Category: Reviews, promotions and giveaways

Win an HP Photosmart Wireless Premium Fax All-in-One

Remember back at the end of April, when I blogged about the nice folks at Hil and Knowlton sending me an HP Photosmart Wireless Premium Fax All-in-One printer?

C’mon, you remember this, right?

HP Photosmart around the house (3 of 3)

And remember there was a second HP promotion going on that I mentioned in the same post, called Moms for Simplicity? It was an HP contest, but only Americans could enter.

Well, the fantastic folks at Hill and Knowlton Canada (see, I *told* you they “get” blogger relations) just sent me an e-mail and guess what? They feel so bad about the whole mix-up that they’ve got ANOTHER HP Photosmart Wireless Premium Fax All-in-One — for me to give away to one of you! Isn’t that terrific?

To win your very own HP Photosmart Wireless Premium Fax All-in-One, which I can now attest is one sweet printer that Beloved was totally right in having a technogasm over, you’ve got to follow these simple rules.

(1) You must live in Canada.
(2) You must leave a comment on this post before 5 pm EST on Tuesday, May 26, 2009.
(3) In your comment, you must provide a suggestion of something I can photograph for my 365 Project. Suggest a person, a theme, a still-life, an object, a location in the greater Ottawa area — inspire me with your creativity!
(4) One entry per person.
(5) One winner will be chosen at random the evening of Tuesday May 26.
(6) You must be willing to provide to me your mailing address, and I will forward it to Hill and Knowlton, who will ship the printer/fax/scanner to you.

Yay! Happy Friday and good luck!

A new toy the whole family can enjoy

The nice folks at Hill and Knowlton* sent me an e-mail the other day, asking me if I’d like to take a new HP Photosmart Wireless Premium Fax All-in-One printer for a test drive. No need to blog about it, they said, but we saw your posts about your 365 project and thought you might like to try out one of these printers on a four-month trial basis.

Huh, I thought. How about that? But, we already have a printer that we practically never use anyway. And Beloved had actually bought me a little Canon photo printer for Christmas that we ended up taking back on Boxing Day, because we figured it would be cheaper to just print out the photos at the local big-box store. Could we really use a printer like this? What do I know from printers?

So I flipped the e-mail over to Beloved and asked him what he thought. He e-mailed me back two words: “Yes, please!”

When the box actually arrived last week, Beloved spent a while setting it up and testing it out. (I have absolutely no patience for that sort of thing.) When he realized what a really nice printer it is, not just a printer but a fax and scanner, too, with wireless and bluetooth capabilities, he had what he endearingly termed as a “technogasm.” He’s really quite pleased with it. My eyes started to glaze over a bit when he went on about duplex printing and printing on CDs and ethernet connections, but then he handed me a photograph he’d just made from one of my pictures on Flickr, and I said, “Oh, well, now you’re talking my language!” I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between the photo that came out of the printer and one I had developed at a photo counter. I put it in a frame right away.

So then came the challenge of figuring out where to put it. It’s wireless, so we can stash it just about anywhere in the house. I suggested the basement family room, on a nice shelf far away from climbing toddlers and the other mischief-seekers in the house. Beloved, infatuated with his new favourite toy, had other ideas. No sense hiding this beautiful piece of machinery away in the basement, according to him.

I vetoed this idea.

HP Photsmart around the house (2 of 3)

And this one.

HP Photsmart around the house (3 of 3)

And this is definitely not going to work.

HP Photsmart around the house (1 of 3)

We’ll have to keep negotiating this one, I think. The nice thing is because we have WiFi, we can pretty much stash it wherever there’s an outlet.

This give-a-blogger-an-all-in-one-printer campaign is a part of HP’s new focus on the impact of the digital age on moms and families. Another facet of the campaign involves its new Moms for Simplicity site, built with the idea of bringing moms together to discuss how technology can be a big help in simplifying their lives, and HP is offering YOU the chance to win a $5000 “technology makeover”:

To do this, together with champion Olympian swimmer and mother of one, Dara Torres, HP has just launched the Moms for Simplicity micro site and photo mosaic contest. HP and Dara would like to hear how you have used technology to make your life easier (in about 200 words and with a photo to add to our mosaic.) Submission is really easy and along with your contribution to the Moms for Simplicity photo mosaic- you are automatically entered to win an HP technology makeover worth $5000 and a trip to watch Dara swim at the US Nationals!

