I want to go out for dinner tonight but I’m having trouble finding a good restaurant with an available table at the time I want. Help!

SUMMARY

Use OpenTable to find a great place to eat at a time that’s convenient for you.

WHY?

When selecting a restaurant, most people prioritize the WHERE over the WHEN. They have a list of restaurants and call each one individually hoping to find an opening at the desired time. The conversation may go something like this:

Customer: “I’d like to make a reservation for 4 people at 6pm. Do you have that time available?”

Restaurant: “I’m afraid not. We have 4:30pm and 8pm available. Would you like to reserve one of those times?”

Customer: “No thanks.”

Does this sound familiar? What if you could pick from a list of all restaurants with space for 4 people at 6pm? This is exactly what OpenTable will do for you.

OpenTable is a free service that I have used since 2005. Enter the time you want to eat and the number in your party and OpenTable displays a list of restaurants that has space available at the time you need. It’s not uncommon for there to be 100 or more restaurants to choose from.

In addition to the time you’re looking for, OpenTable also displays alternate available times if you schedule is slightly flexible. Are you looking for a restaurant with space at 6pm? Would 5:45pm or 6:15pm work as well? No need to call the restaurant. Make your selection from the intuitive interface and your table is reserved.

Create an OpenTable account with your email address, Facebook or Google+ account and you will collect 100 OpenTable Points for each reservation you complete. 2000 points can be redeemed for $20 towards your next meal. While it may seem like it will take a while to accumulate points to get some real money,, some restaurants offer 1000 points per completed reservation, usually at low traffic times to fill the restaurant. Select these restaurants and you’ll be racking up the points in no time, needing only two visits to earn $20.

While OpenTable is great to use in your hometown, it’s invaluable when travelling. It’s difficult to know where to eat when in an unfamiliar neighborhood. OpenTable is like an old, reliable friend offering suggestions complete with the restaurant’s menu to help you decide.

If you’re still not sure if a restaurant is right for you, reviews left by other OpenTable members is sure to help.

Too many options? A filter helps you to narrow down the choices to something more manageable.

Filter the list by cuisine (Italian, vegetarian, dessert),

by neighborhood,

or by price.

You can also display only those restaurants offering 1000 point times to help accumulate OpenTable points quickly.

A long, scrolling list of restaurants is not usually very helpful when out-of-town since none of the restaurants or their locations will be familiar. A map view is also available with push pins showing all the restaurants at once on a single map. Perhaps you’re traveling north and you want to find a restaurant along the way. If that’s the case, you will find the map view extraordinary useful.

If you discover that you need to change your reservation, no problem.  OpenTable allows you to select a new time or if needed, you can simply cancel the reservation.

OpenTable Etiquette

OpenTable provides a wonderful service, but there are a few responsibilities that you will have when using it:

1. If you need to change or cancel your reservation, do it 30 minutes in advance. This ensures that the restaurant will not continue to hold your table for somebody that will never show, and you will comply with OpenTable’s cancellation policy.
2. If you’re running late and won’t make your reservation time, try to change your reservation to a later time. (See #1 above). If you are too close to the reservation time, the website and app won’t let you change it. Instead, call the restaurant as a courtesy using the phone number displayed in OpenTable. I’ve done this before and the restaurant was grateful that I called. Being a “no-show” is very annoying for a restaurant. Although they had to give my table away, they put me first in line when I arrived, and there were no hard feelings.

My own observations about the OpenTable system

I tend to find restaurant’s quality to be higher than average when using OpenTable. Although the service is free for customers to use, I suspect that the restaurant must pay OpenTable for this service, weeding out lower-end restaurants. From what I can tell, OpenTable provides the restaurant with a reservation system to track tables and manage customers. In return for this service, traffic is driven to the restaurant from the website, bring people who otherwise never would have walked in off the street. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Give OpenTable a try the next time you want to book a restaurant you know or when looking for a new place to dine. I think you will be impressed with the result.

• Website

There’s too much news to read but I seem to be missing important news articles. How can become more efficient in the way that I keep up with what’s happening around me?

SUMMARY

A newsreader is a very specialized type of software designed to display news articles from the sources you select and hides from view the articles you’ve read. Feedly is a great newsreader and is all you will need to keep up with the news.

WHY?

There’s a lot of information on the Internet and everybody is fighting for your attention. A good newsreader such as Feedly makes it possible to keep up with the news and make it manageable.

