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!

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!

 

 

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!

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.
  

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  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!
  

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  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!