We just passed Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year and are almost to Cyber Monday (do they still call it that?). My tradition going back to 2004 has been to compile a list of geeky and techy gift guides to help with my own holiday shopping. Hopefully this list helps with your… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Technology
2019 Holiday Geek Gift Guide
Aaaaaand… it’s holiday gift season again! Sneaks up on you doesn’t it? Black Friday has come and gone, so it’s time to get in gear and buy some stuff for the people you love (or hate?). I use this list as a helpful resource for my own gift-giving to (geeky) friends and family. Most of… Read more »
How to Backup Google Photos Locally after Google Drive Sync Changes
Back in June, Google changed how it’s Backup and Sync product works with Google Photos. I used to rely on that tool to backup (or back down?) all the photos I had stored in Google Photos. I’ve used a Pixel phone for a number of years which includes free full-res storage in the Google Photo… Read more »
LCD Handheld Games Now Part of the Internet Archive
I just got lost down a rat-hole of nostalgia. The Internet Archive has recently added a collection of playable old-school handheld video games. Their new Handheld History section houses close to 75 versions of retro handheld games. You can play them emulated right in your browser window! My brothers and I had a number of… Read more »
2017 Holiday Geek Gift Guide
Another Black Friday, and (the terribly named) Cyber Monday have passed us by, so that means it’s time for another Holiday Geek Gift Guide. This is year number 14 for this gift guide. It started before there even was a Cyber Monday as a way for me to help with my own gift-giving for (geeky)… Read more »
Cutting Cable with Android TV and an OTA Antenna
It’s been quite some time since I’ve made any updates to our home media system. It’s worked really well for quite a few years. We had been using an older Windows Media Center computer with an XBox 360 as an extender to other TV’s. The last update to that system was back in 2012, adding… Read more »
Smart Home Part Two: Smartthings, Amazon Echo, and Harmony Remote
Check out my last smart home post, Making My House a Bit Smarter with SmartThings, to see how things got started. I’ve been slowly making additions to make my home smarter over the past year. I received an Amazon Echo for my birthday this year (thanks Jess!). Out of the box, it has the ability… Read more »
The Robots are Writing Christmas Songs
I’m pretty sure this is one of the indicators of the upcoming robot rebellion. Apparently the University of Toronto pointing some artificial intelligence at a photo of a Christmas tree, and it came up with a (very odd) Christmas song. This “neural karaoke” program can look at an image and make it into a creepy… Read more »
2016 Holiday Geek Gift Guide
Another Black Friday has passed us by. It’s now Cyber Monday and the beginning of cyber week (is that new? how long have we called it cyber week?) so that means it’s time for another Holiday Geek Gift Guide. This is the 13th year I’ve created a gift guide. It started as a way for… Read more »
Making My House a Bit Smarter with SmartThings
I have been thinking about how to make my home smarter for a little while now, but never really had a truly compelling reason to make the investment. The most common use of smart home devices seemed to be turning on and off lights, which didn’t really appeal to me. I think a physical light… Read more »
Present Wrapping of the Future
I was doing some shopping a few weeks ago at a local artists store and found an interesting item called a Japanese Furoshiki. It’s a colored cloth used to wrap presents in Japan (with no paper waste). There are a number of ways you an use it to wrap different shaped objects. The diagram to… Read more »
2015 Holiday Geek Gift Guide
Black Friday 2015 has just come and gone, so it’s time for another Holiday Geek Gift Guide. I’ve been updating these gift guides for quite a few years to help with my own gift shopping for friends and family. I like technology and gadgets (and general geekery) so I also like to give technology and… Read more »
Makerbase
Anil Dash and Gina Trapani (the awesome people who created Thinkup – check it out if you haven’t heard of it) recently launched a new site called Makerbase. The new site is a big database of digital projects and the people who made them. It’s kind of an IMDb for makers and their projects. Just… Read more »
Google Maps Driving Simulator
Ever wanted to drive a car through your neighborhood? Oh wait, you probably do that every day. Ever wanted to drive a car through my neighborhood? Well now you can with the Google Maps Driving Simulator. It’s a bit like Grand Theft Auto but without the grand theft (no guns either). It’s actually a pretty… Read more »
Was Your Super Bowl Ad Worth it?
We’re a little over a week removed from “the big game” for 2015, and I recently ran across and interesting article from Embedly comparing the minutes watched in an ad and the amount that ad cost per minute. This comparison looks at the views and fall-off rate of the ads on YouTube and compares it… Read more »
