Even though South by Southwest (SxSW) is long over, the memory lives on. 3 of the 5 dads from Cast of Dads were there for this great conference which takes place in Austin, Texas and we decided to do something a bit different. The Cast of Dads that were at SxSW ventured over to the Dad Labs studio and we recorded our first ever video podcast, using the miracles of broadband connections, webcams and Skype.
In this episode, the “locals” were Daddy Brad (from DadLabs.com), CC Chapman (from DigitalDads) and Jeff Sass (from Dad-O-Matic) while Max Kalehoff (from AttentionMax) and I were remotely hooked in. It was actually a pretty fun episode to record and while we normally focus on doing audio podcasts, we have proven to ourselves (and hopefully to you) that video is a great way to have conversations as well.
Keys are a pain! I have so many keys on my keychain that I feel like a locksmith and I’m not even sure what keys go to what lock. But you can’t just throw them away, right? And, keys get lost. To top it off, they are simply and completely low tech. Also, the more people you have in the family, the more keys you have to make and as soon as someone loses one, you might have to change all of your locks. The SchlageLINK not only eliminates the need for keys, it also lets you assign codes to every member of your family, track locks and unlocks and control other components in your house.
If you have an active family, people go in and out of your house all of the time. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to get notified when people come and go? What about setting up notifications that are uniquely tied to particular members of the family, the house cleaners or your neighbors? With the SchlageLINK, you can. And, you can do a whole lot more. And I have some hands-on experience to prove it. Schlage provided me with a complimentary starter kit deadbolt system to evaluate and document not only the installation processes but also how it works.
The SchlageLINK starter kit consists of the following:
I just had a “brilliant” idea on how to fix the failing US Education System. Well, perhaps not brilliant but hopefully thought-provoking. I don’t think that it would or could ever be implemented but I really think we need to start thinking outside the box in order to re-position the US globally in so many different ways. For me, this is particularly important as I have three elementary school children who, in 10-15 years, will be struggling to find their way through life, to make a contribution and to prove their self-worth. But our educational system is fundamentally broken. Children are less prepared to meet the demands of life head-on, and, in comparison to other countries, produce lack-luster results when it comes to knowledge, critical thinking and basic preparation to survive and compete in a global workplace.
What kicked me off on exploring how to fix this problem was a couple of things. Last night, I attended a parent orientation for incoming 6th graders at our local middle school. I was incredibly impressed by the passion, devotion and energy that all of the teachers that presented the class curriculum and what kids in the middle school will be taught. I was almost jealous of the structure, planning and topics. I was lucky to have a fairly good education as a child, and attended very highly ranked schools in California. But since then, the entire California education system has fallen way behind due to budget cuts AND the fact that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to attract talented teachers. Many teachers do what they do purely out of the passion to help mold young minds. They are definitely not in it for the money. Being in the land of technology innovations, I can definitely see the lure to join a startup or technology company with the possibility of wild financial success over becoming part of education and watch as budgets are cut, staff is downsized and you have to basically do more with less.
So, I attended the orientation and was really excited for my incoming 6th grader. 6th grade transitions are extremely difficult and scary (probably more for the parents than the kids). The initial wide-eyed and bushy-tailed aspect of the new 6 grader will quickly morph into a student sucking in skills and information that will prepare them for the future…hopefully. But it takes passion to start and build the learning flame within each student. And THAT process only comes through inspired teaching. In my mind, teachers are and have been the un-sung heroes of our societal fabric. We expect them to be there, to treat our children as if they are our own and prepare them for the future.
I would think that by now, many of you would have heard the term “Cloud” used when talking about Internet “stuff.” In passing, a common phrase thrown around is “it’s saved to the Cloud” or “it’s in the Cloud.” So, that’s fine, but many people don’t know what that really means. Hopefully, I can help explain it but honestly, instead of this process becoming easier as the concept evolves, I am finding it becoming even more…er…cloudy.
My day job actually is about helping people understand what Cloud Computing really is. I’m the Technology Evangelist for a Cloud Computing Infrastructure Hosting Provider called GoGrid. Whew, try saying that in one breath! So that means I’m consistently looking for ways to explain not only the term, but also what we as a company do.
Where the Cloud Started for Me – Slightly Cloudy
When I started at GoGrid about 2.5 years ago, Cloud Computing was a relatively new concept. Some say that it was born from Utility Computing and Grid Computing and others believe that it is simply an extension of the idea of Virtualization. It is, among other things, a marriage of these concepts with some new ones thrown in. And it is evolving at breakneck speed.
Two years ago, I came up with the idea of the Cloud Pyramid in order to graphically explain in an extremely over-simplified manner, how Cloud Computing is broken down into 3 distinct layers:
It’s seems like we at Cast of Dads are always talking about social media and parenting and how at times they are mutually exclusive. Part of my day job is to actually be doing a lot of marketing on various social sites. And, in fact, all of us dads on the Cast of Dads are [...]
Have you ever wished you could get the music off of your computer and onto your main stereo system? Sure, you could buy an Apple AirPort Express and hook that up, but let’s say you want to do more than just work with iTunes and you want almost zero configuration. Let’s say, you want to [...]
Did that title grab you? It is perhaps a bit misleading simply because I have only tested a handful of Windows 6.5 Mobile phones to date. Most of my focus has been on the iPhone and a few Android-based phones. However, I do feel that it is important to talk about the HTC HD2 (TMobile [...]
Discipline in the family is never an easy topic to talk about, especially when setting the rules or enforcing them. And it seems that every family has a different approach to implementing these rules. This was the main topic that we discussed in the Cast of Dads Podcast #12 titled “Discipline“. One thing that we [...]
Avid technologist, blogger, social media pundit (@HighTechDad on Twitter), loving husband and father of 3 beautiful girls. I write about technology, consumer electronics, gadgets, software, hardware, parenting "hacks," and other tips & tricks. I'm a fan of all technology that is new, exciting and valuable. See my About page for more details.
Professionally, I'm the Technology Evangelist for GoGrid, the #1 pure-play Cloud Computing Infrastructure hosting provider in the world where I write regularly about Cloud Computing on the GoGrid blog.
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