It’s no secret that I have a movie theatre for a television and that we enjoy watching movies at home. But I’m also the parent of a small child and we have a fairly strict policy of what we allow our child to view. Still, we enjoy getting cozy on the couch for a good family movie. So the issue becomes WHAT to watch. The challenge is to find movies that are clean and appropriate for her while at the same time are able to hold my interest.

As I said, we’re careful about what television shows she sees. I’ve even vetoed some Blue’s Clues episodes because of the way they often handle conflict, encourage entitlement, and promote drama and whininess. And don’t even get me started on The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and how they routinely teach ’scientific’ principles that defy the laws of physics.

Everything she watches is played off TiVo, giving us the ability to skip over commercials. Although I must admit that it is mostly so we can avoid her falling for kids advertising and wanting every cheap toy that is pushed in her face. So we simply remove the pushing. We also don’t watch any non-kids shows when she is around, which basically amounts to ‘when she is awake.’ And if the TV is playing live-tv, it’s always on the food channel – which has proven to be a completely kid-safe channel.

For movies, as a general rule I believe in the MPAA rating system. G-rated movies are probably fine for her.  PG, or Parental Guidance, means that it might or might not be appropriate – and we need to pre-view the movie to know if it’s cool before she sees it. And I figure she can probably watch PG-13 movies when she’s 13 – but we’ll see when we get there. With only G movies to choose from, the short list gets stale fast. The problem with the PG rating is that it’s too wide a range – movies can be fine for 6 year olds or barely appropriate for 12 year olds. Overall I think there is a serious shortage of good family movies. And it’s a genre that is not target by indie film makers, which is why I have a passion to try to eventually fill that gap.  But I digress…

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High Tech Monorails is a documentary I edited for my friend Rob Kelly.  It’s airing on Travel Channel and Travel HD several times this month starting Sunday at 7pm PST.  Set your TiVo and be sure watch it!

The show covers several of the world’s best monorails including the Schwebebahn in Wuppertal Germany, which was built over 100 years ago.  It also takes you to China aboard the 1.2 billion dollar mag lev that reaches 270 mph, and to Las Vegas where a monorail was built to connect the back side of the strip’s casinos.  And the film talks about how Los Angeles was offered a free monorail in the 60’s but turned it down due to pressure from the oil companies.  And it asks the question “why aren’t we using these technologies more today.”  All egos aside, it’s a delightful way to spend an hour.  I hope everyone gets a chance to check it out.

Hit the link to see a clip from the show… Read… »

LOS ANGELES

OCTOBER, 2009

Imagine you’re on vacation enjoying a day at Disneyland with your family.  You get your iPhone out of your pocket and it’s in your hand.  You set it down on the seat next to you for a second to help your 4 year old, then a few seconds later you suddenly realize that it’s gone.  You think “Wait a minute… where’s my iphone?”  Then you question yourself “where did I set it down and why would I set it down?” and then you re-step your path, ask around if anyone saw it, check all your pockets like 10 times, look in the stroller and all around.  It’s gone!  Now what?

What would you do?  “I have mobile me” you say?  Well, so do I – but there are some harsh realities to that.  If you’re an iPhone owner I suggest that you read on, find out what is and isn’t possible, and think about what you would do, because it could happen to you. Read… »

If you’re a Best Buy Reward Zone member you can get an 8GB iPhone on the cheap.  $150 for all Reward Zone members, and $100 for Premier Silver members, with a 2-year contract of course.  This is not a refurb but a brand new 3G iPhone.  The offer is good this week only and is only available in-store. Read… »

I think it’s safe to say that a large percentage of geeks and nerds have cats. Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with both my cat and my dog. On one hand they give you unconditional love. But on the other hand they can be extremely annoying, noisy, chew your stuff, puke on things (or on you), and then there’s the whole issue of where they do their business.

When I first got my cat, my wife explained scooping the litter box in the best possible light.  She described the task as being like a prospector sifting for gold. Sounds almost fun when you put it like that. But over the years I’ve come to HATE the chore. I’ve also acquired an allergy to the cat box – the dust and the urine. I am very sensitive to smells and certain scents will throw me right into a migraine. For the past few years I’ve been thinking that the modern house should have a bathroom receptacle for pets. Why can’t there be some sort of toilet for cats that flushes away the waste?  And for a while I’ve been fantasizing about designing and building such a device. Hey, these are the things I think about people! I’m a nerd, what can I say… Read… »

Ever stayed in a hotel where they provide a $1 bottle of water but charge your room $3 if you drink it? One of the tricks that works in most hotels is that if you drink it you just have to replace it with an identical fresh bottle before housekeeping notices. But the Wynn has that one covered. I was recently in Encore, the new Wynn tower, and they provide a big tray full of expensive snacks and drinks in each room. But these items are rigged so that the hotel computer knows the moment they are removed from the tray. Read… »

CNN’s Political Ticker reports that Obama thinks he’ll be able to keep his BlackBerry.  It’s an interesting article so check it out.  I think it’s better for him to have some sort of personal communications device.  If I were in his position I would want to be able to communicate with my family via text. Although I can understand why, for security reasons, it might be a problem for him to have it.  Could it be used to locate his position?  Will everything he writes on it be available on the net?  Will it be a plot point of an upcoming political thriller? What are your thoughts?

This weekend I opened my fridge and found this can of Organic Batter Blaster. Now, I generally love all foods that come in a spray can: cheeze, whipped cream, icing, but pancakes?

The spray can makes people think “how can it be organic.” Despite the environmentally unfriendly delivery mechanism, the ingredients are what make it organic: Filtered water, Organic wheat flour (unbleached), Organic cane sugar, Organic whole egg solids, Organic soybean powder, Sodium lactate (lactic acid from beet sugar), DiCalcium phosphate (leavening agent), Sea salt, Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), Organic rice bran extract, and a Propellant.  Hmm, not sure about that last one.  I think they must be required to list the propellant on the can even though you don’t ingest any propellant.

The important thing is how well it work and how it tastes, right?  We gave it a try on Saturday morning and had a delightful breakfast.  Here’s the skinny: Read… »

I got an email today from SlySoft, the makers of the DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray “backup” software called AnyDVD HD, stating that they are changing their business model. Starting Jan 1, 2009 they are moving to a yearly subscription fee for software updates.  No information is available yet as to how much the subscription renewal fee will be, however they did say that current owners of the software will continue to get free updates.  The new policy only applies to customers who purchase after the end of this year, and they are offering a 20% off incentive to purchase now and get a lifetime of updates.  Here’s what the email (and their website) says: Read… »

We recently took a family vacation to the Disneyland resorts in California. It had been a few years since I had been there. One of the changes is that now when you have your picture taken by a Disney photographer they hand you a PhotoPass, which is a card the size of a credit card that gives you access to the photo via that newfangled thing called the www – or world wide web. Later, log into DisneyPhotoPass.com, sign up, and enter the code on the back of the cards that you collected throughout your stay. Then you can order products with your photos printed on them, add Disney logos to the pictures, or buy them as digital assets – including reprint rights.

So let’s get right to the good and bad of this service, and I’ll toss out some advice for future Disney visitors: Read… »