Ars Technica’s gift guide for Mother’s Day: Give mom some cool things
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So as someone who is a mom and bought her Mother in Law a Frameo, I really do like it. She is overseas and it's wonderful to just upload photos for her to wake up to in the morning.
Personally I want a Skylight calendar or maybe a PS5 before I'm priced out of them.
Personally I want a Skylight calendar or maybe a PS5 before I'm priced out of them.
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We sent Frameos to everyone in our family as a mass Xmas gift and share so much more now across the continents than we ever did. It turned into a thing to do instead of the usual arguing or annoying eachother to exchange Frameo ID's and allow each other access to upload to all of them using our phones. It was a great Xmas. Highly recommended!
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The video chat phone stand is a wonderful idea, but it unfortunately can't get past the biggest obstacle for chatting with so many parents; the fact that they live in an area with terrible Internet and no affordable options to make it better. My mother-in-law lives in a near-total dead zone, where DSL or cable isn't an option, cellular service is spotty HSPA, and getting fiber optic service to their home would be $40,000. ![:\](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/civis/data/assets/smilies/slash-1x.png "Slash :\")
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as the writer of the Lego Botanicals recommendation I really can't sing their praises highly enough, they're fun to build and everybody (including friends, family, and various contractors) notices them and has something nice to say about them
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I feel like these are gifts you give to mom in hopes that they won't use them and wind up giving it back to you.
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The phone stand does seem cool, but do they make any that aren't magnetic? I currently own multiple Pixel Stands because it seems like every wireless charger that isn't just a flat pad is MagSafe on a stick with zero support. The only other model I've seen that's Android-compatible is a $15 Mophie stand that's still a bit iffy with anything that has a phone case.
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It sucks if you already have a case you like, but it's becoming more common for even android cases to have the magsafe magnets in them. I personally made the jump myself, and really like having my phone work with the much wider array of apple magsafe gizmos.
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Disappointing. Surely I'm not the only commenter with 8-track tapes.
Tell me you're not an otolaryngologist without telling me you're not an otolaryngologist.Mr. or Ms. Staff said:
Ars comments have informed me that it's not only MagSafe but the latest Qi that have magnets. So it's not only for iPeople, although as the article notes, "Who doesn't need an iPhone?"
(It should be noted that the 16E does not have magnets, so if you prefer magnetless-mobiles, there you are.)
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If my kids are reading this, I'd like a new iPad case with an extra stylus, please?
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huh... so I guess the glued macaroni pictures are out? Seemed so much easier back in those days...
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As loathe as I am to recommended a Muskrat company, have they considered Starlink?The video chat phone stand is a wonderful idea, but it unfortunately can't get past the biggest obstacle for chatting with so many parents; the fact that they live in an area with terrible Internet and no affordable options to make it better. My mother-in-law lives in a near-total dead zone, where DSL or cable isn't an option, cellular service is spotty HSPA, and getting fiber optic service to their home would be $40,000.
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I haven't suggested it yet since aside from occasional video chats, they don't use the Internet very much at all. It wouldn't be worth the installation/subscription cost to them, and honestly they'd get better results from letting me just drill a hole in the garage wall to run a cable through and the damned access point in the house.
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My hang up with the digital photo frames is that there seems to be two options: their cloud or physical upload only. I don’t want to upload personal photos to some service’s AWS bucket and trust their security practices.
Anyone have a recommendation for a digital frame with local-only network access? I already have jumpbox on my in-laws’ home network as they live out of state.
Anyone have a recommendation for a digital frame with local-only network access? I already have jumpbox on my in-laws’ home network as they live out of state.
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The Victrola is very cool. But it's not $139, the link goes to a $329 model. Still cool.
But, for someone with dozens of CDs and some vinyl, now it needs the right kind of furniture. No one makes CD and vinyl storage sized furniture these days.
But, for someone with dozens of CDs and some vinyl, now it needs the right kind of furniture. No one makes CD and vinyl storage sized furniture these days.
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Gnedby?
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/gnedby-shelving-unit-white-40277143/
(edit) Or did you mean CD and vinyl together? o_o;
Mr. or Ms. Staff said:
I strongly recommend the former.
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Weird pick for Mother's Day, maybe, but I've jotted it down for next Christmas as a stocking stuffer. Mom does have the habit of letting her phone run low, and her current charger is several years old.
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Hell, if could I'd get my Mom an Ars subscription. But alas, I can't afford it myself - I block ads on most sites, but not Ars.
The pseudoscience, the disinformation, it's being shoved into my Mom's YouTube feed with self proclaimed doctors (mostly Russians, she doesn't speak English well, but hates Russia with a burning passion).
