4 of our favorite photo booth apps. Because, why have one party selfie when you can have four?
These days, one of the best parts of parties of all kinds, are photo booths, whether we're employing pro photographers, or some great photo booth apps installed on our own laptops or tablets. The fantastic pics they yield of our costumed kids on Halloween, our...
Here’s how to keep Facebook’s On This Day feature from rehashing your worst memories
For so many of us, Facebook is like a having your own personal time machine and their On This Day feature can definitely make for a fun throwback, plus let you re-share those important digital memories. But there's a flip side to skipping down memory lane for the...
How to use the new Boomerang app from Instagram. Because who doesn’t love GIFs?
Its pronunciation may be in the tomayto/tomahto zone, but when it comes to GIFs there's no debate about their popularity. So, last week when our favorite social network rolled out the Boomerang app that basically lets you produce and share GIFs, let's just say that we...
Monsters by The Candy Band: Kids’ music download of the week
We're hoping your kids practiced singing along with last week's download of the week, I'm Not Afraid. This week, we're testing their bravery and singing along to Monsters by Detroit's punk-rocking mamas, The Candy Band. Coming off the most perfectly named album for...
Get kids coding with free daily Halloween-themed challenges during Kano Mischief week
If your kids are having a hard time waiting for Halloween to hurry up and get here, we've got a fun treat to share with you that will keep them busy and challenged this week. Developed by Kano, whose DIY computer kit wowed us earlier in the year, Kano Mischief...
The easy, free Splice video editing app is a new must-have for parents who shoot.
While parents have phones and computers filled with family video these days, I admit that I don't always have the most cinematic eye when it comes to taking videos of my own kids. I take after my dad in that I like to narrate way too much -- Today is Oct. 18, it is a...
Torch: A smart WiFi router that’s made for parents
When you think about cool, must-have gadgets, a router probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind (ahem, iPhone 6S, Santa). But if you're a parent of Internet-surfing kids (hello, Minecraft lovers), then this new router called Torch might be worth a look. My...
It's not like my kids need any additional reasons to get excited about Halloween -- the costumes and candy and thoughts of staying up extra extra late do that for them -- but still, it's nice that there are so many fun Halloween apps for kids that will satisfy some of...
How to use the Spotlight Search Page in iOS 9 to make your life easier
Like most busy working parents out there, I pretty much unboxed my new iPhone 6S and started using it like I did with my iPhone 5S. In other words, I was texting and calling and really not spending a ton of time getting to know about all the cool new iOS 9 features....
7 simple tips for taking photos at night, so your Halloween photos come out scary good
Calling all you ghosts, pirates, zombies, superheroes, and that small army of Queen Elsas -- it's time for your closeup. Because one of the best parts of Halloween for us, besides stealing our kids' fun-size Snickers, is getting photos of the kids in costume along...
The Star Wars Little Golden Book set: Bedtime stories just got a whole lot geekier.
We're unapologetically heavy on the Star Wars around here these days (birthday parties! halloween costumes! shower heads!) because well, between Halloween and the Force Awakens movie countdown, we just can't help ourselves. And so, we present, the Star Wars Little...
I’m Not Afraid by Caspar Babypants and Renee Stahl: Kids’ music download of the week
Halloween may be one of my favorite times of the year, but it's not much fun for kids who are afraid of all the bats, ghosts, witches, and goblins around every corner. If you're also finding that the spookiness of Halloween is crowding out the fun of the holiday, it's...
Tech Tips & Tricks to Make Life (Way) Easier
How to use the new Twitter mute feature
As much as I love Twitter -- both for the news and the conversation -- there are times when I just need to cut down on the noise in my feed--TV shows I don't watch, playoffs I don't care about, or nonstop tweets from Caribbean vacations that I'm not on. Fortunately I...
The privacy of secret Facebook groups vs closed Facebook groups: You may be surprised.
If you're like me, you get a ton of promoted content from Facebook, including a slew of recommendations for groups that you may want to join. Some of them are open--as in, hop on in, like the page and you're done!--while some of them are closed and require approval....
How to see your first tweet on Twitter. (Meeeem-rieeeees….)
