Old School Filofax Love

I might be a tech addict but no matter how many gadgets I have to ensure I get through each day in one piece the lure of the paper is just to much for me.

You see, I love notebooks and I love diaries. I start each year with such great intentions but never quite manage to keep up with my alter-ego organised self. I'm ultimately just a bit rubbish when it comes to things like that.

So my new squeeze is a Filofax Swift Personal Organiser. It's compact, it fits into my obligatory Cybher™ issue satchel and it's blank pages fill me with excitement and promise of everything I need to know being in one place.

Whilst I love a Filofax, I'm not overly keen on their diary inserts. The five languages on each page make it too busy for me. I either need it to be clean and zen or funky and cool but as neither of those boxes were ticked I opted for a Dodo Pad Personal Size, Filofax compatible diary refiill instead.

Much more me, with plenty of room for all of the things I need to remember, not just in my schedule but for the rest of the family too.

I added some extra note paper, a selection of Filofax Assorted Sticky Notes and took out the address pages and A-Z dividers. 

I'm not really sure why they still include them... It seems a bit needless when you have your contacts stored on your phone, but maybe that's just me?

If you have any creative ideas of how I could use them, I'm all ears.

So watch this space. Let's see if i make it to Christmas is a superly, organised way.

Disclosure : Filofax sent me the Swift Personal Organiser to review. The additional items were purchased by little old me.

How To Switch to a Custom Domain on Blogger

If you blog on blogger you'll be only too aware that Google moved all UK based .blogspot.com blogs over to .blogspot.co.uk addresses a couple of weeks ago. Unsurprisingly it's caused lots of issues including a huge drop in visitor numbers, loss of comments and posts simply not redirecting at all.

All of my personal blogs are on blogger but they all have custom URL's and as a result I haven't experienced any problems at all with the switch over.

The blogger forums are full of questions but not many answers, so one thing you could try is switching to a custom domain of your own.

I know this sounds pretty scary if you don't like to mess with the back end of your blog but since Blogger introduced the ability to buy a domain (through Go Daddy), it's actually really easy to do and you don't have to worry about messing up any coding.

Here's a step by step guide...

My blog address is currently www.sian-to.blogspot.com and I want  it to be www.londonundergroundlover.com. Here's how to make the switch.

1. Open your blogger dashboard and go to Settings.

2. In Publishing click on Add a custom domain. 

Type in the custom domain that you want to switch to.

The domains that you can buy through bloggers are limited to .com, .net, .biz, .org and .info so it's a good idea to do a search to see if yours is available before you start. You can search for available domain names here.

The domain that I want to buy is http://www.sian-to.com, it's available to I'm good to go.

3. Click Continue to registration.

4. Fill in your registration details and make sure the box for Automatically renew my registration every year is ticked.
Please do this because if you don't you will wake up a year from now with your url pointing back to Go Daddy...
I'm talking from personal experience here and it is a stress that you really can do without.

5. Click Proceed to checkout and pay.

6. On confirmation page click on Click here to retrieve your purchase. 
This will take you back to your blog Settings page and you will see that my www.sian-toblogspot.com address  is now redirecting to www.sian-to.com.

And that people is it.

Sometimes it can take up to 48 hours for the re-direct to kick into place. This one was instant as  I set up a new blog to walk you through the process.

Please note that Blogger domain registrations are limited to .com, .net, .biz, .org and .info and the registration price is $10 a year (about £8).

I had to start a new blog to walk through this step by step... so www.londonundergroundlover.com will be the new home to my Instagram tunnel fixation. I do hope you will stop by from time to time?!

Any probs give me a shout and I will endeavour to help.

UPDATE: If you've worked through this tutorial and you are getting the 'Another blog or Google Site is already using this address' error, you will find a simple fix here.

Build A Better Future With E.ON Innovation

As a large, working from home family it does concern me how much money we spend on our energy bills, so when E.ON invited me to hear about their Innovation campaign I jumped at the chance.
I spent the morning getting excited about Home of the Future, the Channel 4 show co-funded by E.ON that follows an everyday Sheffield family whose lives are transformed after their home is given a state of the art modern tech makeover.
It's really exciting to hear that some of the 'space age' gadgets incorporated into the house are only a few years away from becoming everyday reality in all our homes.
Exciting, if you're a tech geek because if you are the other way inclined I can see that it all seems a tad Buck Rogers.

