A new book by tech writer Jaron Lanier is titled You Are Not a Gadget. Sometimes I think that’s worth remembering. The Internet has made our lives better in innumerable ways. But there is something to be said for disconnecting from the technology from time to time and reconnecting with the real world.

I was recently at a conference in Washington, D.C. There were about 300 attendees, and the host asked all to turn off their cell phones. This time, he added a special plea: “I know they are addictive, but please do put them away for the duration of the presentation.” As time went on – we are only talking about two hours here – I could see several people’s faces grow uncomfortable without their periodic email fix.

Photo Credit: Sam Chan on Flickr

I felt it too. My Blackberry was there, in my coat pocket, turned off. Sleeping, but semi-conscious. Did I have new email? Was I kidding – of course I had new email. From whom? Work related stuff I needed to get to? Some professional invitation that could be kind of cool? A message from my family? What if someone texted me? Hmm, and maybe someone had tweeted the latest article I’d written. Or posted it on their Facebook wall. My article could be in Google News now, or posted to my employer’s website. Maybe it got picked up somewhere else, too. Which reminds me, I should write a new one. I don’t have pen and paper, though – I should email myself a couple of notes. Oh, can’t – Blackberry’s off. Maybe just a quick peek. . . what is that speaker saying, again?

All over the audience, men and women began to sneak surreptitious looks at their smart phones. It’s hard to stay unplugged, even for a couple of hours, even when you have something else to do, and even when you are specifically asked to.

A New York Times article recently asked whether readers felt closer to their smart phones or their spouses. Interesting question. I’d put it slightly differently. I routinely here people say that they “love” their new iPhone or iPad or new app. When is the last time you told someone that you love your spouse?

I now consciously try to take an otherwise blackberry-distracted moment during the day and spend it the old-fashioned way. I look around the street as I walk up the sidewalk. Gaze around the store as I’m waiting in line. Take a deep breath in the elevator instead of hunching over a little screen. Think about my lovely, loving (and loved) wife.

It’s not easy. I love my technology as much as the next person. But I also know that there are roses all around us. It’s up to us to smell them.

Thank you to Fooz Kids for providing me with an All-In-One pack to review. The opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint.

Scroll down to see how to get a free year of Fooz Kids!

My daughters love their daily computer time! It’s an activity that all of us look forward to. The girls, obviously, get to do something fun, and I get a little break. Like most kids, mine look for websites that feature characters from their favorite TV shows – Disney Junior, PBS Kids, Nick Jr, etc. – but also have a lot of fun with educational sites like Starfall. While they usually take turns playing games, lately they’ve gotten into watching videos online together, since I’m limiting their TV time more and more.

I used to attempt to control what websites the girls visit by putting bookmarks to all their favorite sites at the top of the browser, hoping they wouldn’t wander. That isn’t always the case, of course. What usually happens is the girls click on an ad which pops open a new window, where they click on something else, which leads them to yet another window, and so on. They have at least half-a-dozen windows open in the browser before realizing that they’re lost and start screaming, “Mom, there’s a problemmmmm!” I run over and fix it, just to have it happen again 5 minutes later. Maya, almost 7 years old, is not yet at the age where she’s curious about what else is ‘out there’, but I know the time will come. Maura, 4 years old, just likes to copy everything her big sis does!

This is why I was excited to try out Fooz Kids, a downloadable application that claims to provide kids with a “secure and entertaining Internet environment” controlled by their parents. We’ve been playing with it for a while, and I’m really liking what I see. There are TONS of activities for the girls to do on the web that I didn’t even know about and this software puts everything in one (somewhat) secure place!

SETUP

Setting up a basic Fooz Kids account is free, but there’s a fee to add certain features. It took a few minutes to download and install the software because I had to update Adobe Air, one of the system requirements. The Fooz Kids application is neat in that it takes up your entire screen and won’t close unless a parent puts in a password. This means that kids can’t go exploring (and potentially messing things up) on their parent’s computer. If you don’t have a computer dedicated to your children’s use, this will give you some peace of mind.

