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Posts About ‘Technology’

Send Your Kid to Apple Camp

Monday, August 22nd, 2011

It is no secret that I’m a fan of Apple Products. One look around my house and you might think that you’ve stumbled into a suburban Apple Store.

Earlier this summer, I got an e-mail from them talking about the Apple Camps that they do. I had heard about these in the past, but for one reason or another had not given them much thought. But, as my daughter does a show called Emily Explains It and I never seem to have enough time to put them together for her I thought it would be great to have her learn the basics.

I wanted my son to also attend because I think video editing skills are something that would benefit anyone and I know he has posed an interest before, but he was away the week that they were holding it so only my daughter got to go.

The camps are two days of 90 minutes each and then a Saturday film festival where they show all the kid’s work. Oh and did I mention that it is free?

Day 1: Storyboarding & Garageband

The kids arrive at the store and are given a t-shirt, lanyard and some Apple Camp pins. They also are assigned an iPad for the day and given a storyboarding template.

The instructors are great and really know how to interact with the kids. They go over the concept of laying out your story in order to help you focus your shots and think about how things are going to fit together later. It was fun to look at the variety of ideas the kids came up with.

Then they got an introduction to Garageband and each camper composed a piece of music on the iPads that they could use in their movies. If you’ve never sat down with Loops in Garageband, you’d be amazed how easy it is to come up with some simple music for your own use.

The homework for the night was to go home and shoot their video so that the next day they could edit it.

Day 2: Editing

Emily had grand visions of an epic squirrel adventure in the woods, but the downpour we had when we got home meant that it wouldn’t be. Instead she filmed hundreds of shot of her stuffed squirrel trying to find a place to hide his acorn. Heck, I even made a couple of cameos.

We returned to the Apple Store and they showed her how to plug in her camera and capture the footage on the mac and then walked her through the basics of iMovie and let her go at it. It was fun to watch her figure out how you can put together two completely separate scenes and make them work together. Then she discovered sound effects and really began to have a great time.

Suddenly the ninety minutes was up and here is the one part where the camp broke down for me.

Somehow they had planned that these little Spielbergs would finish their movies in that time, but never told them. Now, they were stuck not being able to finish the movies. This in my opinion is piss poor planning and you could see several kids a bit heart broken over it. They could fix this by letting them know up front and encouraging people if they have their own macs to bring them so that they can start work there and then bring it home.

We exported the movie and I knew we could make it work at home with some tweaking and that is what we did.

Day 3: Showtime!

Since there is more than one camp going on at anytime the store was packed when we got there. They had set up an area in the back of the store and of course were showing the movies on a big screen iMac.

Each kid would get up and introduce their film and then it would be shown. Lots of Lego and Barbies showed up, but there was only one stuffed squirrel which you can watch here.

So What Did I think?

If your kids have any interest in learning Apple software and there is a store near you I can’t reccomend this enough. The kids will have fun, you’ll have fun and you can’t beat the price. Emily walked away all excited about video editing and that is what I had hoped for.

It is also a genius move on Apple’s part because of course the parents get to play with all the fun gear while their kids are learning. They also did a nice job of on day 1 showing us the parental control features built into the Mac OS for those who didn’t know they were there. I saw more than one parent (myself included) walk out with a bag with some goodie in it before the end of camp.

Apple Camp is awesome and you should definitely consider it for your kids.

Tags: Apple, applecamp, kids, summer camp, training
Posted in Featured, Sons & Daughters, Technology | 3 Comments »

New York Auto Show

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

Last week I was given the opportunity to attend the New York Auto Show. I might not be much of a car guy, but I had a blast being able to walk around and take photos of everything without it being swarmed by people. Ahh, the joys of a press pass.

My friends at Ford and Sony asked the Cast of Dads if we could all get together in Boston and then drive 2011 Ford Explorer to NYC to attend a concert/party with Train (photos) and then spend a day with press access covering the show. Schedules prevented all five of us from going but those of us who could go did. It was a lot of fun. Plus, since they were going to pay for the trip, how could we say no?

I took a ton of photos during the trip and the first pieces of video content we produced have now hit the web and I wanted to share them with you.

The first was an episode of Cast of Dads that the editing team at DadLabs cut down to a nice five minute discussion of the change in family road trips since we were younger. Technology definitely changes it and we discuss the good and the bad.

The other was a personal highlight for me was getting a chance to sit down with my buddy Sukhjit Ghag from Sony over coffee. We talked about a bunch of different things and of course since we are all geeks a lot of the chat was about technology in our lives.

In the coming weeks there will be lots more content that will be posted so stay tuned.

Disclosure: Ford & Sony covered travel expenses and gave us press access to the auto show. We were provided with a Ford vehicle to drive from Boston to New York. All thoughts, words and anything else we say is totally our own opinions.

