Posts About ‘sony’

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.

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Posted in Featured, Guy Stuff, Technology | No Comments »

Digital Dads TV – Cars and Crawfish

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

I’ve been on the road a lot the past couple of weeks and my travels have taken me to New York, Maine and New Orleans. So of course we talk about all of those along with video and photos from those travels on this episode of Digital Dads TV. What could be better then cars and crawfish?

Links to everything shown or talked about in the show.

Have someone you think would make a great guest or a service, product or service that you think would be right for our audience? Please e-mail us to let us know about it.



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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.

Sk8 Vert Competition

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?

Mountain Dew Booth

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.

Playing PS3 in 3d

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!

Nerf Dart Tag

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.

Sk8 Vert Competition

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.

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Posted in Events, Sports, Technology | 2 Comments »

Two Great Playstation 3 Family Games

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

Sony sent me a PlayStation 3 and a couple of family friendly games to try out with my family. This is going to be an ongoing relationship with them that I’m looking forward to. I am a total casual gamer so I’m hoping to be able to find some new favorites from this.

Buzz! Quiz World

buzz

The first game was the Buzz! Quiz World Bundle which in addition to the game comes with 4 wireless controllers. These allowed me and the family to spread out in my office and get comfortable while we played. Definitely a plus when you don’t have to be tethered to the gaming station with wires!

Anyone that is a fan of trivia will love this game and don’t worry about knowing all the answers. With a database of over 5,000 questions you are not going to be hitting repeats anytime soon.

One problem we did run into is that this is geared more towards adults than it is kids. I would love to be able to adjust the settings so that I could make the questions more kid friendly. More often then not, both kids would announce they were just hitting buttons because they had no idea what the answer were.

That being said, we did have an absolute blast playing. The ability to pick unique avatars for your character as well as fun names from a pre-determined list gave us all good laughs. The silliness of some of the game types adds to the fun. Laura and I commented more then once that we hope to get to play this with some other adults.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time

rachetclank

Dylan loves adventure games and we had both played previous releases in in this series before so when Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time showed up he instantly popped it in and started playing.

While there is plenty of destruction in this game it is done in a very G rated way. Everything that is destroyed falls apart and gives you nuts and bolts to collect. There is no blood or other things found in many games and because of that I feel it is one of the most family friendly game series out there that is also engaging enough to keep kids into it.

The visuals and story line are something straight off the big screen. During the cut scenes, you might forget that you are actually watching a video game rather then a movie. In fact they should think about making this into a movie. I know I’d go see it.

I liked how instead of playing a single character, the plot actually switches back and forth between the two main characters and the shift in game play between the two of them may be a bit startling at first, but you quickly fall into the groove. I am not much of a puzzle fan, so some of the unique game play was not appealing to me, but Dylan loved it. The ability to customize weapons and the addition of game play in space brought some great new features that fans of the previous games will welcome.

Dylan completed the game and loved how it ended, but I’m still working my way slowly through it and hope to actually finish it because I want to know what happens.

I’m glad that Sony gave me a chance to try out the games and I look forward to reviewing other games in the future. I hope that if you are looking for some last minute gifts for the holidays, you’ll consider either of these as great options.

Disclosure: cmp.ly/1/qzpqrt

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Posted in Technology | 18 Comments »

Weekend Productivity

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

I like just laying around on the weekend as much as the next guy, but sometimes we need to get things done. Sometimes it is the famous honey do list type of things, but sometimes there are things that we want to get done on our own.

To Do Sticky Note

I have found that to maximize the chance of success there are a few things you need to do.

  1. Set Clear Goals
    The more vague your goals are, the more likely you won’t get them done. Be as specific as possible. Don’t set the goal of “make a sit down dinner.” Instead set it as “make a dutch oven pot roast for dinner.” Being specific up front focuses you even more on the end goal.
  2. Make a List (in your head doesn’t count)
    This can be on a sticky note, whiteboard or the nearest scrap of paper, but putting it down on paper makes it more likely to happen. This is extra important if you have more then one goal because you can check them off as you complete them. This gratification will help you push forward.
  3. Don’t Do Too Much
    A million tiny tasks or a handful of major ones will both kill you. Don’t give into the temptation to try and do too much. Recognize your limitations and set the right number of goals. Nothing sucks more then having to push something off to the next weekend.
  4. Tell Other People Your Goals
    When you are accountable to someone, it is a great motivator. It is very easy to tell yourself you are going to do something, but the more people you tell the more likely you are to stay focused and succeed.
  5. Celebrate Victory
    When you complete a group of tasks or at the end of the weekend when your list is all checked off be sure to reward yourself. It might be something simple like sitting down for a beer break or some time playing video games. Just be sure to congratulate yourself.

