The iSavvy Woman

How to Gift the Kindle Fire to a Kid without Getting Burned

2011-12-04T23:17:00.002-05:00

Child Proofing the Kindle Fire Requires Creativity...

Just recently MSNBC posted an article on "How to gift the Kindle Fire without getting burned," and since electronic gadgets are on top of most of our children's Christmas lists—though most of them would prefer an Apple iPad or iPod Touch—the Kindle Fire just might be the cost effective most durable choice for most parents this holiday season. So the question becomes: "How do you gift the Kindle Fire to a kid without getting burned?" In this article I hope to provide some useful insights to parents who have purchased the Kindle Fire for their child, but have not yet wrapped it up and put it under the tree.

Yes, your child is going to be excited getting a Kindle Fire for Christmas, but that excitement shouldn't wane because there is nothing on the device that personalizes it for them. This might not be as important for older teenagers who are capable of setting up the device for themselves, but it's essential as a parent that you define for younger children how the device will be used. You define this by: preloading it with what you deem appropriate; setting up parent controls; and communicating how the device should be used.

Preloading the Kindle Fire

Amazon has done a disappointing job in protecting parents' pockets, especially with its 1-Click payment method. One click and purchases are made, no password or credit card information required. Instead of giving your child unlimited access to your credit card, establish a separate Amazon account for your child or one account for multiple children and associate that account to a Master or Visa gift card. Since Amazon requires that every account be tied to a credit card, there is no way to get around this. The good news is the gift card can be any gift card lying around the house—even that gift card with $1.33 left on it. Just a word of caution here, Amazon allows its members to have multiple accounts under the same email address (different password) to accommodate family members, however to eliminate any confusion you're better off using a separate email account for each Amazon account.

Once you've established a separate Amazon account for your child, you'll want to deregister the Kindle Fire from your account and then register the Kindle Fire under your child's account. Here's how to deregister and register your Kindle Fire directly from the device.

How to Deregister via the Kindle

To begin, your device must be connected to the internet using Wi-Fi.

Tap the 'Quick Settings' iconon the Status bar.
Tap the 'More' option.
Tap 'My Account' from the list of categories.
Tap the 'Deregister' button to finish deregistering the device.

How to Register via the Kindle

To begin, your device must be connected to the internet using Wi-Fi.

Tap the 'Quick Settings' icon on the Status bar.
Tap the 'More' option.
Tap 'My Account' from the list of categories.
Tap the 'Register' button and then enter your child's Amazon email address and password.
Tap the 'Register' button to finish registering the device.

You'll notice once you register the Kindle Fire under your child's own name or nickname, he or she will not have visibility to all your Kindle books in their carousel—making the Kindle Fire truly theirs. For those of you unfamiliar with the Kindle Fire's carousel, it is a horizontal "shelf like," scrollable thumbnail display of all the apps, websites, books, and magazines you have clicked on or opened. Also in the carousel are your Kindle books in the cloud available for download, and default applications like Facebook that cannot be deleted.

Now that we have laid the foundation, there are various ways to preload the Kindle Fire for your child. From your own Amazon account, you can send your child an Amazon Gift card or you can gift your child a book. To gift a Kindle book you'll need the e-mail address associated with your child's Amazon account or you can have the gift sent to your e-mail address to forward it on to your child.

To gift a Kindle Book

Go to Amazon.com Kindle Store.
Find the item you wish to purchase.
Click the 'Give as a Gift' button located under the 'Buy now with 1-Click' button on product detail page.
Determine how you want the gift to be delivered, to you or to the recipient; and enter the appropriate information..
Personalize a message for your recipient, if you so desire.
Click 'Place your order' to complete your transaction.

Base on your child's interest start preloading the device with a couple free game apps (who doesn't love PAC-MAN). Amazon also has an extensive collection of comic books your child might find interesting. And let's not forget the main reason for purchasing the device, which is to read; so why not purchase a book or two from your child's favorite author. My youngest enjoys the "Magic Tree House" Series by Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca. In the browser you should take time to bookmark sites your child is allowed to visit, if he or she wants to add sites, then they should understand that it must be verified by you.