A typical user may go to websites such as Google News or Yahoo News to find out what’s going on. These sites do a great job of combining news from multiple sources and presenting it to you in an organized way. After reading an article on these sites however, the read articles continue to be displayed making it difficult to know what you’ve already read and what new headlines are popping up. Unlike email, there’s no way to mark an article as having been read. It’s also difficult to tag specific articles that interest you for later viewing. Isn’t there a better way of handling this?

That’s exactly what makes a newsreader such as Feedly so great. After reading an article, it’s marked as read and hidden from view (if you wish). In addition, you can also choose to save the article for later viewing or you can share it on a social media site. As you read (or skip) more and more articles those articles are marked as read and you won’t see them again, unless you want to.

We all use multiple devices (PC’s, tablets, phones) and we use all of them all, sometimes doing similar tasks such as read mail, read the news and post to social media sites. With Feedly, articles read at home on your PC are marked as read and those articles won’t show up later in the afternoon when checking the news from your phone. Feedly’s cloud sync ensures that you can pick up exactly where you left off, no matter which device you decide to use.

Get Feedly

To get started, go to the Feedly website and create a free account. Feedly can make suggestions for sites to subscribe to, or you can browse for them yourself.

In addition to using Feedly’s extensive database to find RSS feeds, you can also use Google. For instance, do a Google search for “cnn rss” (without the quotes). The first hit will be a list of CNN RSS feeds that you can add to Feedly. As you add more feeds, you can organize them by group. For instance, I have an Android Category made up of various sites such as Engadget, The Verge, Gizmodo, etc. Although I can read news from each of these sites one at a time, I typically prefer a combined view by reading the “Android” category directly. This includes all articles, sorted by date into one long feed.

Feeds can contain all sorts of information. For instance, since I live in California, I want to have access to a list of recent earthquakes in case I happen to feel one. By viewing the feed, I was surprised to find out how often they occur.

Using Feedly

On a typical day, I keep up with industry news. For me it’s the computer field, but for you, it may be something else. Keeping up with headlines and reading the articles that catch your eye ensures that you’re up to date with the latest news happening around you. Sometimes you may not be ready to read an article or the article is too long to read in the free time you have. Feedly lets you save articles to read later, either within its own program, or to other sites such as Pocket.com. You can then view only the articles you’ve saved.

You can also share articles right from within Feedly using the standard Android share dialog. This is great for sharing articles with friends via email or text, to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. You can also post the article to your blog or even save it to online storage sites such as Box, Dropbox or Google Drive. My personal favorite shares however are to my to TickTick (my do list) and to add videos in the article to my Plex queue. I probably share to Plex the most.

Feed Ideas

In additional to geeky computer news, I also have other types of useful feeds such as:

•  My kid’s school
• Local town news
• FDA Recalls/Safety Alerts
• Recent earthquakes
• Podcast listing

You will be surprised at just how many RSS feeds are out there. Once you start using news readers, you may get hooked just like I did.

• Play Store
• Website

I’m going on a road trip. Are there any good apps to take for the ride?

SUMMARY

Navigation software is good for getting you from point A to point B, but my favorite app for finding food and fuel stops along the way is RoadNinja.

WHY?

When you’re in your car driving for hours on the interstate your priorities change. You have a few basic needs:

• A place to eat.
• A gas station.
• A place to sleep.

If you’re going to stop:

• You don’t want to travel far from the highway.
• If you want to know what stores are at the exit before you commit to exiting.

RoadNinja is a huge help when deciding whether to exit the highway. Using your current location, RoadNinja detects which Interstate you’re on and the direction you’re travelling.

It then displays an easy to digest list of exits and shows you what services are at each one. These include gas stations, restaurants, lodging, pharmacies and more.

Google Maps will find a diner for you, but it could be 20 miles from the highway. RoadNinja performs the specialized type of searches needed for road trips.

Roadside signs do show some of the shops that are at the upcoming exit, but the list is usually incomplete. RoadNinja shows all the shops at the upcoming exit to help you decide whether it’s worth veering off. If you’re not hungry but you know you will be soon, you can look ahead to see what restaurants are up ahead. Each exit shows the miles to that exit, the exit name and number so you can make a plan.

In addition, you can search for a particular type of shop and specify its distance from the highway. For instance, you can search for coffee shops less 0.8 miles from the exit.

