid apps that try to sell: Apps labeled liteť or freeť often attempt to make money by trying to sell virtual items while a child is playing a game, or link to another related app that requires payment to download. Select apps from trusted, reliable sources, and make sure that they are not trying to market to your child.
Once the device is cleaned, parents will likely want to load it up with age-appropriate apps. With more than a thousand apps in the iTunes store, choosing these apps can be tricky, but PBS KIDS has a suite of educational apps that are perfect stocking stuffers. Here are some of PBS KIDS recent top apps for mobile devices which can be found on pbskids.org/mobile:
We have two filing cabinets full of receipts, tax papers and other random papers we’ve felt the need to save over the years. It takes up so much space.
I really can’t stand it. But enter a solution: NeatDesk. It’s a scanner and software program. You scan and store any reciept, business card or document. How great is that? A couple seconds of your day and you’re done with all the headaches involved with random papers flying around.
It’s pricey – I won’t lie. NeatDesk costs $399.95 on Amazon but it’s well worth it to reduce the paper trail in your house. We’re talking about saving closets full of papers. Seems like a no brainer to me!
Extra notes: the removable input tray can scan both sides of up to 10 receipts, 10 business cards, and 10 documents at a time–or even a single, 50-page document.
Giveaway: We have one NeatDesk to giveaway to one lucky Mommies with Style winner!
Enter to win by commenting below. What’s the first thing you would scan if you won the NeatDesk?
Note – You can enter up to 4 times (the only required entry is the first one to leave a comment! All the others are additional entries):
1) Leave a comment on this post. (Note: Scroll to the bottom of this post and click “Post Comment”. You must be on my site – you can’t do this through a reader.)
2) Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter & follow me on Twitter @WhitneyMWS:
Enter to win a NeatDesk from @NeatCompany on Mommies with Style via @WhitneyMWS http://bit.ly/aatNRf
3) “Like” Mommies with Style and the Neat Company on Facebook (if you already do, promote this contest on your page)
4) Subscribe to my feed or email newsletter and stay on top of all of my daily posts! If you already subscribe, please leave a separate comment letting me know that you are currently a subscriber (thank you!).
**This giveaway will end January 16th, 2012. One winner will be selected at random and notified after that time.**
These days, it’s tough to keep up with every blog and every news site you want to. So many options! I do love my Pulse News app on my iPad – it consolidates all the blogs and sites I love to read into one program and one visual.
It’s free and as you can see in the pict on the right you can catch a small photo and snippet of each story before clicking over. Great for time management.
Get the Pulse News app for iPad on the iTunes store.
I’m kind of surprised at myself that I didn’t think to post this one sooner. I use TripAdvisor all the time. Pretty much anytime we’re on the road, TripAdvisor comes out.
As you can probably guess from the title (if you don’t already know the website), TripAdvisor is a helpful app for when you are traveling. It includes reviews and ratings from other users on hotels, restaurants, things to do and so much more. I use it regularly when we’re somewhere just to see what’s nearby. The best part about it is the “Near Me Now” feature which uses technology to locate where you are and then show you on map what’s within relative vicinity of where you are standing and holding your iPad. (or iPhone, as it’s also available on iPhone, iPods.)
And the review aspect is invaluable. There are over 50 million reviews from other TripAdvisor users! I used this app every night on my 10 year anniversary trip with hubby last fall. We went to restaurants solely based on TripAdvisor reviews and we were really happy with the end result.
Did any of you guys play the Sim games when you were younger? I’ll admit, I totally loved SimCity, the Sims and SimTower at various points in college. (Doesn’t that date me?) But I especially remember one summer playing a lot of SimTower for whatever reason.
This iPad app, Tower Town, reminds me of SimTower, although it’s not just one Tower you’re building but many in your own city. Like so many other of the simulation games and apps, you have to wait to earn energy, money and supplies to build various parts of your towers. Another mindless but addicting one. (Are you sensing a theme here?) The kids and I have been chipping away at building our own mini Town.
It’s free to download the app on your iPad although this is one of those where you can get sucked into buying additional money and coins but it’s perfectly fun without any additional purchases.
One of the things I’m also looking to do in 2012 is get more organized with my meal planning. (In other words, start doing it since I basically do almost zero meal planning right now). With the kids in various activities, a hubby who is on the road often at night, I find I’m always disorganized and frustrated around that 5 pm hour when I’m staring at the fridge.
Here’s an app I’ve downloaded and plan on using to help me with meal planning and grocery shopping, MealBoard. It’s MealBoard $1.99 for the iPad app on the iTunes store. I read the reviews on a lot of meal planning apps and this one seems to have some of the better reviews. You can use it in conjunction with the website so you can sync up to your information there like downloading your recipes, organize your grocery list and more.
This one’s apropos to New Years Day as today’s the day so many people in the world will be starting in on their New Years Resolutions. Because of course one of the most common New Years Resolutions? Losing weight and/or getting healthy. I have blogged many times about My Fitness Pal, mostly as a website and the success I’ve found using it. It’s a free web-based community where you can calorie track.
They also have an App. I use it on both my iPhone and iPad (you have to stretch it 2x to fit it on the iPad so it’s a little grainy but it’s no biggie). I like having it when I’m out and about so I can track a quick snack or workout if I’m going to be out of the house all day and not on my computer.
If you plan on getting fit or losing weight this year, I highly recommend checking out My Fitness Pal the app and the website. It’s free so it can’t hurt, right?
So at the end of 2010, I did a review and giveaway here on Mommies with Style for HP’s TouchSmart 310. This computer i still our main family computer. It sits in our kitchen and it’s our family machine – from hubby doing a quick bill pay to the kids playing games to me checking the weather, we just adore this PC.
Why?
A couple of reasons: It’s touchscreen, which the kids love; it’s sleek and thin, so it doesn’t take up much room (which I love); it’s fast and we’ve never had a problem with it.
I think these Desktop computers are a great buy. HP now has the TouchSmart 320 PC which has an even cooler and thinner look (hard to imagine, but so amazing!)
Here are some quick facts about the HP TouchSmart 320:
Perfect for the entire family, the HP TouchSmart 320 PC is an all-in-one PC that provides a sleek, tilt-enabled 20-inch touch display ideal for endless entertainment, interactive learning and creative play
- Create fun holiday videos and pictures, and connect with long-distance friends and family with the built-in webcam
- Make learning more fun and interactive for kids with TouchSmart 320’s intuitive touch display
- Experience endless family entertainment with a range of built-for-touch apps, a TV tuner and Beats Audio for an awesome listening experience
- Available now at HP Direct for just $569.99
So you can still get it via 2-day shipping if you order today. Or run to your nearest retailer and get it in person! Can you imagine how amazing this would be under the tree on Christmas day? If you’re looking for a great family-friendly PC that’s good for every single person in your family then this is it people.
