6 Things You Really Need To Do Right Now

I am not a nostalgic “oh, the old year is ending, sniffle, sniffle” kind of person nor am I one who makes resolutions which I will never, ever keep. I am, however, a realist who believes in protecting her data as much as possible, so 

Here are 5 things I'm doing and I hope YOU'RE going to do right NOW to help yourself be safe online:

1. Updated your virus protection program. Yeah, I know. It does it for you. Do it manually anyway. You never know when a program has missed something and cybertheft is all too common. Run it NOW.
   
   
   
   
2. Check your privacy settings on social media. Make sure they're set so that the minimum numbe of people and companies have access to your personal information.
   
   
   
   
3. STOP posting that your location on social media. Why not just hang a “Burglars: Empty House” sign on your front door? Sites get hacked all the time and that “friends of friends” setting on Facebook still means that plenty of people can see your postings. Don't advertise that you're not home.
   
   
   
   
4. Pictures of your kids showing their names, schools, etc. on ANY website. It's far too easy for predators to find their prey. Criminals do all sorts of nefarious things with kids' photos. Just don't post pics of your kids, especially ones showing their regular locations.  And if you have posted, try to take anything that can lead a predator to their location down. 
   
   
   
   
   
5. Back-up your files, pictures, etc. NOW. Seriously. Think about how difficult and heartbreaking it would be to lose all that data and all those precious pictures. Ideally, back up to three different sources and do it regularly. And consider about WHAT you're backing up BEFORE you do it.  I don't back-up anything with social security numbers to the Cloud because any site can be hacked at any time.  
   
   
   
   
6. Check the apps on your phone and see what permissions they've asked for that you've given. Consider whether that clock app really needs access to your files photos and if the convenience is worth compromising your privacy for.

These six simple little steps are probably the LEAST you can do to try to maintain some security on the web. For more on keeping your personal information safe, visit http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0272-how-keep-your-personal-information-secure. 

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful New Year!

ULTRAFLOW - An Addicting FREE Game Great For Kids & Adults

Okay, old-time gamers: remember PONG, one of the earliest arcade video games? It was a two-dimensional graphics tennis game that was one of the first to reach mainstream popularity.  It was brilliant in its simplicity, yet it was still a challenge. I remember poo-pooing at how easy the game seemed, only to be frustrated when I missed that stupid little ball. 

In perusing the Play Store the other day, I stumbled upon a game just as minimalistic, as complex, and absolutely addicting as PONG.  It’s called (drumroll, please)….

ULTRAFLOW

This free game gives you a limited number of bounces to get the disc through different mazes to the target. There are 99 levels and:

• there’s no score
• no timer

• and the BEST part:  NO ADS or invasive permissions required!

   

I breezed through the first 8 levels and then started to sweat. Sometimes I found it a little difficult to figure out how to navigate the mazes and my disc broke up.  Grrrrrr! It was frustrating, but I realized that the key wasn’t always speed. Sometimes slowing down helped me achieve my goal.


Again, the graphics are simple so you can really concentrate on the game. The music is also inoffensive and more like white noise. The fact that the background is dark means it saves on battery power and the app boasts almost no memory consumption.

This is a great game for anyone! and I have not been able to put it down!

I especially recommend it for kids since there’s absolutely NOTHING OFFENSIVE to watch out for! No ads and no special permissions make it great for kids 8 and up.


Download it, play it, and then hand your device to your child. The game is optimized for a wide range of phones and tablets and plays beautifully on all.



For more information or to play the web version of the game, visit http://ultraflow.net/.

Please note:  This article first appeared on www.thegeekparent.com.

5 Tips To Extend Your Smartphone Battery Life

I'm very excited, People! After the non-battery related death of my Samsung Galaxy Note II a few weeks back, I received a replacement (you can read about my misery here). Now, in the past I did have problems with the Galaxy's battery capacity, so much so that I was carrying an extra charger on me. I mean, it's a BEAST of a phone with a large display, so if I'm using it a lot, it's not wonder that it's taking a toll on the battery. But this time, I'm determined to prolong the battery life of my beautiful device. 

I love this phone!