So after seeing the Robot vacuum cleaner and see through toaster in action it was time to get stuck into the E.ON Innovation site.

Billed as being a creative collaboration between E.ON and the public at large, the Innovation site is a vibrant community hub, bursting with new energy saving ideas and services that really could make it to market.

Think of it as a social energy network where community members support, encourage and build on ideas.
Even at this early stage you can envisage some of the amazing crowd sourced products being used in homes across the UK.

There are prizes too and if you submit an idea that's chosen as a winner in one of the four (out of five) remaining challenges, you'll win a home energy makeover worth up to £2,000.
Judges then choose one of the five challenge winners to receive the star prize of a home energy makeover worth up to £10,000.

In addition, E.ON will develop each of the five challenge winning with the view to bringing them to market later this year. Pretty amazing stuff.

Interested? Here's how you can get involved.

Each of the challenges are linked to Home of the Future. You don't need to have seen it but you can watch it online on 4OD. (It's brilliant, addictive viewing and brimming with inspiration).

E.ON's aim is to work with the community to create some amazing new products and services that will be practical and profitable whilst making a real difference to the future of energy.

There are three ways to get involved.

If you've had a lightbulb moment of your own you can submit an idea. It can be big or small.

Think small acorns and let the community help your idea to establish and grow.

You can comment and help to develop other people's ideas and you can vote for the ideas that you like the best.

It's about the community working together for a better future but if you have an amazing idea that you'd rather not share publicly due to it being the next best thing to sliced bread, then there is the ability to submit via a closed route.

Get your ideas in before 9th April and the winning ideas will be announced by 25th June 2012.

In the next couple of weeks I'm having an E.ON Smart Energy meter fitted. I'm pretty excited about this (I know I need to get out more) because my children are rubbish at switching off lights and TV's when they leave a room.

With the help of the Smart Meter I'm going to challenge them to save energy. It isn't going to be easy but we will chart our journey and treat ourselves with the money that we manage to save.

Wish us luck!

Mummy-Tips Ultimate Christmas Song

I'm a bit bah humbug about Christmas to be honest - but I was tagged by Claire in the Ultimate Christmas Song Meme that is doing the rounds and if I was forced to choose one song it would be Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas. 

I feel that I should point out that I'm a Smiths fan NOT a Mariah fan but I am partial to Love Actually. Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Enjoy!

I'm tagging Ryan, Big Fashionista and Claire (it may make her blog)!

Update...
Fellow Smiths fan Dawnie Brown tweeted that she was disappointed I didn't go for a Smiths tune and she's right. Despite Moz being as much of a Bah Humbug as me, if its good enough for John Lewis then it's good enough for me - here's what it should sound like!
Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want from my favourite Smiths album, Hatful of Hollow.
Dawnie - I'm tagging you too!

Awesome New Xbox Features and the chance to win £200!

I get to do some pretty cool things because of my blog and without a shadow of a doubt the best thing in the world (according to my children) is that I'm an Xbox Ambassador.

Much to the annoyance of said children, last week I went for a sneak peek, pre launch demo of the new Xbox 360 dashboard features and to a slightly off the wall Twin Peaks style soiree with interesting entertainment!

I got a new dress to celebrate the update!

Fun and games aside the new voice controlled Xbox feature is awesome. Its everything that Siri should should have been and most importantly it works. 

No more arguments and endless searching for the remote because you can control all of your content, games, music, movies and sports by simply using your voice.

Other features in the update include integration with leading entertainment providers including Sky, Love Film and 4od, allowing you to enjoy movies and TV content right on your Xbox and the brilliant Bing search functionality.

I'm so impressed with the voice controls that I haven't even considered asking it any of the idiotic things that I continue to taunt Siri with on a daily basis. Which is odd.

I've got lots of fresh Xbox content for you over the next few weeks along with offers and treats for fellow geeks starting with the chance to win £200 in Amazon vouchers.

The survey is now closed.

Do you like my new dress?!

Mummy-Tips Gift Guide Part 2 - Geeks

Part 2 of my Christmas Gift Guide - The Geek Edition!

