Review: HP Printer and Photo Book

As I mentioned last week, the Parent Bloggers Network recently sent me an HP Photosmart 626 Printer and two cloth bound photo books to review. Here are my thoughts.

Printer Setup

The printer was super easy to set up. It's designed to work directly with your memory card. Just pop it in and then edit or print your photos. If you want to print photos from your computer, you must purchase a USB cable separately.

For a printer that's designed to help you create a photo memory book, I didn't find this very practical. If you're making a photo book of your most recent vacation I can see how all of your pictures could still be on your memory card. But if you're making a photo book of your children's first year of life (as I was) and that child is now 4.5 years old, you're going to need the USB cable to get those photos off of your computer.

I can see how working directly from the memory card would be really helpful for a technophobe since you don't have to worry about compatability issues. Personally, I want my printer to come with a USB cable.

Printer Touch Screen Functionality

The PhotoSmart 626 works with a touch screen that pops up out of the computer. You can navigate your photos using the included stylus or your finger. I found both work equally well. The touch screen makes it simple to crop photos, remove red-eye, and adjust photo brightness. I found the results to be similar to the basic photo editing software that's included with most printers.

If your camera records video, you can even use the touch screen to play the video, although without sound.

My one gripe with the touch screen is that I'd prefer to view the pictures on the large screen of my computer to determine how they're going to look before I print them.

Printing

The prints from this printer are similar in quality to my Canon i560 and my Dell Photo AIO 922 printer. The major improvement is how easy it is to print borderless photos of different sizes. However, you also can't print any photos larger than 5x7.

The HP printer also includes a very cool feature called Get Creative. Use it to draw on photos with stylus, add frames, special effects, clip art, and captions. This is a great feature for anyone who fancies him/herself a scrapbooker and will come in handy when I finally get around to creating those photo books.

Troubleshooting

As I tested this printer I never found cause to refer to the troubleshooting and support section of the user's guide, but I read it anyway and found it to be very simple to understand, which can't be said about many tech products these days.

Discounts

The Parent Bloggers network asked me to mention that you should check Sunday circulars for specials on the printer itself. For 20% off the Photo Books at the HP Home & Office Store, use COUPON CODE: AC8595.

First Impressions: HP Photo Printer and Photo Book

I recently received the HP Photosmart 626 printer and two cloth-bound photo books to review for the Parent Bloggers Network. I'll post my full review next week and will be discussing these products with Leo on an upcoming podcast, but I wanted to fill you in on my first impressions.

The pros:

• I love the compact size since my desk is already so crowded. Plus, it's totally portable.
• The books themselves look to be of a similar quality to the linen books from Shutterfly, which I've been quite happy with.
• If your memory card is in the printer and you aren't using it, it will play a little slideshow of your photos.

The cons:

• The printer doesn't come with a USB cable, which means any picture you want to use for a book has to be on your memory card.
• The print quality is good enough for the price, but not fantastic.

Stay tuned for my full review. If you've used this printer, I'd love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments section. 

Review: Sequoia Survival Kit

Marco's parents live in Montana and we've driven there from Northern California nearly every year since 1999. We've even made the trip for Christmas through a lot of snow and ice. This year for the holidays we're flying, primarily because we've already made the drive out there this year, but also because we've gotten wiser in our old age and we've realized that weather is not always our friend.

If you're still under the impression that weather gives a damn about you, may I recommend a Sequioa Vehicle Survival Kit? The folks at Sequoia Survival were nice enough to send me one of these kits to review for the Parent Bloggers Network.

Here's the thing about survival kits. You hope you never have to use them. So, even though the kit has been in my car for a few months, I'm pretty glad I still can't give you a review of how this really works in an emergency. I like that it's compact. My only real complaint is that I wish our minivan had a compartment for the kit, so it didn't clutter up the car. But really, is that such big price to pay for survival?

Here's what the kit contains:

• 32 oz water
• Meals ready to eat (MRE) for 2 people for 1 day
• 151 piece first aid kit
• Two thermal emergency blankets 
• Two rain ponchos 
• Two 6-hour hand warmers
• Two 12-hour light sticks
• Windproof and waterproof matches
• Crank radio/light and cell phone charger (compatible with most models of Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, and LG cell phones.)
• Multi-function hardware tool
• Leather work gloves
• Duct tape
• Rope
• Cleansing wipes
• Toilet paper
• Notebook
• Pen
• Playing cards

I'm not much of a survivalist, so I'd love to hear from you all if you think this kit is pretty complete or if it's missing some major items. In other words, what's in your emergency kit?

