Archive for the 'product review' Category

iPhone apps for kids

Published
by
RBM
on May 8, 2010
in product review and tech mom
. 0 Comments

word-magicSo there’s this great contest going on at Best Kids Apps, a blog about iPhone apps for kids. They’re giving away a free iPad! And yes, despite all the Steve Jobs and Apple jokes I’ve thrown down to my fan boy coworkers, deep down I secretly want an iPad realllly bad.

And, considering Best Kids Apps is a site after my own heart – I mean, I do have a two-iPhone and two-kid household – this seemed as good a chance as any for me to go after the iPad.

And while I’m here, and perhaps talking to others that hit the site for advice, I wanted to call out the apps we already have on our phones that get the most love from our 6 and 5 yo.

Educational

ABC Tracer Words: Alphabet flashcard tracing, phonics and drawing.

Kids Math (Lite): Grade school adding and subtracting games.

Word Magic: A fun app for preschoolers learning to spell words and sound out words.

The “Entertaining” Bucket

Fairies (Lite): A game where you take on the role of Tinkerbell and her fairy pals and fy with the fairies and discover a world of changing seasons in the heart of Never Land, in a place called Pixie Hollow.

Vans Sk8 Pool Service (Lite): The drained swimming pool turns into skateboarding fun in this game for any age.

Touch Ski 3D: Touch Ski 3D, presented by The Ski Channel, features a 3D environment for slalom, freestyle and racing.

Waterslide: A game that positions you (male or female) on a waterslide and the object of the game is to collect as many items as you can as you go down the waterslide. Steering is done by tilting the iPhone and there are also obstacles that slow you down. (description from Geek.com)

Lightsaber: Uhhh, duh. It’s a lightsaber app. My son loves that he can customize one of the jedis with his own picture and saber customization.

Batter Up (Lite): Hone your batting skills in a real-time rendered, retro-style ballpark.

Enjoy, and wish me luck!

When it’s NOT a bargain

Published
by
RBM
on July 4, 2009
in household and product review
. 0 Comments

Since last Fall our family has scaled back. I mean, who hasn’t right?

We’ve bargain shopped at the grocery store by watching specials. We’ve (I mean I’ve) cut trips to the salon unless I look like Medusa. We have staycations instead of going anywhere new or exotic. We thrift store shopped for the season’s snow clothes for the kids. And, we strayed from our usual brands to try out new and less expensive alternatives.

As part of this cost-cutting venture we’ve run across some great brands and products that we’ll keep in the house long after times are (hopefully) not so tight.

For example, I stopped buying hair product at the salon and my hubby and I share Garnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner now and I honestly like it all the same (although I admit half the time my hair is in a ponytail or low bun anyway). And instead of an expensive face wash, I remain happy with switching it up between Bioree and Neutrogena.

And, of course, some things didn’t stick. Like, we’ve yet to find another laundry detergent better that our standard Arm & Hammer and when we tried the Kirkland brand the rest of the family informed me they thought our clothes stank. And sometimes there’s a reason why some things are cheap, and its because they ARE cheap.

One of the most embarrassing, and epic “fails” of our money-saving efforts actually took place on a more public venue. We bought HomeLife brand dishwasher tablets because, you guessed it, they were on sale. By the time we realized that they turned our clear glassware into a chalky-looking mess we were setting the table for a dinner party. Argh. Needless to say, we went back to Cascade. Can’t win ‘em all!

Anyway, if you found this at all useful, or thought it might be and it wasn’t, there are others out there with much better advice, like MoneySavingMom’s ongoing tips or within networks like Parenting’s Mom’s Money Saving Tips section or MommySavers, which even includes useful coupons.

Have suggestions for our household? Would love to hear your pearls of wisdom!

Like getting rid of blankie

Published
by
RBM
on May 13, 2009
in product review
. 0 Comments

I l-o-v-e my Olympus Stylus 790 SW. And now, like a child that outgrows “blankie” I think it may be time to move on to something a bit more pro based on the amount of time I spend (wo)manhandling the camera. No joke, my Olympus is always with me – in my handbag at all times like a favorite lip gloss.

I just want the “polished look” results of some the higher end cameras that my colleagues have, like the Nikon d40 or d80. Obviously, everyone and everything seems to look better with the higher res image quality (and yes, I am vain enough to care about that). The thing is though that I’m not willing to part with any of my current camera’s features. 

Whatever I move onto has to be shock and waterproof – that’s been one of the highlights of owning the 790 SW. Every weekend the camera is either dropped in the snow, taken in the pool or hot tub or simply dropped by one of my butter finger protégés (read my kids). The thing takes a beating and keeps on capturing our memories.

As for an example of why the Olympus is so fun, here’s our friend Dan, who played around with our camera while on a visit from HI. By the time he left our house, he’d already purchased his own off Best Buy and has been shooting great vid of his own. 

taken w olympus 790 sw from RedBullMom on Vimeo.

So – what to do. Any suggestions? Anyone else love their camera so much they’d marry it? Why?

PS For more detail on the Olympus Stylus image quality, see this CNet review from September 2007 and for back up on how rugged this camera is check out last year’s USAToday review. And, for feedback from “real people” like me see these Buzillions reviews (not that reporters aren’t real people, I just consider paid consumer reviewers exceedingly more techie than, say, my dad might be. sorry dad!).