Before I introduced the girls to the software, I first took some time to get to know my way around the Parental Dashboard. I created an account for both of them, then removed anything that wasn’t age-appropriate or that I didn’t think would interest the girls (Bakugan, Ironman, Batman, Star Wars, etc.) While this is time-consuming, the system makes it easy in that it allows you to sort programs by gender and age range. Then you just go through and uncheck those that you don’t want your kids to have access to. I added a few websites to Maya’s “My Channel” – Starfall and our Flickr album – and that was it! I just needed to give my daughters a quick tour of all the Fooz Kids features before they were looking through it on their own.

PLAYING

The first thing the girls both did was take turns changing and dressing up their avatars. With so many different options, and more available at the Fooz Kids Mall, they could do this every day for a year and not design the same character twice. Switching from one user to another is as easy as just clicking on their avatars!

After they were happy with the way they looked, the girls browsed through all the content available in the website, video, and game folders. They weren’t too excited about the crafts, as almost everything we saw was a coloring page or printable, and I don’t have a printer set up with their computer. I have to do something about that!

The girls are particularly impressed with the Mail feature, as am I. A great introduction to email, Mail allows kids to safely send email to their parents and friends that are registered with Fooz Kids. Kids can add text, pictures, change the background, and even draw! They click on the avatar of the person they want to send it to, and it magically appears in the recipient’s inbox. I can see all these emails from my dashboard, but I also receive the ones addressed to me to my actual email account that I have connected with Fooz Kids. “When you’re gone on one of those trips, I’ll send you an email every day!” Maya said, referring to the blogger events and conferences I sometimes attend. I love it. I’m sure that emailing each other over and over will get old, though, so it would be nice if we had the ability to add friends and family that don’t have Fooz Kid accounts. Grandma, dad, Maya’s teacher. As long as a parent approves each and every email address, I don’t see why it can’t continue to be a secure component. Once we get a web cam, we’ll try sending each other Video Mail, too.

An message that Maya sent me… how sweet, right?

As for other features, Flix is something that I’m sure will be used often. Here you can find short video clips and longer movies, both educational and entertaining. The first video we watched was about Mexican dancing. My favorite, favorite feature, however is Fooz Kids University. Here the girls take math quizzes. Math happens to be Maya’s least favorite subject, so you know I was thrilled to see this! Not because I like to torture her, but because I know she needs the practice. University makes math fun and rewarding in that kids win trophies and awards for their achievements. She unlocks the next level once she gets a certain number of stars on the one she’s on, a la Angry Birds. The dashboard is where the good stuff is – a report card and analytics that actually recommend math lessons based on Maya’s trouble spots. How cool is that? There are 757 total lessons at the moment, from Pre-K to 5th grade, so this definitely an activity that we’ll be doing for a long time.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I know we’ll definitely be using Fooz Kids on a daily basis. I realize I still have to supervise what the girls do online, but while they’re within the Fooz Kids application, I don’t feel the need to hover over them. I mentioned above that Fooz Kids is “somewhat” secure. I say this because it is still a web browser. It won’t block your kids from going to websites that are linked to from the sites they’re allowed to visit. Take the screenshot below, for example. Maura was playing a Max & Ruby game, and somehow clicked over to the Norwegian cruise lines website, where a form popped up asking her to sign up for more information. Leaving this page was as simple as clicking the big Back arrow at the top of the page. I tried to click on the Nick Jr Facebook page, and thankfully was unable to open that page, however.

After using the software both on my daughter’s ancient PC and my (newer) MacBook, it’s fairly obvious that the more current your operating system is, the faster and more efficiently Fooz Kids will run. The video is a little choppy on the girls’ computer. It would give me a headache, but they don’t seem to mind. It runs smoothly otherwise, and is easy for the girls to navigate with its bright colors and clear instructions. If I could change anything, I’d love to add some kind of timer feature that shuts down or freezes the software. The computer telling Maya that computer time is over is much more convincing than me telling her! I do appreciate that I can log into the Parental Dashboard from any computer, just by logging into FoozKids.com, so I can keep an eye on the girls without touching their computer.

Our all-access membership lasts for a year, so I’m looking forward to seeing what Fooz Kids has in store, and how they’ll improve upon the website in the coming months. Coming soon – books, a ‘cloud’ where kids can store and share their favorite media, a pet section, and a treasure box that gives kids rewards such as Silly Bandz, gift certificates, and toys for completing activities.

Fooz Kids memberships range in price from $1.99 – $6.99 a month, depending on the options you’d like. An annual subscription is the best value. To sign up for a FREE Fooz Kids account, click HERE. Using that special link, you’ll get an entire year of the basic plan for free!

