A friend of mine was at odds with her husband about getting MP3 players for their kids (5- and 3-years-old). The whole family loves music and Mom wanted to encourage their passion by downloading their personal favorites. That way, everyone could listen to their own separate music collections. Dad, though, was adamantly opposed to his young children wearing headphones for fear of early damage to their delicate eardrums. (OK, he has a point).

I think I might have a solution. It’s called the Audiowrapz by ifrogz, an accessory for the iPod Nano. It retails for $15.00 online, and comes in many awesome colors. The protective rubber skin has speakers attached at the bottom of the front panel. Somehow, without draining the iPod’s battery, it uses passive speaker technology to play the music. The sound doesn’t get extremely loud, but the sound quality is pretty great and it’s a safe sound system for kids to use without headphones.

If mom or dad doesn’t mind possible ear damage, there is a hole for a headphone jack at the bottom of the Audiowrapz. If you’re looking for headphones made just for kids, the Airdrives and Sony MDR-222KD are my favorites. They’re made for tiny ears and don’t reach high disciples in turn protecting the eardrum. Rock on!

Last week I was on vacation! On my way to San Diego, I kept thinking about how ecstatic I was to just “unplug” from the outside world.

Well, I sure got what I asked for. Right when I got there, I lost my cell phone. I headed online to try and connect with people and the net connection in my rental died! The whole week I had this mixed feeling of anxiety and total relaxation. It was a different/great mix of lack of connection, surplus of good weather, and Jack time.

Jack and I went to Sea World, The Wild Animal Park, the Mission Beach coaster, and were pretty much planted at the beach the rest of the time. Of course, it was too short and felt strange to be out of touch, but overall I think it was good for me. Plus, it made me really happy to get back to work! Strange how things work out, huh? Here are a few pix.

It is the middle of summer, and this is a HOT one! I don’t know about you, but I am doing everything I can to keep myself cool. Here are a few things that are helping me to beat the heat during this extra hot season.

I love the Sharper Image Personal Cooling System. This funky collar device runs on one AA battery and needs about two oz. of water to operate. Turn it on and the motorized fan and cooling plates lower your core body temperature for up to four hours!

Another easy and portable gadget is the handheld Personal Mini-Fan. What I love most about this one is that it can fit in my purse so I can carry it with me everywhere! It is so easy to use, even my son Jack uses it to keep himself cool.

Speaking of Jack, I not only want to keep him cool, but also want to keep him from getting sunburned. There is this awesome gadget called the UV Monitor from Oregon Scientific. You just tell the device what type of skin you have, what type of sunscreen you’ve applied, and hit start. The gadget will beep when it is time for you to take cover or re-apply!

My all-time favorite summer “cooling item” is the Electronic Radio/MP3 Player 36 Quart Cooler! It not only has a radio with built-in speakers, but also an MP3 and headphone jack. I can haul cold beverages and snacks to the beach or the park, and with only four C batteries to power the radio and one AA battery to run the clock, I have a traveling party!

I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and remember to STAY COOL!

My Video: How to Sell Gadgets on eBay. Everyone’s talking about refurbished gadgets now-a-days and what better place to find them than eBay. Here’s a step-by-step video that I put together. Check it out…

I hear a lot of people are currently buying refurbished items. Here are a few tips on why buying pre-owned electronics and gadgets is a great investment:

1. Find used gadgets and toys in time for back-to-school season: Use search terms such as “refurbished,” “pre-owned” or “used.” You can find great deals on items like first-generation iPhones, MP3 players, HDTVs, laptops and digital cameras.

2. Read the full description: Be knowledgeable about the item you’re about to purchase. Read reviews online, compare pricing and gather product details. Any questions? You should always contact the seller to fill in the blanks.

3. Search for “lots” of toys or items for children. When parents get rid of everything from one stage in their child’s life, they tend to sell the items in lots. You can often score more than 50 products at a time that are perfect for your child and priced for pennies on the dollar.

I’ve been really into adding videos to my iPhone lately. Recently, I loaded up “Swingers” for my latest plane ride. Then I thought about it: do I want to hold my iPhone for two hours while trying to relax and watch a movie? Well, no.

