Hey! With the Super Bowl just around the corner, I wanted to share with you how my family is using U-verse to enjoy the Big Game.
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Geographic and service restrictions apply to U-verse services. Check to see if you qualify at www.att.com/uverse. Access to HD service requires $10/mo. HD Premium Tier available for an additional $5/mo. Total Home DVR functionality is available on up to 8 TVs, and requires a receiver for each additional TV at $7/mo.
Posted by becky.woodworth in Becky, TV, Uncategorized Tags: AT&T U-verse, Becky
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Oh, baby, do we have some exciting news to share!
AT&T announced today that it is supporting a nationwide effort to help connect expecting mothers and families with weekly tips to support healthy pregnancies – and healthy babies – via text messaging. It’s called text4baby, and it’s now available at no charge to expecting mothers across the country.
As part of the effort to inform expecting mothers about text4baby, we are happy to announce that the stork has visited and left us with two new mommy-to-be bloggers! Please join me in welcoming Laura and Nicole, who will be guest bloggers on our site from now through Mother’s Day! Like our already fabulous group, each will share personal stories on how they use technology to stay calm, cool and connected while preparing to welcome a new baby into their already busy lives. Cool, right?!
Stay tuned for posts from our new guest bloggers. In the meantime, please check out the bios of our new mommy-to-be bloggers below to learn more about these expecting ladies! Of course we want to hear from you too, so remember to leave comments and ask questions often!
Laura Hernandez
Hello, my name is Laura, and I am a wife and working mom who has been with AT&T for 13 years. I am a mom who is about to be a mom for the first time – sounds confusing. I have a stepson with a disability who lives with us, and my husband and I are expecting our first child together in May. My stepson is completely dependent on technology to communicate, so if we want to communicate with him when we are not at home, e-mail and texting is the way to go. I use technology in every aspect of my life. Aside from using my Blackberry to stay connected to work issues, I use Navigator to get around my new city of Dallas, and I use multiple smartphone applications to manage grocery lists, get restaurant reviews or find important locations, like the shoe repair, tailor and, yes, even clean bathrooms. As two working parents juggling the demands our stepson presents us, we use technology to coordinate social schedules and yoga classes and to keep our friends and family up-to-date on happenings in our lives. More recently, I have used the internet to track how my pregnancy is progressing.
Nicole Anderson
Hello, everyone! I’m Nicole, an AT&T employee and soon-to-be-mom of a baby boy. My husband, Justin, and I are expecting our first child at the end of April. It’s been a year of big 
changes for us, as I relocated with the company last April from the San Francisco Bay Area to Dallas. Thankfully, my husband was able to maintain his career, working remotely from Dallas. I’m jealous he gets to go back to California every month or so, especially during the summer to beat the heat! Just as we started getting settled in Dallas – learning the neighborhood, what road led where, and I was getting up to speed on my new job – we found out we were pregnant! It has been an exciting, if overwhelming, journey for us. Critical during our relocation was the use of our smartphones. If we got lost, or if we needed to find a restaurant, e-mail our realtor or send a quick text, our smartphones didn’t let us down. Now with the text4baby program, I can get quick and informative baby advice sent directly to my phone. With all the hecticness in our work and lives, these texts create a quick moment to reflect on the big change coming in our lives and learn something about the new life we are forming. I look forward to sharing this experience with you through my blog posts, and learning more about how to use technology as a new mom. Is there an app that helps your baby sleep through the night?!
Posted by admin in Uncategorized
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Hey! With the awards season in full swing thought you might be interested in viewing a great app that keeps you up to speed on all of the action.
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Posted by admin in Cory, How To, TV, Vlogs Tags: Cory, SmartPhone
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I am amazed at the apps available today. Not just for work – but for our time outside work. For those who are practically minded there are apps that help you maintain your car, track your bills and ones that even act as personal assistance. There are sport apps that help improve your golf swing or track the results of baseball and football games. For travel bugs, there are language translators and assistance with the conversion of money. Concerned about keeping your mind active after massive amounts of time watching Barney with your kids? You can use your mobile phone do Sudoku and brain teasers to keep your mind active. Even the White House launched an app that can be used to access streaming video of President Obama’s upcoming State of the Union address.
My husband writes computer software — for fun. Go figure… The last time I wrote a computer program it was in graduate school and it was in Assembly Language. This was just shortly after the Jurassic period. I remember clearly when I erased my back up file, around 3 AM, for a key project. That was when I determined that I, indeed, had a more colorful vocabulary than I realized — even if I did not actually say the words out loud. More importantly, I found I did not have the passion I needed to be a really good programmer. Without passion, your job is just work. I am glad that there are opportunities for programmers with a passion, like my husband, who can use their creativity to create applications and share them with others. Sometimes they are silly, but sometimes they are very useful.
