GeoZilla Allows Full Access To Your Family Whenever You're Not With Them

'Tis the season when many of us are giving our children cellphones for the first time. Along with this freedom, of course, comes our need to make sure they're okay (we giveth a little freedom, we taketh a bit back for peace of mind).   Most cellphone trackers drain batteries like crazy. And what use is a tracker if your phone is dead? 

 

Enter GeoZilla! 

 

This app uses battery-friendly location tracking methods (WiFi, cell towers, etc.) as it searches for the location of your kid, or anyone in your group, when YOU ask for it as opposed to constantly tracking the location.  This feature dramatically increases your battery's life since it's not constantly draining power.  You merely push the Refresh button on your app when you want to track your someone.  GeoZilla also integrates with Facebook and Swarm so you can find your family when they check-in on social media; this saves you the trouble of logging in to social media with your family member's account credentials. When they broadcast their location to their friends, you'll know!

 

What else do I like about GeoZilla? 

• You can receive a notification when someone arrives or leaves a certain area. So if your cocky 6th grader decides to detour to the local 7-11 when he's supposed to be at the library, you'll know! 
• You can see the battery status of your child and any others in your family group. That means that when my teen's battery is low (as it too often is), I can send him a message to plug in! 
• GeoZilla offers cross-platform location tracking, so you can share the family map with Android and IOS devices. 
•  It offers a delayed update which stores locations so you'll never miss their whereabouts. 
• You can send a request for your family's location to their GPS tracker so you'll always know where they are.
• You can chat free with your child or anyone in your group and share pics and video.
• You can leave check-ins to let people know you're okay and have arrived safely.  How helpful would that be on long trips!

In other words, GeoZilla allows your family to communicate, seamlessly, whenever you're not together!

 

Watch this YouTube video to learn more about GeoZilla:

 

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I had the pleasure of asking Alex Sharov, GeoZilla's CEO and co-founder, a few questions:

Q: How did you get the idea for this app? 

 

Mr. Sharov: Since I travel a lot, I am always nervous not being near my daughter. She lives in Texas and is about to reach the age to have her personal cell phone (kids sure are getting older quicker these days). I wanted a way to know her location when I’m far away – to know she’s safe. The idea flourished when I met two developers and a marketer that were doing their own app exchanging geo-location side project for couples. My last jobs were building mobile apps, mostly in enterprise. So when pitching to the investor, WeRocks, he actually suggested we change the app to target families, kids first, not just couples. I connected with this right away. The main challenge of this project is giving children the feeling of parent’s presence and being aware of the events in their life, without the a parent breathing down their neck

Q: How old does a child need to be to use this app?

Mr. Sharov: Any kid that has a smartphone connected to the Internet would be perfect for this app, even if the kid does not open the app a single time. As to using this app by the kid himself, say, to see where the parents are, I’m not sure. It depends – my daughter is six and was comfortable freeing up ipad memory in the settings. I believe if all setup/sign up routine is done by the parents, kids 7 and up could easily use the app to see where his/her parents are. 

 

Q: Has this app been approached to track elderly adults as well?   

Mr. Sharov: Yes – the same way it's done with kids. 

 

Q: What modifications/improvements do you see to this app in the future?
 

Mr. Sharov: We're currently working on things that would ease inner-family communication like: household to-do tasks -one can assign to another member while she 's in the place (or near it), where the task can be done. For example, "Pick up laundry " at  / you assign a place / .  The tasks are geo-based and the assignee is reminded when she passes by the needed place. A la "remember to pickup laundry."




Mr. Sharov went on to say:  

Actually with the app we aim to help build trustful relationships within the family, basing on safety and care. Just to avoid "Where are you?" messages.  But not on controlling and suspicions. In general we advise parents to talk with children about why they want to install the app instead of installing it without their consent or secretly.  


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Following its soft-launch for Android and iOS, the UK-based company received $450K in seed investment fromWeRocks and Angel Investors.  Special thanks to Alex Sharov for granting me this interview.

Mr. Sharov and, I'll assume, a happy customer!

 

Thanks for reading!

14 Tips For Visiting Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Last week, the family and I vacationed in Virginia Beach, Virginia (click here for tips on visiting this  lovely beach town) and, of course, we had to make a pilgrimage to at least one amusement park. 

