Tendenci Open Source Software Author Bio & Tendenci Blog Posts | Tendenci - The Open Source AMS for Non-Profits & Associations

2012-01-192013-06-10

New Tabs in Tendenci thanks to Bootstrap

With all of the recent focus on protecting the open web, it’s been great to read some of the stories that really show people’s passion for the internet community. Here is a recent story from us on how we created a new feature for our users.

The Tendenci Tabs

Tendenci modules have tabs. In past and current versions of the software we have used a tabbed navigation system for our modules with exposed module and contextual links mixed together. Let me give an example.

When viewing an Article as a site administrator, you will see links that relate to all articles, such as:

Search
Settings
Add an Article

These links are great and are useful anywhere in the Articles module. You will also see these links:

View Article
Edit Article
Delete Article

The links in the second group relate just to the article we are viewing. In some cases, the separation between these two sets of links is obvious. However, in more complex modules like Event registration and Membership management, these links can really start to add up. See the image below for a real world example:

We have been on the hunt for a solution to this problem for some time and were fortunate to stumble upon a perfect solution earlier this week.

A few days ago our team came across an article about Bootstrap on A List Apart. In it, author Mark Otto of Twitter describes the process of creating Bootstrap, an “open-source front-end toolkit” made with the goal of helping designers/developers build good stuff fast. While I’ve always been a sucker for the newest and the flashiest in web tech, Bootstrap had much more going for it. It is cross-browser tested so it will work for the broad majority of people. It’s written with LESS, a programmer-friendly way of writing and compiling CSS. Best of all, it’s freely available to use.

The New Tendenci Tabs

There are several parts of Bootstrap that we like, and one of the key features we are now using in Tendenci 5 is the tabs. The tab design from Bootstrap allow us to tuck all of our module links into a drop down, and with a little programming from our side, we can create columns and grouping for much better organization. We’ve chosen to split these two groups of links into two columns, each labelled, with the goal of making it easier to find the links to the functionality you want.

We outlined this goal and sketched out some ways of implementing this into the software. We began the work on Wednesday the 18th and were able to complete it in less than 24 hours and in time for our weekly release. We think the tabs have a much more modern, clean look that will go well next to more modern site designs. We are excited about the aesthetic changes, but the new functionality for the tab links is the real shining point here.

Without toolkits like Bootstrap, we would never have been able to implement a solution in such little time. Without a free and open web, companies like Twitter may not be able to gain enough success to be able to release tools like these. Companies like Github are relied on by people like us making software to be used on the web. It’s great tools like these that help us rapidly develop new features and updates for Tendenci.

We are very excited to announce our new tabs, and we give a big thanks to Bootstrap. They should be rolling out to a Tendenci 5 site near you soon.

2012-01-16

Some WordPress & Drupal Sites Experiencing Intermittent Outages – Sites Are Being Upgraded

One of our servers is experiencing intermittent outages due to overload issues. This affects some of our WordPress & Drupal websites.

When attempting to access sites on this server, you may encounter “503 Service Temporarily Unavailable” errors. For the most part, you will see no issues with the site – but we know that any down time can be frustrating. We apologize for the inconvenience to our clients and their site visitors.

This is one of our older servers; we are upgrading all of the affected sites to a newer server one at a time. We are starting this process immediately, but it may take up to two weeks to migrate every site.

Thank you for your patience, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact our Support Team at (281) 497-6567 ext 411 or support@tendenci.com.

We will be following up with each affected client directly as well.

2012-01-032014-11-02

Kick off your New Year with some free web marketing advice!

It’s the start of a brand new year, and that clean slate has likely got you thinking about goals and projects you want to tackle for your business. Maybe you’re wanting to take on a redesign of your website, or get started with social media to build online community. Maybe you’ve had all these online outposts for the past year but don’t feel you’re getting the most benefit from them. You’ve got questions but aren’t really sure where to go for the answers. Maybe you Googled something along those lines and ended up here. 🙂

Well, for those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, we’ve got a treat for you! Remember back in college when you were totally stumped on that assignment you were given and needed a little extra help? You’d head to the TA’s or professor’s office during office hours and get the individual attention you needed. It was great! Wouldn’t it be great if there were office hours for all your web marketing questions? Yea, we thought so too.