So are 5 tips I've learned, and what's working for me, to extend the daily charge of the battery:

Turn off location services. Okay, so most apps only want my location to “improve” my smartphone experience. But unless I'm using a Maps app, I really don't need the location on. Facebook doesn't need to know where I am.  Plus,  I'm not fond of letting people know when I'm not home (aka being “tagged”) - I mean, why not just hang a sign on your front door telling burglars you're not home?!

Periodically clear out apps. Even if you're not using an app, it can run in the background and drain battery life. I just go to “Application Manager” and turn off apps I'm sure I'm not using.

Use a very dark wallpaper. I noticed that my display was draining a LOT of power from the battery, even though I've got it pretty dim. Since my Android has an AMOLED display, each pixel on the screen drains a little power in order to light up. Using black pixels draws less power. I'm even using a dark screensaver.

Don't use a live screensaver! Yes, they're cool and I love them, but they drain battery life QUICKLY! Honestly, I just don't think they're worth it for two seconds of "oohing" and "ahhing."

Turn off wifi when driving. Smartphones are always trolling for networks. If I'm not in a place with wifi or at home, there's no reason for it to be on, draining my battery. Of course, the flip side is that when I'm in a store or at home, I need to remember to turn it back on!

These tips are DEFINITELY extending my cellphone battery!

Yep, I'm definitely getting more life out of my battery!  It's lasting longer and doesn't get as warm as it used to. Sure, I still carry a battery backup and have a charger in the car, but I'm delighted by how long an initial charge is lasting.

And in case you're wondering why I LOVE the Samsung Galaxy Note II:

• I LOVE the stylus! Whipping the stylus from the phone brings up a note screen and I can jot down phone numbers, draw, etc. The stylus also let me take screen shots which I can save to Photos.
  
  
• It's not that heavy and even though it's big, fits nicely in my purse (if I had to put it in a pocket, I might love the phone less).  And it's not cumbersome at all to talk on. 
  
  
• The display is gorgeous!  Considered a phablet, it gives me the combined benefits of a phone and a tablet. 
  
  
• The Best Faces mode on the camera which snaps 20 shots so I can choose which shot of the kids I like the best (usually it's the one where they're not blinking or squinting). 
  
  

For more on this phone, check out thislink to Cnet.com's review of my beloved device.

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THANKS FOR READING!!!

Match 8 Hanukkah Game - You'll Find YOURSELF Playing It!

So I was looking for Hanukkah-inspired games for my daughter when I stumbled upon the free Match 8 Hanukkah Game in Google’s Play Store.  The reviews said that it would help children with their math and, indeed, I can see it doing that for younger kids. However,

I’m actually having a lot of fun playing it myself!

Match 8 Is A FUN Hanukkah Game!

As you can see, the directions couldn’t be simpler: just drag the numbered candles to one another to total 8. You need to do it quickly, before the time ends. And, don’t forget to click on the coins you see.
Sure, this can be used to augment match learning in kids, but I’m finding that it’s also a game of speed.



As you climb the levels, you’re combining the numbers and not always getting the ones you want. In the meantime, the candles are burning down.

Multi-tasking and quick thinking is involved.

The music is unoffensive and the Match 8 requires no special permissions, which I LOVE!  You’re not giving away any personal information and the app doesn’t ask for anything other than for you to have fun.

Download it for your kids, but be forewarned: you just might find yourself playing Match 8 Hanukkah as well!

 

 Thank you for reading!

 

 

My 5 Favorite Free iPad Apps

Once upon a time, I had a Kindle Fire. I loved that thing and when it died, the day after the warranty expired, of course, I was quite sad. Unfortunately, it died at the same time that my laptop did, so when forced to choose which device my limited means would replace, I opted to replace the laptop. Junior, who had been the #1 borrower of my Kindle, was also upset, however, he did have the money to get his own tablet but chose, instead, to get an iPad Mini.