Please click here to learn more about Fooz Kids. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #cleverfooz

We’ve been FiOS Internet customers for years. In my opinion, it is the fastest Internet service available! This really hit me when I was in Texas last month, visiting my mom. My brother, sister, and I were all sitting at the kitchen table with our laptops in front of us, frustrated that we couldn’t, respectively, open a webpage, watch a YouTube video, or send an email. My connection was so weak!

“The Internet is really slow when we’re all using our computers at the same time,” my sister said. Seriously? That never happens at my house, and we have so many devices connected at once. Two desktop computers, a laptop, a netbook, iPad, Wii, Xbox, cellphones, etc.

Unfortunately for them, FiOS isn’t available where they live. Yet. Once it is, you know I’ll be making my mom switch over right away. Why? It’s reliable. That’s probably an understatement, actually. I don’t think our Internet has ever gone out (other than when we had no power for a week, but that’s a whole ‘nother story!) Videos and photos upload like a flash, and we stream movies daily without a hitch.

Speaking of switching, in mid-April, we finally decided to switch our cable to FiOS as well. A couple of salespeople were walking around the neighborhood taking orders, and talked me into it. What can I say? I can’t say no to a pair of cute guys LOL. All jokes aside, they caught me at a good time. I’d been taking a look at our expenses, and our Internet, phone, and cable bills were not pretty. We ended up combining all three into one package and are now saving more than $40 a month! That’s amazing, isn’t it? Plus, our FiOS Internet was upgraded so it’s even faster now, and we have several hundred more channels than we had with our previous cable provider. Like I said, amazing. Honestly, I’m not sure what took us so long to get FiOS TV! I think it was mostly laziness on my part.

Now that I’ve raved about FiOS Internet, what appeals most to me about FiOS TV? My answer probably changes from day to day.

• Kid’s programming. I’m not ashamed to admit that I plop my kids in front of the TV for half an hour (okay, an hour) after dinner so I can check email, catch up on work stuff, make a phone call or two, and go to the bathroom… alone. FiOS TV’s children’s programming is wonderful. I’ve discovered new channels like The Hub and Vme that we didn’t have before! Combined with what I can find On Demand, there is always something good for the girls to watch.
• Widgets. The other day I figured out that you can tweet directly from the TV while you’re watching a show. Cool, huh? It just pops a Twitter window right next to the video so you don’t miss anything. I need to get a little faster at using the remote to type, but it’s a neat feature. You can use Facebook, too.
• On Demand movies. We can do a Movie Night any night! There are so many movies available to rent from the comfort (and convenience) of our living room. There’s a feature called Flex View which I just learned about that allows you to rent or even buy the movies, which you can then watch on any of your FiOS-connected TVs, your computer, and your cellphone!
• Apps. Did you know that Verizon created FiOS Mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Android phones? I can control my DVR from anywhere now, which is particularly helpful when I’m traveling, as I hate to have to re-program it all when I get home. The app also lets you use your mobile device as a remote, as you can see to the left, although I haven’t actually tried this yet.

So… these are just a few FiOS features that I love at the moment. I see us being loyal customers for years to come, especially with all the new stuff they’re always rolling out. Verizon knows that moms have hectic schedules, and with Verizon FiOS TV and Internet service they’re trying to make our lives just a little bit easier! To see if FiOS is available in your town, click here.

Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Verizon FiOS blogging program for a gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Other than its ability to stream Netflix movies, I knew else nothing about Roku when I received it earlier this month. I avoided reading reviews and didn’t even browse the website so I could give a completely objective opinion.

My first impression? Wow, this thing is tiny! I’m not sure what I expected… maybe something the size of a video game console or a DVD player perhaps? Nope. At less than 5 inches wide and only 1 inch tall, Roku is the size of my hand!

It’s so simple to set up. Just plug in the included red/white/yellow A/V cable from Roku to the TV. If you have an HDMI cable, that’s a better choice, but it has to be purchased separately. Then you follow the on-screen directions to add it to your home network. Don’t have wi-fi? No problem. You can plug an ethernet cable into it. And that was it! You control Roku with the included remote. It’s tiny and very basic, but that’s all you need. We were watching The Princess and the Frog on Netflix in maybe 5 minutes.

