Geography fans will love playing SmartyPins with Google Maps. That is, if you can handle it…

by Julie | Best Apps

The increasing essentialness that is Google Maps is fairly well known by now, so it’s no surprise that as parents, we’re loving their latest project — a geography trivia game called SmartyPins that will take you around the world. Each game starts you...

Plants: The app to not only get your kids outside, but get them learning about that tree they’re swinging on.

by Julie | Best Apps, Educational Apps

Each summer, my kids love to monitor the growth of our backyard garden and keep an eye out for rabbits and deer. This year, we’re also watching flora and fauna on the Plants app — the latest release from TinyBop, maker of the Human Body app that we raved...

Kid Dad Fun app. Yep, just what it sounds like.

by Julie | Best Apps

Long before we had kids, I knew my husband was going to be a fun dad. (I also knew I was going to be the uptight mom who shook her head and sighed a lot.) So when I checked out the Kid Dad Fun app, I started cracking up immediately. This app was made for our family,...

Skylock bike lock: If you’re a cyclist you’re going to want this. If not, you’ll want to take up cycling.

by Julie | Fitness + Health

Being a cyclist myself, I love seeing all the new advances to help keep bikes and their riders safe, and Skylock is at the top of my list for a bunch of cool reasons. The Skylock bike lock is a solar powered, Bluetooth enabled, wifi connected, theft alerting, crash...

Misfit Shine: The prettiest activity tracker in all the land

by Julie | Fitness + Health

With the explosion of fitness tech, we’ve seen a ton of cool activity trackers, like the Jawbone UP, FitBit Flex, and Garmin vívofit. Now we’ve found one that looks prettier and does even more than the others: The Misfit Shine. The Misfit Shine not only...

The new Otterbox cases make protection pretty. Yes, Otterbox.

by Julie | Uncategorized

The smartphone and tablet Otterbox cases have always provided great protection for beloved gadgets, but they haven’t always been the most fashionable, if I can be totally frank. And hey, no shame in admitting we like stylish cases. So I was really happy to see...

My Incredible Body app

by Julie | Best Apps, Educational Apps

School’s almost out for summer where I am, so I’m glad to find an awesome new educational app called My Incredible Body that takes kids — and hey, parents too — on a fascinating journey through nearly all the organ systems in our body and keeps...

Fitness gifts for dad: The best wearable fitness tech to keep him going and going and going.

by Julie | Father's Day Gifts

Dads may love gadgets, but there are some dads who prefer the kinds that help get them off the couch. With wearable tech booming this year, we’ve rounded up some favorite fitness gifts for dads who want to get in shape this Father’s Day– or who are...

Garmin vivofit fitness band and how it compares to the Jawbone UP24

by Julie | Fitness + Health

It seems like every week we hear about a new fitness tracker, so we weren’t surprised to hear that fitness giant Garmin has gotten in on the trend with their new Garmin vívofit fitness tracker. I’ve been using it for a few weeks, and I can safely say...

The educational Osmo game: Reinventing what it means to play with an iPad.

by Julie | Games + Gaming

Sure, our kids love to play with iPads like uh, all kids these days, but no matter how educational an app may be, it’s usually a solitary activity. We’ve loved collaborative games made for iPad like Duo Plink  (though the company is sadly no longer) and...