5 Pieces of Home Technology to Invest in ASAP

May 28, 2019 by 2 Comments

 

 

Technology continues to exceed our expectations, making our lives more convenient than ever imagined. These are a few of the best home technologies that are sure to make your home life easier.

Home/Office Automation

e9e2e6195c3153d97a1547661b388ac0.jpeg

Image via Flickr by mikemacmarketing

With all the available convenient home technological devices, it’s important to have a good home/office automatic system. Pairing these devices with Amazon Alexa or Google Home can make it easier than ever to remotely control your household. Home/office automation devices can order food for you, purchase items from Amazon, and even provide you with expected weather conditions.

Smart Thermostat

The temperature in your home affects your comfort levels, your sleep quality, and the money in your wallet. Adjusting your thermostat to automatically drop a few degrees as you and your family prepare for bed can give you a better night of sleep in the colder months. It can also significantly decrease your home utility costs. A smart thermostat also gives you the opportunity to control your temperature settings when you’re away from the house. If the house is unoccupied for many hours during the day, you can drop the temperature and then increase it on your way home.

Smart Coffee

Coffee fuels the start of the day for many people. What if you could wake up and have a warm cup of coffee waiting for you? With a smart coffee maker, you can. You simply set your wake time, and the coffee maker will begin brewing before you even get up. With a convenient smart coffee maker, you won’t risk having to skip your morning cup of coffee due to lack of time. Some smart coffee makers give you the ability to adjust brew strength and the number of cups desired.

Smart Plug

You rushed out the door only to wonder if you turned off the coffee maker. We’ve all been there, with that nagging sense of concern that affects the rest of the day. With a smart plug, you can remotely access any electronic device that’s connected to it. Not only do you have the ability to see if you were forgetful, but you can also turn off these devices from your smartphone. This can alleviate concerns, enabling you to focus on your workday or your travels away from home.

Video Doorbell

For some reason, it seems like visitors always come at the most inconvenient of times. Your neighbor’s kid wants to sell you something while you’re in the middle of making dinner. The delivery guy drops off your expensive package while you are at work, leaving it exposed to the neighborhood. With a video doorbell, you no longer have to worry about inconvenient visits. You can access the video feed right from your smartphone, even choosing to communicate with the visitor. You also don’t have to worry about lost packages because you can view the delivery process.

Make your life a little easier by introducing these technological devices into your household. You may have always wanted your own personal assistant, and many of these devices can offer you the same advantages.

Filed Under: home Tagged With: ,

Lucid Audio HearMuffs

June 6, 2018 by 4 Comments

Parents will do anything within their powers to protect their children from harm. Right? Right! So, if we protect our children from  … say for instance … mosquitoes or harmful UV rays … shouldn’t we also protect their precious hearing? Of course, that is why I was happy to let my one-year-old nephew try out the Lucid Audio’s HearMuffs.

Growing ears of babies and toddlers are susceptible to damage. Providing hearing protection, especially at a young age, helps to ensure optimal hearing as your child grows. HearMuffs is a protective devise that is tauted as being the most advanced hearing preservation for infants and toddlers! Sounds great, but does it work?

I used the HearMuffs at a recent Track-n-Field event where there is historically a large amount of screaming by parents who are trying to encourage their competing children … and not to mention the sudden pop of the starter’s pistol at various times. Unexpected sounds or aggressive voices startles my youngster … which leads to a crying … which leads to crankiness .. which leads to the me leaving earlier thank expected from an event. By his reactions, it is clear loud noises hurt.

To gauge if the HearMuffs really worked, I closely watched my tiny human as the environment seemed to explode around him. Not a budge … nor flinch … only cute toddler smiles and drool. It’s a keeper folks!

HearMuffs compress sounds and has the unique ability to let in outside voices to comfort a child. The unit can even play soothing sounds. Options include Protect only, Soothe Mode allows voices to be heard while compressing potentially harmful noises to comfortable levels and Sounds Mode where the child can enjoy four soothing sounds — Lullaby, White Noise, Creek, and Heartbeat.

We were at the track meet for a few hours and my nephew stayed the entire time and did not have a tantrum. I really believe it was due to the HearMuffs.

