TechyDad, Author at TechyDad

Would You Pay For Social Media?

August 20, 2012 TechyDad Social Media, Twitter

Twitter just tossed a grenade into the room. One that’s causing developers everywhere to scatter for cover. This grenade took the form of a blog post detailing the upcoming changes to the Twitter API. There are many controversial changes, but perhaps the most shocking is that all Twitter apps will now be capped at 100,000 users. If a Twitter app currently has more than 100,000 users, they will be allowed to double their user base, but no more. This (and the other changes) means that popular Twitter clients will likely get the axe. Soon the only way to browse through Twitter may be on Twitter.com.

There are many different rumors about why Twitter is doing this. Many think that Twitter will soon be showing ads in an attempt to turn a profit. If you are using a Twitter client, however, you wouldn’t see these ads and so Twitter needs to find a way to pull everyone back to Twitter.com.

This possibility got me thinking. What if Twitter charged for access? What if you were able to read tweets for free, but actually tweeting out required a paid subscription? Would people pay? Or would they switch to another service?

Twitter will likely hit 250 million users by the end of the year. If the subscription fee was $10 a year and only 10% of those people paid, Twitter would earn $250 million.

I’ve got to be honest. I’m not sure whether I’d pay or not. On one hand, I enjoy taking part in social media and I understand that Twitter needs to make money to pay for servers, employees, etc. On the other hand, there are free alternatives (Facebook, Google+, etc). I guess if the fee were small enough, I would pay, but if they set the price tag too high, I’d bid a tearful farewell to Twitter.

How about you? Would you pay for the ability to Tweet? If so, how much do you think you’d pay?

NOTE: The money image above is by Kamil Koszuta from OpenClipArt.org.

Aloha Friday: NHL Turns Nine

August 17, 2012 TechyDad Aloha Friday, Birthday, NHL

How is it possible that my little guy is nine years old? It seems like just yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. In the nine years, there have been many ups and downs, but it’s been an adventure that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

This year has definitely been a great one. NHL is finally old enough for me to share a lot of my geeky pleasures with him. We’re reading the Harry Potter series, playing with Legos, and watching superhero shows. I’ve even introduced him to movies like Back to the Future.

It’s so amazing how much he’s changed over the years (see the animated GIF below). I can’t wait to see how he changes in the years to come. Ok, maybe I can wait a little bit… I don’t want him growing up any quicker!

Happy birthday, NHL!

I don’t exactly have an Aloha Friday question today, just a request: Please wish NHL a happy birthday.

P.S. If you haven’t already, try out my Twitter applications: FollowerHQ and Rout.

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #152

The #DisneySMMoms Report: Poolside In Art of Animation, Part 3

August 16, 2012 TechyDad Disney, DisneySMMoms, DisneySMMoms2012, Photos

Besides having plenty of food, there was also plenty of entertainment during the Art of Animation party. The spray grounds and playground were open for kids to explore. Giant corals walked past and posed for photos.

The thing that captivated my kids, however, was the balloon animals. A few people were blowing up balloons, shaping them into animals (and other structures) and handing them to kids. My boys begged to get one and so we waited… and waited… I’ll be honest, more than once I wanted to escape the balloon line to go explore more of Art of Animation. However, this particular balloon artist, Carl, was being quite entertaining.

He would ask a child what they liked and would then produce a balloon tailored to their exact tastes. There was a flying saucer (complete with alien inside), Ariel (with green mermaid tail), monkeys climbing trees, and much more. My boys were extremely patient even when the line got a bit chaotic and other kids wound up getting their balloons first despite not having been on line as long.

Carl, noticed this and, when my boys’ time approached, he asked what they wanted. JSL asked for a Pluto but wanted blue mixed in.

But NHL’s was truly outstanding. Carl started blowing up a series of long balloons, snaking them together. He challenged NHL to guess what it was, but we were all stumped. Then, he produced two big, ball shaped white balloons. It all started to come together as he blew up and enormous balloon, put the mass of long balloons below it and used the ball shaped balloons as eyes.

Yes, NHL had a giant, orange octopus. He was so happy and wanted to show it to everyone he met. The smiles on both of their faces were well worth the wait.

Sadly, we knew that the balloon animals would not be able to join us in the next leg of our journey. We didn’t want to upset the kids though, so we came up with a plan. As we entered the hotel, we positioned the animals on a convenient couch and took photos of them. The actual balloon animals were left in our hotel room. When we got home, we printed off these photos and put them in small photo books for the boys along with photos they have from Disney and other memorable events. Now, Carl’s balloons will last forever for the boys. They can look at them whenever they want and remember his amazing balloon creations.

Before I left the party, I gave Carl my card and let him know I was going to blog about this. I’m not sure if he’ll stop by so many months later. If, by chance you’re reading this Carl, thanks again. My boys still love the balloons and had a blast watching you work your magic.

