Remini Joins ‘Student Privacy Pledge’

Remini is proud to be a signatory of the Student Privacy Pledge which was established to “safeguard student privacy regarding the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information.”

You can see our logo on the Student Privacy Pledge site here.

 

Privacy and Children’s Photos

Photo (g4ll4is/Flickr)

 

Check out this post on privacy issues and children’s pictures.

It’s by Remini on Upliftingfamilies.com

Remini is now a ‘MyPermisisons’ Certified App

Mypermissions.com badge

Remini is proud to announce it is now certified under the MyPermissions.com trusted app certification Program.

MyPermissions.com is an app that scans a device alerting users to all the apps accessing it. From there a user can see all apps, the permissions they require (what private information they access), and can turn off/delete apps easily, if desired.

Mypermissions.com also certifies apps so users know they are trusted and aren’t trying to access data they were never given permission to tap.

While we know Remini is secure, we hope the new seal at the bottom of our homepage provides an added level of transparency making your Remini experience that much more pleasant.

REMINI 101: Remini vs Shutterfly

(Photo: TheBusyBrain/Flickr)

 

Some schools we spoke with said they communicate with parents through a Shutterfly classroom site which is like a traditional website. They asked about the differences between Shutterfly and Remini and there are several.

General differences

Shutterfly is a website. (It has an app but the classroom site does not function well on it).

Remini is an app which works on smart-phones and web browsers. This makes it easy to use and accessible for teachers, parents, and family members of all ages.

Also, in Remini, there is a teacher side and parent side, both of which work together and independently: Teachers upload to a class profile and parents receive a notification. If they desire parents can share that post to their child’s timeline adding to the child’s life story.

Inviting parents/Administrative differences

• When inviting parents Remini’s system is by far simpler. For example, in Shutterfly, the teacher has to input all the children and parent names manually. In Remini, the app does all the work for the teacher by sending automated emails or texts (SMS) to parents.
• In Shutterfly, there is no ability to tag children in a photo. In Remini there is and it automatically shares the post on the child’s private timeline.
• In Shutterfly, pages to a class/school site clutter the site, especially if you have two or more classes. In Remini administrators/teachers can create a school, create individual profiles for each class, and everything is organized.  The page is not cluttered with all the classes of a school because parents only view the classes they are connected to.
• In Shutterfly, there is no capability for teachers to send private messages to parents via the app and can only be done through email. In Remini teachers can send private messages.

 

Privacy

• In Shutterfly there is the option to add pages to a class/school site but the individual pages are not private and can be seen by all members of the site. In Remini, parents invited to a class can only see that class and nothing more.
• In Shutterfly all posts are public and seen by everyone invited to the class site. In Remini teachers can upload posts as public (seen by the entire class) or private (seen by one or more parents).
• Shutterfly allows permission changes regarding who can contribute to the school/class website. In Remini, parents invited to the class may only ‘heart’ (like) or leave comments on posts. This creates a more secure interface so there’s never any questions about having to change settings.
• In Shutterfly parents invited to the class can also view each child in the class making each child’s personal information or picture less secure. In Remini parents can only view the class timeline and are not connected to the profiles of other children unless invited.
• In Shutterfly, children are listed on the class site but don’t have their own separate, private profiles. In Remini child profiles are created and controlled by the parents.

Shutterfly App

In the Shutterfly App we didn’t see an option for parents to easily view the class site or send or copy photos to share with family. In Remini parents are easily directed to the class of their child whether they connect through the app or from a web browser. Sharing materials from the class to a child’s timeline is simple and easy.

*Since the nature of this technology is always changing or in the process of being updated, if you’ve found any other points we missed or erred on feel free to let us know!

Your 2015 digital scrapbook

(Photo: Nate Steiner/Flickr)

There’s only a few days left to 2014 which means now is a great time to start your child’s new scrapbook. The big question, though, is which direction to go in.

For instance, you could try the old fashioned way and buy an album for collecting everything or…  go digital and try something like Remini.

Remini is an app specifically geared towards capturing a child’s life story and the fact it’s online means all your close family and friends can be a part of the process.

How does it work?

First you set up your child’s profile. Then, invitethe meaningful people in your life to register and they can become a ‘fan’ of the child.  Heck, it’s even set up so you can even invite the kid’s teacher to share materials from the school day!

Once connected everyone can add to the scrapbook (with your permission, of course) or simply view each entry.

Additionally, you’ll be able to organize the scrapbook into albums you create and name and happily know it’s all being done in a secure and private environment.

Furthermore, the big picture benefit of making a scrapbook with Remini is cutting down on clutter because it’s all up there in the cloud. Sure, there’s probably a few genuine items you’ll want to keep in a small box under the bed or in the closet.

However, everything else that’s not already a digital file can be digitized, uploaded to the cloud, and discarded.

If you ever have to downsize just think about how much time you’ll have saved not having to go through all that stuff in twenty years.

So try it out and let us know how it goes.

 

Bring Remini to your summer camp

Hey! Camp administrators! Listen up.

We have something that you could use. It’s called Remini and it’s an app that helps teachers and parents share a child’s photos and other materials.

However, just as it’s applied to the school setting it can be applied to summer camps as well being an amazing conduit for communicating with both nervous parents afraid to let their kids go and parents used to the drill, but happy to get an update once in a while.

Wait. You say you periodically send out emails to all parents during the camp season so why would you need Remini?

Well, with Remini your staff can do two important tasks:

1. Be directly involved with parents on-the-fly.

2. Collect a wealth of memories that can be organized into albums for easy retrieval -an especially nice tool when making summer scrapbooks/yearbooks or looking for marketing materials during the year.

How does it work?

