February 2012

We’re Baaaack! And Better Than Ever! “Movies, Meatloaf & Memes” – Cast of Dads Podcast #48

by Michael Sheehan on February 29, 2012

in Audio, Cast of Dads, Family, General, Humor, iPhone, Opinion, Parenting, PodCast

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So, the digital dogs ate the last podcast that we did. Really! Those cyber-gremlins got the better of us. This time, however, we leashed those dogs and we captures all 5 of us in our crazy glory in Episode 48 of the Cast of Dads, “Movies, Meatloaf & Memes”! But yes, we have really had a hard time getting together, just for a phone call. In this episode though, we started up right where we left off, it seems, and it was really hard to stop at 30 minutes.

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We definitely had a lot to say in this show with topics seeming to swirl around movies, entertainment and sports – good guy stuff there! But we aren’t just scraping the surface – but you will just have to listen in to see how deep we actually go!

And remember, If you would like to sponsor an individual episode or a series of episodes, please do let us know. We are just waiting for that large brand to bring us all together in the same place – can you believe that after 2 years, we have never done that?

The Topics

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Review of the 2012 Buick Regal GS – Definitely NOT your Grandpa’s Sedan

by Michael Sheehan on February 28, 2012

in Auto, Consumer Electronics, General, Opinion, Review, Video

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For some reason, Buick’s seem to have this odd stereotype of being a car that your grandparents cruise around in with the left blinker permanently on. They were lackluster and pretty conservative. The 2012 Buick Regal GS runs over that stereotype in all of its 270 horsepower, 6-speed manual, Brembo brakes, curvy lines glory, making this non-grandfather want to hold up a sign stating – “Buick’s are not for grandpas any more!” as I hurtle down the road.

Buick has definitely come a long way from its conservative sedans and while the Regal GS is technically a sedan, it definitely is not conservative, nor boring for that matter! I spent 10 days test driving the Regal GS and at the end of my tour, the Regal had won me over. This 6-speed manual transmission delivered fun performance off the line, despite it not being a rear-wheel drive. I hadn’t driven a stick-shift in over 15 years but I slipped right into shifting smoothly within just a few minutes. The Regal is peppy and, if you can rev and shift at the right speed, can quickly hit 60 MPH in about 7 seconds. You do shift through 1st and 2nd gears pretty quickly, but after that, you pretty much forget about the fact that you are driving a manual transmission – but why would you ever do that? Manuals are fun, they keep you attentive, you get better gas mileage (unless you really like accelerating hard like I do) and they keep you from messing with your smartphone when you drive.

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The Regal is truly a car that any dad would have fun driving. There, I said it. It is a family car, but I would say that it is now a much more younger generation type of car because of its styling and aggressive design. When it’s just sitting, it looks like it is in motion, or at least ready to go, with air scoops, large (19″) sport profile tires, and sloping windshield. But you really get the performance when you get behind the wheel, are bolstered by the 8-way power seats, and put the GS in gear and head down the road.

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The “i” in iRadar from Cobra Means “Intelligence” – A Smartphone Radar Detector

by Michael Sheehan on February 21, 2012

in Apple, Cellular, Consumer Electronics, Gadgets, General, Hardware, iPhone, Opinion, Review

Post image for The “i” in iRadar from Cobra Means “Intelligence” – A Smartphone Radar Detector

Many years ago, I had a few radar detectors. That was back when I had a fast little Honda CRX-Si – BWAK (Before Wife and Kids) and I tended to race around, watching for speed traps, and keeping my eyes and ears glued to my radar detector as I sped around. Now, I’m a bit more conservative on how I drive, but still seem to push the sound barrier periodically, but I have had one thing lacking, a radar detector.

Technology has advanced since when I had my first radar detector and the Police use the latest and greatest. There are new types of radar bands that have different use cases…they even use laser detection and photo radar. While my first radar detector probably only got X and K bands, the new ones have many other types of detection to keep up with what the police are using.

So what do you get with you pair a current radar detector with a smart phone? An “intelligent” radar detector – an iRadar. Cobra, long time maker of radar detectors has come up with an innovative new style of radar detector, one that couples the traditional sounds and lights, with the interface and configuration of an iPhone or Android smart phone.

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The iRadar is pretty nice actually, because you get a standard radar detector that sniffs out all of the current radar bands out there as well as lasers, without the need for the smart phone. It’s fully functional as a standalone unit and will alert you with audible tones as well as voice to indicate the radar type or if it is laser that is tagging you and your vehicle.

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Extend Your iPhone 4/4S Power with the CasePower A4 Battery Case

by Michael Sheehan on February 17, 2012

in Apple, Cellular, Consumer Electronics, Gadgets, General, Hardware, iPhone, Mobile, Opinion, Review

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I burn through batteries on my iPhones faster kids go through their Halloween candy. (Well, maybe not that fast but you get the point.) Just about every iPhone that I have owned, I have had to replace the battery in it (seem my iPhone 3GS & iPhone 4 posts on how to do this). But if you don’t want to have to crack open your iPhone to do battery replacement surgery, you can do a much easier thing – get a case that has a battery built in.

This is not a new concept at all, in fact, I have written reviews of other manufacturers in the past (see here and here). But I think that over time, the battery case solution are getting better and more aesthetically pleasing. I have been using a Mophie JuicePack Air Plus for quite a while and couldn’t leave home without it, especially now since my iPhone 4S seems to be plagued with the “battery drain issue”. I drop 1% a minute it seems currently on my iPhone 4S. Yes, I’m a heavy power consumer, with Location services on, Push notifications enabled, and multiple email addresses running, but my iPhone 4 handled the power consumption much better than the iPhone 4S. But I digress.

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When I went to MacWorld 2012, one booth that I stopped by was that of Vicotec which recently announced a couple of iPhone/iPod Touch battery cases. I, obviously, gravitated toward the one that had the highest capacity, which happened to be the CasePower A4 which boasts of 1700mAh (it has a Li-polymer battery cell) – this is just slightly less than the Mophie’s JuicePack Air Plus which comes in at 2000mAh. But the additional 300mAh comes at a bit of a price in terms of weight and size.

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The Casio Edifice – Form Following Function or Function Following Form? It’s Both!

February 13, 2012
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Have I said that I love watches? I think that I have before. In fact, a year ago, I reviewed a Casio Pathfinder that had lots of technology baked into it (that’s the other thing I really love). I actually have had a long-running affair with Casio, having owned various G-Shocks and Waveceptors. Now I’m [...]

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If Your Laptop is Jealous of your Ultrabook, Give it a Hybrid SSD from Seagate – the Momentus XT

February 1, 2012
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I have an Ultrabook and a MacBook Air and my non-SSD traditional laptop is getting jealous. It told me that it wants to be more like them, faster booting up and able to launch applications more quickly. “Why can’t I be like those super slim laptops you are always using?” it always asks me. Obviously [...]

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