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Archive for Technology/Electronics

Egobook for Avid Facebook Users

Posted by html404 on March 28, 2011
in Technology/Electronics

If you are an avid Facebook user, there is now a product/Facebook app that can help you save and create a memory book of things shared on your Facebook pages. I have not quite figured out how the book is put together, how long it takes, but it sounds like a really neat concept because you have limited access to the history of what is posted on your Facebook wall. The Egobook would allow you to save it. Problem solved for those important posts and photos you do not want to forget or lose.

My Concern

As with anything on Facebook, my concern is privacy and security issues. If we give an app permission to access infomatio on our Facebook wall, what else do they have access to? Is our personal information safe ad secure? I would use extreme caution before using any app on Facebook. Do your own research. I have not personally used Egobook. I share this for your interest and information only.

Take a look at this video and be sure to click the link below to learn more about this new service product.

The EgoBook Pitch

What is an EgoBook ?

EgoBook is a new service that allows to get a personnalized book from the status updates, wall messages, pictures posted (with profile pictures included) and all the comments from a Facebook profile.

Cool features :
You can create Your EgoBook or a friend’s if you want to make a gift.
It shows the current profile picture of the users at the time of the post ! ( you can see your friend’s old faces !)
At the end of the EgoBook, a photo mosaic of all the friends, and a top 20 of the best commenters!
EgoBook is available in English, French, Spanish and Deutsch, we ship everywhere in the world.
There is a fee involved.

See the EgoBook store on Facebook.

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ABCmouse.com Review

Posted by html404 on March 21, 2011
in Education, School, Technology/Electronics, Uncategorized

This past year we have streamlined our homeschooling to mostly online programs (approx. 80%). It has helped tremendously since I have been working more. Recently we had the opportunity to try ABCmouse.com – Kids Ages 2-6 – Click here to get your First Month Free!, a subscription based site that allows for up to four children’s accounts on one parent account for about $7.95/month. I have to say that I am mostly impressed with ABCmouse.com. It is geared towards preschooler and kindergarten age children, but all my children under 10 have been very eager to help the younger children! It is not only educational, but fun too! A bonus since we want our children to love to learn.

The pull for the children is the fact that they can earn tickets for the school work they do and then use those tickets to buy things for their virtual bedroom or other rooms. They have so much fun decorating and shopping! This reward system does not cost anything extra, it is just a part of the ABCmouse.com – Over 3,000 Educational Activities – First Month Free – Click here!. Therefore, our younger children are learning about money too, even it it is with a materialistic slant.

The school work includes learning sounds, letters, colors, numbers and counting. There are different subjects (reading, math, the world around us, art & colors, music, library, puzzles, games) to choose from or the parent can assign lessons for each day. There are six levels on ABCmouse.com: Levels 1-6, which a couple of my children are starting over. Very good for my now 4 year old son in preparation for teaching him to read. (Updated 3-18-12)

The music and voices on ABCmouse.com are very uplifting and encouraging. There is no condescension in the instructors at all. There are a lot of the old nursery rhymes that I remember my grandmother singing to me on there that bring back fond memories.

Samples of songs, like the “A” song are available on iTunes.com if you would like to preview the music.

The So-Called Negatives

The only so-called negatives in our minds are the requirement of the children’s birth dates when you sign your child up, which my husband and I are very reluctant to provide and would rather not give at all. Then the children showed me a tiki in the fish tank, which they call a tiki god and I liken it to a totem pole. These are very minor things and do not affect the overall success of the learning my children have gained from ABCmouse.com. My four year old knows her abc’s much better than she did before she started the program and she knows how to count better too. She has consistently earned high marks on her work. (Update 3-18-12: I really believe this program fully prepared my daughter, now 5, how to read. I started her on our reading program in January 2012 and she is half way done. She is doing extremely well and I credit ABCMouse for the success we have achieved so far!)

ABCmouse.com - Kids Ages 2-6 – Click here to get your First Month Free!

My three year old still needs help with using the computer mouse, but I think he is just so easy going that it is second nature to him to let his older siblings do it for him while he tells them the answer. My four year old and seven year old both knew how to use a computer mouse at age 2!

Overall Grade

Our children simply love it and are eager to do “school” with ABCmouse.com and as I said, I am very impressed with the quality of the program as well as the content. We give this educational site a two thumbs up for an overall grade!