Selecting a result displays a map with the address, phone number and hours of operation. Press the “Directions” button and you’re on your way.

You can also customize the search to make it easy to search for a specific store, such as Subway, Starbucks, etc.

I just love RoadNinja and never travel the Interstate without it.

• Play Store
• Website

Other than the obvious, what additional things can I do with the camera in my phone?

SUMMARY

The primary use of a phone’s camera is to take pictures of people, places and things. However the camera is also a great tool. Here is a list of things I’ve used my camera for which I couldn’t have done any other way:

1. A mirror
2. See into tight spaces
3. Look inside and under furniture
4. Look behind monitors and audio equipment
5. Capture Manufacturer Tags and Labels
6. Keep Track of important Papers
7. A strobe while walking at night

WHY?

Having a rear and front facing camera along with a bright LED allow you to do things with your camera that you may have never considered. Not just for photography, the camera and the LED light are great tools which can help you out in many situations. Since it’s with you at all times, the camera is always accessible whenever you need it..

Here are the details for extra things I do with my camera:

A Mirror

We don’t always have access to mirrors. In the old days back when I used a Palm OS device, I used to use it as a mirror by simply looking at my reflection in the glass of the display. It wasn’t great and details to were hard to see. To improve the reflection a bit, there was an app that would activate all of the LCD pixels on the display, darkening the display. With the dark background, you had a better reflection. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

With a camera on the front of the phone, the quality of the “reflection” (which isn’t actually a reflection at all) is far superior to the prehistoric days (also known as the early 2000’s). Open the camera app and activate the front-facing camera like you’re going to take a selfie. Except don’t. Instead, just look at the display. Use the camera to check your hair, make sure there’s no broccoli in your teeth from lunch, nothing on your face, etc.

A Flashlight

Having a flashlight with you at all times can come in very handy. The LED flashlight provides a very bright light source that you can use whenever you need. Some phones have a widget for “Assistive Light” which lets you easily toggle the LED light on and off. If your phone doesn’t have this widget, search for LED flashlight in the Google Play Store to find an app that will do this for you.

You’ll be surprised how many times you’ll use the LED light. Movie theaters are dark. If you drop something under your seat, it’s really hard to see even when the lights come on after the movie has ended. The LED light serves as a great flashlight so that you can easily find what dropped.

If something rolls under your bed or sofa, you can use the flashlight to have a look. At night when putting the kids to bed, sometimes I need a bit of light but I don’t want the room fully lit. What I’ll do is to lay the phone screen down and point the light up to the ceiling. It lights the room evenly, but not too brightly. Oh, and it’s also great for making shadow puppets!

I probably use my phone as a flashlight least once per day, if not more and having it with me all the time is extremely handy.

See Into Tight Spaces

There are times when you want to get a good look at something, but it’s in a spot that makes it difficult to see. For instance, I’m thinking about changing the faucet in our kitchen. While at the store to see my options, I was asked how many holes are available in the sink where the faucet connects. Looking at our sink I see the old faucet, a sprayer and a water purifier. The right answer seemed to be “3.” Without taking off the faucet, I couldn’t tell if there were additional holes being covered up by the faucet itself. I couldn’t get my head in under the sink to look due to the the garbage disposal and pipes getting in the way.

The phone however fit perfectly and I could point the camera straight up to get a good view. The problem was that the angle wasn’t great so I wouldn’t be able to line up the camera to get a clear shot. Instead of trying to take a picture, I activated the LED flashlight and started recording video. I thought that this would give me the best chance to get a good look. I moved the camera slowly, angling it forward, backwards and then side to side. Finally, took the phone out from under the sink and watched the video. Lo and behold, I had my answer. With the video, I was able to get a great view in a place where I couldn’t physically fit and I could freeze the exact frame that showed how many holes were available in the sink. With this knowledge, I can head back to the store to select a faucet that will be best for me. (BTW, there were 4 holes.)

Look Inside and Under Furniture

Have you ever had trouble closing a dresser drawer? I did and it turns out that some clothes had somehow fallen behind the drawer and blocked the drawer from closing. I didn’t know it at the time plus when I tried to reach behind the drawer, I couldn’t feel anything unusual. With this particular dresser, it was difficult to pull the drawers out entirely.