Curious about our newest Apple, I stole, errr...borrowed, it the other day while Junior was at school. After playing with it for a few hours and downloading some free apps from the App Store, here are my five favorites:

1. The Kindle App – When I had my Kindle, I downloaded free books from my local library with the added benefit that when the borrowing time was up, they'd just “magically” disappear from the device. The Kindle app gives all the benefits of reading on the Kindle with access to many of the free books Amazon's Kindle Store offers. The app replicates all of my favorite features of the actual Kindle including access to Amazon's Whispersync which “automatically syncs your last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across devices (including the Kindle), so you can pick up your book where you left off on another device.”
   
   
2. Dictionary.com (Dictionary and Thesaurus) – Being a word-a-holic, I love looking up words and this app gave me speedy access to more than two million words and definitions. The best part is that it works offline, so even if I didn't have Web access, I could use it.
   
   
3. Police Scanner + - I really enjoyed listening to police scanners when I was a local reporter and still do even though I'm not writing for our local website. With this app, I can listen to more than 40,000 police, fire, EMS, airport, railroad, comedy, talk, and music stations – FREE!
   
   
4. Soothing Sounds Light – The kids and I sleep with separate noise machines and we always schlep one whenever we travel. Soothing Sounds has a customizable sounds library and the manufacturer boasts that “you'll never hear the same 10 seconds of sound.” That means you won't hear the same bird chips every X-amount of seconds, something that drives me crazy with other noise apps. You can change the volume and intensity of each sound, meaning that you can either hear ocean waves gently lapping on a shore or hear the crashing of those waves on rocks. You can even save the combinations of intensity levels that you've created and re-play those at will. Use it as background noise during the day or while you sleep.
   
   
5. Sticky Notes Reminders & Notes App With Alarms & Sharing – Use Sticky Note reminders without the individual papers falling off your device or marring your screen. Create notes in dozens of styles, add alarms to the notes, password protect them, and share them with others. The best part of this app, however, is that you can add notes to your lockscreen so you don't have to unlock your device to view them.
   

Ok, so since the iPad Mini isn't mine, I had to delete all of these wonderful apps, but it was fun poking around the App Store to see what developers have come up with to make our lives “easier.” It may just be time to start saving up for a Mini.


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Thanks for reading! Please check back in with me in a day or so for more fun!

Three "Do Not Miss" FREE Apps

My Samsung Confuse, errr..Infuse, died the other day without so much as a whimper or a cough. That was fine because I was ready for an upgrade anyway. I wanted the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, but settled for the Note 2 because it was much cheaper. Anyway, while I'm still in the trial period of the phone, I thought I'd try out some new (for me) apps from Google Play Store. For my reviews of child-related apps, please visit www.thegeekparent.com. Note: one of the ways I choose my apps is based on what permissions the manufacturers ask the user to give. For more information on why you MUST care, visit http://thegeekparent.com/is-installing-that-app-compromising-your-privacy.

Here we go:

94 Seconds – In this category word game, you are given one category and one letter to use to discover a word. For example, you're asked to find a mammal that starts with the letter C or a car company that starts with the letter T. Four different jokers are available to aid in finding the right answer or set higher scores. It's a fun game that certainly taught me a few things (who knew that zouk was a fast tempo carnival style of music originating from the Caribbean islands – 94 Seconds gave me the word and then I looked it up). I like the fact that I can race against the clock or play in a more relaxed mode. If you're tired of the standard Boggle and Scrabble-types of word games, this is certainly worth a try.


LifeHacker Reader – For some reason, my beloved news feeder, Newshog, no longer carries one of my favorite websites, LifeHacker (www.lifehacker.com). I was dissatisfied by the permissions required of the direct LifeHacker app, so I found this wonderful fan-made, unofficial app for the tech and lifestyle blog I enjoy so much. Thank goodness, because I was really missing those valuable life hacks!


Paper Artist – This was already installed on the phone, but it is available from the Play Store and Diva and I are having oodles of fun with it. Turn any photo into a work of art using different styles of paper and various techniques including pen and pencil, markers, newsprint, pastels, etc. which you can save or share with friends. Above is a photo that Diva took of our cat and which my daughter altered in a matter of seconds; I then uploaded it to the cloud and emailed it to some friends. Paper Artist is amazingly easy to do and a nice diversion when you don't feel like playing a game. Plus, it does things I could NEVER do (i.e. pencil sketch a portrait of Cosy). This is a great app!


