Top 5 Back-to-School iOS Apps for Parents

20 Minute Meals—Jamie Oliver: This app from school cafeteria revolutionary Jamie Oliver is perfect for parents who want to cook quick meals that are healthy and delicious. Discover recipes with step-by-step photos as well as instructional videos on cooking techniques that will help you create culinary masterpieces! 20 Minute Meals includes a shopping list feature that organizes ingredients to make trips to the grocery store more efficient. Available in the iTunes Store for $7.99—bon appetit!

Shake a Snack: Shake up after-school snacks with this app that helps you create wholesome and easy snacks. Choose 3 ingredients and shake the food slot machine for a custom recipe. With Shake a Snack you can generate 300 delectable recipes and find tips for healthy eating. Shake a Snack includes vegan and vegetarian filters that can help you incorporate more veggies into your children’s diets. This is app is so much fun to use your kids may want to join you in the kitchen! Shake a Snack is available in the iTunes Store for $0.99.

School Supply List: This app allows you to create custom shopping lists for each of your children from via a database of over 150 common school supplies or by adding your own items. Track the items you purchase or add notes to your list while shopping. Save your lists to make restocking supplies during the school year a breeze! Simplify back-to-school shopping with School Supply List, available in the iTunes Store for $0.99.

Cozi Family Organizer: The Cozi Family Organizer lets you easily track and update your family’s schedule from your portable device or computer. This app includes a shared family calendar and allows you to create and maintain shopping and to-do lists, keep a family journal and send important reminders to family members. Additions to your calendar are made visible to everyone in the family who shares your account. The Cozi Family Organizer is a wonderful way to keep track of your family’s busy schedule! Available for free in the iTunes Store—happy organizing!

Grades TS Pro: This app can help you both keep track of your children’s performance in class and encourage good study habits. Grades TS Pro provides an organized means of regularly checking in with your kids about how they’re doing in school. With Grades TS Pro you can generate custom graphs that display how paying attention in class, studying and playing educational games impact grades in up to 10 subjects. Great for parents and students alike, Grades TS Pro is available through iTunes for $0.99

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  • MAC TREAT #162: Case of the Disappearing User Library

    Sounds like a Clue mystery to me: __It was the nefarious Mr. Green with the lead pipe in the Library!__ …only a certain Lion is responsible for this one.

    Have you noticed that your User Library is no longer accessible in Lion? Well I did, and I wondered immediately how I could get it back. I mean, I’m partial to my Application Support, Mail Downloads and Preferences folders, to name a few, and thoroughly enjoy being able to -muck up- access that data. __There has to be a way,__ I thought–and there is.

    I understand why Apple moved away from providing accessibility to the User Library (most people arguably wouldn’t use it enough to warrant it), but if you’re pining for it, run this quick fix in Terminal:

    *chflags nohidden ~/Library/*

    Case closed!

  • _Dear Friends,_

    It is about this time of year that Artie’s chat status starts reading “The days are getting shorter and I hope it snows soon.” It is roundly frowned upon here, but while we think about ways to extend the summer, it is clear that we are heading toward the end of the season. The nights are getting cooler and the harvesting of vegetables and fruits is in full swing. The big maple tree by my garage is already showing tinges of fall color. Nevertheless, it is summer and time for barbecue and sweet corn. I stopped at the local farm stand after hours on the way home from work the other evening, and I had to just smile as I picked up some corn and fresh tomatoes. The basket with money in it was still there, and I definitely rounded up as I left the cash for my goods in the basket before I drove away.

    My blueberry bushes have been very prolific this year; I think I have had blueberries in every conceivable combination, and we have frozen a bunch of them for the winter.  Apples are next, and we have already harvested some from our Golden Delicious tree to make applesauce.   

    Apple continues to protect and enhance their intellectual property even as Google strengthens their patent portfolio with the acquisition of Motorola this week. Patent battles are heating up with a lot of lawyers pulling down the huge fees. Seems like a stimulus program for lawyers. Patent law does seem to be broken as technology advances. Some lawyers make their living by suing or threatening to sue companies for alleged violation of obscure patents. Fighting these claims can be very expensive, so paying the settlement is the path of least resistance and expense. This has spawned a whole industry of patent trolls.