I activated the LED Flashlight and started recording video. I held my phone inside and over the back of the dresser draw, pointing it left, right and down. Upon reviewing the video, not only had a large shirt fallen behind the drawer but also a sock that I thought had disappeared into the washing machine vortex. Knowing where to reach and what I was reaching for, I was able to angle my arm in behind the dresser drawer and pull out the items.

Look Behind Monitors and Audio Equipment

At work I got a brand new monitor The plugs for power and signal were in the back of the monitor but facing downwards towards the desk. I didn’t have a lot of room on my desk, so it was easier to keep the monitor where it was while I tried plugging everything in blindly. The problem is that I didn’t know exactly where the ports were or which direction the plug needed to face. Using the front-facing camera, I slid the top of the camera under the front of the monitor and could see straight up under the monitor and see everything on the screen.

I also have a receiver at home that’s in a cabinet. The cabinet is rather tight and it’s difficult to pull the receiver out while keeping everything plugged in. This time I activated the LED flashlight and video mode. I hovered around the back of the receiver, making slow, deliberate movements. When I was done, I was able to review the video, determine which plugs were full, and which ones I could use.

Capture Manufacturer Tags and Labels

When assembling furniture, one of the pieces will have a tag which contains the manufacturer’s name, address, model number, serial number, date of assembly, etc. When the furniture is in place, this tag is always completely hidden. There are times however that having the information from the tag would use useful.

Before you lose the opportunity, pull out your phone and take a picture of the tag. It is far easier to get this information now than it will be later on. Rename the file or add tags (if using photo management software) so that you’ll be able to find the picture if it’s ever needed. I take pictures of all sorts of tags and labels including the ones that are on all of the appliances in our house. If you ever need a repair and you’re asked for the device model or serial number, you’ll be ready to supply it.

Keep Track of Important Papers

I love paper for its convenience. I hate paper because it can get lost. I’ve written many notes that I’ve then gone on to misplace. Had I entered the note into my phone, I could have saved it, tagged it and filed it away for easy retrieval, though entering notes on a phone is not always the fastest or socially acceptable way of capturing information.

You can however have your cake and eat it too. Write your note on paper, and then take a picture of the paper. When you get home, transfer the picture to your computer, name it and tag it so that you can find it whenever you want.

What about important papers you get through the mail? For instance, that letter from the DMV to renew your registration? Take a picture of that too! How about a receipt from a store? I truthfully haven’t tried taking a picture of a receipt to the store to make a return. Just in case, I would probably print out a duplicate as well.

A strobe while walking at night

When I’m out driving at night, I always see bikers on the road. I can spot them from a great distance because they’ve got a bright strobe which lets everybody know they are there.  I haven’t done this one myself yet, however if I find myself going for a walk at night on a dark street, I would first download a strobe app and hold my phone towards traffic so that can be seen.

With a bit of creativity, you will think of even more uses for your camera. What else have you done with your camera or LED light?

I’m Vegan and I sometimes have trouble finding restaurants that can accommodate my diet. What do you suggest?

SUMMARY

I keep a number of apps in my arsenal that help me find food under almost any circumstance. Each app has a different purpose. I use:

1. HappyCow
2. Vegan Eating Out
3. HealthyOut
4. OpenTable

WHY?

There is no single app that can give me the best chance of finding Vegan food. Each app in my list is used for a different purpose. Let’s break it down:

HappyCow

With a free and paid (no ads) options, HappyCow not only finds vegan restaurants near your location but also restaurants that have both vegan and non-vegan options. In addition, stores such as Whole Foods are also included which I have found to be extremely handy. I typically reach for HappyCow first when I’m travelling or in an unfamiliar neighborhood as it quickly shows me places I can eat that are nearly. I use the paid version ($2.49) to eliminate ads and also to support the developer. If you pick only one vegan app on my list, make it this one.

• Play Store (Free, Paid)
• Website

Vegan Eating Out

Sometimes you don’t always have control over where you’re going to eat. in addition, your friends, family or co-workers may be going to a fast food or chain restaurant. It’s hard to know what’s safe to order in these situations since you’re not even sure that the cashier knows what it means to be vegan. At times like this, I reach for Vegan Eating Out.

