The Cast of Dads (minus Max, who was at sea) whipped together a short video about our Mother’s Day experience with the Motorola Droid Razr. Â All the footage was shot with the Razr, and thanks to Danny Cameron and the DadLabs team for the great job editing. Â Enjoy! Â Disclosure: The Video above was sponsored by …
Continue reading A Not So Brady Bunch of Dads…Technology
I love basketball. Â To be more specific, I love playing basketball. Â I’m not tall, not light, and I’ve never actually been that good at it, but that never stopped me from loving the game. Â That probably comes from growing up in a part of Queens N.Y. where asphalt was everywhere and thus so were rims. …
Continue reading Help Me Get My March Madness On!At the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) there were literally acres of costly Las Vegas Convention Center booth space dedicated to a seemingly endless array of iPhone, iPad and iPod accessories.  From cases to keyboards to biometric monitors, dozens of manufacturers were baring their wares and showing off both ingenious and incredulous ways to accessorize your …
Continue reading Who Is Woogie? (Hint: An iPhone Creature For Your Kids)(Note: this is a sponsored post, but the words and opinions are all mine.) It is fitting that Asus calls their new Ultrabook line “Zenbooks.” Just one look and you can see that it is a device that exudes a sense of calm and balance, purity and power.  An early entrant in the Intel …
Continue reading Zen and the Art of UltrabooksI’ve been thinking all week about a movie I saw on Monday night at the recommendation of my friend Clay Hebert and I still haven’t fully reconciled what I saw, heard and how to interpret the constant thoughts it’s generated. Transcendent Man is a documentary directed by Barry Ptolemy chronicling “the life and controversial ideas of luminary …
Continue reading Transcendent Man: A Look at Futurist Ray Kurzweil (Review)As part of the “Intel Advisors” program, my fellow Cast of Dads co-host Michael Sheehan (@hightechdad) and I were the lone males at the recent “Upgrade Your Life” experience at Intel‘s Santa Clara headquarters.  Surrounded by a bevy of talented women entrepreneurs and bloggers we were treated to an inspiring peek inside Intel and in particular, a deeper …
Continue reading Getting An Upgrade From IntelLast week I had the chance to speak about kids and technology with Intel‘s Peter Biddle on his MashUp Radio show. Â We had a fun conversation that ran the gamut from toddlers and tablets, to “Free Range Kids,” to marketing to kids, to the concept of our kids never being alone thanks to technology. Peter …
Continue reading Talking Tech and Toddlers on MashUp RadioProduct commercials are known to be sappy on occasion. Â It seems the pulling of our heartstrings is a proven selling technique right up there with sex and humor. Â Effective branding ads frequently play with our emotions, creating clever brand associations that, when they work, can be deep and lasting. Â Google has a winner with it’s …
Continue reading Google’s “Dear Sophie” Ad Makes Dads Proud!As you know if you’ve been following me here, some of the Cast of Dads had the chance to go to the NY International Auto Show, courtesy of Sony and Ford. Â As you may know, the Cast of Dads podcast began as an offshoot of the Sony DigiDad project, which brought together myself, C.C. Chapman, …
Continue reading Coffee, Cast of Dads & Conversation…Last week 3/5ths of the Cast of Dads had the chance to get together for a road trip from Boston to NY thanks to the the teams at Ford and Sony who tried to be the first brands to get all of us together.  Unfortunately, crazy dad schedules (that is – crazy schedules, not crazy dads… well…) prevented …
Continue reading On The Road… AgainThis week the Cast of Dads are feeling inspired by the spring in the air and the spring in their steps, but even better weather cannot keep us focused on just one topic.  Where else can you find five clueless dads debating everything from Justin Bieber vs. Rebecca Black to MacGuyver vs. MacGruber in a single …
Continue reading How Old Is Justin Bieber? The Cast of Dads Want To KnowFor many geeks, the true March Madness is the trippy trip to Austin, Texas for South By Southwest (SXSW). Â Last year, fellow Cast of Dads dad C.C. Chapman and I had the pleasure of visiting the DadLabs Studios, where Daddy Brad (Brad Powell) and his paternal posse produce their short fatherhood flicks. Â This year we …
Continue reading Beer & Coffee: The Cast of Dads at SXSWOne dad clearly #Winning in the news these days is Charlie Sheen, and the Cast of Dads took a few sips of Tiger Blood while recording our 40th episode.  As usual, we cover a cornucopia of topics, from Charile’s angels -er, goddesses, to Dr. Seuss.  As a true sign of a dedicated dadcaster, our own Max Kalefhoff …
Continue reading Whining and #Winning!Three of us Cast of Dads (CC, Michael and myself) were in Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and we got together upstairs in the Intel booth to record both a video and audio special episode of the Cast of Dads podcast. Â We invited Dave Delaney of Griffin Technology to join us as …