Tags: auto show, Cars, cast of dads, fordnyias, sony, sony electronics
Posted in Featured, Guy Stuff, Technology | No Comments »

My Gunnars Testimonial: I Wear Yellow Glasses

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

Chances are, if you are reading this right now, you are not doing so on a stack of papers you just printed out. Yeah, I said stack of papers because this is going to be more than one page. The subject is eye health, and those affected by poor eye health might surprise you, or it might not. Really it depends on how much you already know. Chances are you are reading this on a digital device, a device (along with many other such devices) you spend a lot of time staring at.

You are staring at your iPhone, your iPad, computer monitor, HD TV and so on. In this era of mobile and static visual technology, we spend a lot of time looking into the back-lit screens of our devices. It didn’t always used to be that way. When we were younger, the only back-lit thing was the television screen. Even the primitive games of the pre-Nintendo era weren’t back-lit. If you had a mobile phone, aside from it weighing sixteen pounds, had an LCD that reminded you of a calculator screen. Then things changed. Now we are putting constant stress on our eyes. The thing is, we’re not the only ones.

Our children are putting undue stress on their eyes. How many of you allow your children to play with your iPhone or iPad? Of course they play video games, and watch television so add to that the strain of looking at a small screen. It’s something that we take for granted and rarely think about – eye health. Even those of us who have worn glasses since they were six (like me.) It’s something I never thought about until recently, then something changed.

I fixed the problem.

I eliminated the afternoon headaches from staring at two monitors all day long. I eliminated the fatigue and strain I was putting on my eyes from staring into the window of digital devices all day. I eliminated the almost daily need for three Excedrin in the afternoon.

I did all that by wearing Gunnars. Before I get into what those are (though if you click the link you’ll see) and why they are important to eye health, let me go back to your kids. Think about how much time they are spending in front of digital devices without eye protection. You may think it’s not needed, and you may be wrong. An estimated 125 million Americans suffer from what is now commonly referred to as digital eye fatigue or computer vision syndrome, according to the American Optometric Association.

We spend so much time and money worrying about their eating habits, their physical safety outside the house, their safety inside the house, what type of television shows they are watching, keeping them safe from harm and so on – yet we tend to ignore what we are doing to their little eyeballs when we hand them an iPad, after doing the same damage to ourselves. Keep in mind, for children under six, their eye muscles are still developing. Staring at a digital screen can hinder that development.

Says Carlsbad Optometrist Jeffrey Anschel, “People spend long periods focusing on something close to their face. Eye muscles tends to lock into that one position, which is tiring and can push the eye down the path to becoming farsighted. Meanwhile, the eye has to deal with light from conflicting sources, such as sunlight that is much brighter than the computer screen. There’s also glare from the light shining into the eyes. And the angle of view for the computer screen, which is straight ahead, isn’t desirable. People tend to focus better at objects when looking down, such as reading a book.”

Which brings me back to Gunnars. Anschel was a consultant for Gunnars when they first came into existence, lending his years of expertise in computer vision syndrome. What they came up with, the glasses that have changed the way I view the world, is the long term solution to digital eye strain. Slap a pair of these glasses on yourself, on your child, and you’ve covered a very important part of your life. The part that stares at your iPhone all day long playing Angry Birds.

Speaking about Gunnars existence, they literally started in someone’s garage. Co-founder Jennifer Michelson was tired of hearing her husband complain about headaches and eye strain from staring at the computer. With her young son Gunnar in mind, she along with co-founder Joe Croft (the scientific mind) and some savvy investors, created Gunnars to protect her husbands eyes, her sons eyes and your eyes.

Gunnars aren’t just your run of the mill glasses. First off, they are cheaper. I’ll get this bit out of the way. They’ll run you around $100 for a non-prescription pair, around $200 for a script added. They were able to do my script, and I’m half freaking blind.

Gunnars aren’t some gimmick glasses, like hunting glasses or blue blockers. There is real science behind the construction and framing of the lenses. Everything has a purpose and a reason. This is bon-a-fide eye technology.

Here’s what Gunnars I-Amp technology is all about; the lenses are yellow. This freaks some people out, but bear with me. Yellow tinted lenses make images appear clearer and sharper by adding contrast and filtering out blue light. The lens is also shaped in a way to pre-focus the light into the eyes. This keeps the eyes from doing all the hard work, which immediately reduces strain. When you consider that, who gives a flying shit if they are yellow?

Furthermore, the yellow also holds a purplish iridescence on the lens, which is an anti-glare filter. This allows light from the digital device in, but keeps out reflected light from other sources – like that florescent light over your head. And the way the glasses are designed, to keep the lenses close to the face creates a “microclimate” that keeps away dry air. This keeps your eyes moist and delicious for hungry zombies. I mean, it reduces squinting and helps maintain a closer to normal rate of blinking. Did you just blink when you read that? I did. All of this together helps reduce eye strain and fatigue and keeps your eyes healthy and ready to download that next app.