Vegan Eating Out contains a database of restaurants and then shows you what you can eat at those restaurants. For instance, Au Bon Pain lists the vegan soups offered as well as menu items that can be modified to become vegan, such as “Pasta Marinana with Vegetables (without Cheese)”. The items displayed however aren’t always complete meals but instead can be ingredients offered at that restaurant which could be combined together to make a meal. For Subway, the vegan breads are listed as well as the “Made to Order” options such as: Avocado, cucumbers, green peppers, Lettuces, etc. Based on the options shown, you could ask Subway to assemble a vegan sandwich.

I tend to use this app less as I try to control where I go out to eat more often than not, however it’s a good app to have, just in case.

Note: I’ve had Vegan Eating Out Android app on my phone for quite some time. When looking for the Google Play link, I found that there wasn’t one. It looks like the app is downloadable if you search for it on Google, however you may wish to use caution anytime you load an app that is not in the Play Store.

In addition, the Vegan Eating Out Website makes reference to a mobile version which costs $2.49 a month after a free 7 day trial.

• Website (Full, Mobile)

HealthyOut

If you’re looking for healthy dining options,  HealthyOut will help you find them. Start off by configuring HeathyOut with your dietary preferences. I select “Vegan” from the list to show only vegan options, however there are 19 choices, some of which are: Atkins, Gluten Free, Lactose Free, Low Sodium, Paleo, etc. You can combine options too so that you can find that perfect vegan-low-sodium-low-carb-high-protein meal you’ve always wanted.

Once you’re ready to go, HealthyOut uses your current location to search for “Dishes” that meet your criteria. A search near me has found 821 dishes, all of which are vegan. You can narrow by individual ingredients too if you had your heart set on pasta, tofu, salads, etc. The dishes displayed individual entrees offered at nearby restaurants. All sorts of nutritional data is included (when available) with the calories, fat and protein in the meal. Options to make the dish healthier through “Healthy Modifications” are listed. For example, the Eggplant Sandwich at Le Boulanger says, “Request whole wheat or nine grain bread; Request no cheese for Vegan or Lactose Free.”

Pictures of the meals are included and if not, you can snap one of your own within the app. Maps with pushpins showing all restaurants make it easy to find meals while travelling.

• Play Store

OpenTable

I’m a big fan of OpenTable and have used it for many years before I became vegan. I’m happy to see that one its search critiera is for vegan restaurants.

If you’re not familiar with OpenTable, it’s an app that lets you make restaurant reservations, but it does it with a twist. Usually, you know that you want to go to dinner, so you pick a time, call a restaurant and hope that they have an opening. If not, you have to pick another. This goes on over and over again until you get frustrated and decide to see what’s in your cabinets or fridge. With OpenTable, you tell the app what day you want dinner, the time and for how many people. It will then search your current location (or another distant land if you wish) for all restaurants that meet your criteria. In other words, every restaurant listed has availability for the time you specify. OpenTable also displays whether the restaurant has an available table 15 minutes before, and 15 minutes after your reservation time. You can view a menu to see in advance whether the resaurant has what you want as well as the address and a map of the restaurant’s location. Once you’ve made up your mind, few clicks is all it takes to set your reservation. If you need to cancel the reservation, it’s just as easy.

Since a restaurant must buy into the OpenTable reservation system, I tend to find the restaurants listed in OpenTable as higher quality than your average restaurant on the street which you may find using HappyCow. OpenTable is a great to find restaurants for a date, or date night when you want the ambiance to be bit more upscale.

• Play Store

As you can see from my descriptions, each app has something different to offer. Armed with these apps, I’m almost always able to find something to eat and I have options of what to eat when going out with friends.

I have trouble getting my young kids to listen. How can I get them to do what I want?

SUMMARY

Kids love it when they think they’re smarter than you. Get their attention by acting incompetent!

WHY?

To a kid, everybody is always telling them what to do and how to do it. Parents and teachers are constantly correcting them. To get their attention, change it up and make them feel like they know more than you do. This tip works well with toddlers and is still working with my 2nd grade son. It’s shocking that it works, but it really does.

For example, my kids sometimes don’t want to put on their shoes and socks. So I’ll sit them down, grab a shoe and call it a sock. “Ok, let’s put on your sock.” An immediate smile comes across their face and they say, “No, that’s a shoe!” Then say “Oh, you’re right!” as you then grab their other shoe and call that one a sock. Finally grab their sock and say, “Ok, let’s get this on your foot.” but then put it on their hand. They’ll correct you and think that this is the funniest thing they’ve ever seen. Finally, you look at them and say, “This sock won’t fit your foot because your foot is way too big!” Again, they’ll laugh, stick out their foot to prove you wrong and you slip on their sock. “See!” they’ll say and you say, “ooohh, wow, I didn’t think that would fit at all. I’m sure the other one won’t fit.”