While Roku is best known for its partnership with Netflix, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it does so much MORE! Watch Amazon Video On Demand, listen to Pandora Internet Radio and stream your mp3s, NHL GameCenter for the sports fans, browse your Flickr photo albums, and even Facebook photos, too! I particularly enjoyed showing off my Flickr photos with family and friends. Even on a big TV, the photo quality was great. More channels are added all the time.

Most recently, Roku partnered with Hulu to provide Hulu Plus service on all Roku players. It’s not free, however – hence the ‘plus – but at only $7.99 is an affordable option. Cheaper than cable and a DVR and now subscribers can stream current hit TV shows like Glee, Modern Family, and 30 Rock in HD on their TV anytime they want!

Since it’s so tiny, Roku doesn’t consume much energy at all and always stays on (unless you unplug it, of course). In fact, it doesn’t even have an off button. I thought this was a little strange at first, but then found it to be really convenient. No waiting for a device to start up. Just turn on the TV, click over to the Roku Channel you want, and you’re good to go! It’s an awesome device. I can never complain that I have nothing to watch now!

BUY IT!

Roku players start at just $59.99… a reasonably-priced and practical holiday gift. There’s a 30-day money back guarantee and a one-year warranty on the device. You just have to decide which Roku to get! The useful comparison chart on roku.com should help you choose which model is the best for you (or that special someone on your Christmas list!) Plus, this weekend only, Roku is offering FREE SHIPPING on the XD and XDS models. This promotion started today (Friday, December 10th) and ends on Sunday, December 12th at midnight PST, so hurry! To get the deal, simply go to www.roku.com/freeshipping.

WIN IT!

Giveaway is closed. Winner has been notified and is listed here.

One of my readers will win their very own Roku XD! To enter to win, please visit the Roku Channel Store, take a look around, and leave a comment below telling me which channel (other than Netflix!) you’d love to check out.

P.S. – My friend Cat is also giving a Roku XD away over at 3 Kids and Us.

For extra entries:

• Subscribe to my feed by feed reader or email (or let me know if you already do). 1 entry.
• Follow me, @ohMariana, on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway one time using the Tweet button below, or copy this – #Giveaway! Win a Roku player and stream movies instantly! (Or cross one gift off your list!) http://thedomesticbuzz.com/?p=12553 – 1 entry.
• Like The Domestic Buzz on Facebook. 1 entry.
• Like Roku on Facebook at facebook.com/roku and/or follow them on Twitter @rokuplayer. 1 entry per action

Roku provided me with a product sample to facilitate this review, plus the giveaway prize for one lucky reader! Contest ends December 19th, 2010 at midnight EST. US entries only, one person per household. Leave a separate comment per entry and a valid email address. Winner, chosen at random, has 3 days to claim their prize.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a list of all my latest giveaways!

My oldest daughter has her own iPod touch now, so I’m always looking for fun new apps to download. My Living Stories apps offer adorable animated storybooks that contain beautiful artwork and narration and are a great solution for entertaining on-the-go or as an aid for teaching children to read at home. Classic My Living Stories include Princess & the Pea, King Midas, The Tortoise & the Hare, Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. These apps allow for your child to read along with English narration or read the stories themselves, while sounds and animation bring stories to life.

We recently tried out 3 of the 5 My Living Stories apps and my daughters have enjoyed them quite a bit, especially the Princess & the Pea story. The illustrations are sweet, the animation is subtle, and the stories are familiar, but still entertaining.

The controls are simple enough for even my 3-year-old to understand. Just touch the arrows to go backward or forward in the story, and the X to quit. A great feature of these apps is the ability to record your own voice to go along with the story. There are slots for up to four recordings, so in addition to mommy, daddy can “read” a book to the kids when he’s away on a business trip, or a child can record themselves reading and play it back. We weren’t able to test this feature out, however, because Maya has a first generation iPod touch, and you need an iPhone or iPod Touch with microphone capabilities. It sounds neat, though!

BUY IT!
Visit the My Living Stories page on iTunes to purchase these apps, at $1.99 each.

WIN IT!
Giveaway is closed. Winner has been contacted and is listed here.
Enter to win a $25 iTunes card by leaving me a comment telling me which My Living Stories story you think you’d like the most.