Setting Up Parent Controls

Since Amazon has done a lackadaisical job in setting up Parent Controls for the Kindle Fire, parents have to be very creative in this department. If you are concerned with your child going to sites you do not approve of or making purchases you have not authorized, then you have two options: you can return the device or you can turn off the device's Wi-Fi connection. The latter does not prevent the device from being used as it was intended—your child can still get to her games, books, and movies that have been loaded on the device. However, they will no longer be able to access anything in the cloud or surf the internet. Another creative parent control is disabling the device. This prevents your child from making online purchases, however, they can still surf the internet if Wi-Fi is turned on.

The only inkling of parent controls you will find available on the Kindle Fire, to date, is the ability to disable in-app purchases. This will disable purchases within an app it-self; it does not block purchases of books, movies, magazines, or apps from Amazon.com. Once in-app purchases are disable you'll have to enter your account password to re-enable it. Since in-app purchases are enabled by default, here’s how to disable in-app purchases:

Tap ‘Apps’ from the Kindle Fire Home screen.
Tap 'Store' then tap the ‘Menu’ icon.
From the menu icon select ‘Settings’ from the list of options.
Tap ‘In-App Purchasing' from the list of categories.
Tap to deselect “Allow In-App item Purchases."

Setting Boundaries

In reality we as parents cannot depend on companies like Amazon, Google, and Apple to protect our children from viewing inappropriate content. What we can adopt from these companies are User Agreements. Most devices and applications come with user agreements, when I install software on my machine I can either comply with the terms and conditions set by the company (creator) or I can choose not to benefit from the software's capabilities. If I say I comply and then use the software inappropriately, then more than likely an event with trigger within the application and the software will be disabled. Make sure your child knows and understands your standards and guidelines:

how the device will be used,
when the device can be used,
who can make purchases on the device,
sites (where) they are allowed to visit when the browsers is used, and
what is inappropriate use (or abuse) of the device and the consequences.

Once your child accepts your terms, you have to trust that they will respect them. If respect and trust is a big issue, you may want to boycott all Wi-Fi devices without parent controls; or you can rally parents together to bombard Amazon with emails requesting parent controls for the Amazon Fire be enabled! I prefer the latter.

With all that said, have a happy holiday.

7 Fun Sites to Help Your Kids Learn Math Online

2011-08-02T06:46:00.047-04:00

There's generation-X, and generation-Y; there is also a generation-Z, but shouldn't generation-Z actually be generation-I to categorize school age children like my sons (one's a step-son) who spend more time using and interacting with electronics than I ever did at their ages. Though my husband and I have restrictions on the websites they can visit and the devices they can use; my goal as a mom has been to purchase devices that have educational value, and to steer them to fun educational sites they enjoy visiting and I feel comfortable that they are learning while having fun.

Truth be told, there are only a few educational sites that fit into that category of being educational and entertaining, Jump Start World (JumpStart.com) by Knowledge Adventure being one of those sites that purports "learning as an adventure for kids and not a chore." So in this post, I've decided to take a left turn and focus on a few math sites that may not be all that entertaining (of course that's subjective), but are definitely educational and worth a visit.

Math Blaster

1. Jump Start World has been in my boys' browser favorites since my youngest was three, five years later and it's still there. The site has grown immensely over the years, serving a cliental of three to twelve year olds and offering a mix of knowledge, entertainment, and adventure, with web-safety.

MathBlaster.com

Just recently Jump Start World added a separate site: MathBlaster.com -- based off the twenty-eight year-old game "Math Blaster." The difference now is that your kid's avatar gets to launch off in to "3D cyber space" and are challenged to defend the galaxy while they hone their math knowledge. Players start as a space cadet with a rank of one, as they move up in rank they are rewarded with new gear and more places to explore. The challenge of gaining more loot and exploring more places is what makes this game the number one online learning tool in my household.