Soon enough, they’ve got both socks on. Then proceed to grab the right shoe for their left foot, or attempt to put the shoe on their hand or put the shoe on backwards (toes into the heal and wonder why it doesn’t fit). Eventually you’ll get around to getting everything on and for them, they loved teaching you something and had a blast getting dressed.

I do this sort of thing frequently with all sorts of things and the options are endless. Call pants a shirt, a hair brush a toothbrush, fill a bath with water the perfect temperature and tell them that it’s freezing (touch it and pretend it is) and say that there is no way that they can go into water so cold. Sure enough, they’ll touch it, laugh and watch the shock on your face as they think you believe that they’ve just entered an icy tub.

In the end, everybody is smiling, happy and you got them to do exactly what you wanted them to do in a fun way.

What’s the best way to manage and store all of my passwords?

SUMMARY

You need a password manager. Get LastPass. It will improve your security by providing you everything you need to make your password virtually hackproof.

WHY?

It seems that almost every day there’s a data breach. That’s because they occur more frequently than you’d think. (Click this link to search for “data breach” in today’s Google News.)

Most of the sites you visit on the Internet requires some sort of user credentials. It may be your email address or username, but you also need a password. It’s challenging to create really good, difficult to guess passwords that are unique. You need a good password to keep your data safe.

Here are a few techniques people use when creating passwords and what’s wrong with them. These people think they’re doing a fairly good job:

1. My password is my son’s name. This is a terrible password. Anybody that knows you will probably know the name of your son and try that password first to see if it works. (I one time helped a co-worker log into her account because she forgot her password. I asked her a few questions. When I got to a question asking if she had any pets, she told me the name of her dog. Voila! We were in.
2. My password is “pencil”. Any word that’s in the dictionary makes for a bad password and you could be subject to a dictionary attack, where words from the dictionary are used by another computer to hack away at your password.
3. I have a good password which is so good I use it on every site I visit. It’s great to have a secure password, but using the same password over and over on different sites is a bad move. If anybody gets hold of your Gmail password, they may try the same password on Amazon or Citibank. It may work, it may not, but eventually they’ll find a site that works and you’ll suddenly find a lot of terrible movies in your Netflix queue.
4. My password has upper/lower case, numbers and symbols. Oh, and it’s 5 digits long. Short passwords are a bad idea, even if they contain all of the things you need to make a great password.A seemingly great password may be t#9Kd, however it would take a computer less than a day to crack this password using a Brute-force attack as there are only 10 billion combinations. That seems like a high number for a person, but to a computer, it’s quite manageable. The computer would try every single password combination possible until it successfully figures out your password. Example: a, aa, ab, ac, ad, ae … zdm, zdn, zdo, zdp, zdq … etc. Eventually, it will work its way up to your password and break in.

We store phone numbers and addresses in a contact list, so why shouldn’t we write down our passwords and store them somewhere? That’s exactly what we need to do, however the “somewhere” is very important. Storing your password list in an easy to read document stored on your computer in a file named “passwords.txt” is not a good idea. What you really need is a password manager.

A password manager will eliminate all of your bad passwords, by generating, encrypting and storing really strong passwords. How about this for a Gmail password: eMP9Tfg8@gd*aWV7j$. Pretty great, huh? This password would take 129942951805 centuries to crack using today’s computing horsepower as the computer must try 8 Nonillion combinations. As an idea of how large this number is, a billion is 10^9 while a nonillion is 10^30. That’s a lot of combinations!

I have been using LastPass for years. LastPass provides a safe place for all of your passwords. You only need to remember one password. The password for LastPass. So make it a good one!

LastPass is accessible from your browser and has some really great features:

• Generate crazy-long, secure passwords
• No need to type your crazy-long passwords. LastPass will detect username and password fields and fill them in automatically.
• Passwords are stored in the cloud, meaning that you can access them from anywhere.
• For $1 a month, you can use LastPass on your smartphone. Totally worth it! The smartphone app also auto-fills form fields!
• Lots more.