Look, I’m not normally someone to just shill a product like a fiend, but these things have changed my freaking life. It’s like looking at the world through HD cameras. No more afternoon headaches, no more eye strain. Like I said, I’ve been wearing glasses a long freaking time. My last pair was $600, these were $200. Gunnars are aimed at the 18-40 year old, computer professional or gamer demographic, but demographics are just for tracking numbers.

The truth is, if you spend more than 6 hours a day staring at a digital screen, you need to get Gunnars. That means all you mom bloggers getting headaches late in the day. Sure, the kids may have something to do with it – but not all.

And that’s another thing, there is no reason not to slap a pair of Gunnars on your kids skulls. Think about the investment for their eyes. A hundred bucks is nothing compared to say, what you spend in a week on Starbucks or Lunchables. Our children are growing up in a completely different age of technology than us, there are going to be side effects and after effects that we won’t know about until our kids are grown up and the problems are documented. Gunnars aims to be proactive in this approach. Why wait for your kid to end up with eye problems because of staring into your iPad?

Isn’t parenting about doing the best for your kids, by them? Keeping them healthy and safe in all aspects of their beings? We buy them shoes to protect their feet, gloves and jackets to keep them warm in winter, why not glasses to keep their eyes protected as well? There is inherent logic here, you can’t deny it. This might sound like one long sales pitch to you, but if you know me, you know that rarely do I ever promote something like this. If you buy them do I get a piece of the action? Perhaps. Should that dissuade you from buying them? Hell no. In fact, based on how awesome I am, it should be a selling point.

For you driving adults, Gunnars also makes sunglasses. Why is this relevant? Because they are non-polarized. That means you can see all that fancy glowing shit on your cars’ dashboard with no problems. In my car all I have is a clock that is wrong half the time, and a tape deck with no fancy glowing buttons. My 8-track player broke. Seriously.

Gunnars are available for regular non-script folks and in prescription. They are also available at some local retailers like Best Buy. Check out Gunnars.com or on Twitter @gunnaroptiks for more info. Tell ‘em I sent ya.

Tags: eye health, eye strain, fatigue, glasses, Gunnars, Jennifer Michelson, mom bloggers, Optometric, sunglasses
Posted in Fashion & Style, Featured, Technology | 4 Comments »

Review: Delta Touch2O® Kitchen Faucet

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

This is actually the faucet actually IN my kitchen. Truth. (Image: Me)

Recently Delta Faucets sent me one of their new kitchen sink faucets to review. Little did I know I was getting an advanced piece of technology that just like any other piece of technology, has it’s severe ups and just as severe downs. Frankly, I wasn’t sure what to think, but there it was. All nice and pretty in the box. That being said, the new Delta Touch2O® line of faucets are one of the many products on the market now that are bringing technology and ecology to the kitchen. Water conservation is a hot topic item these days, and the Touch2O® faucets claim to do just that. While there are too many pre-teen 30 minute hot showers in my house to do an in-depth analysis of the water bill, there were some other factors that would make a competent review.

Form vs. Function
The specific faucet I was sent, and have since installed, is the Pilar Single Handle Pull-Down Kitchen Faucet with Touch2O Technology® and Soap Dispenser. Ignore the price, that’s not the price.

Honestly, it’s a very nice looking piece of kitchen hardware. Whether you have a nice upper middle class kitchen, or a white trash kitchen like mine – it fits in. That is, it doesn’t look like you stole half your kitchen from some rich people. Unlike my previous faucet, the Delta has smooth lines and a nice curvature that puts it right over the center of the sink. As for install, unless you are a quadriplegic or mentally handicapped you should be able to figure it out. Clearly I’m half mentally handicapped as I installed the hot water and cold water on the wrong sides. Obviously, that’s no big deal unless you spent your whole life turning it one way for cold and another for hot. Eh, I ain’t switching it.

This particular model has a separate soap dispenser. Ok, glad we got that out of the way cause I’m not mentioning it again. The off/on – hot/cold handle also serves as a touch point to the faucet. So you can turn off or turn on the water flow just by gently touching the faucet or the handle. Did I not mention that? I figured you would have gathered that from it being a Delta Touch2O® faucet. Yes, it’s touch technology.

Basically it works like this: the human body conducts electricity of the static variety on a pretty consistent basis. The “skin” of the faucet is set up as a conductor for that electricity activating the solenoid located under the sink (you’ll have to install this too, it’s real easy.) The solenoid (if you don’t know what one of these are, you are men right) is basically an on/off switch activated by an electrical signal. Pretty much every device that turns off and on has some sort of solenoid in it.