There is a trial version of Math Blaster available for free; however a membership runs about $8 per month, $75 per year, or $150 for a lifetime.

Getting started proved to be difficult, as I had trouble downloading and installing the application from the Math Blaster website. The application requires the Unity Web Player plug-in that refused to install on my desktop computer running Vista. I eventually end up going to the Unity website at: unity3d.com/webplayer/ to download the application--Math Blaster ran like a charm after that.

Timez Attack

BigBrainz's TimezAttack

2. Timez Attack like Math Blaster is a full featured 3D interactive educational game; however, its purpose is more confined compare to Math Blaster, as its most popular game focuses on helping kids memorize their multiplication table. Kids find their way through an underground maze, attacking obstacles and battling opponents by answering multiplication questions for times tables 2 through 12. While kids are being engaged and challenged, the application maintains their score and charts their progress. This application is available for home or school use and is easy to download. It can be use on a MAC or Windows PC, with the scaled down version being free and the upgrade versions being: Standard ($40) or Deluxe ($60) for home use. The differences between the versions are the availability of levels or themes, each version still teaches all the time tables.

For some, a monster game might be to gruesome, if so, try Arithmemouse which provides a more subdued way of exposing your child to his or her time tables. A review of both Timez Attach and Arithmemouse can be found at Dr Mike's Math Games for Kids.

Khan Academy

KhanAcademy.com

3. Compared to the first two sites I've discussed, Khan Academy offers very little glitz and glamour and no 3D action, but don't let the unassuming nature of the site fool you. It is an amazing educational site with an amazing start. It started out as someone showing someone else how to do math problems. More specific, Salman Khan, the site founder began making a few algebra videos for his cousins and other family members; those few videos has grown to over 2,100 step-by-step instructional videos and 100 self-paced exercises and assessments covering topics such as: basic math, algebra, trigonometry, calculus, physics, finance, biology, and history distributed at no cost to the consumer--although donations are welcomed.

Through brief conversational videos done with an electronic blackboard and no visible instructor (you only hear the instructor's voice) school age kids will receive a dose of quality teaching that is bound to propel them forward in school. This site is also for parents who have a desire to improve their math skills so they can better help their children improve theirs. Rumor has it, Bill Gates uses the site with his kids.

Math Play Ground

MathPlayGround.com

4. Math Play Ground also had an interesting start. It was created in 2002 by Colleen King a math teacher who needed a fun and appealing way to augment her students understanding of math concepts; and to encourage them to practice math facts through visually engaging games (logic puzzle games, arcade-style games, etc.) accessible on the computer. Since then Math Playground has grown to include a wide variety of math topics, from problem solving and mathematical art to real world math geared to help students in grades K-8.

Fun Brain and Fun Brain World

5. Before I introduce FunBrainWorld, I must introduce FunBrain without the “World.” FunBrain is a game-based learning site that caters to ages PreK-8. It focuses on developing student's skills in reading, math, and problem solving; and claims to have more than 100 free, interactive math-skill games, online books, and comic books for kids.

FunBrainWorld (note "World" addition) carries the same purpose as FunBrain, but it comes across as a bon-a-fide game site--for slightly older kids--that got its inspiration from FunBrain. It improves upon FunBrain's arcade games and places them in a centralized location for fun and easy access (with hopefully less ads). Both sites are family-friendly, so you should not have to worry about explicit ads or links to threatening websites; and both sites are also accessible free of charge. Noteworthy sites within FunBrain are:

Playground which introduces preschoolers to the Internet and teaches them how to manipulate the mouse and keyboard.
Math Arcade which provides a safe gaming environment for older kids to improve their math skills.

Cool Math 4 Kids

6. When you first enter CoolMath4Kids you can easily become overwhelmed by all the visuals, including ads; but don't let that deter you from exploring the site. The site provides instructions, challenges, and games in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions and decimals for kids in grades K-5.