Continue reading Discussing Dadgets: The Cast of Dads At CES 2011As part of the Dad-O-Matic CES coverage, Chris Brogan shared a look at the Crayola ColorStudioHD iPad app and “digital crayon” coming soon from Griffin Technology. Â Cool as the Crayola app is, it wasn’t the only neat thing we saw from the Griffin gang. Â Dave Delaney also showed me the Griffin LightBoard, which is a …
Continue reading A Kid Friendly iPad Case That Lets You Trace!???I am back from the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with sore feet, weary eyes and more than a few gigabytes of images and videos of some cool (and unusual) technology and gadgets. Â I look forward to sharing a lot of that content with you here on Dad-O-Matic, and will try to focus on the …
Continue reading Bringing Toys To Life at CES 2011: Intel Labs OASISThere is no doubt that gadgets have truly gone mainstream. Â Look around your home and what do you see? Â Smartphones, Tablets, E-book readers, Computers, Game Consoles. Â Gadgets galore. Â Never before have kids grown up in households that so avidly consume consumer electronics. Â Even two year old toddlers are playing with “toys” with processors inside. Â Instead …
Continue reading CES Bound: Gadgets, Dadgets, and A Remote Control Give Away!As a kid, do you remember the time you took a big old magnifying glass and used it to concentrate a beam of sunlight to try and start a fire? Â More often than not, the object of your makeshift laser weapon – a dry leaf, a slip of paper, or, if you were really daring, …
Continue reading The World’s Biggest Magnifying Glass (and the fires it starts)We’re baaaack!  We missed a show due to technical difficulties, but that means the Cast of Dads had all sorts of pent up energy for our festive gab fest this week.  As we prepped our families for Thanksgiving we peppered our conversation with everything from freedom of speech issues to drinking and smoking, with a few …
Continue reading From Deep Thoughts To Deep Frying: Cast of Dads #35Last month I wrote about a very different type of Digital Reader from Intel. Â The Intel Reader is designed to help people with dyslexia and other visual impairments by easily scanning and then “reading” (via text-to-speech technology) virtually any written words that can be photographed by the portable device. Â I had the chance to play …
Continue reading Test Driving The Intel ReaderMy love affair with TED continues… Â I have written many blog posts here and on my personal blog about amazing and inspiring TED presentations. Â It is a wonderful way to expose yourself to people and concepts you might otherwise never encounter, as well as see really smart and passionate people share vision and views on …
Continue reading The “Hole In The Wall†and Child-Driven EducationHarold (my 4-ish year old) wanted to shoot a video: The fun of doing this is that he knows how to open Photobooth (on a Mac). He knows how to switch it to video and hit record, and he knows how to speak to the camera (kind of). When I think about what our kids …
Continue reading Sharing Tech With Kids(Note: If you and/or anyone in your family is dyslexic or suffers from any vision impairment, please read on for a chance to test an Intel Reader in your home for one month…Â Â Disclaimer: Product links below are Amazon Affiliate links. Â I am part of the “Intel Insider” program and am compensated and/or receive other value …
Continue reading Get Your Hands On A Digital Reader That Says It All: The Intel ReaderHere’s the scoop:  As you know, for the past few years I have been active as a so-called “Daddy Blogger,” sharing my dad point of view and stories here at Dadomatic.com and in the weekly Cast of Dads podcast.  With three awesome kids now ages 22, 20 and 18, I have no shortage of experiences and opinions on …
Continue reading A Man Inside (Intel)An Alarming Situation Like most dads (and humans for that matter) I generally go to sleep at night and rely on mechanical assistance to wake myself up at the desired hour each and every morning. With that in mind I have been forever in search of the perfect alarm clock.  I have tried them all – …
Continue reading A Father’s Day Gift For The DASHing Dad! (and a chance to win one)As so called “daddy bloggers” for Dadomatic we sometimes get invited to attend events that may lead to information and content that will be of interest to you, our readers. A few months ago, for example, Christopher Johnston was flown to New York to attend an advance screening of the family movie “Secrets of the …
Continue reading Getting the Intel on Intel at the “Upgrade Your Life” EventMany moons ago, when I was just a mere tike, when my Mom and Dad taught me to “share” they were mostly trying to get me not to explode in a hissy fit when my younger sister or one of my playmates wouldn’t let go of my Legos or give up my G.I. Joe. Life …
Continue reading Teaching Kids To Share In A Digital Age
I don’t talk about my dad too often, actually this is my first post where I’m acknowledging him. Unfortunately he has had sever depression for the last 10 -15 years and he hasn’t dealt with it. Three months ago after my son was born it finally got in the way of our relationship and we are not currently speaking. This hurts me and is not really by my choice but it is what it is and it does not take away from the fact the my father was a great dad while we were growing up. He was a doctor and he was busy, but he was there for us and present when he was with us. I never felt neglected and I loved, and love him very much.
