Is it funny that I vaguely remember a few of my early purchases? One was a sterling silver mother’s ring that featured an open area within the embrace of a mother and child; the open area was shaped like a heart, and the ring came with interchangeable marbles of varying colors and finishes, so I could have a custom ring every day. Granted, it was no tungsten ring, but nevertheless the ring was really neat, and I enjoyed its uniqueness. Sadly, I no longer have that ring. It was my first “Mother’s Ring”. And my second? I lost it sometime this past summer. :( Maybe for Mother’s Day this year my husband will give me my third and final one?

Three cheers for the internet!

I grew up with a rotary telephone (my grandmother’s), TVs that had knobs for channel changers (ours), and listening to records on both my mother’s and my grandfather’s record players. Of course, by the time I was ten we also had an answering machine (it recorded onto cassette tapes!), we finally got a television with a remote, and by the time I hit my teen years we had cordless telephones.

On a related note, the other day my daughter asked me if televisions existed when I was a kid. Say what?! Child, I’m only 27 – yes, televisions existed when I was a kid! (I should have made her little head explode by informing her that they also existed when my mom – her grandmother – was a kid.)

Simply click the arrows located at the bottom of each column to move them to the left or right. :)

With that, it must be added, Samsung are playing an interesting hand here. Hype surrounding this phone has been great, however Samsung themselves have done little to really promote the release of the handset. So why bother with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus? If Samsung are going to play hard to get, why should we bother saving our money for them? Here are several reasons why you may wish to get your name into Santa’s good books before the month’s out:

1. The Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy S II have been phenomenal successes, with the Galaxy S II picking up Phone of the Year from T3 Magazine, giving iPhone users worldwide the two-finger salute
2. The Galaxy Nexus offers a hefty 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and will be the first ‘true’ 1280 x 720p screen. Looking up the more alluring aspects of the internet on your phone has never been quicker or more fun
3. The face unlock feature makes you feel like you’re in Star Wars, or wherever your futuristic space fantasy of choice is set. Incidentally, some individuals have pointed out that by showing a static photo of the owner’s face to the phone, it allows you to gain access, thus thwarting the security system. I somehow feel that if someone is going to the trouble of sourcing a picture of you to infiltrate your phone, you probably have bigger problems to worry about than merely having your handset half-inched.
4. The new operating system is called ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’. Need I say more? So confident are Google in their new OS Android 4.0 that they’ve named it after a delicious treat that everyone fantasies about (at some point) but few have the pleasure of ever tasting. You definitely know a company has its priorities right when it names its products after a pregnant woman’s craving.

So there you have it. Galaxy Nexus contracts are looking set for a strong release, with a host of powerful features to justify the stack of units it will shift in the run-up to Christmas. Old Saint Nick will have no problem navigating his way to your home with his reindeer guided by your Google Maps-equipped Nexus.

I’d love to share the Pinterest love, but unfortunately I don’t have any options for sending invites. Sorry! :(

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Right off the bat, one thing I love about I Heart Radio is the Station Control feature. I can use the slider to choose amongst having the most familiar songs played, a healthy mix of familiar and not-so-familiar songs played, or have completely new, unexpected (but same genre) songs thrown into the mix. For now I’m a middle of the road kind of girl, but that may change as I use this app more.

I’ll probably rely on iTunes a lot of the time, especially if I have a particular artist in mind, but for variety, I think I’ll be going with I Heart Radio. Right now I can enjoy them from my browser, on my Android phone, on my iPod Touch, and on my son’s iPad 2 — here’s to hoping I’ll eventually be able to enjoy I Heart Radio from a dedicated software program!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

1. Power off your computer or laptop, if it’s still on
2. Turn on your computer or laptop
3. Immediately after you hear the tone indicating Apple OS X is starting up, hold down the shift key
4. Continue holding down the shift key until the gray spinning indicator appears beneath the apple logo, then release
5. Wait for your operating system to load – this may take longer than usual

And that’s it! Now you’re in safe mode, and hopefully any changes you made rendering Apple OS X inoperable will have been undone.