TechyDad

Room On The Broom DVD Review/Giveaway

August 21, 2013 TechyDad Books, DVDs, Giveaway, Movies, Review

I’m a sucker for stories with lessons. I also love when books are turned into films, though I’m always wary when a short story is turned into a longer movie. It’s easy to bog down the story with unnecessary details, completely ruining the tale. Thankfully, Room On The Broom is exactly the opposite of this.

The book was fantastic. A witch and her cat would keep losing items of hers. Animals would kindly return them and ask to ride on her broom. The witch would agree until the broom was so overloaded that it snapped in two. Unfortunately, one animal – a dragon – was not so kindly and tried to eat the witch. The animals had to work together to try to save their friend.

The movie follows the same plot, but you begin before the witch and cat even take off for the first time. Instead, you get to see some of the cat’s life alone with the witch. As each item is lost and found, the animal returning it gets fleshed out more. The dog is eager – bounding around the witch and sniffing the broom. The bird is green – while all other birds were black and excluded her. The frog was clean – in stark contrast to the messy frogs surrounding him.

While the witch is glad to have more friends, the cat sees each new animal as a threat to its life with the witch. It tries to deny them access, but the witch is too kindly and takes them all in. The cat must learn that these “intruders” are actually friends and work with them when the witch’s life is in danger from a scary dragon.

I loved how the movie not only used plot elements from the book, but took minor illustration components and turned them into scenes. For example, one picture in the book showed them flying over a crane, sheep, fish, and beaver. In the movie, this turned into a series of scenes where these animals turn up as they search for the witch’s wand, In addition, the added elements (such as the cat’s annoyance towards the new animals) made the story even better. I would definitely recommend both the book and DVD to parents for both entertainment value and the lessons they can teach children.

Giveaway

One of my readers will win a copy of Room on the Broom on DVD. To enter, follow the steps in the Rafflecopter widget below.

Contest starts today, August 21st and ends at midnight on September 7th. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for your mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using Rafflecopter and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. and Canadian residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received both the book and DVD version of Room on the Broom to facilitate this review/giveaway. All opinions expressed above are my own.

Prepping a Tablet For Children

August 19, 2013 TechyDad Geeky Pursuits, Parenting, Smartphone/Tablet Apps, Technology

Awhile back, we uncovered a large mass of gift cards we had all but forgotten about. Some were ours, but a lot of them were for our boys. They would get gift cards in addition to their birthday or Chanukah presents and we would put them away. After all, they had just received a pile of toys. There was no need to for them to add to it.

We totaled up the cards and began to dread the huge influx of toys that would clutter our house. Until, that is, we thought: Why have them get toys? Why not suggest they put that money towards a tablet computer instead? JSL and NHL loved the idea and now they each have a Galaxy Tab 2.

A tablet can be an ideal computer for a child. They are small enough for a child to use easily, can be used for games, educational programs, or reading, and are portable enough to bring on the road. Instead of bringing a big pile of toys in the car for a road trip, you can simply put the tablets in the kids’ hands and they will be entertained for quite some time. On the downside, though, tablets are fragile, can lead to your child accessing inappropriate content, or can have your child access the wrong content at the wrong time.

Some tablets, like the Kindle Fire, come with parental controls built in. We were sorely tempted by the Fire, but the availability of the Google Play store (or lack thereof) was a bigger issue for us. So how does one take an Android tablet without built-in parental controls and protect it? Here’s what I did. Feel free to leave any further recommendations in the comments area below.

Physical Protection

The biggest concern is tablet breakage. It doesn’t matter how well you lock the tablet down if the child drops it and cracks the screen. Then you face either an expensive repair or replacement. We’ve imposed strict tablet usage guidelines with the kids. They know they aren’t to run with the tablets and should avoid walking with them whenever possible. They are frequently reminded to take care of their tablets and that they are fragile.