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Please check back in with me in a day or so for some tips on how to beat those damn ATM fees which are absolutely disgusting. Pardon me while I calm down....

Come on Spring!

Free “Heroes Of The City” Apps - Great For Kids Under 6

When I offered to take a look at Ruta Ett DVD AB's two new apps based on the series “Heroes Of The City,” I was a little nervous. Too many of the series I've seen for the ages 2 to 6 set narrowly target either boys or girls; it's as if the developers don't know how to appeal to both genders. Oh sure, they'll throw in a token member of the opposite sex, but often those caricatures are amazingly sexist, with girls being unduly frilly and shallow while the boys are portrayed as distractedly rambunctious. Fortunately, this is not the case with “Heroes Of The City” which boasts both a male and female lead character, with each being a brave and role-model in his and her own right (for more on the series itself, click here: http://www.rutaett.com/en/hotc).


The first app I looked at was the HOTC movie app. It's description in the Google Play Store lists “more than six hours of entertaining movies, nine exciting games” and more. Read further down, however, and you'll discover that the freebies in this app are really “one full movie episode, three games, and a music video.” Fair enough, nothing is being hidden, but do the freebies justify downloading the app, especially if you have no intention of purchasing the add-ons?


Sure, if you want to keep your kid amused, say, in a doctor's office or on a car ride. I tried the app out on two kids, one age 3 and the other a 5-year old. The movie and video they blew through quickly and had no desire to look at either again. Of the puzzles, the train game was the most popular. In it, you have to place puzzle pieces in the correct order in order to get the train to its destination. It requires planning and was lots of fun (yes, I took a turn...but only for research purposes, you know). I wish, however, that the app had contained an “undo” button so that the child (or I) could have corrected a mistaken move (okay, I really was the one who needed it). The game was definitely not designed for the 3-year old, who grew frustrated when the levels got harder. The other free game, a matching challenge, was also popular, although the 5-year old commented, “I've seen games like this a million times!” These kids are just sooooo savvy!


The graphics themselves are lovely and everything looked great on my phone screen.  Another bonus is that the music did not offend my adult ears, so you won't be humming it ad nauseum. The only problem I had with this app was that I had to turn the phone off in order to get it to stop working. Not fun, but not bothersome enough to get me to uninstall it. Again, this app will keep the kids busy for maybe an hour or two, but really, do you want kids at that age on video much longer than that? Probably not.


The second app I looked at is the “Heroes Of The City” book app. One story, a memory game, and a music video are free with, of course, options to buy more. Kids can either read the story alone or have the story read to them. The memory game is challenging and definitely not for the kids under 5; I had trouble with it. The kids blew through the entire app in about 10 minutes. Maybe if I'd have been willing to shell out a few dollars, they would have liked it more, but so be it. And again, I had to turn my phone off to disengage the app. My recommendation is to download both apps with the understanding that after the kids have played them, maybe twice, you'll be uninstalling them.


The best part of trying them was my introduction to the “Heroes Of The City” series itself, which is really sweet and imparts a positive message about being helpful and cooperating, something some 3 to 5-year olds have trouble doing (actually, many teens and adults also have difficulties with this as well). Quick tip: I recommend liking HOTC on Facebook where you will gain insight into how Heroes was developed. I found it fascinating, especially after reading some of the posts from the developers and then looking at the apps again.
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Stay tuned, over the coming weeks, for more on “Heroes Of The City.” And please check back in with me over the weekend. For the first time in a long one, the Northeast is being spared snow, although I just received a notice that there's a tornado in the area. Over the last two years we've had a hurricane, plague of cicadas, record-breaking snow, now a tornado. When are the rest of the Biblical plagues coming?


Ta-ta for now!

Discover These 8 Free Word Games For Your Smartphone

Hello. My name is L and I'm a word-game-aholic. It's true. Ever since I discovered Scrabble back in grammar school, I've been in love with games that involve spelling (not crosswords, which I detest, probably because I'm just not clever enough to figure them out). It's been my experience that most word games fall into one of four categories:

1. Scrabble – Find as many words as possible from the letters given to you. Then place them on the board, connecting to your opponent's, to maximize the points you'll earn.
   
