Technology
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TechDen The Home To Healthier Screen Habits | Review

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Disclosure - We were gifted TechDen for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own. 

Boy looking at a TechDen
Screen time for your children. Is it a problem?  There are clearly some different thoughts out there when you have a look at some of the recent press around screen time. One thing is for certain though, only you the parent can really decide how much screen time you want your child to have.

We limit Little J's screen time to an amount we feel is appropriate depending on what his day has been like. We look at what time he got up, what he has done before and after breakfast and what activities he has done during the day. Some days he is more tired than others and he may have more screen time that day.  For us, that makes sense, but for him, its difficult to understand how it works!

TechDen
This is where TechDen comes in. TechDen is the first ever combined physical storage and charging device with its own app to give the user the ability to control screen time on each device. Once the device is in the Den, it's locked away with an "out of sight, out of mind" approach to support parents decisions around screen time restrictions.

The TechDen App is what makes the device so unique. TechDen works with the main app being installed on the parents device and the childs versions of the apps being installed on their devices. The parent is able to predetermine the amount of time available to the child and also how many sessions are available throughout the day.  The system works by requiring the devices be returned to the Den before the end of the allocated time.  Before time is up, the child will get countdown reminders so they are ready to return the device rather than have a "2 minute warning", and they can also request extra time through the app. The parent device will receive all notifications of requests, with the ability to approve or deny requests straight away.

At the end of the session, if the device isn't returned to the Den the parental device will receive notification so that intervention can take place if needs be.

The TechDen app also can operate on a rewards system which can support the child with habits and a sense of achievement.

TechDen
The Den itself is simple enough to use, and a really great feature is that once the device is away and charging, the doors wont open to the childs request for the device unless it's in one of the predetermined sessions of availability. To make it simple for the child, if the light is green they can use the device and if the light is red they can't. The Den was bigger than we expected, however if you think about a unit that would house and charge two tablets then its easy to see why the size is as it is.

I could see that TechDen could be really useful in cutting down on arguments around device time, as often these can be a result of lack of time planning or parameters set to begin with.  TechDen can support by ensuring that everyone knows the rules to start with and offering simple but effective techniques towards device access.

TechDen
If you want to know more about TechDen then visit their website here for parental views and guides on how it may work for your family.

John

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Play Expo Manchester

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Boy with VR headset on

Play Expo returned to Manchester last week to a new location at the Central Exhibition Centre. This was Little J's first visit to the gaming exhibition and he loved it more than I expected!

We arrived at the event early to make the most of the day. Programmes of events where handed out as we entered through the now familiar bag check process. This also included a map of the venue with each of the sections clearly marked.

Dad and Son playing on PS4
We headed first to the Antstream setup. Antstream advertises itself as a Netflix for retro gaming, with the ability to play on Xbox One, Pc, Android devices and support to come for PS4 and iOS in future. Its currently in kickstarter but they had live stations set up with a selection of games to play.  The speed of games loading was really impressive and I loved having a go of Speedball 2 having not played it for about 20 years.  Little J loved the fact that they had bowls of sweets to pick from too!

Man with VR headset on
Playstation VR was available for try outs just next to this section and both Little J and I had a go on Driveclub VR.  I really thought the experience was amazing, and have been considering buying the VR set, however I did find that it made me feel a bit ill, so it was good to have the chance to try it to make the decision for me!

Next it was over to the Fortnite section. This was already busy, but we didnt have to wait long to sit at a station and Little J played a few games next to around 40 other gamers. He was really enjoying the experience even though he could have played at home.

Dad and Son playing Outrun
We headed over to the arcade section next, with a large selection of original arcade machines, all set as free to play. We spent to time on Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man,  Operation Wolf and waited for a turn on the original sit in cabinet for Out Run. I also played some of the original star wars games and had a few goes of Galaga.  It's always great fun to play the originals all over again, and even more so to see Little J playing and enjoying them too.

woman playing pinball
Next to the Arcade section was the Pinball section.  We all had a go on 'The Adams Family' which is my favourite machine. I was surprised at how out of practice I had become!

Dad and Son playing FIFA
Next it was time for some Fifa. We could only find two machines running Fifa so had to wait a little for a chance to play.  We played three matches at different times throughout the day and this was Little J's favourite part of the day. When I asked him why, when he could play it at home, he just said 'Its better playing it here'

Then it was onto the tombola, where we won sweets and a teddy bear, and then to the market stalls. Usually I find something catches my eye in amongst the gaming merchandise but nothing did this year.

