Jun 24 2011

Game Changing Gadgets That Aren’t [Opinions] – UPDATED

DaddyTips Rant

This list of “10 game-changing gadgets” from a panel of tech journalists (via ZDNet) is amusingly stupid. Let’s go through them one by one. (Note: this is more of an opinion piece than a rant. But I like my DaddyTips Rant graphic. And I do rant a little bit.)

UPDATED 6/27/11: see below for an update on the OnLive Game System, which can be used on an iPad and may include a controller. That could actually be a significant product if anybody notices enough to use it.

Read more »


Apr 11 2011

Half Price iPad 2 Value Pack [DaddyDeals]

DaddyDeal for today: half-price iPad 2 Value Pack.

What’s in the Value Pack? Things that are of value! (I mean, duh.) More specifically, according to EveryDay Source (via FatWallet): Read more »


Mar 31 2011

DaddyDeals From Buy.com Through April 3

More good tech stuff for cheap from Buy.com. Flash drives, monitors, even desktop computers! Remember those?

Read on for the deals.

Read more »


Mar 13 2011

External Hard Drive Sale at Amazon (UPDATE: Also at JR.com)

External hard drives are very handy for parents. Digital photos and videos of the kids take up an incredible amount of disk space. You need to back up those memories or you will not be pleased.

Luckily technology is pretty cheap these days. Even so, a sale on something useful for parents, like external hard drives, is always welcome. Check out these hard drive deals at Amazon.com. Buy two. Just in case.

External Hard Drive Sale at Amazon.com

UPDATE: Roger Sinasohn tells us via Facebook that Fry’s has 2TB drives for $89 in store. California folks, take note.

UPDATE 2: He also points out that JR.com has the Western Digital Elements 1.5 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive for $89, and a 2TB version for $99. Thanks for the tip!

Here are links to both drives at JR.com. I had a horrible experience at their store once in person (many years ago), but have never had any issues buying from them online.

Western Digital Elements 1.5 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDBAAU0015HBK-NESN

Western Digital Elements 2TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDBAAU0020HBK-NESN

 


Jul 26 2010

15-Year-Old Kid Tricks Apple App Store [Smart Kids Rock]

Wargames

I love smart kids. I love tech folks who stick it to THE MAN.

These days, despite protestations from iHoles worldwide, Apple is THE MAN. Especially when it comes to the iPhone app store.

Here’s what happened: according to Gizmodo, Nick Lee, a 15-year-old kid, was selling an iPhone app called Handy Light. It looked like one of probably thousands of “colored flashlight apps” that are in the app store.

BUT! Handy Light had a secret feature — “hidden code that made it a full tethering application—a program that allows you to use your iPhone as a 3G modem.” This is something that AT&T charges $20 a month for. But if you have Handy Light, you can do it for free — well, ok, a one-time charge of 99 cents.

A couple of points:

  • Cellphone carriers who charge for tethering are annoying.
  • Apple’s claim that they filter apps in order to protect users now sounds silly. Especially when they rejected a farting app. (They eventually approved it, I think.)
  • It’s great that kids are still programming. Computers in schools are mostly used now as gaming machines.
  • This is NOT evil hacking. This is a kid who figured out a way to buck the system.

According to Gizmodo, Apple removed Handy Light from the app store, but anyone who downloaded the thing can keep using it. Not sure if it’s possible to load your own apps onto the iPhone. If so, I hope the kid released the source code so people can keep doing this on their own. It may be a violation of AT&T’s agreement (I have no idea if it is or not); if so, that’s their problem.

GO! SMART! KIDS! David Lightman! Represent!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukXXcOn7V7o]

How a 15-yo Kid Tricked Apple With a Disguised iPhone Tethering App (Gizmodo)

Wargames DVD image via Amazon.com


Apr 03 2009

DadNews Daily – Miley And Nick Sing Together

Happy Friday! Some entertainment news today, defining the term “entertainment” loosely, as well as why I may be done with Windows after the Conficker non-event. Read more »


Feb 05 2009

Affiliate-CompUSA

It’s not what it once was — a big giant computer superstore that had all sorts of nerdy crap. But the online version Read more »