Back to touch. Unlike when you touch your wife or girlfriend, this faucet turns on every time you touch it. That means, when you turn it off and brush by it to move a dish – it turns on again. More on that in a minute. To sum up, easy to install, beautiful to look at and works as it should for the most part. It turns on, water comes out. It turns off, water stops coming out. It does have a pull down head with a hose attached so you can get all close up with the dishes, as well as two settings via a large plastic button on the head to switch between shower and regular water flow.

Sustainability
One of the big selling points of the Delta Touch2O® technology is the water conservation. Like I mentioned before, I have no real way of testing this out as I have kids who insist on turning into prunes before leaving the shower. However, I can tell you what I’ve observed in the way the faucet operates compared with my previous one. With the hose and spray ability, it’s easier to spend less time rinsing dishes therefore logically using less water. However, you have to use the handle to control the pressure of the water flow. Since the handle also operates as an on/off touch point this can get kind of tricky and really fucking annoying. Scenario: you are watching your wife wash dishes. The water is on but the pressure isn’t high enough. She gently grabs the handle to adjust. The water goes off. She releases, touches again – water goes back on. She adjusts pressure, lets’ go of the handle, gently brushing it in the process – water turns off. She screams. Dishes don’t get washed. You go back to the football game.

Really though, this is a minor annoyance but you have got to wonder if this constant start/stop actually does help with water conservation. The faucet also has an automatic shut-off after four minutes. The little blue light is still on, but the water has stopped flowing. A quick touch turns it right back on, but perhaps that several second delay saves some of that precious fluid we take for granted every day.

What the Hell?
Just like any piece of technology, the faucet has it’s faults. They are minor, and you have to know what you are dealing with to get past them. As mentioned, you are dealing with a solenoid. Every on and off touch activates it, so eventually it is going to go bad. Aside from that, there are times when it goes absolutely bat shit crazy and starts turning the faucet off and on off and on without you even being in the room. This is caused by built up charges because of some child over touching the damn thing cause they have the patience of a fly taking a shit mid-air. This is easy to resolve, turn it off using the handle.

The handle and the faucet both contain touch points, so sometimes you’ll touch one and the faucet won’t turn off. Simply touch the other and the faucet will turn on. If you touch the same touch point over and over with no result, this is how the solenoid gets all confused like. Again, these are really minor issues and just take some common sense. I’m not going to lie, it frustrated the hell out of the wife, but I think she’s figured it out. There is an option to hook it up as a regular faucet, but then what’s the point? The last thing that annoyed me about it was that it runs off C batteries. Really? It really should have come with an option to plug into the wall if you have a socket under the sink as I do. That’s fine, all that will take is some simple wire stripping and re-wiring to resolve.

Final Assessment

While the Delta website says that I just reviewed a $600 faucet, the truth is that you can get it for around $300 at Amazon.com, which is a whole hell of a lot more reasonable. As nice as the faucet is, and the whole touch technology thing, there is no way I’d ever pay $600 for a faucet unless I was one of those rich dudes. If you are a rich dude, then price probably doesn’t matter. Frankly, as long as I ain’t spitting on my dishes to clean them, I’m happy.

That being said the Delta Touch2O® faucets are pretty damn nice. If you can swallow the price point, then it’s worth it to have a faucet of this caliber in your kitchen. I feel that much less like white trash having it over my sink. The little issues with the touching and the solenoid shouldn’t really detract from the overall function of the faucet. While I can’t track it, I feel like I am using less water so this has got to be a good thing right? Right?

Tags: conservation, Delta faucets, kitchen, products, review, sustainability, touch 20, water
Posted in Technology | No Comments »

NAIAS Spotlight: Ford Motor Company

Monday, January 17th, 2011

The Ford Fiesta Monster Energy Rally Car. (Image: C. Silver)

This past week I was fortunate enough to visit the NAIAS (North American International Motor Show) in Detroit, Michigan. In full disclosure it was on behalf of Ford motor company – they paid for travel and accommodations and drove my ass around. Which explains why this article is all about Ford. However, after walking the show floor at the Detroit auto show (as it’s commonly called) I feel that had I went as an independent observer and not on Fords dime, I still would have looked to them as the best all around presenter and participant at the show.

They were all there. From Toyota to Mini Cooper, to BMW, Porsche, Bentley, Mercedes, Maserati, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai and so on. Clearly the NAIAS is the place to be if you are a major car manufacturer. I had the pleasure of attending the show when it was only open to media nad stakeholders and executives. You could tell who the media were, we were the ones not wearing suits. Jeans and ball caps, ambling around looking for handouts and press kits – most of which were presented on a flash drive – except for Porsche. They gave me a CD. Really guys? It’s the 21st century. Get with it.

