tech — MomStart

Check Out These PBS Educational Apps

May 23, 2012 By Momstart 12 Comments

PBS KIDS’ fun, educational apps, based off of several of their popular series, are a great way to help curb the “Summer Slide” and keep kids learning all summer long on convenient mobile devices.

Your kids want to have fun, and you want them to learn…PBS has the best of both worlds with PBS KIDS apps! Here are some of their top apps for kids this summer.

Science fanatic? Try Sid’s Science Fair ($2.99 – iPhone & iPod Touch), the app encourages kids 3 to 6 to explore and experience science.

Augmented reality makes FETCH! Lunch Rush (Free – iPhone & iPod Touch) super cool. Based off of the web-series Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman, it teaches kids ages 6 to 8 math skills while blending a virtual world right on top of the real one.

Healthy eating can be fun too! Everyone’s favorite aardvark ARTHUR helps kids ages 4 – 6 learn healthy eating habits on the go with D.W.’s Unicorn Adventure ($1.99 – iPhone & iPod Touch)

Dinosaurs? Trains? It doesn’t get better than that! Dinosaur Train Camera Catch! ($1.99 – iPhone) is the latest PBS KIDS app to utilize virtual reality. Kids “catch” the dinosaurs with their phone’s camera function in a designated pattern, building patterning skills. Dinosaur photos will be stored in a child’s private gallery.

Continue the Jurassic fun on the iPad with All Aboard the Dinosaur Train! ($1.99 – iPad) The Dinosaur Train is getting ready to leave and needs passengers! Players need to match the passengers with the right train cars, challenging them to problem-solve by estimating dinosaur sizes and comparing them with the train cars’ capacity.

You can find these and all of PBS KIDS’ apps here: http://pbskids.org/mobile/

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: children's educational apps, PBS, tech

Summer Travel Trends From Microsoft

May 5, 2012 By Momstart 24 Comments

I’m going on a road trip thanks to Microsoft in June and I’m starting to think about what all I need to take with me. Of course on my list is my laptop, my Windows Phone for GPS and some electronic toys for the kids. Sometimes I wish my children had their own laptops already. They always want to play on mine. While I’m sorting out my list I’ll be sure to share the results with you soon, for now I wanted to share these stats with you from Microsoft.

Men are nearly two times more likely to spend five or more hours on their laptop than females or 22% of travelers list unanswered emails as one of their top 5 stresses when returning home from vacation.

57% admit to looking at someone else’s laptop on a plane, so make sure you’ve got the best looking PC in your row. If your curious which PCs are the best for traveling, consider one of the following models:

Lenovo U300: For those of you who are stylish but still want a powerful PC with exquisite design and smart innovations this model is a great option and its simple to purchase online at the MicrosoftStore.com for $1199

Samsung Second Generation Series 9: Remember the Samsung 9 we talked about months ago? Now, its 20% thinner than before with brighter HD display screen, up to 7 hours of battery life and a 15 second boot time. For sale online for $1499

Asus Zenbook UX31: Elegant, mobile and ultra-fast and with razor-thin edges, the Asus UX31 has a curved center section and new rose gold color which provide beauty and strength in complete balance and harmony. Find this online at the MicrosoftStore.com for $1499.

Arc Touch Mouse: The Arc Touch Mouse is the first mouse designed to flatten for portability and pop up for comfort, making it ideal for anyone on the go. Scrolling is faster and easier with a touch scroll strip, where the flick of a finger starts hyper-fast scrolling and a simple tap brings it to a stop. Price: $59.95

If you are a traveler on a dime, but still want something to keep you connected on the road, check out these budget friendly PCs:

Dell Inspiron 14z: Get more from your busy life with the thin, sleek and fun Inspiron 14z. Its compact, thin aluminum design packs impressive productivity and entertainment features you want at the right price. Price: Starting at $599

Acer Aspire One 722: The 11.6" Aspire One 722 is sensationally designed to deliver amazing HD visual experiences wherever you go. Anytime, anywhere connectivity on Windows 7, plus an eco-friendly platform, round out this netbook and make it ideal for your highly mobile digital lifestyle. Price: Starting at $369

36% of those surveyed have lost vacation photos in the past. While on the road, make sure you are backing up your photos to SkyDrive so they’ll be there when you get home.

Save your photos in the cloud while you are on vacation to ensure your memories are safe and sound. With Windows Live SkyDrive, you can store or share media privately and securely, meaning that whether you’re in New York or Tokyo, you get the same great experience at your convenience. Start by setting up your account here, Hotmail users are already set up. From there, click “add files” and then your photos there with one click. So easy!

This was brought to you by Microsoft and I’m a Windows Champion.

