10 Apps & Websites We’re Thankful For in 2016

Ever find that one app that's as good as your morning coffee or you can't live without when the battery on your phone dies?

Here at DijiWise headquarters, it's plain and simple. We love apps.

Especially the ones that save us time, make life easy, are inventive, or that our kids can't get enough of. We love that technology connects, entertains, teaches and protects.

Keeping the DijiWise holiday tradition going, here's our top 10 list of apps and websites we're thankful for.

Calm - The perfect app for when you just “need a moment.” Whether you need to pause, regroup, or clear your head, this simple mindfulness meditation app will help bring clarity and peace of mind into your life. Calm is the perfect gift for yourself if you want to add a little sanity to the holiday season.

Vivino - Touting themselves as the world’s largest wine app, Vivino is also the world’s largest online community of wine enthusiasts. Snap a photo of any wine label to save to your personal wine journal. Learn it’s rating, average price and get reviews from other wine-lovers, instantly. Scan any restaurant wine list and let Vivino pick the perfect pairing for your meal.

Source: giftameal.com

GiftAMeal -  Ever post a pic of food? Then this is the app for you. GiftAMeal is a fast-growing startup that helps fight hunger and feeds others when you dine out. It’s as simple as that - and at zero cost to you. We discovered this app on a table tent at Applebee’s. In fact, we downloaded it and helped make a meal possible for another person before leaving our table. Each time you eat at a partner restaurant and share a pic of your meal through the app, GiftAMeal helps provide a meal to a person in need through local food pantries. You can also recommend the partner restaurant and discover other “socially conscious” restaurants for when you go out to eat. As of May 2016, GiftAMeal has donated 3,000 meals in participating cities. When good food with good company helps a good cause - it’s hard not to use this app. Watch for it in your city.

Houzz - To create the home you’ve always wanted, look no further than Houzz. Discover design ideas, find local contractors to do the work, and shop for home accessories right from the convenience of the app or website. Save ideas you search for to reference later.  Get advice, connect with designers, and hear stories about home improvement projects similar to your own.

Waze -  The world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app. More than just a GPS, Waze allows you to connect with other drivers to get up to the minute, real-time traffic reports to help you save time on your daily commute or while on a holiday road-trip.

MyFitnessPal -  Counting calories and logging fitness activities during the holidays may not be your #1 priority, but if you want to stay on track, MyFitnessPal can help you do it. It’s Under Armour’s “ConnectedFitness” app, and connects to fitness wearables like FitBit or Garmin to help you achieve your personal health and fitness goals.

DijiWise - Having peace of mind and knowing your kids are showing responsibility when using social media doesn’t get any easier than with the DijiWise app. For full disclosure, it’s an app we brought to market. It helps parents stay connected to their kids by delivering social media activity in one, simple app, while encouraging conversations about digital responsibility. A few things make it stand out. DijiWise is reliable and real-time, and is one of the few apps out there that makes this possible for parents. It saves them an enormous amount of time that would be otherwise spent hopping site to site to see their kids’ social media activity. The app encourages families to start a conversation about everyday things as schedules get busier and tech changes how - and how often - we communicate. We’re thankful for how the app has sparked valuable and interesting conversations between parents, friends, teens, parenting groups, experts and more. You can follow DijiWise on social media for its popular conversation starter series, DijiTalk, which provides parents with weekly topics about social media, digital responsibility, everyday life, interests and more to chat about with their kids.

ABCYa - If there’s ever been an educational app to be thankful for, this is it. ABCYa isn’t for you, it’s for your kids (who may already be using the website or app at school). It comes highly recommended by teachers. In just one day in our house, ABCYa quickly surpassed Subway Surfer, YouTube and others as the app of choice by kids (second only to Netflix). ABCYa features learning games for kids Pre-K to 5th grade and has 6 free games each week that are great for the computer, smartphones or tablets. You can also subscribe to unlock more than 100 games categorized by grade level. Once you introduce it to a kid, you’ll find that even you bend the rules when it comes screen time.

6pm - Two words: Shopping deals. The 6pm website and crisp, clean app offer sale prices on brand name apparel that are hard to pass up. Having the app on your phone makes it easy to do a quick price or style comparison when you’re shopping in-store or online. 6pm offers free shipping when you order two or more items, and makes it easy to find fashion for less for men, women and kids. The deals change often, so don’t wait too long to complete your purchase if you find something you’re looking for.