But if LastPass has my password list, can’t somebody hack them and get it? LastPass doesn’t actually store your passwords in a readable format. The data is encrypted by your own PC, not LastPass. What this means is that LastPass never actually has any of your passwords. They only have an encrypted version, which must be decrypted with your LastPass password. All the encrypting and decrypting is done locally on your PC. LastPass only gets the data once it’s been encrypted.

With the recent new of the Heartbleed security bug, I really cracked down on my passwords and make them all extremely secure. Without LastPass, this wouldn’t have been possible for me. If you haven’t changed your passwords recently, give LastPass a try. It’s free for use on your PC.

There are other password managers out there but because I’ve been a user of LastPass for so long and because I’ve never had a single issue with it, there’s been no reason for me to look elsewhere. I am one happy customer.

LastPass

• Play Store
• Website

My kids want to touch everything all time time. Whenever we go to a store and I’m afraid they are going to break things. I ask them to stop but they don’t. What should I do?

SUMMARY

Kids always want to touch everything and there’s not stopping them. So why try? Let them touch things but with one stipulation: They can only use one finger.

WHY?

Hands provide great sensory feedback. Kids love exploring and touching things to learn about their environment. You can stop them from touching things by force (hold their hands, carry them, make them sit in a chair) but that will only take you so far. Their desire to touch things is still there and probably building.

Rather than try to prevent the kids touching things, do the opposite. Let them touch things but only with one finger. We call it, “one finger touch” and you can start teaching them to do this as babies. Wherever you are, take their hand, pull one finger up and guide their finger to touch things. Every time you do it, say, “one finger touch.” After a while, they will learn to stick out their own finger while you help them touch things.

As the kids become toddlers and start touching things on their own, you can say, “one finger touch” and they will know exactly what to do. They’re touching things, but in a controlled way!

I owe this tip to my friend Christi. It always stuck with me and I knew I would follow her advice when I had kids of my own. Sure enough, it works great! My kids would walk around touching all sorts of things without incident. Sometimes they treat their finger like a little magic wand. As they walk, they stick out their finger, and touch one item and then the next, saying “ding” each time they touch an something. It’s cute and people would comment about how gentle and well behaved they are.

You’re never going to stop your kids from wanting to touch things, and this is a great way to let them do what they want, without having to exercise the “you break it, you bought it” rule.

Note: WOTnWHY is not responsible in the unlikely event that something does break while doing “one finger touch.”

Do I need a To Do list program? I’ve got a calendar, can’t I use that? If not, which To Do list program should I use?

SUMMARY

Yes, get a To Do list program. Specifically, get TickTick – Todo & Task List. While a calendar can do some of the functions that a To Do list provides (set an event, set a time), it doesn’t do everything. You’ll wind up forgetting to do some important things on your list. TickTick provides everything you need to keep track of the things you need to do. It’s very powerful but not overly complex.

WHY?

While I love tracking my calendar, contacts, etc. on my Android device, I’ve never committed to using a To Do list, even when I first started using the PalmPilot Pro in 1997. To Do list programs were either not powerful enough, too powerful or overly complex. I also didn’t want to remember to launch yet another program every day to see what’s on the schedule.

I tried hard to manage my to do’s with the calendar. The problem is that calendars are designed to do specific things on specific days. You can set an alarm but if you’re not ready to commit to doing the task, you’ll either snooze the alarm over and over, or you’ll cancel the alarm. If you cancel, the event stays put on the calendar, and when tomorrow rolls around, the to do item is out of site (and out of mind) on yesterday’s calendar.

A To Do list manager is really the best tool for the job. When looking at the choices, the following are important to me:

• Simple to use: I don’t want too many options. If there was too much to do, I wouldn’t want to use it.
• Attractive interface: I want the interface to be attractive and well thought out.
• Ability to share: I want to share my To Do list with wife as well as our Nanny so that we can all keep track of what needs to be done for the house and kids.
• Doesn’t cost a fortune: I don’t mind paying money to support a developer, but I don’t want the cost to use the app to be cost prohibitive, especially if all the users I want to share with have to pay.
• Access through a browser: In addition to being able to create content and access it through my phone, sometimes it is easier to enter large volumes of data at a desktop computer. Plus, you can get access to your data from anywhere, even if your phone battery is dead.
• Reminders that aren’t annoying: I understand that a To Do list’s job is to be sure that you get things done, but I don’t want to be harassed by the program that’s helping me to organize.
• Easy to postpone and reschedule items: When the alarm goes off to do a To Do item, you’re not always ready to get it done. It is  very important for items to be easily rescheduled.
• Ability to set a To Do for a specific time on a day: I’m not only interested in doing an item on Tuesday, but sometimes I need to be reminded at 3:oopm on Tuesday.
• Not interested in project management: Some To Do list options give way more functionality than I need, such as: Setting time estimates, assigning resources, etc. I’m not interested in this type of control simply to run a household.