Schipul’ The Web Marketing Company is pleased to kick off the New Year by featuring Office Hours for those in the Bay Area who may be looking for a little free web marketing advice. Our Silicon Valley office director, April Kyle, will be holding office hours every Wednesday this month’ so sign up now! Topics can include anything you have questions about’ non-profit management, association management, web design, event registration services, Drupal, WordPress’ you name it. We want to be clear – this is 100% NOT a sales pitch. This is us at Schipul wanting to meet you, get to know you, and share with you the combined knowledge of 14 years of geeking out playing around on the web. We believe in knowledge sharing so much, it’s officially part of our culture.

There is so much awesomeness on the web these days’ let’s chat about it! Sign up now and bring your burning web questions to us. We can’t wait to meet you!

2011-12-302014-11-02

Auf Wiedersehen to Three Amazing Schipulites in 2011

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen…

As sometimes happens when you have a talented and ambitious staff, three of our long time employees are moving on to new challenges as we close out 2011. All three have had a huge impact on the company and we wish them the best. These ladies have not only helped shape the face of Schipul, they also hold a special place in our hearts.

Jennifer Ulmer, Partner

Well, J hasn’t left us fully yet and is still helping us as a consultant. But after 12 years she has chosen to seek a new path in business. The good news is she has given us plenty of notice and is still around to answer questions and help with our long time clients.

Jennifer joined us 12 years ago as employee number 6. She spoke with candor then and speaks with candor now. Under Jennifer’s leadership Tendenci, our software product, has generated over 5 million in revenue over the last few years. Her work speaks for itself as it powers so many of our client sites.

Katie Laird, Communications Director

Katie has been the brand ambassador, evangelist, communications director, and PR goddess for Schipul. In her 6 years with Schipul, she has handled web design, client projects, operations, communications, PR, social media, public speaking, etc. etc. etc. And brought her own brand of quirkiness and joy to everything she does.

Katie is one of those people who sees a challenge, tackles it with full force, and does it with a smile. After 6 years, we will miss seeing her face every day. We are excited for her in her new position at blinds.com. She will continue to be a force of nature there as she was here.

Lyndia Makol, Senior Designer/Developer

Lyndia Makol is a power house. She is an expert web designer and developer who understands web marketing and always fights for what is best for each client. Lyndia is the person that you can trust to get things done, and get them done right. We will miss her dearly. BUT we are beyond happy for her as she takes on the biggest challenge of her life… motherhood!

Over the last 4 years, we have seen Lyndia learn and grow (and get married!) and now continue her journey to take care of her growing family.

We wish all three good times, personal growth and that they may continue on the path to seek meaning. As 2011 comes to a close, we look forward to 2012 with new adventures for each of them. And we miss them already.

Thank you more than we can say to Jennifer, Katie and Lyndia for not only your contributions to our company, but your contributions to the clients we are here to serve. We greatly appreciate your dedication and we miss all of you dearly.

2011-12-222011-12-22

All Sites Back Up >> 8:30am CST Tendenci Site Server Outage 12/22/11

12/22/2011 9:23 AM – All Tendenci Sites are Live.

The Database Server is back up and all Tendenci sites are live. The outage lasted approximately one hour. Thank you for your patience, if you have any questions call us at (281) 497.6567 .

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Some Tendenci Web sites are currently down due to an outage of one of our database servers this morning (December 22) starting around 8:30am CST. We are working to resolve the issues.

Thank you for your patience, we will post updates to the Tendenci blog and Tendenci Twitter as we have them.