Musical.ly - This instant music video app is currently one of the most popular apps with teens, to the tune of more than 70 million users. This app makes our top 10 list not for its features, but for the creativity and fun it brings out in its users. We’ve witnessed the app bring out a love for music in the shyest of kids, laughter and collaboration between cousins and friends, and hours of fun at get togethers. Muscial.ly brings out music, movement and creativity in everyone, and is easy to use. Users create 15-second videos lip syncing (and often dancing) to clips of songs across genres, or they can produce videos with original audio. Friends on Musical.ly can do duets while in different locations, and “produce” videos with a handful of editing features - including splicing, speed, reverse play, and popular sticker filters. For parents, the privacy settings on the app are appealing - accounts can be public or set to private so only friends can see the videos. You can also install the app on your phone and log in with your child’s account to stay aware of their “Musical.lys.” A word of caution, the app has a “live” feature that lets users to live broadcast - a feature for parents to be aware of and discuss with their kids, if needed. Some say music makes the world go round, and Musical.ly may prove that to be true.

Want to discover a few more great apps and websites out there? Check out our list from 2015 of apps we're thankful for.

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Strengthening Your Network To Make Digital Parenting Easier: 6 Must Have Groups

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If you’re a parent with a pre-teen or teenager using social media, one thing is a must: you have to be social. In the best interest of our children, it’s not optional, it’s an evolved parenting requirement. This doesn’t mean that as parents we must be active on social media, but active and involved with the people and the touch points in your teenager’s life.

In the age of digital parenting, your network matters when your kids are on social networks. Similar to your personal or professional life, who you connect with regularly from a parenting perspective will help in many ways. Whether it’s being aware and comfortable with who your teen is connected to online, being in the know about happenings in and around school, or just having that gut feeling that something’s amiss, having a strong network will help you stay informed and respond in ways that benefit and support your child as he or she becomes more independent.

Here are six must have groups parents should have in their real-life social network:

Your Child’s Friends

This is the most important group of people to have in your network as a parent. Think back to when you were a child and the parents who were active at school, present at parties or welcoming you in their home. Being visible, knowing your child’s friends’ names and talking to them about interests and things going on in their lives not only creates a welcoming, nurturing environment, but it helps you keep a pulse on who your child is hanging out with and the influences in their lives. It also helps establish respect and accountability when they’re in your home or out with your child. And should you ever need to address a situation, be there for one of their friends or come together as a group in unity, these relationships will be golden - not just in their teenage years, but for many years to come. (Imagine the adult years ahead when those friends are suddenly ‘friending’ you on social media!)
 

Parents Of Your Child’s Friends

There’s no better second set of eyes and ears that can protect the well-being and happiness of your children than the parents of their friends. Introducing yourselves to other parents helps you get an understanding of the environments your child is in when they’re not at home, and provides other parents with a level of comfort and trust when their child is with you or your son or daughter. There are also situations or things you may not know about that other parents can pick up on when they’re talking to their teenager, shuttling them around in the car or overhearing them when they’re all together as a group. This is where having parents in your network has its greatest value.

And as for ourselves, let’s face it - in our adulthood, friendships form at different rates and are sometimes accelerated by having things in common such as our children’s activities and sports. We may not be destined to be friends with everyone, nor have the time; however, even if you simply remain acquaintances, knowing the adults in your teenagers friends’ lives and proactively keeping in touch with them time to time will give you peace of mind or help you know when you need to step in.
 

Teachers, Coaches, Principals and Counselors

A mother recently shared a story with her father about how grateful she was for her first grader’s teacher and how the teacher addressed a need and creatively empowered her daughter. Being a dad for more than 40 years, he had this to say: “Being visible at school, knowing the staff, and them knowing you, really has its benefits in how your child does at school.” And he’s right.

Most educators in the middle school and high school settings are tuned in to things going on at school and among students. Many of them will also have a pulse on the social perspective of technologies and social media students, in general, are using. When a coach, teacher or other faculty know your child and see you present, they have the sense of an involved parent, and there’s a stronger personal connection that can be helpful when your child’s in a sea of 30 to 500 other students. When your network is strong with relationships at your child’s school - even if they’re simply on a name and face-recognition basis, you’ll find yourself with an expanded support system. This group will be filled with adults who are aware and can identify and support your child’s high points, or notice a change that suggests something isn’t right, such as online bullying, peer pressure or the rumor mill. Collectively, this group will have a powerful impact on opening new doors, having performance conversations, or sometimes, addressing consequences.
 