Possible Hearing Hazards for Children

  • Loud toys
  • Television volume
  • Events such as festivals, sports events, concerts
  • Firework displays
  • Household appliances (vacuum, hair dryer, blender)

Rating: 4/5 stars

Donna Andrews

Super aunt of a 1 year old boy

Filed Under: review Tagged With: , , , ,

Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless Earbud Headphones #ad @bestbuy @Sennheiserusa #MOMENTUMTrueWireless

January 31, 2018 by Leave a Comment

Disclaimer- The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

wireless earbuds

Looking for awesome new wireless headphones? Look no further.  Best Buy now has Sennheiser’s flagship MOMENTUM range of headphones, which continues to break new ground through an outstanding fusion of advanced technology, uncompromised sound performance and the highest quality materials. Now, they have the peerless MOMENTUM ethos to a breakthrough new product – the MOMENTUM True Wireless. The premium Bluetooth earbuds set new standards for audio quality, comfort and craftsmanship.

Check out John’s first solo video review, done on the Sennheiser headphones.

Some additional Product Specs:
• Listening clarity that’s like ’being there’ thanks to Sennheiser’s category-leading wireless sound technology.
• Hassle-free connection via Bluetooth 5.0 and low latency for perfect audio and video sync.
• Fingertip control of calls, music, and voice assistant through touchpads on each earbud with one tap access to Google Assistant or Siri.
• Smart Pause – so your music pauses the second you remove an earbud.
• Two-Mic Beam technology for High-quality voice pick-up even in noisy conditions.
• Slim, lightweight design with ear tips in 4 sizes for all day comfort.
• Internal equalizer on the app lets you personalize your audio.
• Up to 4 hours of listening per charge with 2 additional charges from the case.
• Stay aware of your surrounding sounds with Transparent Hearing.
• Durable splash resistant (IPX 4) materials go as hard as you do.
water resistant headphones
If you, like Pinocchio, don’t want strings to hold you down, and are not a fan of wired headphones, check these out. Get yours here, and let us know what you think.
Filed Under: electronics, technology Tagged With: , , ,

Kids Learn to Love STEM with Zyrobotics’ Zumo Smart Toy

September 19, 2016 by 7 Comments

Kids Learn to Love STEM with Zyrobotics’ Zumo Smart Toy

Technology has undoubtedly made learning more fun for kids today. One of our favorite toys-for-learning is The Zumo Smart Turtle Toy. The Zyrobotics’ Zumo Smart Toy is seriously the perfect gift for any children Pre-K through 3rd grade! It makes learning science and math easy and fun with its ability to engage and go at your child’s own pace.

Summer has finally come to a close and the “Summer Brain Drain”  – yes, this is a real thing – has set in. Children, especially young children, often forget things they learned during the school year, so going back can be a challenge. So using cool learning toys like Zyrobotics’ Zumo Learning System and its mobile technology can give your kids a leg up in the STEM subjects while making them fun and interactive.

Kids Learn to Love STEM with Zyrobotics’ Zumo Smart Toy

While Zumo Turtle might look like an everyday stuffed animal, as soon as kids touch his shell, reading, science, and math games come alive on the screen. These reading, math and science games are geared towards three through seven-year-olds but is great for any child needed a refresher course in one of the STEM subjects taught in school.

“We developed Zumo after years of research into understanding how to make learning accessible for young children,” said J. MacCalla, Ph.D., CEO of Zyrobotics, creator of the Zumo Learning System. “Zumo Turtle incorporates game-based learning techniques with physical movement to give children a fun, engaging and immersive way to embrace and enjoy STEM and other subjects. As STEM continues to gain importance, learning math and science early can provide a head start for children in school and help prepare them for future careers in STEM fields.  “With math in particular, tactile-based learning helps children more easily grasp abstract concepts,” MacCalla said.

Kids Learn to Love STEM with Zyrobotics’ Zumo Smart Toy

Now through the end of October, the STEM Zyrobotics’ Zumo Smart Toy is on sale for only $159.99 and it is regularly priced at $299.00. You are saving $139.01. Get a jump start on your Christmas shopping and save a ton at the same time.

For more information, visit www.zumolearning.com. Zyrobotics LLC, an award-winning creator of educational technologies for children, was founded in 2013 as an inclusive technology company. As a Georgia Tech spinoff company, Zyrobotics addresses the diverse needs of children by developing personalized technologies to make a difference in the lives of children between the ages of three- to 12-years old. Their mission is to enable freedom through technology by developing products that are adaptive to each child’s capabilities. Their products uniquely focus on promoting the stimulation of social, cognitive, and motor skills development in a child. For more information, visit www.zumolearning.com.

