SHOW #113: Cheap Car Key Replacement with iKeyless.com

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee shows you a quick, easy, inexpensive way to get around the high price of a car dealer's replacement key (some running close to $400!!!). Go to http://iKeyless.com.

5 tech products that just won't die

5 tech products that just won't die

By Suzanne Kantra, Techlicious.com

Recently, I wrote a story about which tech products will be dead in five years. Boy, was I surprised by the response! Who knew that people could be so passionate about DVD backups?

But it’s that passion for the status quo that keeps some technologies going long past the end of their useful lives. And there are other products that just won’t die because, no matter how inefficient or clunky they may be, nothing else has come along that’s better (or at least better at a reasonable price).

Five, in particular, should have gone the way of the dodo long ago, yet continue to hang on and, in some cases, even flourish.

Father's Day Gifts

In NerdBoyTV Episode #110, Ryan Yee shares terrific gift ideas for Father's Day, including RoyceWare, Google Chrome OS Netbook, AirCurve Play, and Electronic Rock Guitar T-Shirt from ThinkGeek. SEE video demos on NerdBoyTV's YouTube Channel.

Gadgets You Should Get Rid Of (or Not)

Gadgets You Should Get Rid Of (or Not) - Yahoo! Finance: "The common rap against technology is that it leads to an accumulation of devices. But the nature of technology is changing. Fewer products are doing more tasks — all accomplished by countless lines of massless software code.

And so we no longer need to accumulate products. If anything, we can cut down. The question is, Which can be replaced and which are fine, or even preferable, to keep? It is plain as day that paper maps and Rolodexes have given way to their digital counterparts. But what else can you get rid of? Here is a list of common consumer technologies and products and a somewhat opinionated judgment on whether to keep or pitch it.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

SHOW #99 - NerdBoyTV: National Day of Unplugging

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee jokes about how miserably he failed to stay off gadgets and the Internet for National Day of Unplugging. It's still a good idea, so if you missed this annual event, try it another day — no gadgets, no WiFi.

Electronic Instrument Shirts (VERY Nerdy!)

Courtesy of TODAYshow.com

"If you don't have enough money for real musical instruments, the next best thing would be to start a band using ThinkGeek's instrument shirts. Choose from guitar, drums and synthesizer. Each shirt features a fully playable electronic instrument on the front and an internal speaker or belt-mounted amp to boost the sound. Plus, the electronics are easily removed for washing. You'll be on your way to stardom in no time — though in this situation, groupies tearing off your clothes might actually be a problem. $29.99 - ThinkGeek via Fashionably Geek

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

NerdBoyTV Cool Gadget: TDK Three-Speaker Boombox

Wow, what at terrific set of portable speakers in the Old School boombox style. I want one! Pricey, but looks pretty awesome!

Cool Gadgets from CES (courtesy of MSNBC)

MSNBC reviews some of the cool gadgets at this year's 2011 Customer Electronics Shows (CES). There have been over 120,000 in attendance at this year's show. Watch the video below to see what gadgets were presented at this year's show.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

NerdBoyTV: Hot Holiday Gadgets

TODAY's Tech Gifts for the Holidays

Release your inner geek with some of these terrific gift ideas. Don't tell, but I'm gonna get the guitar t-shirt for my son, Brandon ;-)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Samsung Continuum (Verizon Wireless)

NerdBoyTV is really liking this smartphone. Bonnie Cha reviewed this phone for CNET and it comes with a unique split screen with the lower one serving much like a ticker tape for social media updates. It will ship with the Android 2.1 operating system and a 5 megapixel camera that also shoots HD video. You may want to check this phone out at Verizon this holiday season.

Samsung Galaxy Tab vs. Apple iPad 3G

NerdBoyTV relies on these CNET Prize Fight reviews. This is their first knock-down, drag-out review between the two current tablet computers on the market—the new Samsung Galaxy Tab takes on the reigning champ, Apple's iPad 3G. Watch to see which one comes on top!