Pretty cool, eh?

Edited to add: sorry, I didn’t realize that the technology makeover contest is only open to residents of the US. The e-mail for the Moms for Simplicity site and the printer e-mail came from different people, but I assumed they were part of the same campaign. I’ve asked to see if anything can be offered to our Canadian readers. Sigh.

*(I like Hill and Knowlton. They really “get” blogger relations, and I don’t just say that because they give me free stuff. Well, it helps, but it’s not the only reason I like them! They said I didn’t have to blog about the new printer, but it only seemed right that I do. Besides, it’s not every day I get a chance to work a term like “technogasm” into conversation.)

Continuing right along with the boob theme…

I’m not sure why March’s post seem to be predominately themed around breasts and breastfeeding and bras and boobs, but here we go again! (Hey, whatever works, right?)

Not too long ago, I was offered the chance to review some mom and baby products. Being a mom and having a baby, I was open to the idea in general, but when I heard one of the product lines was Burt’s Bees, I was all over that. I swear by those little tins of Burts Bees lip balm (I keep one in my winter jacket pocket and one on my bedside table – I really love them!), and I like their shimmery lip gloss, too.

I got a great little care package that included one container of Burt’s Bees Baby Shampoo and Wash, which I really like and use every time I bathe Lucas. The rest of the care package comprised a nice little collection of products from a line that I’d not heard of before: Mama Mio Skincare.

They sent me a moisturizing shower gel, a body buff exfoliating cream, and a (snicker) Boob Tube bust-firming cream. More on that in a second.

First, I love love love the Body Buff cream. I noticed on the website that Milla Jovovich apparently uses it in the shower, but I like to use it on dry (literally, dry and flaking) skin. It’s perfect for that bit on the back of your arms that always seems kind of chicken-skinish. I rub it on my winter-weary arms when I’m going to wear short sleeves, and between the buff and my new addiction to the rowing machine, my pipes are looking pretty damn good these days!

And about that Boob Tube… okay, nothing short of a breast reduction is going to give me any lift, but I have to admit that I’ve been holding off on really giving this one a test drive until turtleneck season is done. Here’s what the Mama Mio people say about it:

Mama Mio Boob Tube is designed to help avoid the classic lifecycle of every boob – gorgeous young boob (perky), pregnant boob (big), a nursing boob (bigger) and finally no-longer-nursing or slightly older boob (saggy). You want smaller but pert right? (Ok actually you want big and pert – but alas we can’t help with that!).

Who loves it? It seems EVERYBODY! Already winning 5 industry awards, Boob Tube is even recommended by plastic surgeons to help skin cope and heal with bust surgery. We have a following of 18 year olds whose moms have told them that they should start to fight gravity now. Women of all ages are loving Boob Tube as a daily skin mantenance. Some women start using it as a pre-bikini booster (nothing like stripping to your bikini on a beach to focus the mind on skin care!). The list goes on and on… and if you happen to find us in stock of Boob Tube you are lucky because we sell out regularly.

Which brings me back to the first point: Got boobs? Then Boob Tube is for you.

So not only did I enjoy the products, I was impressed by Mama Mio’s cheeky and clever marketing. I’m always impressed when decent products and irreverent marketing meet!

And now, because I love you all so much, I’ve once again agreed to do a product review on the condition that I be allowed to share some of the booty (or, ahem, is that boobie?) with you. I’m happy to offer you a chance to win a Mama Mio BBB (that’s boobs, butt and bellies) kit. Here’s the fine print:

  1. In order to win, you (sorry!) must be a Canadian.
  2. You must leave a comment on this post before the end of day Sunday March 29, 2009.
  3. In your comment you must tell me about (at least) one of your favourite body parts. Got great legs? Glowing complexion? Brilliant eyes? Perfect earlobes? What physical feature do you love about yourself? (I’m partial to my own dimples, and my legs seem to be holding up well through the years — thanks Mom!)