1. Your staff would register to use the app, downloading it onto their mobile devices.
2. Staff working with one age group (let’s call it ‘Boys 10 Year Olds’) would sign in together under that group’s profile and be connected.
3. One staff member under ‘Boys 10 Year Olds’ would then invite parents of children to connect with the profile.
4. Staff from ‘Boys 10 Year Olds’ could then upload photos of campers tagging them individually or as a group.
5. Once tagged parents receive a notification to check out the new uploads.

At the end of the day all the pictures and other memories are placed in a secure environment for parents to see and the interaction helps some of the more worried ones put their fears at ease.

And one last thing: Remini is free.

So try it out here.

Remini 101: Remini vs Facebook

I used to think of  Facebook as a digital scrapbook of my life. It not only included photos but all those off-the-cuff remarks I wanted to say without anyone slowing me down in real time.

Eventually I realized underneath all the sharing, fun, and connecting Facebook has some serious ulterior motives and everything I uploaded was at possible risk. For instance, privacy settings often change, hijacking or hacking of accounts can occur, and so much of my private information may not be publicized to the world but is certainly being used to sell me things.

And then there’s the issue of children and how to keep materials associated with them safe.

And that’s where Remini comes in. The two are like apples and oranges.

(Photo: TheBusyBrain/Flickr)

Remini is an app that pushes all these worries aside because it was designed by experts who worked in data security. They realized for families to share their children’s memories it needed to be done in a completely secure and private environment.

There’s no data collection, sales pitches, or ads to take you on a tangent.

With Remini you simply build a child’s profile from the day they were born and only have to look back in amazement.

You have the ability to ‘like’ a post, comment, and even connect to a child’s teacher who can upload pictures from the day to a child’s profile. Parents get a notification and voilà -a child’s life story is being written from another angle too.

At the end of the day if you are using Facebook to share your child’s photos and other materials it’s hard to imagine making the switch to something new. Nevertheless, with Facebook who knows who’s actually seeing your posts and if they are being shared by others without your knowledge. Doing so would mean periodically, and carefully, reviewing your privacy settings to get a better idea but as a parent do you really have the extra time to keep up with it all?

That said, if you consider the longterm benefits of using something like Remini, it may just be the best space for collecting all those memories. After all, would you rather share them with strangers in the world or the select few in your life who will truly appreciate them.

Why we say ‘cheese’

Photo (Ann Hung/Flickr)

Ever said ‘cheese’ before snapping a shot of someone?

I thought so.

Ever thought about why?

Gotcha there too.

The truth is, no one truly knows the origins of saying ‘cheese’ but the underlying assumption of why it’s popular goes like this.

 

(Photot: Shardayyy/Flickr)

 

In the early, early years of photography (1800s) smiling hadn’t yet become so important.

The camera was still being improved and the well-off were more likely to have pictures taken of their families, friends, or businesses.

Portraits were the norm and seeing a lot of teeth wasn’t the point. Nevertheless, the photographer still had to get everyone’s attention and whether he called out ‘cheese’ or not it’s clear he’d have to say something.

So first of all, the phrase alerts everyone a picture is about to be taken.

 

(Photo: Adam Carroll/Flickr)

 

Eventually, when people began smiling more in pictures, the word ‘cheese’ probably became more prominent but not because it made people laugh.

Interestingly, saying ‘cheese’ causes cheekbones to open up and forces a smile across the face, even if a person isn’t in the mood for one.

Just about any word that ends with an ‘eee’ sound does the job but for some reason ‘cheese’ stuck around.

In many other cultures photographers use words with similar sounding endings but cheese is always a hit, especially with kids.

What this all means is at the end of the day, whether it’s cheese, peas, or trapeze there’s plenty of linguistically creative ways to make people smile.

$100 Giveaway to one lucky new user!

In celebration of reaching over 10,000 users we’re giving away a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate.

This is the perfect opportunity to qualify and pick up that camera, book, pair of shoes, or sunglasses you couldn’t order in time for the holidays themselves. These gift certificates can sit around for a while so you could even save it for your child’s birthday months down the road.

Either way, don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity and keep building your memories.

Sign up for the giveaway here.

 

Compact digital cameras for young photographers

Photo (Aislinn Ritchie/Flickr)

Is your child an aspiring photographer?

To get their creativity off the ground a compact digital camera may be the perfect gift. ‘Compact digital camera’ is just the fancy way of describing the small extra device you used to carry around before your phone could take photos.

They used to be expensive but have come down in price with many being under $50.

Furthermore, the really cheap ones are low-risk enough that if one gets broken or lost it’s not the end of the world.

Compact digital cameras are also beneficial for the child beginner photographer because of the following reasons:

 

Simplicity

Photo (Li Jen Jian/Flickr)

Simply put they are easy to use. Until a certain age most kids aren’t ready to learn about light meters and other advanced settings so there’s no need for anything more. They’re perfect for a child getting used to keeping the hand still and discovering, in his or her own eyes, what makes a great shot.

 

Privacy

Photo (g4ll4is/Flickr)

Giving a kid your old iPhone or Android means they may have access to the internet, apps, or other software they’re not ready for. Compact digital cameras are usually just cameras and need a wire to connect to a computer. They are the safer way to go and keeps all images and your child’s identity secure.

 

Storage

Photo (Knuttz/Flickr)

These cameras may be cheap but they can still take some great photos, and a lot of them. Their quality is high enough to make good looking prints yet low enough file size means hundreds can fit on one memory card.

 

Transport

Photo (Enokson/Flickr)

In their protective cases compact digital cameras fit nicely in any back pack and usually weigh very little. They can be transported with ease and be kept handy for quick shots of things attracting your child’s eye or imagination.

 

Selfies

Photo (Sascha Kohlmann/Flickr)

Yes, even kids deserve to take their own selfies. It allows them to contribute to capturing their own life story from an early age and putting it in albums for years to come.