Sandra Boynton has been a goddess in the Pop Culture Family home.

It has been increasingly hard to buy good gifts for Pop Culture Dad. We pretty much buy things as we want them, save for really large purchases, and we've been trying to scale back on the over-the-top gifts the last couple of years. He doesn't maintain a wish list and doesn't have very many hobbies, and there's only so much St. Louis Cardinals stuff you can buy before it gets really duplicative. After giving a birthday present this year that did not receive a very enthusiastic response, I had to think really hard to come up with a present that Pop Culture Dad actually wanted, but that wasn't overly practical. Enter the Roku.

Developer: Ironpaper
Platform: iPhone 3GS & higher, iPod Touch - 3rd generation and higher, iPad. iOS 5 required
Price: $0.99
Rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5)

"This is so pointless... so mindless... so PERFECT!"

^^ That is what Pop Culture Dad said the first time he saw Pop Culture Toddler2 playing with Baby's Touch. His sentiment accurately reflects my feelings about it. So if the game is "perfect," why only four stars? Well, just because it is so pointless and mindless, that I have to reserve the one star for the main thing I usually look for in kids' apps—education.

Don't get me wrong, though. I love this app. PCT2 loves this app. Heck, even my four year old has entertained herself playing with it. Okay, okay, I'll confess. Even I have played it when the kids aren't around. It's just cute and fun.

For those who don't know me, I'm an app whore (pardon my French). I have a gazillion apps on my iPhone and iPad, and if any developer asks me if I want to play around with their app, my answer is always yes [well, almost. Don't send me any porn or religion apps, okay?]. A lot of these don't work out. Some of these come with a warning, "Do you really want me to review this? Because... uh... it's not gonna be good." (Notice there aren't a huge amount of reviews for apps I've been given? Yeah... There's a reason, unfortunately). So my expectations always start out low, especially when a developer warns me that it is just a simple game with no complexities at all. My, how he sold himself short!

The day after I downloaded the Baby Touch app, PCT2 became the first member of my family to fall victim to the nasty stomach virus going around the girls' daycare/preschool. She got sick on my way to bring them in, and, in a classic example of Murphy's Law, on a day where I had too many things going on at work to stay home. So I had to come up with ways to distract her in my office^[1] until Pop Culture Dad could leave his office to pick her up while I furiously did research on Westlaw.

While PCT2 was busying herself tearing up my office, I thought "Hm.... Maybe this would be the perfect time to try out that new app?" It was. Witness:



As you can see, there is practically nothing to this game. She touches the screen, bubbles, rainbows, clouds or stars pop out with sounds and dings, she touches them, they disappear, and the process starts all over again. So simple. So mindless. And for a toddler? So. Freaking. PERFECT.

At least twice a day, PCT2 points to my iPad and says,"Bubble?". It is one of only two games she prefers to keep on rotation.

As I stated earlier, if there was any educational value to this game, I would consider it absolutely perfect from a mom's perspective. In any event, if you want something that is just awesome and entertaining for your baby or toddler, this is it.
____
[1] Door closed, because I'm not a jerk.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I've been waiting for over a year for the announcement. I've kept abreast of all the rumors. I have a saved Google News alert for "iPhone 5." And now that the announcement has been made and the iPhone 5 is set to release next week, suddenly I'm all "meh... Guess I can wait two years until the iPhone 6 comes out."

Don't get me wrong. The iPhone 5 is clearly impressive and has a number of long-awaited improvements. For me, however, this is a clear case of "too little, too late."

When the iPhone 4S came out last year, my immediate reaction was, "Are you shitting me???". Seeing as Apple pulled this "ha ha! We're not really releasing a new model even though you have been waiting a year" game on us before (3GS, anyone?), I should have not been surprised. Yet, I still was. Yes, the camera was improved, and there's Siri; but when you really break it down, there's not that much of a difference between the iPhone 4 and the 4S. And thanks to the incremental steps put forth with the 4S (not to mention the iPad 3, which has some but not all of these "revolutionary" changes in the iPhone 5), what should have been a mind-blowing, game changing announcement was just "Okay. Sure."

