Author: Alice Murray Page 1 of 6

How To Celebrate Veterans Day In 2020

On November 11, 2020

In Digital Photo Frame, Holidays, Special Moments, Veteran's Day

Following the end of World War I, Veterans Day was marked as a national holiday, dedicated to all of those who served in the war. Since then, Veterans Day celebrations have been in full swing, in honor of patriotism, the love of the country and the sacrifices that were made.

Each year, Veterans Day celebrations involve large parades and community events, as well as parties and smaller, personal touches. But in 2020, things might look a little different. While the Veterans Day parade may not be happening this year, it doesn’t mean the celebrations are put to a halt. There are plenty of Veterans Day celebration ideas that don’t involve large groups of people, or even leaving your home. From Veterans Day photos to patriotic touches, find out how to celebrate Veterans Day in 2020 below.

Alternative Veterans Day Celebrations

Wondering how to celebrate Veterans Day in the “new normal”? Make the most of the occasion and check out our Veterans Day celebration ideas for 2020 below.

Home Gatherings

Missing the traditional Veterans Day celebrations? As long as you’re following the official guidelines, an at-home celebration with your loved ones will do the trick. Decorate the house with stars and stripes, bake a special cake and play some music – but most of all, make sure you’re safe.

Gift Giving

It’s no secret that sending a thoughtful gift is a great way to give thanks, whether it’s a box of candy or a digital photo frame. There are army keepsakes, hat pins and other treasured pieces that are designed for veterans to show off their army pride.

Donating

Want to give a little something back to veterans? There are a huge number of organizations to make donations to, focusing on everything from assistance for veterans to specific charities targeted to Special Forces soldiers. So while donations can be made all year round, this is one of the very special Veterans Day celebration ideas.

Flying the Flag

Parades might be off the cards, but you can still show up by flying the flag. Veterans Day celebrations just wouldn’t be the same without it – but make sure you’re observing the proper rules. Check out Military.com’s US flag code for clarification. Better yet, get the whole neighborhood involved and adorn the streets with stars and stripes.

Neighborhood Posters

Arrange with your neighbors to adorn your streets with homemade posters – the perfect way to get your kids involved with the Veterans Day celebrations. An activity that can be completed in the comfort of your own homes, display your poster in your front window and turn it into a friendly neighborhood competition. You could even contact the local papers and invite them to photograph the winning entries.

Writing to a Veteran

What better way to show them you’re thinking of them? Get in touch with a veteran and organize for you and your new pen pal to share your stories and stay in touch throughout the year. You’ll learn a lot from their experiences, and they can learn from you, too. Or, send a few one-off letters without the commitment, because you never know how much your words could brighten someone’s day.

Family Photoshoots

Got a veteran in your family? Whether they’re long-distance or down the road, set up a family photoshoot to share with them on this special occasion. Sending a distant loved one a family photo is a great way to show them that you’re thinking of them. And as long as you can keep six feet between you, get them involved in the shoot! So take some happy Veterans Day photos and share them with the family to spread the joy and celebrations.

The best way to share your Veterans Day photos with your loved ones? Near or far, your family can stay close with a smart photo frame from Nixplay – the ideal gift for every family member. Helping you see the bigger picture, the Nixplay App means you can share your favorite memories straight from your phone to your smart frame.

And that’s how to celebrate Veterans Day in 2020. Check out the New York City Veterans Day plans for this year here – including processions and virtual broadcasts.

Make this Veterans Day one to remember with Nixplay, even if it’s a year you want to forget.

Baby’s First Photo Album Checklist

By Alice Murray

On November 5, 2020

In Lifestyle, Photo Organization, Photography, Special Moments

The first year with a newborn baby can be daunting, and it’s a pretty hectic and confusing time. But it’s also magical, precious and incredibly rewarding. And you’ll want to remember every last detail. So what’s the best way to document their development? Your brain can only hold so much information – so why not make family memories that last with a baby’s first photo album? The perfect way to store those valuable flashbacks and follow your baby’s first year in photos.

Baby’s First Year Book Ideas

Baby years fly by so fast, so it’s important to document all the special memories while you still can. And that’s where our baby’s first year book ideas come in – complete with a photo checklist and top tips for how to take good baby photos at home, so you can make sure that your baby’s first photo album is perfect.

Baby’s First Photos Checklist

Organizing a photoshoot with your baby can be tricky, which is why we’ve pulled together a baby’s first photos checklist – a selection of events, moments and concepts that you need to capture as your little one grows. So why not document your baby’s first year in photos with our checklist?