    On the other hand, a company such as Apple that is in the vanguard of technological innovation must be able to protect its inventions so that they can actually come to market.  Apple pushes the window of technology, seemingly with a shiny crystal ball that sees trends before the rest of the industry. Take, for example, the new MacBook Air. There are many innovations in this very popular product, but one thing that is remarkable is how Apple changed the prevailing paradigm for laptop computers when they first introduced the MacBook Air. No optical drive, OMG! In the beginning, it was a major shift in thought process to consider a computer without an optical drive. After all, how are you going to load software, watch movies or back up your Mac onto DVD? Well, Apple had answers for all of those questions. Here, you need an optical drive? Buy this inexpensive alternative or use your officemate’s drive over the network. Or hey, you don’t really need a drive because you have high-speed Internet and we have the App Store to download software directly to your computer or the iTunes Store to download movies and music. Suddenly, as we talk to customers we can ask, “Do you really need an optical drive?”

    I have used a MacBook Air pretty much since they were first introduced. I initially had the external optical drive on my desk but actually never used it. The other major technological breakthrough Apple made with the MacBook Air was the use of solid state drives that make the MacBook Air one of the thinnest and lightest laptops ever while increasing data reliability by eliminating the moving parts of a standard hard drive. It is this type of vision from Apple that has allowed them to be in the lead on technology.

  • Summer weekend in Vermont? What shall I do? I think that motorcycling is in the cards but so is spending a couple of hours in the hammock with a good book on my iPad! I hope you have an awesome weekend!

    Thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

    Your Kibbles & Bytes team,
    _Don, Kali & Stephanie_

  • Top 5 Mac Apps for Students

    “*Pages:*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fpages%2Fid409201541%3Fmt%3D12%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 Part of Apple’s iWork suite, Pages is a word processor that makes formatting and editing papers a breeze. Pages is also a layout tool that contains templates for flyers, brochures and more, which can come in handy both for course projects and extracurricular activities. Students can use Pages to import files created in Word and create documents that they can easily save as Word files. *Pages is available in the App Store for $19.99.*

    “*Keynote:*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fkeynote%2Fid409183694%3Fmt%3D12%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 Also a component of Apple’s iWork suite, Keynote makes preparing and sharing presentations quick and easy. Students can create presentations on the iPad using one of Apple’s beautifully designed templates or by importing their own themes. Keynote can be used to import presentations created in PowerPoint and create presentations that can easily be saved as PowerPoint files. *An essential app for creating impressive class presentations, Keynote is available in the App Store for $19.99.*

    “*Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 Editor:*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fadobe-photoshop-elements-9%2Fid443128855%3Fmt%3D12%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 One of the best apps out there for people who want to harness the power of Photoshop without the price. Since most people generally don’t need all of Photoshop’s tools, Elements is a happy medium, and it works great in conjunction with iPhoto. Color-correct, crop, resize and touch up photos to you heart’s content, and even automate the processes you use often. *A must–available in the App Store for $79.99.*

    “*Evernote:*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fevernote%2Fid406056744%3Fmt%3D12%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 Evernote seems to do everything: Notes, Web Clips, PDFs… all to help you remember important things in your life. Have you come across something worth saving on the internet? Need to jot some notes from class? Evernote can do it all in style with a sleek interface, seamless tools and premium file syncronization features. *Grab it for your Mac and iPod touch, iPad or iPhone–free in the App Store and iTunes Store.*

    “*Caffeine:*”:http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=19XpSnZWhPI&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fapp%2Fcaffeine%2Fid411246225%3Fmt%3D12%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30 A favorite productivity app of many Mac users, Caffeine keeps your computer awake–preventing sleep mode, screen savers and display dimming–so that your it only dozes when you do. Caffeine installs a coffee cup icon on your menu bar; the cup appears empty when Caffeine is off and full when Caffeine is running. *Perfect for all-nighters, Caffeine is available for free in the App Store.*

  • Special: The Ultimate Set of Tools

    The new MacBook Air is a powerful computer in a lightweight package, but it can serve as an amazing desktop Mac, too! I use my MacBook Air at home or on the road in its standalone configuration.

    However, every day when I come to work, I connect it to my keyboard, activate my Apple Magic Mouse, connect my external drive for Time Machine backups, plug in my 27-inch monitor and I have one fully configured desktop. I also have a number of USB devices connected, including a scanner and ethernet adapter, so I have added a powered USB hub.   

    We have been able to acquire some of the constrained newly introduced 13-inch MacBook Airs and have compiled the ultimate MacBook Air Bundle as a special for this week only–save over $115!

    *Bundle includes:*

    * *MacBook Air 13in 1.7GHz i5 4GB/256GB*
    * *LaCie 1TB Neil Poulton Hard Drive*
    * *Griffin Elevator Laptop Stand*
    * *Hammerhead MacBook Air Leather Envelope*
    * *Compucessory 4-Port USB Hub*
    * *Apple Wireless Keyboard*
    * *Apple Magic Mouse*
    * *AppleCare Protection Plan*