So, before leaving for the trip, I dug through my room-of-gadgets and came across this rad device. It’s called the MicroPack Portable iPod Dock. Not only does this device hold up your iPod or iPhone at a nice viewing angle, but it acts as a battery charger. It also has a spot for two sets of headphones to tune in. Best of all, it’s small and slim so it can easily fit into any carry-on. I’m never leaving for a long trip without it!

I’ve been getting this question a lot, so I’m thinking some of you may want a little explanation. Twitter all comes down to being a tad voyeuristic. The site allows outsiders to catch a glimpse of what people are doing. We’re all generally interested in what others are up to hence the ever popular “What up?” Check out this video to learn more about the site: www.commoncraft.com/Twitter.

Once logged on you can look at entries posted by people you’ve chosen to “follow.” Each “twitter” consists of one or two sentences, there’s a 140 character limit, and the posts are strangely addictive to read through. People talk about all kinds of personal and interesting things about what’s going on. The information ranges from random thoughts, what people are looking at, how they’re feeling, and what they’ve overheard.

So how does it work? You sign up for an account and can post twits from the Web or text twitter updates from your cell phone. Then search for the names of people you want to follow and add them to your feed to read. They don’t have to approve you, unless they set it up that way, but most don’t. It can be tedious, but if you care about someone and feel like escaping your life for a quick sec, check it out. I have to admit, it is kind of a cool feeling when you see the number of people following you rise, so follow me! twitter.com/Catastr0phik.

A couple of weeks ago I was in San Francisco for the BlogHer convention. The event was quite interesting for many reasons. When I first arrived, I couldn’t help but be slightly annoyed by the wild women in the lobby of

the hotel. They gave ecstatic high-fives to each other with one hand while drinking wine with the other. “Who are these women and why are they acting so excited?,” I wondered to myself. Then, sure enough, one hour after I checked in I found myself in the hotel lobby, blowing kisses to the other women bloggers attending BlogHer the next day.

During the convention, I learned about different blogging platforms, techniques, and marketing statistics. Best of all, I was constantly in awe of the ladies I met. Each one had amazing blog topics, pretty unique URLs, and each was actually making cash. Overall, it was an amazing experience! You can check out more about it here: www.blogher.com.

I HAVE to tell you about the gadget that made me a family hero this weekend! I was given a wireless weather forecaster as a gift over the holidays, and it is the one gift that keeps on giving.

The wireless weather forecaster is about the size of a CD case and I keep it next to my nightstand. It receives a continuous radio signal to maintain current weather, time, and date with precision. It also shows me an icon so I can see if it will be sunny, cloudy, or rainy with just a quick glance. It even updates automatically for Daylight Savings Time! It is so convenient and so easy to use and only runs on two AA batteries.

Being a mom that prides herself on being fully prepared, I must confess that I am compelled to check it every night before I go to sleep and each morning right after I wake up. It helps me to feel confident that I’m sending my son off into the world each day dressed appropriately and prepared for whatever the weather brings that day.

This past Saturday, my family attended a wedding in the early evening. As we were leaving our house, I noticed that the weather forecaster predicted rainstorms for the night so I grabbed jackets and umbrellas for all of us. My friend teased me the entire way to the wedding about how it was crazy to need jackets in July in LA.

However, at the end of the party, as we started our very long trek back to the car, we saw an AWESOME flash of light and HUGE raindrops started pouring out of the sky! I pulled out the jackets and umbrellas I had packed. It turns out we were the only ones not soaked by the time we reached our car. I was a family hero and I owe it all to the fabulous wireless forecaster!

I scored my new iPhone last weekend and immediately downloaded the new eBay application. The speed in which the application downloaded was quite impressive. Plus, the process is smooth and streamlined, which is what all of us eBay addicts really care about.

At the top of the screen, there’s a big search box. Underneath the search box, you can see your profile picture and big buttons showing your stats for each listing. At one glance of the home screen you can see what you’re watching, winning, won, were outbid on, selling, and sold.

eBay on the iPhone lets you make those quick on the draw decisions with the freedom of mobility that will once again make you the winner!! Well done, eBay.