Still, even the most careful child will have an accident from time to time. That’s why we purchased Otterbox cases for our boys’ tablets. They cost more than some other cases, but they do the job nicely. The one time we had an incident (with B’s iPad), the iPad emerged without a scratch or crack on it. It might have survived without any case, but the drop was several feet and could have easily broken the iPad. Will it protect any device from any fall? Of course, not. No case would do that. But the Otterbox does help to tremendously stack the odds in the tablet’s favor.

If the price of the case makes you pause, just consider what the price of fixing or replacing a damaged tablet would be. I’d be willing to bet that the price of the latter would be more than the price difference between the Otterbox and a plain case.

Disabling Unneeded Apps

The next step is to decide which applications should not be used on the tablet. For example, JSL is never going to use GMail or Google Hangouts on his Galaxy Tab 2. Why, then, should those apps be available? The problems is that some apps come pre-installed and can’t be removed. (This is true for Android cell phones as well and the same steps can be used for them.)

First, go to the System Settings area. From there, find Application Manager or Apps (depending on which version of Android you have). Go to the listing of all applications and find an application you want to disable. When you press on it, you should see either an “uninstall” button, an “uninstall updates” button, or a “disable” button. If the button reads “uninstall”, you can just remove the app from the device. If it says “disable” then clicking the button will prevent the application from running. If the button says “uninstall updates” then you’ll need to press this first. After the updates are uninstalled, the button will change to “disable” and will allow you to disable the app.

Locking Apps That Kids Shouldn’t Use

What if you want an app available in case you use the tablet, but don’t want the kids using it? Or, perhaps the app is so integral to the functioning of the device that it can’t be removed/disabled. So how do you prevent the kids from using the app when you are not looking? (After all, you can look over their shoulder all day but all it takes is a few minutes unsupervised for kids to get in trouble.)

For this, I installed App Lock. App Lock lets you decide which applications need to be protected and to set a password to protect them. So if you check your GMail on the tablet, but don’t want the kids looking through your e-mails, you can set a password on it. If they try to launch the app, it will prompt for the password. You can also set time and location locks, but those are premium features which cost either $0.99 per month or $2.99 per year. So far, we haven’t decided to opt for the Premium protection, but it is an option.

For now, though, the basic level of protection is an effective solution to the problem. Without knowing our secret passcode, the boys can’t access any applications that we deem out of bounds.

Time Limits Imposed

Sometimes you want to allow your children to use an application but don’t want them spending all of their time on it. NHL, for example, would spend all day playing games on his tablet (or at least until he drained the battery) if we let him. However, I don’t want to cut off all gameplay entirely. So how can I let him read on his Galaxy Tab 2 for a few hours, but limit how long his gameplay takes?

Enter Screen Time Parental Control.

This application will allow you to set a daily time limit and specify which apps count towards that limit. So I can allow NHL unlimited Kindle reading time and permit him to use games with educational components (like MathDuko) as long as he likes, but other games will count towards his daily limit.

In addition to this, the limit can be overridden. Tell me if this sounds familiar: You tell your kid that dinner is in five minutes. Five minutes later, the food is on the table, but your child is too engrossed in gameplay to come to the table. You call again and five minutes later the food is getting cold while the child CONTINUES to play. Now imagine that you just pull out your smartphone and load up the Screen Time Remote Control app. Using this, you can send a quick message to your child’s tablet saying “Come to dinner now!” and lock them out of their games for a specified period of time. Or, if you are trying to get out the door, but they have an hour of gameplay time left that they refuse to give up, you can override this with the remote control app to expire their time immediately.

Of course, these apps aren’t a substitution for good parenting. The best protection for children using tablet computers is still talking with them, setting clear limits, consequences for purposefully crossing the limits, and support if they find themselves on the edge and don’t know what to do. Still, these tools can give parents some additional ammunition for the digital age.

What are your favorite ways of protecting your children and devices?

Disclaimer: B received a Galaxy Tab 2 as part of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers program. We purchased the other Galaxy Tab 2 ourselves. I was not asked to make any blog posts in exchange for this device. All opinions expressed above are my own.

