productivity Archives | Cool Mom Tech

Why Todoist is the first to-do list app I have actually stuck with for an entire year

by Liz Gumbinner | Best Apps, Productivity Apps

Every year I swear, this is the year I get organized! This is the year I find the best ever to-do list app and put everything on it and finally check things off my list instead of losing them forever and make more time for the things I love and life will be grand....

44 cool things you can do with the Amazon Echo: From productive time-savers to just plain fun.

by Kate Etue | Smart Appliances, Tips and Tricks

I received an Amazon Echo for Christmas a few years ago, and I have to admit at first I was a little skeptical. What is all the buzz about anyway and what can I actually do with an Amazon Echo? I wasn’t sure it could really do more for me than Siri or my phone,...

Our Alexa organization series: The best Alexa calendar skills

by Kate Etue | Productivity Apps

Next up in our Alexa Organization Series, we’re sharing some of our favorite Alexa calendar skills to help you keep your family organized. Whether you want to add events to a joint calendar, keep up with a shared to-do list, or just make sure you do not miss the next...

Kill News Feed: In case you need a little break from your Facebook feed

by Kristen Chase | Helpful Services

If you’re needing a little break from your Facebook feed, but still would like to be able to post, check your messages, and see your groups, then you should get Kill News Feed, a Chrome extension that will block out just your feed. Related: 8 ways to crush your...

Carpooling just got way easier, thanks to the Figure8 carpooling app

by Kate Etue | Productivity Apps

Managing my kids activities — and the time it takes me to get them there — is one of the more complicated parts of parenting for me. Carpooling is the solution that not only saves my sanity, but also helps out the environment. We have been impressed by...

A cool time-saving emoji keyboard trick for iPhone (courtesy of my 10 year old)

by Liz Gumbinner | Tips and Tricks

Leave it to the kids to figure out cool iPhone tricks before we do, especially where emoji are concerned. Turns out, there’s a fun way to insert emoji into your texts without toggling back and forth between keyboards — something that can be a bit of a...

The new hi-tech paper planner that’s blowing our minds

by Kate Etue | Productivity Apps

Even though I’ve become a strictly digital planner kind of person, but I do find myself missing paper planners. Well, Moleskine, who’s my long-time personal favorite source for old-school paper journals, has a brilliant new solution that’s exciting...

Inbox Pause: The new amazing new Gmail feature that can get you more work-life balance.

by Liz Gumbinner | Tips and Tricks

For ages now I’ve touted the wonderful benefits of Boomerang for Gmail to help me better manage my incoming and outgoing email, and it seems the folks at Google like the feature themselves. Because now Gmail has actually incorporated Boomerang’s technology...

Addicted to your iPhone? Try this one easy trick to seriously curb your screen time.

by Kate Etue | Tips and Tricks

I’ve been seeing a lot of research lately that seems to find a correlation between how much time we spend on our phones and our kids’ behavior. Specifically, their bad behavior. The constant distraction of pings and alerts from my phone that takes my...

NEW: The podcast that helps you be a savvier digital parent in under 15 minutes a week

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

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.

(Answer: It's complicated.)

We're so glad you're here! And we hope we can help you too.