There is not enough of a change in the iPhone 5 to make me jump and plunk down $400 (I'm a 64 GB kinda gal). Bigger screen? I have an iPad 3 with an even larger screen, which I bring everywhere. Retina display? iPad has that too. Panoramic pictures? I don't need them, and the iPhone's camera is still worse than that of other smartphones (like the Nokia Lumina or Samsung Galaxy), so it's not replacing my real camera any time soon. Siri, new maps, iCloud tabs, Passbook, photo streaming, Facebook integration?? It's all coming to the iPad with the update to iOS 6.

Look, I'm not saying the iPhone 5 isn't impressive. I'm just saying its not impressive enough to get me to make the jump. What about all of you? Are you sufficiently impressed with the iPhone 5, or will you be holding on to your current i-devices?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

What's a girl to do when she has Google Play and Amazon MP3 apps on her Kindle Fire and iTunes songs on her iPad and iPhone [first-world problems, I know, leave me alone!]? Well, you could do like Pop Culture Dad did and spend three days converting your entire iTunes music library to MP3s and then uploading that to Google Play, vowing to never use iTunes again... Or you could go the sane and easy route of finding a player that allows you to listen to your Google music on your iOS platforms.

You cannot access Google Play to actually play songs from your iPad or iPhone. Go ahead. Try it. I did, and after Safari crashed several times, I finally got the message.

Before finding gMusic, I tried another app (a free one) which shall remain nameless. Not only did it not work, but the app had the gall to suggest I avoid ads and pay for their upgraded version instead. Considering the ads were the only part of that app that worked, no thank you.

So I took a chance on purchasing gMusic. Normally, I avoid the paid version until I am sure an app will work, but for $1.99 and desperation, I thought it was worth the gamble. It was. As I type this, my iPad is blasting Lady Gaga (don't judge). Now that I feel comfortable and confident about the app's ability to work, I plan on purchasing a lot more music via Google and Amazon. Huzzah!



Hey! Don't look at me like that! I haven't purchased that much from Google, and when I do it is the stuff on sale. I swear I have more… um… varied and sophisticated tastes is music!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Price: FREE for basic




Cozi is a very simple digital solution to a common household problem: every member of the family has different appointments and obligations, you need groceries, there is a big list of punch items to be done, meals need to be planned, some new recipes would be nice, and oh yeah, you're tired of sending Outlook reminders to everyone. Enter Cozi.

Cozi is a one-stop shop for all of these items. The family gets one login name and one password [take note of this, as Pop Culture Dad forgot this fact when he changed the family password last week. Fortunately, Cozi sends an email to all family members when this happens]. You can access Cozi online at Cozi.com or you can download the app (for iPhone/iPad and Android).

Here is how the opening screen looks on my app:


This is the home screen online:


The calendar allows you to select which family member(s) are attending which appointments. Additionally, each family member is assigned a color (which you can change), which makes it easy to tell which appointments are whose at a glance. Every family member who logs in will see all appointments, but reminders are only sent to those attending. Every registered family member receives a weekly summary of the appointments once a week.


One added perk is that you can download an app for Microsoft Outlook that allows Cozi to sync with Outlook either manually or on a schedule. I have this on Outlook at work, so that I don't have to worry about copy/pasting my work events into Cozi. Less work, ya know?


The to-do list is pretty easy to master. It is easily edited and even allows you to make header categories for different groups of tasks.



The grocery list allows any family member to add and check off items needed and no longer needed.



The meal plan organizer is pretty self-explanatory:


BONUS: Recipes. Cozi not only contains a section to list your meal plan for the weeks ahead, but also provides recipes.



If the Cozi recipes don't tickle your fancy, you can add your own recipes manually or even upload them from the internet. This may be a good way to try out all of those recipes you keep pinning on Pinterest. Oh yeah, Cozi also lets you add the ingredients from the recipe to the grocery list.

All of this comes in the basic version, which is free. You just have to put up with ads and deal with having only one alarm on your reminders. For an ad-free experience with three alarms (plus a few other features), you will need to upgrade to Cozi Gold. Cozi Gold is $4.99 a month or $49.99 for a year. I've been using the Basic subscription for a couple of months now, and it is just fine for our purposes.