Baby’s first…	It’s all relative	Major milestones
First dayFirst visitorsFirst smileFirst haircutFirst toothFirst birthday	Photo with momPhoto with dadPhoto with siblingsPhoto with grandparentsPhoto with god parentsGroup family shot	Bringing them homeSitting upStanding upLearning to walkThe first day they started to talk
It’s the little things	These are a few of their favorite things	Adorable outfits
Little hands and feetHospital name and cardHolding handsBath timeFamily kisses	No.1 teddyFavorite blankieAfternoon snackFurry friendsBedtime story	First outfitAnimal printFancy dressSunday bestMatching family ‘fits

Happy Holiday

Celebrate the seasons with your baby’s first photo album – making the most of every holiday. Top tip? Flowers make for great baby’s first photo props. Some of the holidays that are a must for your baby’s first year book are:

Independence Day
Labor Day party
Halloween celebrations
Happy Thanksgiving
Merry Christmas
Meeting the Easter bunny

How To Take Good Baby Photos At Home

For the best baby’s first photo album, follow our simple tips on how to take good baby photos at home:

Follow a color theme – you can also progress the tone and shade as baby gets older to follow their progression.
Use fun positions and angles – just make sure you’re being safe.
Involve yourself – it doesn’t just have to be baby in the photo. Document your growth and theirs together, and make the most of this time.
Capture the real-life moments. Not every event in life is the perfect photo opportunity, so don’t spam your phone or followers. Just focus on the touching moments that you experience with baby – for example, snuggling up for a nap with dad.

Finding The Right Baby’s First Year Picture Frame

Looking for a baby’s first year picture frame that holds all the memories in one place? As well as your baby’s first year photo book, you need a digital photo frame. The perfect keepsake to store all your baby’s first photos, a Nixplay smart frame comes with 10GB free cloud storage, meaning you’re never short of space. Got long distance family? You can easily share your baby’s first year progress with them using a Wi-Fi frame from Nixplay. And if you upgrade to Nixplay Plus, you can help your whole family stay closer. Browse the collection and order yours online today.

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What Is Nixplay Plus?

By Alice Murray

On October 30, 2020

In Digital Photo Frame, From The Nixplay Team, Nixplay Plus, Nixplay Stories

What is Nixplay Plus? And how does it make it easier to share photos with family and friends? Find out everything you need to know in our guide – from security and warranty to shared photo albums.

The Benefits of Nixplay Plus

So, what are the real perks of upgrading to Nixplay Plus?

1. Up To 80% Off On Photo Prints

With Nixplay Plus, you can enjoy unlimited custom prints at the lowest prices, so you can share photos with family and friends on a much bigger scale.

2. Share Your Favorite Video Clips

Whether it’s a photo, slideshow or video, Nixplay Plus elevates your memories further, giving you the opportunity to enjoy more of life’s best moments – straight from your frame.

3. Connect Up To 10 Nixplay Frames

Staying close to long distance family is made easy with Nixplay Plus. From just one account, you can control and manage up to 10 Nixplay frames, so everyone from the kids to the grandparents can experience the joy that Nixplay brings. Easy, seamless and sociable.

4. Extended Warranty

Nixplay digital photo frames are durable, technologically advanced and cutting-edge, so we hope you’ll never find a fault. But should you have an accident – like spilling a drink – or your frame stops working for whatever reason, Nixplay Plus covers you for five whole years. Extra warranty, extra security.

5. Family-Sized Storage

The more memories you have, the more space you’ll need. And no one wants to be faced with the choice of which pictures or videos to erase when you run out of memory. Luckily, Nixplay Plus allows you to enjoy a total of 50GB of cloud storage – so you’ll never have to worry about that dreaded ‘out of memory’ alert popping up!

6. Private And Secure Grouped Playlists

In this day and age, you shouldn’t ever have to lose your old photos. With Nixplay Plus, future-proofing your memories has never been easier. Not only can you share photos with family and friends, you can also create up to 50 playlists. This makes it easy to organize and digitize your memories into specific slideshows.

How To Share Photos With Family And Friends

The best part of any Nixplay frame? Being able to share your memories with the ones who matter most. While this is standard with all of our frames, Nixplay Plus lets you create private, grouped playlists that you can send and share in a few easy clicks. What’s more, you’ll have plenty of storage to work with, as we’ve designed our Nixplay Plus subscription plan to be family-sized – giving you all the space you need.

Still wondering how to share photos with family and friends? There’s three ways to do it.

By email
Online
Via the mobile Nixplay app

After setting up your Nixplay frame, you’ll create an account where you’ll be able to manage your pictures, shared photo albums, playlists and even your contacts.

