RioVida Networks

RioVida Networks brings causes, celebrities, music, film makers, artist and corporations together for mutual benefit.

  • What you want to know before you buy a Smartwatch

    Smart watches for Kids from www.vigilintbiosensors.com
    Smart watches for Kids from www.vigilintbiosensors.com

    Wearable technology offers a wide array of choices. Keeping track of the options is a daunting task.  Here are some quick tips.

    Does it work with your smart phone?  All Smart Watches for kids are tethered to the parent’s smartphone, but you need to know not all watches work with every mobile network plan.  as

    Does the watch come with a SIM Card installed?   All smartwatches that receive text, calls and data require a SIM Card.

    Does the SIM card on your watch work with your mobile carrier?  Many smartwatch providers sell to customers without explaining whether their mobile carrier supports the watch in their local area.  Most smartwatches are sold without a SIM card  plan, leaving you, the customers, to tackle the issue.

    How long does the battery last and can you reload with via USB?  Many smart watch customers (and their kids) complain about short battery life, often running out in mere hours. Make sure your batteries last for a full day or more.  This way you can reload the batteries every night while you sleep.

    What are the important features on a watch for your kids and which do you really need?   Simple, reliable, trusted communication with your child is paramount. Many smartwatches sell a catalog of games — but your kids already have access to games on a tablet or computer at home. When they are on the way to school or outdoors playing, they shouldn’t get distracted. Wouldn’t it be better if they paid attention to their safe travel or playing with other kids?

    Is your watch water-resistant or waterproof?   Most smartwatches like most watches are water-resistant, but not waterproof.   Make sure you buy a watch for your specific needs.

    Can you communicate with the smartwatch?  Many smartwatches are only glamorized pedometers.  So carefully read about all the features when you choose a smartwatch.  There are only a few companies that actually want you to be able to communicate via the watch.  Apple Watches run from $1,299 for their top products all the way to $139 for their Walmart specials.  Naturally the features from each smartwatch vendor vary greatly.

    Some are specifically designed to keep families together,  Vigilint Biosensors’  Hawkeye Smartwatches  inform parents, babysitters about the children in their charge.  Hawkeye Smartwatches link and work with every major U.S. mobile carrier: AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, unlike most other kids smartwatches, that only work with one or two. This is due to the fact that Vigilint Biosensors offers Hawkeye smartwatches with SIM cards pre-installed and ready to use and  compatible with all major smartphone carriers for $10 per month.  Vigilint Biosensors customer service test it for you before it is shipped after you fill out the COPPA compliance form. Keeping kids safe is a top priority.

    Vigilints’ Hawkeye GPS keeps a close eye on where your kids are, and if there is an emergency, allows others you designated to text or speak with them directly.   Hawkeyes  run on the proprietary SIM cards and are fully functioning right out of the box, unlike many of the very inexpensive watches that need assembly and are not out-of-the-box ready found on Amazon and other retailers.  Many come without a SIM card or a service connection to the parents’ smartphone. This is frustrating for parents who don’t have the time to become watchmakers before their kids smartwatch works.  So check the fine print before you buy.

    Buying a smartwatch for your kids may be a bit confusing and overwhelming. Choosing well is worth the time and effort. Just do a bit of homework and compare features.  When you want to keep a family together by sharing parenting and babysitting with up to 3 adults and a total of 8 connections, Hawkeye smartwatches are a great solution for your young child. They stay on their little wrists. Thus they are a great alternative to buying smartphones and plans for each your 3 to 6 year olds.  Phones are too big of a responsibility for  young children.  Put a Hawkeye on their wrist and relax.  Affordable, ready to use, and designed with the parent / child relationship in mind.

     

  • Brandi Carlile echoes Joan Baez in more ways than one

    Brandi Carlile has a most amazing voice with perfect elocution. Her voice is beautiful and haunting. It stays with you after you heard it. A bit of a siren call like Joan Baez. You can’t unhear their voices. Once you did you know that voice.

    Another way that Brandi is impactful like Joan Baez use to be is that she sings ballads that actually talk about things that we care about. Feelings and issues. Relationships gone wrong and the feelings we may experience as we work them out.

    When you are depressed, get help. People care! Many more people than you may realize, care about you.
    When you are depressed, get help. People care! Many more people than you may realize, care about you. (Official version… click on photo to play)

    “By the way, I forgive you.” is related to a friend of Brandi’s who committed suicide when they were in High School. “Hold out your hand” is about gun violence. Brandi supports the effort by Seattle school children who don’t want to get shot. The students behind “March For Our Lives” in Seattle made a video and Brandi decided to support their effort with her song “Hold out your Hand.”

    On facebook Brandi exclaims:

    “These young people are asking for a change – are you listening?