1.  Lego VW Camper Van,  £79.99 from Lego

Yeah, I know this is a grown up guide but who doesn't love Lego? If Santa popped this in my stocking I'd be one happy girl on Christmas day. There might not be a Christmas dinner but I figure I could do without the calories anyway.

2.  Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera, £229.99 from Firebox.com

I am loving this modern twist to the classic Polaroid camera. Its a bit pricey but what can I say? I love cameras!

3.  MiFi from Three, available on contract and pay as you go from Three

I never leave home without mine. It is quite simply one of the best tech gadgets out there and way worth the subscription. You can connect five devices at once so no one needs to be offline. 

I used mine to order a Tesco home delivery from the car on our way home from a two week holiday in Thailand. I ordered my weekly shop and it arrived an hour after we got home. Thats how handy it is.

4.  Xbox 360 with Kinect, £229 from Asda.com (4GB console with Kinect Adventures)

If you thought Xbox was just for teenage boys and hardcore gamers you are way off the mark. Xbox is the best family console on the market (and I've owned them all). 

As well as playing all of your favourite games Xbox has some pretty cool new features that turn it into the ultimate media hub. 

Facebook, Twitter, 4 On Demand, Love Film, You Tube and Video Kinect. You can say adios to searching for the remote because you are the controller. Play, rewind, pause and watch. You tell your Xbox what you want to do and it does it.... and unlike Siri it actually does!

Disclosure: I am an Xbox Family Ambassador but I already owned an Xbox and only became an ambassador after begging them at length to have me.

5.  Fruit Ninja on Xbox Kinect, 800 points from the Xbox marketplace

If you've enjoyed Fruit Ninjas on your phone or iPad you will love this Xbox Kinect version. Beware though - you won't be able to move the next day as you use muscles that you didn't even know existed!

6.  Philips Fidelio DS3500 iPad Dock. £119.97 from Tesco.com

I searched high and low for an iPad speaker dock last Christmas but they hadn't made it to market. This year there are loads of them around. Biba has a Philips Fidelio dock for her iPod Touch and the sound is great - well it was till the cat chewed through the charger wire but that's another blog post all together.

7.  Micro Samsonite Scooter, £250 from Micro Scooter

How awesome is this? It gives me visions of carefree scooting around an airport instead of being laden down by my computer bag. I would LOVE one of these!

iPhone Camera Essentials Launch

Since falling for my iPhone camera, my much loved Canon SLR has pretty much been left gathering dust. I  can't even remember the last time I took it out of the bag. 

Sad yes but I am so in love with my always present iPhone cam and all the amazing pics that I've taken with it, that lugging that extra device around just doesn't really do it for me.

When putting together the sessions and speakers for next years Cybher I really, really wanted some great iPhoneography content and with The Beginners Lens I know that I've found it.

If you have an iPhone and you love taking pics head over to their site NOW, because they've just launched the BETA version of iPhoneCameraEssentials.com and you can get a FREE subscription using this coupon code 1YFSUBS. Only the first 200 sign ups can use the code so get to it now... or wait till Cybher to meet the team yourself.

You can find The Beginners Lens on Twitter @TheBeginnersL, Facebook, You Tube and on my beloved Instagram and in an ode to geek I have to admit that I found these guys after liking one of the pics they'd posted on Instagram. I like that!

Simply Tap - Shopping in an Instant Competition

Its no secret that I'm an app geek and when I came across the fab Simply Tap this week I couldn't wait to share it.

Simply Tap is a new instant mobile checkout available on both iPhone and Android. It allows you to pay for things in seconds when you see something you like in magazines, out and about, online and in store. 

Its the sort of app that makes your life so much easier. Simply Tap offers you a secure way of paying for things through your mobile without having to enter card details, your address, your 4 digit pin and password and many other cryptic questions every time you use it. 

Essentially, you see what you want, simply enter the Tap Code into the app, and you've paid in an instant. You can find out more information on their Facebook page facebook.com/SimplyTap

The have some amazing offers to support their launch including these £15 boxes of Thorntons chocolates for just £5 and an eighty piece chocolate box for £26.99. You can check out all of their latest offers on their Facebook page.

You can download the app by searching for Simply Tap in the App Store.

To celebrate the launch Simply Tap have given me 10, yes 10 boxes of yummy Thornton's chocolates worth £15 each to give away to you lovely people. 

Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below and good luck.

