Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category:
Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited For 75 Cents (DaddyDeal)
We have praised Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited in the past. In fact, it was a Cyber Monday deal that got me to become a member, which I still am. (Want proof? Here.) Today, in honor of Marvel’s 75th Anniversary, they are offering a Cyber Week Deal where you can try Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited for 75 Cents.
They’re now calling it Marvel Unlimited (smart move, in our opinion), but it’s the same basic deal. You pay a monthly or yearly fee to read the many thousands of comics in Marvel’s digital library. As a practical matter, this means that you don’t get the new stuff right away, and you don’t get everything. For example, sometimes you’ll be reading, say, Peter David’s immortal run on The Incredible Hulk. Then you’ll get to an issue and it’ll skip a big stack of comics. Just an example… OK, that happened to me. But you know something? It doesn’t bother me that much. (It bothers me a teeny tiny little bit.) For what you pay, you get a tremendous amount of of content. I’ve read everything from recently published comics to stuff from the 60s and 70s, and even older. It’s essentially Netflix for Marvel comic books.
(A note on the image above: I have no idea if that comic book is available in Marvel Unlimited. It’s not what I would recommended you read even if it is. But full disclosure and all that.)
This particularly deal is not as good as the one I used back in 2011 (!!!) but it’s still pretty good. You get your first month of Marvel Unlimited (the service formerly known as Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited) for 75 cents. H/T to Jason Kaplan of The Howard Stern Show for pointing out this awesome DaddyDeal.
Not sure you could read 75 yrs of @Marvel comics in a month, but for 75 cents try! http://t.co/GQTKQGpuGm
— Jason Kaplan (@Siriusjay) December 1, 2014
Here’s the text from Marvel.com, along with the code and the link. Be sure to read the disclaimers on Marvel.com. If you don’t cancel your subscription before the month is up, they’ll probably charge your credit card for the next month. So if you just want to try it out, you need to stay on top of that. But 75 cents for a month of unlimited Marvel Comics reading? Excelsior!
75 YEARS OF MARVEL COMICS FOR ONLY 75¢
From 12/1 12:01am EST to 12/4 3:00am EST
Get unlimited access to over 15,000 digital Marvel comics for one monthly price!
Use code MARVEL75 at checkout to get the first month of Marvel Unlimited for just 75¢!
via Cyber Week 2014 | Comics | Marvel.com.
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Kiddie-Lockout Feature Should Be Standard on iOS and Android
I know I’ve said this before, but just in case I haven’t typed it on DaddyTips, I firmly believe that a kiddie-lockout feature should be standard on all mobile devices, iOS and Android.
Apparently there are others who agree with me.
For IOS on the iPad, they should implement the concept of multi-user accounts and the ability to lock down features for non-administrator accounts. This would be great when a family shares an iPad, but do not want their kids mucking around in the settings, or deleting stuff.
Now, it should be noted that the Samsung Galaxy S5 has this feature, at least according to one of their TV ads:
I’m fairly certain this isn’t a new feature for some Android devices. Read through the comments on the Engadget page; a few folks get specific there.
The S5 is also “dust and water resistant”, according to this spot:
But yeah, keeping the kids away from the stuff on your phone or tablet should be a standard feature across the board. I don’t want my kids reading my email, my texts, or even seeing what apps I use. Not that I would ever use my phone for anything inappropriate. But I’d like to have the option.
via I can’t believe Android or iOS still don’t have _______! – Engadget.
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Avengers 2 Trailer Is Awesome
In my ongoing efforts to make absolutely certain that everyone I know is fully aware of what is going on in the world of superhero movies, here is the the Avengers 2 trailer, aka “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Is is awesome.
(image: Wikipedia)
Maybe you’ve seen it already. But I know from talking to folks who read DaddyTips that they expect me to use my great geeky power responsibly to disseminate information about upcoming movies that matter. In other words, superhero movies.
Without further ado, here is the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron. (AKA Avengers 2.)
Get a Special Look at Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” – YouTube.
Wasn’t that cool? Don’t you want to see it, like, right now? You’ll have to wait until May 2015. To quote Weird Al Yankovic, first world problems.
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DIY Halloween Wine Bottle Centerpieces from TeeWii.com
The lovely and talented Ms. Tracy Pendergast of TeeWii.com posted a great video just in time for Halloween.
Check out her fun DIY Halloween Wine Bottle Centerpieces video. It’s so easy even I could do it.
via DIY: Halloween Wine Bottle Centerpieces – YouTube.
Wonder Woman Favorited My Tweet
I don’t have a bucket list, in part because I’m fairly easy to please, at least on a day-to-day basis. Today I’m happy because Wonder Woman favorited my tweet.
Here is the actual tweet:
"Yup. DC Comics are releasing a comic book that literally smells of weed." And still no Wonder Woman movie. http://t.co/tZpnk2O9ou @io9
— Brett Singer (@brettsinger) October 1, 2014
Now, by “Wonder Woman” I mean whoever runs the Twitter account @LassoingGoddess. Still, I’m happy. Happier than Pharrell Williams? Maybe relatively, but the video for his song “Happy” has over 445 million views, and he’s currently enjoying a career better than anyone in show business. So my guess is that he’s happier than me. At least I hope he is, because he’s got a lot to be happy about. By the way, did you know he wrote a song about being happy?
