Hide Your Kids! Back to School with John P.

Holy mama! It’s almost back to school time! That can only mean one thing! Back to School Gadgets and Apps. I’m John P. Welcome to Geek Beat.

Before we even get started with this big ol list of stuff, I’ll point out that although Apple routinely pisses me off, you should still get a MacBook Air to take to school. Honestly, it’s pretty much the ultimate in portable computing technology. Cali and I both use em as our primary devices, they’re small, lightweight, and stable. Plus, for anyone interested in learning programming, they double as little Linux development boxes.

And, if you hurry and head over to today’s show notes at GeekBeat.TV/890 we’ve got a link that will get you a $100 gift card if you buy an Air. Its also good for $50 if you end up with an iPad.

Now, if you want something even more portable, and much, much lighter on the wallet, the Acer 720 Chromebook is my personal fave. Its got a Celeron processor, 8.5 hours of battery life, and it even comes with 12 free GoGo in-flight airline passes! Though to be honest, its hit and miss if GoGo is going to work nowadays.

If Windows is your thing, you’ll have a hard time beating the flexible Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro 13” laptop. It’s got a mind-bending 3200 x 1800 resolution touch screen, 256gb SSD, 8 gigs of 1600mhz RAM, an i7 processor, and 6 hours of battery life. All for just over $1,100.

By the way, lets not forget the pre-schoolers. The Little Scholar Android tablet will do the job of educating your little nuggets nicely for $240. And VTech’s InnoTab Max will keep em learning right up till about Age 9. Unless they are Cali Lewis. She’d finish it off at like age 3. But whatever.

Lets talk accessories! You can’t be carrying all those expensive computing devices around without a little security! So get a Kensington lock and slap it on that bad boy! It will secure like 99% of all computers. But of course not the MacBook Air. See why Apple pisses me off constantly? We’re Apple… our computer doesn’t need a lock slot… is too good looking…

One thing that Cali and I both agree on, is that you need to get a Tylt Energi backpack to carry all of your gear. School-bound or not! This is one item that EVERY Geek can use. You can even check out how Cali and I load ours up by heading over to the show notes at GeekBeat.TV/890. We’ve got a vid where we show off “what’s in our bag”.

By the way, I don’t think I mentioned it yet, but at GeekBeat.TV/890 we’ve also got links to all of the products so you can just click through and not have to search for them. Who loves ya, baby?!?

I still have FIVE more products for you! So as to not incur the wrath of Curlee, I’m going to zip through them now…

Speaking of Tylt for $39 you can get the 2,200 mAh Energi 2K rechargeable battery with folding integrated charging prongs.

Or, for $39 you could go with the RAVPower FileHub Wireless SD Card Reader with Built-in 3000 mAh Battery Pack. Check the show notes for my feelings on that little pile of magic.

It ain’t cheap at $229, but the FuGoo Tough is exactly that. One tough mother…

I’m talking bout a speaker! Its virtually indestructible. Which is why I think Cali gave me one.

You could also opt for my new $89 favorite. The
BoomBot Rex. Which I clip onto my belt and wear with me everywhere now. So I can blast tunes whenever I feel like it. Like in line at the DMV. Or whenever small children are screaming on an airplane.

And finally! You can’t go back to school without taking your entire movie and music collection, which I’m CERTAIN you obtained legally! The new Western Digital 2TB
portable drive should do the trick for most of you. Its USB 3 fast, ultra small, and $115.

That’s it! Now go load up for Back to School, and come see me when you get your PhD in Awesome! I’m John P. Stay Classy San Diego!

This episode was sponsored by Audible.com. You can find all kinds of ways to entertain yourself with a good audiobook for FREE by going to AudiblePodcast.com/GeekBeat. Tell em John P. sent ya.