free or close to it

If traveling more is one of your resolutions, have we got the app for you. Or at least the app for me. Because whenever I'm planning a trip, I love to research the area in advance, get a feel for the major attractions, learn about the pa…

Presents are wrapped, eggs are nogged, kids are on Christmas break, and two of this year's biggest game stars have come together in one app filled with underground sewers and transportation tubes. How merry! Especially considering it's f…

I think you're not actually supposed to accept candy canes from Dark Lords of the Sith. But maybe it's okay if he's your dad? In which case we think these free, printable Star Wars gift tags are cuter than a bucket of Ewoks. The author/i…

The stockings are hung, the gifts are (mostly) bought, and now I'll spend the next few days checking my list--twice--to make sure we're ready for the big day. Oh, and I'll be rocking out to this new app that takes my mind off of all I ha…

My husband is obsessed with Christmas music. From midnight on Thanksgiving to the wee hours of New Year's Day, we are a 24/7 Away in a Manger on that O Holy Night with Silver Bells Fa-la-la-ing family. So you should have seen his eyes li…

Christmas is a mere two weeks away and for those of you who have yet to finish your shopping (ahem), I feel your stress. To add a bit of comic relief to your day, take a moment to play around with this nifty app that lets you add fun eff…

Unless you have one of those newfangled Christmas trees with the lights already attached to the branches, then you probably will do the Annual Dance With the Christmas Lights sometime this month. Before you let a word slip that small ear…

Are you following us on Pinterest ? Come join us, and check out great finds like these every day. 1. One of our all-time favorite photo apps is now free. Hooray! 2. Yes, we know it costs more than the iPad it carries, but wow, this case …

Starting oh, about now, every news channel and magazine will start promoting their "best of the year" piece. While it's fine and dandy to watch non-stop footage about the 2012 election, Kristen Stewart, and people camping out for iPhone …

"Once upon a time" gets a modern reboot in the latest digital toy from our favorite Swedish app developer, Toca Boca . It's one of those apps that our kids could hardly wait for, once they caught wind of the previews, and for good reason…

Between my writing and PR business, I'm on a lot of conference calls. Hmm, kinda explains the constant crick in my neck. Scheduling and coordinating these calls with so many different parties can be a pain though . Do you want to use you…

Obsessed with Pinterest as we are? Follow us , then take a peek at the five coolest Pinterest pins from this week that you won't want to miss. 1. A must-have safety resource for any parent with kids on Facebook . 2. Smart tips on how to …

My five year old has spent the half hour or so playing around with a new free kids drawing app called Kid Van Gogh, and I'll do the best job I can explaining it, considering I can't get my iPhone out of her hands. What seems to different…

There are many things I love about Halloween, from seeing my kids in adorable costumes to fun-size peanut M&Ms and Snickers. For me. Of course. And getting into the holiday spirit, I love that TuneIn , the Internet and mobile app music p…

Wouldn't it be cool if there was an app that could tell you about exciting historical places you might not even known were there? Like, right now? Right here, where you're standing? Meet HISTORY Here . Developed by The History Channel, i…

With holiday card season around the corner (eek!), I'm already making my lists and checking them twice to make sure I have everyone's addresses. In between the numerous places I store contact information, there are a lot of addresses tha…

Kapu Tickle Toy Camera is a new app that is so fun that you just want to laugh out loud. I'm serious. It's weird but watching someone get tickled is funny. Funnier still is when your child has the ability to turn the animated kooky chara…

Don't get me wrong, I like photographs of my kids, family and friends, but just looking at pictures doesn't "send me." UNLESS they're in a slideshow with music and text--then I become a blubbering, "Memories"-singing mama. Which is why t…

I understand the appeal of websites and apps that bring a child's favorite character to life, whether it's Seuss or Dora or Yo Gabba Gabba. But sometimes it's nice to find a world in which your kid can ascribe her own attributes and stor…

When my kids get home from school, they're not always the most forthcoming in describing their days to me. (Although I do know a lot about recess.) I miss their daycare days, when I would get full reports from their caregivers on funny t…

Just like you, we rely on trusted sources to pass along tips for great apps. So when a strong reco came in to try out Pixlr-o-matic , we had to check it out. Yes, we know, there are tons of photo editing apps already out there for both A…

It's no secret that I take nearly all my photos with my iPhone, which means in order for me turn my favorite pictures into anything but a file on my computer (that no one really ever sees but me) it takes a lot of extra steps and a lot o…

With our long drives to and from school every morning, I've been meaning to grab some audiobooks for us to enjoy. Well lucky for me, just yesterday I scored over 20 popular classics as e-books and audio books on both my Kindle and my iPh…

I've long heralded my iPhone as my primary tool for taking photos and videos. With a library of almost 2,000 images and videos from my phone, you can imagine the impact it has on my storage space. Since my kids love to see videos of them…