For extra entries:

• Subscribe to my feed by feed reader or email (or let me know if you already do).
• Follow me on Twitter (@OhMariana) and tweet about this giveaway (one time): iTunes #giveaway! Enter to win a $25 iTunes giftcard from #MyLivingStories – http://thedomesticbuzz.com/?p=10942
• Blog about this giveaway, linking to this post.

Contest ends August 5th, 2010 11:59 pm EST. US and Canadian entries only, one person per household. Leave a separate comment per entry & a valid email address. Winner, chosen at random, has 24 hours to claim their prize. Readers may enter the contest on multiple blogs but are only eligible to win one iTunes gift card as part of the My Living Stories contest.

Disclosure: I am participating in the My Living Stories program by Mom Central on behalf of Decode Entertainment. I received 3 free apps and a gift card as a thank you for my participation.

I’ve probably spent more $ in the iTunes store in the past 2 weeks than I did in the entire 2 years that I owned my iPod touch. There are just so many cool apps! I’m especially fond of photo-editing on the iPad… below are some photos and the apps that I used to modify them. Most are also available for the iPhone!

edited using CameraBag

edited using TiltShift Generator

just for fun! edited using Picturizr (free app)

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit:
5 Minutes for Mom ~ Go Graham Go! ~ Jolly Mom
Latina on a Mission ~ Look What Mom Found… ~ Mom of 3 Girls ~ Momspective
MomStart ~ New York Chica ~ Robyn’s Online World ~ Run DMT ~ Two of a Kind…

I’m so proud of my little brother, Michael. He’s a junior in high school back in Austin, Texas. This week he’s participating in I-SWEEEP, the International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering, and Environment) Project Olympiad, a science fair that brings together hundreds of middle and high school students from 70 different countries. They’ll be spending 5 fun-filled days in Houston, presenting their projects and doing a little sightseeing in their spare time.

My daughters aren’t in school yet, so I don’t keep tabs on the academic calendar, but I’m thinking we’re in the middle of science fair season, yes? Hopefully these tips can help you and your children create a fun project.

5 Tips for Parents for a Successful Science Fair Project

1. Pick a realistic project to complete: All too often kids pick science fair experiments and projects that are difficult to complete, leaving parents with a frustrated child, and students with no project to turn in. When brainstorming possible projects with your child, walk them through the logistics of completing the project so that you can flag any difficulties at the onset.

2. Start early: A science fair project can be a student’s first attempt at time management. Work with your child to plan out when he or she is going to work on their project to meet key deadlines.

3. Keep a record: It is obviously critical to record the data and information collected during the experiment, but you also might want to keep a photographic record that your child can use in their final display board. Pictures are worth a thousand words!

4. Follow the rules and requirements: If the rules stipulate no live animal displays, soil samples, hazardous materials, glass containers or animal products, don’t choose a project that demands such items to be displayed for judging. Always refer back to the rules and requirements of the project to ensure your child won’t be penalized or disqualified.

5. Get the judges’ attention: If you’ve spent countless hours working on a science fair project, make sure that your project gets the attention it deserves with a great poster board display. Check out www.artskills.com for great tips on creating an eye-catching poster that is sure to get noticed.

5 Presentation Tips for Youngsters

1. Practice out loud: Practice may not make perfect, but it sure does help. Aim for giving the presentation out loud to a family or friend in advance of the real date. Reading it to yourself off the paper doesn’t count!

2. No ifs, ands or buts: If you lose your place or get nervous, just pause a second, take a breath and restart your sentence. Avoid the tendency to fill in gaps with speech bloopers such as “um,” “er,” and “uhh.”

3. Keep an eye on your body language: Awkward shifting and hand gestures can be distracting to your audience. Practice your speech in the mirror or videotape it to see just how much you move while speaking.

4. Look ‘em in the eye: Ensure you make eye contact with your audience several times during your presentation. Eye contact keeps people interested and engaged in what you are saying. Plus, this small gesture will make you seem confident and look like a pro.

5. Don’t let a poor visual ruin your presentation: Make sure any visual, like a poster, is attention grabbing and complements your presentation. If you need tips on creating a poster, check out www.artskills.com for a step-by-step guide on quick and easy poster creation.

Tips above provided by ArtSkills, a company that specializes in posterboard accessories, including poster markers, lettering, and decorative items to make your poster board projects better, faster, and easier!

Cheesy title, but it’s true. I received it on Saturday evening, and it’s hardly been put down since.

