So technology is awesome.  Sometimes it kills me though . . . like when it comes to my husband’s iPhone.  He has that thing in his pocket, by his nightstand, or in his hands 98% of the time.  The only time it’s not with him is during a shower, I suppose.

I like to refer to this piece of technology as his “mistress”.  I have threatened many a time to throw his obsession across the room.

I, however, have a healthy relationship with my iPod touch.  It is mostly shared with our toddler; she probably uses it 80% more than I do.  Anyway, here’s a break down of some FREE apps we like . . .

Toddler Games*

• WordWorld- Drag letters to build word animals.  Abi loves it so much we bought the full version.
• Baby Piano Lite
• FirstWord Sampler- Move letters onto letters to spell simple words.
• Baby Draw- Draw shapes with different color choices.
• Shapes- Touch the diamond, hexagon, etc.  Then they earns stickers and applause.
• Ding Dong Bell & I Close My Eyes Lite- Abi loves these animated cartoons.
• I Hear Ewe & iBabyBuddy- Touch animals, and they make sounds.
• Shape Lite & Toddlelite- Puzzles.  Abigail really likes these ones.
• PreK Safari Lite- watch animals and learn letters
• Peekaboo Barn- find animals
• 123 Counting- Counting Animals, etc
• 123 Count with Me- Set up like a book
• Alphabet Creatures Lite
• Super Match Madness- matching game
• Letter Quiz Lite
• Up- Pop balloons to find the house.

Healthcare:

• iNeedMilk- It tracks how long you’re nursing and on what side you’re nursing.
• Breastfeed- Mostly for newborn management.  Has FAQs and lets you know what meds interfere with nursing
• What to Expect

Sports:

• ScoreMobile- Convient way to find scores in all sports.
• At Bat Lite & Pro Baseball- Tells you scores, play by play, and more of MLB

Games:

• Paper Toss- Super addicting.  You flick a wad of paper into a trash can, while a fan blows.
• Word Warp- Like Text Twist.
• Sheep Launch- Tap a sheep up into the sky.

Misc

• Voice Memos- Need a microphone for this.
• Mapquest- Find gas stations, stores, restaurants quickly.
• TheFind- Finds nearby and web stores that carry whatever item you search for.
• Bible- I like taking my bible to church so I can mark it up; Jonathan, however, likes using this app.
• Pandora- Choose music you like.
• Moron Quiz & Imbecile Test- How smart are you?
• Traffic!- Especially helpful when you live in a big city; it tells you which streets/highways are crowded, etc.
• Sporcle- Trivia game.  This passed the time on a 9 hour car ride.

So what other apps should I look into?

*I feel as if many of these apps are quite annoying.  However, they occupy Abigail’s attention, so I allow her to play them.

If you use Firefox or an updated version of Internet Explorer, you might notice a little icon in the address bar, to the left of http:// . . . .  These are called favicons.

Gmail’s favicon is an M over an envelope, Craiglist’s favicon is a peace sign, Ebay’s favicon is “ebay”.  If a website has not customized a favicon, the icon looks like a blank page (see blue arrow in above image).  Boring.  I noticed these favicons a few months ago and decided I wanted one.  So, I chose a Gerber Daisy (see red arrow in above picture).  They’re my favorite.  Hint hint.

Anyway, if you don’t have a favicon yet, here’s how you can get one . . .

1. favicon.cc- On this site, you can “paint” your own favicon (16 x 16 pixels).  You can upload an image, use animation, adjust the color, or paint it.
2. FavIcon from Pics- On this site, you can upload any image, and the site will make your favicon to the right size.  You can animate it or add color or words.
3. favicon generator- This site gives you a cleaner looking image because you must upload an image that is the correct size (100 x 100 pixels).  So, you can only use this site if you can scale an image to be 100 pixels square on your own.  I chose to use this site.  I made the image with Microsoft Picture It, but I’m sure that any photo editing software you have can also resize an image to the correct proportions.

Did you use another site to make a favicon?  Are you going to make one now?  Let me know if you have questions.