A couple of weeks ago I attended the 2014 Holiday Tech and Travel Show in Seatte hosted by Techlicious & TravelingMom.
Between sips of champagne and bites of prosciutto wrapped prawns and chocolate peppermint mousse sprinkled with edible gold (I. KNOW!)… The attendees were given LOADS of great ideas related to travel, tech, and how to mesh the two with parenting. I want to share with you a couple of those things because… the more you know, you know?
Plus, we are all neck-deep in technology and holiday travel time is upon us…
TECH TIP FOR FAMILY TRAVEL: A portable Wi-Fi hard drive lets you bring all your videos & watch them when you don’t have internet access.
MANAGING DATA USAGE: AT&T has a handy-dandy data usage calculator, yo! Check it out here. Music will use more data than you may think : Pandora low quality (64Kbps) = 28.8MB per hour, Pandora high quality (192Kbps) = 86.4MB per hour.
STAYING SAFE ON PUBLIC HOTEL WI-FI:
- Be sure you know the name of the network you’re supposed to connect to.
- Make sure you connect to sites via HTTPS
- Enable two-factor authentication for your accounts
- Disable file sharing
- Disable automatic connections to networks
Of course a mobile hotspot is ALWAYS rockin’ when on the road. I will get to AT&T’s newest no-plan option in a hundred words or so…
The event was held at the Hyatt Regency in Bellevue. If you are ever in the area, I would say go to there. Not only are the accommodations lovely, and the area rich with activities (oh the shopping, ladies), but they are working hard on staying technology-savvy and current in style and help.
Have kids? NO PROBLEM. They are ready for you AND your kids… with a booklet full of family-friendly area attractions and eating places… and a front desk ready to hand out board games and DVD players AND a select list of family friendly movies. Though I was aesthetically impressed with the Hyatt Regency, I was most impressed with the thought they have put into making it a fun destination for families.
Because if you’ve ever been trapped in a hotel room with 3 kids and no idea what is close and everybody is hungry… then you know what I mean.
Oh, and word on the street is they make a mean breakfast. I consumed outstanding lunch foods created by the chef there and well, I can only imagine the breakfasts. I wonder if he puts edible gold on his omeletts.
Another sponsor of the event was AT&T. They shared with us all kinds of tech tips (see above!) as well as introduced us to their AT&T Mobile Hotspot. I have not had the chance to test out mine (butTHANK YOU AT&T! I can’t wait!) but I can give you the skinny on how this guys works. The AT&T Unite for GoPhone is a cool $149.99 – no annual contract. You can connect up to 10 devices, with a 10 hour battery life. You simply buy data when you need it.
BOOM.
AMAZON was there too. They were telling us all about the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition.
My introduction to the device was watching 3 grown adults throwing a Kindle at each other. They wanted to prove it was a device even kids could handle.
PROVED.
WHY did I NOT get a picture of it?
This device is awesome. Period. There is nothing about it to be not awesome.
The Kids Edition is not a toy, but it’s tough. It better be… there is a 2 year worry free guarantee. Like, no matter what happens the tablet gets returned and replaced – no questions asked. Period.
This Kindle comes with
- • A kid proof case.
- • A 1 year of Amazon Unlimited FreeTime.
- • It comes in 6″ or 7″.
- • AAAAAAND comes WITH 5,000 apps, movies, books and moarrre.
- • COMES. WITH. All with special consideration for the 3-8 year old set.
And let’s not forget about parental controls. Create individual profiles for each member of the family (up to 2 adults and 4 children) and personalize screen time limits and content.
I don’t even have to say this would make a great present to put under the tree.
And finally, another travel aaaand present-worthy device… The Thinium ultra thin docking wall charger.
With a USB connection the Thinium has all the pieces for wall charging to charging from, say a laptop. It’s one of those cool things that all the cool kids will be having this year. I’m sure of it.
What are your favorite tech items this year? What is a tool you use that helps make managing technology a little less harrowing and/or overwhelming?
*Thanks to TravelingMom and Techlicious for the invite to this event. I learned so much and got to discover some really neat tech devices to share with you. And with the visit to the Hyatt Regency, I found a new getaway. Sometimes we like to get away as a family… but not too far away. I like finding new local places that feel like we are far, far away… Hyatt Regency Bellevue fits that bill.