That’s it! Winner will be chosen at random on Monday March 30.

More thoughts on keeping kids safe online

Now that my boys are five and (almost) seven and are regular users of the computer and the Internet, I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about online safety. Conveniently, I’ve also been offered a couple of blog tours lately that touch on the same subject. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about NetSmartz efforts to keep kids safe online, including a list of tips for safe surfing. This week, I’m looking at a new tool called Norton Online Family, designed to help parents monitor and modify their kids’ online behaviour. (Disclosure: I’ll receive a $20 gift card from Amazon for being a part of the MomCentral blog tour supporting the launch of Norton Online Family.)

I wanted to be a part of this tour because I’ve been curious for some time about the “net nanny” tools that are available. Symantec’s Norton Online Family lets you set up a personalized family account with information about each member of your family, and offers the following services:

  • Check a child’s activity or modify a child’s profile, preferences, or time allotment anytime and anywhere using any Internet-connected device.
  • All online activities are reported in chronological order and only show the Web sites a child intended to visit – eliminating all the extra URLs, like ads, from Web sites.
  • Easily view what words and phrases a child uses to search and where those searches lead online.
  • Control the Web content that flows into the home by prohibiting more than 40 topic categories.
  • Track, report and prevent personal information that a child may purposely or accidentally try to send via e-mail, IM or social networking site.
  • Monitor activity on social networks like Facebook and MySpace with the ability to see how kids represent themselves, when they login and how often.
  • Built-in messaging allows parents to have real-time discussions with children about activities and better understand their intentions when visiting a Web site.
  • Children are able to view the “house rules” they established with parents at any time and are notified when Norton Online Family is active, so there is no “stealth” mode.
  • Parents can customize e-mail alerts to address urgent events so they know immediately when a child has reached a time limit or visited a blocked site, etc.
  • An easy-to-use time management feature that – if parents find it necessary – gives each child a “curfew” that will limit computer usage.

I have to be totally honest here: when I first signed up, I liked the idea of having some sort of filter to keep the scariest parts of the Internet at bay (we’ve been caught off guard with searches as simple as “Star Wars Lego”) but I stopped about half way into the process of setting up an account for this service. It’s a great service if you want this kind of monitoring and control — but I don’t think it’s right for us, at least not right now. I’d much rather set the kids up with a few favourites, and help them find new sites when they are looking for something. Maybe in a few years, we’ll need this kind of scrutiny and monitoring, but this seems a little bit too extensive for our needs right now.

If I had a little more time in the day, I’d’ve likely gone ahead and played around with the service a little bit more anyway, and with a sponsored review I would have liked to be more thorough. It’s not that I don’t think this is a good tool — I just question whether it’s the right tool for our family at this moment in time.

On other hand, I was totally impressed yesterday when I stumbled across this: Kid Rex, a safe-search engine from the people at Google. From their “info for parents” page:

KidRex is a fun and safe search for kids, by kids! KidRex searches emphasize kid-related webpages from across the entire web and are powered by Google Custom Search and use Google SafeSearch technology.

Google’s SafeSearch screens for sites that contain explicit sexual content and deletes them from your child’s search results. Google’s filter uses advanced technology to check keywords, phrases, and URLs. No filter is 100 percent accurate, but SafeSearch should eliminate most inappropriate material.

In addition to Google SafeSearch, KidRex maintains its own database of inappropriate websites and keywords. KidRex researchers test KidRex daily to insure that you and your child have the best web experience possible.

This is the tool that we need right now for our family. Love the idea, love the interface. If you want to keep a closer eye on what your kids are doing online when you aren’t able to be there, the Norton Family Online service looks like an excellent choice. But if you just want a kid-friendly search engine, I’m highly impressed with KidRex.