In the meantime, feel free to call us at (281) 497.6567 with any questions. If you are on Twitter, you can follow us for immediate updates here: www.twitter.com/tendenci.

2011-12-072011-12-08

Icons on the Admin Bar

We’ve updated the admin bar again.

We’re making use of icons. We hope this makes it easier to spot that pesky item you’re looking for.

We’ve also completely done away with the settings link as a top level item.

Now you can find all settings per application right next to the application itself. You can thank our very own

Alex Ragsdale for the suggestion.

We have a top-level link called people where you can find users, members, admins, corporate members, and groups.

For global settings please visit the quick links.

We hope these icons are not too cryptic, let us know what you think. I’ll just patiently wait here while you write your thoughts.

2011-12-062014-11-02

The art of the online press release

Organizations have long communicated through press releases to their public and the media. Organize your official thoughts in a single document, snag a couple of relevant quotes for someone in leadership and go – it works.

But in the days of the Social Web, how relevant are one-sided blurbs of self-focused content? That’s where we thinking tempering your official messaging with two-way, less formal communication (like great Facebook updates and blog posts) come in.

But the press release beat goes on… here are a few resources and links to know and utilize when sending your organization’s news across the Interwebs:

Start at the very beginning, tweak those headlines!

Of course you can get super geeky on just headlines alone to help maximize your online press releases (like some of these tips from this great PR Newswire blog post):

Length‘ Keep things short, sweet and Tweetable (stay under 90-120 characters)
Keywords‘ Put your most important keyword at the beginning of the headline’ within the first 65 characters.
Informative – Readers like data, include numbers that are interesting and relevant (of course)
Subheads – Share more detail (and keywords!) by using a subhead below the main title of your press release – or use it to break up a really long headline.

Use Social Media monitoring tools to help you gauge your impact

When sharing a press release online, know your network’s audience for greatest impact. If you know that the majority of your likes, shares and comments happen in the morning – post then! If your Twitter followers are more active on the weekends, share your content when they are awake and ready to chat.

Online monitoring tools like Sprout Social and Crowdbooster actually look at your follower base on different networks and tell you the best time to post for optimal engagement. And be sure you are actually engaging – not just throwing a press release in the room and not hanging around to answer questions or provide more info. It goes back to that whole ‘relating to the public’ thing you signed up for as a PR rock star.

Another handy Social Media tool to use is a link shortner like bit.ly or tinyurl.com to more easily track links you include in your press release. Change them up on different press release versions (ie: one you link to from Facebook versus Twitter) so you can more easily track what tools get you the most clicks.

Don’t forget to optimize, optimize, optimize!

Online optimization isn’t just for your website text. Use your Search Engine Optimization basics and apply them to your online press release postings too, with special consideration for the power of internal links to your website and featured projects. This press release optimization tips blog post has some good ideas to help you out too.

Need help creating an online press room or optimizing a press release for the Web?

Our Creative Services and Search Engine Marketing teams are pros at helping you get your messaging out to the masses in actionable and meaningful ways. Contact us today and let us get started on broadcasting your awesomeness on the Internet!

2011-11-282020-08-10

PlasmaCar Races 2011!!

Thanksgiving is best celebrated by pushing co-workers and family members down a steep garage incline, don’t you think? Well, we do…

This year’s annual PlasmaCar Races were thrilling adventures in gravity-land, fully of (joyful) screaming, competitiveness and camaraderie – all on the backs of small children’s toy vehicles. Take a peek at more PlasmaCar Racing photos on our Facebook fanpage here.

It’s a tradition best explained by being there, I suppose. But this video might shed some light on our love of sharing a holiday with family and co-workers on the seat of a speeding scooter. We hope your Thanksgiving was an exciting one, too!!

PlasmaCar Race Day from Schipul – The Web Marketing Co. on Vimeo.