CNET Top 5 Must-Have Holiday Gadgets

CNET's Senior Editor, Molly Woods, walks through the Top 5 must-have gadgets for the holiday season, including the $139 Kindle and Microsoft's Kinect motion detection gaming device for the XBox 360.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Fall Tech Preview 2010 - CNET Reviews

Fall Tech Preview 2010 - CNET Reviews

"The onslaught of new products has begun, which can only mean one thing: 'Tis the season for new gadgets, just in time for the holidays. We've got a comprehensive preview of the tech you've been waiting for.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

SHOW #93 - NerdBoyTV: DecalGirl Phone Skins

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee uses a cool skin from DecalGirl.com to spruce up the look of his old Blackberry Curve 8330.

6 Endangered Tech Species

6-endangered-tech-species: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

"Picking up an Apple iPad or clamoring for Amazon's(NasdaqGS: AMZN - News) Kindle? You may as well get a DVD player, too, as their combined usefulness is on the clock.

The future of technology is integration, something Apple's iPhone and Google's Android products have a better grasp of than, say, Garmin's personal navigation devices or Acer's netbooks. Though there seems to be enough room for everyone -- with the Commerce Department finding last week that American spending on tech items increased 1.8% from 2007 through the first six months of this year while spending on appliances, furniture and clothing declined -- analysts agree that the only thing separating some gadgets from the grave is the size of their displays.

'Handsets aren't going to cannibalize televisions anytime soon, because users want a big-screen media-playback experience that can be accommodated in the home,' says Ross Rubin, an analyst for NPD Group. 'However, handsets may cannibalize Blu-ray players at some point because, as bandwidth improves and we see more media on demand and HDMI outputs or wireless features built into the phone, it could take on the functionality of a Roku device or Blu-ray player.'

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Company behind magicJack to banish calling costs

Company behind magicJack to banish calling costs - Yahoo! News: "The company behind the magicJack, the Internet phone gadget heavily advertised on television, has another trick up its sleeve: free phone calls from computers, smart phones and iPads.

The cost of phone calls routed over the Internet has been on a long slide. There are already a multitude of programs that allow free calling between computers, and some that allow free, but short, calls to regular phone numbers. Another alternative, Google Voice, provides 'free' calls to the U.S. and Canada, but you need a phone to use it, and if you're using a cell phone, it uses up minutes.

MagicTalk would go one better by eliminating fees for calling landline and cell phones in the U.S. and Canada, with no time limits on the calls.

The software will be available next week for Windows and Mac computers. Versions for the iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Android phones will follow in September or October, said Dan Borislow, the CEO of VocalTec Communications Ltd.

Each magicTalk user gets a phone number that's associated with the software. Users will also be able to move their existing phone numbers to the service, for a fee, a feature that will be extended to magicJack users soon as well.

The reason the calls can be free is that VocalTec operates as a phone company, so it can charge other phone companies for calls placed to magicTalk and magicJack numbers. It also charges its users who dial phone numbers abroad.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Cisco's Valet Router is a "no-brainer" for easy setup

CNET Top 5: Best products of the winter (VIDEO)

Tricks to Keep Your Device's Battery Going and Going

READ more at Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance

"f you're a recent convert to smartphones, you're probably still discovering all the amazing things that your new BlackBerry, Android phone or iPhone can do. But one thing you most likely found out right away: the more you do, the shorter your phone's battery lasts.

While a standard cellphone's charge can easily go three days or more, many smartphone owners are dismayed to learn that their new mobile toy requires charging every 24 hours, or even more often. It was great that I could use one device — my iPhone — to check my calendar and respond to multiple incoming calls during January's Consumer Electronics Show, but I paid the price when its battery died at 2 p.m.

The answer was not to desperately search for an electrical outlet to recharge the phone (though I've done that) or to consider giving up the phone (done that, too), but rather to figure out a strategy to reduce energy consumption while still having it available for essential tasks. Whether you're using a laptop or a smartphone, the devices can be tweaked to get the most out of its lithium–ion batteries."

