Techie Stuff

How many of you are like me and can’t stop taking pictures of your kids? I’m definitely guilty of being overly snap happy when it comes to my little ones. And, since there’s no end to the amount of iphone shots, instagram photos and “real” camera photos I can rack up, I’ve quickly fallen behind with actually printing any of the photos you see above.

This year, I’ve made it a priority to “spring clean” my digital photos and finally take my bazillion photos off my computer and put them onto something both beautiful and tangible that we can enjoy for years to come. And, I’m excited to share what I’ve found with all of you!

First, I wanted to quickly highlight my two favorite sources for tips on organizing your photos which you can read here at PC Magazine  and Clickin’ Mom.

For me, the biggest issue was going through years of photos and deleting ones that I wouldn’t want printed (or were duplicates) and then categorizing them in a way that makes it easy to find what I’m looking for quickly. I followed this simple format:

Pictures > Year > Month > Activity

I promise you that once you take the effort to organize your old photos, you’ll be so much more conscious of how you import and catalog your new ones, making next year’s spring cleaning much easier!

Printing your digital photos

Now here’s the fun part – finding great resources to print your photos!

I’m so excited to try Artificat Uprising. They have the most beautiful albums offered in both hard and soft cover and the layouts are not overly designed, which I like. I think I’m going to start with their instagram books using a few of the photos you see above.

Blurb is another fabulous resource for printing photo books, or any other books for that matter. How fun would it be to make your own cookbook of your family’s favorite dishes? I love the variety of options this site offers and will definitely be using them in the future.

Unique Photo Gifts

Lastly, I am in love with this idea from Pinhole Press of creating a personalized memory game using family photos.

You just choose 12 favorite photos (of friends, family, pets, vacations, whatever you’d like), and Pinhole puts them on thick cards with graphic backgrounds. This is definitely a game everyone would love to play at your next family get together!

Are you guys good about capturing and printing life’s little moments? I’d love to hear how you do it and what methods you use for staying digitally organized. I can definitely use the help!

Let the dance party begin! Please allow me to introduce to you The Phoenix, a bluetooth portable speaker by Beacon, a rockin’ product every family will love. We use ours ALL of the time. Here is my review of this fabulous portable speaker.

When it arrived in the mail, initially I was surprised at its small size. You can even hold it in the palm of one hand.

But don’t judge a speaker by its size, because this small speaker puts out BIG sound.

Easily paired to both my iPhone and iPad via Bluetooth, you can play your Pandora or favorite playlists anywhere on its 8 hour battery life per charge.

I use it in the kitchen when I am cooking dinner and it immediately puts me in a better mood during the witching hour.

And when my girls decide to hold an impromptu dance party or pretend cheer camp, it is small enough for them to move from room to room (it has a 40 foot reach) and play their favorite kids’ dance party playlist.

Its size makes it perfect for traveling. You can take it on vacation, to the beach, to a birthday party in the park, you name it. Whenever you go, your music can go too.

Offered in five hot colors you and your kids will love. This would be a great Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift.

www.beaconaudio.com 

[Disclosure: I was sent a complimentary product to facilitate this review.
I love this product. It makes my family very happy!]

Last year I joined a great networking group called Smarty OC which has monthly events with guest speakers.

One of such speakers was Chris Van Dusen of i-FFICIENCY.  He did a presentation last summer on what you need to know to start working “smarter” and apps that can streamline your day to day business needs, make communication easier and other “tech” secrets.

I was so bummed I had to miss this event but fellow Smarty members raved about what they learned so I connected with Chris on Twitter recently (he can be found @ifficiency) as I had some questions to ask him about making my potential first Mac purchase.  He recommended we meet for coffee to talk about my business and go from there.

So we met at a Starbucks and chatted for awhile about the iMac vs. MacBook Pro, the iPad (yippee for the upcoming release on the iPad 2),and what they can do for my business.

His passion for technology was contagious.

He was so insightful, listened to what I do and then made recommendations on ways I could utilize the current technology available to streamline my business.

We also talked about social media strategy and he had a ton of great ideas on how to make the most of my online presence. It was a very cool meeting.  I left with my wheels spinning!

So, who exactly is this i-guy?

Chris is a tech enthusiast, remote efficiency specialist and entrepreneur.  He is the president of i-FFICIENCY, a consultancy he co-founded to help small businesses and startups leverage new technology in the sales process.  If you have a small or medium sized business, i-FFICIENCY can help you tell your story better utilizing new technology and make your process and information more efficient and effective.