1. Sending photos by email

When you activate your frame, you’ll be able to email your photos and videos using the @mynixplay.com email address used to create your account.

To add the photo in an email to a specified playlist, you can enter ‘pl: playlist name’ in the subject line.

When the photo has been delivered to the @mynixplay.com account, it will automatically be stored in the online ‘Albums’ section.

2. Sending photos at www.nixplay.com

To send and receive photos directly from the Nixplay website, all you need to do is log in with your Nixplay account credentials.

You can add photos to your online shared photo album from:

Your local drive
Facebook
Google Photos
Instagram
Dropbox
Flickr
Verizon Cloud
Received emails
Your mobile phone camera and camera roll
Your friends

3. Sending photos on the Nixplay App

To send photos using our secure mobile app, simply download the Nixplay app from the Apple App Store or from Google Play.

Once you’ve created an account and/or logged in, select ‘Send Photos’ from the home screen and choose whether you want to send photos from your phone camera library or directly from your camera.

When sharing photos from your phone library, you can add captions, send photos to a particular playlist and send your pictures to friends and family.

However you want to share your photos, Nixplay Plus allows you to save and keep up to 50GB worth of photos and videos (that’s a lot of memories in one place!).

Family Networking: Privately, Securely and Safely

With the rapid rise in social media, more of us are sharing our intimate moments online. Whether that’s videos of the kids playing on vacation, photos of your family outing or a snap-happy selfie, it’s important to take extra care and precautions to ensure that your shared posts are kept secure. So if you’re wondering how to share private photos, look no further than Nixplay.

With Nixplay Plus, you don’t ever have to worry about the security and privacy of your photos and videos. So when it comes to your shared photo albums and playlists, you can wave goodbye to any safety concerns. Your Nixplay frame is a safe place to share your most precious memories with loved ones, no matter where they are in the world. With end-to-end encryption, we’ve taken every possible measure to keep your content private – so you don’t have to!

Ready to Upgrade to Nixplay Plus?

Does Nixplay Plus sound like something you and your family could benefit from? If so, you can find out more about our subscription plans and customer perks here. Still undecided about which Nixplay frame is the one for you? Our buying guide has got you covered. Discover our range of Smart Frames and Wi-Fi Frames today. After all, memories last longer when they’re shared.

The Transformation Of Halloween Technology

By Alice Murray

On October 23, 2020

In Halloween, Home Ideas, Lifestyle

Halloween is a time for fun-filled adventures, costumes and spooky celebrations. Over time, October 31^st has been revolutionized, from the original homemade décor and costumes, to high-tech drones, extravagant lighting displays and tech Halloween costumes. But while the freshly carved pumpkins and handmade costumes still live on, technology has truly transformed the way we approach the Halloween festivities.

Halloween technology and the internet

Technology and the internet have benefitted many of us over the years – from businesses and organizations to students and families. It has also had a positive effect on the holiday seasons, including Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween.

Wondering how tech has transformed October 31^st? Technological devices have become a huge part of the whole immersive experience – from home decorating to showstopping party tricks. Here are just a few of the Halloween technology and internet features that have helped to transform the way we celebrate the spooky season:

Tracking apps: Apps like Find My Friends now mean that parents can be stress-free and let their older children go trick-or-treating safely with their friends.
Social media: Combined with the internet, social media has transformed Halloween forever. You can find haunted house reviews, costume inspiration, and spooky décor ideas with the click of a button.
LED bracelets: Make sure your little one is in sight throughout the night with a light-up bracelet that stands out in the dark.

Tech or treat: Fun Halloween tech ideas

The spooky season is the perfect opportunity to show off your creative side – and Halloween technology makes it even easier. Here are some of the Halloween technology ideas that have developed over time:

Tech Halloween Costumes

What about wearable Halloween tech? Over the years, and as technology has become more prominent in our everyday lives, more and more people have decided to design their own tech Halloween costumes. Here are just a few ideas:

Use your smartphone or tablet to develop your dramatic tech Halloween costumes. Check out this YouTube video posted by Mark Rober, where he creates the effect of a hole in his stomach using two tablets!
Implement LED lights into your Halloween costumes. How about creating a hat with flowing LED strips to turn you into a jelly fish? Or use some wire to form light-up fairy wings?
Robot suits! The ultimate tech Halloween costumes. These are more on the pricey side, but they’re definitely worth it. What’s not to love about turning into a robot for a fun-filled evening?

While Halloween technology is great for costumes, it can be dangerous to wear – if it’s not done in the right way. So remember to stay safe when wearing your tech Halloween costumes!

