TechyDad » Giveaway

Giveaway: A Fantasy-Filled Valentine’s Day

TechyDad — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I wrote about EdenFantasys and mentioned how I’d like to spend more quality time with just B and me in 2012. With Valentine’s Day approaching, this seems like the perfect opportunity to plan some special time with her. Perhaps, we’ll go out to dinner. Perhaps we’ll see a movie. No matter what we do, it’ll be a special activity because I’ll be with the woman that I love.

For my readers, I have an early Valentine’s Day present. One of my readers will win a $25 EdenFantasys gift card. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What would you go out and do on your ideal Valentine’s Day date with your significant other?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete. (Don’t just leave one comment listing everything you did.)

Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
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Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @EdenFantasys and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Get ready for Valentine’s Day with @TechyDad and @EdenFantasys #Giveaway http://bit.ly/x1ILO3
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Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from January/February. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, January 24th and ends at 10pm EST on February 7th, 2012. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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. residents only.

Disclaimer: The Heart Balloons clipart comes from OpenClipArt.org.

Review: Hot Wheels Nitro Speeders

TechyDad — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0000

The kids love cars. They’ve got a whole plastic carton devoted to various Matchbox, Hot Wheels and other assorted cars. Up until now, though, their RC experience has been a bit limited. We’ve had a few RC-type toys meant for kids (a Lightning McQueen car and a Buzz Lightyear spaceship), but they were bulky and never quite worked right. These toys were soon pushed aside in favor of others.

When the Hot Wheels Nitro Speeders box arrived, I was excited to (re)introduce them to the world of RC cars. The kids, however, were even more excited than I was. They barely tolerated me taking photos of the box and cars before I put batteries in the controller/case.

I was stuck by how small these cars were. You can see, in the comparison photo above, that they are just bigger than a quarter. I’d worry about the cars getting lost, but, luckily, Hot Wheels has addressed this. The controller doubles as a case.

Even better, the case triples as a charger. The car itself contains a non-replaceable Lithium-Ion battery, but the case runs off of 4 AA batteries. Connect the car to the case via a cable (inside the case) and the car can quickly be charged. I didn’t time the charging, but it was definitely ready in under an hour.

All of this wouldn’t matter, though, if the cars weren’t fun. Luckily, they are plenty of fun. Again, my kids put up with me clearing the hallway of any obstacles (and closing doors so the cars wouldn’t scoot under beds). Then, they not-so-patiently put up with me videoing myself playing with the car.

Once this short video was done, I let them have at them. Notice the two cars. B got selected for this review as well. It wound up being a good thing because otherwise the boys would have fought over the controller.

Of course, still photos of smiling faces and racing cars is one thing. It’s quite another to hear their reactions and laughter.

The box says that it is for ages 8 and up, but JSL (age 4) had no problem operating the car. I’ll admit that I couldn’t quite get the car to go where I wanted it to go, but that could be the fault of my inexperience with RC cars more than the fault of the controller. Even without pinpoint accuracy, I had fun making the car race, turn, and spin out. This is definitely a toy that I’d recommend for kids or even grown-ups.

Giveaway

You can win a Hot Wheels Nitro Speeders RC car. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What kind of cars do your kids like playing with?

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To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, August 25th and ends at Noon EST on September 12th, 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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. residents only.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by MomSelect. I received a Hot Wheels Nitro Speeder to review. All opinions above are my own.

The Story of Noodle Nose NHL, Plus an Outback Giveaway!

TechyDad — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:56:20 +0000

Often times, when we’re talking to NHL, we’ll call him “Noodle Nose.” Many people might think that this is a weird name to call your kid, but there’s really a funny story behind it.

When NHL was almost a year old, we went to a local Italian restaurant for my birthday. NHL was starting to eat solid foods, so we gave him some of our pasta to try. He, of course, loved it.

All during the dinner, NHL kept sneezing. At first, we thought that something was bothering him in the restaurant. B and her mother can be sensitive to perfumes and other fragrances. Perhaps, we thought, someone at a nearby table has perfume on that is bothering his nose. The only problem with this theory, though, was that we couldn’t smell anything.

As the dinner, wound to a close, NHL let out a tremendous sneeze and something flew from his nose. Something that solved the meal-time sneezing mystery. It was one of my fettuccine noodles. Apparently, when he was eating them, a piece of one worked its way from his mouth/throat to his nasal passage. There it lodged. As with any nasal intruder, his body tried expelling it via sneezes until it successfully launched that noodle clear across the table.

From that day on he has been known as Noodle Nose NHL!

Giveaway

You can win a $45 gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse (does not include alcohol, tax and gratuity). To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What kind of food do you like eating out with your kids?

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To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, June 28th and ends at Noon EST on July 14th, 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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.

