Recent Posts By Erin Kane

A few weeks back I wrote that I’d started my search for the perfect vacuum. Since then I’ve been reading user reviews, researching vacuums online, and asking almost every woman I know what she uses to clean her floors. Since writing my review of the Roomba, I’ve spoken to several women who swear by their little robot. And I’ve met several more who swear by their Dyson.

Now this is exciting holiday news for business travelers: Google announced yesterday it is working with with airports across the country as well as Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing Income and others to provide free WiFi as a holiday gift now through January 15, 2010. The plan currently includes 47 airports, including Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston, Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte.

One of my all-time favorite shopping Web sites is Delight.com. Whenever I am on the hunt for something special or unexpected—mainly to give as a gift—I shop here first. Every day features a daily delight: a discount or product that’s available in limited quantity. This week they’ve been showcasing some cool tech gadgets and accessories that are making it on to my holiday shopping lists. Yes, I do realize it was just Halloween. But once they start playing Christmas tunes 24/7 on the radio, I start making lists. This year I plan to have the majority of my shopping done by December first and if all goes well, I will do almost all of it on line.

For a few months now, I’ve been over-paying for my mobile phone service. When I signed up for my Verizon plan, I thought minutes were going to be most critical. I use my BlackBerry primarily for reading e-mail and talking, sending tweets and occasionally scanning Facebook. While Web is included in my plan, I don’t typically surf on my BlackBerry. And until a few months ago, I rarely sent text messages. Text messaging was not included in my monthly plan.

But at the start of the school year I hired a high school senior to babysit my boys two days after school.

Friends, I have a confession to make. My name is Erin and I am a little OCD when it comes to cleaning. Nothing makes me happier than a clean and organized home. A place for everything and everything in its place. That’s my motto. Some weeks I achieve this with ease. Other times, it’s a struggle to get both the breakfast crumbs wiped off the kitchen counter and my bed made and still make it to the office on time. (Yesterday I just closed the door to my bedroom and left the mess behind).

I bought after our PC crashed and we lost everything. Set up was beyond easy. I took the Time Capsule out of its box and had it configured and connected to the Internet in just a matter of minutes. Working with Time Machine, the software that automatically backs up an entire computer, I felt assured that everything—from system files to applications, documents, music, photos and movies—was (finally!) safe and sound.

Fall is here and the weather in New England is absolutely fabulous. The mornings are cool, the afternoons warm, and if you look closely you can see early signs of leaves turning color. Take a walk through the neighborhood and you can practically smell the apples baking. Last week in my kitchen I made an apple cake, apple sauce and an apple tart.

With today’s technologies, it’ easier than ever to capture life’s moments in movie form. As I have written in the past, I prefer to do this with small devices that fit in my purse, beach bag, or whatever pouch I happen to be lugging on any given day. I’m not one for schlepping large video cameras to the school auditorium, […]

Let’s not pretend that my kids need alarm clocks. As I have said before, they wake up with the birds. If I’m lucky, they might fall back asleep and roll out of bed at a more respectable 6:30am. Last night, when I was tucking my son into bed before his first day of kindergarten, he asked me he could have a clock in his room.