Review: Kajeet Cell Phones for Kids

I should probably get to my disclosures up front in this one, because there are a few. I first heard about Kajeet, the new cell phone service for kids, when I got an e-mail from Craig Peters, their director of online marketing and communications. Craig wrote me back in June because he'd found the Jumping Monkeys podcast and he wanted to introduce me to Kajeet. He gave me a little bit of background about the service and we discussed the possibility of Kajeet sponsoring Jumping Monkeys.

Kajeet sounded really interesting, but I have to say that I didn't spend too much time thinking about it. Kajeet is aimed at tweens and we're light years away from that stage in our house (or so I'd like to believe.)

A few months later MomCentral asked me to review a Kajeet phone for their blog tour. I signed up and they sent me a phone and a $20 phone card to try out the service. I played with the phone for a few weeks, checked out all the features on the phone and the Web site and I was really impressed. It's obvious that the Kajeet phone service was designed by parents, not just people who try to imagine what parents might need.

Kajeet used kid beta testers to help design the phones, so I would hope that that means that tweens would like them. Since I'm not one and I don't have one, I can't tell you whether all that tween-speak on the Web site and the phone controls is appealing or annoying to kids. I can say, however, that as a parent I'm very impressed with the parental controls.

I never gave much thought to kids cell phones, but the more I read the more I learned just how dangerous it might be to give your child a regular cell phone. First consider the fact that standard phones allow your child to call anyone (thereby automatically giving anyone their cell phone number). Many plans allow you to buy ringtones and sign up for difference services. That's basically the same as handing over your credit card to your child. They'll be charged for those services and you'll be the one who has to pay.

Here are a few ways Kajeet can help you manage your child's cell phone:

• You set who your kids can call.
• You set the hours when your kids can call, to help keep them from making calls at school. (The exception to this is that they can always call home and they can always call 911.)
• You give your kids a phone allowance, which can help teach them how to budget their money. They can buy ringtones. They can buy wallpaper. They can text or make phone calls. One they've spent their allowance, that's it.
• There are no contracts and no monthly fees, thereby allowing you and your children to be fickle about the plan. Instead you get charged by the day.

I am not buying my children (ages 4.5, 2.5, and 2.5) a cell phone anytime soon. But when the time does come I'm definitely going to consider Kajeet and I'd recommend it to anyone with tweens who they think are ready for their own phone.   

Review: Ryka Running Shoes

Am I the only one who finds it difficult to say "no" to free things? No? Good.

So, when the Parent Bloggers Network offered me a free pair of Ryka MC2 running shoes, you can imagine my answer. But I haven't forgotten about you, my friends. You can sign up at Ryka to win your own pair of sneakers. From now until October 25th Ryka is giving away 50 pairs of shoes and 50 performance tees every day.

Review: Girlology

Have you noticed that the 80's are back in fashion? There's something disconcerting about seeing pre-teen girls wearing the exact same style of clothing that I wore when I was their age in the mid-eighties.

After reading the latest book on my Parent Bloggers review shelf, I realized that I shouldn't be surprised. Fashions never change and neither do all those questions that every teenage girl is afraid to ask. The only thing that's different now is that it's a lot easier to get answers. The right answers? That's a whole different story.

Girlology: Hang-Ups, Hook-Ups, and Holding Out is a book of questions and answers for teen girls, written by Melisa Holmes (an ob-gyn) and Trish Hutchison (a pediatrician.) The topics cover the adolescent angst spectrum from acne to alcohol, ADD to STDs, hormones to hymens. The answers are quick and easy, and best of all honest.

Each chapter also begins with a short story called "She Did What?" The author's say that the names in the stories have been changed, but the stories themselves are real. These sections have that signature after-school special feel to them. And just like the after-school specials of my youth, they're not necessarily artfully written, but I secretly enjoyed them anyway.

I was surprised at how interested I was in reading Girlology. I'm about 20 years too late for it to be helpful to me and about 20 years too early for it to be helpful to me in talking to Annabella. And yet, I was still fascinated by the topics and still surprised at how much I still didn't know about the opposite sex.

Is this book for you?

If you're a teenage girl? Yes. If you're the mother, father, friend, teacher, or confidant of a teenage girl? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

These days the questions that my kids ask me are fascinating and fun to answer. The most complicated Annabella has gotten lately was "Why do girls get to wear leotards to gymnastics and boys just wear regular clothes?" I realize that with the diapers, baby gates, and temper tantrums, so go these easy questions. I'm not saying that Girlology will offer all the answers, but I do hope that when the time comes it will give Annabella and I a place to start the conversation.

