Fun App for Toddlers; Peekabo Wild

App Name: Peekaboo Wild
Platform: iPhone 3G
Version: 1.0.2
Developer: Night & Day Studios, Inc.
Fee: $1.99


Peekaboo Wild is a fun and cute app for toddlers. The app is a simple peekaboo game where your child taps on the grass in the African savannah to uncover a hiding animal. An adorable little child’s voice reads the name of the animal out loud, while it is written on the screen. Then, the animated creature comes to life on the phone.

This app is another great distraction to keep your child occupied while driving, waiting at the doctor’s office, etc. You know when you need a distraction to keep your toddler quiet and busy. This app definitely steals my daughter’s attention, and I love watching her smile and laugh when she discovers what animal is hiding in the grass.

Click here to get this app.

Healthy Recipes App to Feed Your Family

App Name: Healthy Recipes
Platform: iPhone 3G
Version: 1.0
Developer: Spark Recipes
Fee: Free

Click here to get this app now

If you’ve added a few more pounds around your mid-section or just like to feel good about what you eat, the SparkRecipes App is a good app to have on your phone.

When selecting the app, it instantly takes you to a search page, in which you can type a keyword search, or browse by category: course, cuisine, dietary needs, and occasion. I think this app wins especially in the dietary needs category. I myself don’t restrict myself to a certain diet (I’m an equal opportunity eater), but for those that are diabetic, vegans, or low-carb fanactics, you can find recipes by selecting these browsing criteria. If you’re aiming to cook with a specific ingredient, the keyword search will get the recipe scouting job done.

The app also features a Favorites tab, where you can save the dishes you want to reference. This app also features videos of the SparkRecipe’s Chef Meg making some of the recipes; a ‘how-to’ approach with tackling some of these recipes. Not only that, there are videos on common techniques used in cooking like how to zest citrus, prep your kitchen, and how to poach an egg-really handy for those just starting out in the kitchen.

Once you’ve selected an interesting recipe, you go to a page where it lists the ingredients needed. You can select the Directions tab to get instructions on how to create your chosen delicacy. Then, the important part; it gives the nutrition information of the meal. Looks just like the nutrition information box on the items you buy at the grocery store. This is a great feature, and allows you to check to make sure that what you are in fact putting in your body is healthy. One word of caution, I wouldn’t just trust that all the recipes are in fact healthy; anything that has a lot of cheese isn’t going to be healthy, regardless if you use skim milk instead of regular milk with it or not.

Click here to get this app now

Restaurant Nutrition App: Keep Your Dieting Goals While Dining Out

Restaurant Nutrition App

Platform: iPhone

Version: 1.47.5

Developer:  Foundation Surgery Affiliates

Fee: Free

This app is great for watching what you eat, while dining out at a restaurant. You can search over 115 popular restaurants nationwide and take a peak at the nutrition facts of the food items on their menus. The Restaurant Nutrition app is useful for when you already know the restaurant you will be dining, or if you are looking for a restaurant.

This app is also a great companion for those who have food allergies, by providing information on what item on the menu could be hazardous. You can also filter the food items by your desired diet determiner: carbs, calories, fat, etc. Just click on the magnifying glass in the bottom right hand corner. Looking at the Search image on the left, you can take a look at how this feature works. For example, you can search for foods that fit in your desired amount of calories for all restaurants, are just a certain one, and a menu category like dinner, salad dressings, desserts, etc.

When you find a restaurant that is compatible to your dieting goals, there is a search option to find the closest location near you. There is also a history tab to quickly look up a restaurant you visit often.  

This app I find to be incredibly valuable for health-conscious people like myself (well some of the time....). I love that it helps keep you informed about the food you put into your body. This app makes me muchappier. 

Click here to get this app now

Want a new iPod? Upgrade your old one at Toys R' Us

Check it out: click here.

Courtesy of CoolMomTech.com

Grocery iQ app for iPhone

There are so many great things about this app, that I could write a forever-long review about them, but I’ll just focus on my favorite things about the Grocery iQ app, and leave you to discover the rest of the greatness yourself.

The Grocery iQ app is the perfect tool to have when you are planning your next grocery visit. It not only helps you create and store your grocery lists, but you can also search for coupons, sort the list by different types of stores you shop at, and sort the lists by categories in the order in which you shop.

What I find most effective is to first search what coupons are out right now. I select the dollar sign tab, and instantly connect to coupons.com. There I search for what coupons I want. I then email them to myself, and can print them off from my computer. You also have the option to print directly from your phone.

The really innovated part is that once you select what coupons you want, it instantly saves those items on your list, and sorts them by category on your list. For example, if you selected a coupon for Huggies diapers, it instantly adds the coupon to your grocery list under the “Baby” category. Looking at the image below, the items on my list that are in blue are coupon items. I must say, this is an awesome feature! You then enter other items onto your list by tapping the plus sign on the top right-hand corner, and start typing in the search bar. The app pulls up suggestions of what you are looking for as you type in the name of the item.

After I created my grocery list, I then sorted the categories in the order I always go through the grocery store. With always having a two year old shopping with me, being quick and efficient is very important to me. When you pick up the item and put it in your cart, you just tap in the white box next to the item and a check mark appears so you can find your place as you go down your list.

The app also has a barcode scanner, and the capability to save commonly bought items, like milk, eggs, bread, etc., in the favorites tab.

This is a great app, and I recommend it to all shoppers. This app makes me muchappier! 

Is the "Ask a Stylist" app the next best thing to having Joan Rivers in your pocket?

I stumbled upon the "Ask a Stylist" App for the iPhone, which was actually written about in an article by the Wall Street Journal online. In a nutshell, you can send a picture of an outfit or ask a question to send to a stylist, and receive feedback in minutes on what you should wear, or their opinion about your outfit. I'm intrigued!

Also, it's free, which surprised me.

I just downloaded it and am playing around right now; I'm kind of shy about actually using it...

This would have been great to have when I was dress shopping for something to wear to a wedding a week ago. It was just me and my two year old daughter shopping (she thinks all dresses are pretty :) ).

Has anyone tried it out? Let me know what you think. I'll provide my feedback soon when I actually try it.

My 2 Year Old Loves This App!

I love it too because I see how much she adores it, and well, I love to color too….who doesn’t?

This app is fun and kinda funny. When you enter the app, you are greeted to some snazzy music that I couldn’t help but sway to a bit. You get a choice of two different coloring books to enter: Ocean Creatures and Farm Animals (They each have different tunes). If you don’t care for the music, you can mute it by pressing the button with the music note on it in the bottom right-hand corner.

 

Next scroll through the different pages to color, and select one. Glide the color choices and pick out what color you want to start off with. Then just tap what area you want to color. It’s really easy and to my surprise, it isn’t tedious to color in small objects. It’s kind of like the paint bucket tool on Paint, but more intuitive, I think. I haven’t experienced many moments when I got frustrated when wanting to color in one area, and instead it colors in another. One drawback however, is that there isn’t an “undo” button to quickly go back if you make a mistake, but hey it’s coloring, not homework.

 

You can also save your work, or easily go back to the menu page to select another page to color. The real feature that wins it for me is that it animates your coloring. Just select the arrow button to “play” your drawing, and watch it come to life. My daughter just giggles away every time she pushes it, and it made me laugh the first I tried it too.

It’s fun. It’s cheap, and it’s also a great distraction when you need to occupy your young child for a few minutes. It also didn’t take my daughter long at all to figure out the buttons, so I would say kids as young as two would enjoy it, and adults too!