Author: Beatrice Bisais Page 7 of 32

Bea is Nixplay's Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

6 Tips for Husbands to Make Your Wedding Anniversary Special

By Beatrice Bisais

On August 28, 2017

In Gifting Guides

We all know how stressful it can be to plan a wedding anniversary celebration. This specific day is always a key moment to demonstrate how much you love your life partner. Everyone is different and you are the one who knows her the best. Below is a selection of anniversary ideas for the perfect gift for her.

1. Create a wedding anniversary tradition

If it is your first year anniversary, it is the perfect time to start a tradition for your future anniversaries. The tradition can be everything: a dinner in the restaurant where you had your first date, a bottle of very nice red wine every year (because your partner loves it), specific flowers or anything that has special meaning for you as a couple. An alternative to traditional gifts is to give each other an “experience.” If you have a similar passion, it could be an activity you do together.

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2. Plan a shooting photo couple

Photos are the best way to remember any moments. For your 10th anniversary, for example, you can take pictures with a photographer and compare them to your wedding pictures. See how your love has grown over the years. You can also consider asking your children to join your photo shoot to have very nice family pictures to look at and share with other family members.

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3. Organize a night out, just the two of you

Do you feel like you don’t spend enough quality time together because you are busy with work or family? A special night out, just the two of you, is a great way to reconnect. It is important to select the right environment ,and of course the right type of cuisine. Try to avoid noisy places because it is too stressful to really enjoy this privileged moment.

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4. Jewelry always works

It is no secret that Women love Jewelry. The best part of gifting jewelry is that no matter the cost , once offered for this special occasion, it becomes priceless. Women love to wear jewellery that is sentimental to them especially their wedding ring because it reminds them your union. Ring, bracelet or necklace are always a greatly appreciated and are perfect traditional anniversary gifts.

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5. Send chocolate, flowers and a card to your partner’s office

Another way to please your wife is to send flowers, chocolate or anything she may like to have at her office. It is always a good surprise to arrive at work and find sweet or gifts. Just imagine how it will make her feel with all her co-workers admiring the gift and telling her how lucky she is to have you as her husband. You should plan the delivery 1 week before the anniversary date to make sure it arrives on time.

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6. Prepare her favorite meal at home

Your life partner doesn’t like to go out and she is the one always cooking for you. It can be nice to have you or someone else to cook a nice meal for the two of you. If you are not a great cook don’t be afraid to try. This is a great way to show how much you are invested in this anniversary gift and prove how much you love her. You can still have a backup option with food bought from her favorite restaurant.

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No matter how you choose to spend your anniversary together, don’t forget to take pictures, they are unforgettable moments. You can also upload them on your Nixplay Digital photo frame and watch them every single day.

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

Baby Boy or Baby Girl? What are the Best Baby Shower Ideas this Year?

By Beatrice Bisais

On August 21, 2017

In Special Moments

Your best friend or your sister is having a baby this year and you’d like to surprise her with the best baby shower. To create the perfect moment and have everything you need, it’s always better to start a To-Do List to throw the cutest party of her life.

Guests? Who I am supposed to invite?

The tradition is to keep the baby shower female-only. However, the most important thing is that the mother-to-be is surrounded by love and people that care about her. What about the invitations? Personalized online invitations are a great way to inform all guests of the baby shower, and keep more budget for decoration and cakes.

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Decoration, food – What is her favorite color? Baby boy or Baby girl?

Your close-friend wants to wait until the baby is born to reveal the gender… Instead of choosing baby pink or baby blue color schemes, why not choose her favorite color or yellow (color of sun).

After the selection of the theme and color, you can also customize accessories: balloons, customized cupcakes with the baby or mom’s name, banners, create an original centerpiece with candies, fruits and add colorful flowers.

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Baby shower games

For success, keep the snacks relatively simple so you can focus on entertaining and creating a joyful atmosphere. There are lots of fun Baby Shower Games: Baby’s First Portrait, Guess the Mother’s Measurements, Don’t Say Baby, … You can adapt the games to the Moms-to-be. Nobody else knows her better than you!

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Appoint photographers for capturing these moments and emotions

Why have just one unique photographer? Share the moment from the perspective of all family members and friends! It does exist very easy-to-use apps to share private albums with your loved ones. You can take pictures on your phone, download the app and send your best pictures to the mother-to-be. With a digital photo frame, she can also watch her baby shower pictures at home and remember precious memories.

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Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

Need To Digitise Your Old Photos?

