Gadgets & geekery | Hip to be Mom

Phones, Puck and clackers

Nov 302011

After an entire afternoon of biscotti baking adventures with my girls, the oxygen level in my brain is pretty low right now. This probably isn’t the best time to be writing posts because I tend to ramble when I’m tired and then I’ll start going on about gifts for boys when I’m supposed to be commenting on some news I’ve just come across.

1. iPhone commits suicide on a Qantas flight? You’re kidding me, right? As you know, I’ve been toying around with which smartphone to buy since my beloved pocket PC is cranking up. So now should I rightly be thinking twice about that iPhone, you think?

2. Finally some chef person, Wolfgang Puck, I think is his name, has come out and said he doesn’t care for Starbucks coffee. Now that’s some guts, I tell ya, going against the grain like that. I mean there are so many popular names out there that I really don’t care for but if I’d been the one to come out and say that, I’d have people on my back bashing me up.

3. Funny as this may sound, some folks I know are still in typewriter mode. For some strange reason, they think Microsoft Word is the latest model typewriter. Um, sorry to bust your bubble but Word can do a ton, and I mean a ton, of stuff that your regular old clacker can’t. So listen up, you gotta roll with the times, peeps!

Of dead phones, French movies and writing late into the night

Posted by Clairity 3 Responses »

Nov 112011

I’m not one for numbers but 11.11.11 does look pretty cool… and just for the heck of it, I’m going to post this at 11.11 o’clock since this date only rolls around once every 100 years. As for what’s been happening in the days leading up to today, read on.

First off, my pocket PC decided to give up the ghost. It crashed once, twice, a few more times and that’s it, pretty much! So I’m officially disconnected from the whole world. Have been since last Friday. What a lonely place to be! Never thought I’d say this but hee-lp, I need a new phone – bad – considering the amount of texting that goes back and forth to synchronize our (Raine’s and mine) college schedules.

And that new phone I’m looking for -right now, it’s a toss-up between the iPhone 4S and the Samsung Galaxy S (which phone do you have and what do you like about it?), both of which are, by the way, out of stock right now.

What a bummer! To sweeten things up, the girls and I stayed up one night to watch a French movie. It wasn’t supposed to be a funny movie but it cracked us up so much the neighbors must’ve thought we’d gone completely off our rockers. I’ve not laughed so hard – in a long time. We couldn’t understand a single word of it but the incredibly stupid subtitles (which made no sense whatsoever) sent us ROTFLMOAO. Watched a foreign movie lately?

Oh, remember I mentioned I won’t be attempting NaNoWriMo this year? Well, guess what? My girls have ganged up and sweet-talked me into joining them, and after 3 days, I’ve only managed to crank out a measly 1,038 words. Raine has raced ahead to 21,855 and Skye has 5,738 words to her credit. I know, I’m in trouble . My story isn’t even much of anything right now. Expect me to be sitting here into the wee hours of the morning (aka 10:30pm) trying to cough something ~~intelligible~~ out.

Tracfone for the family that needs to stay in touch

Posted by Clairity Comments Off

Oct 042011

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TracFone for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

With 3 teens in the house, I’m constantly in search of an ever more affordable cell phone plan with ever better features. Yup, whatever saves me money and keeps the teens happy is what makes me happy.

So when Tracfone came out with these fabulous phone plans with no contracts, no credit checks and no activation or cancelation fees, I was going, hey, maybe somebody finally heard me! They have feature-packed phones with everything I want my teens to have on a phone for as low as $29.99.

As for the monthly plans, you can either pay as you go or grab a card from most retail stores around, and the rates really work out to be affordable. They also offer the only wireless service that allows you to connect internationally for the same price as a regular call.

Since we do travel quite a bit and have family spread out across the globe, I love the fact that we can call 60+ global destinations at no extra cost. Well, there are�So many features with these phone plans it’s going to take me a while to digest them all.

Go check out the video below to find out what Real TracFone customers, most of them parents, have to say about how TracFone has worked for their families.

Sunday Shopping – Dress up your iPhone pretty

Posted by Clairity 2 Responses »

Oct 022011

Unlike me and my girls with cell phones fit for the museum, many of you are iPhone owners. Which officially makes us green with envy that we can’t dress up our phones with these prettier than pretty iPhone cases.

Spray Flowers iphone 4 Case
I find this very upbeat and feminine.

London iphone 4 Case
London buses are fascinating, aren’t they, especially on an iPhone case?

Shooting Stars iphone 4 Case
No matter how you look at it, colorful stars are always in!

Are you lost without your cell phone?

Posted by Clairity 6 Responses »

Sep 302011

Halfway down the highway, Raine realized she’d left her cell phone on the charger at home. Even if we weren’t running late, it’d be silly to make a turn back to get it. So I offered to lend her mine. No big deal, she only has a 2-hour class, then she’s done for the day.

After she hopped out of the car, my mind stayed on my cell phone. What if my cranky car breaks down? What if Hollywood calls with an acting offer? What if Tyson (our beagle) gets a tummy ache and calls me from his cell phone? I never thought the day would come when I would feel lost without my cell. Seriously! But there I was.

Sure, my cell is old and wonky and hardly ever rings. I don’t talk/text/tweet and drive. And I’m not expecting any important calls. But still somehow I felt alone, disconnected, unplugged, cut off from the rest of the world. Wow, scary how we’ve come to rely so much on technology and being in constant touch, eh!

If you didn’t have your cell phone with you, would you feel lost? What would you miss most about it?

My relationship with Mr Relm

Posted by Clairity 12 Responses »

Sep 222011

A lady called today to conduct a phone survey of some sort. As with these types of calls, I can never really make out 100% of what the caller is saying. Either I’m hard of hearing or the phone connection is wonky or the caller has language issues. Or all of the above, I’m not sure.

Anyhow our conversation went something like this:

She: So how’s your relationship with our Relationship Manager?

I didn’t catch his name but let’s just call him Mr Relm for short.

Me: (Oh now, that’s private, that’s between him and me .) There is no relationship with your Relationship Manager. He’s never called me. I’ve never heard from him. There is no relationship.

I could sense her uneasiness. Maybe she hadn’t expected such a long answer. It’s probably not on her script.

She: Um, would you like to do this survey in another language, ma’am?

Me: (I thought I’d just established my language prowess there! Okay, maybe she’s having trouble understanding me? Hmm!) No, English would be fine.

She: Okay, can we start the survey now?

Me: (Again?!!! *smoke coming out my ears*) Sure, can you make it quick please (before my patience runs out)?

She: So ma’am, how is your relationship with our Relationship Manager?

Me: (Here we go round the mulberry bush!) Like I just said, there is no relationship between me and your Relationship Manager, end of story.

Sorry, lady, but you caught me in the middle of skyping with my son and I really don’t have time for you, period.