Liz Gumbinner

Each year, there's one tech gift that we see and go...yup. That's going to be the one everyone wants. And this year it's the new Collector's Edition Propel Star Wars Drones that I got to check out at a top secret press preview event this…

Gaming has taken over the world -- or at least our kids' brains, same as it did when we were kids (ahem). But what our kids have that we didn't have back in the day is such an amazing collection of cool gamer school supplies. Whether the…

If you've ever tried dragging a bunch of tired kids and all of their luggage around an airport while searching for a charging port, a snack, or a bathroom -- let alone the gate for the next leg of your flight that boards in five minutes …

For ages now I've touted the wonderful benefits of Boomerang for Gmail to help me better manage my incoming and outgoing email, and it seems the folks at Google like the feature themselves. Because now Gmail has actually incorporated Boo…

If you...oh. I mean, if your kid (ahem) ever wished they could zip around on Luke Skywalker's Star Wars X-34 Landspeeder , that wish is about to be granted. Thanks to the help of Radio Flyer , Lucasfilm, 12v rechargeable battery power --…

My kids love writing and they love doing art, but sometimes they don't know what to do with that blank sheet of paper or the empty Procreate screen . (That's my manga-obsessed daughter's digital illustration iPad app of choice, by the wa…

Yes, International Emoji Day is a thing. 21st century, y'all! And while we've described that the upcoming addition of custom emojis to your keyboard will lead to some creative options, there are some awesome sets of emojis we'd really li…

If you're an Amazon Prime member that survived Prime Day 2017 without spending all your money on vitamin supplements and Hummel figurine knockoffs, take a breath, clear your palate, and be sure to check out the new Amazon Exclusives page…

Sometimes I see a phone accessory so gorgeous, I just want to eat it up. Which I know sounds weird, until you see the beautiful ice cream-colored pastel leather wallet-style phone cases for iPhone and Galaxy phones , via UK's Snakehive L…

The mixtape will just not go away, and that's just fine by me. In this case, the beloved cassette of the days of yore now comes in form of a new MP3 player called the Mixxtape , courtesy of wildly popular Kickstarter campaign that blew a…

While it was announced on May 30, a lot of parents still don't know that the FTC announced refunds are now available for unauthorized in-app purchases on the Amazon Appstore . That means you, kids, and your itchy little in-app purchase-h…

I'm grateful to my daughter who (much to the chagrin of tweens and teens everywhere, I'm sure) tipped me off to a trick I wasn't aware of: Kids can easily download new apps to their devices without your knowledge, if you have Apple Famil…

If you missed the boat on photo gifts for Father's Day or Mother's Day ...no, wait! You didn't! We all live in the land of the smartphone cam, after all, and if you've got a camera -- especially that dandy iPhone 7S -- and a place to pri…

We love excuses to shop for cool new tech, and we love excuses to shop for the cool dads in our lives. Put them together...and we've got some really creative, fun ideas for cool tech gifts for Father's Day. Whether he's a traveler, an ad…

There are so many cool educational channels on YouTube for tweens and teens, but I don't think that a lot of parents think to open our YouTube app when we look for educational resources for our kids. But we should. Let's put it this way:…

It's amazing how far home tech design has come, even since we started this site six years ago. What once may have looked sleek and amazing -- a baby monitor, a humidifier, even a lawnmower -- now looks clunky and dated compared to what's…

I'm still making good use out of my trusty, late 2013 MacBook Pro, but what I'm not making good use out of is the original power adapter and cord. It frayed (as with so many Apple cords over the years, sigh) and I immediately replaced it…

We're all for loading up our kids' tablets (or uh, the ones they steal from us) with apps that help keep them entertained while hopefully imparting a little more educational value than "how to shoot birds." Especially as summer creeps cl…

As someone who's not on Snapchat (what? I'm old!) I admit I'm excited about the novelty of the new Instagram 3D facial filters, as anyone who follows our @CoolMomPicks Instagram Stories can tell today. I put together the quick, Cliff's N…

We all issued a collective gasp around here this week, reading about the online game called Blue Whale , A.K.A. The Suicide Game. And of course right away I was hoping it was a big hoax. When I checked out the details, I was kind of hopi…

As someone who is definitely not a pro photographer, I'm all about the photo apps that help make my snapshots...let's say, a little more artful. That's why the Prisma photo effects app (iOS and yes, Android) is my latest photo filter app…

When I think of a smart handbag, my mind goes to looks. But in the case of the FYB London Smart Handbag , billed as "the world's smartest handbag," it's a combo of chic designer styling and useful technology that land it on my covet list…

I can't stop laughing at this concept: It's called Troll Cakes and yes, it's real. The premise is that you send Brooklyn baker Kat Thek any hateful message you've received -- Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat -- and they will send t…

We love our portable Bluetooth speakers around here, especially as the warm weather creeps in and we aim to take our favorite music (and ahem , favorite podcasts ) outside. That's why we're smitten with the brand new Beoplay P2 Speaker -…