What got me thinking about all this was the final project for the #SonyDads initiative in which we were suppose to take part in a field trip with our families and document it. Every time we went to do this the weather was horrible and so I figured I’d document a rainy weekend in our house instead since I was out of time and options.

In the end it was a boring weekend, but it was a productive one for me as you can see in the video where I cleaned up my office and set up my photography closet. Interesting how starting out in one direction ended up with this.

The video was filmed with with Sony HDR-XR500 camcorder. I’m really glad I got to check this unit out. It certainly delivers good results even when the guy behind the camera is me. *laugh*

This post is part of series called the “Sony DigiDads Project” by Sony Electronics where a group of dads, including C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff, Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, have been given the opportunity to test and review Sony gear. If you want to know more about this project, head on over to the Sony Electronics Community.

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Posted in Technology | 9 Comments »

A Library in Your Hand

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

I’ve always been someone who loves to read. Ever since I was little I could be found reading books. It is something that I’m hoping my kids continue to do. I love that both of them are assigned to read at least 20 minutes every night as part of their homework. They can pick the books, but they have to read. I love that.

So when devices like the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader came on the market I was cautiously excited because I could see the potential but I wasn’t sure I was ready to give up my paper just quite yet.

I purchased a first generation Kindle and version 2 when it came out as well. I love being able to bring this simple device on a plane with me rather then a hard cover book. Being able to carry piles of books on a single device so I can read whatever I want makes it even more appealing. I’m not sure how I managed before owning one.

Sony Readers

As part of the Sony Dads project I was loaned a Sony Reader Pocket Edition™ to review and then send back. They also hooked us up with a couple of coupons so we could buy some books to read on the device for free. I ordered a copy of Candor by Pam Bachorz and The Road (because I want to read it before seeing the movie). I really wanted to spend some time with the device so that I could really review it.

There are a few things I liked about the device, but not many. The size is amazing. It is bigger then an iPhone, but smaller then the Kindle. In my comparisons it was a bit bigger then your usual paperback, but much much thinner.

I also love that when reading a book it actually gives you an accurate count of the number of pages that are left when reading. The Kindle doesn’t do this and it drives me nuts. It may not be all that important when reading a business book, but it is something I want when reading fiction. Finally, the screen is as advertised and it is easy to read in mixed lighting situations.

Now for the list of things I don’t like and there are many:

  • There is no buying directly from the device. In fact that is no wireless connectivity on it so when on the road you are stuck with what you put on it ahead of time. I’m a big impulse shopper and have bought more then one book directly from my Kindle while sitting in an airport.
  • The overall buying experience leaves a lot to be desired. You must download and install a program onto your computer in order to shop. Has Sony not heard of web browsers? Let me buy from anywhere I am rather then forcing me to buy from the computer I install your software on!
  • I’ve heard some complaints about the selection being lacking, but I found everything I was looking for so it wasn’t a problem for me.
  • I could not find a way to auto sync purchases to the reader. I finally figured out that I had to connect it to the computer in order to put any books on it, but I also seemed to have to click and drag them in order to put them on the device. I could have easily missed how to do this though.
  • I wasn’t a big fan of the look of the device. The line of buttons up the side is overkill and actually confused me at first because I guess I expected the UI to be easier to use and not needing so many buttons.
  • I wish it let me make the text smaller. You can make it bigger, but I want a smaller size then the smallest they offer so I don’t have to flip the page as often as I did. As a fast reader with good eyes this drove me nuts.

Needless to say, I won’t be recommending this product for the holidays. I had high hopes for the device. Especially after I opened it up and saw how small it was. That jazzed me up, but I was quickly deflated after using it for a bit.

Everyone knows how to pick up a book and use it and if I can’t pick up a device like this and figure out how to use it then that is a big problem that Sony has to fix before this will be mass adopted.

This post is part of series called the “Sony DigiDad Project” by Sony Electronics where a group of dads, including C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff, Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, have been given the opportunity to test and review Sony gear (lent to us by Sony). If you want to know more about this project visit the Sony Electronics Community.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: http://cmp.ly/1

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Posted in Technology | 3 Comments »

100 Faces

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

I’ve been having a lot of fun with this whole Sony Dads project. It isn’t even the equipment that they loan us to play with that is most fun for me. I like the stories they are asking us to tell without giving us many guidelines. They are like the bumpers on a bowling alley. They set them up for you, but then you use them as you see fit. Personally I’m using these as inspiration to try out new things and get creative again.