Chris is also Director of Business Development and New Media for Rief Media, a full service marketing and communications firm which offers outsourced marketing to help you with defining your presence, web development and branding.

Chris also contributes as a writer for Techzulu and other publications and speaks regularly on technology, new media and remote efficiency for business professionals.

Bottom line, if you are a small to medium sized business looking to improve your digital footprint by integrating new technology like the iPad into your sales and marketing process, Chris is your i-guy!

Guest blog by: Michele, who loves her iPhone. And loves unplugging even more. You can find her playground blogging at Fun Orange County Parks. She writes…

Entertaining Kids in the Age of iPhone

Waaaaaayyyyyy back when I was a kid:

If we missed the name of a song or the artist when the DJ came on, tough luck. We’d have to try to find the record at the store by quizzing the employees.

We made mixes on cassette tapes – not playlists on iPods.

Cartoons were only on Saturday mornings and the highlight was Schoolhouse Rock.

Educational kids television programming totalled 10 hours per week and consisted only of Sesame Street and Electric Company. Okay, PBS had 3-2-1 Contact, too.

We played video games in arcades or on Atari or Coleco-Vision.

No one had cell phones (and if they did they were the size and weight of cinderblock).

Maps and address books were on paper.

Calendars hung on the wall.

Cameras required film that you had to bring to the drugstore to develop.

We had Pen Pals who we’d write letters overseas and across the country – mailing them with stamps.

Playing outdoors was all the entertainment we needed.

Today, I hold a magic box in my pocket. It’s only slightly longer than the old-fashioned cassette tape, but much thinner. I take it wherever I go. Everyone in my family uses it for a different purpose.

When I hear a song I like, I hold out my iPhone and Shazam tells me who it is and I can buy it on the spot.

Pandora makes a playlist with only one song suggestion from me. It’s my own personal radio station.

Cartoons are on 24 hours a day on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. OnDemand is an often overlooked source of non-stop cartoons. I download Schoolhouse Rock from iTunes to pull out when we’re on long car drives for entertaining the kids.

PBS has 6+ hours of educational programming per day now. Not to mention PBS Sprout or Noggin (preschool on TV). I can download a number of educational apps to my iPhone: Wheels on the Bus, KidArt, Letter Tracer, Mathemagics, and Grammar Up to name a few (click on Education from this link to see the top choices). In fact, there are 35,000 apps available and counting.

Pocket God, Armageddon Squadron, BubbleWrap live on my iPhone. Look at the Entertainment or Games tab to find more.

Everyone can always reach me by phone, snail mail, e-mail, text or Twitter. In fact, they get annoyed if I don’t respond within a few minutes time.

Maps and Contacts are standard-issue on an iPhone. I even have TideGraph to tell me the tides and Weather at my fingertips. There need not be any mystery in my life.

I sync all my calendars by flicking a button.

I take photos and instantly e-mail them to friends or post them online.

I communicate instantly with “Pen Pals” on Twitter and through e-mail or blog comments.

None of these activities entertain me as much as the time – I spend outdoors playing with OUR kids.

This is totally off-topic, but I have a new best friend, and I felt compelled to introduce you to her!  Her name is Garmin and she has been a lifesaver to this very directionally challenged mom!

I have been known to get lost a lot.  In fact, I have been known to call my husband when I am on the road to look up directions for me.  This was a purchase I should have made a long time ago – for both of our sakes!

We got the Garmin Nuvi at Costco.   It is really easy to use, you just punch in the address and it sends you there turn by turn!  It tells you when you should expect to arrive as well as how many miles you have to go before you make your next turn.  

Plus, it saves a lot of paper as you don’t have to print Google maps or directions.   

One warning though, as my friend has gotten me in trouble once before.   You can type in the name of a store or location and it will pull up the closest ones.   I typed in Wal-Mart one day as we don’t have one that close to us, and I didn’t know where the nearest one was.   Well, it pulls up a location in Tustin by The District.   Hmmmm, I thought, I don’t remember seeing one over there?  Anyhow, I drive all the way there and it turns me into the Sam’s Club parking lot!    So, you do have to have SOME idea of where you are going and if something exists.  I guess like everyone, my new friend can’t be perfect.  Although, she is pretty darn close!