Category: technology

August 15, 2014

React Sidekick Kickstarter Campaign Launch

August 13th, 2014 marked the launch of the Kickstarter campaign for React Sidekick. React sidekick is the companion product to the React mobile app. If you remember I posted on the React mobile app here last year. The mobile app works with your cell phone to call for help in an emergency. Giving you the peace of mind to be in constant contact with your safety net. Best of all, it’s been developed with the Salesforce development tools kept in mind (Click here for more information).

With the React sidekick, users are able to push a button which sends out an alert to pre-programmed trusted family members and friends to alert them to your safety concerns. With this product you do not have to worry about unlocking a phone – simply press the button! The React sidekick can be worn attached to a clip or a key chain.

The React sidekick and mobile app is aimed at those with an active lifestyle, those who work shift work, individuals that frequently walk or run alone and even your children or family members who are learning to walk alone.

React sidekick is compatible with Apple iOS 7.0 or iPhone 4S, 5, 5S, 5C, iPad 3rd or 4th generation, iPad mini as well as android S4, S5, Note 2 and Note 3. It will have a price of $49.99 and the React mobile app will be free for users.

The React Sidekick Kickstarter campaign is aiming to raise $25,000 by December, 2014. Here are the various kickstarter backer levels:

$1 or more: A big thank you!
$29: Early bird (limited to 100)—1 Sidekick + key chain carabiner + clip
$35: 1 Sidekick + key chain carabiner + clip
$69: Family pack 3x Sidekick + 3 key chain carabiners + 3 clips
$99.99: Exclusive Limited Edition Kickstarter green color—1 Sidekick + key chain carabiner + clip
$5,000: Partner Package

What are your thoughts on the React sidekick? How important would this be to you and your family to ensure safety?

May 31, 2014

Keeping Groceries in Track with the Longos Mobile App #cbias

I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.

What is the number one item you have on you at all times? If you are anything like me it is your smart phone. My smart phone has mobile apps that keep track of my appointments, connect me to work, remind me of important dates and keep track of my to do lists. This is crucial for me. Our day to day life is constantly on the go and without my mobile apps I would be lost. One of the hardest things to keep track of? Groceries! Between school lunches and soccer practices by mid week our pantry begins to look bare. With the Longos mobile app I am able to add items to my grocery list as I notice they go missing – no more waiting to get home and add it to the list on the fridge (which never seems to remain on the fridge for very long?!).

Grocery items count for the largest expenditure in our variable budget in our house so I always like to make sure I am not only getting the best deal but not double purchasing items, letting produce go to waste or making frequent trips to the grocery store. In the past I used to go to the trouble of waiting for my flyers to come in the mail, making a written list and then combining that with my written running list that I kept on my fridge (if it wasn’t lost somewhere along the way!). I spent a lot of time doing this and half the time I would forget items.

The Longos Mobile App (which is free!) allowed me to browse all categories that they carry in store (from bakery to cleaning to vitamins!) at my own convenience through my smart phone. This meant I could browse and add items from my desk at work (where I usually remember forgotten grocery items and then subsequently forget them again), at the soccer field, waiting to pick my kids up from school – I was no longer tied to writing my lists down at home. Each item also shows it’s current or sale price and a rating from other customers. I was even able to scan my products at home to see whether or not my local Longos carried them – which I may or may not have had a lot of fun scanning multiple items in our house! If you still love paper you can even email yourself a copy of the list to print out and bring in store with you. You can also connect your Thank You Rewards card to maximize in store savings.

I could now head out to Longos as part of the #CollectiveBias campaign at my own convenience with my handy list on my mobile app. All I had to bring was my purse, myself and with two kids in tow trust me this was to our advantage!

I was able to hand off my mobile list to my kids who were then in charge of ensuring we picked up every item on our list. Our youngest (who is not old enough to read) loved that he could still take part as the list is partially visual with a picture of the item so he was able to pick out items based on this (don’t you just love little shoppers?!!). This actually improved our overall shopping experience as I am sure many of you can relate to – shopping with children can be a nightmare unless they really feel involved.

Having a mobile list to compare prices to and quickly scan through actually sped up the whole shopping process. We were able to easily identify the items we needed, confirm the price and move on. It almost turned into a game for the kiddies.

Just like that we had a successful shopping trip! Every item on our list was picked up and then removed from our list, the boys thought it was the most incredible game ever, snacks for school lunches were picked up as well as some for Mom and Dad – success!

What kind of strategies do you use at home to keep track of groceries? Would mobile apps fit into your life easier?

April 16, 2014

Racing Action with AnkiDRIVE #review #giveaway

I love race cars and everything racing! We love auto shows, race tracks and playing racing video games with our children. We love the fast pace, quick decisions and excitement of choosing cars and winning.

When I was given the opportunity to test out Anki DRIVE how could I resist? This looked like one of the most exciting video games ever brought to life. Anki DRIVE uses artificial intelligence to deliver a racing video game in the real world with you in control. Pretty amazing, right? I had too literally take it away from my children in order to set it up they were so excited.

Anki Drive comes with a starter kit starting at $199 – which may seem expensive at first but once you open the kit and begin to use the cars you can fully appreciate the technology behind the system and appreciate the price.

Each kit includes:

the racing track (roughly 8.5 feet by 3.5 feet)
three car charger
two cars with charging pods
start up information.