Happy Birthday To NHL

August 15, 2013 TechyDad Birthday, NHL

Tomorrow, NHL turns ten. I can’t believe that my little guy is actually leaving single-digit years. He’s getting so big so fast. Over the past year, NHL has grown so much and this year has been filled with many highs and lows.

At school, he began the year incredibly smoothly. Since we had a diagnosis, we no longer needed to make wild stabs at ways of helping NHL reach his potential. We now knew what would work and what wouldn’t. In addition, he had a substitute who knew just how to work with a child with Asperger’s Syndrome. This helped cut NHL’s outbursts from half hour long affairs to a mere three minutes – most of which was spent with NHL moved to an area for him to decompress and calm down.

The diagnosis also helped NHL learn how to become an advocate for himself. Over the past year, he has made huge strides in making sure that people know just WHAT he is taking issue with an WHY. He has a long way to go still, of course, but his progress has been amazing. He even joined us at a recent rally to show his opposition to the ridiculous regimen of testing that he and his peers were being subjected to.

NHL also continued playing for band last year. He has demonstrated an amazing proficiency for music. Not only can he memorize songs, but he has shown the ability to play songs that he learned for one instrument on another one.

On the geeky side, NHL has grown by leaps and bounds. While we made little progress with Harry Potter, I’ve introduced NHL to both Back to the Future, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. More recently, I showed him Doctor Who and he quickly became a Whovian. He can now be heard saying “Exterminate!” or “Are you my mummy?” We’ve also gone to quite a few museums to see the exhibits and have fun while learning about science.

I introduced NHL to the world of card-based gaming with Nuclear War, but NHL’s real love is computer/tablet gaming. His recent favorites include Wonder Zoo, Turbo Racing League, and My Muppets Show.

Recently, NHL got braces on his top teeth. We were wary about how he’d handle them, but he’s been great about it. He immediately learned what foods he could eat and what foods he couldn’t. He is very strict about this. (Though it can get annoying when he tries to ask every waiter/waitress at every restaurant we go to whether the chicken is too crispy for him, at least it means that he’s trying to be a self-advocate.)

He’s come so far and I’m so proud of him every day. Happy birthday, NHL, I can’t wait to see how you grow in the next year. (Just don’t grow too quickly, please!)

Mourning Your First Doctor

August 14, 2013 TechyDad Doctor Who, Geeky Pursuits, Television

Recently, Doctor Who fans were saddened to hear that Matt Smith was stepping down from playing the eleventh Doctor. We had grown to adore his eccentric Doctor who loved fish fingers and custard (but not beans… bad, bad beans), thought fezzes and bowties were cool, and got married to River Song who constantly warned of spoilers.

After months of speculation, it was announced that Peter Capaldi would be taking over as the twelfth Doctor. This will take some getting used to. Every actor brings their own spin on the character of the Doctor. Some are more action oriented. Some are more comedic. Some wear leather. Some wear long scarves. Some rely on their sonic screwdrivers and some shun the device.

There is a usual progression that happens for fans when the Doctor regenerates. At first, everyone goes into mourning over the loss of the current Doctor. We bemoan the voyages we could have had with him. The places and times we could have seen. The stories left to tell. Then, the replacement announcement is made. Some cautiously accept it and some reject it declaring that there’s no way this actor could play the Doctor.

Finally, the time comes and the Doctor regenerates. A few episodes later, we realize that this new Doctor is fantastic. He’s very different from the old Doctor but that’s the strength of the show. The actors change and so does the Doctor. The show survives any and everyone in it.

My boys are going through this cycle for the first time. They just watched the two part episode "Bad Wolf" and "The Parting of the Ways." They saw the ninth Doctor in pain. Every cell in his body was dying and so he did what Time Lords do to cheat death. He regenerated. After some final farewells in his current form, golden energy shot out of his head and arms. Gone was the ninth and the tenth took his place.