It was an amazing experience, and I’m glad to have represented Digital Dads in the process. It’s a new age when a car company invites 100 bloggers from around the world to experience the NAIAS. Bloggers, techies, mom bloggers (and not mom blogging moms,) dad bloggers and Green bloggers. Some of them, professional journos, some like me – not (yet,ahem.) Following are a few of the major highlights from Ford in particular. It was a lot to take in, and there is much more than just what I’m putting down in words here, but you can simply do a Google search and find all the facts. There are facts, then there is experience and interpretation. I’d like to think that’s why I was there, for just this reason.

The Vision of Henry Ford
Back in 1908 as the first Model T rolled off the line, Henry Ford had a vision. We all know the story, the Ford History is embedded in the American lexicon and literature. While cars have evolved, the vision stays the same in my mind. Ford wanted to create an automobile that was affordable, comfortable and constantly evolving. Even though he fought the UAW, that was evolution that was needed as well and brought his company to the efficient industrial complex it is today. It must be noted that Ford was the only American automaker to not take any of the bailout money from the Government in recent years, and is one of the few automakers to devote as much energy and resources to sustainability and the future of the automobile.

While many car makers are pushing out hybrid vehicles, one here one there, Ford is devoting a whole line of cars to the electric and hybrid future – still in line with the vision of the founder – moving towards the future. This was the running theme of their keynote presentation and press conference. Sustainability and “going green” is the future, and Ford is not just handling this change with their cars. They are employing this line of thought within their factories and how they do business. Ford believed that consumerism was the key to peace, and he really wasn’t too far off.

One of the things the Ford Motor Company has done to adhere to the vision of Henry Ford is to keep their vehicles in line with the demands of the consumer. Rather than make vehicles that they particularly want to make such as a luxury car maker, they make vehicles that the consumer needs and wants. Consider the C-Max, the primarily European Ford car that was introduced as a new American model at the show. This car, with it’s electric capabilities (either hybrid or 100% electric) is a perfect vehicle for the European nation because of it’s compact size and hybrid engine. It’s a risk bringing this car to America, where people are still stuck on trucks and large SUV’s. Of course, it should also be noted that the Ford Explorer won best truck at the 2011 NAIAS.

Henry Ford’s vision is alive and well. It also helps that a direct descendant (Bill Ford) is the chairman of the company. Keeping it in the family allows the company to operate within the moral and business standards of it’s founder. This may have had something to do with Ford not taking any of the bailout money handed out to American car companies over the last couple years. Ford realized that this would not help them in the eyes of the consumer, and instead optioned to cut some costs, sell off a division or two (Jaguar) and focus instead on the future of the automobile.

Sustainability for the Future
Recently at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) the current CEO of Ford, Alan Mulally, called Ford “the app of choice for car buyers” as he introduced the C-Max to the American public. With the Ford Sync technology (in partnership with Microsoft) and their MyTouch system, the previous leaders in automotive communications tech (OnStar) look like tape decks in comparison. One might think that all this tech in a car would make driving more distracting, but of course it’s built to do completely the opposite of that.

The C-Max has reached over 13k in sales in Europe, and will most likely directly compete with the Ford Fusion and Focus hybrids when it’s introduced in the United States. Right now Ford is working on creating an infrastructure of charging stations, working with companies such as Microsoft and Mapquest to make it easy for you to find a charging station (outside your garage) using mobile applications being developed. It should be noted that unlike most charging stations for electric cars, the ones sold by Ford will not have to be hard-wired to your house, good news for renters. However, the Ford vehicle that I am most looking forward to is the VerTrek concept. Introduced at NAIAS by Derrick Kuzak, Global V.P. of Global Product Development, the VerTrek is the next gen electric hybrid vehicle, and pretty sweet looking. It boasts a TDCi Diesel EcoBoost engine and regenerative charging.

The new Ford Concept: VerTrek (Image: C. Silver)

As mentioned before, pretty much every car company at the show had some sort of hybrid or electric vehicle. While that is admirable, it seemed to me that only Ford was making the sustainability of electric vehicles a priority of the company, rather than just a side note. This kind of commitment to the future of the environment and industry surrounding it was evident in the way they run their Rouge River plant. From roofs that allow more sunlight and provide solar energy, to the porous cement that filters water runoff to prevent pollution to the Rouge river, Ford is taking a company approach to sustainability. That’s not saying that other car makers aren’t doing the same, I haven’t been to their factories so I can’t speak to it. I’m just noting that the impression I got from Ford was less “hey, look at our new electric car” and more “this is the way we are doing business now.” No other car company at the show even began to give me that impression.

