productivity Archives | Page 3 of 5

New Moleskine Timepage app for iPhone is about beauty and brains. We like that combo.

First, let’s get this out of the way: There’s an ongoing tomayto-tomahto situation around the correct way to pronounce the popular notebook-maker Moleskine — is it skin or skine? The official response according to the company is, your way is the...

Calendar apps for a tech house divided? Reader Q&A

by Nicole Blades | Productivity Apps

We are a house divided. My husband is an Android user (but I love him anyway), and I am an iPhone user. We need a calendar app that works with both, allows for the importing of Google calendar an iCal and automatically refreshes it. Is this a possibility?...

8 smart ways to make your iPhone less distracting, without turning it off

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

As much as I love my iPhone and how much it really helps me as a parent, it can also be a huge distraction. Don’t get me wrong, as someone who runs a business and works on a computer all day long, I really do love how much freedom it gives me to be able to do...

Finally, the Google Calendar app for iPhone is here!

by Kristen Chase | Productivity Apps

As a diehard Google calendar user and an iPhone lover, I’ve tried out tons of iPhone calendar apps over the years, none of which were actually made by Google. Until now! Once you download the free Google Calendar app for iPhone, you’ll login with your...

Web Coolness: Funny Valentine’s Day ecards, playing Minecraft with your kids, and President Obama with a selfie stick

by Cool Mom Staff | Link Roundups

We hit the motherlode of sweet, funny Valentine’s Day ecards. Fascinating piece about social media pile-ons and what happens to a person after her stupid tweet blows up the Internet. Paramedics use Google Translate to help deliver a baby. Whoa! 5 reasons to...

More of the best sleep tracking apps to help you get your snooze on

by Nicole Blades | Lifestyle Apps

We’ve already declared that 2015 is the Year of Better Sleep, so here we are with even more helpful techie ways for all of us to get those good Z’s. I tried two more of the latest sleep tracking apps to see whether they’d be a good fit for parents....

How to unsend an email: The lifesaving Undo Send feature in Gmail Labs

by Julie | Tips and Tricks

Ever wonder how to unsend an email, say… you hit send on an email, and then realize you had a typo, sent it a little too soon or included the wrong information? Or worse, wrote something and accidentally sent it to the last person you’d ever want to see...

Typo2 keyboard case: Now turning your iPad Air or iPad Mini into a laptop. Well, sort of.

by Kristen Chase | Laptop + Tablet Cases

For those of us with slippery fingers, a raised keyboard on our iPhones like the Typo2 keyboard case can be a huge sanity saver. But at CES 2015 earlier this month, they previewed their new iPad Air and iPad Mini keyboard case, which can actually help you be more...

Tech productivity tip: How to temporarily disable iMessage on your iPhone, iPad, or MacBook

by Kristen Chase | Tips and Tricks

If you’re like me, you pretty much can’t live without iMessage. And now that you can sync it between your iPhone or iPad and your MacBook, well, it’s like a communication dream come true. Except when you need to turn it off. The buzzes and beeps can...

Need a mani-pedi, a piano lesson, and an oil change this week? The MyTime app is on it.

by Nicole Blades | Productivity Apps

Let me guess: If you add one more item to your to-do list, it’s going to burst into flames and take you with it, right? I know. I’m right there with you. That’s why I’m loving the MyTime app and website. MyTime takes a help me help you approach...

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.