There are apps on cell phones today that help people with Autism communicate and ones under development that may help older people anticipate when a fall is likely so they can prevent injuries. This means that older people may be able to stay in their own homes longer rather than go to a assistive care or a nursing facility. There are applications like Dragon that enable you to dictate your emails – useful to people with conditions such as arthritis and those over forty who do not have their reading glasses! The work being developed today that is often offered at no cost by online good citizens who just want to help their virtual neighbors, is truly inspiring. Many applications are accessible for people who have vision loss like me and there are groups that talk just about those applications.
For those trying to juggle home and work, you can find healthy recipes and menu planners for shopping. And on the lighter side, or hopefully lighter side, you can find several programs that count or track calories or carbs. There are applications related to wellness as a whole and, I am told, ones that will help track your workouts as well. I should probably check into those…
Of course, there are games for kids of all ages. The handset vendors I’ve met say these help people to use a keypad more quickly and efficiently. I am skeptical. I think they are really just for fun. And, if my observations are correct, they are there to help people waiting in airports pass the time without becoming belligerent. For kids, there are educational applications that teach things like phonics and counting. There are even apps that provide a virtual experience of things we ACTUALLY did like skee ball, board games and spin art. The only application that I have not been able to find is one that will soothe the overtired toddler. But then, there is a nap for that…
About the author: Susan Mazrui, who just celebrated her 15th anniversary with AT&T, has two daughters, Sarah (23 years old) and Nicole (3 years old). Sarah works full-time and goes to Law School part-time. Nicole is a part-time preschooler whose current career aspirations include medicine and firefighting. Married to Jamal, a brilliant software developer and civil servant, Susan enjoys listening to books, described videos and international travel. Susan and Jamal also have a Cavapoo named Ginger (1 year old). Ginger initially aspired to become a guide dog for Susan but later decided to become a watch dog as she thoroughly enjoys people watching and really did not want to work that hard.
Posted by admin in Just for fun, Organization, Shopping, Uncategorized Tags: SmartPhone
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Last November I wrote a blog in reference to the mystery of teenagers and text messaging. The blog focused on my daughter and the fact that she had 14,593 text messages in one month. I also mentioned this seems impossible as she cannot text message while she is at her high school. Plus she participates in a dance company where she dances a minimum of 3 hours a day during the week, almost every Saturday and occasionally on Sunday’s.
Until now I thought 14,593 text messages were impossible for her to exceed; however I am once again proven wrong by my children. Last month she broke the 25K barrier with 25,449 text messages in one month. This is equivalent to over 800 text messages a day which is unbelievable. One reason for the increase is she was out of school and dance for winter break which lasted about 2 weeks. However, 25,449 text messages in a month is still a lot of messages for anyone.
I am considering looking up the Guinness World Record for text messages, as this could be the new record. The teenagers today say thank goodness for wireless technology, however I am just thankful that unlimited text messaging is a feature that is offered and to which I subscribe. Do you have teenagers that go to the extreme with text messaging? Did they ever exceed 25,000 text messages in one month?
Posted by admin in Michael, Teens & Cell Phones Tags: Michael, Teenagers, Texting
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The way people depend on their mobile devices amazes me more and more each day. For New Years my family went to Walt Disney World for six nights. We celebrated New Year’s Eve in the Magic Kingdom. Over my lifetime I have never seen a place as crowded before. In fact, there were so many people in front of Cinderella’s Castle, it was almost impossible to get through the crowd. What shocked me more than the size of the crowd was the number of people text messaging on New Year’s Eve vs. the traditional phone call. Around midnight the spectacular fireworks show began. As that show ended the mobile devices came out everywhere and the text messages started. I myself was even guilty of text messaging “Happy New Year”. I guess why tell someone “Happy New Year” when you can just text it to them?
Posted by admin in Michael Tags: Holidays, Michael, Texting
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I have to tell you about this app! It’s called RedLaser and check out our experience! So we were shopping for my brother for Christmas who wanted a specific vacuum that would help pick up dog hair. Of course, he’s my brother so he doesn’t tell me until last minute. Anyway, we were in a store and found the one we thought he might like for $149. While looking around the rest of the store, we decided to look at some other stores and see what price they listed for the vacuum. I wasn’t too keen on this idea because as I mentioned it was last minute and as you can imagine traffic was busy in the stores. Well, on our way out of the door my husband remembered hearing about the RedLaser app. So, I’m not sure if we were just curious about this app, but we downloaded it for $1.99 We usually don’t spend money on apps because there are so many great apps for free. We joked saying this better be worth it.
