Smile for the camera

I like to think of myself as sitting right at the front of the technology bus, but something my daughter said to me over the weekend sent me all the way to the back holding my head in shame.

“Have we got a Webcam?” she asked. “No” I replied.

Now when it comes to social media I’m right in the thick of it. A tweet here, a status update there, but I’d never been one for the real face-to-face digital experience. I knew that somewhere we had an old Sipix Snap digital camera that could double-up as a webcam, but it was probably buried under a mountain of discarded tech and besides it was rubbish anyway. So, without thinking I told her I would get one.

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The trouble with Talking Carl.

Like any normal geek dad I always feel the kaleidoscope of Butterflies flitting around my stomach whenever one of my children picks up my iPhone. I know that I’m supposed to be leading by example and extolling the virtues of sharing, but it’s hard when all I can see is my beloved phone bouncing off the kitchen tiles and having to spend the next few weeks Tweeting through crazy paving.

This particular dilemma has been made impossibly worse by the recent purchase of Talking Carl. If you’ve not heard about Talking Carl then I shall try to explain. Carl is a beautifully rendered orangey-red square with a funny voice. He laughs, shouts, growls and repeats anything you say via the iPhone’s microphone.

Talking Carl

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So you're all astronauts on some sort of… star trek?

Apple iPad

So, Apple have finally dropped their tablet and I for one am looking forward to the trip.

All of the pundits have had their 15 minutes and the overall conclusions seem split. There was a lot of hatred going around after Steve dropped his tab; no camera? no USB? locked down OS? But what all of these commentators were failing to notice was the abundance of fun. As soon as I saw the iPad I couldn’t help but think of playing Flight Control or Bejeweled at double size on that super glossy screen. I pictured myself lounging on the sofa Tweeting my friends or catching up on my newsfeeds.

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