Activity Leaders and Volunteer Coordinators

Similar to faculty at your child’s school, the people in charge of leading your child’s youth group, volunteer experiences, robotics team or any organized activity are important to have in your network. This group differentiates itself in that often times these individuals span vastly in experience and also age range - from your child’s peer set to adult. The individual might be volunteer or paid employee, and different than school staff, they’re in that role with the sole purpose of guiding and overseeing whatever that subject matter or experience is. By keeping in touch with these leaders, you’ll have a sense of their involvement, personality and leadership style. You’ll be able to gauge how present and involved you’ll have to be, and can drum up conversations about peer-to-peer interactions, how things went on retreats, group trips, practices, and other events. This will help you keep a pulse on things that might be shared on social media, who your child is interacting with, and things that could positively or negatively be impacting your child.
 

Your Friends & Family

This is probably the closest network to you and the best one to use to your advantage. Sometime’s we can be so close to a situation that we may not realize something happening in front of us. Chances are you have friends or family that are also experiencing the milestones you are or who have handled relatable situations you can learn from and chat about together. Let’s not forget, too, that this group of people can be a walking library of information for you, with knowledge or opinions about trends, apps or social networks your teenager might be using. There’s great appreciation for the aunt who sees their nephew post something on social media and either pings him and pats him on the back or suggests he heed some caution, or the cousin who surprises relatives by accidentally making it known at a family gathering that another cousin has an account on the same app or social network that she uses. These are real-life moments and a network that can make parenting easier in meaningful, simple ways.
 

Your Child’s Place of Work

This group might often be overlooked, but if your child has a summer job, babysits, cuts grass or is working during the school year, then this is an important group to have in your parenting network. Does this mean you have to be friends with your teenager’s boss? No. Should you be familiar with where he or she is working, and possibly even visible once in awhile? It can’t hurt. (A restaurant, theater or shops are great examples.) Interactions at work can turn into new contacts on chat apps and social media that parents should be aware of. Whether it’s an employer or people in your community that your child does tasks for, being tuned in to this environment has its benefits. You’ll have a sense of coworkers and strangers he or she has exposure to, and a supervisor might appreciate knowing their reliable employee is supported by engaged parents. You’ll also be able to identify red flags, and have more understanding and connected conversations with your child.

If there’s one thing we learn as parents, especially when it comes to online safety and keeping an eye out for online bullying, inappropriate conversations or peer pressure: we can do it all alone, or accept the help of an army.

10 Websites and Apps We’re Thankful For

It's hard to imagine what life would be like without the access to information, entertainment and each other that the Internet and tech make possible. This time of year, expressions of thanks and greetings flood social media and apps such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp and SnapChat.

As we make new memories and celebrate Thanksgiving with traditions, we thought we’d share a list compiled by everyone at Team DijiWise of 10 websites and apps we’re thankful for that keep us going and make life great.

GoFundMe
GoFundMe and other online fundraising websites not only make it easier to raise money, they’ve enabled globalization of the spirit of giving. It’s a forum for anyone to raise money for almost anything - charity, medical costs, community outreach, natural disasters, a person or family facing an emergency, a project, or even groceries. With GoFundMe, people can receive help or donate money, touch the lives of other people with more immediacy, and discover and contribute to any cause or purpose that’s meaningful to them. And for these reasons, we’re thankful.

AllRecipes.com
Dinner and hosting possibilities are endless when thousands of recipes, cooking videos and tips are a search away by ingredient, course or theme. (There’s even user ratings and comments on the recipes so you know what you’re in for.) The app is as user-friendly as the website, and the ability to save recipes so you have a digital cookbook of recipes you don't want to forget makes this one of the websites we’re most thankful for.

8tracks
Describe your mood and this website will find the perfect list of free playlists for your day. Pick a handful of keywords such as “summer,” “happy,” and “work out,” and discover an endless stream of music that is the epitome of those words. The 8tracks app works seamlessly as well, so add some sweet jams to the background of your work day or weekend morning.