For more information about ABCmouse.com – Full Online Preschool-Kindergarten- First Month Free – Click here!

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Saturday Rewind

Posted by html404 on March 19, 2011
in Blog Stuff, Family Stuff, Technology/Electronics

I know, I know, I have not been posting this week. I did not get to Monday Motivation or even a Wordless Wednesday! And I have plenty of photos to share. So I thought I would try to catch you up on the happenings around here with a quick little Saturday “rewind” post this morning.

Family/Work

We have been incredibly busy. On Monday we went on a maple syrup tour with friends and had a lovely time learning about maple syrup. The tour was very hands on for the children, who were able to help find a hole to drill in the maple tree, do some of the actual drilling and taste maple sugar. It was a beautiful sunny day. Then I had to work for a couple of hours by attending a meeting with area farmers. I could have even gone out that night to a nutrition meeting, but thought it would have been a bit much to say the least.

Then the past couple of days I have worked a couple of hours at my colleague/friend’s greenhouse helping get her caught up on her seed planting. Onions, kohlrabi, lettuce, broccoli are all sprouted! It is so exciting. Can’t wait to munch on some of those fresh organic veggies! Yummy!

My husband was able to attend yet another farmers meeting last night and learned some new things about what our county is doing to preserve farm land in our area. Do you know that there is a farmer who is 93 who is still driving his tractor and farming? He is the last farmer in his family. Quite amazing. I bet he has some stories to tell.

The children have been enjoying getting to play outside more now that it not only warmer, but DRYER. Yes, we are getting rid of the mud pit out back (out back, what am I Australian? Just kidding! Would love to visit Australia, so I am not implying being Aussie is a bad thing).

Baby boy is on the move, crawling, walking along furniture and wouldn’t you know it, he donks his eyebrow square with a corner two nights ago. I couldn’t sleep last night for fear he’d break his wound open again. It is bad, but not bad enough for stitches. I need to hurry so I can relieve the girls from “holding” duty. Yes, I am “holding” him captive by cradling him in our arms to keep him safe while his owie heals.

Here he is, but he’s quite happy despite the “check mark” owie. The children think it looks like a check mark, what do you think?

Techie Problems

My laptop had to be sent to be repaired, again. My dear husband and three year old were playing beside me while I was typing away and dear son did one of his somersaults and smacking his head against my screen cracking it pretty much from top to bottom. Thankfully, the accidental warranty/insurance covers it. I was worried it wouldn’t. Oh and Nookie’s head is just fine. Obviously he hit it hard, but I don’t remember him even crying much. He’s a tough little cookie….has to be with two big brothers.

My faithful Green Drive is not working properly either, so I have been trying to get the company’s help on figuring out what is wrong. So far they have not asked me to send it back, if only it could be resolved easily without sending it back or risking losing all my data and photos.

Our printer is also on the blitz, I just think I need all new office equipment, what do you think? Maybe I should enter one of those business grants/contests and see if I can win. The thing is I have tried and usually give up because it seems that no one votes for me when I try to promote it. Maybe I give up too soon though and an entrepreneur should not give up easily. (Can you hear me pouting here….believe me I am pouting!)

So that about sums up the rollercoaster week we have had, how about you, what is new in your neck of the woods?

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Red Riding Hood for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch

Posted by html404 on February 28, 2011
in Technology/Electronics

Just got this announcement in as I was checking emails and suppose to be working on my Monday Motivation post, but shhh…don’t tell anyone…

Red Riding Hood for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch

We are pleased to announce the release of Essential Red Riding Hood for iPhone and Essential Red Riding Hood HD for iPad starting on Monday Feb 28th. Explore the classic Red Riding Hood story in this beautifully illustrated story book.

This classic adaptation of Red Riding Hood for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch, will entertain you and your family many times over.

Read along as the story is wonderfully narrated to you. Turn the pages and play along as you explore the story with many fun activities:

Help fill Grandma’s basket with food
Paint Red Riding Hood’s Cape
Beware of bees!
Reveal the Wolf
Many More!

