Tips and Tricks

If you're like me, you pretty much can't live without iMessage. And now that you can sync it between your iPhone or iPad and your MacBook, well, it's like a communication dream come true. Except when you need to turn it off. The buzzes a…

It's no secret that not getting enough sleep can seriously affect our health and overall well-being, so it's at the top of my list of resolutions for 2015 to get better sleep. And hopefully, more of it. If you're on the same mission, che…

We can't start the new year without first taking a quick look back at the 2014 posts that were most popular of the year. If you're interested in what caught the attention of our readers for the past 12 months, here are the top ten of the…

Last year, Nicole put together this wonderfully helpful post on how to take better holiday pictures of the family, and it's definitely worth another look today. At least if you think you might come across, oh, one or two photo opps of th…

I am always amazed by some of the creative holiday photo cards that come my way in the mail each year. I have some creative friends and family, I guess! I love them all of course, but there are always a few shots that take my breath away…

The holidays are coming—as in, fast —and that means company. While we're always thinking about organization tips like cleaning off the china or straightening the bookshelves, it's easy to forget about what a presence tech is in our homes…

In addition to fun-sized everything, one of the best parts of Halloween is seeing all of the adorable ( adoraboo ?) photos of people's kids in costume . Some of you are so clever with these costume ideas you dream up for your kids! We wa…

With Instagram having officially passed Twitter in mobile users this past spring, it's not surprising that the other social networks are trying to take a page from what's successful about Instagram. I've always loved all the great apps f…

I cannot tell you how many times I call a fellow iPhone user with FaceTime Audio and they're all, What is this? followed by Wow, why don't I ever use it? It seems that a ton of people, at least in my wide circle of friends and family, ar…

I have to be honest: Siri and I aren't all that close. I usually only call on her, well, when I need to call someone else. Call home . Call The Folks . Call Yvette, mobile . But this thin rapport is not iPhone's fancy personal assistant'…

As someone who gets literally hundreds and hundreds of emails a day ( note to everyone I know: sorry I haven't gotten back to you yet ), I have been going absolutely nuts figuring out if there was some sort of Gmail shortcut to allow me …

As fans of the planet--and yeah, humanity in general--we're always looking for ways to live more sustainably and to help our kids be more aware of it too. And as we've all discovered over the years, it doesn't have to be about massive li…

I'm often asked for tips for teaching kids photography, because as my friends know, it's one of my favorite things in the world. Whenever my son asks to use my camera to take a photo, I do whatever I can to maintain my chill. Meanwhile, …

I have used a funky purple keyboard cover (specifically, one of these iSkin covers) for the past few years but was recently told by the technician at the Apple Genius Bar that it's not always safe to use a keyboard cover on a computer. I…

By now, texting acronyms like LOL and OMG are pretty pervasive in pop culture; my daughter knew them in preschool, you hear them from the least hip anchors on TV morning shows, and heck, your own parents probably have texted you an LOL a…

Just this week my 5-year-old son busted me for using my iPhone at the breakfast table. It's a no-no in our house, but I was reading something important . (It was a post ranking the Hot Guys of World Cup. See? Important.) Turns out, this …

As a longtime photo enthusiast and avid storyteller, I've been a huge fan of Instagram since it dropped three years ago. Especially as a parent who wants to get the best photos of my kids up there. That said, I take tons of pictures of l…

With my kids officially out of school, I, along with lots other parents I'm sure, am gearing up for loads of free time. And that means trying to figure out how to manage screen time for the kids. Over the last few months, I've put togeth…

Last week while I was out on a short trip to New York City, my smart phone battery died. Which wouldn't have been a huge issue except I was in the middle of dealing with a minor emergency involving my youngest daughter left at camp and a…

Just in time for Memorial Day weekend--and Memorial Day weekend traffic, whoo!--I was so happy to get a chance to sit down with Google yesterday and learn more about some of the incredible changes they've made to the Google Maps app. I f…

As much as I love Twitter -- both for the news and the conversation -- there are times when I just need to cut down on the noise in my feed--TV shows I don't watch, playoffs I don't care about, or nonstop tweets from Caribbean vacations …

If you're like me, you get a ton of promoted content from Facebook, including a slew of recommendations for groups that you may want to join. Some of them are open--as in, hop on in, like the page and you're done! --while some of them ar…

If you want to devote a whole 5 or 10 seconds and see your first tweet on Twitter, there's an easier way than scrolling back to the beginning. Visit Twitter's discover.twitter.com/first-tweet page just launched to celebrate their 8th bir…

I have to say that I have mastered the art of a good selfie, as you might be able to tell from my Instagram feed , but I'm getting especially good at taking a selfie with kids. Because let's be honest, it's the only way I'll actually mak…