Ultimately it’s all about perspective. I’m not writing a hit song anytime soon, nor am I being asked to be a judge on a TV singing contest.
But hey, Wonder Woman favorited my tweet. I’ll take it.
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Amazon Has a New Kid-Friendly Kindle Fire
Maybe you have an iPad, or an Android Tablet. Or maybe even a Kindle Fire. You love it. So do your kids. They get their greasy fingerprints all over your greasy fingerprints. (Aside: tablets have got to be a germaphobe’s nightmare. All that touching…)
Ideally, if you can afford it, you’d like to get your kid(s) a tablet of their own. Amazon hopes that you will buy their new kid-friendly Kindle Fire.
Called the Fire HD Kids Edition, this is not a kiddie-Kindle. It’s a full-fledged Fire HD, available with either a 6 or 7-inch display. What makes it kid-friendly are the following features:
– A “Kid-Proof Case” is included. Basically it’s a protective bumper-style case that you can buy for existing tablets, but with the Fire HD Kids Edition, you don’t have to buy it separately and you can pick between three different colors — blue, green, or pink. More important is this next bit.
– 2-Year Worry-Free Guarantee. Here is the wording from Amazon.com: “Enjoy the peace of mind with an unprecedented 2-year worry-free guarantee—if they break it, we’ll replace it for free. No questions asked.” That’s huge. Really. Kids break stuff. It happens. Usually you have to pay a bundle for an extended warranty, and if the thing actually does break you have to crawl through broken glass to get them to repair/replace it. A 2-year, no questions asked replacement policy is a sweet thing.
– One Year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited. Described by Amazon as, “a hand-curated subscription of over 5,000 kid-friendly books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games,” this is presumably the razor blade to the Fire razor. Get a year for free, get the kid hooked, then start making your annual tithe to Amazon after the free year is up. There’s no obligation to do so, though. Sometimes parents forget that they can say no.
That said, here are two quotes from Amazon’s site:
“FreeTime is AWESOME. Age appropriate for each kid and the parental controls are priceless. My son has to read books for 30 min each day before it unlocks videos and games.” – Valerie
“I use Kindle FreeTime & it is PERFECT!!!! I can use the apps that FreeTime has, but also add other apps like Angry Birds, Temple Run, etc.” – Whitney
So you can use the tablet yourself when the kids are done with it. That’s handy. Also, as much as I prefer the idea of actually saying “you have to read a book before you can play video games”, the idea of assigning that task to a machine is… well, it’s future-thinking, it’s where we’re headed as a society (at least those who can afford it) and I like the feature. It’s not clear to me if you would still be able to use the Parental Controls/Kindle FreeTime without a subscription.
Bottom line: not a bad price for what looks like a pretty powerful and useful tablet. Available for pre-order now. Read more about it at Amazon.com, and also check out the articles below (which come from other sites and we take no responsibility for their content).
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Dad Concerned Son’s E-Gaming Career May Not Last Forever
The headline “Dad Concerned Son’s E-Gaming Career May Not Last Forever” may sound like it belongs on The Onion, but it’s real. Here are some quotes from an article that was on the FRONT PAGE of the New York Times a few weeks back.
(Note: the photo below is from a a DOTA Championship back in 2005. Remember 2005? Good times, good times. OK, not really.)
English: The top three finalists in DotA Allstars, from WCG 2005 (a computer gaming championship). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
His obsession with video games was a sore point with Mr. Dager’s parents during his teenage years, as it was for the parents of many top gamers.
“I, and many players like me, sacrificed everything,” said Mr. Dager, who is almost a senior in college but is not attending school now. “We gave up on sports and friends and school just so we can play more.”
Mr. Dager’s income was meager last year, amounting to less than $20,000. But he estimates his income so far this year at more than $200,000.
He recently looked at a condominium to buy in Fort Wayne. His father, Joe Dager, said he was proud of his son’s success but uncertain about the longevity of his son’s career.
“There’s hardly a week that goes by when we don’t reiterate the fact that that’s all fine and good, but at some point you do have to make provisions to finish school,” his father said. “We say that, but I don’t know if Bill Gates’s parents are still saying that to him.”
(Note: emphasis added above.)
Quick comment: making money playing video games does not mean you are Bill Gates. It doesn’t even mean you’re a programmer, or know a thing about how to start a successful business, much less the multibillion dollar Microsoft. So let’s not get too crazy.
What I say to kids who tell me they want an e-gaming/e-sports career is the following: start really young, keep your expectations realistic, and don’t skip college unless you’ve got something tangible happening where you are making actual money. Not potential money. Actual money. And any money you make? Save it. Put it in the bank. Invest it in something low-risk. (Unless you have a trust fund or something. In that case, be a mensch and donate your winnings. That would be a nice thing to do.) Because the game that you happen to be a master of could easily disappear as quickly as it became popular. Maybe even faster.
In E-Sports, Video Gamers Draw Real Crowds and Big Money – NYTimes.com.
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