We didn't have time to go to visit any of the presentations on the main stage, or other areas, and we didn't try out Knightmare Live or the Breakout Rooms, however we still really enjoyed the day playing games, and will definitely be returning next year!

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John

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Review | JBL JR Pop Bluetooth Speaker

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Disclosure - We were gifted the JBL JR Pop Speaker for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own. 

We all love our music here, and we have tried and tested so many different speakers and systems over the years. You would think that bluetooth speakers would be much of a muchness but we can tell you that some are much, much better than others and it really does make a difference which brand you use.

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Review | Dreamworks Dragons Dawn Of New Riders

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Disclosure - We were gifted products for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own.

The 'How To Train Your Dragon' franchise has been around for nine years. With three films following the release of the latest movie - The Hidden World, a TV series and a number of games, from big screen to smaller screens the movies, shows and games are really popular with both adults and children. The latest outing for How To Train your Dragon moves to the Nintendo Switch, with Toothless and Hiccup aiming to impress on the smallest and most portable to screens. The Dawn Of New Riders game takes place within the same universe, but with an entirely new story.
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Tech | All You Need To Know About the Samsung Galaxy Note 9

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I have been lucky enough to upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S9 Note, the first phone I have owned with the S-Pen and most powerful Android Phone made to date.  In a family of Apple fans, I moved over to Android a few years ago and haven't looked back.
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Are Your Children Staying Safe Online?

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Everyone has heard of Fortnite, the online multiplayer shooter phenomenon that even allows players to play across different consoles in the same game. Maybe your child is playing Fortnite right now, do you know who they are playing with, what they are hearing or being told, the ages of the people they are playing with?  Probably not - in fact I would say definitely not. After all the Battle Royale game is based on 100 people online together on one map, playing in teams or alone - and these 100 people could be from anywhere in the world.

Fortnite is very popular here. Both big and little J love the game, and I also play from time to time. We have spent plenty of money on the games virtual currency V-Bucks, which allows the purchase of visual upgrades to your characters skin, glider, pickaxe and of course allows you to buy the famous dances which are fast taking over the world. So although we are fully aware of the online risk, we are prepared to manage that risk, because we understand it, and know which options and settings are safest for little ones.

However, this morning we found that Little J was in a game, on a team with two other small children and one Eighteen year old man who seemed quite happy chatting away to three five or six year olds. I am not saying there was anything wrong with that as it stands, however the risk is always there. We dont know who he is, where he is from or why he wants to chat to young children, but we decided to end the game there and move to another setting.  What would you have done?

So below is a guide to the 'safest' settings on Fortnite for your children, and whilst there will still always be online risk, you can help to eliminate that risk by using the guide.

Options Within Battle Royale

Battle Royale has a constantly changing set of modes, with different game objectives and ways to play, however they all share some fundamental underlying online options that are customisable within the mode.

Solo Mode 
This is as it sounds, you play alone within the game and are playing against 99 other players.  Here, you can choose whether your gamertag is displayed or not, and you can choose to be in a 'party' with other gamers or not. The 'party' connects gamers using mic's connected to a headset or the controller so that they can talk about the game.

Here, the safest online options are to hide your gamertag and not connect to any party. This will increase the chance of remaining anonymous within the game.

Other Game Modes 
Here you can see some of the other available game modes at the time of writing. Food Fight and Disco Domination are new game modes, with the same idea of having a number of players online together. Within these modes players can join a squad of other players to make up a team, usually either teams of four or fifty.

The important thing to notice about the options within both modes is just above the accept box when you start the game. There are options that say either Fill, or Don't Fill.

The Fill option will put you in a team and connect you directly to those players in the team. So whether you have a mic connected or not, you can hear what the other players are saying though the TV or your headphones.  In addition if you are mic connected then they can hear and talk to you.

The Safest option here is to make sure that Don't Fill is selected - this will reduce the chance of being connected to other gamers and should mean you can remain anonymous online.

We have always been careful to monitor who both Little J and Big J are connected to when playing online, whether they are playing Fortnite or any other game. Online safety is becoming more and more topical by the day as more people have access to devices, and more people are choosing to spend time online rather than go out.

Do your little ones play Fortnite? If you have any other online safety tips, please let us know.