Top 10 must-have gadgets and electronics

CLICK to see them CNET Reviews

"This month's picks include the Nexus One and the Squeezebox Radio. What else is hot on our most recent Must-Have Gadgets list? The Palm Pre Plus and a stellar flat-panel TV, to name just two. Rather than trying to compare gadgets across multiple categories, we present them in alphabetical order, because when you get right down to it, we think they're all must-haves."

Gadgets wow crowds at world's top high-tech fair

READ Yahoo! News: "HANOVER, Germany (AFP) – Robots that teach Chinese, computers controlled by moving the eyes and flying alarm clocks were among the weird and wonderful gadgets wowing crowds Wednesday at the world's top high-tech fair.

As the IT sector seeks to bounce back after a disastrous 2009, firms sought to woo punters at this year's CeBIT fair in northern Germany with fun and futuristic inventions ranging from the mind-boggling to the downright silly.

Learning Chinese but finding it tough to find people to practice with?

Meet Amy, the beautiful and uber-smart talking robot with 400,000 sentences at her command and a brain that is programmed with the entire knowledge of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Using artificial intelligence and voice recognition, Amy can chat for hours with her owner, without ever getting bored or tired and never running out of conversation.

About 35 centimetres (14 inches) tall, with a screen for a face and a laser arm to project her image onto a wall, Amy is due to hit the market towards the end of 2010, said Bruce Han from viewmotion, the South Korean firm that created her.

'At the moment, she can only speak Chinese and English, but we hope in a few years to have French, German, Italian and Japanese,' he said.

Big crowds also gathered around the 'eye tracking' stand run by Tobii Technology, a Swedish company.

Its system allows users to control computers using just the motion of their eyes, from scrolling through a selection of music tracks to enabling market researchers to monitor what consumers look at first from a shelf of products.

A similar technology was unveiled by the Fraunhofer Institute, whereby users can point at a screen from up to 20 metres (65 feet) away and 'touch' icons or control a cursor just as they would with a touch-screen.

With music devices like the iPod and MP3 players now so common, several firms used the CeBIT to showcase new ways of enjoying music on the move.

The 'Tunebug Vibe' is a small device that music-lovers can plug into their iPod, place on any surface -- a pizza box, a table, a wall, a ceiling -- and it instantly becomes a speaker, converting the vibrations of the music into sound.

There was plenty of offer for the practical joker, too. Getdigital.de, whose company slogan is 'gadgets and more for geeks', offered a tiny remote control device that can surreptitiously turn on or off almost any European television."

Design Your Own Plush is All The Rage

Design Your Own Plush is All The Rage: "Using the kid-friendly design tools on the CurlyQ Cuties website, anyone can quickly design their own unique stuffed plush toy. Children as young as 4-years-old have commissioned their own $25 made-to-order Monster designs. No sewing or crafting skills are necessary. As a customer interactively selects the color and shape of their toy's body and features, the visual representation of their design is instantly updated in the online designer. Customers clearly see how their customized design will look before they commit to a purchase.

'We focus exclusively on manufacturing one-of-a-kind stuffies from our customer's virtual designs.' said Stephanie Estrin, CurlyQ Cuties' President & CEO. 'Our website's design tools make the design process easy. You create the design, we do the rest.' When a customer places an order, the transformation from their virtual design to a real plush toy begins. Every product ordered from CurlyQ Cuties is handmade-to-order in Texas. No two toys are exactly the same. All orders are shipped to customers in 10 days or less. For those who simply cannot wait two weeks to receive their custom plushie, the company offers optional rush service.

Founded in January 2008 by a mom entrepreneur on a quest to create high quality imaginative toys, CurlyQ Cuties was originally an Etsy.com shop selling ready-made stuffed Monsters. 'We're an Etsy success story.' said Ms. Estrin. ' I started out making Monsters for my children and then for my friend's children. The Monsters were so well received, I started an Etsy shop to sell them to the public.'

After repeated requests for customized variations of her ready-made Monsters, Ms. Estrin recognized an opportunity to provide a collaboratively-designed and made-to-order plush toy at an affordable price. The major challenge was most customers wanted to see what they would receive before they placed an order. This led directly to the development and launch of the CurlyQ Cuties website in July 2008."

http://www.curlyqcuties.com/