Honestly, the tenth Doctor (played by David Tennant) is my favorite Doctor. NHL seems excited to see what comes next. He’s already accepted the new Doctor and is moving on. JSL, on the other hand, is deep in mourning. He has declared that the ninth Doctor is his favorite and will always be so. He wants to see more ninth Doctor episodes (even though he knows there aren’t any). He’s deep in Doctor Who Mourning.

I know he’ll get over it. A few episodes in, he’ll be declaring how Doctor 10 is his absolute favorite. And, before he knows it, he’ll be crying over the tenth’s departure and the eleventh’s arrival and then again for the eleventh’s switch to the twelfth. There’s something bigger about seeing your first Doctor regenerate, though.

Still, we’ll got to forge ahead. He might look and act differently, but he’s still the Doctor. He’ll still have fantastic adventures throughout time and space. As my boys will soon find out that Doctor 10 is fond of saying: Allons-y!

Geek World Problems – Spray Ground Solutions

August 11, 2013 TechyDad Doctor Who, Geeky Pursuits, JSL

For the past week, JSL has been a bit grumpy. It all started on my birthday. As part of my birthday gifts, B and the boys got me a sonic screwdriver. JSL decided that he loved it so much that he wanted one of his own. Only, he wanted the tenth Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. Not the eleventh like I had.

At every opportunity, he’d remind us about his desire for his own sonic. Every store we went to, he would inquire whether or not they carried Doctor Who merchandise. If they did, he would complain loudly about how he wanted a sonic screwdriver SO MUCH!

I really felt for my little Whovian. The geek in me wanted to buy him a sonic screwdriver – or at least let him use some of his saved up gift card money to buy one. The parent in me, however, knew how this would proceed. He would play with the sonic screwdriver for a few days – a week tops – and then it would get dropped in the heap of toys that he ignores when he complains about how bored he is.

(As a side note: This is the second Doctor Who-related obsession. Before my birthday, he wanted bow ties to give to his stuffed animals… and he wanted REAL bow ties from the men’s department. Whovian or not, I wasn’t going to spend $35 each on stuffed animal bow ties! Thankfully, this demand seems to have died down.)

Yesterday was particularly bad. I took JSL out to look for some presents for his brother’s upcoming birthday. We were hunting some blind bag Doctor Who figures that NHL had expressed a desire for. Unfortunately, they were sold out as is every other place in the area. (We’d order them online, but for items like this the shipping can cost as much as the item itself. Besides, he’s getting something else Doctor Who for his birthday – shhhhhh!)

JSL did not take this shopping trip well. Here we were standing in a store with loads of Doctor Who items and I was steadfastly refusing to buy him anything. What’s more, I was adding insult to injury by implying that we might buy multiple things for NHL. What a horrible dad I am!

JSL was in such a horrid mood that we went home immediately and he got sent to his room to calm down. After awhile, we thought that perhaps an outdoor activity was warranted. After all, it was sunny and warm out. Summer doesn’t last forever and we need to take advantage of these warm days while we can. So we went to a local spray grounds.

A magical transformation occurred as we headed out. Gone was Grumpy JSL and in his place was Happy JSL. The boys splashed, ran, and had a massive amount of fun. I only found myself wishing that they would be so enthusiastic about water pouring over their heads when they were in the shower as when they were at the spray grounds.

Sadly, spray ground fun can’t last forever and we did head home. Even more sadly, the spray ground high didn’t last. Soon enough, Grumpy Whovian JSL was back bemoaning his lack of a sonic screwdriver.

At this point, I’m thinking that I need to look through Pinterest for make-your-own sonic screwdriver ideas. Perhaps modeling clay with sparkles (for the "light") or something similar. Sure, it won’t look exactly like the show’s, it won’t light up, and it won’t make sounds. However, it also won’t need batteries and will be something they make themselves. This might make it even more special to them. We might wind up gathering around the TV for the next episode of Doctor Who with all of our sonic screwdrivers in hand.

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