This go around we were tasked with something they were calling 100 Faces.

Liang Trip to Cragsmoor, NY

Since I’m an avid photographer and my Canon 50D is never far from me if not permanently strapped to my hand I wasn’t sure if I was the right person to test the cameras. They sent us both a Sony A330 DSLR and the Cyber-Shot DSC-TX1 . The first being their entry level digital SLR and the later their newest slick point and shoot on the market.

Yes, I shot a bunch of pictures with both and even filmed a quick video with the point and shoot the minute the batteries were charged, but I am also biased. After playing with the A330 for a bit I posted this video review of it. I’m use to being able to customize lots of things when I shoot pictures and I couldn’t do everything I was use to. So instead of only having me review it, I gave my kids the cameras and let them take pictures with them whenever they wanted. The results are here in this video The 100 Faces by The Chapman Kids (special thanks to Now is Now for the use of their music) :

Both kids had a blast with the cameras and overall I’m really happy with the photos that are produced. The point and shoot has one of the coolest features I’ve seen in a long time with a built in panoramic mode. Turn it on and then just pan the camera and it takes an instant panoramic shot and the results are stunning. Dylan and I had fun playing with this as you can see in this shot.

I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that the A330 can either take a standard CD card or a Sony Memory stick. Kudos on realizing that the memory stick is not the way everyone goes. Unfortunately, on the DSC-TX1 it only takes a Sony memory stick and worse yet it needs a proprietary cable in order to attach the camera to the computer. These two reasons along means that I’d never buy one of these cameras. I want electronics that work with each other rather then requiring me to carry extra cables, readers and special cards.

Neither of the cameras would be something that I personally would purchase, but I’m not the target audience either since I’m already shooting with a camera further up the food chain then both. I will say that if you are in the market for a starter camera on the digital SLR level then check out the A330 when you look at others because it can hold it’s own on most levels I believe. Dylan especially loved the pull out and tilting screen that allowed him to take pictures over his head or low on the ground.

This post is part of series called the “Sony DigiDad Project” by Sony Electronics where a group of dads, including C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff, Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, have been given the opportunity to test and review Sony gear (lent to us by Sony). If you want to know more about this project visit the Sony Electronics Community.

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Grandfathers & Grandsons

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Poppa Reading TimeAs another one of the projects for the Sony Dads project we were loaned a Sony HDR-XR500V to create a “heritage time machine” that would capture a family story. There were no more guidelines and each of us was left to go with it as we saw fit.

The storyteller in me went into high gear and I realized that I wanted to sit down with my father and my father-in-law and get them on camera. Neither of them were all that excited about getting in front of the camera, but I hope they are happy with how it turned out. Since this site is about Dads I wanted to hear them talk about being a Grandfather, a father and about my son. I made sure to get Dylan into the mix as well. Here is my story.

The camera performed as advertised. I’m really happy with how all the footage turned out. This was all shot with natural light indoors and outdoors. The auto focus is faster then others I have seen and the camera has a built in hard drive so you can record hours of footage without worry. It is a bit bulkier and heavier then my Canon HF11 but still performed awesome. i was worried about the placement of the microphone on top of the camcorder, but I was satisfied with the results.

On the video front, it was something that I’m very proud of. It is the first thing in a long time that I’ve conceived from start to finish. Having been on plenty of sets in my Random Foo Pictures days, this really sparked the old bug that has been hibernating for a long time. I even did all the editing and music myself as well which was a huge confidence boost since neither of these are things I’m very good at.

Watching the playback for the first time I got very emotional. I wasn’t ready for that to happen, but it reminded me that I captured the story I wanted to tell. I dedicated the story to my grandfathers who are no longer with us.

I hope you enjoy the story and I’d love to hear what you think.

This post is part of series called the “Sony DigiDads Project” by Sony Electronics where a group of dads, including C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff, Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, have been given the opportunity to test and review Sony gear. If you want to know more about this project, head on over to the Sony Electronics Community.

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Posted in Everything & Anything, Sons & Daughters | 16 Comments »

Sony Dads: Bravia & Blu Ray Reactions

Monday, August 31st, 2009

DSC00007So, I’ve had my first round of gadgets from the Sony Dads project for a few weeks now and figured it was time to share some first impressions around the television and the DVD player they sent. As I talked about last time, they’ve sent me these to play with for a few weeks in return for sharing my thoughts on them.