By Beatrice Bisais

On August 15, 2017

In Photography

Quick and easy solutions to scan your old photos

Everyone has photos in that shoebox under the stairs or in the attic. In the days before Facebook & Instagram we used to capture those precious moments, have them developed… and then store them in the aforementioned shoebox. Now that times have changed, we are increasingly relying on our online tools to preserve those memories and experiences.

(source: jarmoluk)

So the next question is, how can you digitise those old pictures? Those first steps? Mum and dad’s wedding? Or those embarrassing school photos?

Use a Scanner

The first solution is a little obvious. Using a scanner used to be the standard method of getting images digitised. Many modern printers have a built-in scanner. However, if you don’t own a Scanner, picking up one will set you back around $60USD.

But isn’t there an easier, faster way to upload your photos?

Yes! There’s an app for that

We have selected our favourite photo scanning apps below. We find this is the fastest way to digitise your photos, with specific features to help preserve the quality and details.

Google PhotoScan: Available on iOS & Android, with easy-to-scan feature, Automatic glare removal, cropping and rotation capability.

Photomyne: Also available on iOS & Android, Photomyne converts old prints into digital photos ready for posting on social media and allows for multiple photos to be uploaded in one go.

Shoebox: One of the most popular apps on the market, this App is available in iOS or Android but gives you the additional option of tagging information with your photos. You can add locations, people, captions, and dates.

(Image source: Jarmoluk, Pixabay)

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

Top 5 Unforgettable Family holiday destinations this Summer

By Beatrice Bisais

On July 14, 2017

In Holidays

Unforgettable family holidays always come with the right destination. Families all over the world gave us their feedback and have recommended the following top 5 destinations.

Singapore

Why Singapore? At first glance it looks like a very small city with limited entertainment. But you’d be wrong. This metropolis is full of amazing family attractions, delicious food, a variety of different and diverse cultures and customs form all over Asia.

Top attraction is Universal Studios and it is perfect to take unforgettable family pictures with the Minions or other characters your kids, husband, wife like the most.

Another important point to note is that English is the common language which make things even easier.

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Japan

Japan has a lot of benefits for a family. First of all it is safe and clean, their cuisine is very rich and tasty. Kid-friendly museums and public events are everywhere in Tokyo and many of them are very cheap or free for children. Japan has few castles and Himeji Castle the largest one and one of the most beautiful. It is a great opportunity to have fun while learning more about its legends and ghost stories.

The downside is that travelling in Japan can present challenges such as the language and narrow crowded streets. Nevertheless we will have very memorable with your children.

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Thailand

For many reasons, Thailand is a great destination to go with children. You can visit Buddhist Temples, experience elephant riding, enjoy snorkeling in the ocean, … With new technology, cameras can take pictures underwater and it will be left with remarkable memories.

Thai people are very friendly and especially in regards to children. The cost of living is very affordable for a family which make it possible to do a lot of activities.

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New Zealand

If your family is a big movie lover, you can visit The Lord of the Rings filming locations. It is very lovely to see their small and lovely houses. Your second step can be a whale and dolphin watching in Kaikoura. Snorkeling and seals are available over there too.

If you like outdoorsy staying, all over the country you can find kid-friendly camping sites. It is very nice for kids to experience a different Life style.

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Australia

If you are looking for a very big Country, Australia is made for your family. There is always something for everyone: beaches, animal park, art and of course kangaroos. Spend the day at a wildlife park and we will see unique animals. Always great when you see what reaction your kids have.

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So many souvenirs that will make you smile when you look at your pictures on your digital photo frame Nixplay . Don’t only select 1 or 2 pictures. Choose all of them.

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.

Tech Products Tackle Problems That Come with Age – HuffPost

By Beatrice Bisais

On July 4, 2017

In Gifting Guides

This article is published by Huffpost (read more)

More and more innovative companies are waking up to the fact that there is life beyond age 55. And where there’s life there’s sure to be tech. What the aging population lacks in adeptness, they make up for with appreciativeness. Get it right and you’ll never find a more grateful audience. I get to test a lot of products. Here’s a list I can guarantee will get a senior’s stamp of approval.