Cool Math

7. CoolMath is the sibling site of CoolMath4Kids. It focuses on higher level math skills for junior high and high school students, with instruction and practice on pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and money and finance. Noteworthy links on this site are:

the Online Math Dictionary containing math formulas, definitions, diagrams, etc.
the Online Calculators for scientific calculations, sales tax calculations, atmospheric pressure calculations, annuity calculations, etc.).
the Geometry and Trig Reference Area where you'll find all sorts of geometry and trigonometry formulas, definitions, properties, diagrams, and examples.

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0

As an added bonus, I would like to give favorable mention to Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 which just came out in January 2011. It’s a free downloadable software tool—not a site like the others—available directly from the software giant’s website at: microsoft.com.

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0

With Microsoft Mathematics 4.0, you get more than just a full-fledged graphics calculator that plots in 2D and 3D; if your child is having problems with complex math concepts (pre-algebra to physics) then you get the perfect math tutor—knowledgeable and free. The knowledge this tool provides will help your child visually solve math problems by demonstrating every step that must be taken to not only attain the correct answer, but to understand the complex process involved in getting to the correct answer.

Besides demonstrating complex solutions, Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 provides a formulas and equations library, a conversion tool to convert one unit to another, a triangle solver, a help library that explains functionality in detail and with examples, and your child can personalize their graphics calculator with different skins. Also, as a parent if you are interested in learning how you can best use Microsoft Mathematics to help your child excel in mathematics, Microsoft provides a guide to help you get started.

There you have it, seven math sites and one special tool to help you help your child develop their math skills. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and what sites work best for you.

My Digital Planning Process

2011-07-04T10:09:00.023-04:00

Just recently I shared on my book blog: “Balancing Blessings (Balancing Life)” my digital planning process in hopes that it would give a novice (as I once was) a plan or strategy on how they can use technology to organize and maximize their day. With that said, and with a desire toward making the most of your day I hope this post is helpful.

My Digital Planning Process

This may sound strange to some, but my next day actually begins the evening before. I have found it extremely difficult to be productive if my day is not planned before I’m actually in it. So when the sun goes down, and my son and step-son (if he’s with us) are in bed, and all is peaceful at the Miller’s abode, I’ll begin to plan for the next day. This has become a routine occurrence for me, but until I got to that point, I had to make “plan my day” an appointment in my calendar.

Review My Calendar

Google Calendar

Speaking of calendars, the calendar is one of the first things I look at when preparing for the next day. I use to scribble down all my meetings and events in a Covey Planner, and then review the calendar in the evenings; but I have since transferred to a digital calendar. I like the fact that I can receive meeting alerts or event notifications on my smart phone, and that my calendar syncs with multiple devices. My calendar of choice is the free Google calendar available with a free Google email account. I find the idea of having a “desktop on the web” and of being able to separate my work activities, family events, and writing deadlines into separate calendars and still have it display as one calendar, fantastic! In addition, my husband has access to the family portion of the calendar and whoever may be assisting me has access to the business portion of my calendar. That’s not all; I can get to my Google calendar from anywhere using any device with internet connectivity. On my smartphone, I access my Google calendar through Pocket Informant even though there's a free Google calendar app available. I prefer Pocket Informant because it integrates my calendar and to-do lists; it looks like a real day planner with a colorful interface; and it syncs to my online Google and Toodledo accounts.

Review My Task List

Toodledo Task List

Once I’ve reviewed and updated my calendar, it’s time to comb through my task list. Since I am always maintaining a running list of things I need to do, I immediately comb through my list to determine what must be done and needs to be done tomorrow. My favorite online task manager, which happens to be free, is Toodledo. It’s not the most atheistically pleasing task list on the World Wide Web, but it’s efficient and might I add: functional. It's a Getting Things Done (GTD) system that gives me the freedom to decide how I want to categorize my tasks. Some of the folders I’ve created are: Family, Work, Errands, Business, Someday, etc. Here too, if I’m able to get to the internet, I’m able to get to my lists. Plus, Pocket Informant allows me to pull my tasks from Toodledo, into my smart phone. Having mobile access to my task lists--during the day--allows me to quickly be able to mark tasks done when appropriate. So in the evenings, I more focused on tagging what needs to be done tomorrow, and on adding to my master task list. And since I'm still using my spiral assistant to capture certain things, it’s still sometimes necessary for me to transfer tasks from my spiral notebook to my digital task list.

