Google Maps vs. Waze: A navigation app smackdown

by Julie | Best Apps

Do you know the way to San Jose? Google Maps does, and so does Waze (We didn’t ask Apple Maps) which is why we pit them against each other in a Google Maps vs. Waze smackdown. So which one of these navigation apps is the better bet to get us to where we’re...

Toca Pet Doctor app lets kids care for animals without ever touching a real litter box.

by Julie | Best Apps

We’ve raved many times about Toca Boca, one of our absolute favorite kids’ app developers–and yours, from everything you tell us. Today they’ve released Toca Pet Doctor, another app we’re pretty sure kids (and parents) will love, because...

Ken Burns’ new app takes his docs to digital

by Nicole Blades | Best Apps

Full disclosure before talking about the new Ken Burns app: I’m a big Ken Burns fan. For nearly 40 years, the award-winning historical documentarian has been telling beautiful, expansive, influential stories on film about everything from the Brooklyn Bridge and the...

Horizon App lets you shoot video in landscape format even when you forget

by Kristin | Best Apps

For those of you who didn’t know, it’s always best to shoot video from your phone in landscape mode–meaning turn your phone sideways–rather than in portrait mode. You’ll get the full scene and when it displays on the computer or TV, the...

Featured Partner: The Wishingtooth Tooth Fairy app starts a new family tradition.

by Cool Mom Team | Best Apps

Just in time for next week’s National Tooth Fairy Day on February 28th (yes, that’s a real thing), comes the launch of a brand new app designed to create more magic in children’s lives: Wishingtooth for iPad, Android and Kindle Fire. And for a...

Spotify vs. Rdio: A streaming music smackdown

by Kristin | Best Apps, Entertainment, Kids

It can sometimes be difficult to keep tabs on the dizzying array of digital and streaming music services and choices. Add on top of that free vs. paid services, pricing models, and mobile vs. web or desktop options — and well, are we confused yet? So we put...

Digitize your paper Post-it notes with Evernote. For real. Magic!

by Jeana | Best Apps

As much as I use my phone for list-making and note-taking, there’s nothing like a good old Post-it note that just gives you a glaring reminder of things you still need to do. I have Post-it’s all over my desk, kitchen and computer. So imagine how excited I...

Stella and the Space Bears ebook for kids. Because we can never resist a wonderfully geeky heroine.

by Julie | Best Apps, Educational Apps

As much as I love fun, educational apps for kids, I might get even more excited about finding great books to add to our family iPad. Especially original stories without any licensed characters trying to sell me on a cartoon to match a doll to match a fast food...

Learning to count (and laugh) with the Lonely Beast 123 app.

by Shari | Best Apps, Educational Apps

Lucky kids. In the olden days, we learned numbers from boring flashcards, but our fortunate progeny have a sweet monster floating in a bathtub wearing a shower cap as their instructor right from an iPad. Just as we loved The Lonely Beast ABCs for alphabet learning,...

3 of our favorite Presidential apps for Presidents’ Day

by Christina Refford | Best Apps, Educational Apps

Along with enjoying a nice day off from school, I want my kids to spend at least some time on Presidents’ Day learning about our Commanders-in-Chief of yore. So I’ve rounded up three great apps for Presidents’ Day that will teach them a few things...

Spoiler Shield app: Blocking spoilers on your social media feed. Because some of us haven’t seen that House of Cards episode yet, okay?

by Jeana | Best Apps, Gear + Hardware

All hail the new Spoiler Shield app, a mobile app whose time has come. It’s very rare that I watch TV in real time these days, and for so many of us, it’s all about Roku or DVR–which means we have to dodge all those spoilers on our social media...

The best Valentine ecards: Just as gorgeous, funny, sexy and romantic as the real ones

by Liz Gumbinner | Best Apps

As much as I love real live, hold them in your hands, save them forever and ever Valentine’s Day cards, there are a few reasons I love the digital Valentine eCards from Paperless Post. First, these are not those awful ecards you remember from the days of...