The Venerable, the Dapper Scott Monty
While Ford announced that it will be adding about 7,000 jobs this year (a small fraction of their recent layoffs) there is one man at Ford that probably has the greatest job in the world. This man, is Scott Monty. Scott Monty leads the Global Digital Communications at Ford and was the master of presentation for my trip to Detroit. A constant source of information about Ford, Scott was always on point, good humored and seemed to seriously believe in and love what he does for a living. Ford couldn’t ask for a better social face for their company than Scott Monty. Not even Fake Scott Monty (pictured below center) could compete. Though he sure tried. I tip my virtual top hat to Scott Monty for being an awesome host, never seeming to be annoyed by having to cater to a large group of spoiled bloggers. Fun fact: Scott Monty invented the phrase “tweet-up.” You can follow him on Twitter @scottmonty or officially @ford.

From left: A Ford Exec, The Fake Scott Monty & The Real Scott Monty (Image: @mommasgonecity)

Driving into the Sunset
As aptly stated in their official NAIAS press release, Ford is clearly looking the electric future of driving. “It’s about giving consumers more options for fuel-efficient vehicles of this size and footprint and providing them the power of choice for electrified vehicles, as well,” said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas. “Today, a world-class, all-new Focus family joining the new Fiesta lineup is delivering more choice. Now, we’re bringing even more to customers with the versatility of the new C-MAX and three different alternatives for customers who want to save fuel by going electric, offering real choice and more products people really want.”

Which is the feeling that I get from the Ford Motor Company. As someone who is about to enter the arena of searching for a new vehicle, it’s good to see that Ford is stepping up their game to move forward into the future of automobiles. To be fair, most of the car companies at the show had some sort of hybrid car, and the Chevrolet Volt won best car of the whole show, so they aren’t 100% slacking. But for me, when it comes to American automakers, it’s Ford and then it’s every one else. The future is electric, the future is green and sustainable. When you consider those terms in the realm of automobiles, what Ford is hoping is that you’ll be thinking Ford.

Be sure to check out my photo gallery from NAIAS and the #fordgreen Twitter hashtag for all the conversation surrounding Ford’s presence at NAIAS.

Tags: C-Max, Cars, CES, detroit, Explorer, Focus, Ford, Fusion, green, NAIAS, Sustainable, Vertrek, Volt
Posted in Events, Technology | 5 Comments »

Digital Dads at NAIAS in Detroit

Saturday, January 8th, 2011

A Ford Focus. I'll probably see one of those at NAIAS.

While CC is chumming it up at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Vegas, Digital Dads (specifically me) will be heading to Detroit early next week for the NAIAS (North American International Auto Show.) Similar to how Kenmore is sponsoring CC’s trip to CES, Ford will be making me their bitch for the auto show.

The focus on the couple days I will be there is on the new Ford line of vehicles and their adherence with being “Green.” Of course I’ll also get to tour the NAIAS show floor before the crowds get there, and as a bonus I get to test drive some of the awesome Ford vehicles.

I’ll be joining about 99 other bloggers and digital media folks on this three day adventure in Detroit. Some of the other folks that will be there (that I know) are Josh (Dadstreet.com and part of the Dadstalking team,) Adam Cohen (Dadarocks.com) and Little Tech Girl Kris Cain. Be sure to follow the hashtag #fordgreen on Twitter for updates from the event and of course me and Ford. Let me know if you are going to be there, and you can buy me a mineral water.

Tags: CES, detroit, Ford, green, NAIAS
Posted in Events, Technology | 1 Comment »

Dadhacks: Using Your iPhone as an Impromptu Baby Monitor

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

First, hello from new writer and new dad Eric Skiff!

My son Jack is 8 months, and I’m just now finding a moment or two to start contributing here, and I’m excited to join the Digital Dad’s crew.

I’m the consummate geek, so being a new parent has been an exciting dive into totally new areas of learning for me. I have to say, I never really expected just how much reading there would be to being a new dad!

I’m looking forward to writing here about many of the gadgets, books, and other things that have helped us along these past few months, but sometimes the best things are the ones that you find in desperation, realizing too late you’ve left an essential gadget at home.

So, what do you do in that “oh sh*t” moment when you realize you’ve left the receiver for the baby monitor at home?

If you’re like me, you probably pull out your iPhone, hoping to find some answer on Google. However, I hadn’t even cracked open safari before it occurred to me that if you were to link up 2 iPhones over wifi, you could probably use them as a baby monitor.

Skype-to-skype with one phone in speaker-mode might work, but I figured I also wasn’t the first one with this problem, and sure enough, a quick search in the app store revealed a handy Baby Monitor app that did the trick nicely for $2. There are even a few other “baby monitor” apps that call you if the monitor hears something, but I like this app’s straightforward approach – it’s nice to be able to pick up the receiving end and make sure it’s still getting audio from the room, and I’m not relying on AT&T to deliver a call that tells me when my baby’s crying!

