#SocamShow Episode 7 – Fathers Day: Great Tech Gift Ideas for Dad!

Stuck on what to get your small biz loving Dad for Fathers Day? Drowning under a sea of Amazon reviews trying to figure out which case, accessory or new device Dad will really love this year? We have tech gift ideas!

Here are a few suggestions for some great devices Dad will absolutely love. Hit “read more” and check out the links below for some additional info on these products. Read More

6 Hot Tech Gadgets for Entrepreneur Dad: From Paper-Saving Organizers to Eco-Friendly Notebooks, Here’s Father’s Day Technology Any Dad Will Love

Curlis Phillip is a Senior Marketing Manager at AT&T. You can find more blog content from Curlis and other experts on mobility on the AT&T Networking Exchange Blog. AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.

 

Growing up on the island of St. Thomas, Father’s Day weekend was always a festive time. The annual Father’s Day weekend celebration was staged in the fishing village of Frenchtown just southwest of the capital, Charlotte Amalie.  The festivities included a series of softball and fishing tournaments and non-stop dancing to music by some of my favorite local bands and steel pan players.  At home, we showed our gratitude by making dad a hearty island breakfast.  Since I knew very little about the latest tech and electronic gadgets back then, I often settled for a new tie, coffee mug, pen, or shirt.

How do you find the right Father’s Day gift for that tech savvy entrepreneur dad?  The tech savvy dad is usually an early adopter, and shopping for him can pose a bit of a challenge.  If you feel that you have run out of ideas, don’t despair. The key is to find a cool gadget that can help make his business run more smoothly. Read More

iPad Still King: Why Artists Can’t Take Samsung’s S-Pen and the Galaxy Note Seriously

2 of my drawings. Galaxy Note (left), iPad 2 (right)

Professional artists are increasingly looking to take advantage of the latest in Tablet and Smartphone tech to make the transition from tools like pen, pencil, watercolor and oil paint into the digital age. While solutions like Wacom tablets have existed for a long time, the high-end models with screens have two problems. While they’re fantastic tools for artists, they keep you bound to a desk as they require a computer to interface with. Plus, they’re not cheap—a 12″ Cintiq 12WX is lower resolution than the new iPad and twice the price.

So, within the artistic community, tablets like the $499 iPad 3 and phablets like the $249 on-contract Samsung Galaxy Note are getting increasing amounts of attention. The recently-released Paper app for iPad has specifically brought a lot of people to the iPad, while Android apps like the $2 Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile have emerged as premier artist tools for AT&T’s Galaxy Note.

The Verge updated their comprehensive guide to iPad styluses today with tons of new pens and new winners announced. This is the most comprehensive guide I’ve found on stylii for the iPad and a good place to start if you’re feeling lost. From personal experience with a variety of Styluses, however, I honestly find them to be all about the same. I love the Kensington Virtuoso, for instance, because it comes in a variety of colors, has a good weight, and can be picked up almost anywhere for around $10. If you’re out and about and left your stylus at home, you can easily pop into a Best Buy or a Staples and just pick up a new one without hurting the wallet.

But I bring up the Verge article because the #1 response from the community seems to be, “What about the Samsung S-Pen on the Galaxy Note?” This is especially relevant because Samsung has already announced they’re delaying the next 10″ Galaxy Note Tablet in order to incorporate the same S-Pen tech they use in the note. Technologically, this sounds like a good thing, as the S-Pen has several advantages over the iPad’s stylus like pressure sensitivity and OS-level support for things like handwriting recognition. But can Samsung win artists over to Android?

I’ve been using the Galaxy Note as my primary phone for a few months, and while it’s great for a ton of different uses, the answer is “hell no,” at least until Samsung fixes some major problems with the S-Pen tech. Keep reading to see why.  Read More