November 5, 2010 | in:
geeky,
tech savvy mama
Over the last few years I’ve found myself using Facebook more and more…like so many of you. At first I used it just like Classmates or Friendster (remember those?). I created a superficial profile of what was going on in my world so that old friends from schools and jobs could catch up on my life in 2 secs and I could check out what they were doing (you had to give it up on those sites to catch a peek of others). And then the whole world joined Facebook. And now we use it for everything, in place of email, in place of photo sharing sites, in place of calling our own parents and siblings and children sometimes.
And I’ve never separated my personal and “professional” A Parent in Silver Spring persona on Facebook. It seemed too confusing, since I know IRL so many of you guys. And while I’m fine telling 1,000 people that I’m pregnant and what my kids dressed up as for Halloween, I know that somewhere in there I need to have boundaries. I need to think more about online safety from the crazies – both the people and the viruses.
So I’m going to check out this new Facebook app from BitDefender. called safego. And you can too! It’s currently in beta testing, but you can check it out right along with me. BitDefender is inviting us to be a part of this new product by sharing our opinions during this final testing phase. Direct feedback will be used by the company to make final tweaks.
Here’s some official info:
BitDefender‘s safego is designed to curb threats to personal privacy, spam attacks, and malware distribution campaigns that have been found to occur through this popular social networking platform.
How does it work?
Installing safego provides:
- Privacy protection- You’ll be warned when you should modify your Facebook privacy settings so that personal information isn’t exposed.
- Automatic scanning- Just press the “scan now” button to get a snapshot of your Facebook security status.
- 24/7 protection- Your account is protected even when you’re not logged into Facebook.
- Protection for your friends- You’ll have the ability to warn your friends about infected links in their Facebook accounts.
Here’s how we test out the product:
For more information about keeping yourself and your family safe online, visit BitMoms.com, a community dedicated to providing free resources and a place for parents to seek advice about keeping children safe on the internet.
I am sharing this information as a BitMom Blog Network Member. No compensation was received for this post, however, I do receive a stipend to attend a blogging conference of my choice…that I haven’t yet used.
Mom blog giveaways of gift cards, gift certificates and free products rock, right? That’s why every time you leave a comment on a post on A Parent in Silver Spring, you’re entered to win. (Dude, that sounded so commercial-y! Can you tell I’ve been letting the kids watch more TV since they’ve been let out of school? Yikes.)
Thanks so much for all your comments in May – there were officially over 200 entries for the May giveaway of a $50 Mastercard Gift Card to be used where ever Mastercard is accepted.
And the May winner was…
Shawn M. J. !
For the month of June, there will be THREE winners and the giveaway is not just one product, but two:
Three lucky commenters will win Bitdefender‘s award-winning internet security software for 2010, and when the 2011 version is out, you’ll receive a code for next year too! Why this giveaway is so freaking cool: The software costs about $40 a year for 1 PC, and Bitdefender protects your PC from viruses and spyware, and allows you to install firewalls and parental controls, without slowing down your computer.
I’m a writer, and not super techno-savvy (I leave THAT to my good friend Tech Savvy Mama Leticia, who is in fact the Chief BitMom for Bitdefender and dedicated to teaching parents online about important Internet security issues pertaining to parents). But here’s my non-tech-savvy review of Bitdefender’s software: I found that after installing McAfee on my new laptop, my Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers constantly timed out. And you know how much time I spend online. This was so annoying! My screen usually went to that light-colored-frozen-frustration when I was on live chat with my boss or answering an important work email via webmail. McAfee was really cramping my professional style and wasting my time as I tried to bust out my work assignments so I can have more quality time with my kids.
But I didn’t want my brand new baby (the Dell Inspiron with all the bells and whistles in APISS apple green that Chris got me for my birthday – thanks babe!) to get fried by some gnarly virus or for it to become super-slow as some crook somewhere received info on every key stroke or purchase I made at his diabolical lair. Every computer needs an Internet security system.
So I uninstalled McAfee (completely trashing the $50 yearly service I’d already paid for, nice) and installed the free copy of Bitdefender 2010 I received at MomzShare‘s Silver Spring Soiree. Since then my Internet has not been timing out, is running as fast as when it was naked of Internet security and I have been free of viruses, spyware and other yuck-o stuff. I will also be installing it on the desktop my children use to play educational games (and someday will use for homework) with the parental controls enabled.
In short, Bitdefender provides for your PC
- Antivirus & Antispyware
- Identity Protection
- Firewalls
- Antispam
- Parental Control
- Optimized Performance
And this month, you will be entered to win your own Bitdefender 2010 and 2011 software every time you
So please leave comments, comments, comments galore! Write what you like, what you don’t, what you think needs to be changed, events that are happening in your community, your own great finds…whatever!
