Here are two of my latest stories on GadgetGoddess.com that you might enjoy. If you are a Vine addict or want to keep a visual diary of your everyday life, these two stories are for you!
Store & Remember Your Days with Days Photo & GIF Diary App
Days is a diary app that lets you capture and share your days through photos and animated GIFs. The app encourages users to capture and share how their day was at once, not multiple times for random individual moments, with each day starting at 5 a.m. and lasting 24 hours. […Read more]
The Pivot Power Genius is a smart power strip outlet. Anything that’s plugged into two of the four outlets can be controlled through an app on your mobile device called Wink. If you forgot to turn off the light in the bedroom, it can be done remotely from anywhere. You can even schedule when the light comes back on.
The Pivot Power Genius is a flexible device. Unlike the average power strip, the outlets on the Pivot are adjustable. Each outlet can be bent and pivoted, meaning it can be fit into pretty much any space without concern. You can also adjust, bend or curve each outlet to make room for those huge AC adapters that normally won’t fit alongside any other plug in a strip.
I use my Pivot Power Genius to turn our humidifier on and off in our bedroom each morning and night. Before having the Pivot Power Genius I struggled to get out of bed because the humidifier provided such a relaxing sound, it was difficult to get out of bed. Now, I open the Wink app on my iPhone and turn off the humidifier right from bed!
With the Wink app on your mobile device, you will have the capability to control two of the Pivot outlets remotely. You can make your television or lamp a smart device when it’s plugged into the Pivot Power Genius. You can save energy and worry knowing you can shut items off even if you’re out to dinner with friends. Or turn the lights on in the front room before you get out of the car.
The Pivot Power Genius has four adjustable AC outlets.
Utilizing the mobile app, it can control two devices plugged into the Power Genius.
You can program when those devices should shut off or on, either manually or by schedule.
The Pivot Power Genius will connect instantly to your phone over a Wi-Fi network.
The Pivot Power Genius is a product of Quirky, a company that designs products based on ideas submitted by their community of inventors. It’s a novel approach to innovation. The Pivot Power Genius was the brainchild of Jake Zien of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His idea for what would become the Power Genius had been gestating since high school. When he learned about Quirky, he submitted his proposal and the company accepted the idea, manufactured it and it has gone on to become the company’s best seller.
A great idea for a holiday gift, the Pivot Power Genius will change how families go about powering their lives!
Chances are, there are at least 4 devices in your home that are used to play music. My son walks around with earphones in his pocket 24/7. I guess he doesn’t walk in his sleep, that I know of at least, but he sleeps with his earphones too. I’m not a big fan of sleeping with earphones or having earphones in ears hour after hour. That’s where wireless speakers come in handy.
Wireless (aka Bluetooth speakers) speakers are great for households in which there are iOS and Android devices.
Wireless speakers work with nearly all smartphones and tablets. In my opinion, it would be idea to get the kids a wireless speaker as well as one for yourself. You never know where the kid’s speaker is going to end up, right?
Most Bluetooth speakers are designed with rechargeable batteries, so they can be moved from room to room with ease. When the battery charge is low, simply connect it to your computer or other charger.
Some wireless speakers such as the DECK speaker (#1 in the photo below), allow multiple devices to connect giving everyone in your home or at a party, the chance to play DJ for a while.
If you ask me, it’s time to go wireless.
Here are 4 wireless (bluetooth) speakers that will make a great gift this holiday season!
Is there something that you’d like me to help you find for your holiday wish list? Let me know in the comments below or email me at alicia @ themommyinsider.com and I’ll do my best to find whatever it is that your child (or you) are asking for holiday season.
GIVEAWAY! Win a WorldCard Link Business Card Reader! Scroll down to enter.
I’ve been an online publisher since 2001 and I’ve been blogging since 2005. I have attended a lot of conferences over the years and one thing that I could have used was a business card scanner.
This is one of those must-have gadgets that once you have, you don’t know how you did without.
Bloggers, when you’re at a social media or blogging conference, how many PR and blogger business cards do you collect?
Most bloggers at a conference will collect anywhere from 100-500+ business cards. What do you do with all of those business cards when you get back to the office or home? I’ve heard everything from “stick them in an envelope”, “put them in a notebook”, and “store them in a box”.
Tell me.. how do you easily find a contact when their information is stuffed in a box or envelope somewhere? It’s not easy and most of us don’t take the time to sift through our office to find business cards from the last conference we attended.
