“Review” collection
Discover rigorous, hands-on evaluations and real-world testing of the latest consumer electronics and household tools. These “Dad Approved” assessments provide factual, objective insights into device durability, performance, and value to help you make informed purchasing decisions.
HTD Tech Briefs
View all →April 28, 2010
The Ford Sync – a “Knight Rider” for the Rest of Us
Remember way back in the 80's there was a TV show called Knight Rider where one of the two main characters was a car that talked to you and responded to your voice commands? Of course K.I.T.T. (the name of the car which stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand), did a lot more than just answer commands, he drives "himself",…
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April 20, 2010
My First Days with the 2010 Ford Flex – Beginning to Explore the Technology
I have not had a new car in over 10 years. And, I had always thought that American Cars were lagging behind foreign autos in so many ways: design, styling, features and especially, technology. My perspective has now flipped about 180 degrees, especially around the technology factor. Here's why… This is an on-going series about the 2010 Ford Flex. Ford…
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April 19, 2010
Wireless Streaming Audio from your Computer with Mint Studio & an iPod Dock As Well
There are so many different speaker for iPods and other personal audio players out there that I’m almost reluctant to review any anymore. There is rarely any point of differentiation making it worth even discussing. But every once and a while, I come across a speaker system that is a bit different, enough so to write about. The Mint Studio…
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April 12, 2010
iFrogz EarPolution CS40 Headphones – Get Your Beats On!
I have been searching for some comfortable headphones for my pre-teen daughters. We started with some iFrogz Tadpole headphones (below) which were really great when my daughters were little...but as they got bigger, so did their heads…in more that one way. Size wise, we needed something to accommodate their expanding craniums. And, on the flipside, they REFUSED to wear anything…
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April 8, 2010
Turn your Photos into “Painted” Artwork with Photofiddle – Perfect for Mother’s Day & Other Occasions
I got my Mother's Day gift for my wife early, and it literally took me just a few minutes to do. The end result is something that can be cherished forever. Essentially, I took a favorite photo of ours and turned it into a painting and all that I did was have to upload a photo to Photofiddle.com, look through…
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April 2, 2010
Video & How-To Install a Hard Drive on a MacBook Pro (non-unibody): Clone & Boot Camp too!
For all of those people who are interested in breathing a little bit of life into an older MacBook Pro, this post is for you. My non-unibody 15" beaten and worn MacBook Pro had about 3 GB of free hard drive space on it. And this is even after I had upgraded it about 2 years ago with a 320…
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March 29, 2010
SchlageLINK Gives You Security & Access, Even When You Aren’t Home
Keys are a pain! I have so many keys on my keychain that I feel like a locksmith and I'm not even sure what keys go to what lock. But you can't just throw them away, right? And, keys get lost. To top it off, they are simply and completely low tech. Also, the more people you have in the…
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March 19, 2010
Streaming Audio Throughout your House Easily with the Aperion Home Audio Link System
Have you ever wished you could get the music off of your computer and onto your main stereo system? Sure, you could buy an Apple AirPort Express and hook that up, but let's say you want to do more than just work with iTunes and you want almost zero configuration. Let's say, you want to stream the latest episode of…
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March 15, 2010
The HTC HD2 is THE Windows Mobile Phone to Get!
Did that title grab you? It is perhaps a bit misleading simply because I have only tested a handful of Windows 6.5 Mobile phones to date. Most of my focus has been on the iPhone and a few Android-based phones. However, I do feel that it is important to talk about the HTC HD2 (TMobile link), especially since it will…
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March 8, 2010
My Paint & Your Brand Are Eroding – An Open Letter to Honda Motors
Below is a letter to Honda Motors that has been a long time in the making. Please read it and share as you see fit. Thank you for reading! -HTD Dear Honda Motors, I'm writing this open and public letter to hopefully get your attention…again. I will bet that you feel that you have dodged a bullet with the entire…
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March 5, 2010
The Dexim BluePack S3 & S8 – A Portable Battery Pack Designed for James Bond
I've reviewed quite a few battery packs lately. It seems that this is the hot market currently just the way iPod cases were to iPods a few years ago. You can't seem to get away from them. However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a wide variety of options in the market. And, I view having a portable charging…
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March 3, 2010
Aaxa P2 Pico Projector Shoots a Big Bright Picture from a Tiny Box
A few months ago, I reviewed the WowWee Cinemin Swivel pico projector. It was the first pico projector that I had tried out and put down a pretty high standard. Since then and after reading through various articles and press releases coming from CES, it seems that my prediction that pico projectors would be hot this year may be coming…
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