Dedicating Myself to Planning

While I am planning my day, I am usually at my desk using my laptop computer; on my more lazy days I’m in bed with my smartphone in landscape mode updating my lists via the Pocket Informant phone app. Once I’m done planning it’s usually time for bed; but when I wake up the next morning, I’ll take 5 to 10 minutes to just look over my day, before I step out of bed to begin it.

It all boils down to this:

10 to 20 minutes every evening to plan the next day’s schedule.
10 minutes every morning to review the day’s schedule.
30 minutes every Saturday evening or Sunday morning to plan my week.

This is what works for me. The use of a smart phone is not for everyone, the most important thing you can do for yourself to increase your productivity is to get a planning process established that works for you. If you have a digital planning process, please share what works for you.

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Finding the Right Device for You!

2011-06-01T14:46:00.050-04:00

Up until a few years ago I was not much of a gadget person; at that time most of the family’s gadget getting came from my gadget guru husband. Although, I do recall getting him an Amazon Kindle 2 for one of his birthdays—at a time when it wasn’t so affordable. Anyway, when I started back to work full-time, gaining more time in my day became my new challenge. Besides working a full-time job I was an aspiring author, I had a home based business to manage, a family to tend to, and technical skills to maintain. So I knew I needed help in a major way, and a maid or personal assistant was financially out of the question. So my focus turned to finding the right device to help me balance and control these major areas of my life.

Here are the steps I took, which I hope will be helpful to you.

Step 1: Clearly Define Your Needs

My first step was to define what my needs were. I already had a functioning cell phone so my husband, my job, the baby sitter or the school could reach me, if needed. I already had a laptop to develop products and to manage my business from home. What I lacked at the time was portability and flexibility. Those were my major needs. To be more precise, I needed to be able to manage my business, check my email accounts, write, and tend to my duties as homemaker anytime or anywhere. For those of you who have read my book Balancing Blessings and Obtaining Oder, let me clarify that the device was not intended to take the place of my spiral assistant (notebook); but my desire was that it would help me be more productive on the go, and enhance the way I operate on a daily basis.

Step 2: Define Your Limitations

My next step was to define my limitations or weaknesses. I had to ask myself: "How much can I afford to invest in a device?" Excluding the cost of the device, seventy plus dollars a month to service a smart phone is more than $840.00 a year. I also had to ask myself: "How much time do I want to spend learning the ins and outs of a new device?" Patience is not a virtue of mine, and is definitely something God is working with me on. My thoughts on any time saving device has been this: It should not take me that much time to get familiar with a device before I can benefit from it, and it saves me time. A limitation for you may be visual or “fat fingers” (which is another limitation of mine). A weakness for you may be fear of technology, or an aversion to change. Whatever your limitations or weaknesses are, knowing what they are can be instrumental in helping you find the right device, whether it’s a smart-phone, net-book (a smaller version of the desk-top computer), tablet, or a slim-line computer.

Step 3: Start Researching Various Gadgets

After defining my needs and limitations, I “googled” Personal Digital Assistance (PDA) devices. My research revealed that they no longer had the appeal they once had. They were being trumped by smart phones like the iPhone, and the Blackberry Curve, and now like the HTC Evo, and Samsung Galaxy —which offers users the ability to check email accounts away from home, make and receive personal/business calls, manage appointments, etc.