Before Cozi, Pop Culture Dad and I had been sending each other Outlook reminders (sometimes we still do) and texting each other at the grocery store. This is a more interactive way of doing things. It also makes it more clear when I'm making appointments that were previously just for FYI, that I really don't expect anyone else to attend.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

It is no secret how much I love the Total Baby app for the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. It has, however, changed a lot since I wrote my last review. there have been some significant updates. Also, I now have a iPad (thanks again, Pop Culture Dad!) and am able to witness the pretty cool iPad interface. Like a typical lawyer, I have to point out that this "review" is merely an update of new features, and not meant as a stand-alone review of the app. For a more full update, this post should be read along with the original review.

New Feature: Breast Milk Storage
The Total Baby app now includes timers for pumping and keeps a log of your breast milk. Based on how it is stored, the app even tells you when the milk expires. Honestly, I haven't been totally diligent in the use of this feature, but when I have used it, it is glorious.



New Feature: Timeline and Summary Charts
If you are more of a visual person than a textual one, this new timeline/chart summary (I'm not sure what to call it) should be right up your alley. Here is how it looks on the iPad version:






New Feature: Facebook Share
Just typed up a huge diary or milestone entry and want to share it with all your Facebook friends? No worries, just click on the Facebook share button, and you can annoyimpress all your Facebook buddies with your little one's newest and greatest accomplishments, without any need to copy/paste.




New Feature: Reminder Alarms
If your last entry was for giving baby Tylenol, but you can't remember when to give the next dosage, just set a reminder. This is the one feature the ItzBeen timer had that this app was missing. Now it is totally superior in every way.




As before, this app remains my favorite. Pop Culture Baby has now gotten too old for me to use this app for every feeding and diaper change, but I still use it for important things like medications, doctor appointments, vaccination records, growth, milestones and diaries. I still use it with Pop Culture Preschooler, too. Now that she's a little sassafras, the "Diary" feature comes in handy for capturing all the crazy things she says and does.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

App: Publisher Star HD
Platform: iPad
Designer: Aidaluu Inc.
Price: $5.99
PCM Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Although it seems like only yesterday that I was in the delivery room, Pop Culture Baby's first birthday is rapidly approaching. Since I need some time to practice making all of the things Pinterest has convinced me I can do (yeah right), I've already started planning. Part of my planning has involved getting the invitations ready. I started with gathering my committee of friends to debate whether the theme I had picked was too off-beat. From their comments, I evolved my idea, and then set about finding invites that matched. There weren't really any I liked.


Eventually, I found myself on Zazzle (as I often do). I designed the perfect invitation with a combination of Zazzle's templates and various graphics I purchased on Etsy. I submitted my order and paid. Then a day later I had my heart broken as Zazzle rejected my order. In my excitement to design the perfect invitation, I had neglected the fact that purchasing a graphic for private design use doesn't really work when you are paying someone to do the printing for you. Well drat.


I didn't want to pay a fortune for some Adobe printing software just to design one invitation, so that left the iPad (a recent birthday present from Pop Culture Dad aka The Most Awesomist Hubby Ever). After searching a variety of different ways, I noticed one program kept coming up — Publisher Star HD. I was reluctant to pay $6 for an iPad app that may or may not actually help me design an invitation; but I had an iTunes gift card, so worst-case scenario, I'd waste a few credits. It was a good gamble.

I love this app! It took a lot of getting used to, trying to figure out what each icon actually meant and how it helped me design. Of course, it probably doesn't help that I was starting this project at midnight. Eventually, I got the hang of it, and now I am something of a Publisher Star pro. The app is loaded with a few graphics and lots of really nice fonts. I didn't use any of the graphics in designing my party invitations. I instead used the pictures in the camera roll on my iPad (all those lovely graphics and backgrounds I bought on Etsy). The final product was something that looked even better than what I had originally designed on Zazzle!




Printing is not going to be a problem. Publisher Star lets you email your final product in JPG, PNG, and PDF formats. I emailed the invitation to myself for printing from my desktop. I do have a printing app on my iPad, but I only prints three sizes, and none of them are the size I chose for my invitation.