2011-11-25

As Seen on TV: Black Friday Gadget Gifts

When we were tapped to share some gadgets on our holiday wish list we naturally included some of the things that help us work hard and play hard! We shared a few of our favorite gadget gifts with the anchors at KHOU this morning:

Jura ENA 9 One-Touch Espresso Machine |$1,499 @ Sur La Table stores

Coffee. Heaven. Even the most elitist coffee drinker will fall in love with the ENA. In one touch you can have whatever your caffeinated-powered heart desires. This machine makes lattes, cappucinos, espresso, or just a really great cup of joe with the help of a built-in milk frother/steamer. It even has a spout that’ll give you just hot water for your tea. It’s slim so it fits on the counter and doesn’t fill much space. And it takes instruction quite well: tell it how you like your coffee and it’ll remember it for you next time. Your coffee goes from bean to cup in less than 60 seconds (not 30 … my bad).

I don’t know how the rest of the office feels about getting one of these, but I’m all for it. The major selling point for me: we’ll never have to play “Guess How Fresh” when it comes to the mystery pots of coffee. (Dear Ed: we want one of these.)

Kindle Fire Tablet | $199 @ Amazon.com

Schipulites are big on reading. And we’re obviously big on technology. Those powers combined yield the Kindle Fire Tablet. It’s the only Kindle with a color screen, and it’s a touch screen at that. Right now if you buy the Kindle Fire Tablet, you’ll get one free month of Amazon Prime (not two…my bad again). This little gem is more than a device for reading books. It’s equipped with wireless access that let’s you surf the web, read and email documents, stream Netflix. Basically: AWESOME! Our operations manager Jonti lent us hers for the segment. She may have experienced withdrawals without it.

Go Pro Hero 2 | $299 @ Best Buy stores

For the life of me, my brain would not let me be great. I Rick Perry-ed the name of this camera and it’s a shame because it’s so cool. The Go Pro Hero HD 2 is small but it has a lot of spirit. Made for the adventure seeker in your life, this digital camera takes photos and records footage quite well. We’ve used this camera to capture our annual Plasma Car Races. We hop on child-size wiggle cars, bring our knees up to our ears, and push one another down the incline of our parking garage with the Go Pro strapped to the car or a helmet. Even if we eat it, the camera keeps rolling and our experience is preserved for the internet and posterity.

Caitlin QCait Kaluza reels down hill in the annual Schipul Plasma Car Races — See? The tiny box protruding from the steering device? That's the Go Pro. Click the photo to see the footage.

Parrot AR Drone (Quadricopter) | $299 @ Brookstone

Ohhhhhhh Shinnnnnny. Let’s cut right to the chase: it’s a helicopter with four propellers (so it’s really a quadricopter — really), and you can fly it with any Apple device that lets you download the free app. It has a camera that streams live footage of your flight. It’s incredibly stable. And you can fly it indoors because it comes with a protective foam bumber-thingy that pretty much makes it crash-safe. We have one now. Come by and fly it!

We didn’t list these on the show, BUT they’re awesome and on our wish list as well:

iPhone Telephoto Lens | $35 @ photojojo.com

Also, Photojojo needs your help! Please consider joining the Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Amit Gupta, founder of photojojo was recently diagnosed with acute Leukemia and is seeking a match for a marrow. Please consider becoming a donor and give the gift of life this holiday season.

Jambox Wireless Speaker and Bluetooth Speaker Phone | $199 @ Brookstone

What’s on your list…or what should we add to ours?

2011-11-232014-11-02

Gadgets, tech + inspiration we’re thankful for in 2011

It’s nice to have (at the very least) one day a year that we can all slow down and give thanks for the people, things and opportunities that make our lives run, leap and rock!

Given that the Schipulites are driven by technology, we’ve got some geeky tools and tech that makes our everyday just that much better. Check out some of the technologies and online sources of inspiration that the Schipul team is thankful for this year!