If you’ve only got one iPhone (or only want to tie one up as the monitor), you could start a skype-to-skype call with your computer and use that as the receiver, but seriously guys, if you’re the only one with an iPhone in your family, it’s time for Mother’s day to come a little early

Tags: baby monitor, dadhack, dadhacks, geek dad, geek parent, hack, iphone, skype
Posted in Technology | 4 Comments »

The Video Game Revolutionizes The Traditional World of Sports

Friday, November 26th, 2010

As we embark upon this holiday shopping season many of us will question why we purchase video game consoles and games for our kids. A valid question if you’re concerned about their reduced or lack of outdoor activities. However, if you make the right video game choices with the proper intervention of how they are used, you may find that today’s technology, along with video games may very well enhance the outdoor sports training experience.

Let me state my case. Over 75% of all kids under the age of 12 quit organized sports. At the same time many youth sports leagues and organizations are doing little to improve the overall experience for kids. A recent study showed that over 90% of all youth coaches have no type coaches training, yet they instruct close to 25 million kids each year. The results are obvious; a majority of kids don’t like the experience they’re receiving when they play organized sports.

Youth sports skills have been taught primarily the same way for the past half-century. However, the way kids receive information and learn has changed drastically. In a rapid pace culture, where information and technology are cornerstones to a child’s lifestyle, youth sports need a contemporary makeover.

Kids are visual learners when it comes to physical activity. If the information and skills being introduced and taught to a child do not engage them, there is limited chance they will comprehend and retain it for any extended period of time. This can place youth coaches at a distinct disadvantage if they don’t tap into today’s technology sources that so many kids are familiar with and use every day. Instruction and skills that are presented in a visual fashion are more likely to appeal and capture their attention.

The other disadvantage we as parents and youth coaches face is our inability to adequately demonstrate skills and techniques. Technology and equipment provided by iphone, ipods, and other smart phones, give you the ability to download video right off the internet. Between iTunes and YouTube there are many ways to download footage of games that can be taken directly onto the practice field and used as a teaching tool. Video sports games can also accomplish this while making a youth coaches job much easier and effective.

I strongly suggest bringing a handheld video gaming device, such as a iPhone, iPad, or a Sony PSP, etc., out to your backyard or next practice. Each hand held device plays both EA Sports Video Games with realistic graphics. Most sports games feature replicas of professional athletes performing skills, and replicating fundamental athletic moves, similar to that of an actual video recording. Whether it’s watching the execution of a sideline tackle or the technique and footwork of a point guard, a video game image is worth much more than a verbal or less than accurate demonstration.

If you think this is type of training is unrealistic, think again. Division One College and several NFL teams have converted portions of their playbook formats over to video games in order to better engage their players into learning all plays while better understanding the tendencies of their opponents.

Unlike video recordings, hand held video game units allow the user to manipulate the athlete on the screen, allowing the operator (the coach) to control all movements. Another teaching technique is to allow the athletes to manipulate the movement of the video game action, therefore further engaging them in the visual interactive learning process.

As an example, during practice if you find kids are becoming bored working on ball catching skill techniques, bring the handheld video game device and show some of the top NFL receivers making spectacular catches. Have the athletes focus on the footwork, the body control and position used to make these catches followed by challenging them to replicate the same moves and techniques on the field. This type of experiential learning that is both contemporary and so closely interactive will not only enhance your practices but will also develop much more engaged athletes in the learning process of the fundamentals.

By bringing the handheld video sports game to practice you are also directly and subconsciously training each kid to focus on technique execution the next time they play the video game at home.

Remember today’s kids are growing up in a fast paced environment where they need to be both entertained and engaged at all times. Using video game training, and handheld video equipment at practice will not only improve the attention of each athlete at practice; it will also increase your legitimacy as a coach that understands their world.

- Scott Lancaster

Tags: Holiday shopping season, ipad, iphone, Parents, video game consoles, video games, youth coaches
Posted in Sports, Technology | 2 Comments »

Tech Toddling

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

Too young for tech? I’m not sure I know what that means, but I hear the discussion all around me at work and on the web. I know this: I routinely lose control of my iPod Touch to my three year old. What does he do with it? If you ask him, he’ll tell you one of two things: he needs to kill bad guys, or he wants to play “hoopa-loops”. In both cases he’s referring to a couple of games I have on the Pod.

When I have the chance, I’ve joined the discussion and asked what people mean when they make statements about our little ones being “too young” for access or exposure to a variety of technology. What the discussion eventually turns to is either content or cost.

