Fun Stuff

An Examination of Graphing Calculator Prices on Amazon

If you’re like me, you’ve noticed that prices on Amazon seem less stable than those in brick and mortar stores. There have been times I’ve visited Amazon for a specific product, noted the price, and when I checked back in two days later, the price had changed significantly. Check again a week later, and it’s different still. Until recently, this was just anecdotal for me. I wasn’t sure if what I thought was true was really true.

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Video of the First Solid State Calculator

I wish I could take credit for the amazing video that follows, but I can’t, so I just want to share it with everyone that follows Tech Powered Math. It’s from the YouTube channel TanRu Nomad, a great channel I’ve been subbed to for a while that covers retro games and computers. The video shows off a Friden EC 130 Calculator, the world’s first solid state calculator. There’s nothing I can say that can better explain or build on this video, so please watch and enjoy.

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OBi202 VOIP Review

Click here to get the OBi202 on Amazon with FREE shipping. The OBi202 allows free calls via Google Voice As my previous couple of posts have explained, I recently came up against the problem of having to choose between bad cell phone service in my home or bad service on my daily commute, depending on which provider I went with. The way I decided to remedy the problem was by porting my number to Google Voice.

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Porting My Cell Number to Google Voice

Why You’d Want to Port Your Number to Google Voice As I described in my previous post, A Plan to Deal with Bad Cell Phone Reception, a new commute recently forced me to deal with the fact that there was no single cell phone provider that offered both good service at my house and on my daily drive to work. The solution I came up with was to use Google Voice in order to have Google ring both my cell phone and a new VOIP Obi 202 phone line simultaneously.

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A Plan to Deal with Bad Cell Reception

As I mentioned in a recent post, about a month ago, I made a big career change. Consequently, I’ve gone from a daily commute of 15 minutes to one of 45 minutes. My biggest frustration with the longer drive? My cell phone reception along the interstate has been spotty at best. I left cell phone contracts over a year ago and made the jump to the MVNO Straight Talk when I purchased a Nexus 5.

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Encountering a TI-Nspire Prototype 'In the Wild'

I need to preface this story by saying that this is something that happened over 6 months ago. I took the pictures at the time but started my online data science studies shortly thereafter and just never got around to writing the story, but it was such an unusual thing that probably once a month I’ve continued to think about writing it up. During my years of teaching at my school, I’ve been the guy who troubleshoots all of the graphing calculator problems for teachers and students alike.

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Spiderman’s Dad an HP Calculator Fan?

I was watching The Amazing Spider-Man for the first time last night (yeah, I know, but with two small children, I don’t get out much any more). I just about flipped my lid when I saw Peter Parker in his bedroom with what appeared to be an HP 48GX, or a closely related model. As a University of Illinois freshman engineering major in 1995, this very model was my graphing calculator.

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Microsoft Wedge Mouse Unboxing Video

I’ve done a Dell Venue 8 Pro unboxing video and a Microsoft Wedge Keyboard unboxing video. The last video unboxing I’m planning for now is that of my new Microsoft Wedge Mouse. It’s a Bluetooth mouse that is optimized for Windows 8 and features Microsoft’s patented Bluetrack technology that is designed to work on just about any non-reflective surface.

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Microsoft Wedge Keyboard Unboxing Video

First came my Dell Venue 8 Pro unboxing video. Now I’ve got the first of two unboxing videos for accessories I picked up for my tiny tablet. This is the Microsoft Wedge Keyboard. It is a 10 inch Bluetooth keyboard optimized specifically for Windows 8. As you can see in the video, it’s a very sharp looking little keyboard that’s easy to pack up.

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Nexus 5 Review for MVNO

A few weeks back, I explained why I was sacrificing my teacher discount on cell phone service to pick up a Nexus 5. In short, the Nexus 5, a high end phone with a mid-range price, allows me to buy service on a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). These discount cell service providers resell service from one of the bigger carriers like Verizon or AT&T. Their month to month plans are much cheaper than “on contract” plans.

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