Filed Under: Tech, travel Tagged With: Microsoft, tech, travel, windows champion

Make Your TV a Smart TV with Sony’s Streaming Media Player

April 7, 2012 By Momstart 17 Comments

I was asked to review Sony’s Streaming Media Player and I can’t quite figure out the use of it or if I would use it. In my house we don’t watch TV through the cable we already have our computer hooked up to it and control it that way. Our computer already connected uses Windows 7 and of course it already has internet connectivity. But not everyone has their TV set up with a computer and want their TV to connect to the internet. It seems that what the Sony Streaming Media Player not only connects your TV to the internet and media on your computer it also is make it easier to protect your children from websites you don’t want them to go to.

Smart and Internet-connected TVs can open a lot of exciting doors in terms of content consumption and entertainment options. Unfortunately, they can also leave children vulnerable and exposed to inappropriate material. And, try as parents might, they can’t supervise their children’s viewing 100% of the time.

Making the Sony Streaming Media Player an easy way to connect the internet to your TV and protect your children.

Enter Sony’s Streaming Media Player. This compact black box ($69.99) connects easily to any TV, and instantly adds Internet-connectivity and a slew of content options from the web. It also gives parents the ability to control their children’s entertainment experience. Download the free Media Remote app to your iPhone, iPod, or Android phone, and you’ve got a versatile remote that’ll allow you to control what your kids are viewing from anywhere in the home. Pause a movie, fast forward through a scene, or block content altogether without ever having to get up.

Parental control highlights include:

Block the playback of unrated Internet videos
Limit playback of some Internet videos according to age of users
Block scenes or replace select clips with different scenes
Restrict internet video playback with a password

So what do you think? Is this an item you need or would find useful in keeping your internet capable TV safe for your children.

Since I mentioned Windows I need to remind you that I’m a Windows Blog Ambassador.

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: Media Player, Media Remote app, Sony, Sony Streaming Media Player, Sony’s Streaming Media Player, tech

Win Learn & Donate Playing AXA Equitable Pass It On!

September 6, 2011 By Momstart 16 Comments

I’m asked to review websites and on-line games all the time. Most of the time, I turn it down, reviewing a game or website takes a lot of time and I don’t usually find any value from it. However, when I was asked to review AXA Equitable Pass It On on-line game, I said yes for a few reasons.

One, my readers, you guys, are quite interested in winning giveaways. with AXA Equitable Pass It On you have the chance to win $25,000 or $15,000 cash prize.

Two, I have a huge interest in supporting my community and charitable organizations whenever I have the opportunity. By participating in the game you will be helping others as AXA Equitable and the AXA Foundation have selected the American Red Cross, CARE, and Scholarship America to receive a grant based on the total number of votes received by Pass it On! players during the campaign period. The more you and I play the more votes the charities earn.

While you have the opportunity to win and give you will also be learning a think or two about insurance plans and ways to protect your family along the way. Pass it On! is described as being a game between Monopoly and Risk which are two games that I Love to play. After playing Pass it On! myself, I felt it reminded me of the Game of Life too.

Playing Pass it On! is simple you choose which type of family you want to be.

As a family of four myself I’ve chosen the white picket fence family. The first time I played, I made the right choices and then the daddy died. Because I chose the gold Permanent Life insurance my family was protected and provided for after his death, but the rest of my family didn’t have any insurance. So the game started the next level with the mom making all the decisions. Since I knew that the gold Permanent Life Insurance was what I was supposed to buy, I decided to buy the silver term insurance. Term insurance ran out after three turns and after I ran out of insurance, I quickly ran out of money.

Moving around the board is quite easy. Everything can be done with the mouse.

As you take the challenge and lead generations across the country from New York City to St. Louis to New Orleans to Mount Rushmore and finally, San Francisco and complete a level then you have the opportunity to make a charitable vote. And as I mentioned above each vote increases the amount of the grand that your charity choice will receive. You will learn about life choices, finances and the rewards you can reap by planning ahead. I don’t know that much about insurance personally. My husband makes all of the insurance decisions so it was interesting to play and learn a few things. It’s very important if you have children or anyone in your life that you provide for that you have a plan. You need to make sure your insurance will cover your income/all of their daily needs in the event something happens to you. So do your research and get some insurance. Be prepared for any emergency!

Filed Under: Announcement Tagged With: AXA Equitable, game, life insurance, Pass it On, tech

How To Create a PDF

September 2, 2011 By Momstart 21 Comments

I’m going to be exposed to more technology and how to do different things with technology and software so I’ll try to share as much of that information with you as I can. You may not know this about me but my background is in computer science so technology is something I love. Now, not everyone has a really good pdf converter but more of you have the ability to print to pdf and create pdf documents than you may realize. Why would you want to create a pdf? I’ve had people tell me that they can’t open certain types of files and I used to be the Newsletter Editor for my MOMS Club and after creating it, with all the photos in it it was way to big to send over e-mail so I would often have to save it or convert it to a pdf. It really wasn’t difficult at all. However, if you want to convert a pdf to a word document you’re going to have to go check out adobe and their line of products.

From Word: How to convert a doc to a PDF

Go file, then to save and send

Then go to Create a PDF/XPS Document

Then you give it a name and hit publish.