I tried many options. First I tried all of the top To Do list apps in the Google Play Store, including:

• Wunderlist
• Todoist
• GTasks: Ties in with Google Tasks, a huge plus, but it didn’t provide everything I need.
• Tasks Free: Also ties in with Google Tasks but not strong enough.
• Any.Do: Beautiful app and one I really, really wanted to like.

I then tried other apps that I thought could do the job:

• Google Keep: Rats. It doesn’t handle To Do’s, so it’s out.
• Evernote: While I use this program to store notes, it just didn’t make the cut for managing my To Do’s.

Finally, I tried created my own Google Sheets spreadsheet. This actually worked fairly well, but it wouldn’t have provided alarms and the filtering that’s available through the desktop browser didn’t show up on the device app. As a result, it would have been impossible to filter and sort the list properly.

I didn’t try TickTick until after all of the above options and I was shocked to see that it did everything I need, and more! I like supporting developers, plus sharing with 2 people requires a Pro account, so I upgraded without hesitation. I was concerned that each person accessing the To Do list I created would need to upgrade, but that wasn’t the case. Money wells spent and highly recommended! It’s been a few months now and it I couldn’t live without TickTick.

Honorable Mention

I wanted to track my To Do’s from work at well, but I didn’t want to mix business with pleasure. Also, I use Outlook with Microsoft Exchange. Outlook already has a To Do function built-in, so I wanted to see if I could find something that would sync with it.

I discovered Tasks & Notes which fit the bill perfectly and does what I need to track work To Do’s. My personal To Do’s are now separate from my work To Do’s and having the list sync up with Exchange is really great! In addition, Tasks & Notes has a nice Android Widget which lets me see at-a-glance what I’ve got to do. Super handy!

TickTick

• Play Store
• Website

Tasks & Notes

• Play Store

Somebody gave us a bottle brush and I really don’t know much about them. Are they all the same? Besides, I have a dishwasher. Do I really need one?

SUMMARY

Yes, you will need one. Bottle brushes are not all the same. A bottle brush is one of the many tools that you will use on a regular basis. The hardware store carries 27 different types of hammers. If there wasn’t some difference, they won’t make so many, right? The same goes for bottle brushes.

WHY?

When buying a bottle brush, don’t settle for good. Get the best one you can find. Even if you have a dishwasher, you will be washing bottles a lot. A whole lot. Sometimes the dishwasher won’t get run or it’s full and everything doesn’t fit. Whatever the case may be, you’re sleep deprived and the last thing you’re going to want when you’re falling over on your face is a mediocre bottle brush.

When our kids were babies, we used the Born Free Twister Bottle Brush Set which includes both a bottle and nipple brush. The bend in the stem allows the handle to act as a crank. Stick it in the bottle and start cranking. For large bottles, a straight bush doesn’t cut it. Cranking is the way to go.

The nipple brush is required to get the inside nipple to clean it. Without it, the nipple is practically impossible to clean.

A straight brush is also necessary equipment. We got the Skip Hop Splash and loved the brush a lot. It was great at cleaning small Medela bottles, caps, pump parts and the other odd sized bottle pieces you’ll have in your kitchen. The straight brush also comes with a round drying rack which we used far more than we ever thought and it sat for years on our counter. We never needed to replace the drying rack, however we went through a few of the Skip Hop brushes. The bristles are connected to a twisted wire, similar to the twist in a wire hanger. Over time, the metal fatigues, starts to bend a little and eventually snap. We probably went through 3-4 brushes over the course of 4 years. It’s a great brush though and totally worth it.

I would highly suggest buying a spare brush set. The last thing you’ll want is for the baby to be crying, you’re frantically washing a bottle and then something happens to the bottle brush. Keeping an extra stored away ensures that you always will have one handy.