Review: Printakid

The most recent product to come down the pipes at the Parent Bloggers review network is a personalized book for children from Printakid. The folks at Parent Bloggers sent me a coupon code to order one of these books for free so I could let you all know whether I think they're worth it.

Here's how Printakid works:

1. Go to their Web site.

2. Choose from one of their stories.

3. Enter the child's name and physical characteristics (hair color, eye color, skin color, etc.) into their online form. You also have the option of adding the child's parent's names and the names of their friends.

4. Wait 2-3 weeks and a personalized book arrives.

I chose the Robots of Sedna space adventure because I'm a geek. In the space for Annabella's friends, I put Huck and Milo's names so they could be part of the story too.

The hardcover book is high quality with great illustrations, bright colors, and nice thick pages. The story is part Battlestar Gallactica, part Futurama. Annabella is the spaceship's captain, Milo is the pilot, and Huck is the science officer. This last part makes complete sense if anyone's ever seen the science experiments Huck's always performing on Annabella's Barbie (poor, headless Barbie.)

In my opinion, the writing isn't fantastic. It's hard to write a good children's book! But the truth is that my opinion is not the one that really counts here. Annabella, Milo, and Huck are all thrilled to be characters in the book, which makes it a definite favorite at story time.

My biggest complaint about the Printakid books was the fact that the company's logo is in several places on the book, including the front cover.

The  book is 22 pages long and costs $24.42 (not including shipping). You can also order the book with a CD for $34.99, or a calendar for $5.69. Printakid also allows you to add a personalized message at the beginning of the book, which is a nice touch.

It's out of my price range for a birthday gift for the kids' school friends, but for very special friends and relatives, I'm definitely going to keep Printakid in mind. 

Review: Word World

It was with trepidation that I agreed to do a Parent Bloggers Network review of World World, the new PBS show for kids that premieres on September 3, 2007. My kids don't watch that much TV and not necessarily by my choice.

But I know I can't keep my kids away from television forever, so they may as well be watching something educational. And Word World comes with a pedigree -- it was developed by leading literacy experts and partly funded by the Department of Education.

In the interest of full disclosure, PBS sent me a free DVD of two 11 minute episodes of Word World. We brought it with us to Chicago and Annabella (age 4) was hooked. She watched each episode several times on the plane. In Chicago our friend Caleb (age 2) also enjoyed the show, although he lost interest after about five minutes.

Word World stars "The Word Friends," cartoon animals that are made of letters. For example, the dog is made of the letters D-O-G. In fact, many of the objects in World World are made of the letters that make up the word the object is. If I'm not making any sense, check the Word World Web site to see for yourself.

Did Word World teach Annabella to read or help her become more "reading ready?" I have no idea. My totally personal, unprofessional opinion is that if we'd spent the time actually reading or just interacting instead of watching the DVD, that probably would have done more good. Most experts recommend that you watch these kinds of shows with your kids, but if you're anything like me then you watch these shows while you can take a break to do something else.

Word World is aimed at 3-5 year olds, which I respect since I'm definitely against all the TV that's shown to babies these days, especially considering that recent study that says that infants might be better off watching American Idol.   

Review: The Bilingual Edge

When The Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review, The Bilingual Edge: Why, When, and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language, I jumped at the chance. Recently, I've been thinking a lot about teaching our kids to speak Spanish. This may seem like a strange choice since all the Spanish I know I learned from the first seven episodes of the podcast, Coffee Break Spanish. But I think learning a language makes kids appreciate other cultures. Plus, I don't want my kids to have the same struggle I did, postponing their first experience with another language until high school.

The Why

I had mixed feelings about the reasons the authors give for teaching your children another language. I really liked the emphasis they put on how learning another language helps promote cross-cultural understanding. At the same time, even the title of the book ("The Bilingual Edge") implies that I want to teach my child another language so that they have an edge against other children. To me this is part of the same trend I wrote about last month, when parents send their kids to kindergarten later so they're more advanced and have an "edge" against other kids. To be fair, the writers also stress many other reasons to teach your child another language. And I don't blame them for the today's competitive parenting.

The How

The Bilingual Edge is written by Kendall King and Alison Mackey, who are both are Ph.Ds in linguistics. They're also the parents of young children themselves. They know how busy families can be and they offer second language-learning strategies for parents that are both useful and practical.