First off, let me say that I’m a Mac girl. Always will be. I have an old iMac, a new-ish Macbook, and have owned a couple of different iPods. I’ve never bought anything on day one, though, so this was a big leap for me. I usually wait until the second generation of a product is developed. The 2G iPod touch was a huge improvement over the original, for example. Like most people, however, I had high expectations for Apple’s “magical” tablet so I decided to take the plunge… and I’m happy to say that the iPad has met or surpassed most of them.

Yes, it may look like a big iPhone or iPod touch, but it’s so much more than that. Hard to describe, really. Instead I’ll detail a ‘day in the life’ of my iPad, so you can see how I use it. Take into consideration that I’m home with my kids most of the day, so your iPad experience may differ. Below this is a summary of what I like and don’t like about it.

• 7:05am. I wake up a little before my alarm sounds and grab iPad to see if there are any important emails that I need to tend to. I then open up Safari and scroll through Google Reader to see what’s new and interesting in the blogosphere.
• 8:15am. Time for breakfast. While the girls are eating their Cheerios, I read the New York Times “Editors’ Choice” news over a cup of coffee. I see an article that may interest my husband, and email him a link to it instantly. The girls decide they want to go outside and play before it gets too hot. I take iPad with me, and even though I lose my Wi-Fi connection eventually, I can still read the paper because it’s automatically downloaded for offline reading.
• 11:30am. It’s time to clean up the playroom before lunch. I put on some Disney music so the girls don’t whine as much about picking up their toys. Whistle while you work…
• 12:30pm. Lunchtime. A friend is over and curious about the iPad so she plays with it for a bit. You can’t help but touch the screen when you see it. She’s fascinated by the photo app and sees one of our kids playing together. I email it to her with the touch of a button.
• 2:00pm. Naptime for the toddler, and the 5-year old is at a playdate, which equals ME TIME! I jump on the couch with my Snuggie on and iPad in hand, and watch the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy. The video fills the screen, so it’s easy to get immersed in it.
• 2:45pm. 40-or-so minutes later, the house is still quiet, so I pull up the WordPress app and work on a couple of drafts of blog posts. Typing on the touchscreen isn’t so bad when it’s flat on my lap in landscape mode. In portrait mode it’s a little harder because the keyboard is smaller and I have to type with one hand. iPad corrects my spelling automatically so I don’t have to worry so much about how I’m typing. Oh, and I found that my wireless Apple keyboard is compatible, since it has Bluetooth, so I may not have to invest in the $70 keyboard dock after all!
• 3:15pm. We have a surplus of apples sitting on the counter and I just happen to have half a package of puff pastry in the freezer, so I pull up the Epicurious app and type in “apple pastry” into the search box. A recipe for French apple turnovers catches my eye, and after taking a look at the ingredients, I pull out the puff pastry to thaw. I prop the iPad next to the stove so I can follow the recipe. An hour later, I have a delicious dessert to accompany my afternoon cup of tea.
• 5:30pm. I hear the ‘new mail’ alert while I’m making dinner. It’s an email from Facebook with a friend request. I find myself complaining that there’s no Facebook app for the iPad… but quickly realize I can just pull it up on Safari. Doh. I can even use the chat feature!
• 8:00pm. Bathtime and bedtime for the girls. We sit on the bed and I read The Frog Prince to them, one of Grimm’s fairy tales that I’ve downloaded in iBooks. It’s a short story, so the girls play with Doodle Buddy for a while, and then it’s lights out.
• 9:00pm. While watching TV with my hubby, I grab iPad to use Twitter and catch up on a couple of blogs. I noticed my mom is online with AIM, so I barely get the chance to say hi before he steals it from me to translate a word into Italian and look something up on IMDB. He then glances at AccuWeather to see what to expect the next day (he works in construction) before I take my iPad back.
• 11:30pm. Time for bed. I download a book to the Kindle app to try it out, but I prefer the iBooks interface. The orientation lock, which allows me to read a book laying on my side, is genius! I love winding down the day with a puzzle, so I pull up Sudoku and go through a couple of boards before I start dozing off.

What I do I like about iPad?