2. Boggle – Discover as many words as possible, in within a time limit.
   
3. Word Search – Find the words hidden on lettered grid.
   
4. Hang Man – Guess the word by eliminating letters.
   

I'm not a huge fan of word searches, although it's proving to be a wonderful tool for my daughter as a way to reinforce her spelling. If you want to do this, here's a link to Super Kids where you can input your child's spelling words and create a word-search puzzle: http://www.superkids.com/aweb/tools/words/search.  I gravitate toward Scrabble and Boggle sorts of games with the goal of finding new and different games to fend off boredom and actually LEARN SOMETHING from my gaming experience. 


I've tried most of the free word games listed in Google's Play Store, depending on how many permissions they ask me to approve (for more on why that's critical, read this article I wrote for the website savvygeekmom.com: http://savvygeekmom.com/2013/12/is-installing-that-app-compromising-your-privacy. Here are my reviews of some of my favorites and former favorites:

1. 

   What a great game! 

   Word Weasel: This game falls under the Boggle category. Find as many words as possible from the 9 in the cube in 50 seconds. What adds a nice competitive element is that you see how you did versus everyone else playing and it shows you which words you didn't find. My only complaint is that some of the words are totally bogus or so obscure that no one in their right mind would know them. For example, they list the word “gwine” which, it turns out, is “the dialectal present participle of go.” Seriously?!  If you're going to list obscure words, as least tell me what they mean! But, overall, Word Weasel is a really enjoyable game and is my current favorite. Warning: Do not play this before bedtime because if you're as competitive as I, sadly, am, it will rile you up.
   
   
2. 7 Little Words: My husband told me about this game where you find the seven words based on clues. It's a nice, relaxing little challenge because there's no time limit and no penalty for incorrect guesses. Unfortunately, it crashed just before I reached the last level. I really, really hate that.
   
   
3. Pressed For Words: This is an anagram game where you try to spell as many three, four, five and six letter words with the six given. I like the fact that you can see what you've already spelled. Fun.
   
   
4. Words With Friends: Sure, playing this Scrabble-like game against your friends is oodles of fun, but like most Zynga games (Hanging With Friends was another favorite), it eventually crashed on my Samsung. Yes, I did report it and received no response from Zynga. No wonder they're laying people off. (Interestingly enough, according to usatoday.com, Zynga has been replaced as the number one maker of games played on Facebook by king.com whose apps also historically crash on my cellphone.)
   
   
5. Word Drop: This game is a curious, enjoyable take on Boggle. The letters keep falling from the top of the screen and you've got to find as many as possible before they build up. The graphics are wonderful and it's got a nice leaderboard.
   
   

6. 

   Lost Words - Gotta give this one another go.

   Lost Words: I had this on my phone and deleted it because it was too hard, but after reading the directions properly (my bad), it's back on. You've got to six tries to find all of the hidden letters of a given word. Correctly placed letters are shown in green, while misplaced letters are shown in orange. Maybe I'll take an aspirin before I play again. I love the fact that this app doesn't ask for a boatload of permisssions. You shouldn't have to grant a software company access to your contact list before you play a game.
   
   
7. Bonus Wordz: Another newbie to my Samsung, it's a Boggle-like game with really cool twist where you get bonus points for using color patterns. I just started playing so I haven't made any of the leaderboards (it would be really nice if you could see beyond the top 100 players), but I will!
   
   
8. Words By Post: My favorite alternative to Scrabble and Words With Friends, this -known game has all the charm of those other two games without the intrusive permissions required by the others. Love it and the developers are responsive when you have a problem.
   
   

   

   The BEST Scrabble clone ever!

And now my FAVORITE new website which I'm finding very helpful for helping me find new words: wordhippo.com (www.wordhippo.com). Man, what doesn't this site have?! You can look up word meanings, find opposites, discover rhyming words, see examples of words in sentences, find translations, see different tenses for words, hear their pronunciations, and more. The site is very clean looking and easy to navigate. It's a great reference tool that I find myself using every day.


