entertainment

The thing about YouTube is, it can go from super fun to totally overwhelming--not to mention disturbing--on a dime. Sometimes when I'm watching my 5-year-old son watch his YouTube videos on my old iPad, all I can do is hope that we don't…

So of course Halloween has crept up on us seemingly faster than ever before. I'm going to avoid thinking about what happens after Friday (holiday shopping, eek!), and focus on getting those costumes ready and devising a strategy to not e…

As our resident Sonos evangelist - although not the only one around here - I'm always excited when they launch something new, because their product releases tend to come slowly but thoughtfully. And today (as in, right now this very seco…

We're smack in the middle of World Space Week which offers a perfect opportunity for kids to explore all the wonders of outer space. Older kids can take advantage of great apps like Star Walk 2 or the original Star Walk to learn about co…

We are celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with a bright tune by one of our favorite bilingual groups, Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band . (And if you don't know them yet well...they won the 2014 Grammy. So get on it!) De Colores is a w…

Usually when I check out a new tech product, it's me in a conference room (or sometimes alone) listening to someone wax poetic about its features. But nope, not LG. They recently announced their phenomenal new LG Ultra HD TV 4K and LG OL…

We're shocked and saddened to hear about the passing of Robin Williams, an entertainer who defined our childhood and still stayed relevant over all these years. He made us laugh, cry, and laugh-cry, with his amazing ability to transform …

The stats are sobering: Women only account for 26 percent of the STEM jobs in the U.S. So there's been a recent, nationwide nudge to get our girls and young women interested and engaged in science, technology, engineering and math, as we…

Well it didn't take long at all for Roku to come out with their very own Roku Streaming Stick to compete with the Google Chromecast which is creeping its way into carry-ons of entertainment-starved travelers everywhere. As an avowed Roku…

If you're like me, your movie-going days all but disappeared when you had kids. As a nursing mom, I found it nearly impossible to get away for a few hours without feeling like I was going to explode (TMI?) so we started watching our TV a…

As an avid Kindle user and very frequent Amazon Prime customer (I'm on a first-name basis with my UPS driver), I was so excited to do a full-on Amazon Fire TV review. After a couple of weeks playing with it so I could really see its capa…

In the past week, two different friends have told me that they're ending their cable TV service and switching to streaming services or online media for their entertainment needs. And when cool online entertainment options pop up, like Pl…

We admit we were pretty pleased with our own April Fool's joke on Cool Mom Tech yesterday-- we even fooled some of our own staff! Also, we're still apologizing to some panicked people, who are worried that their ex boyfriends know they'v…

Well of course we're obsessed with the LEGOLAND Model Builder Challenge . Our kids are all big fans of LEGO, and so are we, especially the blocks aren't underfoot or getting sucked up by the vacuum. The LEGO Movie was a huge hit, and LEG…

Last night I was thrilled to join founder Anna Fader in celebrating the anniversary of Mommy Poppins , her terrific regional website network for parents looking for the best stuff to do with their kids. They've now been saving families (…

I love developments like the Roku apps which turn your Android or iOS devices into remote controls for your TV. We always joke about the old days when we actually had to get up to change a channel. Now that we're too lazy to even find th…

If I had to pick a favorite moment from last night's Academy Awards, I would have to say the Ellen Oscars selfie was at the top of my list. I'm sure I'm not alone here. Well now you can do what we all wanted to do last night when Bradley…

Full disclosure before talking about the new Ken Burns app: I’m a big Ken Burns fan. For nearly 40 years, the award-winning historical documentarian has been telling beautiful, expansive, influential stories on film about everything from…

I love my Roku 3 . Love. I've tried Apple TV and like it just fine. But hey, I'm all for more choices for streaming video content, and if Amazon comes out with a TV box as predicted, then I hope it's as good or better than anything else …

All hail the new Spoiler Shield app , a mobile app whose time has come. It's very rare that I watch TV in real time these days, and for so many of us, it's all about Roku or DVR--which means we have to dodge all those spoilers on our soc…

If you're forgoing the fancy dinner tonight and staying in for Valentine's Day like us, I rounded up 7 of my top romantic movies that are ready for streaming via Amazon Instant Video, on your various gadgets. ( Roku , anyone?) Because as…

Are your kids going as stir crazy as ours are with this Polar Vortex and other crazy weather? We've exhausted every board game and put together every puzzle we have in our house. So, TV. And child friendly entertainment on our computers.…

As I woke up New Year's day and made pancakes to the sweet sounds of NPR, I realized how much I really like radio. But with radio dying, I've started making my way over to podcasts which let you filter exactly what you want, when you wan…

I got the word that Santa delivered a lot of Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles this Christmas, which requires lots of fun video games for families. Even if you've received an older version of a console, which are still very much in dem…