• Portability. It’s small enough to carry everywhere in my purse, yet it’s solid and well-constructed.
• Simplicity. There’s a home button at the bottom of the display, volume control and orientation lock on the side. Not much else.
• Speed. It’s fast. Web browsing, games, going from one app to the next… almost instantaneous.
• Battery life. Apple said to expect 10 hours on a single charge… I’m getting 12 at least. I received it on Saturday afternoon, and didn’t charge it until late Sunday night. The battery was at 9%. And this is with it being connected to Wi-Fi all day and played with on and off throughout the day. Considering I could barely get 3 or 4 hours out of my iPod touch, 12 hours is pretty awesome. It recharges completely in 3 or 4 hours.
• Web browsing. Being able to browse the Internet by touch is spectacular. Other than issues with Flash on Pizza Hut’s website, I haven’t encountered any problems. (Yes, I realize there’s a Pizza Hut app, but thought it was faster to use the website. Obviously not.)
• Email. It’s so easy to use. Whereas I used to dodge my inbox, I now find it hard to stay away. I can knock out emails in seconds with a few swipes of my finger. I can read and respond offline and the emails will be automatically sent once I’m connected to Wi-Fi again. You can add basically any email account – Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, and your personal domain email accounts.
• Video. YouTube. Netflix. ABC Player. It’s all there. On Easter we sat around the table and watched old videos of my daughters on YouTube. They load almost immediately.
• Sound. It’s better than I expected. Definitely superior to that of my Macbook, but not quite as good as an iPod, though I haven’t done side by side comparisons. It does tend to vibrate a little when the volume is high.
• Calendar and contacts. I’m going to be so organized now (I hope).
• Microphone. I can make Skype calls! Not something I’ll do often, but cool nonetheless. I’ll probably use the mic more to record voice memos when I’m too rushed to type a note.
• Ultimately, I love that iPad’s always at the ready… I don’t have to shut it down or turn it off. It feels good in my hands and doesn’t get hot like my laptop! Not even after hours of use.

What don’t I like?

• It’s heavier than I expected. 1.5 pounds may not seem like much, but it takes its toll on my wrists. This is something you don’t realize until you’ve had it for a few days.
• Wi-Fi is buggy. Sometimes it disconnects after I wake it from sleep, and doesn’t want to reconnect automatically. And it asks me for the password again, even though it’s saved. This is kind of annoying, but I hope it’s something Apple can fix.
• Glare. It’s a little hard to use outside, or near a window with direct sunlight. Just like my Macbook’s glossy screen.
• When it’s off, the iPad looks dirty. Fingerprints everywhere. I find myself polishing it with my sleeve before I pass it on to someone else. I don’t seem to notice this at all when I’m using it, though. And I don’t think there’s a solution.
• Google. It’s not my friend. The search feature if fine, but I can’t edit Google Docs. I’m also not a fan of Google Reader. I have to do a weird swipe with two fingers to get the page to scroll.
• I use Twitter a lot, but haven’t found a Twitter client I’m happy with on the iPad. Yet.
• It can’t print.

The two biggest complaints I’ve heard from others are that there’s no camera and no multi-tasking, neither of which seem to bother me much. If I need to do a vlog, I have my Flip, which is much more portable and easier to hold. Video conferencing? I have a webcam on my Macbook. I’m not sure it would be comfortable to hold the iPad at the right angle if it did have a camera anyway. I don’t want someone looking up my nose, ya know? Regarding the multi-tasking, there are rumors that multi-tasking will be added in iPhone OS 4.0. There will be an announcement on this later this afternoon. Yes, just heard multi-tasking is definitely in the new OS – one of 100 new features! I find I kind of like only focusing on one thing at a time, though.

Should you buy an iPad? It depends on what you’re looking for. My sister-in-law, for example, is a real estate agent and would love the 3G version to check her email on the go, and share MLS listings with her clients while in the field. My father-in-law wants one to check email and listen to music, and read his Bolivian newspapers online every morning. If you want an eReader, get a Kindle. If you want a portable computer, buy a netbook or a laptop. If you want something that can do a little bit of everything, buy an iPad. It’s in a category all its own.

I think I’ve said a lot in this post, but I’m sure I missed something. Feel free to ask me questions! You can also go back and read why I decided to buy an iPad in the first place.

Updated at 5:25pm: UPS guy just delivered my iPad! He said he had never had so many people greet him at the door as he did today. It almost made him want to buy one of these “contraptions” to see what it’s all about. LOL!