The exact equipment they have sent me so far includes:

  • 46″ BRAVIA Z Series LCD HDTV
  • BDP-S560 Hi-Def Bluray DVD player
  • VAIO VGN-FW465J laptop
  • A330 Digital SLR Camera

A little less then a year ago I was in the market for my first big screen television. I did a lot of shopping, asking friends and doing research before making a purchase like this. What I got asked by every sales person was, “what are you going to be watching mostly on it?” My answer was regular television, sports and movies. Whenever I gave this answer I was pointed away from Sony because “they are too dark.” I took this advice and went with another brand.

DSC00058Since I’ve got a full surround sound system set up in my living room this means that the Sony got set up in my office. While it may not be Max’s man cave, it is pretty close with a great big leather chair and the world famous bean. I already had a television in here, but it was smaller so it was a welcomed addition to the room.

My schedule didn’t allow to have friends over for the night to play with it as we had hoped for, but I did plenty of playing with all the features. I had to go out and buy an extra long Ethernet chord to test out the Internet features and my television didn’t come with any form of manual so I was flying solo from the beginning. But, then again what guy is going to read the menu right?

My thoughts:

  • I love that the TV has the same interface as the Playstation 3 which I have always thought was extremely intuitive. (still don’t get why they didn’t send us one of these, but not my call)
  • The pre-selected options for Internet content are great and I was psyched to see my buddies Blip.TV front and center when I first launched the options. I wasn’t so impressed to see that there was only a few podcasts available and that I couldn’t add more like I can on my Apple TV.
  • The DVD player has built in WiFi which is SO smart and I wish my personal player had this option, but as Sass pointed out in his post the fact that you have to plug in a USB thumb drive to give enough memory to use BD-Live content doesn’t make any sense to me.
  • Having a widgets button on the remote makes passing the time during commercials fun, but they take quite a while to load.
  • It was cool to quickly check my @ messages on Twitter which I found very useful, but when I tried typing one to send it took me too long as I’m use to a full keyboard, but it was fun just the same. I’m curious to see what other widgets people are going to develop.
  • While Sony may not want to hear this, I will say when using my Xbox 360 with the television the games look amazing. Madden 10 arrived the same day as the television and WOW is all I can say. This TV has certainly raised the amount of time I spend gaming.
  • And what about being too dark? It is darker then any other TV in my house, but I watched Football on it the other night without any concerns. It did look different, but not in a bad way at all.

Overall I’m really digging the television. The Internet options are nice and we all know they are going to get better. I really wish that the TV had wireless access as well since I wonder how many people have an Ethernet drop in their living room. I had to run a 25′ cable just to hook this up across the office to my router.

The DVD player worked as advertised and my personal copy of The Dark Night looked awesome on it, but then again I don’t believe any Blu Ray player actually plays a movie different then another one. But, I could be wrong.

I’m very impressed with the equipment the kids are loving having a bigger television in the office (when I let them watch it). I might have to end up buying a new one when I have to return this one. Still not sure what brand though. More playing left to do.

This post is part of series called the “Sony DigiDads Project” by Sony Electronics where a group of dads, including C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff, Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, have been given the opportunity to test and review Sony gear. If you want to know more about this project, head on over to the Sony Electronics Community.

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Sony Dads

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

sonydads

I’ve been hoping that brands would begin to realize that Dads are just as active in the decisions being made about what products to buy. I think this is extra true when it comes to electronics and gadgets around the house. So, when Sony approached me about testing out some of their equipment and taking part in their Sony Dads project how could I say no.

Watch my introduction video where I explain why I’m doing it and what it means. (here is the “tripod” I mention in the video)

You can read the press release and in the coming weeks you can expect to see a mix of posts here as I try out the products and share my honest reviews of them. They are sending us this equipment for free and for review purposes only. We have to send them all back.

I’m personally most excited to check out the cameras and the eBook Reader. You all know I’m a camera junkie and a Kindle lover. Stay tuned!

This post is part of series called the “Sony DigiDads Project” by Sony Electronics where a group of dads, including C.C. Chapman, Jeffrey Sass, Max Kalehoff, Michael Sheehan, and Brad Powell, have been given the opportunity to test and review Sony gear. If you want to know more about this project, head on over to the Sony Electronics Community.

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Posted in Technology | 23 Comments »

The shoe cables a repent reward near the visible.