Features:
Beautiful classic illustrations updated with engaging animations
Professionally narrated audio engages and entertains
Innovative touch activities, fun, and surprises to play along with
Two reading modes: Narrated and read by myself
Quick table of contents to jump to any page in the story
Send a friend a Red Riding Hood postcard

iPhone App name: Essential Red Riding Hood
iPad App name: Essential Red Riding Hood HD
Rating pending for All Ages

To get the apps, go here:
iPad HD Version: http://bit.ly/fDjNlV
iPhone/iPOD Version: http://bit.ly/gnlv5k

Visit us: www.robotstampede.com
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/robotstampede
Follow us on Twitter: @robotstampede

Special thanks to Mom Fuse POP Alerts www.momfuse.com for providing this information.

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FREE ABC Mouse App

Posted by html404 on February 17, 2011
in Education, Technology/Electronics

How many of you have an iPad, iPhone or iTouch? Our family has not ventured into the world of Apple products, but want to, a MAC laptop will probably be our first investment. Lord willing in the next year. Those of you who have an iPad, iPhone or and the iTouch will be interested in this FREE app. If you try it, please let me know how you like it. The information is from an email we received:

Join ABC Mouse™, 1•2•3 Mouse™, and Do–Re–Mi Mouse™, on their adventure through the Grand Canyon!

• Complete 35-page storybook
• Professionally voiced and
• beautifully illustrated
• Includes a full-length song
• about the Grand Canyon
• Available absolutely Free for your
• iPhone, iPad, and iTouch!
Download Free from iTunes Today!
(Click Here)

Click Here to download Search and Explore: The Grand Canyon from iTunes. Or search “ABCmouse” in the app store!

ABCmouse.com – Over 3,000 Educational Activities – First Month Free – Click here!

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Happy New Year!

Posted by html404 on January 3, 2011
in Blog Stuff, Business, Techie Stuff, Technology/Electronics

Hope you all had a safe and blessed holiday season! You may have noticed that we have been rather silent around here…that’s because our whole family right down to baby has been sick with an awful cold/sore throat/cough etc. So we had many sleepless nights and were sleeping during the day!

Our laptop is not fixed and considering the fact that the computer guy had it for a month and tried his best to find a solution, unfortunately it is unlikely to be fixed. So we are still down to one computer for school and my business stuff. Let’s just say it’s been challenging to say the least. However, we are hoping and praying for a solution and are going to continue to try and stay on top of everything. However, if we happen to become lax, we would appreciate your continued patience.

A big project for the week is researching laptops and computers…again. If any of you have any suggestions or tips, I would appreciate them. We’ve been through this before, but this last time our refurbished DELL laptop (Studio) did not even last a year! Very disappointing to say the least. We had purchased a used DELL Inspiron in the fall of 2007, I think, and it lasted well over two years so I figured a DELL would be a safe way to go.

Our HP PC has been a good choice so far, but I’d really like a laptop since it is more portable. Yet another PC would be great for school work. From what I have heard, Macs are not suppose to crash or at least as often, but they are so expensive. At the price of Apple products I could get a PC and a laptop…then we would be set for work and school! Or at least better off. Sigh.

Gotta love technology! Can’t live with it and can’t live without it.

So that’s my Monday Motivation this week – Getting us back on schedule, techie stuff and computers….besides getting us healthy again.

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iTunes and Apps

Posted by html404 on November 27, 2010
in Gift Ideas, Techie Stuff, Technology/Electronics

I couldn’t find a deal for dad that I could share quickly while writing up these sales posts, so I thought I’d include the iTunes and App store, as there is something there for everyone and it has some great gift ideas. The free stuff is the greatest though, right?

Or you could get someone you love a gift certificate so they could do their own shopping:

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Plantronics Voyager Pro Review

Posted by html404 on November 18, 2010
in Product Guides 2010, Technology/Electronics

It’s been a long time since we had our Back to School product guide, however, we still have this one last product that we need to write up a review about – the Plantronics Voyager Pro. You have to be careful about these phone accessories because they all are not necessarily compatible with all phones. This was the case with us. Then we decided to get new phones with a new carrier and bingo, the Plantronics Voyager is now compatible with my new phone.

While I don’t consider myself tech savvy, I can usually manage to figure most things out for myself over time. I found that setting up the Plantronics Voyager, which is simply an expensiveBluetooth ear piece that allows you to talk on your cell phone handsfree, took me a day or so to understand how this thing worked and I still have not quite figured out one aspect to it that was installed on my laptop.