Do you have any word games that you adore? PLEASE share them with me. I love playing new games and learning new words.


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Thank you for reading! Please come back again soon. Hopefully, the groundhog will predict an early Spring on Sunday and I won't have to eat him...(kidding, kidding...) Have a great weekend!

My 9 Favorite Free Apps Right Now

A Bubble Mania screen.  I feel so sad when the Mother Cat cries because I couldn't save her kittens!

If you've got a smartphone, chances are that you spend a good amount of time on it. I heard Dr. Oz on the radio this morning saying that most of us are within 5 feet of our phones at all times. There are a few apps that I'm having quite a bit of fun with these days and I just want to share them with you. All are free, require a minimal amount of permissions, and since I have an Android phone, they're available in Google's Play Store. (Note: for more information on why permissions are critical when you're downloading an app, visit this article I wrote for the website savvygeekmom.com: http://savvygeekmom.com/2013/12/is-installing-that-app-compromising-your-privacy.)


Anyway, here they are:

• Bubble Mania – I love the apps made by King.com (Candy Crush, Farm Heros Saga, etc.), but they invariably crash on my phone. This app is similar in the sense that you can buy power ups and have to wait a set amount of time for new tokens to play the game, but so far it hasn't crashed on my Samsung Confuse. To play, you have to pop three bubbles of the same color to save the Momma Cat's kittens. Obviously, the levels get more and more difficult, but I'm finding that if you play a certain level often enough (meaning I haven't been able to figure it out), eventually, I can break through. I think that's because the programmers know that if it's too hard, you're going to delete it. Bubble Mania is made by Team Lava, a firm I'll look out for when I invariably get tired of this game.
  

• 

  The icon for News Hog

  News Hog – This is where I get my news. Their menu of “sections” is broad an includes top news, science, health, etc. I can get my favorite Lifehacker updates on here as well. News Hog is updated often, even on the weekends, which I especially like.
  
• Gym Pal – I recently wrote about my daughter's passion for gymnastics and the fact that she's started competing. Since our family is focusing on her competing against herself, rather than others, Gym Pal provides a handy way to keep a record of her scores. I can enter the day of her meet and her numbers in various events. It then tabulates her final score. It's a nice way to chart your young gymnast's progress.
  
• Most Popular Ringtone – There aren't many ringtones in this package, but I like many that they offer which include two “romantic love” songs, a few Christmas songs (that I'll probably use in the summer just for the irony), and some “beautiful music” tunes. I'll probably, at some point,use most of them...except for the Exorcist tone. That's just creepy.
  
• Kaleidoscope Magic Draw – I just reviewed this app for savvygeekmom.com, so I won't go into it in depth, but for mindless fun, give it a try. It makes even the most inept person an artist.
  
• Pressed For Words – I am a word game-aholic and this one is really good. You have to spell as many 3, 4, 5, and 6-letter words as you can before the timer runs out. I love it when a game shows you the words you didn't get, as this one does, so I can try to learn from my mistakes.
  
• Word Weasel – Match your word-finding wits against others in this take on the game, Boggle. I love the ranking feature that shows you where you are against other players. My best rankings come at odd hours when no one else is playing. Yeah!
  

• 

  The icon for Twilight

  Sketch Guru – This really nice sketching app, by the same people that brought us Kaleidoscope Magic Draw, allows you to either make your own drawings or you can grab one of your own photos from your phone's gallery and draw on it. I've taken photos of my kids and created pencil drawings from them that look as if I'd paid for a portrait. An easy app that is quite enjoyable.
  
• Twilight – There's a boatload of research that suggests that exposure to blue light from phones, tablets, etc., before sleep disrupts the body's natural, or circadian, rhythm. This makes it harder to fall asleep. Twilight makes your device screen adapt to the time of day by filtering the blue spectrum and protecting your eyes with a softer red filter. Since I installed it, I have been sleeping better...until the hot flashes wake me up. 
  

Got any apps you'd like to share? Comment below. And check back in with me in a day or two for some easy Chinese New Year recipes in honor of the Year Of The Horse which starts on January 31^st.


