Back in the day, it was good enough to hang out with your buddies and watch basketball on TV and amuse yourselves by challenging each other with arcane trivia and stories of legendary games from the past. Today, we still do that but if you don't have a smartphone that has a super fast 4G LTE connection you are simply missing out on the action.

Don't worry though - if you think that requires a ton of money for the phone and plan each month, things have gotten a lot cheaper recently and you can even get the awesome LG L90 smartphone from Walmart for under $100 and plans start at only $29.88 including 500 MB of 4G LTE data (unlimited Talk, Text, and non 4G LTE data). 

Are you like me and have wondered what super secret information the mechanic knew about my car when he plugged his computer in to read diagnostic codes? I was and so I was excited when Lemur Monitors sent me a review unit to take for a spin. 

Gadgets like this make a great gift for guys who are curious about how their car is actually performing as well as a powerful new tool for those of us who like to take control of their car maintenance vs just blindly dropping the car off at the mechanic to find out what's wrong :)

The big game is coming up and that means you guys will probably be holding some awesome parties pretty soon. AT&T San Diego wants to make your next event even better, so they sent me one of their Bose SoundLink's to test out and will be sending one of you a unit for yourself next week! 

As I look back at photos from Christmas of the past I realize just how much things have changed compared to today, a world where mobile phones are nearly ubiquitous, data plans are cheap, and even great handsets like the Samsung Exhibit from Walmart Family Mobile can be purchased for under $100 without a contract.

Choosing a new laptop is tough, but it used to be a lot easier - Windows or Mac right? Today there is a third option - Chrome but with all the great attributes (lower price, easy to use, light and portable, long battery etc.) comes one really complicated but sometimes hidden attribute... the processor that runs the whole thing. On the surface it would seem that wouldn't make much of a difference but this IS a laptop and you need a chip designed for that... not a chip designed for one thing at a time like on your tablet or mobile phone. Truthfully, this is a sponsored post on behalf of Intel but I've been wanting to write this for a while to share my story and why I love my Toshiba Chromebook with an Intel processor!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

It's ironic sometimes - I love my dog, Niki Belle, and I love food too but for some reason it never really passed my mind to try and give her something new. When she was a puppy we gave her the dry dog food the vet recommended and 10 years later never changed (aside from moving her from puppy formula to senior formula a few years back). When I had the chance to try this #OneSmartDifference campaign from #CollectiveBias, I jumped at the opportunity to change things up without any risk since if she didn't like it I didn't waste my money trying something new.

Downpour.com has asked me to share information about their new audiobook rental program that works with iOS and Android devices. You probably remember books on tape and you may have even used some while on a long road trip, but technology has moved on and now instead of a plastic cassette you can download the books directly to your phone or tablet and take it wherever you are.

Watches - yeah, I used to have one back in the day... you know, those cheap plastic ones that we all had in school. Over the years though as cell phones have become ubiquitous there was less and less need to actually have a timepiece on your wrist. Pulsar Watches invited me to check out one of their latest watches and so I decided to give it a shot and see what it was like to wear a watch again.

Usually when I talk about wine here it is me traveling to find some or enjoying a glass at a fine restaurant. Today though I am going to share my experience with the NewAir AW-121E wine cooler. I have been thinking about getting something like this for quite a while but it was always one of those things that was "nice to have" but the money would be better spent elsewhere. However about 3 weeks ago I was lucky to have someone from NewAir contact me and ask if I wanted to check a unit out - so I said SURE!

Ok ladies - you tell us how hard it is to find a great present for us for Christmas, birthday etc. I got a great lead for you - Mantry! While Valentine's Gift giving is usually pretty one directional (with hope of getting something back later that night...) it's ok for you to send us gifts and surprise us too.

Sitting on the porch drinking some beer with the guys and wanting to listen to the game on your phone but the tiny speaker just doesn't cut it? Maybe it's time to try a bluetooth portable speaker like those from Kinivo. 

There are some gadgets that you get and you immediately think they are awesome, but then get left in a drawer a few weeks later. Others you think are cool but might not be that practical and turn out to be fantastically useful.  The T-fal AciFry falls into the later category and I have had a while to put it through its paces.

Ok guys - vacuuming may not be at the top of your list of things to do - but it is always a good idea to help out around the house and if you HAVE TO - you might as well have one of the coolest vacuums out there to do it.

Dyson approached me recently and asked me to check out their new DC41 Complete - featuring the new Tangle Free Tool. How did it fare? Let's check it out...

Is it hot where you are? In Chicago, the past couple weeks have been consistently in the 90's or above and my new Dyson Air Multiplier has absolutely been a wonderful companion. Just like they did a few years ago with vacuums, Dyson is now setting out to convince us that there is value in a premium fan too.

If you are like me, you have probably been locked in to the same shaver brand or shaving method since you were in High School.  I was a Norelco man because, well, that's what I first started using. A few weeks ago, I lost my power supply and my razor went dead, so I decided to grow beard. My wife, co-workers, and friends quickly let me know that it was not a good idea, so I knew I had to go out and shop for a new electric razor. That's when I decided to reach out to our friends at Remington to see if they could help.

Christmas is almost here and like many of you, I have yet to finish my shopping. However, I wanted to share with you a few cool items that you might want to consider for those guys in your life.

Remember, not every gift has to be super expensive, sometimes simple things are great too!

Nano Dots

Bloggy Video Camera

Gametable from Sears

Caughlin's camping gear

In the first part of our Father's Day Gift Guide, we focused on tech toys for dad. This time, we are going to focus on Outdoor Adventures.

Every year when Father's Day comes along it seems that the same old gifts are picked. The cliche ties and shavers may be traditional and may be useful, but how many razors, ties and "#1 Dad" shirts do you really need?

To those of you looking for some great father's day gifts, here are some ideas from our staff.

Beers, Wines, and Whisky all have experienced the "pairing" treatment, but what about the mighty cigar? Well why not? You smoke your meats, you stand around the grill waiting for ribs to finish cooking with a beer in hand, why not enjoy a cigar while you're at it.