Robyn Riley
The Avant Garden Houston website from design to development confirmed my love for what I do here at Schipul. It’s gorgeous, it’s incredibly functional in Tendenci and its the perfect example of how easy it is to use. And (Mariana) as the perfect client always helps!!

Katie Laird
After suffering through cars with a vendetta against my savings accounts (guess how many mechanic’s children I’ve helped put through college!?), I bought an awesome Kia Forte with Bluetooth wireless phone connection. While having a safe and non-breaking down car is beyond dreamy, that wireless cell phone feature is the best thing since sliced marzipan (I’ve always hated those wireless ear pieces). Love, love, love. Never realized how much I needed it until I had it!

Erica Bogdan
The site that I’m really obsessing over right now that I discovered in 2011 is Pinterest! Before Pinterest, I was scouring the internet for images I loved and then just dumping them into a folder on my desktop, never to be seen again. With Pinterest I can still have those amazing images then categorize them into whatever I want for easy viewing. My images and ideas are then shared visually with my friends & family and I can discover even more great ideas from the plethora of photos that Pinterest has stored. Just by searching “nail polish” I found nails painted like hamburgers, sneakers, apples, etc. For anyone who loves DIY crafts, cooking, or even wedding planning – this is an amazing site to find ideas and store them easily to share and inspire others!

Lyndia Makol
I would have to say my favorite tool would have to be hands down the right click to inspect and element you get with the developer tools you get in Google Chrome 🙂 So simple yet infinitely awesome. It maintains my sanity i tell ya. 🙂

Katrina Kokoska
I think that the new guy I use the most this year is “InstaPaper.” I’ve used Evernote for awhile to archive articles I know I’ll have to reference again, but I like to reserve Evernote for things I’m really going to need in the future. I run into an issue when I get a chance to glance over my social media accounts and the like and see links to what might be really cool articles, but I don’t know, and I don’t really have the time to read them on the spot. With Instapaper’s “Read Later” button that I can add to my browser bar, I can just archive the article, read it later, and if it’s worth it, archive it to Evernote at that time. Now, I don’t have to add whatever site I’m linked to to my Google Reader, I don’t have to give an article I haven’t even read yet Evernote status, and I don’t have to keep that tab open on my browser for three days till I find time to read the article.

Felicia Bates
I am most thankful for these three amazingly helpful sites:

http://pinterest.com/ – gives me ideas for EVERYTHING!
http://www.thebestdesigns.com/ – gives me ideas for web design
http://w3schools.com/ – gives me the answers I need when my brain doesn’t want to work.

Jenny Qian
We’re using GitHub to managing our code repository. GitHub, launched in February 2008, is an online source code hosting service using Git as a version control system. It is a great collaboration tool for developers in terms of good user experience. Some of the features I really like including network graph, activity feeds, online edits and being able to comment on commits, etc.

April Kyle
I’m thankful for my Garmin Nuvi 3790 that I bought when I moved to California. Years ago my father had bought me my first GPS, a thoughtful gift based off a late night frantic phone call he received from me, begging for step by step guidance through downtown Houston. Direction has never been my strong suit. That GPS was super handy, but often frustrating because it took so long to boot up. When I was about to move, I knew I’d need something a little more responsive for learning my way around Silicon Valley. Enter the 3790. It’s super slim and light, you can talk to it, it can function as your phone (helpful for California’s hands-free laws) and the best part – is always ready for a new navigation, no boot time needed. I’ve learned my way around fairly quickly and don’t use the Nuvi much anymore, but it’s great to have it ready for those times when you swear you know where you’re going and then get totally turned around. Not that that happens to me. (Yesterday.)

David Stagg
Just released this month, I think I’ve finally found my music library solution in iTunes Match. Being able to organize your library at home, download other songs at work, organize them independently and have them all sync up in the cloud? Throw in the fact that it can sync with your iPhone as well, and it’s virtually the perfect solution for those of us who obsessively categorize and clean meta data. Twenty-five dollars a year is easily worth not having the hassle of transporting mp3s or keeping two libraries in sync.”