That said I thought the Plantronics Voyager Pro was very nice, had good sound, and fairly easy to use once set up. However, for it’s fancy price of $199.95, I thought that it should stay behind my ear better than it does. I wear glasses so because the arm of my glasses sets behind my ear causing the Plantronics ear piece to not set well on top of it. Any slight movement and the Plantronics Pro pops out of place. I have been disappointed and the ear piece has been sitting in the pocket of my shoulder bag ever since. So much for keeping up with technology, eh? But I cannot be fiddling with the ear piece trying to get it to stay in place while driving or typing for that matter. It just isn’t safe or productive use of my time.

Plantronics Voyager Pro UC Retail Price $199.95

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NuShield’s DayVue Screen Protector Film

Posted by html404 on October 1, 2010
in Product Guides 2010, Technology/Electronics

We mentioned NuShield’s screen protector in our Back to School Product Review .

NuShield’s DayVue screen protector film was created to reduce the amount of glare users experience on their LCD displays. It is suppose to enhance daylight readability.

The DayVu is custom made and pre-cut to the size of your screen, so it is easy to install. It is thin, anti-reflective and filters out UBV light.

I found that the DayVu does reduce the glare on my laptop screen and while it does not pick up fingerprints easily my DayVu has scratched within the first days of use, so that was disappointing.

Another thing is the cut of the DayVu is a fraction off so if I have the overhead fan on in the room I am in it blows the screen out of place as there is no adhesive required to insert the DayVu. However, this may be partly my fault because I said my laptop is a 17″ screen when in actuality it may be 17.1″ or 17.2″. So if you decide to order one be sure to use exact measurements.

The great thing about this screen protector is that it can be used on most LCD displays (inside and outside use), not just on your computer.

The DayVu may be purchased at www.nushield.com

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Aroma Home Screen Wipe

Posted by html404 on September 18, 2010
in Product Guides 2010, Technology/Electronics

About Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy has been used for healing since the first century. In 1937, the word “aromatherapy” first appeared in print in a French book on the subject: Aromatherapie: Les Huiles Essentielles, Hormones Vegetales, by a chemist named Rene-Maurice Gattefosse.

Used primarily to alter mood or cognitive function, aromatherapy is known to have positive therapeutic effects on adults and children alike. Enhanced relaxation is one of the most popular and effective uses of applied aromatherapy. The basic mechanism is the influence of aroma on the brain through the olfactory system.

Source: US National Library of Medicine and How Stuff Works

About Aroma Home Screen Wipe

These fun animal Screen Wipes have a chamois tummy and will clean and help reduce static on all computer monitors, laptops, TV/LCD screens and even car windscreens! They comes with a little zest of fragrance.

Available in sixteen fun animal designs these are an ideal gift for the person who has everything. The designs are: Pig, Lion, Cow, Bunny, Duck, Poodle, Monkey, Gorilla, Giraffe, Elephant, Brown Horse, Black and White Horse, Tiger, Schnauzer, Cat, and Westie. You may buy them here for $11.99 each.

Our Review

Our family has been using aromatherapy via essential oils for the last couple of years and have seen the positive affects they have on our family. They do indeed soothe and relax. We also appreciate their beneficial medicinal properties as well. So when the Aroma Home Screen Wipes came across our inbox when we were doing our Back to School Product Guide, we were interested in learning more about them. We were sent the pig screen wipe to review. We all thought it was cute, and many of the children asked if they could have it for a stuffed animal!

Personally, I thought this screen wipe was very sweet and cute. The pig worked well on our computers and my daughter liked it for her note/net book. I loved the smell of the screen wipe – a zest of lemon fragrance – but found that the fragrance isn’t long lasting. That didn’t affect how it cleaned our computer screens though. It cleaned the computers very well of dust particles and did help to remove some static. But if you happen to have little hands that get a sticky spot on your screen on occasion the screen wipe does not work so well for those spots that require a little extra rubbing.

The screen wipe requires sponge cleaning only, so I am still not sure how well that will work over the long term. Therefore, the screen wipe may need to be replaced eventually once piggy’s tummy is pretty dirty and is found to no longer clean screens as well as it once did. That’s just my opinion though, just having the screen wipe for a month.

My younger daughter just came in and saw Aroma Home’s website pulled up and said, “Oh, I want those for stuffed animals! (the screen wipes!)” However, these cute screen wipes are not toys.

To view the whole selection of Aroma Home’s screen wipes, please visit http://www.aromahome.com/gb/screen_wipes.asp