If you want to devote a whole 5 or 10 seconds and see your first tweet on Twitter, there's an easier way than scrolling back to the beginning. Visit Twitter's discover.twitter.com/first-tweet page just launched to celebrate their 8th birthday. (Happy birthday,...
Even More Coolness. Enjoy!
A side table that charges your phone. The future is here and we like it.
When Liz sent me a link to Furniqi, I sort of freaked out a little because a table that charges your phone is one of the smartest tech innovations I've seen in a long time (and trust me, I see a lot). And yes, while the name is a little tough to say -- Qi is...
Bandolet: A fashionable phone clutch alternative that requires no clutching at all.
Our editor Liz has been telling me for a while now how much she loves her Bandolier phone case; she even named it her cool pick of the week on the Spawned podcast. It's the perfect accessory for taking an iPhone or Galazy phone along to parties or on dates, or...
20 free emoji Halloween pumpkin carving stencils that we red heart big time.
This being the year of the emoji, of course someone was going to rock the emoji pumpkin carving idea in a big way. What's better, is that it's BHG and they're making it easy for you to follow along with a whole bunch of cool, free emoji pumpkin carving stencils. I...
The Dana Tanamachi iPhone 6 and 6S cases for Belkin: You won’t even miss your phone’s pretty metallic back. Mostly.
I made the jump to the much bigger iPhone 6S a couple of weeks ago and let's just say that after holding it and then subsequently dropping it no less than 3 times in the first few minutes, I realized I was never going to be able to leave the house without a case on...
D-O-G by Justin Roberts: Kids’ music download of the week
If you ask a lot of kids what they'd like more than a baby sister or a new bike or even their two front teeth, they'd say that want a sweet, fluffy, lick-you-in-the-face dog. And since October is the American Humane Association's Adopt-a-Dog Month, I thought I'd add a...
The perfect shirt for geeks. And well, all busy parents, everywhere.
If you work on your computer all day like I do, and well, like many of us do these days, my guess is that you can totally relate to this funny geeky shirt. But really, any busy parent can probably relate to the sentiment too because oh the juggling, right? I'm guilty...
A fast, easy way to identify and block unwanted scam calls. Because no, you did not actually win a free cruise in a contest you don’t remember entering.
It seems the whole National Do Not Call Registry isn't always effective. Legit marketers have a lot of loopholes; charities, pollsters, political fundraisers and others are exempt; and then there are those shady marketers who simply don't care. I know, you're shocked,...
How to use new Twitter Moments: Could it make Twitter a more quick and easy news source?
Notice a little lightning bolt icon at the top of your Twitter feed? No, it's not a Halloween month tribute to Harry Potter. In an attempt to lure some new folks back to Twitter -- evidently 316mm monthly users isn't enough for some investors -- and to keep those of...
Cannybots: An exciting new tech toy that goes so far beyond car racing, you won’t believe it.
While things we find on Kickstarter aren't usually available in the immediate future, if you've already got holiday shopping on the brain (eek!) it's worth taking a look at Cannybots, a Kickstarter campaign for a very cool new tech toy that taking off and slated to...
An awesome photo app that helps preserve more than snapshots, it preserves your family stories.
So, you have tons of photos on your iOS Camera Roll, right? Yeah, same. Now, how would you like to preserve those memories -- with audio -- forever and a day? Yeah, that's what I said. Bring it! That's why I was happy to discover the everyStory app. Related: 5 of the...
Celebrate Peanuts’ 65th birthday with the iconic “Peanuts song”: Kids’ music download of the week
Good grief! Peanuts, the comic most of us grew up with, is a senior citizen! Charles M. Schultz's beloved comic strip is 65, having debuted in just nine newspapers back on October 2, 1950. And though no soundtrack would've been assigned to a newspaper comic, if you're...
A little Bluetooth keyboard for those who miss actual typing on their tablets and phones
As much as I try to avoid typing long emails on my iPhone, there are times when it's inevitable. And it's those times when I long for the tactile keyboard of my first "smartphone" from eons ago. (Samsung BlackJack, anyone?) Typing has come a long way since then, but...