I know most of you are spending today outside or poolside (like me, come on over!), but I am thrilled to share with you some things I learned a few weeks ago at a T-Mobile Safe Summers Event, hosted by Rachel of BacknGroove Mom (you can read her awesome write up here).
Rachel invited myself and other bloggers to learn about how to stay safe this summer, specifically through the use of apps that T-Mobile is promoting. While I am not a T-Mobile customer, I was excited to check out what they had (and let’s be honest, I could probably easily be swayed to join them since my current provider, Verizon, is being sticky with replacing Greg’s not working phone, ahem). First, I was enticed by pink balloons, prizes, and some amazing Greek food. I even got to buddy up with my PCPGH pal, @techburgh.
See, we had a good time. 🙂 (Photo compliments of Rachel–but if the Samsung rep has photos, I’d love to see those, too!)
During the event, we played some games (see above!) and learned about T-Mobile’s apps for safety. Here’s a rundown of what I learned:
* FamilyWhere lets you and your family send text message check ins when you arrive at pre-determined places, or even locate family members via GPS. My mind immediately went to my husband. He (currently, ahem) doesn’t have a smart phone, so would it work for him? YES! I could get this app and then locate him–no, it’s not that I want to follow his every path, it just would be handy when I am at the office waiting for him to pick me up and he’s running behind (ha). In all seriousness, we don’t have kids with phones, yet, but we could even download the app to our iPad or Kindle and have them located based on where that device is. It sounds a little like FourSquare, but so much more secure.
* LookOut Mobile Security helps you find your lost phone (as long as it’s powered on). It will scream OR you can use GPS to locate it (if you cannot hear the scream…say you left it in the apples at the grocery store).
* Family Allowance and Web Guard are two apps that keep your family’s browsing and phone use safe. You can limit the number of texts, minutes on the phone, or sites your kids (or other family members) access. What I loved, and I think that Sharon mentioned this, is that sure, you could set a text limit of 100 texts per kid and you could use the slider to take them away…but what about as a reward? You did your chores all week? You get 20 more texts this month. I think it’s a great way to set limits and still be a cool parent. (By the way–you can even limit when the phone is in use, so it can become inactive during the school day. Genius.)
* MobileLife Family Organizer by Cozi has seriously revolutionalized my life. It’s a shared to do list, calendar, meal planner, and shopping list. Greg and I used it to get our acts together and pack everything for our trip to Kansas. It helped so much, and we didn’t forget anything. Greg packed the birth certificates while I was at work, and I checked my phone and saw it was done. Breathe a sigh of relief. Instead of asking me in the morning what to prep for dinner? He just looks at the notes on the app. You can sign up for this app and share with your family members here, and the best part is you don’t have to be a T-Mobile customer to get it. We have it on all of our devices (except Greg’s phone), so we can constantly be in touch. I seriously had big love for this app. My favorite!
What a great event! I hope I can go to more events like this and meet up with fellow awesome bloggers. This day was a great break for me, and I seriously can’t thank T-Mobile and the ladies of Waggener Edstrom enough. Thank you!
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Disclaimer: I was invited to attend this free event, but I was not obligated to blog about it. I simply loved it so much that I wanted to share with you. I did receive a bag of swag and a super cool flying/screaming monkey to share with the kids. You’ll see me rocking my PT appointments with the tote in tow–it’s a great bag for the beach. Thank you, T-Mobile, Rachel, and all the other sponsors!