Disclaimer: We paid for our own trip to Disney World to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. Though we were given an incredible deal from Disney, they never asked us to blog about this event. All opinions expressed above are my own.

Note: To see all of my posts on DisneySMMoms 2012, go here.

Geeky Zodiac Fun

August 15, 2012 TechyDad Geeky Pursuits, Politics

A couple of days ago, ThinkGeek tweeted this (highly accurate) Geek Zodiac.

(Credit Where Credit Is Due: This is from TheGeekZodiac.com.)

At first, we had some fun with this, finding out where each of us fall in the zodiac. I’m a Superhero, B’s a Undead/Slayer, NHL’s a Time Traveler, and JSL’s a Treasure Hunter. (So *that’s* why he loves humming the Indiana Jones theme song!) After figuring out our extended family, though, we moved on to other things.

Until, that is, WiredGeekDad tweeted about President Obama being a wizard. They were referring to this totally non-photoshopped photo.

This photo was taken by AP’s Carolyn Kaster. She got the angling just right so that it looked like Obama was summoning a fireball. (I don’t think debate moderators will allow that as a rebuttal, Mr. President… Then again, how would they stop him?)

Suddenly, the geek zodiac sprung back to my mind. Could it be? A quick check of Wikipedia (for President Obama’s birth year) and the Geek Zodiac revealed: President Obama is a Wizard in the Geek Zodiac. Surely, this isn’t a coincidence. (Obligatory: Don’t call me Shirley.)

Being a geek, I couldn’t let it end at this. I suddenly had to know just what each of the Presidents’ Geek Zodiacs were. Here are the results.

(Click to expand that. )

Some interesting items of note:

James Madison was the only Time Traveler President.
Grover Cleveland was the only Astronaut President.
The book and movie were wrong. Abraham Lincoln wasn’t a Slayer (Vampire Hunter), but a Pirate. (Eyepatch and stovepipe hat? Why not?)
Both Bill Clinton and George W Bush were Ninja/Samurai. (No political commentary intended.)
The father of our country (aka George Washington)? A Robot. I’m betting he was a Presi-bot built by Ben Franklin.
We have had 3 Alien presidents: Martin Van Buren, Dwight D Eisenhower, and James "Face Hugger" Monroe.
The three most popular groups for Presidents to come from (with 5 each): Wizards, Pirates, and Treasure Hunters.

What Geek Zodiac sign are you?

Fussy

August 13, 2012 TechyDad Food, JSL, Parenting

JSL has always been a fussy eater. While NHL would eat a broccoli and mushroom pizza or try some new vegetable (so long as assurances were made that it wasn’t spicy), JSL won’t touch anything. If you ask him, he’ll ask “Have I tried it before?” His criteria for trying a food seems to be that he must have previously eaten it and liked it. Of course, you can imagine how this has expanded his culinary horizons. And by “expanded”, I really mean “narrowed.” Recently, however, “narrowed” has turned into “contracted.”

At my birthday dinner, he fought with us over what he was going to eat. The kids’ menu was packed with good choices like grilled chicken and mini burgers. He doesn’t eat these, though. Luckily, there was grilled cheese. He always likes grilled cheese and he was fine with eating that. What he wasn’t fine with, however, was the sides it came with. Cheesy mashed potatoes got his thumbs down even after we explained that he loves pierogies and that’s exactly what is inside of them. He didn’t care. It was something different and therefore not allowed anywhere near his plate (much less his mouth). Fine, though, because you can switch sides. We didn’t even try to press the vegetables, that battle isn’t for a restaurant where others are trying to enjoy their meals. But fruit should have been good enough. He likes apples and grapes… except that he decided that he didn’t like or want them.

Finally, we settled on getting him macaroni and cheese instead of the grilled cheese. This didn’t come with any sides. Problem solved, right? Wrong! When the dish came, he declared it “too sticky”, refused to eat, and complained that he wanted something else. (No, we weren’t about to order *another* meal for him. That simply wasn’t an option.) I’ve run into this problem with him before. Give him boxed macaroni and cheese and he’ll eat two big bowls. Make him macaroni and cheese from scratch, using real cheese and not powder, and he turns his nose up at it.

I’m getting to the end of my rope. Planning out meals seems to always end with “and what will JSL eat?” Our usual house rule is that he can eat what’s being served or he can have a plain peanut butter sandwich, but it gets tiring to know that dinner plans will include a fight over this EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. Last night, he told me that I had to give him more options (after I gave him the choice of mac and cheese, grilled cheese, or a peanut butter sandwich). I told him that I’d gladly give him more options if he would try some new foods so I’d have more options to give him.

Sadly, that seems to have gone over his head. It’s like he magically expects me to make new food appear that he will eat. I’m running out of ideas (not to mention patience).

Have you ever had a child who was a fussy eater? If so, how did you handle it?

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