Disclaimer: This post was written as part of the Outback Steakhouse Dinner With Dad Experience blog tour. I was compensated by Outback with a $45 gift certificate.

Kung Fu Panda – General Mills Giveaway

TechyDad — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:00:00 +0000

I’m a big fan of animated movies, especially the recent crop of computer generated ones. With computer animation, you can create fantastic tales that would be impossible to tell otherwise.

When Kung Fu Panda was in theatres, B took NHL and JSL to see it. Sadly, I did not accompany them (since I was in the office). When the trailers for Kung Fu Panda 2 came out, I knew I’d have to watch the first before seeing the sequel with my boys. Luckily, thanks to General Mills, and Dreamworks, I can do just that.

I received a Kung Fu Panda 2 Prize pack which included a Kung Fu Panda DVD, a box of General Mills cereal (I got Golden Grahams^®) and a Kung Fu Panda spinner. The cereal box also contained a second spinner which, luckily, kept my boys from fighting over the toy.

Giveaway

Would you like to win the same prize pack? Well, luckily for you, I’m giving away another Kung Fu Panda 2 prize pack (courtesy of General Mills and Dreamworks) with a Kung Fu Panda DVD, spinner and a box of cereal. (The cereal can be Cocoa Puffs^®, Trix^®, Golden Grahams^®, Reese’s Puffs^®, Cheerios^®, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios^®, Cookie Crisp^®, Lucky Charms^®, Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Honey Nut Cheerios.) To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: Who would you take with you to see Kung Fu Panda 2?

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To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, June 2nd and ends at Noon EST on June 16th, 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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. residents only.

Disclaimer: The products were provided for this review by General Mills and Dreamworks as part of a MyBlogSpark campaign. The opinions expressed above are my own.

Dinosaur Train Toys Review and Giveaway

TechyDad — Tue, 24 May 2011 12:30:00 +0000

My boys love the Dinosaur Train television show on PBS by The Jim Henson Company. They also love playing with toys. So when I was given the opportunity to review three Dinosaur Train toys from Uncle Milton’s Toys, I was excited. When I saw that the toys had educational value, I jumped at the opportunity.

Dinosaur Poop

Let’s be honest. Tell any kid that you’re going to let them play with poop at the table, and they’ll look at you funny. But once you take out this product, they’ll be crying for you to open that package quicker.

Of course, the contents are not really poop, but a brown dough-like substance. They come inside of a storage container to keep the “poop” fresh between uses and some pieces of the dinosaur’s most recent meal.

In the case of a carnivore, these pieces are 2 fish skeletons. In the case of a herbivore, 2 plants. An omnivore has one fish and one plant. The pieces can be put together like a puzzle for even more fun.

Once all the pieces have been found, you can flatten the poop and press the fish skeleton or plant into it to form a fossil impression.

You can also get more creative and form poop sculptures.

Of course, this toy can also lead to interesting statements from parents such as “Who wants to play with poop?” or “Keep that poop on the table and not on the floor!”

Hatchers

How would your child like to grow his or her own dinosaur? Hatchers lets your child do just this. Each package contains an egg.

Drop the egg into a glass of water and out hatches a dinosaur.

Ok, not immediately. This is the tough part. The hatching takes about two days. So children get to learn a lesson in patience.

Dino Track Discovery Pack

My boys love games. So it was only natural that they loved playing with the Dino Tracks. Each package comes with three trails. Each card contains a dinosaur footprint on one side and some dinosaur facts on the other. There are also two “egg” cards with suggested games such as follow the trail or try to jump the space of one dinosaur stride. (As you can see, one T-Rex step is just a little bit shorter than JSL on top of NHL.)

Giveaway

Thanks to Uncle Milton Toys, one lucky winner will receive a Dinosaur Train prize pack which includes two packages of Dinosaur Poop and two Dinosaur Train Hatchers. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What is your favorite dinosaur?

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To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, May 24th and ends at Noon EST on June 7th, 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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. residents only.

Disclaimer: The products were provided for this review by Uncle Milton. The opinions expressed above are my own.

Review and Giveaway: Aerobie Sprint Flying Rings

TechyDad — Tue, 03 May 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Now that spring is here, we can go outdoors for extended periods of time. This means playtime at the park: slides, climbing, throwing frisbees. What could be better? How about tossing an Aerobie around?

You see, NHL and JSL haven’t quite gotten the knack of throwing a frisbee. NHL’s throws tend to not travel far and JSL’s barely leave the ground. So, while we do have fun, there isn’t any distance involved. Enter the Aerobie Sprint flying ring.