    Responsible gun laws are on a spectrum and as much as we’d like it to be, it isn’t black and white. Some of these kids hunt with their parents, some of them are enlisting into service and will carry a weapon in defense of your way of life. Don’t make the mistake of broad brushing what they’re asking for.

    We can’t allow ourselves to be divided and conquered any longer by organizations that profit from our division. There can be and there IS a way that we can create change from the center of the debate.”

    A singer songwriter activist who is also amazingly talented like Brandi, doesn’t come along very often.  Let’s support her by purchasing her new album.

    http://bytheway.brandicarlile.com/

    Or, even better go see her live.  It surely will be an experience that stays with you. You can catch her at the Mondavi Winery in Napa, CA on July 14th, and at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, CA on August 22nd, 2018.   She is actively touring the entire country.  Check her website for dates near you.

    You may also enjoy her YouTube channel.  Or say hello to her on facebook.

  • Dr. Robin Goodman recommends to help kids feel good on the inside for a positive self image.

    Stay connected with your kids. Let them know they are important to you.  Give them ideas on how to feel good about themselves. Sit down with them to make a list about all the things that makes kids unique. Help them become self-aware of their wonderful qualities. This will help their self-esteem.

    Remind them of their own unique qualities when they have a hard time with other skills.  Model non-competitive behaviors with other.  If they see the parent compete with the neighbors, it will make them think they have to become competitive whether they wish to or not.   Instead point out that everyone has different qualities and that is ok. Finding the good in oneself and in others is a great practice and can become a fun game.

    This will help the child become more resilient. If they have a hard time with one thing, they and you can remind them about something that they are naturally talented in. Remind them of a skill they acquired through practice.

    Share with them if there is something is hard for you, so they know that it is normal that we have good days or bad days.  This will help them cope when thing are difficult. Self-esteem is closely related with a realistic self-image.

    Also listen to them and pay attention to them.  If you are separated from your kids all day because of school and your work, you can connect with them through their Hawkeye Smartwatches and your Vigilint Family Assistant app.

    Hawkeye Watches by Vigilint Biosensors keep parents connected to kids.

  • Guns, guns, guns – Americans love guns, despite the many mass murders

    The Hunters Little House on the Prairie
    The Hunters Little House on the Prairie

    In America, we grow up with a romantic vision of being explorers who conquer the wilds and create new homes and lives in the wilderness.  During the frontier days Americans hunted for food.  They sustained themselves and lived off the land.  Beautiful vistas, wide open grasslands, forests, and log cabins by the lake were a fact of life, not such a very long time ago.

    Shooting dear, rabbits, or even wild boars, geese and ducks was a way of life.  Hunting was a necessary part of sustaining the family in a land that had few stores.   It was romanticized in literature, in TV Shows and the movies.

    Fast Forward to Parkland, FL and Santa Fé, TX in 2018

    “I’d be comfortable with our teachers having guns,” said Tessa Ybarra, 15, a sophomore at Santa Fe High School. “If Ms. T and Ms. Perkins had guns, maybe they could have protected themselves,” she said, referring to Cynthia Tisdale and Glenda Ann Perkins, the two teachers killed on Friday.  NYT

    Do you agree with Tessa Ybarra?  The gun lobby agrees with her.

    The NRA, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt organization, claimed that they provided a means to raise millions of dollars to fund gun safety and educational projects of benefit to the general public.   While they certainly succeed in influencing Congress and have over 5 Million members, and a supportive group of wealthy individuals who support assault rifle sales to 18 year olds, the gun safety part of their proclaimed mission is failing miserably. Now they practically promote gun violence.

    “I don’t understand why I could still go in a store and buy a weapon of war,” said Sam Zeif, 18, sobbing after he described texting his family members during the attack. “Let’s never let this happen again, please, please.” Reuters

    Why is it that Americans as a whole, can’t understand that guns are used to kill innocent children and adults?  

    With school shooting on the rise it actually is not romantic any longer. Good Housekeeping reported that  since the beginning of 2018, 20 people were killed at school to do gun violence.

    Recie Tisdale, son of Cynthia Tisdale, who was a substitute teacher at Santa Fe High School. told the Washington Post, “She started substitute teaching because she loved to help children. She didn’t have to do it. She did it because she loved it.”

    Gun violence is not romantic.  Letting go of the Frontiers’ men fantasy will take a long time.  It is so compelling.  Meanwhile stay in touch with your kids and parents.  Talk to them, stay aware of what they are going through.   The Vigilint Parental Assistant App is designed to allow parents to communicate via  Hawkeye Smartwatches with their elementary school children. Harvard research shows that stress affects brain development. The damage caused to the next generation goes way beyond the gun violence.

    Protect, Encourage and Communicate with Your Children Always

    Photo by https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gun-deaths-wars/