While printing photos of my baby with my preschooler, I learned that the HP compact photo printer is even better than I thought it was. Leave it unattended (and turned on) for a few minutes, and it functions as a digital picture frame, displaying pictures from your camera card and changing the display every few minutes. What a great function.
Awesome. Read more reviews of the HP compact photo printer over at the Parent Bloggers Network.
This. is. the. coolest. new. toy.
When Parent Bloggers Network sent me the HP Photosmart A626 Compact Printer, I thought there had been some mistake. This blog reviews books, toddler toys, and PBS kids’ shows. That kind of thing. Small things. But a photo printer? And photo books to go with it? Awesome.
I didn’t have very high expectations, I have to admit. We bought one of the early photo printers when we moved to D.C. and got real jobs a few years ago, but we didn’t have much luck with it. Each picture took several minutes to print, the ink ran, and the archival quality of the photos was … nil, making it useless for scrapbooking, etc. But this printer? A whole new generation, baby!
The HP Compact Printer was ready-to-go, right out of the box. My three-year-old and I opened the box, plugged it in, and immediately started playing with it. Oh, sure, we should have read the directions, but we really didn’t need to. We admired the sleek black box and began immediately to open it up like a Transformer. The screen popped up, the back opened slightly so the photo paper could slide in, and the front door opened up to reveal four slots for camera cards and the exit slot for the printed photo. There are no extra parts to attach or lose, and the design is simplicity itself.
We popped the camera memory card in the slot and began to play.
Almost immediately, the screen showed us the last 4 pictures taken. Widget (my three-year-old) figured out how to scroll back and forth using the touch screen and the arrows. The screen is big enough to get a good idea of which photo is which and clear enough to detect details like whether his hands were over his face or his brother was looking at or away from the camera. Real details would have to wait for the print or be prescreened on the computer, but this was good enough to determine which photos were worth printing. When we found one we liked, a quick touch of the screen enlarged it to full size and another selected it for printing.
Printing couldn’t be easier. We just slid a piece of photo paper in the back, touched the print icon, and it began to print, quickly and quietly. Photo paper is inexpensive; the ink will be the largest recurring cost, I think.
HP also sent us two photobooks to try out. The small one (4×6) was easy to use … we just printed pictures normally, then attached the photo book around them. Easy, peasy, couldn’t be better. I used mine to make a photobook to throw in my bag and take to chemo each week, but it would be a great gift idea too!
In short, this is a product I didn’t know I needed but I really really like. It’s simple and easy to select and print out photos for the grandparents on the spot. Kids love to use it and it seems to be goof-proof enough to let them help. And best of all, I’ve even had better luck taking pictures of my camera-shy little boy by promising him that he could help print one out afterwards! Easy and fun. HP has changed my mind on at-home photo printers.
HP is running a sale this week on photobooks (20% off at this link) and printers at retailers nationwide.
Thinking about getting cards for BlogHer? Haven’t decided where to go or how to fit it into your busy schedule? I recommend VistaPrint, the online shop that makes it easy — really easy — to make business cards, letterhead, and more.
VistaPrint has hundreds of designs, including a good selection to use on personal (non-business) cards. I’ve used them for my own business for a the last two years, and I ordered my cards for BlogHer there too. 250 cards for $3.99 plus shipping. Now, the shipping can run you — but check out all the other free offers while you’re there; maybe you want to try their postcards, notecards, letterhead, or something else — they run special offers all the time for limited quantities of these products, so that you’ll try it and come back for more.
Here are some current specials:
VistaPrint is a high-quality, quick-turnaround printer that I would definitely recommend.
And my cards? My cards look great!
Light Iris: A Parent-Focused Search Engine
I have a new favorite search engine. Not for work. Not for hobbies. But for the most important area of my life, parenting.
A new website has sprung up that is truly a useful tool. Light Iris uses Google technology and a tight filter to return just the most useful results to parenting queries. Need information about a child’s cough at 2 a.m.? Looking for other moms dealing with teething? How about a wealth of information on kids and milk allergies? It’s all here.
Light Iris uses powerful search techniques, a clean look, and a focus on utility to present the best of the web for parents. Since I heard about the site, I’ve been using it pretty regularly — and loving it. Thanks, Light Iris, for helping me save time and energy by weeding through the results and showing me just the ones from trusted parenting sites. It’s most appreciated … especially at 2 a.m.
Want more opinions? Check out other posts about Light Iris at Parent Bloggers Network – or just “Light Iris” them! (Does that sound funny to you? Remember when “Google” was just a noun? Light Iris may just be the wave of the future….)
I’ll be back here again on Friday, June 8, for the blog blast, sponsored by PBN and Light Iris! Check it out — they’re giving away a free registration for BLOGHER!
Parent Blogger Network Review: Cozi Central
Cozi Central is an online scheduling system created just for families. It has easy-to-use features like one-line data entry for upcoming appointments or recurring events, multi-computer accessibility, and just enough gadgetry to get the whole family interested. I’ve been using it for a little while now, and so far it’s been working out great for us.
My husband and I both enter appointments, plans, and playdates into the system. When we log on, we can view the daily, weekly, or monthly calendar, whatever works best for each of us. For years, we’ve used Outlook, but Cozi appears to be a good substitute now that I’m not going into the office and using Outlook every day. It works very much the same, with the exception of three outstanding features.
The first is the entry system. New appointments are entered using one line of text and simple language. My husband actually uses one jargon and I use another, and the system interprets both to put the events on the calendar.
The second is the zoom feature. A simple sliding bar at the bottom of the screen allows the user to zoom the calendar from monthly to daily — or any increment in between. That’s a nice way to get an overview of the week’s activities (for example) and then zoom in on the day’s events to see what time playdate is, or if Dad can join us at the aquarium in the late afternoon.
The third feature is arguably the most important for families. On every view, the event is color coded with a simple colorbar for each family member. Since “Widget’s playdate” is color coded green (for him) and yellow (for me), Dad knows that he can head out to the grocery store on Saturday morning, with or without the baby (since he can go with either of us). On the other hand, Sunday’s “family picnic” shows all four colorbars, and we’ll all be going to that. It’s easy to see at a glance who’s going to be where at any given time.
There is also a grocery shopping list feature, which would be very useful if we used anything other than scraps of paper with jotted items on it at the grocery store. Maybe we’ll use that feature more as we get more organized….
This review is my second for the Parent Blogger Network; I received a (very) small honorarium for agreeing to review this product.
This post was originally published at Toddler Planet, http://toddlerplanet.wordpress.com, on April 12, 2007.
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