The minute the boys saw the flying ring, they wanted to try it out. I had them wait until we went to the park. Good thing too, because that disc can really fly! NHL was able to send it quite some distance. I didn’t measure, but I’d guess his throws easily topped 30 feet. JSL had more trouble, but he also had a few successful throws. His only went about 10 feet or so, but I’d call that impressive for an almost-four year old. As for me? I got some seriously far throws in as well.

This is definitely something you’ll want to play with where there’s plenty of room. At one point, NHL threw the ring towards me when we were too close to the edge of the park and it almost went into the road. After that, I made sure all throws were directed into the park and not outside of it.

We all loved playing with the Aerobie and it definitely attracted attention. Before long, two other kids in the park joined our game of catch. I’d definitely recommend this for anyone with kids (or even just adults) and a large amount of land to toss the ring across.

Giveaway:

Thanks to Family Review Network & Aerobie Sprint, one lucky winner will receive an Aerobie Sprint flying ring. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What activity do you and/or your children like doing best in your local park or playground?

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To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, May 3rd and ends at Noon EST on May 17th, 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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 Canada residents only.

Disclaimer: This post was written for Family Review Network & Aerobie Sprint who provided the complimentary product for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

Ameba Review and Giveaway: Fun and Educational Kids TV

TechyDad — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I’ll admit it. As much as I thought I’d be the parent who wouldn’t let their child watch too much television, my kids love the TV. They have a dozen favorite shows that they absolutely *must* see and are constantly asking us to DVR something else. In addition, they’ve fallen in love with Netflix on our Roku player. NHL, in particular, enjoys picking just which episode of which show he is going to watch next. Of course, we prefer it when their television watching habits are educational in nature. So when I heard about Ameba, I was intrigued.

Ameba is one of the many new channels that Roku provides. Unlike others that show old movies or anime, though, Ameba shows educational programming geared towards children. When we first browsed the selection of shows, I’ll admit that I began to get a little nervous. Nowhere was Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets or any of the other “big name” shows that my boys are used to watching. Would they take to these new shows or would they turn their noses up at them?

We looked through the Ages 2 – 5 section for a good program for JSL. After awhile, we found Rainbow Fish. This was a pleasant surprise because they love the Rainbow Fish book. We watched an episode where Rainbow Fish and his friends need to welcome a new girl to their school. A girl who doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the gang. They both enjoyed this show.

After this, we switched over to the Age 6 – 10 section to find a good program for NHL. I noticed Einsteinabot, a program which appeared to be about numbers and math. NHL loves math so we tried this. Once again, I began to get nervous. The program had a fun song, but the look of the show wasn’t as polished as some shows on Nick Jr or Disney Junior. I needn’t have worried, though. NHL began singing along while JSL danced in his seat. When the episode was over, NHL asked to watch the next one and the one after that.

It just goes to show that kids like fun shows. They don’t care if the show uses the latest animation techniques or expensive computer generated imagery. The shows on Ameba might not have big toy lines behind them like Dora or the Disney shows do, but they are fun and educational. (Of course, the lack of a big toy line might be seen as another plus.)

Ameba costs $9.99 per month (though, for the month of April, they’re dropping the price to $3.99) and you can either get a set top box from them or purchase a Roku box for $60 to play it on. I didn’t test Ameba’s box so I can’t say anything good or bad about it, but I highly recommend the Roku box for ease of use and availability of content.

Giveaway:

Thanks to Ameba, not one, not two, but three lucky winners will receive an Ameba set top box and a 3 month subscription to Ameba. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What education programs do your children watch or did you watch growing up?

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To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, March 31st and ends at Noon EST on April 14th, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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 Canada residents only.

Disclaimer: I was provided two month’s free Ameba service to review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. Ameba is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

Giveaway Winner Catch-Up

TechyDad — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:30:00 +0000

I’ve got a confession to make. I’ve been running giveaways and selecting winners. The winners have received their items. I even announced the winners on Twitter. But I neglected to announce them here. Bad, TechyDad! Bad! Well, here is where I play catch-up.

Nestle Butterfinger Snackerz Giveaway

This giveaway was won by Lethea Benson (Luvdaylillies on Twitter).

Mastermind Animal Towers Giveaway

This giveaway was won by one entrant but when they didn’t respond within 48 hours, I was forced to select a second winner. That lucky individual was Kelly Ann T. (cstironkat on Twitter).

WikiReader Giveaway

The winner here was Cheryl Wilson (HeartnSoulmom on Twitter).

Congrats to all of the winners! Also, remember to enter my current giveaway to win a $50 gift certificate to Eden Fantasys.

Giveaway: $50 Eden Fantasys Gift Certificate

TechyDad — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:30:00 +0000

Quick warning: Some of the links on this page might be considered not safe for work.

Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. A man and a woman are madly in love. They have a wonderful time in the bedroom (perhaps in other rooms as well). Then they get married and have children. Gradually, their bedroom antics become fewer and fewer. They turn from passion filled romps into scheduled sessions timed for the least interference of the kiddie kind.