Brian Potter
Some things I’m thankful for:

Square – I LOVE having my square anywhere I go. Recently I used it so a lady who was buying something from us on Craiglist could use her credit card. I’m also stoked that Square has released Card Case which allows you to check in to vendors, open a tab, and pay there or at your leisure. Really cool technology :).
Reddit – I visit this website multiple times a day. In fact there are only few sites I visit on the web. Reddit is my #1 site because it’s a great community, has great content, and contains a huge sub-reddit culture so I can find whatever I’m interested in. Example: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming, http://www.reddit.com/r/filmmakers.
MailChimp – MailChimp is SO amazing. I run a bunch of mailing lists for churches, non-profits, various ministires, and my Flashmob group, all with the FREE service level that MailChimp provides. The interface is excellent, it’s easy to use, provides excellent analytics and has a killer free plan. Not to mention the hilarious culture and light-hearted approach to their brand, MailChimp is one of the best things to come along the web in a long time.

Jordan Schipul
It may sound cheesy coming from a website design company employee, but I am so thankful for WordPress. It’s user friendly and so adaptable to themes, plug ins and content. I use WordPress outside of work for my blogs and love it. Having something readily available for my thoughts and also showing me other blogs to gather inspiration and knowledge from reminds me why WordPress is one of a kind and so AWESOME.

Katrina Esco
All The Pretty Birds is a blog by fashion photographer Tamu McPherson. Tamu’s content is inspiring, but I’m most fascinated by her ‘approachability.â€ Her blog is lovely and friendly’ so much so that I’m likely to click on any link she shares. Visiting her site feels like reading letters and postcards from an old friend.

Dharol Tankersley
I am grateful for: The democratization of information, the capacity of facts to empower the weak and customizable keyboard shortcuts in MS excel.

John-Michael Oswalt
Github – Github manages all of our code. It makes using git a bit easier and it provides an interface for awesome features like blame and tracking our commits. Through their APIs we are able to deploy our code from a central place quickly and easily. We are able to all stay on the same page, so code conflicts occur rarely. We get more done faster because of Github.

Will Hilliard

Monster Rehab – Whether you are rehabilitating from a serious Red Bull habit, or you just got nauseous brushing your teeth, this is the drink for you. It will give you the caffeine you need to start a day or just remember last night. It has 10 calories, tastes like an Arnold Palmer Gatorade, and best of all, it’s not carbonated. Cause the last thing you should do right now is burp.
Android portable Wi-Fi hotspot – The best thing about the smart phone was the ability to have internet in your pocket. Turn on an Android hotspot, and your phone acts like a portable wireless router. Speeds on my carrier are fast, and it supports up to five connected devices. Use it to connect any wireless device to the web virtually anywhere. Or let your friends connect with their smartphones. Then brag about how awesome you are.

Jonti Bolles

BuckyBalls: Thanks to my roommate for snagging these on a gift while on layover in an airport. Now, nearly the entire office is addicted to creating engaging Buckminster Fuller designs with the rare earth magnets. Productivity, zero. Mind rest in Quadrant 4, awesome.
Kindle Fire: Color ebooks from Amazon on an affordable device that fits in my handbag. More readable than my phone, and easy, easy consumption of digital ‘stuffâ€ when I want it.
Evernote: I totally underutilize this, but the quick synching and sharing of a note or list across multiple devices or people is just insanely helpful, especially during the holidays! Did you really think I would remember to pick up 3 different types of cinnamon, apricot filling, and sour cream from that recipe I saved back in July? Thank goodness for portable files.

Aaron Long
I am thankful for the Up Experience and one of their amazing speakers in particular, Benjamin Zander. He shows through ‘The Art of Possibilityâ€ how to make the most out of a situation. At the Up Experience not only did he share his views on creativity and how to bring out excellence in others, but he also showed us passion and understanding for classical music. A truly motivating day. Thanks to Ernie and Sheryl Rapp for putting it together.

