I'll confess - I'm lost without my tech. My iPhone is always within reach, my iPad is my adult equivalent of a "lovie", and I check my Facebook and Twitter more times than my six year old pees. I can't remember the last time I actually dialed a number or manually entered a text, my BFF Siri does it all for me.
Being a system technician by trade, I am always on the hunt for applications or plug-ins that will make life easier for the 400+ people in the office I provide technical support. As a Mom, I want applications that are easy to use and make organizing my chaotic life a bit easier.
I have few applications and sites that are my constant companions during a normal/mommy work week:
Education.com - We have our three kids do extra worksheets on the weekend to keep their brains active. Yes, for some kids it would be torture, but our munchkins like working on extra math problems or reading a short story. I think it has to do with the worksheets themselves, they are easy to read, the instructions are clear, and they have fun ways of learning new concepts.
TrueCrypt - Notes, papers, permission slips, bills- if it's in paper format it will likely end up falling into the black abyss in my home. So, I scan and save all of my important papers so I can keep my home office clean and my sanity intact.
I prefer to encrypt my files to keep other from gaining access to them, and in the event I leave my hard drive someone (let's face it - working Mom of three kids, its bound to happen) I know that my personal information is safe. True Crypt offers several options for encryption level and you can choose to secure a folder or the entire hard drive. The interface is easy to use, and gives me peace of mind.
Windows Live Family Safety - I have a 10, 8, and 6 year old all using the same computer. They each have their own logins (which keeps the desktop wallpaper arguments at bay). This can be a bit of a hassle to log into each profile to check what they have been doing online.
Microsoft offers a free application and website that will email me reports on each of my childs' profiles with the sites they have viewed and the sites they tried to view. I can limit their time frame for accessing the machine, and I can restrict their web usage to only particular sites. They have the option to email a request to unblock a site, but I fee good knowing that they are staying off YouTube and Twitter.
These are just a few to start, in the coming weeks I will be testing and discussing new tech and sites that I find in my travels in TechLand.
