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RedRover app makes social planning easy and fun

July 19, 2011 By 2 Comments

Want an easier way to plan a get-together with your friends or a play date for your kids? Even if it is spur of the moment and you only want to invite certain people instead of broadcasting it out to your whole social network? Out in public with your kids and suddenly one has to use the bathroom and you have no idea where the closest one is? Or have an emergency and need help fast?

Is there an app for all that? Yes there is! And it’s free!

RedRover is the “missing link” for social networking among busy, active parents. With this app, which is available on both iTunes and Droid platforms, you can add the friends you want, create plans to meet (when, where, what time and for how long), send messages, share pictures and more. Using your location, RedRover can tell you where the closest businesses are, which ones have clean public bathrooms, which are kid friendly, and even the closest emergency facilities. It also has a direct link to call 911, poison control, and allows you to send a text message to anyone you set as an emergency contact which tells them you are in an emergency situation (you can add details if you want) and gives a link to a map with your location.

(One thing I did notice was not all locations on the list of nearby businesses were completely accurate when it came to distance from my location. The addresses are correct but some of them showed an inaccurate distance and some were off by a few miles. I checked the emergency list of medical facilities nearby and those all seemed to be accurate. So just a heads up to double check the distance if you are planning to go to a new place that you found on the app.)

So many times I’ve seen posts on social networking sites with plans to meet up with friends. The problem with it being so public is that everyone on your network can see those details and know when you are not going to be at home. It only takes one dishonest person or thief to find out your address and burglarize your home to ruin that fun get-together. With RedRover, only people you specifically select will get any information you choose to share with them so it can be a safer, more selective way to make plans. Of course, if you DO want to share with your social networks, the app also has Facebook and Twitter integration and you can share your pictures on those sites using the RedRover app. I connected the app with my Twitter account (@MomRN) and sent a picture of my youngest kid and our dog and it tweeted it out to my followers and gave a link so they could view the picture on my RedRover profile page.

Here’s a video about RedRover that shows more about what it can do:

Here’s a test plan I made using the app to give you an idea of how it looks:

My 5 favorite places to use RedRover would be at home to message friends and make plans to meet up later, at the coffee shop, shopping mall, ice cream or frozen yogurt shop, book store, and park, but really it can be used anywhere, especially with the brilliant “clean bathroom” locator to help find one when your kids (or you) really need to go, while you are on the go! Where do you think RedRover could help you?

This week on the Ask MomRN Show, Kathryn Tucker, the CEO and Founder of RedRover, explained the inspiration behind the creation of the app, the features and uses of the app, and ways to use the app whether you have young kids, older kids or teenagers, or no kids. To listen to the interview, just click here.

Best of all, RedRover is donating up to $20K to Christy Turlington’s charity, EveryMotherCounts.org, for all app downloads through July 28 so by downloading the app, you are not only getting all the features for free, you are also helping out a great cause!

(Disclosure: I was asked to review the RedRover app and will be receiving a gift card to help plan some fun for my family using the app but all opinions and thoughts are my own and not influenced in any way, regardless of compensation.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Style Your Way using Sonsi’s new outfitting tool

July 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you remember “Fashion Plates”, the toy that let you create a variety of outfits and pretend to be a fashion designer? Maybe this will refresh your memory (or if you are too young to know what they are, here’s a pic!):

Just seeing this picture brings back fond memories of spending hours in my room creating the latest, greatest fashions to ever hit the runway. Okay, so they never made it past the paper stage, but as a kid it was fun to pretend. How about you; did you ever play with “Fashion Plates”? Ever wish there were a grown-up version and that the outfits you created were ones you could actually buy? I do and that is why I was excited to find out about a new outfitting tool with a modern twist on fashion plate outfits.

Sonsi is an online shopping destination that caters exclusively to full-figured or plus-sized women. If you wear a size 12 or above the you know how difficult and frustrating it can be to find the latest fashions in plus sizes and to find clothes that are flattering in both fit and style. Sonsi brings together many of the top retailers of plus-sized apparel and accessories to offer the best selection for their customers. Sonsi launched in June 2010 and this summer they are celebrating their one year anniversary by launching a new outfitting tool that let’s you “Style Your Way” by creating outfits you can buy right from their site.

With the Sonsi outfitting tool, you get to choose from a wide selection of clothing to put together the perfect outfits for almost any occasion. Need a new work wardrobe? Dressy outfit for a party? Casual wear? Sonsi can help you find the colors, fit, style, and even the accessories that look best together. Using the tool is pretty easy and there are even short video tutorials to show you how to do each step. On the left side of the tool, you have your “stage” which is where your selections will appear after you have chosen them. On the right side are your choices with several categories of clothing (tops, bottoms, dresses, accessories, shoe, etc.). You can click on your choices and they will appear on the stage. Then you can re-size them, move them into the order you want (such as putting a blouse above a skirt or pants), and if you change your mind, you can easily remove an item. When you are finished creating the outfit, you can save it to your wardrobe, share it by email with your fashionista friends so you can get their opinion, and you can choose your sizes and buy the outfit (either the whole outfit or individual pieces).