John
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Review | Paw Patrol On a Roll Xbox One Game

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Little J has watched Paw Patrol for a few years now, and the release of a Paw Patrol On A Roll video game for the major consoles isn't a surprise given how its popularity has increased in recent times. It's an interesting release as it surprises me that there are enough children old enough to play console games, but still young enough to enjoy Paw Patrol, to warrant a major game release. Having said that Little J loves his Xbox time, so maybe gaming is more popular with small children than I would have thought.
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Christmas 2018 | Gift Guide - Fortnite Fans

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Fortnite has been the gaming sensation of the year.  Playable on most devices, even your phone, it has captured the hearts and minds of most children and a good many adults too. If you have an Xbox or Playstation at home then I would be surprised if your children's Christmas lists don't have something Fortnite related on them! So here's some ideas that we think will make your Fortnite fan happy on Christmas morning.
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Review | Oregon Scientific Smart Globe Myth

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Just over a year ago we reviewed the Oregon Scientific Adventure Smart Globe. Little J absolutely loves the globe and over the past year has learnt so much about different countries and his knowledge of capitals is amazing. Over the past few weeks we have been trying out Smart Globe Myth and we are really impressed.
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Review | Cozmo by Anki

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Meet Cozmo.  Cozmo is the cutest little robot that we have ever seen.  Anki offered us the chance to review Cozmo, meaning we could get to know him and he could get to know us.
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Review | Thunderbirds Are Go International Rescue

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Thunderbirds Are Go - International Rescue is a new free game from Kuato games, who you may have heard of with their range of Dino Tales Storytelling and literacy skills apps for children. Thunderbirds has been around for ever, however is still really popular with children and with this game, you can become the hero and stop a disaster from destroying the arctic.
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Closed Giveaway | Win An Amazon Echo

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We have a fantastic giveaway for you on our blog - we are giving away an Amazon Echo.  The Amazon Echo connects to Alexa-a cloud-based voice service-to play music, make calls, set alarms and timers, ask questions, check your calendar, weather, traffic and sports scores, manage to-do and shopping lists, control compatible smart home devices, and more.
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Oregon Scientific Smart Globe Adventure

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Disclosure - We were sent the products below for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our unless stated. This post contains affiliate links. 

I'm not sure who was more excited about receiving the Oregon Smart Globe Adventure a few weeks ago, little J or John and I. I absolutely love anything to do with maps, countries, capitals but have never actually owned a globe so this was very exciting. The Smart Globe Adventure is an interactive globe giving you the chance to explore and learn about 220 countries, interesting facts, play games and even unlock a 3D Augmented Reality feature using an app on your smartphone.

Oregon Smart Globe Adventure
The Smart Globe comes with a smart pen so this took little J a while to get used to. He is only really familiar with touch screen on his iPad and our phones but once we showed him how he could easily use it. 

We explained to little J that The Smart Globe was a map of the world and the first thing he wanted to do was spin it. It is so much fun spinning a globe around,  it does spin left and right but it does not spin up or down. This can be annoying if you are playing a game and it asks you to find Antarctica and the pen doesn't quite reach it. 

Once he had finished spinning he asked where we are on the globe. We showed him the UK and he used his smart pen to touch it. It played a little song but to find out more about the UK or other countries we would have to go to the base of the globe and choose an activity. If you leave the globe idle for a few moments it will ask you what you would like to do. 

First we chose a 'find' game. You can choose from Continents, Capitals, Countries and our personal favourite The Ultimate Challenge. 

oregon smart globe

Once you have chosen what 'find' game you would like to play the Smart Globe will ask you to find and touch as many of your chosen topic as possible. It does tell you what to look for and plays music while you try and find it, the music will go faster as your time starts to run out. 

The Ultimate Challenge is our favourite and is a time challenge were you have to find as many places as you can in the time provided. We are very competitive when it comes to this game as so far we can't seem to get more than 10 on Level 1 however we are still trying. 

Next you can choose a 'touch' activity. There are lots to choose from including Continent, Name, Capital, Population, Area, Currency, History, Features, Geography, Language, Highest Point, National Anthem and Amazing Facts. 

oregon smart globe
oregon smart globe

The touch activities are jam packed with lots of different facts about the countries you touch with your smart pen. Our personal favourite is listening to all the different National Anthems from around the world. 

Within the 'touch' activities there are 6 that can also be played in French.

Next you can choose the 'compare' activities. You choose 2 different countries and the Smart Globe will compare the area or the population of both countries. 

On the base of the globe there is a more detailed map of Britain and Ireland. Here you can do all the activities that are mentioned above but for cities too. 

oregon smart globe

As we live in Liverpool it was nice to hear some facts about where we live. 

The base also has a pause, repeat and volume button which you will need as it is very loud. 