The bad news is that this happens to far too many of us married folks. The good news is that it doesn’t need to be like this. Sometimes, all you need is to add a little spice to your relationship. And boy does Eden Fantasys have spice! You can go for the tamer items like massage oil or lingerie, or for some more adventurous gear. There is also a whole community of people at Eden Fantasys, so be sure to stop by their forums.

Thanks to Eden Fantasys, one lucky winner will receive a $50 gift certificate. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What type of product would you buy from Eden Fantasys with $50?

Update: It has come to my attention that some people might feel uncomfortable answering this question. That’s fair enough. So you can either answer the question above or this alternative question: What do you do to keep your relationship from falling into a rut?

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To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, January 6th and ends at Noon EST on January 20th, 2011. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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. This giveaway is open to any place in the world that Eden Fantasys ships, which is the entire world!

Disclosure: I was provided with a gift certificate to Eden Fantasys for running this giveaway. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own.

WikiReader Review and Giveaway

TechyDad — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:58:00 +0000

When I first heard about the WikiReader, I was intrigued. Being able to browse Wikipedia locally, without any Internet access needed? That could be very useful. Of course, I was very excited when I got the chance to review it.

My first impression was that the WikiReader was small. Very small.

It doesn’t really need to be that big, though. The whole purpose is to be a portable reference source. Turning it on, I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it is to use. There are only four buttons: Search, History, Random and Power (located on the top of the device). The rest of the functionality is handled by the touch-screen. You type out search terms on the virtual keyboard, select interesting items, follow links and more by touching the screen in the appropriate spots. Scrolling is accomplished by pressing your finger down and moving up or down.

Of course, as a reference work, Wikipedia is always being updated. So if WikiReader just shipped Wikipedia as it existed at ship-time and didn’t give any means of updating, it would quickly become useless. Luckily, there are two methods of updating. Both involve the tiny memory card stored within WikiReader.

Yes, that tiny thing stores all of Wikipedia and more (which I’ll discuss soon). The first update method is to pay $29 and receive two cards per year delivered to your home. Pop out the old card, pop in the new card and you’re all set. You can keep the old cards for use in other devices that use microSD cards.

The second update method is to install their free update application. When you’re ready to update, pop the microSD card out of the WikiReader, connect it to your PC (via a card reader and/or adapter of some sort, both readily available from various stores) and run the update program. These updates happen once per quarter so you’ll get four updates per year.

Now, for the “and more” from before. If the WikiReader just stored Wikipedia, it would be useful, but they’re not content to rest on their laurels. They also include Wiktionary (an online dictionary), Wikiquotes (a quotes database) and, most recently, 33,000 books from Project Gutenberg. A warning about that last one, though, it requires a 16GB microSD card. These can be purchased for $25 or so from places such as NewEgg. I haven’t actually had a chance to test the Project Gutenberg books (I meant to temporarily remove Wikipedia and load on Gutenberg, but I’ve been busy dealing with my photo disaster.) I must say, though, that before the announcement I had wondered about getting the Project Gutenberg books on there.

For all of its strengths, there are tradeoffs, though. You won’t be getting any of the images that appear on Wikipedia. Neither will you get any text that was formatted in tables. On one hand, it cuts down on the amount of data you need to store and makes it easier to display. On the other hand, this can leave gaps in the Wikipedia reference material. It also only searches Wikipedia titles, not the full text. This last part might be fixable, though, considering that the code that the device runs on is open source.

Of course, I’m sure that some people are wondering “Why don’t I just use my laptop/iPhone/iPad/Smart Phone/etc to access Wikipedia.com and get the latest versions with photos and everything?” Yes, you *can* do that, but that assumes that you have Internet access. Many smart phone plans either cap you or force you to pay per byte. Accessing Wikipedia constantly can run up your charges. Booting a laptop can also take awhile versus the sub-second boot time of WikiReader. There are times when I’d use my laptop (or smart phone if I had one) and times when I’d use WikiReader.

The other advantage is with children. NHL took to the WikiReader instantly and was looking up article after article. I didn’t need to worry about him wandering onto a different website that I didn’t approve of: He was “stuck” on Wikipedia. There are also parental controls available, but I didn’t test these out.

WikiReader can be purchased for $99 from TheWikiReader.com or it can be had for free from here if you win my…

Giveaway:

Thanks to Openmoko, makers of the WikiReader, one lucky winner will receive a WikiReader. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What topics do you look up on Wikipedia?

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Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from November/December. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, December 21st and ends at Noon EST on January 6th, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org 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. only.

Disclosure: I was given a WikiReader for free to review by Openmoko. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. Openmoko is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.