Liz Gumbinner

As we mentioned on Cool Mom Picks , our team is off on a little break this week. Don't we all need one these days? (The answer is yes. Yes we do.) But hey, before we took off, we wanted to put together some of our very favorite summer te…

Just in time for this summer's long-awaited 2020 Tokyo Olympics -- yes, they're still calling it that -- leave it to Apple to create the accessory to match. They're out today with 22 new, limited-edition International Sport Loop Collecti…

Last Amazon Prime Day , my partner bought an outstanding pair of Sony Noise Cancelling headphones , which are by many accounts the best best noise-cancelling headphones of 2021. He has not stopped raving about them for an entire year, an…

Each time there's a live streaming Apple Event to announce the new products and updates, we watch diligently to see what's new for parents and families, or which advances and improvements will actually make our lives a little easier, mor…

Over the past year, I have been so grateful for the sleep stories on Calm and some of the Apple Music playlists to help me fall asleep. The one issue: I was sometimes waking up in the middle of the night, my AirPods still in my ears...my…

This week in our Out Tech Your Kids Facebook group , we were asked how to prevent a Facebook hack, and specifically, if were any security measures to take that might help. And yes, yes there are! Here, a few really simple tips to help pr…

Welcome to May, the month in which top brands lets everyone in the press in on all their new products supporting and celebrating June's Pride Month. Some of these products...well, it feels like pandering TBH, but in the case of Apple, th…

This past week, we had a fantastic chat with college coach and essay consultant Betsy Cadel on the Spawned Parenting Podcast. She offered so many incredible tips on making the college search and application process easier and less stress…

Have you noticed lately there's been a huge uptick in text spam? So of course, I want to report it to...someone. Anyone! Turns out it's so much easier than I had expected. Now when I say text spam, I don't mean political candidates you'v…

Every year I swear , this is the year I get organized! This is the year I find the best ever to-do list app and put everything on it and finally check things off my list instead of losing them forever and make more time for the things I …

I am not exaggerating when I say that I cried after watching a presentation about Apple's new, totally free, Make Your Holiday at-home family program . Our kids have been through so much, and whenever I think of all the companies that ha…

Just yesterday, Google launched their 2020 Election Google Trends page, which allows you to see exactly what the rest of the country is searching for these days. And as a parent, I bet civically-minded kids would love to learn more about…

We've always said that all screen time is not created equal! And on this week's Out-Tech Your Kids podcast , we're talking about the benefits of social media for kids. Social media tends to get a bad rap -- let alone specific channels li…

"Don't read the comments" isn't going to fly when your kids are old enough to watch YouTube videos without you around, let alone managing their own TikTok accounts. But learning how to be a responsible commenter is a skill that comes in …

With the news last week that Zoom had some big security concerns to patch up, educators of all kinds started seeking out Zoom alternatives for schools and other kinds of remote learning. Especially after the NYC DOE took the big step of …

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who pronounce GIF with a hard "G" as in GRAPHIC...and those who are wrong. (And yes, I know that GIF creator Steve Wilhite pronounces it with a soft J, but unless the acronym now stands f…

When you think "voracious reader of the classics" you don't generally think at the same time "..and big game, toor!" And yet, that's how I feel every time I open up Dear Reader. Free with Apple Arcade , this fun, quippy, clever, and fair…

What you do after the kids are in bed on Valentine's Day -- that's your business. What you do while the kids are still up and wanting to hang out with you though? Well, we can help with that. As the resident cinephile, I've put together …

We used to say "photos or it didn't happen," but it feels like 2020 is all about "filters or it isn't Instagram." You may have noticed folks you follow using wacky filters -- or oddly flattering filters that bathe them in a beautifully h…

If you've got a kid on an iPhone or an iPad, this week's iOS 13.3 update (as well as iPad OS 13.3 )has some serious parental controls that we think you'll be happy to know about. Introducing Communication Limits Starting his week, there'…

There are some folks on our lists who love tech gifts, but prefer the more practical tech gifts to the gaming systems or the entertainment consoles. Or hey, maybe they love both but just have some specific needs this year. If that's the …

I was so honored to return as a judge for the second annual Seriously STEM awards, honoring the best educational STEM toys. In collaboration with STEM.org, and with judges including educators, journalists, science museum directors, and i…

Sometimes I discover a new company at a tech press event that I'm so excited about, I run right over here to tell you about it. And sometimes, that product is so perfect that I first make a quick stop at the company website to buy one fo…

I often like adding Boomerangs to an Instagram Story to help change things up from still photos. But then, I either have to go shoot a Boomerang in Instagram (and figure out what to shoot) or open the Boomerang app itself. Not one of lif…