Girls Gone Gadget

When I first heard the news that Nintendo was dropping the price on the Wii gaming system, I was a little shocked. Just two years ago I remember standing in line three hours before a store even opened in hopes of getting my hands on one of ten consoles they were promising to have in stock that morning. But that was two years ago and, in the gaming world, that’s a long time!

Actually the Wii will be celebrating it’s third (launch) birthday this November. So, with the news of the price drop, I had to wonder if this means the Wii is on it’s way out and Nintendo is going to be releasing something new soon. Since there has been no news of anything new coming on the market, I can only assume that Nintendo is making a great strategic move!

After all, it’s been three years! Nintendo needed something to put the Wii back on the front pages of gaming news for a while. It also seems that Nintendo is taking to heart that consumers are tightening their budgets and gaming systems just aren’t a high priority right now. I think the price drop will have parents considering the Wii this holiday shopping season!

The original $249 price tag has been slashed to $199. And, if you purchase the Wii at Amazon.com before October 3, you’ll receive a $25 Amazon.com Gift Card. That means (until Saturday) the Wii will only cost you $174!!!

As I said, my family owns a Wii and we have really enjoyed it!  We are not die-hard gamers so this has been a perfect system for us.  It is something that everyone from my three year old daughter to my parents can enjoy.  Last year I received the Wii Balance Board for Christmas.  This year I’m excited about the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game!

Super Mario Bros. Wii — Choose to take on the new version of a much loved classic or invite up to three friends to play with you in the multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode of the game offers a combination of cooperation and competition. Choose to work together or toss your friends in the way of danger.

Releasing November 15, just in time for Christmas wish lists!

So, is the price drop a good move on Nintendo’s part?  I believe it will be.  It can’t hurt!

The iPhone owners in the US have won one more battle with controlling carrier AT&T! Today, as promised, AT&T released the iPhone update enabling MMS.

What is MMS? MMS, or Multimedia Messaging Service, is an upgraded version of Short Messaging Service, SMS. SMS allows you to send and receive text messages from your phone. MMS allows you to send and receive text, photos, audio, video, etc.

Why is MMS so important? Really, it isn’t. Not with things such as Twitter and Facebook around. But, it is nice if you want to quickly send an image to just one person. Sure, you can do that in Twitter and Facebook but MMS just makes it a few steps easier and faster.

The downfall, of course, is that the person you are sending the MMS to, the recipient, also needs to have a MMS enabled phone.

Anyhow, back to AT&T and the iPhone update. If you have an iPhone 3G or 3GS and want to check to see if your area has enabled MMS, simply plug your iPhone into your computer, open up iTunes and check for an update. Note: If you do not have an update available just check back in a few hours as your area may not be enabled yet.

After your phone has been updated you may need to restart your phone. I had to do this to get my phone to recognize the MMS. If your MMS Still isn’t working, go into your iPhone Settings, click on Messaging, and make sure your MMS Messaging is turned ON.

Great! Now you’re ready. When you go to your Messaging you’ll notice a cute little camera icon next to your message box. When you click on that you’ll have the option to take a photo or choose an existing photo from your iPhone photo library. Voila! You’re a MMS maniac now!

My three year old is known for saying things like, “Hey dad, did you see my Twitter last night? I was Twittering.” or “Mom, can you give me a minute? I need to send dad a text.”

Does she actually know what “Twittering” and “texting” are?  I don’t know.  Sometimes I think she knows more than I think.  Either way, she does know that when mommy works it’s on the computer and that we use our phones to do things like texting and Twitter.  She knows I check my email both on my computer and on my phone.  Of course she knows all of this, this is her life!

It often amazes me how many of my friends are not on Facebook or Twitter or using some sort of other social media format.  Ok, yes, I was surprised the first time I saw someone my parents’ age or my grandparents’ age on Facebook.  But, now?  I’m surprised when they aren’t on there!

Social Media has become so big now that there is constant talk of government regulations on the relationship between businesses/advertisers and bloggers.  A lot of companies have caught on to how impactful Twitter, Facebook, and blogging are on their bottom line — good or bad.  Good and, more often, bad customer service is no longer being reported to a customer service hotline.  It is being reported to anyone and everyone who will listen, in just 140 characters.