What We Loved

Great Quality

Makes learning fun with lots of games and fun facts

220 countries to explore

6 French activities

Detailed map of Britain and Ireland which allows us to find out more about cities we are close to.

Love hearing little J playing with the Globe and then shouting to us 'Where's Japan Mum?"

Will be a perfect learning tool throughout Little J's school journey.

What Could Improve

There are some places, mainly on the bottom of the globe which the pen doesn't quite reach and it takes quite a while for the globe to detect the pen. 

When playing some of the games you have to be quite precise with pen, this can get a little frustrating especially if you are playing the Ultimate Challenge and trying to beat your score. 

At the moment we haven't quite grasped the AR side of the globe yet as there are just so many features to get to grips with we are just having fun exploring at the moment. 

Little J has just started reception so I know from a learning point of view the globe will be a perfect tool throughout his school journey. for now we are enjoying finding out facts, exploring the globe and playing games.

The Smart Globe Adventure is recommended for age 5+ however little J is still only 4 and he really enjoys it.

You can find out more about the Smart Globe Adventure by visiting Oregon Scientific Store and it is also available to buy over on Amazon

Michelle

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Preview - Xbox One X

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It hasn’t been that long since I reviewed the Xbox One S, the 4K slimmed down version of the Xbox One. However, Microsoft have now announced that pre-orders are available for the next version of Xbox, the Xbox One X. Released on 7th November 2017, Microsoft are challenging the PS4 Pro for power. 
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The App Map Of Britain

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We all use apps every day.  Lots of apps, on lots of different devices doing lots of different things. Carphone Warehouse have compiled an app map of Great Britain, shortlisting the most used apps in 2016 with lots of different variables from location, age, sex, earnings and lots of others including the top used apps in the entire British Isles. 

The map really does give an interesting insight into the usage of apps and shows how many of the 2 million plus apps that are available on the App Store and for Android are actually used. I wasn't hugely surprised by the top 10 overall, but once you add the extra dimension of location or age the results really did surprise me. 
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Kaspersky Kids Safe App

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I have to admit that both boys are regular online users. It's the world we live in now and with so many devices around our hime having instant access to the world wide web it is impossible to stop them. Little J is a big fan of You Tube Kids and it's perfect for little ones as it has videos and adverts that are designed just for children. Big J however is a teenager and is able to access all sorts of information online which sometimes can be quite worrying.  In a recent European study* of 5040 children aged 10-15 conducted by global cyber security company, Kaspersky, discovered some alarming stats about how children are using the internet, and how they may not be protecting themselves as they should. 
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Tech Tuesday - Nintendo Switch : Do We Need Another Console?

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The Nintendo Switch is being released on 3rd March in the UK.  With a price tag of £279.99 for the basic package it will be interesting to see how this fares with gamers. I remember buying the original Wii console not long after release.  It was expensive at the time, I can’t remember how expensive, but expensive enough for us not to have bought at initial release.  Honestly, with Wii for us did bring us years of enjoyment, mostly on Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, but also with Wii party, played almost exclusively at Christmas - but so much fun.  Wii Fit was also a firm favourite - even it was just to tell me I have put another pound on.

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Tech Tuesday - 4K Definition The Future Of Streaming

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You may have recently read my review of the Xbox One S in which I talk about the difference I have seen with 4K and HDR definitions.  One of the features is the ability to stream HDR and 4K definition through the Xbox One S with 4K compatible providers like Netflix. As part of the StreamTeam, I have written recently about Stranger Things - the superb TV series with a retro feel to it. We watched that in 1080p through Netflix and the quality was brilliant. If I had waited a few months until we got the new 4K TV then we could have watched it in 4K definition on Netflix. 
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Tech Tuesday - August Bluetooth Wireless Headphones Review

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We already own a number of August products, most recently we reviewed Augusts WS300 and WS150 Multiroom Wireless Airplay speakers.  We use these a lot throughout the home as they are portable and easy to use.  When I was asked to try a set of wireless headphones I was happy to give them a try. We were sent a pair of EP636R wireless stereo headphones
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Tech Tuesday - Xbox One S Review

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I am a Xbox owner after converting from the PS2 to the original Xbox a long time ago.  I still have PS consoles, but the Xbox has been my favourite for some time. I bought the Xbox One on initial release date in 2013 - the Day One edition. I have had no problems with it at all, other than running out of storage space. Luckily the Xbox allows external hard drives to be connected in a plug and play style to improve the capacity overall. 
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