From Publisher: How to convert a .pub to a pdf

It’s basically the same thing. Except you might have to download the ability to do it. I can’t remember, I think Publisher actually comes with this ability now. If not all you have to do is a search on how to convert a publisher file to a pdf.

Go to File Save & Send

Then go to Create a PDF/XPS Document

Then you give it a name and hit publish.

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: acrobat, adobe, create a pdf, how to, Microsoft, publisher, tech, word

How is Your Inbox doing? Twitter Conversation #win7tech 12-1pm PST 8/23

August 22, 2011 By Momstart 24 Comments

I had an interesting conversation with Hotmail and using Hotmail to help me with all my organizational issues and I was quite impressed. Hotmail is a lot more like Outlook than when I used it YEARS ago. Hotmail said there are three categories that people fall into, deleters, filers and pilers. I find that I’m a sick combination of all three. I need help, I need LOTS of help. As I’m sitting here trying to go through my e-mail I’m trying to consider which classification I really fall into

Do I Delete?

Yes I delete as much as I can but I don’t delete it all.

Do I file my e-mail?

Yes, I just found myself creating a new folder so I could file everything that I’m working on under the tweet drive charity event coming up. So I can clean out my inbox a little. It’s e-mail that I want to keep, but I need it all together and it’s not all in the same conversation so I just created a folder for it.

Do I Pile?

Well that one is an emphatic yes. I would love more than anything for my inbox to be empty and everything to be filed or gone, but since I get hundreds of e-mails a day, I just can’t get through it all and I have good intentions of responding to everything. Uh yea, I need to change my intentions and get on that delete button.

The features on Hotmail are pretty amazing be sure to visit the Hotmail Sign-up Page if you’re in need of a robust email service. You can sort, you can search, you can create folders, rules, and organize to your heart’s content. I was quite impressed with the ability to delete all e-mail from a particular sender. Let’s say you don’t need to look at the 1,000 groupon deals in your inbox, well just delete all. I look forward to sharing more with you guys as I learn more and let me know if you have any questions. As a Windows 7 Champion I have lots of information at my disposal.

You can determine which category you fall into as well at What’s Your Inbox Like.

Join the #win7tech hashtag from 12-1pm on Tuesday August 23rd for a conversation about your inbox and how Hotmail can help. You could win $500 worth of Merry Maids cleaning services just for participating.

I’m a Windows 7 Champion and was not compensated for this post.

Filed Under: Announcement, personal Tagged With: e-mail, email, hotmail, tech, win7tech, Windows 7

Back To School Computers With Microsoft Windows 7 & Free Xbox 360

July 28, 2011 By Momstart 4 Comments

Feels like summer just started for us and is halfway over for everyone else so of course it’s time to start thinking about back to school shopping. Stores everywhere have already started putting out fall clothes and advertising is running rampant for back to school sales and Microsoft Windows 7 is right there with everyone else which is great for families in need of a new computer in time for school.

To help make finding the right computer easier, Microsoft is showcasing some great Windows 7 PCs and accessories for families on any budget. A Windows PC is the perfect tool to help kids manage class work, stay in touch with family and friends and simply have fun in a way that is unique as they are, and at a price point that won’t break the bank.

The Toshiba Satellite E305 is a thin light and affordable Blue Label laptop, a Best Buy exclusive PC that retails for $1089. It’s a great choice for students looking for a PC that’s portable enough to carry with them all day, powerful enough to work and play, and stylish enough to impress their friends. Equipped with Intel Wireless Display technology that turns any TV into a wireless monitor, a backlit keyboard and a huge 640 GB hard drive, this laptop makes it easy to stay productive and connected.

The Sony Vaio SB is great if you’re in the market for a premium PC that looks great, and won’t empty your bank account. This laptop retails for $999. It’s crafted in black or white aluminum and has premium features like USB 3., a backlit keyboard, and switchable graphics. And, with the optional super-slim “sheet” battery, the VAIO SB can stay powered for over 15 hours. WOW that’s amazing.

The Gateway ID47 is a great value without sacrifice. In Gateway you’ll find style and the latest technology with two beautiful finishes, brushed platinum and ice blue for under $700. And with new technology that packs a 14” screen into a 13” inch body, you get the advantages of a big laptop in a small, portable package.

And finally, the HP TouchSmart 610 is an all-in-one that takes touch fun to a whole new level. The HP TouchSmart retails for $1099 with the ability to be sued upright like a normal PC, or “recline” it to use the touch. You can browse the web and play games with ease.

Microsoft is offering even more bang for your buck with a limited offer: Purchasing any new Windows PC priced at $699 or more at participating retailers and get a free Xbox 360 console! An Xbox 360 is more than just game console; it’s a one-stop entertainment hub that’s perfect for any living room – or dorm room – and it makes an excellent companion to a new Windows PC. For more information check out www.windows.com/freexbox!

I’m a member of the Windows Champions program with Microsoft. I was not compensated to post this information.