09.30.2005

Comfy Chinese characters

I just love Studio Ditte's Character Cushions. The red colour is the symbol of happiness in China, and their shapes mean man, woman, and heaven.

From bno.

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09.30.2005

Divorce at Germany's Newsstands

There's an endless list of magazines about weddings, and none of them can prevent the divorce rate from rising and rising. Today I read that a magazine on the challenges of divorce is about to hit German newsstands.

Entitled Rosenkrieg, or War of the Roses, the bi-monthly mag features articles from lawyers, psychologists, therapists and accountants on all the unpleasant facets of a lasting separation: how much alimony should be paid, who gets custody of the children, who gets to stay in the shared home, with or without the family pet, how to pay off joint debts.

On a more cheerful side, it also tells readers how to get back in touch with their flirtatious side, where the best singles' haunts are, how to approach life as part of a patchwork family, etc.

Ok, I'm not the marrying type, but this magazine makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

From Deutsche Welle.

Posted by regine Category: current affairs
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09.29.2005

Vacunaut fat burning suit

Logically, I understand the only way to look like you're a person who exercises is to exercise, but I can't help but be a little curious and mildly hopeful when I see a contraption like the Vacunaut abdominal spacesuit. The suit is actually worn while running on a treadmill in order to target the fat-burning to the fatty abdominal area. The claims?

Exercising with the Vacunaut� will melt away even the most stubborn of stomach fat. By constantly switching between low and high atmospheric pressure the blood supply to the fatty tissue is intensified, which accelerates the transportation of the fatty cells to the muscles that are being trained.

I'm sure there's little medical evidence and if it does anything at all, it probably just weighs you down and makes you sweat more, leaving the impression of weight loss which is only water. British actress Anna Friel, however, claims it helped her lose all her pregnancy weight within a few months. I'm more intrigued by the company's Hypnoxi L250, of which there are no details yet, but is a machine you simply lie down inside to melt away your hip, thigh, and butt fat. Like most of the so-called "fat-burning" devices, these things can probably, at most, "temporarily reduce the appearance of cellulite" rather than get rid of any of it.

Prevention has a good run-down on the newest cellulite "cures".

From diet-blog.

Posted by Mia Category: devices
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09.29.2005

Sony Bravia - televisions for women?

Launching through an ad campaign seemingly inspired by Secret Deodorant, Sony is re-branding their LCD television line as Bravia: The Worlds First Television for Men and Women. In ads that are running on Style.com this week during Milan's fashion shows, Sony declares that their sleek new high-definition sets will be "coveted by men, admired by women". I understand the temptation to laugh at the idea that a television could be made for a woman, but I don't think that's what the campaign is about. Sony is making a bold move to reach out to women, advertising the same products that will be marketed to men. There may not be many women reading something like T3, but the women reading a re-cap of a Ferreti show could easily be lured in by an ad extolling the virtues of a beautiful 40" screen. Televisions are genderless, but the marketing campaigns for electronics products, in general, are not. This follows Sony's model for some of their newer Sony Style stores, which have been re-designed to be appealing to women.

Actually, Secret has now changed their ad slogan from "strong enough for a man but made for a woman" to "strong enough for a woman". I know lots of people will scoff- but how many of us have been taken in by products, especially grooming products which are clearly marked "for men" or "for women" even though the products, when examined beyond the packaging, are identical to the correlating opposite-sex version? I think most of us will walk to the next aisle to get our gender-specific moisturizer. I suspect that it will work for consumer electronics too.

From Yahoo news.

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09.28.2005

The e-Solex

Pininfarina (designer of Ferrari) is about to launch the e-Solex, an eco-friendly version of the legenday and very Frenchy Solex 3800.

The moped works with an electronic engine, can reach the speed of 35 Km/h, weighs less than 35 kg and will have some 30 km of functioning autonomy. A battery, to increase the coverable distance, will be supplied as optional.

From Le Blog Auto.

Posted by regine Category: eco
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09.28.2005

Silly coat hanger

Gino the clothes hanger is a ridiculously funny character bent in a position that allows him to hang your jacket or bag from his arms and legs.

Little Gino can be placed on a circular stand made of chromed metal or on bars of 2, 4 or 6 pieces.

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09.27.2005

The sanitary chair

Since you never know where your guests have been prior to arriving at your home, you might want to consider The Sanitary Chair designed by Well Design, just in case. Or maybe you enjoy the experience of sitting on the paper-lined examination table at the doctor's office so much that you want to recreate it at home.

Personally, I think this chair would be a perfect drawing surface for my toddler. Scribble, pull, tear...voila! Ready for the next arts and crafts session.

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09.27.2005

We want our pink gadgets!!!

As a site devoted to personal technology for women, we're often asked if we are writing about products that are for women only. Everything we write about is something we feel is of interest to women, but almost all of our content is about products or ideas that could appeal equally to both sexes. We have lots of male readers and want them to feel welcome here. We're not looking for pink, cute, and cuddly things although sometimes, sure, they can be fun and they'll show up here.

There is an article in the Irish Indepent today, "Pretty in pink: girls just wanna have fun gadgets", that pretty much misses the point, I think, about women embracing technology. There are certainly more products these days that are designed and marketed to women, and perhaps many of them are smaller and pinker than what's been available before but it's not just about making things cute- it is a response to the larger issue of technology being less and less characterized as solely the domain of men.

"Beyond knowing how to operate a video recorder or load a camera film, women, it was assumed, were technologically illiterate.

But something has happened in intervening years. Something that, among other things, has resulted in the pink iPod, a lip-gloss sized gizmo as stylish and feminine as couture fashion or a Hello Kitty! handbag.

We should perhaps not read too much into these trends, however. Women may be embracing their inner-nerds but when it comes to spending significantly on technology, men remain in a class of their own. "

Not so sure about the men being in a class of their own. Most market research these days would say otherwise. What I find most confounding, though, is this idea that men are using technology to do important things like say, figuring out quantum mechanics on their PSPs or strategizing military action in Iraq on their RAZR phones while women are just using their iPods as mirrors to put on lipstick.

I understand and do appreciate the main point of the article, that women now play video games and men exfoliate, that consumers are leaving their traditional gender roles, but I just wish that the focus was just a little less on pink. Ed Power, the writer, did contact me and although we weren't able to speak before the article came out, I hope it leads to some further discussion.

Posted by Mia Category: current affairs
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09.27.2005

Talking dogs video

My dog Mojo is highly intelligent, but more in the "I'll pay you to take the SAT for me" way and not so much in the typical dog way of catching frisbees and scent tracking. She has little in the way of dog senses but is also obviously limited in her ability to communicate her thoughts to us so almost half-seriously, I've thought she could be trained to speak a bit or pick out letters and spell. I know, I know, but watch this hilarious video where it appears that dogs have been taught to bark full sentences. Of course, it's much more likely that the owners are parroting the barks, rather than the other way around, but very very funny anyway. And I still think my dog could learn to read.