Continue reading I’m a dork just like my dadAn apple a day… gives the media lots to talk about.  This week both the tech news and so called “mainstream media” was all abuzz about the long rumored, finally revealed, “tablet” device from Steve Jobs and his team at Apple.  When all the dust settled, as expected, everyone’s attention turned to the “core” of …
Continue reading The iPad vs. The iDad!DADvocate – Internet Discussions from Kevin Metzger on Vimeo. This is a video interview with Security Expert Ben Halpert. Ben has two daughters and a son on the way. When his first daughter was born he began thinking about the security risks for being on line with children and how and when that conversation should …
Continue reading Savvy Cyber Kids – An InterviewNo, we didn’t take to the road this week, but we did get our first e-mail question from a listener who happens to be a truck driver.  He goes by the handle of “Jokerman” and he wanted to know if the Cast of Dads could share our thoughts on MP3 players and eBook readers.  Well, …
Continue reading Cast of Dads Episode 6: Keep On Truckin’!Sex… is not what this post is about.  No birds and bees here.  Instead I want to talk about the “other” conversation to have with your kids as they approach the age of puberty and start to become young adults.  That is the talk about privacy and managing with common sense the digital trails we …
Continue reading Having “That†Conversation With Your Kids…“It’s ten o’clock… do you know where your children are?”  In the days before mobile phones and text messaging, that was a line in a frequently broadcast Public Service Announcement.  Even in our connected world today, as parents we still DO want to know where our children are… all the time.  Now we have the …
Continue reading Foursquare And Seven Days Ago…Continuing on my first post here at Dad-O-Matic, I’ve created a blog that will be used for my family to stay in touch with my in-laws during Christmas.
Continue reading Creating a Virtual ChristmasThanks to technology, our kids are growing up in an amazing time. Homework assignments that I would have had to use construction paper, crayons and Elmer’s Glue to complete are now being accomplished with laptops and PowerPoint.  Stacks of papers and notebooks have been replaced by files on key chain sized USB drives.  Those are just …
Continue reading How A Social Media Guru Helped My Son With His HomeworkI recently attended a session at PodCamp New Hampshire on “Digital Natives” and realized halfway through the discussion that my children represent the first generation of “Social Natives.” My son Jackson and I thought it would be nice to share an episode of our show “Two Dudes and One Camera” with the Dad-O-Matic community and …
Continue reading Rise of the Social NativesAs the latest mission for the Sony DigiDad Project, we were loaned a Sony VAIO P Series Lifestyle PC mini laptop and told to go record a class trip or some other family outing. My kids are too old for “class trips” and I wanted to do something that actually included the VAIO P, because …
Continue reading The Sony VAIO P-Mercial: Family Fun With VideoThere is no doubt we live in a digital world. You wouldn’t be reading this blog if we didn’t. As a “Digital Dad” (hat tip to CC Chapman) I have written here before about the impact of text messaging and mobile phones on family life, especially if you have older kids, as I do, who …
Continue reading Digital Tattletales and the Case of the Taken TahiniThey say a picture is worth a thousand words, yet as my task for this latest installment in the Sony DigiDad Project I am asked to write about a bunch of pictures.  Such is the life of a SonyDad.  They (who the heck are “they” anyway???) also say that the best camera is the camera …
Continue reading 100 Faces of Fall: A CyberShot In The ArmOur children are growing up in an amazing, incredible, awe inspiring age.  It is easy to take for granted the phenomenal, science fiction-esque, fantasy world they (and we) now live in.  A world where they can instantly communicate with any of their family or friends anywhere on the planet, any time they want, for pennies, …
Continue reading A “Spoof†Is Not Always Funny: Teaching Kids The POWER of TechnologyBuying gifts, whether they are for Birthday’s, Christmas or just general tokens of affection gets harder as your children grow up. My two daughters are especially difficult to buy for. There are two reasons for this, one they are both in their late teens / early adult hood (one turns 18 next week, one turned …
Continue reading Creative Gift Buying for Teens