Here is the outfit I created:

Cute, huh? This would be a great outfit for attending a party, church, or a summer wedding. The funny thing is, I’d probably never put together this outfit in a store, partly because the individual items are from multiple retailers, and partly because I tend to stick with certain colors, but seeing all the variety on Sonsi sparked my creativity and I was actually pleasantly surprised by the outfit I put together. And it was fun!

The site did have an occasional glitch that would send me back to the beginning of the categories, but it still saved my work up to that point so it wasn’t a big deal. A few selections would not load the image or showed up as “image not available” after clicking on them. I also had some trouble opening the picture of my outfit once it was in the “my wardrobe” area so I could download the picture and show it to you in this post, but it finally worked after a few tries. I tested out the “share” feature by mailing it to my email address and that worked well. Since it is a new tool, as with most new online tools, sometimes there will be glitches or kinks that need to be worked out but overall the tool works well and I was impressed by it.

So now it is your turn! I challenge you to create an outfit on Sonsi and let me know what you think about it in the comment section below this post.

And Sonsi has their own challenge for you and a chance to win a $200 gift card to put towards an outfit of your choice! To enter, just create an outfit to enter into the contest on the Sonsi site. Celebrity stylist Susan Moses, who has worked with such full figured A-listers as Mo’Nique, Kathy Bates, Emme, Wynonna Judd, Chaka Khan, Angie Stone, Gabourey Sidibe and Jill Scott, will select one winning outfit per week for four weekly summer style challenge categories: Casual Friday, Girls’ Night Out, Day at the Beach, and Summer into Fall. Participants can select from thousands of fashion must-haves from among Sonsi’s more than 380 apparel and accessories brands.

Sonsi’s Style Your Way Summer Challenge begins today (July 18th) and runs through August 12, 2011. You can submit your Style Your Way Summer Challenge entries until Thursday at midnight for each of the four consecutive weeks. The weekly winner will be announced each Friday (July 22, July 29, August 5 and August 12) and each weekly winning outfit will be featured on Sonsi. Visit the www.Sonsi.com/SYWChallenge for official rules.

Okay, ladies, time to get stylin’!

This post was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. A Sonsi gift card was received as compensation but that did not influence my review in any way. As a solemn promise to my readers, all reviews on MomRN.com are my own honest and true opinion, regardless of whether I was compensated or not.

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Zhip it up! Your phone, that is!

July 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Do you ever wish you had a third hand to hold your smartphone or iPod Touch while you are busy driving, cooking, surfing the net, or doing almost anything else? Well, the creators of Zhip have a solution for you.

What is a Zhip? According to the Zhip website, it is a “hands free retractable zip cord & stand” that holds iPhones, Androids, iPod Touches, and any other kind of smartphone. The built-in desk stand holds your phone while you are busy surfing the net on your computer or if you want hands-free viewing of videos or movies. The 3 foot “no drop” retractable cord lets you securely attach your phone almost anywhere you want for even more hands-free options.

One of the most common uses for the Zhip is using it to attach a smartphone to the back of a car seat so passengers can watch movies or videos hands free. This is a great option for anyone who lets their kids watch movies on their smartphone but doesn’t want the risk of it being dropped, thrown, or otherwise damaged by a young child. Zhip is also useful for attaching your smartphone to a treadmill or exercise bike or other piece of exercise equipment so you can watch videos or movies or listen to music while you work out. Have recipes on your smartphone? Use the Zhip to hang your phone from a cabinet doorknob so you can see the recipe while you cook, without worrying about it being on the counter and possibly getting wet or splattered with food. Have GPS directions on your phone but want to keep both hands safely on the wheel? Zhip could hold your phone for you.

I was sent a Zhip to review so on a recent road trip I let my teenage son try it out. He used it to hold his iPod Touch to the back of the driver’s seat of our car so he could watch videos. He liked that the Zhip held the device securely so he didn’t have to hold it while watching. I’ve used it as a desk stand to hold my iPhone and it keeps my phone handy and standing up at an angle so it is easier to see who is calling than when the phone is flat on my desk. The clip seems very strong and I like that it has padding so it doesn’t scratch my phone’s case or screen.

Overall I think the Zhip is a versatile option for hands free use of your smartphone or iPod Touch. The construction and materials used seem to be high quality and not easily breakable so it should be durable enough to withstand a lot of use and hold up to rough handling by little kids (and big ones too). The price ($14.95)  is reasonable, especially when compared to other hands free mobile device holders. It is a product I would recommend to almost anyone but especially to parents who let their kids use their smartphone to play videos or games. I’ve known several moms who have regretted letting their child play with their smartphone. Maybe if they’d had a Zhip, it would have kept the kids from dropping or throwing the phone and saved my friends a lot of money and hassle replacing broken phones.

Disclosure: I was sent a Zhip to review. The review above is my own honest and true experience and opinion, as are all reviews on MomRN.com and the Ask MomRN Show. No compensation was received.

 

 

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