They emphasize that learning a new language must be fun. Sing songs, read books, or count in another language each time you walk up the stairs. I tried this by saying "uno, dos, tres" before I gave my boys a big giant push on the swings. They were counting to three in Spanish after the third time. I'm not even sure they know how to count to three in English. The words stuck with them too. The next time we went to the park they said, "Let's do 'uno, dos, tres'."

King and Mackey's strategies are also already working for me, even though I'm still learning Spanish. They write, "Children have an amazing ability to learn language, and acquisition occurs even though adults do not always speak perfectly or do not actively teach them a language."

Yet, some of the examples they give make learning a second language venture into the territory of the over-scheduled child. Consider the example they give of the two year old whose parents want her to learn Japanese and Spanish. The two year old takes music and movement classes in Spanish, gets a Spanish lesson once a week, has a Japanese night once a week where they speak only in Japanese, and her parents have a Japanese student come over once a week to play with her. I feel pretty strongly about the fact that as parents it is not our job to constantly entertain or educate our children. I have a strict "one extra-curricular activity at a time" rule for my kids, so an example like this one kind of turns me off.

The Myths

The authors of The Bilingual Edge also do a great job of addressing the myths and realities of teaching a child another language. When I've told people that I'm trying to teach my kids Spanish, the response I often get is, "They don't even know how to speak English." King and Mackey have lots of research to back up their claim that kids don't mix up languages as their learning them.

The authors also clear up a common misconception about how kids learn language. King and Mackey must recognize that if they'd come out with "The Bilingual Edge Video series" complete with puppets and pictures of farm scenes they probably could have made themselves a lot of cash. But they debunk the popular theory that young kids can learn another language by watching videos, TV programs, or by playing with bilingual toys. The authors insist that kids need to try out their new language skills on someone who will respond to them.

If you've ever given any thought to teaching your child or children another language, but you don't know where to start, I definitely suggest you grab a copy of the Bilingual Edge. For more information, also see the Bilingual Edge Web site.

This review was sponsored in part by The Parent Bloggers Network. They send me free copies of the books, but I choose which books I'd like to review based on what interests me and what I think might interest you. For more information, see this post. If you have any feedback about these reviews, please post in the comment section or e-mail me.

Review: Body, Soul, and Baby

I am not a fan of pregnancy and parenting books. You might think that means I have no business reviewing one. However, the sheer number of parenting books I've read in my life and the fact that I am not pregnant and not planning on ever being pregnant again makes me uniquely qualified. At least according to, well, me.

Body, Soul, and Baby is a new book by Dr. Tracy W. Gaudet, Director of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine and founding executive director of Dr. Andrew Weil's Program in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona. As the book's title and author's credentials suggest, Body, Soul, and Baby combines mainstream and alternative medicine to help new mothers througout their pregnancy and the birth of their baby. When the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review this book, I was fascinated since all of the pregnancy books I've read we're strictly of one camp or the other.

It's been five years since I found out I was pregnant the first time. Sure, I remember the bad parts, like that time I puked into my lunch bag as I commuted over the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. But I also remember the ethereal feeling of having a new person growing inside me. My body was changing, but that was only the least of it. A new life! Inside of me! I really wanted my OB to talk about this aspect of my pregnancy, but she was all business. Most of the time she couldn't even be bothered to look up from her clipboard when she asked me if I had any questions.

According to Gaudet, I had a pretty typical experience. She writes that modern pregnancy feels a little like a conveyer belt. "A time of internal wonder has been reframed almost entirely as a time for external worry." Gaudet doesn't claim that you won't have some fears throughout your pregnancy, but she aims to guide you through these fears, by addressing the real changes that are taking place within.

During my second pregnancy I made more of an effort to find an OB who was more open to answering questions. And for many of my appointments I saw a midwife who hugged me after each visit. Still, there aren't many doctors working today who are going to be able to help you with the process of self-discovery as well as Gaudet does in Body, Soul, and Baby.

Like the standard pregnancy books, Body, Soul, and Baby is organized by the stages of pregnancy. Unlike the standard books it focuses on meditation, reflection, observation, and other non-traditional ways of handling the changes that pregnancy brings. Gaudet also covers all the basics that you'll read in conventional pregnancy books.

When I first found out I was pregnant with Annabella a friend who'd recently had a baby made me promise that I wouldn't read What to Expect When You're Expecting. She said that the fear the book instilled in her, with all it's worst-case scenarios, far outweighed the usefullness of it. I made the promise to her and then promptly broke it. I'd ask you to make the same promise, but you'll probably break it and read What to Expect too and that's OK. Still, if you're pregnant or trying to get pregnant and you're at all interested in intergrative medicine, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Body, Soul, and Baby too.