Hasta La Gadget!

Fathers go above and beyond every day. They teach us how to drive, how to manage our money, and how to lose gracefully at everything from Little League to watching our favorite pro team tank the biggest game of the year — or, at least, dads try to.

In celebration of the infinite depths a father’s love can run, we’ve partnered with the March of Dimes and their imbornto® campaign celebrating all dads, to bring you five truly spectacular acts of affection.

This Dad, Who Might Be Runner-Up For The World’s Best Dad

Many fathers try to impress their kids, but perhaps none have tried so hard, or so publicly, as Derek Yorek. The dad from Fort Worth, Texas, led the Boston Marathon (ahead of elite runners like Meb Keflezighi and the eventual winner, Lelisa Desisa) for an inspiring five minutes and 30 seconds. Why did the 31-year-old father of two suffer through a painful 4:38 mile — a speed close to his aerobic capacity limit — at the start of the race? Yorek told reporters, “I just wanted the girls to see Daddy on TV.”

This Dad, Who Turned A Hairy Situation Into A Heartwarming One

For many parents, giving their child an untrendy bowl cut is a simple solution to the surmounting problem of figuring out what the heck to do with his or her hair. But not Greg Wickherst. The Colorado-based single dad — who has sported a shaved head for his whole adult life and is pretty obvlious when it comes to hairstyling — turned to the cosmetology department at IntelliTec College, where he works in the admissions department, to get tips from the pros on how to manage his daughter’s hair. The once-clueless dad has now mastered a variety of styles, from a simple braid to an inverted ponytail.

This Dad, Who Packs Love (Post-it) Notes In His Son’s Lunch

Every parent is a little scared to send their child to school for the very first time, including Maryland blogger and graphic designer Brent Almond. To help his son adjust to preschool, Almond started packing Post-it Notes inside his son’s Superman lunch bag every day. But these weren’t just any old stickies: Almond flaunted his creative skills by doodling “aw”-worthy cartoon messages with different-colored Sharpies. While he initially stuck with superhero doodles, Almond has added variety, like Ninja Turtles, Transformers, “Star Wars” characters, and even creatures from “Monsters, Inc.,” as his son Jon’s interests change. You can check out his latest designs (and Jon’s latest lunch bag messages) on Instagram.

This Dad, Who Made Unbearable Winter Weather Fun

While the East Coast experienced a whole lot of awful winter weather (read: lots of snow) this year, one dad in Cranford, New Jersey, made sure his kids were able to make the most of it — even in March. Joseph Colangelo, a father of three, built a homemade luge track in his backyard for his children. Colangelo maintained the track, building it up a little bit more after every snowfall, until his kids were (safely) racing across 55 feet of fun.

This Dad, Who Loves His Son’s Art So Much He Got It Tattooed

Parents of young children commonly cover their refrigerators and office desks with their kids’ drawings to show their proud parental status, but Keith Anderson of Petersborough, Ontario, took this display of affection one (or perhaps several) steps further. Anderson loved his son Kai’s drawings so much he decided to wear them every day … on his skin. That’s right, Anderson has been getting one of Kai’s drawings tattooed on his arms every year since Kai, now 11, was just 4 years old. Together, the father and son duo decide which artwork will be inked to one of Anderson’s arms next. Kai even has a hand in the final product!

Dads do so much for us — now it’s time to return the favor. To help you gift the great men in your life with something truly special this Father’s Day, the March of Dimes is partnering with select retailers like The Bon-Ton Stores, Blue Rhino and Mud Pie to offer deals on outstanding products your dad will love. When you purchase a gift from these partners, they will donate proceeds to shop these partners, you know you’re helping support the March of Dimes mission to help babies get a healthier start in life.

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The Internet of Things is coming. Fast.

Companies like GE are betting billions on what it calls the Industrial Internet. For its part, Cisco is also betting big.

