Getting a new phone is always exciting, especially when you get your hands on one of the many exciting options offered by AT&T. That is doubly true for my mom and sister. Not long before the holiday season, they both were in need of a new phone. They weren’t ready for a smartphone, but liked a number of the new touch-screen phones available. After watching Stephanie’s Samsung Solstice review, and trying it out for themselves, both decided to go with the Solstice.
Then, the unexpected happened – my mom signed up for her first text messaging plan. Now, instead of a phone call asking us what new clothes Fiona needs, we get a SMS message requesting size and color preferences. Sometimes we get MMS messages detailing the day’s purchases. We’ve decided that my mom is officially dangerous when in close proximity to anywhere that sells baby apparel.
My mom even invents her own shorthand, apparently not happy with this generation’s LOL, TTYL, and L8Rs. I always knew I had a cool mom. Now, she further proves the point via SMS.
Message & data rates may apply.
Posted by Cory in Cory, SmartPhone Tags: Cory, SmartPhone, Texting
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After many months of trying to convince Amy that she needed a smartphone, the birth of our daughter Fiona became the deciding factor. Now, instead of sending SMS messages using a T9 interface, she’s tapping away at a touch-screen interface, texting faster than I could ever hope to. Her phone has become her go-to camera to take pictures of Fiona, and it’s how she checks her email.
Then there are the apps. Amy is officially ‘addicted’ to apps. She uses her smartphone to keep up with Facebook, check the weather, hunt for a new house, track workouts and food intake, play games, share pictures from our Flickr account, and keep up on parenting information, among other things. She just might be on her smartphone more than I’m on mine, which is saying something.
Does anyone else have a significant other who fought the transition to a smartphone, only to become ‘addicted’ to mobile apps?
Message & data rates may apply.
Posted by Cory in Applications, Cory, SmartPhone Tags: Cory, SmartPhone
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Hey! I wanted to share with you a great app, Mark the Spot, that gives AT&T customers a way to provide feedback on network user experience to AT&T. Check out how it works:
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Standard charges apply to text messages, depending on your plan.
Posted by Cory in Cory, How To Tags: Cory, SmartPhone
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When I see this picture, I can hear Frank Sinatra singing “My Funny Valentine.” This Valentine’s Day is like no other before it, because with Fiona around, every day is Valentine’s Day. While we make our plans to surprise each other in some small way, we conspire as to what we’re going to do for our little valentine: What will she wear? Where will we take her? What should we get her?
We plan on visiting family this coming weekend to share our little valentine in person versus through the cameras on our phones as we so often do. Though Sunday is Valentine’s Day, for us, every day before and after will still be Valentine’s Day.
And if you are at a loss for what to get for your Valentine (or better yet, would like to “gently suggest” a Valentine gift for yourself!), check out or share the following link, to get a new red phone – FREE on att.com through Monday, February 15: bit.ly/Free-Red-Phones!
A two year service agreement is required. Other restrictions apply. A $30/month data plan required for all Smartphones.
Posted by Cory in Cory, Photos, SmartPhone, Uncategorized Tags: Cory, Photos, SmartPhone
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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 Cory in Cory, How To, TV, Vlogs Tags: Cory, SmartPhone
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We made our first road trip with Fiona recently, taking her to Springfield, IL to visit my side of our family. It was a great weekend that nearly wore out three cameras with all of the pictures taken.
That said, for the first time in a few blog posts, pictures aren’t what I want to talk about. At the moment, I’m more interested in video: Video Chat to be more specific. As Fiona’s due date approached, my parents and I began discussing setting up a way for us to use video chat. Amy and I already had a web-cam, and my parents quickly followed suit in purchasing one of their own.
In the days before Fiona’s Springfield visit, we were finally getting ready to take our first stab at video chat. After some hiccups in setting up the hardware/software, it was time to make good use of our AT&T U-verse High Speed Internet. My dad and I got the video chat up and running and after only a few seconds, Amy, Fiona, and I could see and hear my mom, dad, and grandmother, almost as though they were right in the room with us.
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While it doesn’t replace getting to hold your grandchild/children or hug your parents, video chat can help make the world seem that much smaller, and any distance surmountable. When we aren’t able to meet in person, we can still share our beautiful daughter with our out-of-town family by using video chat.
Disclaimer: Geographic and service restrictions apply to AT&T U-verse(SM) services. Check to see if you qualify. http://www.att.com/u-verse/.