TV Watching Improved

Any intergenerational family gathering knows that the TV volume is always turned up loud enough for the person with the worst hearing in the room. That means the rest of the family is being blasted, usually with accompanying distortion. Zvox AV200 AccuVoiceis an easy to install soundbar that replaces your TV’s speakers and makes the voices emanating from your TV sound more clear and localized. AccuVoice uses a hearing aid type technology that isolates voice frequencies, lifting them out of background noise. The speaker bar comes with a small, uncomplicated remote control that acts as your volume control. Thankfully, I found my husband finally turned down the volume but could still hear the TV perfectly. The only drawback? Music from the TV did not sound any better, possibly worse, though the company suggests using Surround Sound mode for music listening. ($249)

Personalizing Alexa for an Aging Person

Amazon Alexa (I like the Echo for it’s size and fidelity) may be the perfect product for an aging audience that would rather converse with their machine than sit in front of a screen. Showing an older person basic things like asking for the weather or news and listening to music are learned quickly. But to make Alexa super useful you’ll want to install some “experiences” — Amazon’s name for useful apps. To learn about all the useful (and not so) things that Alexa can do visit either PC Magazine’s or CNet’s list. They both provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to ask for stock quotes, ask Alexa to call a friend in case of a fall or accident with Ask My Buddy, play games like Jeopardy, or get a “take your meds” reminder. My advice? If you’re giving anyone over 50+ an Amazon Alexa or Echo give them a cheat sheet on cool things they’ll enjoy doing. ($179)

Helping with Hearing Older folks have already suffered the repercussions of listening to loud rock and roll. And, it’s unlikely that want to blast music so loud that they shut out all noise of the outside world. This wisdom of age is best captured in Nueheara’s IQbuds. These are wireless earbuds that you control with an app to raise or lower the volumes of both music and ambient outside noise. They can even change the volume level of each ear independently — great for anyone with hearing loss in an ear. For older folks, what separates IQbuds from other earbuds is that they have multiple microphones that let a user adjust sound and location. So, in a crowded restaurant, you may actually be able to hear the person who’s speaking. (Now if only it could read those menus in a darkened restaurant, too). ($299)

Home Security

Using a home monitoring system is a less than perfect science for an aging population. You’ve got to be able to do a little setup with pairing Bluetooth devices, and there are bound to be some false alerts.

If you’re interested in monitoring the home for safety, then Canary is my favorite as a security system. It’s a system of cameras and sensors that monitor video as well as other indicators in a home, like whether you’ve gone out, the temperature and humidity. You can check in remotely and see how the home and the folks in it are doing. It’s also one of the few that come with a membership that can offer you a discount on your home insurance just for using the product. And, it’ll dial emergency numbers, including police, in case of an emergency. (Pricing starts at $349 for the starter kit.) For a good look at the competitors, visit Home Alarm.

Personal Emergency Tracking

Monitoring the people who live in the home is more controversial than monitoring a home. Lively Mobile is an interesting product/service because it’s a personal emergency device and tracker with a GPS and cellular built in. Wear it as a pendant, bracelet or clip on, and whenever there’s an issue (there’s even a fall detection monitor) you can immediately contact a 24 hour service that knows your location and your medical background.

The Lively company declared bankruptcy in 2015 and its assets were purchased by GreatCall. According to GreatCall, the Lively product does not use the Lively technology (just its name) but is an evolution of the company’s Splash device. For a product that costs under $40 plus a monthly service plan that begins at $19.99 a month, Lively Mobile offers an easy to use, peace of mind solution.

Photo Sharing

As for sharing memories and staying engaged in family life, while photos are no replacement for being there, they can sure help. Thanks to a new generation of cloud based, wireless, digital photo frames it’s possible to share photos without complicated wires or USB transfers.

I used the Nixplay Iris. Developed by a family living in Hong Kong that wanted to share their photos with far flung grandparents, the NixPlay gets a lot of things right. Most important, you can snap photos with your mobile phone and then use the NixPlay app to caption them and send them wirelessly to friends and family. (You can load up to 10 photos at a time.) Photos can come from your PC, smartphone, or different social apps like Dropbox, Flckr and Instagram. The photos are stored securely in the NixPlay cloud and delivered to friends’ and families’ devices.

A few nice touches? The metal finished design looks ever so much better than the first generation of plastic photo frames. A special cord acts as a stand to turn it into a landscape or portrait frame. A motion sensor detects when you walk into the room and turns the display on. And a smart dimmer adjusts the brightness of the photo to the room’s lighting. Best of all, the user can control who sees what photos from your NixPlay Web App. ($200)

For some other cutting edge gadgets and services to help aging adults, you might want to look at the winners of this year’s AARP Innovation Awards. I served as a judge for these awards, and the products will give you newfound hope that tech can help us age well.

Robin Raskin is founder of Living in Digital Times (LIDT), a team of technophiles who bring together top experts and the latest innovations that intersect lifestyle and technology. LIDT produces conferences and expos at CES and throughout the year focusing on how technology enhances every aspect of our lives through the eyes of today’s digital consumer.

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.