Christina Wood

Columnist, freelance writer

Wilmington, NC

I have been covering technology since before Bill met Melinda and you met Google. I've written the Family Tech column in Family Circle magazine and the Deal Seeker column at Yahoo! Tech. I also write about education, parenting, and many other topics for many other publications. Clients include Greatschools.org, CIO, The Week, Experience Magazine, Discovery, Better Homes and Gardens, Popular Science, This Old House Magazine, USA Weekend, PC Magazine, PC World, Saks Fifth Avenue, and many others.

Christina Wood

Columnist, freelance writer

Wilmington, NC

Deal Seeker: Five Bargains for a Photo-Obsessed Culture
“Who cares if your hair is a mess?”. I asked my teenage daughter. She was taking much too long to get ready for school. Her response startled me, but it offered an astute commentary on our culture. “Do you know how many pictures will be taken of me today?”. she asked. “Hundreds. If you were having your picture taken all day, you’d do something about your hair, too, wouldn’t you?”.
Yahoo!
The Deal Seeker: Get a Galaxy S6, an iPad Air, or a Motorola Smartwatch... Cheap
The Galaxy S6 is finally out. You know you want it. It’s fast, slick, beautiful, and sexy. Yes, really. I want one. Maybe you do, too. Under normal circumstances, I’d never be able to justify another cell phone purchase. But for a limited time, new and existing Sprint customers can lease a Galaxy S6 for free by committing to the Sprint Unlimited Plus plan.
Yahoo!
BMW Made My Daughter a Driver
I took my teenage daughter to BMW Performance Driving School. The weekend started with my sixteen-year-old daughter, Ava, whispering these words to me as we sat down in the classroom portion of her weekend at BMW Performance Driving School. The room was full of teenagers. To me, none of them looked older or more confident than her.
Jean Knows Cars
4 Cars with Tech to Help Your Teen
2016 Chevrolet Malibu is the latest car with features to limit teens' ability to get into trouble. Look back at those kids bickering in your back seat on the way to school, and enjoy them while they last. Before you know it, they’ll be asking for the keys and driving themselves to school. The most shocking thing about that may be that you will actually hand the keys over and let your baby maneuver that fast, massive, and potentially deadly machine into the world.
Jean Knows Cars
The Volvo XC90 Would Not Let Me Die
I had to try three times to swerve like a drunkard into the oncoming traffic lane. I was on a freeway in Spain, driving a new Volvo, and it would just not let me. The first two times, as soon as I started to drift from my lane, the Volvo’s steering wheel rumbled a warning against my folly. The third time, though, I managed to ignore the car’s insistent warnings and head directly across the median line.
Yahoo!
Your Next Car Will Have a Computer for a Dashboard
This year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit wasn’t just about the usual: speed, fuel efficiency, and comfort. Tech was everywhere. The annual car show was, in fact, geek heaven. Technology was everywhere, even though a lot of it was hard to see. Collision avoidance, smart cruise control, lane guidance, sensor-driven driving corrections, and radar alert systems are technologies you rarely notice.
Yahoo!
BMW's Car That Won't Crash
A day testing the latest in collision prevention on the BMW i3. I like the idea of a car that drives itself. I know the rest of the world is not 100 percent with me on that. But I’ve watched a lot of science fiction movies. In those, if you engage autopilot, you get to do fun things in your bunk instead of keeping your hands at ten and two.
Jean Knows Cars
4 New Electric Vehicles
Good news for planet Earth! Here are four alt-energy vehicles that saw the light of day at Detroit. Good news for the planet! There were some huge electric announcements at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week. In fact, there was something for everyone: economy, everyman, and luxury.
Jean Knows Cars
Coolest Tech
The five best things we spotted on cars at the Detroit auto show. I walked the floor at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this week, in search of the coolest car technology I could find. I let the car guys talk torque and RPM. This girl nerd was looking for the smartest innovations, the stuff that’s most wanted by a smartphone-sporting average human with a lot on her mind.
Jean Knows Cars
Wi-Fi in Cars: The View from CES
Find out which cars hook you up, and which go a step further and hook up everyone riding with you. The Consumer Electronics Show this year was all about the future: Cars that drive themselves, 3D printers, drones, and slick wearables. But that thing that seems ever so possible and that you want every day (Right now!
Jean Knows Cars
5 Must-Have Gadgets for the Driver
You didn't know you needed them. As seen at the the Consumer Electronics Show. Did you just leave the garage door open–with the bikes, kayaks, and dive gear in it–when you left on your commute to work? But there is no need to drive home to check. With MyQ, just look at your phone, tap to close the garage door, and carry on.
Jean Knows Cars
Fuel-Cell Toyota Mirai: The Future?
Amid the sea of people and exciting tech announcements at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, there was an announcement from Toyota that is probably a pretty important moment in automotive history: the Mirai. It's Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell car, a mid-size sedan that will be available for purchase or lease in October.
Jean Knows Cars
Cloud-Based Calling Is the Right Connection for East Coast Law Firm
Any trial lawyer knows the telephone is an essential tool of the trade. At law firm Bonner Kiernan Trebach & Crociata LLP — which had been relying on an aging collection of private branch exchange phone systems in its East Coast offices for more than 10 years — attorneys knew it was time for a change.
Biztech
Small Office Home Office
Lessons Learned from Chromebook Rollouts
It was time to try something new in the K–8 schools of Community Consolidated School District 59 in Arlington Heights, Ill. Ben Grey, assistant superintendent of innovative learning and communications, had been on the job for more than a year. The junior
Technology Solutions That Drive Education
Lessons Learned from Chromebook Rollouts
It was time to try something new in the K–8 schools of Community Consolidated School District 59 in Arlington Heights, Ill. Ben Grey, assistant superintendent of innovative learning and communications, had been on the job for more than a year. The junior high schools were well into a one-to-one notebook initiative, and the lower grades were due for a technology refresh.
Small Office Home Office
Opening Minds with Skype in the Classroom
Sometimes I’m stunned by the myopic viewpoints my daughter encounters in school, and so is she. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble to help both my kids see past their own small world to understand global issues. We travel as much as we can. We watch programming from other cultures. And we explore the Internet with an eye to the larger, diverse world.
Family Circle

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Christina Wood