So, we download the app which takes less than a minute, quickly read what it’s about and we are off…back to locate the vacuum we think is the Christmas winner. The app was SO easy. You simply locate the bar code on the item, and put your smartphone up to it as if you are scanning the code. A second or two later, it vibrates indicating it picked it up and spits back results of where you can buy the item cheaper. Well sure enough, it says it’s cheaper and it’s right down the street! So what started as a $149 gift, RedLaser now was telling us we could get the same exact item for $99 down the streetat another store. As you can imagine, we were in shock and not entirely sure it was accurate, but being the other store was so close, we said let’s go check it out. Sure enough,there it was, the vacuum that picks up pet hair for $99! We were pleasantly surprised. The halo to all of this, when we got to the register, it was actually $79! So thank you RedLaser!!! It’s worth the $1.99 we spent!
Posted by brandy.perez in Brandy, Shopping Tags: Brandy, SmartPhone
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Hey, Happy New Year!
For Christmas my daughter received a new phone, the Motorola Karma. In this video she shares some of the features she likes best.
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Posted by admin in Reviews, Stephanie, Vlogs Tags: Holidays, Stephanie
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I find the title “Working Mom” somewhat redundant. What mom doesn’t work? I have tried to spark interest in changing the title to “Relaxing Mom” but for obvious reasons it never quite caught on. “Queen Mum” caught on but seems to be limited to say Royalty and mothers of Sweet Potato Queens. It certainly doesn’t apply to me or anyone I know. Maybe I just travel in the wrong circles…
As a mom of two, Sarah and Nicole, I have come to appreciate my work at AT&T more than people who have never had children could possibly understand. For example, when I want my cell phone to let me know who just called, it tells me reliably and NEVER asks why. Ever tried to get your children to tell you who called? Usually, you are lucky if you know someone called. I love having my own cell phone. I can set a reminder to pick up my dry cleaning. If I think of something I need to add to the grocery list while waiting for my train after work, I don’t need to find a way to write this down, I can put it on my phone. Better yet, I can call to have pizza delivered. I am embarrassed to say that I can even speed dial it. The very best part is that I have the tools I need to organize the unimportant things in life, the appointments, the e-mails, the daily chores of running a household in a way that works with my (involuntarily) active lifestyle. Now, I can focus on important things like visiting my three year olds imaginary Jamaican house and shaking my sillies out.
Now, with Sarah, my 23 year old daughter (no that is not a typo) texting has been a great way to stay in touch. She works full time and goes to law school. A quick e-mail or text message is a great way to say “Hello” and to let her know that I understand and respect her time. She does often call on her way from work or to class and, now that she has a real job, it is not only to ask for money. You can ask her and I think she’ll tell you that texting is good for many things but not to request monetary support. I know if she doesn’t become an attorney, she may become a great lobbyist! Sarah is one smart young woman.
I know that I am very blessed with great kids, a wonderful husband and a great job. I may never receive the title “Relaxing Mom” but thanks to all of the new technologies today, I can settle on “Happy and Less Stressed Mom”.
Now back to Jamaica — or at least as close as I am likely to get until after we help pay off college for my youngest…
About the author: Susan Mazrui, who just celebrated her 15th anniversary with AT&T, has two daughters, Sarah (23 years old) and Nicole (3 years old). Sarah works full-time and goes to Law School part-time. Nicole is a part-time preschooler whose current career aspirations include medicine and firefighting. Married to Jamal, a brilliant software developer and civil servant, Susan enjoys listening to books, described videos and international travel. Susan and Jamal also have a Cavapoo named Ginger (1 year old). Ginger initially aspired to become a guide dog for Susan but later decided to become a watch dog as she thoroughly enjoys people watching and really did not want to work that hard.
Posted by admin in Uncategorized
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Congrats to Elizabeth for winning the Samsung Mythic in our December device giveaway!
Elizabeth commented:
“I like the scrolling feature – would be great to give as a gift ….or keep for myself!”
Congrats Elizabeth!
Thanks to everyone who entered! We’ll have more of these giveaways in the future so check back to see what other cool prizes we’ll be giving away.
Posted by admin in Contests, Uncategorized Tags: Contest
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