As I sit here waiting impatiently anxiously for UPS to deliver my iPad, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts and news I’ve gathered about it over the past week.

So why did I decide to buy one? I read a review of the iPad today that said “If you’re mainly a Web surfer, note-taker, social-networker and emailer, and a consumer of photos, videos, books, periodicals and music—this could be for you.”

And that is exactly who I am. I didn’t buy it to replace anything, though I did give up my iPod touch, and won’t be using my Macbook as much. I’m hoping that it will be a virtual notepad that I can pull out of my purse at anytime. A bookshelf. A TV. A music player. A photo album that I can show off whenever I feel like it. A bottomless recipe box. I have a feeling it will not disappoint.

• According to a report by leading market research company The NPD Group, the demographic groups most interested in buying an iPad are: current Apple owners, (82 percent), consumers with $100,000 or greater income (80 percent), and 18-34 year olds (78 percent). I fall into 2 out of 3 of those categories.
• For those of you that think the iPad is expensive, look at this chart of entry level prices for past Apple products (accounting for inflation).
• Flash is not iPad’s friend, so Apple kindly compiled a list of a handful of iPad-ready websites… CNN, New York Times, The White House, People Mag, etc. Nice. There are also some cool guided tours.

Accessories I need want to buy:

• a case… I’ve been looking at several but will probably wait a week or two to see if anything new comes out. I want something that protects iPad when it’s in my purse, but also looks stylish and can be used as a stand. For now I’ll probably keep it stored in a Ziploc bag when it’s not in use.
• a stylus… this would let me write on the pad itself and take full advantage of the drawing apps! I’ll probably go for the Pogo Sketch.
• camera connection kit… so I can upload my photos and edit them on the iPad. It’s available now and at $29, not too expensive.
• keyboard dock… maybe. But it’s like $70. So maybe not. It doesn’t come out until later this month so I have a while to think about it. And I have to see how it really feels to type on the touchscreen.

Apps I’ve downloaded:

• ABC Player – I purposely didn’t watch Grey’s Anatomy this week so I can watch it on my iPad. CBS is also streaming their shows on Safari.
• AccuWeather – Everyone needs a good weather app.
• AIM – To chat with my hubby on the couch next to me. Haha! And my mom in Texas.
• Boingo – with this app I’ll be able to get wireless access for $1.99 an hour at Boingo Hotspots worldwide. Also available for the iPhone and iPod touch.
• Craft Finder – From FamilyFun magazine. Tons of craft ideas!
• Epicurious – A digital recipe book. Cool.
• iBooks – A book reader!! Yay!
• Kindle – I just want to try it out and see how it compares to iBooks.
• Netflix – Looking forward to watching The Proposal in bed tonight! I hear it’s coming to the iPhone and iPod touch soon, too.
• Pandora – Love creating my own radio station.
• The Wall Street Journal – I think I have to subscribe to this.
• TweetDeck – It’s my fave Twitter app, but I may try a few others to see if anything better is out there.
• USA TODAY – Free newspaper, yay!
• WordPress – Duh.
• and a bunch of other free apps. As for paid apps, I’d love to buy iWork, Scrabble, Brushes, and a few more… but that will come later. I’m hoping that prices will go down a bit with time.

Earlier this week it was featured on David Letterman:
Top ten questions to ask yourself while waiting in line for the iPad.

Are you thinking about getting an iPad? Already have one? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

I remember, when I was a teenager, staying up late into the night listening to the radio. CDs were still fairly new and expensive, so sometimes I’d record my favorite songs onto a cassette tape. That changed once the price of buying music went down, and as my priorities changed. Once I bought an iPod touch and realized I couldn’t load my entire collection of songs on it, I looked for alternatives.

I’ve rediscovered my love for radio with an app called iheartradio. I’ve had it on my iPod for months now, and still use it almost daily. iheartradio streams hundreds of stations from all over the U.S, from rock to country, and everything in between. You can even listen to your favorite talk shows and American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest. Bookmark your favorite stations, tag songs for purchase on iTunes, and view lyrics to some of your favorite songs. The sound quality is good. I can listen to my favorite radio stations in Texas. Or see what’s going on in Hawaii. I like variety, and that’s exactly what I get with iheartradio.

Want to learn more? Visit iheartradio Online or download iheartradio on your mobile device. It’s free to download and free to use. Have an iPhone/iPod touch/iPad?
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