Tag: helpful services

Inbox Pause: The new amazing new Gmail feature that can get you more work-life balance.

Posted by Liz Gumbinner | Tips and Tricks

For ages now I’ve touted the wonderful benefits of Boomerang for Gmail to help me better manage my incoming and outgoing email, and it seems the folks at Google like the feature themselves. Because now Gmail has actually incorporated Boomerang’s technology into a brand new feature called Inbox Pause. And it is awesome. Especially if you struggle with work-life balance. Or email-life balance, as it were. Sigh. Here’s how to activate Inbox Pause Click on the big blue button and you’ll get a quick walk-through that explains basic functions: 1. Stopping email during certain times that you specify. This is...

How one tiny device is keeping families a whole lot safer on the road | Sponsored Message

Posted by Cool Mom Staff | Travel Essentials

This is a sponsored message from Bouncie With parents — and teens — spending so much time on the road, road safety is always a top concern. for families. That’s why you need to check out Bouncie, a smart little device that easily plugs into your car (no tools required!) and sends helpful data right to your smartphone to help keep you safe. Just download the free app for iOS or Android, then plug the device into your car’s Onboard Diagnostics Port (or ODP, and every car has one). That’s it! You’ll get insightful vehicle diagnostics, like updates about...

Don’t miss these smart tips for tackling digital clutter. Game changers!

Posted by Kate Etue | Tips and Tricks

If you’re like me, you probably have 6,782 photos sitting in your camera roll on your phone, hundreds of song downloads you never actually listen to, and tons of out-of-date unnecessary documents on your laptop. If that sounds familiar, you might be in need of a tech clutter intervention. But, don’t freak out. Instead, listen to Kristen and Liz discuss with Joshua Zerkel (from Evernote, you guys!) some really smart tips for organizing digital clutter. These tips helped me so much, and are keeping me from getting overwhelmed and burning out. Like, I totally agree with Kristen that I’ve...

3 helpful group gift websites that make the process so much easier

Posted by Kate Etue | Websites Worth a Bookmark

We’re coming up end-of-the-year gifts for teachers, grads, and coaches over the next month, plus Father’s Day, which often means lots of group gifts. And as you might have experienced, chasing people down and keeping track of everyone’s money (all year long) can be a huge pain. But this is the 21st century! You can do this all digitally now! Here, 3 group gift websites that might just help you put the joy back into the giving. At least, the kind that involves lots of different people. Related: The best teacher gift ideas, from people who actually know: teachers!...

Big (real) news! Fake news gets easier to spot with the new Google Fact Check

Posted by Liz Gumbinner | Helpful Services

It seems like an April Fool’s joke (and yes, I double checked the date on the post) but at long last, Google is taking moves to quash fake news with a new Fact Check feature in Google Search and Google News, worldwide. So basically, Google Fact Check is not itself fake news. That’s a relief. According to the recent post on the Google blog, publishers can now enable a “Fact Check” tag in Google News which will mark as news those articles that have been fact-checked by publishers and respected fact-checking organizations, like Politifact, FactCheck.org and Snopes. It even includes fact-check sites like Climate...

Pocket: The Pinterest alternative to help save all those articles, recipes, tweets and more.

Posted by Liz Gumbinner | Productivity Apps

If you’ve become more of a news junkie over the past year like I have, you’ve probably realized that your standard browser bookmark bar isn’t necessarily your best best for saving articles you want to come back to. Let alone recipes you want to remember, gifts you want to buy, YouTube videos you want to see…you get the picture. Enter Pocket. This brilliant, simple, very intuitive bookmarking service has replaced del.icio.us –and even Pinterest in its former glory (RIP) — for me. It lets me quickly bookmark pretty much everything, all directly from the web or even social media, and save it in...

Upgrading for the holidays? Helpful services for selling or recycling your old tech

Posted by Jeana | Helpful Services

If you’re upgrading your family (or yourself) in the gadget department this holiday season, here are several services that can help you sell or recycle your old gadgets, beyond wrapping them up for your kids that is. Which hey, isn’t such a terrible idea at all. Gazelle Gazelle has been a longtime recommendation of ours, primarily because it’s so easy to use and you can get a pretty good chunk of change back. I’m not ready to get rid of my iPhone 6 just yet, but when I looked it up on Gazelle, I can get anywhere from $170-$190 for...

Personalized, handwritten cards that give the finger to the digital age. Just download the app.

Posted by Liz Gumbinner | Best Apps, Helpful Services, Holiday Picks

Who ever thought that one day, the fine art of thoughtfully handwritten, artful notes would be considered punk? Well, the husband-wife team behind Punk Post is who. And they are determined to bring handwriting back in the coolest way possible. Even if it’s not yours. I can’t tell you how many times I wish I had my own Emily McDowell when it came to addressing my own thank you notes and cards, and that’s pretty much the gist of this smart service. Well, you won’t get her specifically, but you can have your cards — both inside and out — hand-scripted and illustrated by incredibly talented, real human artists, whose styles you...

Like a Glove smart leggings: Can they really help you find the perfect pair of jeans?

Posted by Kate Etue | Fashion + Accessories

For me, trying on jeans is about as dreaded as trying on swimsuits. There are so many brands with countless styles, cuts, and washes, it’s beyond overwhelming. So, when I saw the ads for Like a Glove smart leggings on Facebook, which promise to help you find a pair of jeans you’re going to love without the hassle, I decided to buy a pair. No dressing room? No kids in the dressing room? I couldn’t help myself. So, if you’re wondering if these smart leggings actually worked, and whether they’re worth a try yourself, here’s what happened when I put them to the test. CMT is...

Back to school lifesaver: A smart, simple trick for going paper free

Posted by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

With four kids in school and various activities, you can just imagine the number of forms I have to fill out and sign, pretty much on a weekly (sometimes, daily) basis. I don’t even want to think about how long printing them, filling them out, then either mailing or trying to get my kids to remember to turn them in would take. So, my one time-saving trick? HelloSign. Related: Going paper free got a whole lot easier with FileThis People typically think services like these are just for business, but actually, I use this all the time to complete and sign school...