The time has come once again for sons and daughters everywhere to take there moms to the movies and have a lovely brunch. I am of course talking about Mother’s Day, but this year, instead of getting your mom a new gadget, it might be best to help her like the ones she already has. Today Tech2U will be going over the best mother’s day gift: tech help.
The gift of time is irreplaceable and this Mother’s Day you can help your mom learn to better use her TV, laptop, or smartphone. If she struggles with certain tasks on a device you can look up tutorials on YouTube, check out WikiHow for advice, or use a general Google search to become more familiar with the device and problem. You can even create mini tutorials for her to watch or write down a step-by-step guide on using the device or fixing the problem. If you happen to not be local enough for an in-house visit, a remote-login solution called TeamViewer will allow you to access her computer as if you were there. TeamViewer is free to use and comes with an easy to follow software solution. Video chat is always an option with Google+ or Skype which both allow you to share screens and are free.
If you yourself don’t know that much about tech don’t worry. Thumbtack is a great way for you or your mom to learn more on how to use and fix common problems on your devices. On there website you can read user reviews, see the available tutors near you, and even get an online quote for the work. Thumbtack also allows you to gift remote support which gives your mom the ease of mind that whenever something happens that she doesn’t understand, shell always have that service to use and get help. If your mom doesn’t find it useful, Thumbtack has month-to-month plans to choose from.
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App of the Week:
Scanbot is a cool app that uses your phones camera to scan documents or business cards and can even save them to the cloud. Users can edit any documents that have been scanned and even search the documents for specific text. Scanbot is free for the basic version and $5.99 for the pro version.
Video Transcription:
Host: The best Mother’s Day gifts are often those that don’t come wrapped with a pretty bow. So instead of buying Mom another gadget, show mom your love by spending a few hours helping her get comfortable with the technology she already has. So like, “Mom, sorry about the breakfast, and the dinner, and the flowers. Let’s get you on Snapchat today.” Mike Wisby from Tech2U is here to share some ideas and how you can give the gift of time and tech wisdom on Mother’s Day. What are you suggesting, Mr. Wisby?
Mr. Wisby: So, some of the best gifts are the ones that don’t cost a lot of money. Time these days is worth a lot. So I would suggest spending two to three hours with your mom on Mother’s Day, just going through her tech projects and anything she has that she’s not quite sure of. Just do some research and find out. Maybe she needs to set up Netflix on her smart TV, or maybe she has a DVR problem and she needs something, or wants to watch live TV on her tablet. All these things, so just find out what she needs. If you’re not quite sure, just do some research. You can use Google Tips or WikiHow to just research. Then go in prepared, spend two or three hours, and just go through and help her out a bit.
Host: Let’s say you’re not living that close to mom and you can’t shoot in. Any websites you suggest? Send the flowers and then a log-on to a website to help her.
Mr. Wisby: Yeah, that’s right. I mean, I have that same problem. My mom’s in England, so I have that a lot. I use a program called TeamViewer. And what TeamViewer does, it allows you to actually go in remotely, go into the computer and actually talk through there through a chat console. And actually take control of the mouse and do things like clean up the inbox, or get rid of old files, and run some anti-spyware things. That’s pretty nice, and it’s free, the best thing. She can just download that, and you can connect, and you don’t have to be there.
Host: Does your mom give you a lot of grief about not being near her home?
Mr. Wisby: She plays that card sometimes.
Host: She does, yeah. Probably you’re going to hear that Sunday.
Mr. Wisby: Well, Mother’s Day is a little different in England. It’s earlier.
Host: Oh, it’s earlier? So you’ve already been through it?
Mr. Wisby: Yes, I’ve been through it.
Host: You guys in England are always trying to beat us here.
Mr. Wisby: We’ve got to beat you in something.
Host: It’s the mother country, right, after all. So what if I don’t know too much about tech myself, and I see that mom’s having some problems? What do I do, besides calling you?
Mr. Wisby: Well yeah, that’s one option. You can find a local tech store and try and get maybe a gift card from them. And even they can send someone out to the house, or give her a call, and remotely connect with her. Or, you can actually go to a site called Thumbtack.com.
Host: Thumbtack, okay.
Mr. Wisby: And they will have a list of tutors that can help her out, and they’ll have reviews and other ratings and things like that. So you can vet them and find a good one to send out, or give them a call. So someone you trust with your family.
Host: You always have an app of the week. What is it this time?
Mr. Wisby: Yeah, this week is the Scanbot, and the Scanbot uses the camera on the phone to basically act like a scanner. So you can take pictures of receipts, and any business cards, and it will scan it. And they have a pro version, which is $5.99, and that will let you make notes on the scanned document, or you can edit things and have a little bit more functionality. But there’s a free version that just lets you scan them. So if you’re keeping track of expenses, just snap a photo and it’s a document now.
Host: I guess you can do that on your phone now. Back in the day, you’d take all your receipts and put them in a box for a year, and then go. In case something doesn’t work, you fish it out. Now it can all be done digitally.
Mr. Wisby: Yeah, you can keep track of it as you go, and then it will add it up, and taxes will just be really easy for you.
Host: It’s you digital people taking over the world. It’s tough for guys like me to keep up with you whipper-snappers.
Mr. Wisby: We’re here to help you.
Host: Yes you are, Mr. Wisby. Thank you, with Tech2U.
Mr. Wisby: Thank you very much.
Host: All right, Amy, over to you.