The video below is an amazing look at how Social Media is dominating our world, especially the business world.  I was actually surprised at some of the facts they show.  Take a look:

What are your thoughts on Social Media? Are you boycotting it or have you jumped in with both feet? How do you feel about the impact it is having on our kids?

Spend one day in my house or go on one quick road trip with my girls and you’ll have the song “Old MacDonald” stuck in your head within minutes. Actually my 3 year old sings it as “Old McDonalds”…she likes her Happy Meals!

Anyhow, however you sing it, it is a favorite in my house. My 3 year old sings the main part of the song while my 17 month old chimes in on the “E-I-E-I-O” part. It’s adorable…the first 25 times.

Needless to say, I was very excited when asked to review the new iPhone/iPod Touch app Old MacDonald by Duck Duck Moose.

The Old MacDonald app features 12 colorful and musical pages based on the popular children’s song. Not only are all of the illustrations fun and colorful but they can be manipulated! You can do everything from watch a cow get abducted by aliens to helping Pig-casso paint a masterpiece (of sorts). My daughter’s favorites are sheering the sheep and helping the bulldozer carry away the dirt!!!

The song itself is offered in five different languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German), four different instrumentals, or choose to record your child singing! That’s right, you can actually record your child singing each line of the song and then that recording will play back as they are on that specific screen. My daughter loves hearing her own voice as she gets the little dog to eat the double-double decker sandwich!

Grade: We are definitely giving this app an A+! It is both fun and educational, as it allows children to hear the familiar song in a variety of languages. I love that it is interactive and can be personalized with your child’s voice singing the song lyrics. The younger kids will love the cute characters and variety in the song lyrics. The older kids will love that everything is interactive and that the characters themselves are not your run-of-the-mill cow, sheep, pig, or duck. The animals have style! And they let you know it!!!

This is another very affordable app, priced at just $0.99, that any child is sure to love!!! You can purchase this app now at the iTunes app store or head over to Duck Duck Moose to learn more about their other available apps!

A few weeks ago I was asked if I would try out the new Little Lala iPhone apps. I happily agreed because I’m always looking for fun iPhone apps, especially for my kids! Yes, my daughters have their own ‘screen’ on my iPhone with apps just for them! So, after downloading my complimentary apps, I let my daughters go to work…or play! And here are their/my thoughts:

Little Lala: My 3 year old loved this! She loves books and she really enjoys when books are read to her (since she hasn’t quite learned to read). Little Lala is an adorable audio book app that takes your child on a journey around the world with Little Lala as she collects ethnic food for her upcoming party. For older children you they can chose to read the story themselves but, for the younger ones, you can opt to have the book read aloud. While in “play” mode the pages automatically “turn” or you can swipe the screen left or right to turn to the previous or next page. My daughter found that, while in “play” mode, the auto-pageturn didn’t more quite fast enough for her so she swiped the screen and turned the page herself. Grade: This is a great app. It has worked flawlessly and, even after a few weeks, my daughter still loves to hear the story. At just $0.99, Little Lala gets an A+!!! You can purchase this app now on iTunes.

Little Lala’s ABC’s: This is another great iPhone app from Little Lala. My 17 month old has latched on to this one. My three year old thinks it’s cute but, since she already knows her ABC’s pretty well, she gets a little bored with it. Each screen shot acts as an alphabet flashcard, featuring a letter of the alphabet in both uppercase and lowercase, an adorable animal drawing corresponding with that letter, and the name of that animal spelled out. Turn the audio on to have the letter, sound, and word read aloud or turn the audio off to test your child’s alphabet knowledge. You can also chose to have the alphabet go in order or have the flashcards go in a random order with the “shuffle” mode. The only trouble we’ve had with this app is when my daughter gets into the “index” view, showing all of the cards. It is difficult for a child to get out of that mode. Grade: Again, I would give this app an “A”. The illustrations of the animals are darling and I love some of the animal selections! I’m always curious as to what animals they will choose for letters like “I” and “X”. This app is sure to keep your toddler entertained while educating them and is well worth the $0.99. You can purchase this app now on iTunes.