Off to Busch Gardens Williamsburg we went!

For those who aren't familiar with it, Busch Gardens Williamsburg is owned by the firm that owns SeaWorld while it promotes Anheuser-Busch products, the latter company having developed the park as a marketing vehicle for their products. The theme is classic Europe, like the Parisian streets of France, towns of England ans Scotland, and the Oktoberfest celebrations of Germany. In all, Busch Gardens Williamsburg contains nine villages centered around six countries for you to explore. It also contains heart-stopping roller coasters, a variety of shows, shops, etc. designed to please attendees of all ages and courage levels. 

The Loch Ness Monster I was not courageous enough to go on.

 Here are my tips if you plan to visit Busch Gardens Williamsburg:

1. Look for discount tickets before you go.  You can sometimes find them at Wendy's and McDonald's, but here's a good site with links you can use to score discounts.  Why pay full price if you don't have to?
   
   
2. Wear good walking shoes. The park is large, but not as daunting as other (i.e. Hersheypark and Disney). It is, however, hilly, so bring comfortable walking shoes and if you're packing a stroller or wheelchair, know that you'll be using your muscles!
   
   

   

   Essential equipment.

3. Be prepared to use data. Busch Gardens Williamsburg has wifi, but it was spotty and unreliable.
   
   
4. Skip the app.  There is an app for Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but it didn't update you on waiting times for rides and didn't say which were closed.  Honestly, it added nothing to our experience.  In fact, most of the reviews in Google's Play Store were terrible and I can see why. Feel free to download the app, but don't rely on it.
   
   
5. Bring snacks. You're really not supposed to, but the guards were not confiscating any, so unless you're hauling in mass quantities of chips, you should be okay.  I packed carrots, granola bars, etc. which saved money on the unhealthy stuff the kids whined for.
   
   
6. Haul in water bottles. You're allowed one per person. I brought a small cooler with ice in Ziploc bags which kept the water cold and gave us additional cold drinking water. 
   
   
7. Purchase the souvenir bottle. It's worth it because refills are $.99 the day you're there and there aren't many water fountains in the park. Do what I do: after the initial drink, ask for refills that are half soda water and half juice or soda to cut down on amount of sugar you're getting. Oh, and you can always ask for a cup of ice water at any place that serves drinks.
   
   
8. Watch where you park either yourself or kiddies in the shade. Smoking is allowed in the park (DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!) and there's a good amount of shade you'll want to take advantage of. Just make sure you're not getting a whiff of cancer while avoiding the sun.
   
   
9. Use the tram as transportation. It goes from Italy to France to England and will save you walking. Plus the views are great!
   
   
10. See all the shows! They were all wonderful, especially Pet Shenanigans which featured rescued, trained dogs, cats, birds, a pig, and a rat. Adorable!
    
    
    
    

    

    LOVED Pet Shenanigans!

    
    

    
    

    
    

    
    
    
    

    

    Celtic Fyre was good, too!

     
    
    
11. Skip the boat ride. It's boring and really doesn't add any value to your visit.  Some narration would have made it a less comatose experience.
    
    
12. Stop by and see a Clydesdale. They don't put the ones that pull the sleighs on exhibit, but even the horses they have on display are beautiful!
    
    
    
    
    
    

    

    Breathtaking animals!

     
     
13. Have dinner at the New France Trappers Smokehouse – the food was DIVINE!
    
    
14. Don't worry about the alcohol. I was concerned that they sell beer here (of course), but I honestly didn't see anyone even remotely intoxicated. Whew!
    
    

I found Busch Gardens Williamsburg to be one of, if not THE CLEANEST park, I've ever been to (sorry Hersheypark) with pleasant, efficient staff!

One refreshing aspect is that you're not constantly being hawked by marketers; sure, there are stores, but the number of merchandising kiosks is minimal and no one is blasting over the loudspeaker, “Buy this!” or “Buy that!"  Sure, it's a for-profit place, but they're not trying to snag every penny out of you - at least not openly.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg one of those parks you can do in a day and not feel completely shredded at the end of your visit. I would return in a heartbeat!  Use my tips, go, and have a blast!

For more information, visit the Busch Gardens Willilamsburg website.

For Reading!

Please note that all photos of Busch Gardens Williamsburg copied from their website. 

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!!!