Zubbles - The World's First Colored Bubbles Wednesday, 01 July 2009 14:22 Written by ND_Steve

Man, I remember my friend telling me about these things 2-3 years ago, getting all kinds of stoked for them, and finally being madly disappointed by the "Coming Soon!" message on the website. I promptly forgot about them, rather than dwell on my internal melancholy, but my friend signed up for the email list and let me know that Zubbles, the world's first colored bubbles, are now ready to ship!

They're not cheap, but then, what awesome bit of technology is? Two 4oz. bottles will run you a cool $14.95, not to mention shipping (which for me is $6.50 - ouch!). Looks like they only offer pink and blue to start, but I imagine that as orders start to step up, the price will drop and the color selection will expand. For now, we'll just have to be happy with what's available and try to find someone willing to piggyback onto your order to split shipping costs, though the price break even then is minimal at best.

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Get off my Wireless Tuesday, 12 May 2009 00:00 Written by DaddyKV

As many of you know, I recently moved. I moved into a townhouse that has about a dozen houses within just a few hundred feet. Within the first few days, I had the wireless up and running and started to hook up my laptop to do a little Dad Blogs surfing.

I found about 6 different wireless networks within range, and four of the six were locked down. This is amazing to me. In today's lawsuit-laced society and software/music piracy rampage, I would think people would protect themselves better.

Most people just say, "I don't have anything to hide," or "No one in my neighborhood will hack me," or even "I don't care who uses it." Let's say someone sits in your parking lot or on the street by your house gets on your wireless and downloads illegal programs, pornography, and hacks a few websites while they are at it as well. This will be traced back to YOUR IP address which is in YOUR house which YOU pay for. There are ways to tell if the traffic was indeed from you based on MAC address but even that can be spoofed (duplicated) and blame can be put 100% on you. Fighting this would take time and money which most people would not want to waste either.

I could go more into why you want to lock down your wireless but take it from this nerd that "You just want to do it". Now.

Here are a few steps you can take to lock down your wireless.

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DTV Changes? I'm confused... Tuesday, 10 February 2009 19:00 Written by DaddyKV

If you have not heard about the DTV transition by now then I don’t know where you have been living. Its been plastered on TV and Radio for almost 18 months NON-STOP, yet people still don’t have a clue. So let’s clear up a few of the most common misconceptions.

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Should I buy Wireless G or Wireless N? Friday, 06 February 2009 00:00 Written by DaddyKV

Ahhh…the great OLD vs. NEW fight.  You should begin by asking yourself "Do I like to live on the edge?" If you do, continue reading. If you are boring and stuck in a rut, then keep what you have and come back for the next post.

For those who are still reading, lets briefly discuss the general details of each technology.

Wireless G

This is the common name for the IEEE 802.11g standard ratified in June of 2003.  802.11g runs on the 2.4Gz band and uses the OFDM transmission scheme.  It has a 54Mbit/s maximum transmission rate with and average throughput of about 19Mbit/s and a maximum distance of about 38m. 802.11g is fully backward compatible with 802.11b (older, slower standard), but in  an 802.11g network,  activity by an 802.11b participant will reduce the data rate of the overall 802.11g network. Because 802.11g runs on the 2.4GHz band, 802.11g devices suffer interference from other products operating in the 2.4 GHz band. Common devices operating in the 2.4 GHz range include: microwave ovens, Bluetooth devices, baby monitors and cordless telephones.

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Choosing an HDTV with gaming in Mind Monday, 02 February 2009 00:00 Written by DaddyKV

There are few things in life I enjoy more than my console games or my HDTV, so this is right up my alley. Maelstrom brought up a question on the Ask the NerdDad forum about HDTV purchasing and the effect they have on game lag (Will HDTV's make my Wii "laggy?").

First, choosing a TV is like buying a house. You need to do your homework, visit it in person, make sure it will fit your needs and is within your means.

Having said that...lets begin with some basic knowledge and terms that will help you in purchasing a TV.

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