July 2011

Energy Conservation & Caring for the Elderly – 2 Topics of Today with Huge Impacts for Tomorrow

by Michael Sheehan on July 27, 2011

in Cast of Dads, Consumer Electronics, Event, Gadgets, General, Hardware, Intel, Opinion, Tech News, Video

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A few weeks ago, I participated in the Intel “Upgrade Your Life” 2011 summit in Intel’s Santa Clara, CA campus. This was the second year I attended and after both summits, I always managed to walk away with a headache. But, not a “bad” headache by that definition, but a “good” one. Think about when you go for a very hard run or work out for a long time and your muscles hurt and are sore when you are done…it was THAT type of a headache. In about 8 hours, my mind had sucked in so much new information, that it literally hurt from all of the exercise.

Now THAT'S a chip! Intel Upgrade Your Life 2011

The participants of the “Upgrade Your Life” 2011 event all seemed to have something in common, we were all bloggers and most of us were parents as well and many of us, like me, also write about technology. There were only 2 males/dads in the group, me and Jeff Sass (Jeff and I are 2/5ths of the Cast of Dads podcast), and we did a video recap of some of the things that impressed us about this event in this video “2/5ths of the Cast of Dads Get Their Brains Upgraded at Intel’s ‘Upgrade Your Life’ 2011 Event”. But I thought that I would dive into two other important topics that came from the Intel Labs group: Energy Conservation and Caring for the Elderly.

First off, I have always expressed how much I like the Labs division of companies and Intel’s is no exception. As part of the Intel Advisors program (another group I actively participate in with Intel), some of our best informational conference calls and presentations in my opinion were the ones where people from the Intel Labs group would present us with some new projects that they are working on. So, the two topics of this post and the videos below (from the “Upgrade Your Life” event) are from the Labs groups. There were other quite interesting demonstrations, but I found these two to be timely and critical to think about in this day and age.

I actually got a bit scared when listening to the presentations on these two topics: Energy Conservation and Caring for the Elderly. These are two topics that we need to be not only thinking about, but acting on NOW. And this is exactly what Intel is doing. [click to continue…]

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VIDEO – How to Re-Download Mac OS X Lion & Create Bootable Install DVD & USB Thumb Drive

by Michael Sheehan on July 22, 2011

in Apple, Consumer Electronics, Fix It, General, Hardware, How To, Software, Video

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Yesterday I wrote a post “How To Re-Download Mac OS X Lion & Create a Bootable Install DVD” and it seems to be helping a lot of people out there. So, sometimes it is even more helpful to create a video that explains the process, so I quickly put one together. Also, a few users were wondering how to create a bootable USB Thumb Drive with the same installer so I have added those steps to this post.

Note: if you are looking for instructions for Mac OS X 10.8 – Mountain Lion – please see this post.

First, be sure that you read through the first post so that you understand the steps.

install_lion

Video Walk-Through

[click to continue…]

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How To Re-Download Mac OS X “Lion” & Create a Bootable Install DVD

by Michael Sheehan on July 21, 2011

in Apple, Application, Fix It, General, How To, Software

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In my excitement yesterday about the release of the new Macintosh operating system called “Lion“, I downloaded and installed the new OS without thinking about creating a bootable DVD since Lion is the first Apple OS to NOT come on DVD but rather be distributed via the App Store. You will also be able to order a USB stick from Apple but that will be a bit of costly option, especially when you can do it yourself.

Note: if you are looking for instructions for Mac OS X 10.8 – Mountain Lion – please see this post.

Lion

There are some important things to remember, though, before you embark on this effort.

  • The Lion Installer is tied to your Apple ID (unconfirmed) – many App Store purchases “sign” their apps to your Apple ID when you purchase/download via the App Store. Assuming that you have the same Apple ID on all of your computers and you simply want to create an installer for those computers, this is a good solution. However, if you are going to create a Bootable DVD so that you can install it on other computers that are tied with different Apple IDs, you might want to reconsider doing this. (Note to “file sharers” – you might NOT want to distribute the “InstallESD.dmg” file on sharing sites as it may contain your Apple ID or may prevent you from getting updates.)
  • Lion already has a recovery partition – this is actually very useful to use should you need to do some disk repairs. Once you install Lion, it creates a small hidden partition on your Mac. You can launch this by holding down OPTION when you start. When you do that, you will see all of your Mac partitions. You simply choose the “Recovery HD” one and it will launch the Recovery program.
    HTD_MacLion_screenshots_9
    Similarly, to go directly to the recovery program, just hold COMMAND R when you start.
    HTD_MacLion_screenshots_11
  • You can re-install Lion via an Internet Connection – this is a really cool option. For all Macs produced AFTER the launch of Lion, you can re-install Lion via the Internet. (See the Apple Resource link below for details.)

[click to continue…]

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I Wish I Had the ContourGPS HD Video Camera about 15 Years, When I Was REALLY Active

by Michael Sheehan on July 20, 2011

in Application, Cellular, Consumer Electronics, Gadgets, General, Hardware, iPhone, Mobile, Review, Software, Video

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Long before I had kids, I did quite a bit of mountain bike riding. Northern California has a ton of really great trails and I was regularly riding 3-4 times a week. There is something to be said about not having technology with you when you are out riding (I would say that a cell phone is probably one exception – if you crash or get a bad flat, you need to be able to call someone). But I think that as we become more technology-entwined, there are a few more things that you can take along on your ride, a camera and a GPS might be some good tools to have. This is where the ContourGPS comes into play.

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Contour has developed a range of compact and rugged video recording devices designed to film video and tell a story in the process. Currently, they have 3 cameras:

  • ContourHD – hands-free High Definition video recording
  • ContourGPS – all of the features of the ContourHD plus GPS tracking
  • Contour+ – a professional level HD video recorder (with GPS as well)

For a full comparison between these three products, see the following comparison table. I have been using the ContourGPS on and off for a few weeks now. It almost made me want to get the cobwebs off of my mountain bike and head to the mountains…but I got lazy and decided to write this review instead.

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2/5ths of the Cast of Dads Get Their Brains Upgraded at Intel’s “Upgrade Your Life” 2011 Event

July 18, 2011
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Last week, 2 of the Cast of Dads had the opportunity to visit Intel in Santa Clara, CA to participate in an annual event called “Upgrade Your Life.” This day-long summit was an opportunity for a variety of influential technology and parenting bloggers to convene to understand some of the initiatives that Intel participates in [...]

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The Pitfalls of Summer – a Parent’s Financial & Scheduling Nightmare

July 11, 2011
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What happened to the good old days of unstructured play during summer vacation? You headed out to your friend’s house in the morning, checked in with your parents around lunch (maybe), and then were out until it was dark or dinner time. You had fun, it was raw, it had what little structure you imposed [...]

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“Gamecocks to Bull Horns”- 4th Of July Cast of Dads Podcast #43

July 2, 2011

Happy 4th of July holiday weekend! Hopefully nobody is actually reading or listening to this podcast during the 3-day weekend and they are out enjoying friends and family. But in case you do take a glance at your computer or listen to the podcast, I wanted to wish you a stellar Independence Day. Let’s also [...]

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