So why only four stars if I'm so I love with this product? The learning curve is my first reason. The instructions did not really help me figure out how to use the app; it was all trial and error. Also, the app has grid lines, but those only come in handy if you are using a solid background instead of a background created from a picture on your phone. Once I added my lovely argyle background, the grid basically did not exist. I had to remove it in order to center my project perfectly. Also, the size options are in pixels rather than imperial or metric units. I had to do a lot of math and playing around to figure out how many pixels would yield a 5x7 invitation. That was an absolute pain.


Despite these flaws, it is an overall good product, especially when you consider that you are making invitations(or newsletters or flow charts) on an iPad. I had so much fun designing Pop Culture Baby's birthday invitation, that I may use this app for the invites for Pop Culture Preschooler's birthday party also... and my Samhain/Halloween party... and a newsletter we send out with our Yule/Christmas/New Years family photos... and a chart I make just for the heck of it... and... and....


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Developer: ANDesigned
Price: $4.99
PCM Rating: 5 out of 5

I wish I'd had an iPhone or iPod Touch when I first had Pop Culture Toddler, and if I'd had one, I wish I would have had this app.

The Total Baby app is one part Itz Been™ timer, one part baby book, one part photo album, and one part calendar. It is all parts AWESOME.

For parents of multiple children (including multiples), you can record entries for more than one child. There's even a side-by-side record option for twins. You can modify the settings to use a different colored background for each child, if you choose. All entries are adaptable by measurement system, so of you're like everyone in the world outside of the U.S., you can use metric measurements instead of the customary system.

Baby Timers: The Itz Been™-like Component



The baby timers will probably be the most useful feature for new parents. You know you're supposed to keep track of feeding times, wet and dirty diapers, how long your baby nursed, etc.; but you're sleep deprived. And where did that notepad go? Okay, now that you've found the tablet of notes, why can't you decipher any of them? Oh. That's right. You're sleep deprived.

There are five timers: sleep, feeding, diapers, bathing and wild card. Unlike the Itz Been™ timer, which basically acts like a stop watch and alarm clock, the Total Baby app can be used as either a stop watch or a journal after the fact. Also, every entry is logged for later review; nothing disappears unless you want it to. Every option has sub-options, which makes the information that much more valuable.

The Sleep Timer

The sleep timer allows you to specify where your child slept and take notes.



The Feeding Timer

The feeding timer allows you to specify what type of feeding and gives you additional descriptive options based on the type of feeding selected. If you choose formula feeding, you can say how much was given. If you choose breastfeeding, you can specify whether it was a right or left feeding and run a timer while nursing, so that you know exactly how long. If you choose solid feedings, you can specify the types of solids given - there is a customizable list already available - whether your child liked it, how much s/he ate, and whether there was an allergic reaction.

Certain foods are hidden if your child is below the recommended age for them. You can, however, unhide them at any time.







The Diaper Timer

The diaper timer allows you to specify whether it was wet, solid, both or dry. If solid, you can describe the appearance. You can even add a description, as I did, to specify that your child went in the toilet rather than in his or her diaper.



The Bath Timer

You can use this to keep track of your child's baths and even where they occurred.



The Wild Card

You can use this for anything really. I used it to record medication [There are even commonly used meds, like Tylenol, Benadryl and Motrin already available for selection.


These days, I'm half-tempted to use it to record temper tantrums and epic meltdowns. That would require far too much usage of the app, however.

The Journal — Baby Book/Photo Album Component





The pictures above are pretty self-explanatory. You can use the Diary and Milestones tabs to record your child's milestones or any other neat day-to-day events. Each entry allows one photo. The most recent photo added is the one that will appear on your child's homepage.

Doctor Tab — The Calendar Part



The Doctor tab allows you to record past and future doctor appointments, contact information for the doctors, your child's growth (length/height, weight, and head circumference -- including charts with the percentiles and an option to see changes from the last record), vaccines, and allergies. The vaccine tab even includes a brief summary of what each vaccine does -- very useful for someone like me who can't remember why exactly a Hib shot is important.











—-—-

You might be worried that with all this data, one bad iTunes sync could wipe out your child's history. No fears! There's a sync option to prevent this.




I first got this app a little before my daughter's first birthday. At that point, it wasn't as important to use the timers on when she last ate or used the restroom, but I used them anyway. It was actually kind of fun.

