MAVROMATIC » Announcements

Mavromatic Site Upgrades

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:11:26 +0000

Traffic coming to Mavromatic got pretty high the last few days so site access was intermittent. We should be fully operational now with many layers of caching in place. If you see any weirdness please let me know. More posts will be coming shortly… Cheers!

Top 5 Graduation Gift Ideas For 2009

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:51:30 +0000

It’s graduation time and you know how much we love picking gadgets and gift ideas here are Mavromatic! This year is a bit different as peoples wallets are a bit tighter so we’ve kept the gift prices under $150.

#5 - Garmin Forerunner 50 Sports Watch with Heart Rate Monitor

Just because your child is going to college doesn’t mean they shouldn’t stay active and fit. Encourage them to stay in shape by getting them a Garmin Forerunner 50 sports watch with Heart Rate Monitor. This little gadget transmits workout data to their computer so they can analyze, store, and share the information. Plus, you can add Garmin’s foot pod (not included) to track their speed, distance, and calories burned. You can’t put a price on health and $54 won’t put a hole in your wallet.

#4 – Flip Video Ultra Series Camcorder, 30-Minutes (White)

A Flip video camcorder is a great gift idea since it allows your child to record a special video message everyday that they can then email directly to you. The idea is great, but will they actually do that? Heck for $60, it’s worth the gamble. Plus, if they never end up sending you a video message, they can still use it to capture their memories for their own viewing enjoyment.

#3 - Blue Microphones Eyeball – USB Webcam with Microphone

This USB Webcam and Microphone combo is a perfect gift to stay in touch with your loved one while they are away at college. The microphone will allow you to hear their voice in the purest way possible and the high-resolution camera will allow you to see in detail if they have been out late partying. Blue is known for their quality microphones and this combo unit is no exception. Sure, most notebook computers come with built-in cameras and microphones, however, I have not seen a built-in camera/mic combo as good at this. The Blue Microphone Eyeball will only set you back $85 and works with both Mac and PC.

#2 - Canon PowerShot A480 10 MP Digital Camera with 3.3x Optical Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD

A good inexpensive camera comes in handy to any college student and the Canon PowerShot A480 10MP not only fits the fill, but, it also fits in the pocket. This highly-rated camera snaps up great shots without all the frills and gimmicks of higher priced cameras. Comes in Silver, Black, Blue and Red and only costs $114!

#1 – Sony DPF-D70 7-inch Digital Photo Frame

Your child will be going away for college but that doesn’t mean they need to forget about you. So take some photos of the family and their roots and load it up onto this beautiful Sony DPF-D70 7-inch Digital Photo Frame. Don’t forget to add some messages like “Don’t forget to call us tonight” or “Maybe you should stay home tonight” to keep your child grounded. The frame comes in Black and Red and costs $99.99.

Microsoft Bing (Formerly Kumo) Search Engine

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:43:37 +0000

Microsoft is publicly showing off its new search engine, formerly code-named Kumo, now known officially as Bing. The revamped search tool has several new features, including a left-hand navigation pane for moving among different types of searches, category breakdowns for search results, and bringing some information directly into the results page.

CNET NEWS - How Microsoft’s Bing came to be

Google Wave, the new Twitter!?

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:34:37 +0000

Seriously, Google is going to take over the world! As they announced today at Google I/O a new communication service called Google Wave which is “equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.”

You can see screenshots of the service and check out details of the API. I guess we will be seeing this compete/intergrate with Twitter once it’s made available later this year.

Follow Mavromatic On Twitter!

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:07:19 +0000

You can now follow Mavromatic via twitter. Cheers!

Mavromatic Enhancements – WPtouch iPhone Theme & Clean URLs

Danny Mavromatis — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:02:37 +0000

Lots of behind the scene improvements have happened over the last month here at Mavromatic. Moved the site over to Wordpress from Movable Type, redirected all the old content with 301’s, improved performance with caching and last night I finally changed over to “clean urls”. This will improve SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and also make it easier if I ever decided to move to another blog platform.

Another enhancement is that if you access Mavromatic via an iPhone/iPod Touch you will see that the format is faster and better suited for the display. This is made possible by a handy Wordpress Plug-in called WPtouch iPhone Theme.

I hope you continue to enjoy Mavromatic and keep sending in those tips and stories! Also, if there is anything you would like me to review please email me (tips -at- mavromatic.com).

Until next time, this is Danny Mavromatis for Mavromatic, Over-and-out!

Mavromatic Redesign Launched!

Danny Mavromatis — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:41:52 +0000

I started Mavromatic back in 2004 before blogs were popular and I’ve tried to keep it up-to-date as much as I can. My daughter, my wife, and Myro Control and my full-time job working for Walt Disney (ABC) has kept me very occupied. I did find some time and cleaned things up a bit. The design was getting stale and I’ve always wanted to make the switch over to WordPress. So I present to you, the cleaner, faster, better, bigger Mavromatic.com!

If you find any issues with the site, please email me (tips -at- mavromatic.com).

Baby’s Breath Smells Like Cotton Candy

Danny Mavromatis — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 01:23:43 +0000

If you have been wondering why the lack of posts the last few weeks it’s been because we’ve been blessed with a beautiful baby girl. Vivienne was born on January 8, 2009 (same day as Elvis) and weighed in at 8lbs, 2oz. Mom and daughter are doing great and it’s been an amazing experience so far. The only real challenges have been lack of sleep for us due to feedings (breast feeding). We only have about 3 hours between feedings and that feels like minutes to us — whoa, it’s that time already, gotta run! Cheers!

P.S. Baby’s breath really does smell like Cotton Candy… hope that doesn’t go away anytime soon!!

Home Automation Forum : Now Open!

Danny Mavromatis — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:06:35 +0000

I get a lot of email daily asking me about my home automation system and the types of control, wiring, devices, etc. I use. I’ve decided as part of Myro Control to open up a forum that will allow for this type of discussion to happen in an easier and more efficient way than me replying back to hundreds of people. So if anyone has any questions about home automation please post them in the newly formed forum.

P.S. If there isn’t a forum topic that suits your question, please post it in the “General Home Automation” forum and I’ll create forums based on the questions.

- MAVROMATIC/MYRO FORUM

New Blog In Town: Frillas – Frills for the Home and your Lifestyle

Danny Mavromatis — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:17:30 +0000

My wife has always wanted her own blog (www.frillas.com) and I’ve been too ~~lazy~~ busy to get one setup for her — so she found out about Blogger.com and setup one up by herself! If you have interests in great home decor and designs, you definitely need to check out Frillas — “Frills for the Home and your Lifestyle”.