By 2020, expect a mind-boggling 30 billion devices to be connected to the Internet. We’re talking about much more than proper computers, smartphones, and tablets here. Doorknobs, garage doors, cars, and appliances will all talk to other devices–and to us. The possibilities are limitless. Of course, you don’t have to wait that long to get a sneak peek, though. Just noodle with an IFTTT recipe.

I recently sat down with Corey Egan of ilumi to talk about where we’re going and how we’re going to get there.

PS: What do you does ilumi do?

CE: We make intelligent LED Smartbulbs to help people enjoy better living through better lighting. In more detail, ilumi Smartbulbs screw in like a regular light bulb and last up to 20 years, but you can also control them through a mobile app. You can adjust the color, brightness, or even have your lights automatically wake you up in the morning with a simulated sunrise or turn on and off as you move around your house.

PS: Why did you decide to start ilumi?

CE: There are a lot of puns that I could use, but it really came down to seeing a disruptive collision in LED lighting and wireless connectivity. In short, the Internet of Things means that we will be able to transform how we interact with lighting. Lighting is one of those things that everyone is familiar with. We understand that it’s important and we notice when it isn’t “good.”

Still, lighting and the way we control lighting hasn’t changed for years. When my cofounder and I started the company in 2010, we saw that lighting and the way we control lighting were about to undergo a dramatic shift with light-emitting diode (LED) and the Internet of Things. We felt like it was the right time to redefine and help people achieve better lighting, and that’s what we’ve done.

PS: What do you think about the Internet of Things. Will we all live like The Jetsons in a few years?

CE: I think the potential for disruption is absolutely there and will accelerate at an incredible speed over the next few years. The building blocks in technology are here and only getting better, from wireless, to embedded systems, and the whole connected infrastructure. I think we’ll continue to see everyday commodities, routines, and simple things completely transformed to make our daily lives more convenient and optimized. I do think the idea of a morning routine where your house just kind of gets you ready is something that we are already getting close to. The real barrier, in my opinion, is how to replicate and scale home automation for the masses. How do we allow for both personalization of an automated experience that directly supports my wants and needs while also not overbearing the consumer with complicated installations, customizations, and use?

PS: How does Bluetooth fit into the Internet of Things? Any predictions?

CE: Historically, when most people think of Bluetooth they think of their Bluetooth earpiece or a stereo. But with the advent of Bluetooth 4.0 and now Bluetooth 4.2, the wireless protocol is quickly proving itself to be amazingly useful in the Internet of Things framework and especially the connected home. In my opinion, Bluetooth has a big leg up on traditional home control protocols like Zigbee or Zwave because mobile device and computing manufacturers have decided to directly integrate Bluetooth chipsets into their devices. As a result, you can create a network without having to add another piece of hardware in between. It’s also extremely flexible. It can be used in myriad ways.

Fo example, we’ve created the world’s first and best Bluetooth Mesh network to allow for control of multiple bulbs at the same time and extend the range. The best part though is that the protocol and the supporting chipsets are still in their early stages and will evolve substantially over the next few years. For example, the Bluetooth 4.2 specification will allow for direct IPv6 connectivity to Bluetooth so the home router of the future could directly communicate with your ilumi Smartbulbs over Bluetooth. All in all, I think WiFi has it’s place in allowing for transmission of large amounts of data and information. Still, Bluetooth will win out at the best method for communicating small amounts of information with a large number of nodes in a wireless network.

PS: What’s next for ilumi?

CE: Back to work. We’re still working everyday to deliver good lighting to our customers through ilumi in a way that is accessible and simple. So that means better apps, better products, and better distribution to get ilumi in more and more folks’ homes. We just released a big app update for ilumi that now allows you to activate a circadian program that shifts the color temperature of your lighting throughout the day to promote your body’s natural rhythm.

Beyond that, we have a number of other big things planned for 2015. Stay tuned.