Medium
Medium is a wonderful hub for reading and sharing stories with people around the world. You can follow people and topics that you’re passionate about, while being inspired to write your own stories. A broad range of perspectives are shared, from personal narratives like “Pseudonyms and True Names: The Sacred Power of Identity” to professional insights like “ABC: Always Be Coding.” This website gives individuals a space to connect through thoughtful interactions and words.

WorkFlowy
When you use WorkFlowy, you’ll be thankful you didn’t forget anything. This is the ultimate list for jotting down which groceries are running out, dinner party details, and random errands and is perfect for anyone with responsibilities. Everything is organized into one big sheet of expandable and collapsable bullet points. If you only want an overview of your to-dos, you can hide the underlying bullet points. Its website and app interfaces help you catch random reminders and efficiently cross off to-dos throughout the day.

Cozi
Cozi might just be the best family organizer app out there. You set up one family account that everyone can share (including grandparents and babysitters). Each member can access the app via their smartphone, tablet, or computer. The PIC (parent in charge) can upload grocery lists, to do lists, contacts, recipes and calendar for the entire family to access. No need to send Dad a text to stop for milk on the way home or remind Johnny about his soccer game on Saturday. Everything you need your family members to know is all contained privately in the app. A bonus feature is the online journal so you can jot down a milestone event, notable quote, story, or add a photo, which you can share privately with other household members. (We’re extra thankful Cozi is available for different devices and platforms including iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows.)

Evernote
Who hasn’t been thankful for something that makes staying organized easy? Evernote is the ultimate note taking/organizing app for busy people on the go. It keeps your life organized in notebooks, so it’s like your personal virtual filing cabinet to help you keep track of all the little things that can get lost in the shuffle. Tag your notes with keywords so you can easily search without having to remember where you filed them.  Scan business cards, invoices, receipts, or any other papers to eliminate desktop clutter. Its newer “web clipper” feature installs an extension on your browser so you can clip articles and things you find online, and save directly to your Evernote account. Evernote conveniently syncs to your master account so that you can access the same info from any device you use. This app is ideal for personal use, but excellent for work team collaboration as well and now integrates with Salesforce enterprise software.

TeamSnap
If you have kids who play sports, you’ll be thankful for the people who created TeamSnap. TeamSnap is perfect for keeping sports schedules organized and in one spot. Keep track of the team roster, parents' emails, phone numbers, and game and practice schedules. The interactive map feature is also helpful. Parents or the team coach can upload a schedule for the entire season and share with all of the members so that parents can add it to their iCal or Google calendar with the click of a button. TeamSnap is a HUGE time saver! Premium version offers additional features like photo sharing, payment tracking for team fees, player availability and more.

PocketUniverse
This app brings out the inner astronaut or astronomer in all of us by easily identifying the night sky with the simple point in the direction you're looking with your smartphone or tablet, teaching you interesting facts about space, the planets and more. Time flies when you use this app, and it’s just plain fun for all ages.

Nextdoor
Nextdoor brings a community closer and creates a private social network for your neighborhood. It’s useful for quick communications with your neighbors (and only your neighbors) to share emergency info, find a recommended plumber, dog walker, babysitter, or to look for a lost cat.  Nextdoor is also helpful for newcomers to meet their neighbors and get acquainted with a new community.

By this time next year, we expect another one to make the list of 10 sites and apps we’re thankful for - DijiWise. DijiWise is an app-based tool for parents that helps them monitor their children’s social media activity and encourages conversations about their posts and digital responsibility. DijiWise’s Parent Central also provides parents with articles and resources about online safety, digital responsibility, and fun, relatable everyday stories about parenting in the digital world. The app is expected to hit iTunes and Google Play by the end of the year.

We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving from our families to yours.

Digital Safety Lessons

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With the school year starting up, our kids will be jumping into new classes and there’s one lesson we want them to learn for inside and outside of the classroom: digital safety. It’s important to remind our kids that actions online and offline have real life effects. While lessons on bullying used to focus on hallways and playgrounds, it has extended into social media and the internet. We found Stay Safe Online’s Cyberbullying and Harassment tips helpful in preventing and reporting online threats since rumors can spread from whispers at school onto newsfeeds online. It’s also important to protect our kids from strangers. Kids like to share on social media and may not realize just how much personal information they’re posting about online. With location settings turned on, people can pinpoint exactly where someone is just by their post. We advise kids to not only make their profiles private, but also turn off location tracking from sites like Instagram and Facebook.