That is why I love WorldCard Link’s business card scanner for the iPhone. This gadget is as amazing as it is small!
Your iPhone plugs in to this incredibly intuitive and useful device. After that it’s simple to scan every business card you’ve collected at a social media conferences such as BlogHer, or other conferences. Extremely portable, the WorldCard Link can be stored in just about any small bag such as a purse, briefcase or even a large coat pocket. Easily stowed away in a carry-on bag, the card reader goes wherever it is needed.
The genius of the device extends to how it maintains the information received from the business cards it scans. The WorldCard Link can connect to a preferred cloud based server such as Google Contacts, iCloud or even Dropbox. This makes it immensely easy to sync up with other contacts to maintain a coherent structure to anyone’s databases and client lists. In the fast paced world of business, it allows for a simple means of taking care of something that can quickly become too large for easy organization.
In the professional world, business cards are handed out by just about everyone. WorldCard Link Business Card Reader can help iPhone users maintain a powerful but simple database to house the information scanned from these cards. Thanks to cloud based servers, it will free up a professional from having to enter contact info themselves, as well as having to carry around all those business cards.
WorldCard Link is a complete business card manager for iPhone users. It comes with an ergonomic iPhone dock and an app. With iPhone on the dock, as soon as you put a business card on the other end of the dock, the app will smoothly capture all contact info for storing on the phone and sharing over the cloud. No more hand type in business cards.
Bloggers, this is a must have for your next blog or social media conference!
WorldCard Link
is easy to use
is convenient
is small
is affordable – $39
is master information gatherer
can sync contacts to the cloud
can search contacts on FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn
We are giving a lucky reader a WorldCard Link device to keep!
To enter, leave a comment relevant to this post below.
For example, tell us where you would take your WorldCard Link device, how many business cards do you have to scan initially, how would WorldCard Link make your life easier?
Be sure to tell us everything you do in the comments so we can count all of your entries!
Share this giveaway with your Twitter friends:
“A #blogger must-have! #Win a portable business card reader for iPhone from @mommyinsider! http://wp.me/plszx-3Pc”.
You can post this tweet up to every 8 hours until 11:59pm EST June 5th for an extra entry for each tweet.
Leave a comment for each extra entry, telling us what you did. We can’t count your extra entries if you don’t do this.
Contest rules and terms
Entries accepted through 11:59pm EST June 5th, 2013.
Open to U.S. residents only. No P.O. Boxes.
Your email address may be added to our weekly email newsletter list. We will not send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.
I was provided with a sample to review and a unit to give to a lucky reader. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way. I only write about products and services that I would buy.
I’ve been using the HTC One X+ Android phone for a few weeks. As I mentioned in a previous post, I thought the transition from iOS to Android would be a bit painful as I have used an iPhone for 4 years. I was mistaken. You can read more about my transition from iOS to Android here.
I didn’t think that there could possibly be a phone or operating system that I’dlike better than iOS. I quickly learned that I was wrong. Within the first few days of having the HTC OneX+ I felt confident that I could make the switch from iOS to android and that’s just what I did.
The incredible 8MP camera on the HTC OneX+ helped make the decision to switch easy.
In just the few short weeks that I’ve been using the HTC One X+, I have captured some of my favorite photos of my daughter like the one below where she’s swinging with a tutu on. My HTC one X+ has been with me to capture wonderful photos during some exciting moments of ours. Check out some of my favorite photos from these experiences below.
Swinging in her tutu in 30 degree weather!
She lost another tooth!
Art project
Delicious desert!
All of the photos above were taken with this phone!
Those are just four of my favorite photos I’ve taken with the HTC OneX+. I love love love the HTC OneX+ 8MP camera. I used continuos shooting mode while my daughter was swinging and got the most amazing shots. The italian ice photo above was taken using the Macro setting. Look at the detail on the raspberries!
Anxious to learn more about the HTC OneX+ for AT&T? I understand!! Learn more about the HTC OneX+ here and follow @HTC on Twitter.
Read more posts about my experiences with the HTC One X+:
I received an HTC OneX+ as part of being a member of the TroopOneX review team. All opinions in this post are 100% my own. Content and/or other value provided by our partner, HTC.
– $199
– $69
– On sale for $89 from $149 now at Amazon.com
– $299