The matter of content is pretty straight forward. Allowing kids access to age-appropriate content while working to keep them away from inappropriate content is nothing new. It was true with radio prior to television (even though I get the distinct impression the problem was simpler at that time), then with the proliferation of television and the broadening of its associated content, and now today with the web. But nothing’s really changed; as parents we want to foster and fuel the development of our kids’ minds, but also want to protect them from things that’ll cause harm whether in print, through audio or video.

Darn it, this is complicated. While it’s appropriate to lump kids of certain ages together for all the right reasons, every kid is still unique. And so are parents, home environments, neighborhoods, etc. Macro “rules” for exposing kids to a variety of things only apply on a macro level. Dads, or at least for this dad, the real work for is the complexity of making these generally wise rules apply very specifically to each of our kids, to do it in concert with our spouses if there is one, and to juggle how this plays out when we have multiple kids in the household. Ah, the historic friction between older and younger siblings–does access to technology complicate it? (I can hear it now, “Dad, how come he gets an iPod and I don’t?”) Content matters and each child is clearly different whether we’re talking about our own kids, or our kids relative to their friends. And the access to the breadth of content out there through today’s computers is faster and fuller.

As for cost, it often comes down to this: will I hand an expensive piece of tech to my child knowing he may very well break it? Nothing special there: kids break things, even expensive things. I can’t afford for my son to destroy something expensive. Sorry son, you can’t play with this.

I guess I’m generally comfortable with how my son currently interacts with a variety of media through the TV or web. My wife and I control it well (so far). The question I still wrestle with though: is today’s tech simply this generation’s version of the TV babysitter, or is it more complicated than that? Does anyone remember the HBO series “Dream On”? Hilarious, but an interesting commentary about a child raised by the television. If we’re tempted to use tech, and specifically the web as a babysitter without real oversight, I wonder if we’re at risk of building the next generation of Martin Tuppers? I’m reminded every day as my wife and I raise our son that parenting is complicated, a full-time job, and it’s just plain hard. But we enjoy it; it’s also incredible fun for both of us, for Steph as a mom, and for me as a dad.

It’s great to be a dad!

Tags: Technology, Toddlers
Posted in Technology | 1 Comment »

Dew Tour – Boston, MA

Monday, June 28th, 2010

This past weekend, Dylan and I got to spend some quality father son time together on the first stop of this years Dew Tour held in Boston.

While neither of us are heavy into the skateboarding world, we both enjoy watching it and when Sony offered us tickets to come on down and check it all out how could we say no?

We arrived early and found all sorts of booths and experiences set up outside of TD Garden. With an extreme sports angle, the variety of what people were offering surprised both of us. Where else would you find the National Guard letting kids ride segways and then just down the way a Paul Mitchell salon doing hair cuts and coloring directly across from a gigantic inflatable Nerf Dart Tag arena?

Sony had three tents set up as well, each with a unique theme that was an instant attraction for Dylan. Inside of one, they had a huge 18 wheeler truck that opened up to have screens and Playstation 3 consoles all along both sides and inside as well. Kids (and parents) could walk up and play some of the newest game releases. Dylan was stuck playing Time Crisis for quite some time and I wasn’t going to complain because the air conditioning felt awesome.

For me, the coolest thing we saw was the new 3D gaming options from Sony. I had to give my license to check out some glasses, but then we got to play and let me tell you that it was amazing. I haven’t been caught up in all the hype over 3D televisions and such, but after playing a couple of games in 3D I instantly got the appeal. I just hope that the glasses are not expensive or it is going to suck for gaming because as you can see in the picture above, watching a game without the glasses sucks. Part of the fun of home gaming is having others be able to watch while some play.

Dylan’s favorite part was being able to play a game of Nerf Dart Tag. Before the tournament started (who knew they had a country wide tournament going on?) they were letting kids go in and setting them up in teams of four to play. It reminded me a lot of speed paintball except with Nerf guns. I got to go in and take pictures while he was playing and it was a lot of fun to watch. Of course I wish they rented the arenas, because it could be a lot of fun to set one of those up at a party!

After spending several hours outside at all the free exhibits we headed in to watch the competition. It was weird to see a half pipe inside of the Boston Garden, but it was a blast to watch. Dylan (and me) were looking forward to seeing Shaun White compete, but he was hurt so we had to settle for watching him get interviewed on the big screen.

All in all we had a great day together and ended it by getting some slices of pizza from Quincy Market before heading home.

The Dew Tour will continue on into the fall with stops in Chicago, Portland, Salt Lake City and ending in Las Vegas. You can buy tickets here as well as find out more information. If you get a chance to go, I highly recommend it!

If you want to see more picture, view my whole Dew Tour set.

Tags: dew tour, dewtour, extreme sports, mountain dew, nerf, nerf dart tag, skateboarding, sony
Posted in Events, Sports, Technology | 2 Comments »