I met the developer of Pah! at a Tweetup the day that Pah! went live on the iTunes store. I thought that a voice activated iPhone game was something spectacular – he said take a picture of your Daughter playing it – I said even better we will do a video! So here is Pah! (worth the download – totally) And as of today this video has over 18000 views!

My 7-year-old loves to play on both my iPad and iPhone – she also said to me recently -

Mommy how do you make a game for the iPad?

I searched for an answer for her – and found one – Sketch Nation - Great app! We had a great afternoon creating Cookie Shooter!

I love discovering new apps but sometimes it is difficult – there are just so many out there! So I use apps that help me discover new great apps.  AppsFreeway gives you paid apps for free! Now we are rocking!

Funtom of the Opera is another voice activated game (yes love that – and believe me I can not carry a tune – and you would not want to hear me sing).  This time I took the game to a local cafe and invited some local Glee’ers to try it out! Fun!

With all the technology in our house (iPhones/iPads/laptop/desktop/other smart phones) there is always at least 4 screens open and we are only 3 people.   I can always hear the sound effects from Mooniz coming from one of the devices!  Warning : ADDICTIVE

If you have an app or game you would like me to review in a video – please contact me at sharipilo (at) gmail.com

Our favorite tag line for describing ourselves:

” 4 women, 2 continents, 3 cities, with 8 children between us!”

Can you imagine working with 3 women – one of which I had never met in person unless  almost daily calls on skype and too many emails counts!

Collaborating online was an amazing experience for all of us.  We became a solid unit, a family.

Cathy

Jill

Laure

Shari

And then yesterday – the four of us were finally together on the same continent – in the same city! What a blast! I met Laure!

Thanks to a wonderful celebration – we are all together – and enjoying face to face (not skype) interactions – lots of hugs!

Fun watching my virtual friend through a camera lens – she is an interesting tourist!

The four of us are enjoying the our time together, laughing at our virtual world – a world that today, I couldn’t, wouldn’t  live without.

I have had many  conversations with developers recently.

“Upload your app to an iPad – hand it over to a 5-8 year old and let them discover it”  

If they like it ….well you have a good chance, if they don’t – go back to the drawing board.

There are a lot of apps out there for kids.  There are catagories filled to the brim with free and paid apps, music apps, letter apps, reading apps, art apps, story apps, and the list goes on.

I will try and cover here some of the favorite apps in our house. (Being tested by a 7 year old who speaks both Hebrew and English, but Hebrew is her mother tongue)

Actually as a mother of a little one who speaks two languages – most of the apps that we have are in English – thus strengthening her language skills.  We have a wide range of apps on our mobile devices but what I love the most and yes my MJ loves then too are the Sesame Street Podcasts – Word on the Street.   (download on iTunes here)

Each segment spotlights a new word. Great words like : spectacular, minature, investigate, activate, volunteer.  The podcasts are hosted by Murray the orange monster and of course a celeb guest host (Wanda Sykes, Collin Farrel, Sara Jessica Parker, Jason Bateman, Michel Obama and more A-List celebs)

Each episode ranges in length between 4-7 mins  of well written light funny clear, expressive, understandable content.

The best was while walking my daughter to school, all of the sudden she said to me:

“Mom it is spectacular to volunteer and help others” 

Here is a partial list of my favorite most used apps.  Believe me there are many many more. After removing some that just didn’t cut it – 98 on iPhone and 264 on iPad.

News: I no longer buy a newspaper – that’s it I have gone green!  My favorite apps for the news are the following:

ABC News – Here you can Spin, Shake, Touch, Filter, save, share and engage ! The UI is up there in my books

Huffington Post - The Huff covers everything so, sometimes when I am there I don’t look any further.

Tech News:

Mashable –  Now with the ability to follow the trends, subjects and people who you want from within Mashable, it is even faster to find the info that you want or info that you didn’t think you need but it is there in your face.  Oh yes I like in your face!

Social Media:

Facebook for iPad – Simple and sweet , it just works, that is all I have to say.

Hootsuite  - There has a lot of discussion about which platform is the best for ios.  I have been using Hootsuite on my desktop way before I acquired my iPad or my iPhone.  Now with it installed on both – I am in Twitter heaven.   They are constantly adding more tools and stat reports and that is on the freemium version!

Music:

Shazam – Love walking into a store and wanting to know what the song is that is playing in the background.  Whip out the iPad/iPhone click on Shazam and Shazam I know (my iTunes music library is growing ) )

App Discovery:

Zwapp:  This is a great app discovery tool.  It adds a fabulous social layer to discovery.  Now I know what my friends are downloading.  I found some great apps this way (ie soundtrckr, camera+ and videolicious)

AppFreeway –  I love getting paid apps for free! I am introduced to new apps once a week or so, apps that I would probably not find on my own.  Fast easy and free! Oh did a little video on this one too! Watch it here.

Foodies:

Going Paprikash - A beautiful nostalgic app loaded with wonderful recipes (Kosher).  I might just have to call myself a born again Hungarian!

Games:

Ok I am getting tired of Angry Birds so I have found these two. 

Pah! – It is unique!  Liked it so much we did a little video review on it – watch it here !

Mooniz – Addictive addictive addictive! Oh yes did I mention addictive! Fun!

Recently I gave a short talk on Social Media for Small Businesses.  Most of the people in the room had not started or have no idea how to start using Social Media to promote their business.  They were all basically newbies to the various platforms that are available.

I told them that Social Media is important for many reasons – however one of the major reasons being your competitor is using it!   They all got nervous!

Now what is “it” I asked ?

Most said Facebook, blogs, YouTube, really didn’t hear about Twitter and I reminded them, as they were mostly professionals about LinkedIn.

What do you want to get out of it?

• Brand awareness
• Website traffic
• Improve on customer service
• Engage with potential customers

I can not emphasize enough how important it is to write down your goals – your targets – your objectives. You will need these to measure your success!

Then we went to How…

My favorite line is:

Listen + Learn + Listen + Learn some more + Listen + Engage + Give = You starting to look good!

As Chris Brogan says it : “Listen and Listen Deeply”

So my best tips on the How are:

• Research (which platform(s) will work for you)
• Research,  listen and understand
• Follow people of common interests
• Become an expert in your field
• Give

Then go for it?

Yes

Make a plan – set your goals – research – go for it!

If you have any questions …..let me know!