Tine Tags

Someone asked if they could send me Tine Tags to try because I'm a "mom blogger". Stupidly, I thought they were something you put ON your blog. Like, some kind of link or something. I got them in the mail and had no clue what to do with them. Now, that's my own fault, because I didn't read. Then, I put them in my bag and forgot about them. I got an email from the person who sent them asking if I used them and that she couldn't wait to read about them. Clearly, they were not links to go ON my blog, but for me to try and write about. Duh. I'm not usually that moronic, so I'm calling myself out here. Sheepishly, I said I'd done nothing with them. I just saw them in my bag again so I got to trying them out like I'd promised.

I get it now. I get how they're supposed to be used. So, now I can write about them. Tine Tags are little sticky tags that come twenty to a sheet. You put the free app on your smartphone. You sign up, confirm your address, and they'll send you tags. Then, from the app, you can record video, audio or take a photo, put it to the tag via scanning on the app, then stick them anywhere. At first, I didn't get why one might do this. But I tried it and I can see where they could be useful. If you want more tags, you can buy them. Once you use a tag, that's it. It's used. You can view/hear the content over and over but I'm pretty sure you can't reuse the tag as in putting something else on the same, already used, tag.

-Put a tag inside your kid's coat with recorded instructions on how to get it back to you. E and some kid with the same coat took each other's by mistake from an extracurricular class in a town neither of them live in. I had no idea how to find this other boy's mom, even with my sleuthing skills.

-Make voice notes on a report or in a book for work or leisure

-Put them on moving or storage boxes with video, audio or photos of what is in them. I guess you could just write on them but often, you reuse boxes and what you originally wrote isn't what's really in them later on. I KNOW the boxes in my attic aren't labeled correctly.

-Instructions for feeding a baby or kids for a babysitter. You know those teens have a smartphone.

-Extra special touch on a greeting card

They're cool. I'm not going to use them on a greeting card or to make a book more personal. I just already know this. That's a Pinterest type of idea and we know I'm not Pinterested. But I would use it on something of E's that I would be pissed if he lost. When he *lost* his coat, I would've LOVED if I had a direct way to contact the mom. I didn't even know WHERE he switched coats. Originally I thought it was with another kid at his afternoon school. It wasn't. It was somewhere where I don't know ANY of the other parents or kids. A Tine Tag would've been quite helpful.

I could totally see using them at work for dimensions of lampshades. For instance, if I did a house call and had to take shades back with me. Instead of Post-It notes, It would be better to record video or audio on a Tine Tag to know exactly what I'm doing to that shade. Or for video of the room the shades are going in so I can refer back to a color palate later. Once, I went to a mansion kind of house where I had shades from multiple rooms. But I had no lamps to take back with me. I took separate pictures of all the lamps but it would've been better if I'd had video of what lamps were in what rooms and had the Tine Tag stuck on the shades per room. I could've taken video on my phone, but then all the videos would be together, taking up space on my phone, until I was ready to refer to them. It just would've been annoying for me.

My husband just asked what they were and now thinks they're the coolest ever. Again, for work. He has to take apart lamps and chandeliers. He tries to take picture or videos of how they looked before so when he puts them back together, it's easier to remember how they were before. But if he had a tag on the piece or the paperwork with the video or photo of how they looked before it would just be way more organized. He likes things streamlined, clean and organized. These would be perfect for that.

The only drawback I can see is that not everyone has a smartphone, nor do they know what to do with scanning. I see those scanner label things on stores at the mall all the time. Even having used the Tine Tag, I don't know what to do with the ones at the mall. You kind of have to imagine everyone is a technologically challenged wandering old (like me). I don't know that someone else would know what to do with these things if someone sent one or put it on an item of clothing. When I spoke to the mom of the kid who had E's coat, I said to her that she was hard to track down. That I'm everywhere. If she had noticed E's name in his coat (first and last name), if she'd Googled him, she'd get me in half a second. She replied that as I am everywhere, in comparison, she is nowhere. So I'm not sure that if I had a Tine Tag on his coat, she would've even known how to use it. If this girl who sent me the tags hadn't contacted me, I wouldn't know either. I guess what I'm saying is that until they're more widely known, I don't know how helpful they'll be in certain situations I'd want to use them for.

All in all- they're a cute idea. I don't know how mainstream they'll be for at least some time, but you could definitely have some fun trying them out. I don't like the sound of my own voice, so I will cool it on the audio usage but maybe I could do some fun stuff with E using them with the picture function.