Posted by Cory in Cory, Vlogs Tags: AT&T U-verse, Cory
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You would think that the first Halloween wouldn’t be a huge ordeal for a child that’s just shy of two months old. Turns out, that’s not the case for our Fiona. About four months ago, before Fiona was born (and before we knew the gender of our forthcoming child), Amy sent me an email with an idea for a Halloween costume. It was gender neutral, and even long before Fiona had eliminated my ability to act tough, it was adorable.
Turns out that the costume – a chili pepper – is the perfect fit for our little Fiona. As you can see, she wears it well and is beyond cute.
The costume is also getting Amy and I interested in taking some amateur photography classes to capture some of these moments. Amy’s already practicing.
While we’re a ways from taking Fiona trick-or-treating and keeping in touch with the little one via cell phones and the FamilyMap service, we can still enjoy our time spent with family, showing off our new addition and her spicy personality.
![DSC01377_200910291023335[1]](http://calmcoolconnected.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/DSC01377_2009102910233351-300x225.jpg "DSC01377_200910291023335[1]")
And dad can work on removing the bad puns from his vocabulary.
Posted by Cory in Cory, Just for fun, Photos Tags: Cory
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On September 4, 2009 I wrote about how Amy and I have been taking many more pictures than we ever have before. Since Fiona was born on 9/10/09, there’s been an even bigger spike in the number of pictures we take. In fact, my picture taking might be out of control.
Once things settled down a bit at home, I signed us up for a new Flickr Pro account. Since then, I’ve uploaded over 300 pictures for our friends and family to view. Many of them look like duplicates because I have an itchy shutter finger and can’t help myself when taking pictures of little Fiona, or mom and Fiona. Here are a few of my favorites:
Those 300 pictures only represent a fraction of the ones I’ve taken so far. The camcorder’s also getting some use and soon we’ll be investing in a much larger external hard drive to store all of the Fiona media we’re creating.
My family lives a few hours away. Our cameras and Flickr accounts help us keep them up to speed with Fiona’s growth in between visits. Being able to take photos with our phones and instantly upload them to our Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter accounts allows us to do this on the go.
Where do you store and share all of your family photos? Do you upload photos on the go?
Posted by Cory in Cory, Photos Tags: Cory, Photos
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On September 10, 2009 at 12:54 p.m., Fiona Noelle was born, and Amy and I officially became parents. Our lives have forever changed for the better. Unlike in the past, letting everyone know the news was a very easy process. We let both of our parents know that we were at the hospital at about 6 in the morning and that Amy was expected to deliver later that afternoon. They knew the next time they heard from us, they would be grandparents.
Once Fiona was taken up to the nursery, we both got on our cell phones and called our parents to share the news. We then called our siblings and grandparents and told them the same. That started a string of phone calls to the rest of the family, like a new age phone tree. Then, we sent a text message to all of our friends.
In a matter of minutes we were able to share the good news with our family and friends by using our mobile devices. Later in the evening, when Fiona was brought to our room from the nursery, we took a number of pictures. Using my smartphone, I was able to email those pictures so they could be shared with family, friends and colleagues alike.
The only piece of technology that didn’t come through for us on that day was the scale on which Fiona was weighed in the delivery room. Initially, the scale read 8.54 pounds.
We found out the following day that Fiona was weighed again in the nursery, and her actual birth weight was 7 pounds 7 ounces, rendering my text message incorrect.
Posted by Cory in Cory, SmartPhone Tags: Cory
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Hey, this is Cory! As many of you know my wife and I just had a baby, so I’ll have many exciting stories to share. First off I wanted to showcase the Samsung Jack that I was given to try out. The following video explains some of the great features that I really enjoy and use often:
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Have I captured your interest? I thought so. Well I have good news! We have one Samsung Jack to give away to one lucky reader.
Here’s how to enter:
1) Leave a comment here and tell us how. Your e-mail address and phone number must be accurate in your comment so we’re able to contact you. Make sure you double check. (Don’t worry. These won’t be published.)
2) You can also enter by writing a post on your blog answering the same question. Just be sure to leave a comment here linking to your post so we know where to find it.
No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. This sweepstakes runs from today, October 7 to Sunday, October 11, 2009. It is only open to individuals who, at the time of entry deadline, are legal residents of the United States and are 18 years or older; one entry per person. AT&T employees and members of their household are not eligible to win. The winner will be notified via phone on Monday, Oct. 12, 2009.
For complete contest rules, click here.
Posted by Cory in Contests, Cory, Photos Tags: Contest, Cory, Samsung Jack
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