Sarah Worthy
This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for Tendenci and our Programming Team who created it. I am on a lot of association committees and am usually the geeky one on the committee so I always get the job of managing internet, website, and communications. I see at least 1 new software tool every single day if not multiple. To me, Tendenci is to websites what WordPress is for blogs.

Jennie Lane
The YouTube beauty community has been an inspiration to me for years now, but especially in 2011. I started my own beauty blog in January 2011 after watching YouTube ‘beauty gurusâ€ on a daily basis. I am pretty much addicted to watching makeup, hair and nail tutorials as well as clothing hauls from all of my subscriptions. The best part is connecting with people who have similar interests as you, but may live in other states or countries.

I’ve even had the opportunity to live chat with some beauty gurus through BlogTV (not as addictive as YouTube, but neat none the less). If you are into makeup and fashion you really need to check out the YouTube beauty community.
Here are some of my favorite beauty gurus:

Garrett Thomas
I’m thankful for Siri, she’s officially my new bestfriend and tells me where the hottest places are. I asked her if she could find me a girlfriend and she searched for escort services around the city of Houston, now that’s what I call a ‘wingman’.

I’m also thankful for the Shoe Box App because it allows me to take pictures of my parent’s photo albums and share them with the world and my family. It also is great for quickly forwarding Christmas and Thanksgiving photos to extended families who may have forgotten a picture existed.

Alex Ragsdale

Instapaper for keeping my mind from being idle at anytime
Twitter for broadcasting the revolutions better and faster than traditional media
The AV Club for exploring not only the best and worse but also the hows and whys of pop culture
FFFFOUND! for encouraging creativity
5by5 podcasts for making my commute bearable.

Caitlin Kaluza
I am thankful for online inspiration in 2011 from the blog Zen Habits. A blog about productivity, creativity, and embracing what’s really important. The gadget that has changed my life in 2011 is my Logitech Harmony all in one remote – we have all of the devices in the house programmed, including the fan! I am obsessed.

Courtney Pemberton
Chuzzle ‘ This is an iphone app game that I am completely obsessed with. You do not need to be tech-smart, nor do you need to be over the age of 1 years old. All you need to know is how to connect the same colored Chuzzles (adorable, googly-eyed balls of fur) and prepare for non-stop explosions.

Sound pedestrian? Well, it is. But I am forever thankful for this little gem because it helps me fall asleep in less than 5 minutes and takes my mind off of everyday stresses. And here’s a fun fact: Scientists believe that Chuzzles discovered cinnamon.

Derek Key
One of my favorite things that I’ve used so far this year is the Flipboard app for the iPad. It is kind of like an RSS reader that allows you to customize feeds of content from different sources (Wired, Cool Hunter, etc.). It also connects to your flickr, Facebook, and Twitter so you can flip through your friends’ updates and see images they post or go to links so it makes the user experience much better.

Radames Ortiz

Kindle Fire: I’m thankful for my new Amazon $200 Kindle Fire which isn’t just a book-reader that happens to have web browsing capabilities and can run Netflix. It is also an important video game platform. With the usual games like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, it runs the sci-fi horror game Dead Space with absolutely no effort.
Xbox 360: I’m grateful for my Xbox 360 not only for the games but mostly for the Netflix and Hulu Plus apps. There isn’t a time at home when I’m not logged into Xbox Live. Nowadays, I never miss an episode of Modern Family or Parks and Recreation.

Kerry Gayle
I’m thankful for in-ear thermometers. They are so easy to use and allow me to take a hot baby’s temperature in seconds compared to minutes with a non-in-ear thermometer. Speed of use is critical when you have a wriggly grumpy feverish baby. Each in-ear thermometer also allows you to share usage with other folks because they come with disposable covers that go over the part that you stick in your ear. Another favourite feature is the memory store that they have for previously taken temperatures.