I got acute pancreatitis, was hospitalized for 3 days, she searched for home remedies and foods to avoid on YT. And it's all self contradictory crap. "Avoid salt" "Eat excessive amounts of salt" "Tie garlic cloves to your right foot BUT not left for a few weeks and you'll be fine"
So much disinformation, outright lies, and she believes it all. Despite being an open minded, clever Mom. I cite Ars to her in regards to infection, vaccine policies and she understands and listens. And Ars cites their sources.
Huge, vast portal of invaluable info here. And I can't afford the sub.
(Nothing against the prices, it's my own dumbass fault for not being able to afford it. The Ars staff can bet on the fact that when my financial situation changes, I'm buying a sub for me and my Mom. She would genuinely enjoy the health, science and the politics of it all. With clear and easy to read articles)
Plus, reading reading in English would help her and some of the more "gross" articles by Beth Mole (that I love, and always read) wouldn't scare her, she always wanted to be a surgeon, seeing weird stuff: parasites or wounds wouldn't be even a minor problem.
The pseudoscience, the disinformation, it's being shoved into my Mom's YouTube feed with self proclaimed doctors (mostly Russians, she doesn't speak English well, but hates Russia with a burning passion).
I got acute pancreatitis, was hospitalized for 3 days, she searched for home remedies and foods to avoid on YT. And it's all self contradictory crap. "Avoid salt" "Eat excessive amounts of salt" "Tie garlic cloves to your right foot BUT not left for a few weeks and you'll be fine"
So much disinformation, outright lies, and she believes it all. Despite being an open minded, clever Mom. I cite Ars to her in regards to infection, vaccine policies and she understands and listens. And Ars cites their sources.
Huge, vast portal of invaluable info here. And I can't afford the sub.
(Nothing against the prices, it's my own dumbass fault for not being able to afford it. The Ars staff can bet on the fact that when my financial situation changes, I'm buying a sub for me and my Mom. She would genuinely enjoy the health, science and the politics of it all. With clear and easy to read articles)
Plus, reading reading in English would help her and some of the more "gross" articles by Beth Mole (that I love, and always read) wouldn't scare her, she always wanted to be a surgeon, seeing weird stuff: parasites or wounds wouldn't be even a minor problem.
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Does the price seem crazy high though? $150The video chat phone stand is a wonderful idea, but it unfortunately can't get past the biggest obstacle for chatting with so many parents; the fact that they live in an area with terrible Internet and no affordable options to make it better. My mother-in-law lives in a near-total dead zone, where DSL or cable isn't an option, cellular service is spotty HSPA, and getting fiber optic service to their home would be $40,000.
It seems like for that price a larger sized tablet with stand would almost make more sense? Maybe I'm just unaware of the cost to produce such a stand?
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Ah yes, that time of year where as someone who lives in the UK I see articles like this and panic because I haven't bought anything. Then I remember we did Mother's Day already back in March.
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I have a Frameo and generally like it - although I don't use any of the network functionality.
However I have two gripes:
However I have two gripes:
- When uploading photos to the device, it won't replace any existing content (using filename or hash) and therefore allows duplicates to be created. This causes problems because it means I need to track exactly what photos I've already uploaded to the device.
- Handling of portrait photos is extremely poor. I ended up writing a small program that took two portrait photos and created a landscape version of them side-by-side which I then uploaded to the frame.
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If you think she would like it, tell her to read it anyway! The ads aren't all that intrusive, on desktop anyway.
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Know this is a downer, but some of us don't have moms anymore. All we can do is take time to remember.
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Am I really the first one to comment that another option for the Severance mugs is one that says, “Devour Feculence”? My wife and I both cracked up when we saw that.
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jm_leviathan
Ars Scholae Palatinae
This year I got
If nothing else it's another reason to finally make a start on the expedition diaries that have been collecting dust on the bookshelf for a while now...
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How bright is it? My mother is in a skilled nursing care facility, so she only has a single room. I know she'd love to see lots of pictures of the family, but if the screen is really bright it'll interfere with her sleep.
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Beyond Brandorf's suggestion of using a MagSafe/Qi2 compatible case for your Android device (I love my Mous case), There are stick-on magnetic rings you can add to any wireless-compatible phone to make it Qi2 compatible. They're just a few bucks on Scamazon.
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Since most people tend to think twice before acting stupid in front of their mom, yes. And everyone else's too.
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I beg to differ. Since the vinyl comeback, options are everywhere - my instagram feed is full of companies making vinyl storage furniture. Etsy has tons of people willing to custom make you something. Now I do find CD storage furniture - outside of 4" deep shelving units that would take entire walls - slim pickings. My instagram feed is severely lacking in that area.
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I prefer to act stupid and then think about it endlessly thereafter.
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