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Ready for another movie based on Apple’s cofounder? Well, this one appears to have a bit more gravitas behind it, and a little less Kutcher: Based on the biography by Walter Isaacson, the screenplay’s been written by Aaron Sorkin, and directed by Dan…

All Photographs (c) Christopher Healey, Courtesy of Christopher Healey

Sending anyone into a carnival with a camera and asking for good photos is kind of like sending someone to Canada to find snow. It’s not a hard job. The setting is naturally rich with photographic opportunities. And yet, there is something about Christopher’s work that caught my eye. Perhaps it is his choice of monochrome for a scene we know is brimming with color, perhaps it is keen sense of the decisive moment. Regardless, these photographs speak to me in a way that a very pretty colorful shot of a carnival would not. Beyond this, the “where’s Waldo” feeling of these often cluttered frames is masterfully executed and busies the eye, keeping us glued to the image for several minutes – no small feat for a photographer.

Here is Christopher Healey in his own words:

My first Fat Tuesday happened in Ajijic–a quiet, conservative village in the mountains of western Mexico. I am still unsure if my Mardi Gras experience there was similar to others elsewhere. Like many that day, I was at first witnessing the proceedings safely perched from above the street. The camera and I were mere viewers, detached from the strange procession below.

However, we were soon drawn into participation as copious amounts of flour were flung at the spectators by the performers. They also possessed eggshells, painted gold and filled with confetti, that they launched at those of us on balconies and rooftops. The resulting lumps, sprays, and clouds of dust, lent themselves very well to black and white photography. It gave a sort of mythical and sometimes statuesque look to the multitude of onlookers.

I came to realize this parade was very much a mix of ancient and modern Mexico. The young people of this village seemed to wholeheartedly embrace this tradition, undoubtedly one established by their parents and grandparents. Others did not look so impressed. The crowds become as interesting a subject as anything that day.

Later, we descended into the central square and made our way from the outside to the inside. Once immersed, I could feel and see the different dynamics of this spectacle.

Young men in paper mâché masks and shoddy clothes, including some in dresses and wigs, assaulted bystanders with handfuls of flour. Aztec imagery, Greek mythology, Mexican wrestlers, beauty queens, and more than one flotilla of riotous men in drag, rumbled through the scene. Finally, the vaqueros came, dignified and calm men on horseback, aloof from the pageant of powder surrounding them.

This sequence of photos can be described as a narrative of my bewilderment and discovery. The camera and I are embedded within a cultural act, which is somewhat familiar, but also hopelessly lost in translation. Some of the imagery was, in fact, disturbing.

I can’t help but think about how utterly alarming throwing around unidentified white powder in public would be in Canada or the United States.

This experience was indeed magical, however. Being conspicuous – being a tourist – did not matter in this upside down world. I was free to observe and to participate.

Artistically, compositions that explore the dynamics of crowds in public spaces, centred on ceremony, have been an emerging interest for me. Formal issues relating to classical art, the sociological gaze within a post-colonial framework (in particular D.H. Lawrence’s problematic and revealing Mornings in Mexico) as well as a critical interest in Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of the ‘Carnivalesque’, are reflected in the choices comprising this documentary series. 

Christopher Healey is an artist and cultural worker formerly based in Toronto, Canada. Chris is now traveling and creating a street photography series across North America. Follow Christopher on Twitter or through his website.

Michael Ernest Sweet is a Canadian educator, writer and photographer. He divides his time between Montreal and New York City. If you are interested in proposing a blog feature contact him through his website.

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Thirty years ago, while cooped up in Saturday morning detention, a group of teens learned that people categorize one another in certain ways, and discovered that each one of them is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess and a criminal.

Earlier this year “The Breakfast Club” celebrated its 30th anniversary and at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night, the film’s star Molly Ringwald introduced the band Simple Minds to perform their 1985 hit song “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” which plays in both the opening credits and final scene of the movie.

The band got the crowd singing along to the 80s hit and it looked like Ringwald, who joked about wanting to be in Taylor Swift’s club, got her wish:

Is Molly Ringwald the new member of the squad? We think so! #BBMAs pic.twitter.com/bc7JoYZ0kz

— Taylor Swift Updates (@SwiftBulletin) May 18, 2015

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