What do you think? Beloved and I have been debating our need for parental control software. He thinks the Norton Family Online service is an excellent and necessary tool. I think it’s our role as parents to provide this kind of filter, especially while the kids are very young. Then, again, he also says they’ll ‘never’ be allowed to have a Facebook or MySpace page, an argument I suspect he’ll lose sooner rather than later.

How do you balance trust, autonomy, and teaching your kids to make the right choices against the possibility of exposure to some of the undoubtedly ghastly stuff out there on the Interwebs?

Free groceries winner!

Hooray for Barbara from Mom on the Go, winner of the bag of free President’s Choice Blue Menu sample products! You’ll have to take my word for it that the random number generator (now with cool new widget generator!) coughed up #19, because I cannot for the life of me force my computer to do a print-screen. (And yes, I did compensate for multiple comments by the same person and the comment from me, too.)

Yay Barbara, I’ll be in touch to arrange a drop-off. Thanks to all who commented with your happy thoughts — they all made me smile!

Where healthy eating and free stuff intersect!

In general, I like the President’s Choice line of products and I’ve blogged about them before. That’s why I didn’t hesitate to say, “Yes please!” when a nice PR fellow contacted me recently and offered to send me an assortment of new Blue Menu products from the latest Healthy Eating Insider’s Report for review. (I had to laugh that night at dinner when I realized what a Blue Menu product junkie I am — every single product from the spaghetti to the sauce to the bread to the shredded cheese to the dressing on the salad and the croutons were either President’s Choice or Blue Menu!)

The package arrived last Friday, and we’ve been working our way through the products. Here’s a list of what they sent me, and in parentheses afterward what we thought of it:

(Items without a link I couldn’t find on their website. Note to PC: I liked your products a lot more before I started looking for them on your site. Improve your search engine!)

I was perplexed but pleased when not one but two crates showed up, and was about to blame it on a serendipitous shipping mistake when I remembered that when the nice PR fellow offered me the sampling of products, I had asked if I could have a second set for a bloggy giveaway. Yay, free groceries to share!

Except, the package is one of those recyclable grocery bags just full of heavy, bulky stuff and I’m way too cheap to pay to ship it out to you. I pondered this one all weekend, and here’s the best solution I could think of: if you want to enter this contest, leave a comment and tell me — hmmm, let’s see, something that makes you happy. Anything that makes you smile will do it. I’ll make a random draw at 5 pm on Tuesday, March 2. (Edit: Tuesday is March 3. Oops!) If you win and you live in the Ottawa neighbourhood, I’ll drop off the groceries to you. If you are not within delivery range, I’ll send you a $15 President’s Choice gift certificate. Is that a reasonable compromise?

* We haven’t tried the Fair Trade coffee or tea yet, but I have to say “Bravo” to President’s Choice for this whole line of products. As you know, I’m working on ethical eating, and happily pay an extra 10 cents a pound for their Fair Trade bananas. Works out to less than a buck difference a week (yes, we eat a LOT of bananas) and I’m happy to pay the price. Next up, can we please have products that are Fair Trade AND organic?

NSTeens: Helping teens make safer online choices

I like to consider myself a full citizen of the online generation. There’s little doubt that the Internet plays a huge role – a huge and beneficial role – in my life. But many’s the time when I’ve thanked my lucky stars that the Web didn’t exist when I was a teenager. Aside from being a minefield of potential social faux-pas (like, say, spamming all your contacts to grub for votes!), today’s online teens face issues like cyberbullying and identity theft.

I don’t have teenagers online yet, but I do have a couple of schoolage boys, and no doubt in a couple of years they’ll be far more capable online than their doddering parents. The trouble is, they’ll still be kids. That’s why I wanted to be a part of the Mom Central blog tour to promote NSTeens, a new Web site aimed at educating teens of the potential risks and dangers that exist online and how to deal with them. (Disclosure: I will receive a $20 amazon gift card for participating in this blog tour.)

Continue reading “NSTeens: Helping teens make safer online choices”