October 18, 2010

An Interview with Ford: Understanding Safety Advances in Ford Vehicles & the Ford Focus 2012
Recently, I have been very focused on the car industry lately as I have been shopping for a new car. One of the primary items that made me want to consider a new (or newer) car as opposed to and older model is the advancement of safety features that many manufacturers have made. While many car brands have worked hard…
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September 20, 2010

Book Tour & Giveaway: The Klutz Book of Animation – Stop Motion Video Made Easy
Have you ever wondered about how Wallis and Grommit or Mr. Bill and Gumby or Davey and Goliath or Christmas shows like Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer were made? Well it's a pretty simple but incredibly painstaking process called stop motion animation. It is sometimes known as claymation if the objects are made out of clay. Regardless, the premise is simple.…
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September 14, 2010

Intel Inside the Classroom with the Classmate PC – a Tablet/Laptop for Kids
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Intel “Upgrade Your Life” Summit up at the Intel Campus in Oregon. During this day long event, the attendees got brief introductions to a variety of technologies that Intel has direct influence over or has been developing. But much of the meeting was focused on different initiatives that Intel…
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August 31, 2010

The Portable HD Video Recorder Smackdown (PART 2): Sony Bloggie vs Kodak Zi8
Last year around this time, I posted a head-to-head review between the Flip Ultra HD and the Kodak Zi8. Little did I know that it would become such a popular video on YouTube (it currently has over 94,000 views!). So, given that success and because of several comments to me on that video, I have decided to do another head-to-head…
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August 27, 2010

More Funny Car Videos: “Mom My Ride” & the “Swagger Wagon”
On Wednesday, I posted a couple of funny advertisements coming out from Nissan. It turns out, obviously, they aren't the first to do this. A co-worker, and mom, pointed me to a couple of other really funny videos that are specifically focused on "the family mini van." These two particularly hit "home" with me as we have a mini van…
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August 24, 2010

DropCam is the Ultimate, Easy To Set Up, Security Webcam, Digital Baby Sitter & NannyCam
I have played around with a couple of IP-based Wireless Webcams (from Linksys and Panasonic), and while I'm pretty good usually at figuring out how to configure and work devices, IP webcam configurations are still a bit too complicated for the general public, in my opinion. For the most part, they are difficult to set up and harder to stream…
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August 9, 2010

“The 39 Clues” Virtual Book Tour & Giveaway – Stop #5 For “The Black Circle”
I usually write about technology, gadgets, software, hardware and other gizmos. I also have been know to talk about parenting from time to time. One thing that I preach to my kids (but unfortunately don't practice as much as I should) is that of reading. And this is odd because I was an English Major and have lots of books…
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July 26, 2010

How To Install a Replacement Battery into an Apple iPhone 3GS
My iPhone 3GS has been showing signs of a dying battery for a month or so now. The symptoms included the battery depleting faster than normal, charging very quickly (because there wasn't much to "charge"), and the iPhone simply crashing when the battery was at 75-90% FULL. It would simply crash as I was doing some tasks, not even showing…
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July 23, 2010

Cool Birthday Parties, Pool Safety & Live Parenting Failures Round Out “Cast of Dads” Episode #27
Sorry for the delay in posting about our latest Cast of Dads podcast. Coordinating family schedules are hard enough…but when you attempt to coordinate 5 different schedules from different families, it's a monumental task. And even after we record, there is still the production work that has to take place (bit hat tip to CC Chapman for his hard work…
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July 1, 2010

Do You Know About iTunes U? For Me, It’s Personal!
I received an interesting piece of news this week from Apple. No it wasn't about the iPhone 4 nor the iPad. It wasn't a software or hardware release even. It had to do with iTunes U and it was about passing a milestone. Have you heard of iTunes U? It's a section within iTunes that is devoted to Education and…
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June 30, 2010

My Brain was Upgraded at Intel’s “Upgrade Your Life” 2010 Summit
A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending the Intel "Upgrade Your Life" 2010 Summit (my announcement) which was a gathering of a variety of technology influencers and bloggers. At this summit, we were introduced to a number of different individuals representing different initiatives within Intel. There were 10 of us invited to participate in some very intimate…
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June 8, 2010

Stream Your Family’s Media to the Big Screen TV using the Western Digital TV Live
Father's Day comes at almost the perfect time of the year. School is just ending and you are literally "gearing up" for the summer. If you are thinking about gifts for your Dad and he happens to be the resident audio/visual guy, I've got a great recommendation for a device that will easily allow you to play all of the…
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