I found the timers most useful, however, for nursing and sleep. I was able to tell by looking at previous days if my daughter was getting the recommended amount of sleep for her age. It was also useful to remember if our last nursing session was on the left or the right side.

I have also thoroughly enjoyed using the journal and doctor features. Instead of going back through my Outlook calendar to determine when we last saw the allergist, I can go here and see every single time we saw him. I can also keep track of things I would never put on Outlook, like the type of medicine he prescribed.

Being able to add pictures has made recording milestones more memorable. Not to mention, unlike that baby book, which disappeared a year ago, I know where my phone is at all times.

Overall, I can't think of any cons to the Total Baby app. When I first got this app, there were a couple of functions on my wishlist that weren't there. I emailed the developer, and POOF, there they were. I'm not saying I added them because of me alone (that's silly), but I will say the developer is responsive. I got a "thank you for your feedback" e-mail within an hour or two of my suggestion email, and the new features (which I'm guessing were heavily requested) were in the next release.

UPDATE: Total Baby has some very cool new features that have been added since this review was written. You can read my review of the latest updates (as of August 2012) here.

Creator: 3DAL, LLC
Price: $0.99
Pop Culture Mom Rating: 5 out of 5

This is one of the great bargains as far as iPhone apps for toddlers goes. You get eight games in one. Each game involves a different skill: colors, numbers, shapes, parts of the body, matching, “art” (which is actually coloring), sounds (animal sounds) and typing.




Colors



This game is often my daughter's favorite. Pop Culture Toddler is really into sea creatures right now, so this game is right up her alley. When your toddler touches on the colored splotches above, they temporarily transform into the following:

Yellow - fish
Blue - whale
Purple - octopus
Orange - starfish
Green - sea turtle
Red - sea horse
Pink - sea anemone

A child's voice announces the name of the color and the name of the creature. Although I know my daughter only truly knows a few colors, if you ask her to find the proper color/creature combo, she gets it right every time.

One frustrating part of the game is that toddlers will have trouble with accuracy, especially at the beginning. PCT often tries to click on something such as the seahorse, but gets the sea anemone instead. In fact, the errors almost always result in the sea anemone.

Numbers




"Numbers" is your classic connect-the-dots game. This game is still a little too advanced for Pop Culture Toddler (which is why, I guess, this iPhone app is called "preschool" adventure rather than "toddler" adventure). We try to play it every now and then, but I don't think she'll fully appreciate it for a number of months.

Shapes



Honestly, this is really similar to "Colors," only instead of sea creatures, you get shapes with googly eyes which disappear when they jump out of their respective craters. But since toddlers are apparently impervious to boredom via repetition, PCT loves this game.

Artist



In this game, there are four pictures to "paint" any way you choose. Pop Culture Toddler only plays with this when she is absolutely bored with the other games. I, however, think it's fun. If only there were more colors!

Body



This game teaches your little one the parts of the body by saying the name and putting them on the correct spot on the monkey when clicked. PCT already knew her body parts when we got Preschool Adventure, so this isn't really a teaching tool. She just likes the monkey.

Matching




This game looks like it should be boring at all get out, but Pop Culture Toddler giggles every time she plays with it. There are three sliding parts, and you have to click to change each one out until you filly form one of a bear, a pig, an alligator, or a caterpillar (which then turns into a butterfly). Very cute.

Sounds



Honestly, we rarely play this game, because we have another farm animal game Pop Culture Toddler enjoys more. She doesn't mind this game, however. It's just not at the top of her to-play list.

Typing



Pop Culture Toddler occasionally likes to play with the typing game, which involves pressing a letter on an on-screen keyboard, then seeing a large block version of the letter (you can shift between caps and lower case), followed by an animal whose name starts with that letter.


I think some of the animals chosen for the letters are a bit random [for instance, would you automatically think “giraffe” or “gorilla” would be the “G” animal? I would. It’s a gazelle. And the "N" animal is a newt. Really?!]; but my daughter seems to enjoy it anyway. She gets to "type" and keep her grubby little hands off my computer. Everybody wins.

Overall Impression
Certainly, not every game is a clear hit, and some children are going to prefer certain games to others. As far as value for the money and educational value, however, it's pretty hard to argue with paying less than a dollar (before tax) for eight games. Even if your child only likes one, you've gotten your money's worth.