Disclosure: Yup, I received my Bitdefender software for free, but I also dumped $50 worth of McAfee. My opinion expressed is totally my own. I mean, have you ever heard me so excited about software that didn’t involve playing Scrabble?
Do you have a business you’d like to promote through giving a gift to gracious A Parent in Silver Spring readers? As long as it is 100% free for readers and is worth at least $50, let’s give it away to the readers of my site, they are the best. Send me a line!
If you have never been to Taste of Wheaton before but like sampling ethnic food without the highbrow prices of other street fair tasting events, Taste of Wheaton is for you!
At Taste of Wheaton you can stall-hop and get a sample of dim sum, fried chicken, a pupusa covered with cabbage slaw, slice of pizza, a doughnut, along with an ice cream novelty and your chicken satay skewer for a dollar a taste. You can absolutely find something for every eater in your family at Taste of Wheaton without spending much more than $20 for a family of 4.
Here’s how our family usually fills up at Taste of Wheaton:
- Me- Lemongrass pork skewer from Saigonese, Singapore noodles, and a pupusa from Irene’s Pupusas
- Tech Savvy Daddy- pad Thai from Suporn, something Burmese from Peacock, pupusa, and unfortunately no beef rendang from the now closed Sabang,
- Little Miss Techie- As many cha siu bows (roast pork buns) from Hollywood East as she can eat (usually 3)
- Captain Computer- In the past, Captain Computer has just lived off of everyone else’s eats. Now at nearly three years old, he’s an eating machine and would like to find some hot and sour soup, beef meatballs, and noodles.
If you were counting, you noticed that our whole family ate $13 worth of food. Add in some drinks and an extra ice cream for Captain Computer and our total will still be right around $20. All food items are $1-$5 per “taste” unless otherwise stated.
This year, the Taste of Wheaton adds a unique touch to the event by presenting an Ethnic Food and Wine Tasting Pavilion consisting of three tasting tables from three regions of the world: Latin America, Asia and Europe. Bravo’s ‘Top Chef: New York’ finalist Carla Hall will create a d
ish to be featured at the European tasting table.
The Ethnic Food & Wine Tasting, hosted by GiraMondo Wine Adventures, will take place from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm. Tickets ($15 per tasting table) will be sold in advance to the general public, and limited spots will also be available on the day of the event. You must be over 21 and present a valid ID to participate. For more information on the food and wine tasting and to purchase tickets, click here.
Plus there’s free entertainment. There will be performances by:
WAMMIE winners Billy Coulter Band and Rumba Club
Urban Artistry
Wheaton Studio of Dance
LC Dreamers
SNAP!
While you are at Taste of Wheaton, don’t miss burning some calories on the moon bounces, stocking up on magnets and clips while you gather important information on various county services, and the mobile Montgomery County Humane Society adopt-a-pet van. Other kids’ attractions include carnival rides and the popular video game Rock Band!
Ok, now I’m hungry. See you on Sunday!
Taste of Wheaton
Downtown Wheaton at the intersection of Grandview and Ennalls Avenues
Wheaton, MD 20902
Sunday, May 17
11- 5 pm
Adapted from Tech Savvy’s Mama Leticia’s informative post on Taste of Wheaton last year. When Leticia isn’t planning her eating strategy, she’s educating parents about technology issues for children and finding the highest quality software, websites, and other technology products for children at Tech Savvy Mama as well as writing about events and resources for DC area families at Being Savvy Washington and musing about parenting at DC Metro Moms.
Photos in this post are from Flickr’s Creative Commons pool, courtesy d_flat (skewers on grill), islander (pupusas) and ecstatisist-tcob (char sui bows)
February 8, 2009 | in:
giveaways,
tech savvy mama
Thanks to everyone that entered the APISS Disney On Ice contest. The lucky winner was Kirstin G., randomly drawn from the comments, Tweets and Facebook wall posts submitted.
But there’s still a chance for 4 more free tickets: Tech Savvy Mama Leticia is giving away tickets for another lucky family on Being Savvy DC! Leave comments on both of her websites, write a blog post about your favorite Disney memory or post on Twitter @techsavvymama for multiple ways to win.
The kids and I will be seeing the show this week, and I’ll be posting our review. If you’d like to secure your tickets now, visit Disney on Ice online and Ticketmaster.com for more information.
Good luck!
As we prepare to blow this pop stand for BlogHer, local resource expert Leticia from Being Savvy DC & Tech Savvy Mama and I collaborated on this list of family friendly getaways for summer and throughout the year:
Overnights we love:
Day trips we love:
Be sure to visit Leticia’s Being Savvy DC site for the latest and greatest in the DC area!