The Anki Drive app is free to download at the Apple app store and the game is compatible with any of the following: iPhone 4s or newer, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad3 or newer or iPad mini. Anki Drive is suitable for all ages capable of using an iOS device (our two year old had no problem!). You can also purchase additional race cars for additional cost.

Set up is incredibly easy – I was actually expecting it to take long but was pleasantly surprised.

Physically you have to just unroll the mat in a clear and flat area, ensuring the cars are fully charged before you can begin to play. The game will work best on a smooth and flat floor but we also played on the carpet in our children’s toy room and had no problem as well.

The app took less then two minutes to download – which was perfect for my impatient family members who could not wait to start playing. This also surprised me because apps can sometimes take quite a bit of time to download.

The technology in Anki DRIVE is jaw dropping – literally. The moment you set them down on the race track they sense the track’s every curve and line. The cars speed around the track, gliding through every curve and avoiding each other. It is incredible watching the cars race each other. Our boys were screaming in excitement. Using blue tooth the cars report back to the app on the IOS device. You control the speed, turns, maneuvers – all through the app. The app also has a great starting guide that walks you through on how to control the car so you don’t have to worry about not understanding how to play.

As if this was not cool enough – the cars battle. Yup you heard that right – they sense each other and can battle their racing opponent. This has been a fantastic game for our whole family to play and has provided hours of entertainment for all of our family and friends that have come over to visit.

Anki DRIVE and PTPA are now giving you the chance to win your own starter kit – the perfect gift for any car enthusiast in your house!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to residents of the US and Canada.

Don’t forget to follow Anki on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date on important news and information!

March 30, 2014

Oddsoks for Storypanda #Review

“Where did the Oddsoks go?…”

How many times have we put our socks in the washing machine to only have one come back out? It is almost a weekly occurrence in our home!

But where do the Oddsoks go?

The Oddsoks app for Storypanda is the story of Jimi who loves his fabulous socks! But one day half of his socks are gone leaving him with one sock from each pair. He receives a letter from the Oddsoks explaining the whereabouts of his socks. The Oddsoks are creatures that power the washing machine and love odd socks. They love odd socks so much they have taken them on an adventure.

Our family fell in love with the adorable Oddsoks and their adventures with the socks. The boys loved to be able to re-create the story using their own ideas which also provides hours of extra fun. The Oddsoks app also has some pretty awesome sound effects as well to go along with the story which our boys fell in love with and copied themselves.

Want to meet Jimi and the Oddsoks yourself? You can purchase a copy of the Oddsoks on Apple for $2.99 CDN here.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this app to provide feedback. Regardless the opinions and thoughts expressed are my own.

February 21, 2014

Learning Languages with Langmobile #Review and #Giveaway

Learning a second language is a high priority to me for my children. It is a fantastic skill for them to carry forward into their school and later on their professional careers. For me knowing that language acquisition is easiest during the ages of zero to five, puts a little bit of pressure to get started early!. This is often called the “critical period”. Yet I still want them to have fun and enjoy learning a second language – not the second language classes I had where we had to memorize conjugating verbs but never learned to understand and speak Italian!

Langmobile is based out of Saint-Lambert, Quebec. They offer high quality workshops in music, yoga, English, Italian, French and Spanish, along with pre-school activities and camps. Langmobile has developed a program that helps parents bond and interact with their children while teaching a second language. Langmobile actively includes parents in the learning process to help learn and teach them at the same time. They have taken the research that they have put into their programs and developed an incredible app that assists parents in teaching children English, Spanish and French.

The Langmobile app incorporates new teaching methods that place the interaction between parent and child at the core of the learning process. The Langmobile app features fifty lessons in English, Spanish and French. Each lesson contains a video, song and printable materials (teaching sheets, colouring sheets and more!). The apps use adults to bring languages to life. The apps feature original music composed by Langmobile’s team of experts.

yoga , music workshops, English classes, Italian classes, French classes, Spanish classes, Saturday classes, after school activities, preschool activities, day camps and specialized services to CPE and private Daycares – See more at: http://www.langmobile.com/quality-workshops/#sthash.hbdLhMKb.dpuf

When I first download an app I like to spend a couple of hours looking through the app myself to allow myself to become familiar with the teaching aspect, how it works and so on. As soon as I opened the app up and let the first video play my children came running (both my two and nine year old!) at the energetic music and singing! They were engrossed in the app!

My favourite features of the app were:

easy and quick download
music was energetic and great at catching my children’s attention
repetitive; allowing the words to be easily learned
informative parent guide with instructions on how to use each word/video, including also colouring books, craft activities, activities on the go, lyrics, words to practice and cards to print out
the parent guide allows you to minimize the amount of time spent directly on the app itself for parents that are worried about too much screen time
loved that I was able to interact and be part of the learning process (versus just reading it aloud and hoping they absorb what you are reading to them)
incredibly fun way to learn a new language (all of us were dancing and singing along!)
even though it is designed for teaching children 0-5 years of age, my nine year old loved it as well!
easy to navigate between pages on the app
app is designed to be able to download onto Apple devices and Android

Langmobile is offering four individuals a chance to win their own copy of the app! US and CAN residents can enter via the Rafflecopter below.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a copy of this app in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.