Disclosure statement Disclosure- This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. For more information, please see “I Disclose”. https://havesippywilltravel.com/i-disclose

Filed Under: education, review Tagged With: , , , , ,

HP Envy Touchsmart Laptop at Best Buy

April 24, 2015 by 4 Comments

The reviewer has been compensated in the form of a Best Buy Gift Card and/or received the product/service at a reduced price or for free.

blog1

Laptops are a great way to keep your work with you where ever you go, from the afternoon commute to the beach- anywhere is your office.  The newest line of laptops not only run all those office applications, but also rock some excellent gaming and entertainment, giving users a real reason to bring their laptop with them on vacation. One of these new powerhouse laptops is the new AMD FX APU featured HP Envy.  The HP Envy Toushsmart 15.6″ touch screen laptop is built for multitasking and speed.  The processor makes daily tasks a breeze, as well as streaming movies, PC gaming, and loads those cat videos as fast as lightning.  The AMD FX APU makes short work of gaming and productivity applications, and all this with incredible performance to boot.  Laptops featuring the FX APU have the processing power of 10 cores, 4 CPU cores and 6 GPU cores.  The Envy also sports a 750 GB hard drive, 6 GB of RAM, and Beats Audio.  This leads to an unbelievable PC performance in gaming and entertainment, including video and music, bringing the laptop experience full circle including any application you could need (office stuff) or want (gaming stuff).
[Read more…]

Filed Under: technology Tagged With: , ,

Sprint Aquos SmartPhone

December 12, 2014 by 4 Comments

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Influence Central (#MC) for Sprint. I received a product sample to facilitate my review and to thank me for participating.

pic2I am a Sprint Ambassador and will be sharing my experiences testing various Sprint devices and services for the remainder of the year. I bring you the hottest new Sprint devices on the market, and today we are looking at the new Sharp Aquos on the Sprint network. The Aquos has quite a few interesting characteristics to set it apart from the crowd. The most obvious is the screen. One look and you can see the screen goes all the way to the edge. No longer is there a border around your screen. This is alot more interesting and fun then you would suspect. The only downside being you will want an edgeless phone more often then not now.

pic1In addition to the new edgeless design, this phone also features an emphasis on its camera. The camera sports two 8 MP (3,264×2,448 photo resolution; 1080p@30FPS video resolution) and 1.2MP front-facing cameras (1,280×960 photo resolution; 720p@30FPS video resolution). There is also a new mode of picture taking called night shot which makes both the subject and background brighter, for those difficult nighttime shots.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: technology Tagged With: , , , ,

Mario Kart 7

November 24, 2014 by 2 Comments

And now, for a timely Mario Kart 7 review. Sure this review is taking place after Mario Kart 8, but something to keep in mind is that this is the 3DS’s Mario Kart, not the Wii U. So instead of huge races with tons of characters red shelling each other, you have tight turns and blood thirsty Princesses on your morning train ride.

20140919_171459Nintendo have made a new Mario Kart for every console and one of their most recent is Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS. This game sports more tracks, easy multiplayer over the internet, and a bunch of characters to zip around tracks with. As an avid Mario Kart fan, but not a very good racer, I thoroughly enjoy Mario Kart with every iteration. The fun, light hearted racing can go from item using fun at break neck speeds to nail biting close finishes in a matter of moments. Never in any series of games have I cursed so many times at so many cute characters.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: gaming, Holiday Gift Guide, kids, technology Tagged With: , , , ,

Yuggler – The Family Friendly Vacation App

November 22, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Finding things to do with kids can be difficult, especially if you are new to an area (or if you have been in an area for a while and seem to have done ‘everything’).  That is, unless you have a friend who knows all the great spots to go to.  There is a new app that acts as that ‘friend’, Yuggler.  Yuggler is a new way to share kid friendly activities in your area with other parents.  The beauty of the new app is its price, free.  With a smooth, easy to navigate interface, it couldn’t be easier to find the best classes, events, museums, playgrounds, and more!  There are also reviews and photos available for viewing written by other parents just like you.

pic 10

The first step to using Yuggler is to download the app, which is available for iPhones, iPads, and iPods.  The nest step is to set your location then find fun things to do.  I would suggest first checking out some local stuff to get a feel for the app and what to expect.  Then bring it with you wherever you go.  On vacation, in some free time it can be interesting to check out the museums of the area or just a fun kids spot in a different state or country.  5 stars is 5 stars, especially when corroborated by others.  No matter where you are, you are almost guaranteed to find a good time for your family.  You can even promote special activities like holiday decorating, fun runs, and the like, so this acts as both a local message board as well as a reviewing platform/location sharing technique.  The possibilities are only limited by your creativity, so get looking.  The most recent update included it ability to link Pinterest to Yuggler to further expand its sharing power.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: technology Tagged With: , ,