At DijiWise, we understand that technology can bring about consequences but also benefits. Our smartphones are incredible devices and the apps on them lead to unlimited possibilities. We can use apps for games and organization but also self-defense. This list of 5 Safety Apps You Should Arm Your Students With from FOSI highlights important apps that can be life-saving in dangerous situations. Our devices can play a significant role in keeping us safe by instantly connecting us to people and alerting them for help.

While our phones can help protect us from dangers in the world, they also make the upsetting reality of violence in the media accessible for view. Breaking news reports take over the web, trend on Twitter and the front page of sites. It’s difficult to monitor all the information our kids see and hear because news found online can be brought up in conversations between their friends. It’s important to have open conversations about current events, and Common Sense Media’s advice on How do I talk to my kids about violence on TV and in movies or games? provides a good basis for starting those chats.

Digital safety lessons touch on a wide range of situations so it’s important to have frequent discussions about them with your kids. At DijiWise, we will continue to share the resources and tools we find helpful because as parents, we’ll be learning with them too!

Get on our Invite List and be the first DijiWise Parents to gain membership access for when we launch on the App Store and Google Play!

Best Back to School Apps For Your Middle School to College Students

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Help your high school or college student stay organized and work smarter, not harder, this school year with this list of awesome apps, compiled by a student in the DijiWise family who discovered the value some of these brought to her schedule! From study tools to organizational planners, these apps will help your child conquer this school year with success.

Quizlet - FREE

Quizlet is a free study tool which can save your child a lot of time and hassle. Students can make their own set of flashcards and study anywhere! Create a Quizlet account, and students can make their own set of study materials -- and even send them to their friends. Users can also search millions of study sets that other Quizlet users have already created! If your child’s lucky, his or her teacher already has a teacher’s Quizlet account to help their class study.

Evernote – FREE (paid upgrades available)

Evernote is a great organizational tool that can help with anything your child has on his or her “To Do” list. From grocery lists, to class notes, to chores, to collaborating with others, Evernote is the perfect way to get things done. The app has a great sharing features, so users can create and send their lists, notes or work to other users. Evernote keeps subjects organized by using tags to help the user search the notes easier. Give this app a try this school year, you won’t be sorry!

Study Cal - $1.99

Study Cal is an awesome way for your child to keep track of high school or college classes for the semester. First, the user enters class details such as the teacher’s name, class times and location, followed by the ability to input assignments and due dates, and keep track of grades in the classes. Your student can even send classes and assignments to friends who have Study Cal! The app costs $1.99, but the value far surpasses the cost. This app will help your child keep track of assignments and due dates, as well as provide him or her with regular grade updates.

EasyBib - FREE

EasyBib is a great tool for those who are looking to save time writing those pesky research papers. First, the user chooses their style of citation (MLA, APA, etc.), then selects the media (book, website, article etc.). Let’s say they need to cite a book. Your child can scan the book barcode or enter the title and the app automatically cites the resource. The citation can be saved in the app and exported to a Word document. This app is a time saver for sure!

iScanner – FREE

iScanner is a scanner for your phone, and it can be extremely useful for school work. The app recognizes the edges of the sheet of paper, takes a picture of it, provides layout and color options, and then turns it into a PDF format for the user to share or save. Sharing notes with classmates is now a whole lot easier for your high schooler or college kid with iScanner.

Graphing Calculator – FREE

Did your child forget to bring their graphing calculator? No problem, there’s an app for that! The app functions very similar to the graphing calculator, and has a useful and easy to use Reference page when they need help. Download this app and they’ll never have to carry around that bulky TI-89 again. (Unless, of course, their teacher requires it!)

Google Drive - FREE

The Google Drive app is a great tool for all the group projects your child will work on this year. Using a gmail account to log into the Google Drive app, students can can contribute to team projects on the go. This app is perfect for uploading a quick picture or graphic, reading other contributor’s work, or looking up saved information when they don’t have their computer with them! This app is an A+ in our book.

DijiWise wishes you and your children a happy and successful school year!

Get on our Invite List and be the first DijiWise Parents to gain membership access for when we launch on the App Store and Google Play!