How to get money back from your kid’s $*%! in-app purchases on Amazon.
While it was announced on May 30, a lot of parents still don’t know that the FTC announced refunds are now available for unauthorized in-app purchases on the Amazon Appstore. That means you, kids, and your itchy little in-app purchase-happy fingers. This is all...
Tech trick: How to hide app purchases so your kids can’t download through Family Sharing.
I’m grateful to my daughter who (much to the chagrin of tweens and teens everywhere, I’m sure) tipped me off to a trick I wasn’t aware of: Kids can easily download new apps to their devices without your knowledge, if you have Apple Family Sharing in...
9 creative kid portrait ideas that make genius Father’s Day gifts. Just add a frame!
If you missed the boat on photo gifts for Father’s Day or Mother’s Day…no, wait! You didn’t! We all live in the land of the smartphone cam, after all, and if you’ve got a camera — especially that dandy iPhone 7S — and a place...
Gadget guy, photographer, music lover or podcast buff, we’ve got Father’s Day tech gifts for every kind of dad
We love excuses to shop for cool new tech, and we love excuses to shop for the cool dads in our lives. Put them together…and we’ve got some really creative, fun ideas for cool tech gifts for Father’s Day. Whether he’s a traveler, an adventurer,...
9 of the best educational YouTube channels for teens and tweens to help keep brains sharp this summer
There are so many cool educational channels on YouTube for tweens and teens, but I don’t think that a lot of parents think to open our YouTube app when we look for educational resources for our kids. But we should. Let’s put it this way: when I ask my kids...
Hot home tech design: 7 devices you never knew could be gorgeous
It’s amazing how far home tech design has come, even since we started this site six years ago. What once may have looked sleek and amazing — a baby monitor, a humidifier, even a lawnmower — now looks clunky and dated compared to what’s...
How to make sure you have the right power adapter for your Mac laptop
I’m still making good use out of my trusty, late 2013 MacBook Pro, but what I’m not making good use out of is the original power adapter and cord. It frayed (as with so many Apple cords over the years, sigh) and I immediately replaced it. Only —...
9 kinds of educational apps for kids you may not have considered
We’re all for loading up our kids’ tablets (or uh, the ones they steal from us) with apps that help keep them entertained while hopefully imparting a little more educational value than “how to shoot birds.” Especially as summer creeps closer,...
How to use the fun new Instagram 3-D facial filters. Wheeeee! Snapchatty
As someone who’s not on Snapchat (what? I’m old!) I admit I’m excited about the novelty of the new Instagram 3D facial filters, as anyone who follows our @CoolMomPicks Instagram Stories can tell today. I put together the quick, Cliff’s Notes...Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz
We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make our increasingly digital lives easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun, however old your kids may be.
We love that it's grown to become the go-to source for millions of parents who want commonsense info about tech delivered with a smile.
We even have the privilege of sharing our tips + tricks with The TODAY Show, CNN, HLN, GMA, Nightline, newspapers and magazines around the country, and our favorite -- regular parents who stop us at PTA meetings and ask us how old kids need to be to get a smartphone, and whether they really need to panic about Snapchat.
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