That was all fine and good, but I still needed the ability to edit or produce documents away from home. The iPad (or any tablet computer) would have been a great contender, but it didn’t exist at the time of my need; so my focus turned to the net-book. Both the net-book and the tablet offer portability—they fit in most purses, and as a result of its light weight and size it’s easy to haul around to write and check email accounts away from home with Wi-Fi service. Both the net-book and the tablet offer flexibility—a person could be productive during unproductive times when they didn’t have their net-book or tablet. What the net-book offers over the tablet is scalability—it can handle large files, and accommodate growing needs (through upgrades) in a cost effective manner. What the tablet offers over the net-book are affordable applications (called apps) available to help me manage my business and home life more effectively—at little or no cost to me.

Step 4: Make Your Decision

After comprehensive research I went with the net-book, and after having my net-book for sixty days I passed it on to my husband who spends the majority of his computer time typing memo’s, producing documents, and responding to emails. The flexibility of the net-book allows my husband to do this anywhere in the house. As for me, I decided a smart phone was a better choice. Which smart phone, you ask? I’ll tell you that and why at the end of this blog.

The net-book met my major needs, and I highly recommend it if your main purpose is to use it to produce documents. The truth is, software applications like Vista, or Adobe Photoshop that require a large screen resolution will not install on net-books, it’s just not a personal computer—although at boot time you would think otherwise. As far as the net-book meeting my more specific needs, it failed as a PDA to help me manage my business and home life on the go. Had the iPad existed at the time of my need I would have probably chosen it, and would have had the same problem I had with the net-book--not portable enough.

So there I was again, looking for the perfect PDA. With my needs more defined, my attention turned to the smart phone since most smart phones like the BlackBerry Curve have miniature keyboards to give me that similar feeling of using a net-book. Portability and flexibility were better than the net-book and the tablet; however, the major benefit of having a smart phone is that it is a smaller device, which makes it easier to handle. Can you imagine walking down the grocery store aisle checking items off your electronic grocery list on your net-book or tablet? I don’t know about you, but I’m just not that graceful. I need the convenience of being able to slip my smart phone in my pocket while I grab a can of beans off the top shelf, and then being able to quickly grab my phone again to check an item off my grocery app.

Besides portability and flexibility, the apps available on the smart phone have simplified some of my more cumbersome processes. I find it much easier to manage reoccurring tasks or lists. For instance, my grocery list is created once, and I can add or subtract items from it as needed (anywhere or anytime)—no need to boot up my computer and print out my list. In addition, I can have multiple lists—a list of needs for each store I frequent. I can even check items off my list as I shop. I had a coworker than used the Google Map application to determine the best route (low traffic areas) to take to and from work (he drove from the heart of Maryland to Virginia, every weekday morning).

By far, my favorite app to date is the Bill Reminder. It has already paid for itself in preventing a late charge on a bill that is paid less regularly than others. As far as the smart phone saving me time, initially that did not happen. There was an initial learning curve and time spent trying to incorporate apps into my life. After having used it for over two years, I am definitely seeing and reaping the time saving benefits in my smart phone choice. My smart phone choice was the iPhone.

Orginally Posted at: Balancing Blessings on August 31, 2009.

Welcome to "The iSavvy Woman" Technical Blog

2011-04-22T05:47:00.007-04:00

Happy Easter! I cannot express how excited I am to finally get started with this technical blog. This blog has been a desire of mine for over a year as I struggled to find time to write, and on what I should even call this blog. I considered naming the blog: "The Tech-Savvy Woman," "The iSavvy House Wife," "The iSavvy Proverbs 31 Woman" (after a woman I truly admire), etc. I finally settled on "The iSavvy Woman" because that name encompasses all women who carefully embrace technology to: stay informed, stay connected, stay fit, manage their home, and maintain a consistent level of work-life balance.

In essence, my new blog was started to provide busy women with an understanding and awareness of technical tools, tips, products, resources, etc. they can use to function more effectively in today's high speed, high-tech society.

This blog will not endorse any products, it only recommends products and sites that may be useful in providing women with work life balance.

Look for my first technical blog post on June 1, 2011. Thereafter I will be posting at least once a month. If interest increases I may commit to posting every other week (on the first, and fifteenth of every month). Please bookmark this blog, share what blesses you on this site with others, and of course comment when you feel led.