Big Brother is Watching You...

It's true! And in a shocking turn of events, this time Big Brother turns out to be none other than the pint sized pop diva Lady Ga Ga.

For she has taken on and effectively gagged Hoxton based Mind Candy, creators of the globally successful Moshi Monsters from 'promoting, advertising, selling, distributing or otherwise making available to the public any musical work or video which purports to be performed by a character by the name of Lady Goo Goo, or which otherwise uses the name Lady Goo Goo or any variant thereon.'

If your children aren't into Moshi Monsters, you probably won't have a clue what I'm talking about but as the parent of three hardcore 'Moshettes' this story is nothing short of a scandal.

Gaga's lawyers claimed that children might not be able to tell GooGoo from Gaga. Yes seriously.

On the left we have Moshling Lady GooGoo, a dummy toting, nappy wearing inhabitant of the Moshi Monsters world. On the right we have Lady GaGa, a pop star who makes headlines by wearing dresses made from meat and recently announced that her alter ego is a panda.

Yep.... easy to see how my daughters might get them mixed up.

The success of Moshi Monsters should be applauded not dragged through the mud in this way. Their site is educational, safe and fun. It brings my children together as they work through puzzles and missions to gain access to new and exciting Moshlings. Together as a team, no other game they play does that.

At the risk of confusing you parents too I feel that I should point out that the video clip below is of the Moshling Lady GooGoo singing the offending Moshi Dance that sparked the controversy and has nothing at all to do with the American singer Lady GaGa. OK?

My girls meeting the REAL McNaulty (and his mummy).

Watch out Moshi Monsters - if Lady GaGa's alter ego is a Panda, perhaps Shishi's next on her list!

Top of my girls Christmas list is the new Moshi Monsters Moshling Zoo game for Nintendo DS. out on 11/11/11, you can pre order your copy from amazon now!

We shall not be deterred. Moshi Monsters rocks!

Name Change Alert!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I'm giving my blog a major makeover and today saw me move that little bit closer with a new Twitter name...

@mummytips has gone and I'll be tweeting at @geekisnewchic.

How To : Get the New Facebook Profile

You must have been hiding under a bush for the last week if you haven't heard about the new major Facebook update. Most of the  talk is pretty negative but I have to say that I absolutely LOVE the new look and usability. Finally your Facebook profile looks like a real page rather than an outfit that was thrown together in the dark. 

The update will be rolling out from next weekend but if you're keen to get ahead of the game, here's how.

Difficulty rating : Easy
Time : 10 minutes

Step 1
Log into your Facebook account.

Step 2
Go to the Facebook Apps Developer page.

Hit allow to confirm permission.

Step 3
After confirming permission you land on the Apps page (below).

Top right corner - click 'Create new App'.

Step 4

Name your new app.

It doesn't matter what name or namespace you give to your app but the namespace does need to be at least 7 letters.

Hit continue.

Pass the security check by filling in the Captcha.

If you haven't already confirmed your Facebook account you will be asked to do so now. If your account is already verified tick 'I agree to the Platform Privacy Policy' and move on to Step 5.

You can confirm with your mobile number or with a credit card.

If using your mobile, put in your number and wait for the confirmation code to arrive by text.

Put in the code and confirm.

Step 5

Once verified you get this screen.

Click 'Open Graph'.

Step 6

You have landed on 'Open Graph: Getting Started'.

You need to define an action here but it can be anything. Here's an example you can use. 

In 'People Can' box write 'Read' and in the second box write 'book'.

Hit 'Get started'.

Step 7

Page 'Open Graph; Action Type: Read'

No info to add to this page. Scroll to the bottom and hit 'Save changes and next'.

Step 8

Page 'Open Graph; Object Type; Book'

No info to add to this page. Scroll to the bottom and hit 'Save changes and next'.

Step 9

Page 'Open Graph; Aggregation

Scroll down and hit 'Save'.

Step 10

Takes you to the following page.

Wait a few minutes for the changes to take effect. 

Step 11

Go to your Facebook Profile Page. 'Introducing; Your New Profile'

Hit 'Get it Now'.

Choose 'Take tour' to see your new profile in action or hit 'Publish Now'.

And here's how mine looks...

Have a go and if you get stuck give me a shout.

Please do come back and share a link you your snazzy new page in the comments.