Thanks for reading!

My 8 Favorite Smartphone Apps

I haven't done any reviews here in a while and it's high time! 

This has nothing to do with this article.  I just like the photo. 

My current cellphone is a Samsung Confuse...I mean Infuse.  I chose it a few years ago because of it's very large screen (4.5 inches!) and although it's been an okay phone, I've always found it somewhat confusing; thus my nickname for it.  Anyway, until I get a new one (any suggestions, people?), I am still living in the Infuse and thought I'd share my eight favorite apps with you.  All are were free, although I'm not sure if they still are, and were found via the Google Play Store.  They are not listed in order of preference; I think they're all good.  Again, these opinions are purely mine; investigate on your own to see if they might suit you. 

1.  Cozi Family Calendar - I've had an account for this calendar (the website is http://www.cozi.com/live-simply?redir=home) for a few years but never used it until recently.  I now LOVE it!  I can post stuff on there, even though I still write it down in my paper calendar, and my husband gets updates on his phone.  I set it to send weekly email reminders to family members so that even my son, who does not have smartphone, can get the schedule for the week.  No more "Mom!  You didn't tell me..." conversations.  No more missed appointments!  No more "I didn't know I had a game" arguments!  The app also contains ToDo lists, a grocery list, and has a Journal feature so you can "jot down a quick story" and/or add a picture.  Do I rely on it?  Nope.  Don't believe in getting even more dependent on electronics than I already am.  But it IS a pretty nifty and fun app.

2.  AP Mobile - Since we don't get a daily newspaper delivery anymore (too expensive and wasteful) I rely on this app for delivering my news.  You can get Top Headlines, Entertainment, Oddities ("18 Foot-Long Sea Creature Found Off CA Coast"), Technology, Business, Lifestyle, Travel, and Health & Science Headlines. 

3.  Beat The Traffic - My buddy, Ann, introduced me to this app this past summer.  When I play hookey down the Shore, this app helps insure I make it back in time to pick up my daughter from school.  It shows current traffic hotspots I should avoid or those I will inevitably hit which is great because my local radio station doesn't always have updated info.   It also lets me create a route and save the places I use the most.  It does have other features which, I guess, would allow me to set up traffic alerts and access webcameras, but you have to upgrade to get those.  Since I don't want to spend the money, I just use it for traffic info. 

4.  My Personal Memory Trainer - Memory exercises have been proven to improve your memory and now that I'm menopausal this, combined with a a cup of Salada Brain Boost Green Tea (it contains Gingko and Ginseng), is helping me stay on my game.  The app works on improving spatial and working memory, focus, chunking, and your concentration skills.  It also charts your progress.  A fun app that works the grey matter. 

5.  UVocab - This is another fun app that helps me learn.  Truth be told, I am a wordgame-a-holic and I love learning new words.  This app not only gives me new words to learn, but it tests my vocabulary and shows me the words I failed on.  I can then learn them and take them off my Failed list.  I'm having a blast with it and my daughter gets a kick out of the fact that while she has her vocabulary list to learn, so Mom has one, too. 

6.  TeslaLED - A simple, yet very bright light I've used in hotel rooms to check for bedbugs, during power outages, and just in the dark to find my way and not wake up a sleeping husband. 

7.  Newshog - Yes, AP Mobile is where I get my news, but Newshog gives me Lifehacker updates.  In case you don't know about Lifehacker (see the list of Sites I Like to the right of this post), it's an incredible site that has "Tips And Downloads For Getting Things Done."  I've learned a lot from it and LOVE reading it.

8.  Weather Channel - Every day, my kids ask me about the weather and every day I check this sucker.  It lists the weather for the next 9 days and I can see hourly predictions as well.  Is it always accurate?  No, but it's probably up there with anything I hear on the radio. 

So why am I listing only 8 apps I love and not a nice round number like 10?  Because that would be a lie!  There are apps that came on my phone which I don't use and can't get off the damn screen and that really ticks me off.  The eight above are the ones I use all the time; they, along with my clock and camera, are the ones I depend on every day. 

Have a great day!  Thanks for reading!