High-tech Halloween decorations

There are many digital Halloween decoration ideas that have been developed over the years. From spooky animations to hang around the house, to ghostly drones and holograms to haunt the exterior of your home, but here are a few of our favorites:

LED light shows: Outdoor lighting displays aren’t just for Christmas – these technology Halloween decorations are completely versatile. Use a projector or some string LED lights to spruce up your front yard and make it Halloween-ready.
Haunted moving paintings: Perfect for an authentic haunted house experience.
Halloween photo displays: Whether you’re celebrating with a party, trick or treating or a cozy night in with the kids, a great way to get in the spooky spirit is by displaying some of your favorite Halloween snaps – past and present.

Looking for a way to show off your spooky surprises at home? Make your Halloween memorable with a digital photo frame – the perfect way to display your favorite family photos, no matter what time of year. Browse our range of Wi-Fi photo frames and Smart Frames online today to complete your Halloween technology decorations.

Things might be a little different this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still celebrate. Why not get the whole neighborhood to decorate their front lawns and have a virtual Halloween party to keep up the spooky spirits? Whatever you do, make sure you have a happy Halloween at home with your family and carry on the festivities.

7 Amazon Alexa Compatible Devices

By Alice Murray

On October 15, 2020

In Customer Testimonials, Home & Interiors, Home Ideas, Lifestyle

Building out your smart home? With an Alexa at the center of everything, it’s easy to control your smart home devices and turn your house into a smart hub. If you want to make more use of Alexa, we’ve got a selection of some of the best smart home devices to that can be controlled with only the sound of your own voice.

Smart home devices that work with Alexa

There are so many smart home devices that work with Alexa, so it can be difficult to get your head around the ones that will benefit you the most. The hundreds, if not thousands, of Amazon Alexa compatible devices all have their advantages and disadvantages. So we’ve pulled together a list of some of the must-have smart home devices to help you get started.

1. Alexa, turn up the lights

Tired of tripping over your feet or walking into furniture when heading to bed after turning the lights off? A smart bulb is the best solution. Simply hop into bed with the light on, and command Alexa to turn it off once you’re all set for sleep. There are a lot of smart bulbs that work with Alexa, so make sure you do your research to find the right one for you. Some let you dim the lights, change the color and turn them on or off.

2. Alexa, open up Netflix

Lost the controller? We’ve all been there. Whether it’s stuck down the back of the sofa or the batteries have died, with a smart TV and Alexa device, you won’t need one. One of the best Alexa compatible devices will have the software built in, and some smart TVs do. Turn it on and off, switch the channel, increase the volume or adjust the brightness, using nothing but your own voice.

3. Alexa, lock the doors

Gone are the days of dragging yourself back out of bed to bolt the front door. Make your home is secure with Alexa and a smart lock – so you don’t have to wonder if you locked the door when you’re cozy in bed. There are many smart locks to choose from, to suit all budgets. So if you’re tired of losing track of all your keys or don’t want to leave a spare under the mat, a smart lock will give you more control.

4. Alexa, turn up the heating

These smart home devices can make you more comfortable at home, but have a great impact on your bills. Some smart thermostats also come with Alexa built in – meaning you can manage the temperature of your home with ease. Which means no more fussing about with buttons that you can’t quite figure out, because it’s all done with your voice!

5. Alexa, vacuum the floor

The best way to keep your floors clean without lifting a finger? Smart vacuums. These home staples have come a long way, and many now have the capability to work using voice activation – making your life just that little bit easier. With these Alexa compatible devices, you can ask your vacuum to clean, stop and return to its dock. You will still need the app to schedule the cleaning and check the status of your vacuum, but there’s every chance that these actions will be voice activated in the future.

6. Alexa, feed the dog

Running late because your pet needs feeding? Cutting your day short to make sure you’re home on time for dinner? A smart, automatic pet feeder will do the job. Set regular mealtimes, adjust portion sizes and set voice alerts to let your pooch know that it’s time for dinner. Better yet, some of these smart home devices can be used in conjunction with Alexa to dispense food manually, for those days when your furry friend needs an extra feed!

7. Alexa, show me my favorite photos

Experience the latest Alexa software on a Nixplay smart photo frame – letting you share your treasured memories with your family and friends, all with the sound of your own voice. Just ask Alexa to manage your frame and you can display any of your photo playlists and assign a specific playlist to any Nixplay frame (wherever that frame is). So if you’re looking for a gift that keeps you present, or an Amazon Alexa compatible device that displays your favorite memories, a Nixplay digital photo frame is the must-have smart home device for you. Browse the collection online today and order yours to start sharing your best moments with your loved ones.