04.24.2008
There aren't many things that annoy me about writing about technology for a living. Having permission to ring the founder of Postsecret and ask him about his vision for the site? Not horrendous. Being offered new gadgets to trial before they are even on sale? I can deal with it. Writing about a fun topic I enjoy learning more about as time goes by? Two words spring to mind: cushy gig.
But one thing is hard to cope with, and that's being patronised on a regular basis.
When you say you're a woman who writes about technology, you still receive looks of astonishment or disapproval, even in 2008. When you put out a call for technology press releases of interest to women, you'll still be inundated with cellulite zappers and baby monitors (what, women don't like games consoles, laptops and cellphones?) even in 2008.
Things are getting better, and one of the reasons I love Popgadget is that it's woman-friendly - which doesn't mean it features pictures of half-naked women straddling new technology while giving seductive looks to the camera. Unlike some places I could mention (but won't).
The number of tech-savvy women does thankfully seem to be growing, online at least, so here's my shout-out to some of my favorites:
Continue reading "Let's celebrate women in tech"
Posted by diane
Category:
culture
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Tags: women in tech
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04.10.2008
For anyone who grew up in the 80s or early 90s, mix tapes were an essential part of pop culture. Whole evenings were devoted to the practice of creating the perfect mix tape (and learning to apply liquid eyeliner) and we would make them for parties, for our walkmans and for our friends. What's more, if a potential love-interest surprised you with a mix tape, it was as close to a confession of undying love as a teenage boy was capable of. (Unfortunately, the only teenage boys who were that romantic existed in Hollywood screenwriters' heads. But never mind.)
Mix tapes were soon superseded by burning CDs and making iPod playlists, but neither has the same amount of romance and nostalgia. Which is why I was delighted to hear about a new application called Muxtape, which lets you create your very own mix tape, online.
You sign up for free and then upload up to 12 songs from your hard drive to create your perfect (virtual) tape. The upload process takes a little while, and the site only works with MP3s at the moment but it's much easier than the days of painstakingly rewinding and recording, and hopefully it will accept WMA files soon.
Posted by diane
Category:
entertainment
| highlights
| on the web
Tags: music
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04. 4.2008
LifeAt.com is a funny but interesting online social networking concept. Rather than trying to connect you with people in distant places, people you would never expect to run into in real life, this site connects you with people who you might see in the elevator in your apartment building or bump into in the parking garage on your way home - people who are already around you but with whom you may not have any immediate natural occasion to connect. This New York-based business attempts to make your neighborhood (your apartment building, that is) feel . . . neighborly. It's a "modern twist on the community bulletin board, the self-proclaimed neighborhood gossip, the welcome wagon, and the earmarked local business guide."
Continue reading "LifeAt.com: social networking site for apartment dwellers who want to meet their neighbors"
Posted by lydia
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highlights
| on the web
Tags: social networking
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03.26.2008
"CARRY WITH FUNS" (Look for this one as a giveaway in this week's Popgadget Drop email. Not a subscriber yet? Takes only a second to sign up here.)
You can't help but smile when you see an E.Square Bag - the bright colors, the cheeky designs - but hiding under all that fun is a meticulously crafted, functional bag. I've been carrying my MacBook around in it for a week, and it's comfortable (has a padded shoulder strap which I've come to learn is essential for a 13 lb.laptop). It sports padded pockets for all your electronics, plus essential outside pocket for easy access to travel docs.
Kristina Kim, who founded the company with her husband says they "put fun prints on the bags in order to add splashes of colors" into our lives. "We know the designs are very bold and in very eye-catching colors, no one would ever think to have YELLOW on a laptop bag, but we did it and together with some other bold colors and big retro flower prints. AND hey! It's working and actually is very very well received in the market. So, we know tech cases (are) missing some colors, we will continue to put fun prints and bold colors on the bags."
Continue reading "Laptop bag bonanza - best of the best, part 2 (one of these could be yours for free)"
Posted by Evan
Category:
accessories
| computers
| contests
| deals
| feature
| highlights
| wearables
Tags: best of laptop bags
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03.14.2008
YouTube can be fun, and very occasionally brilliant, but a lot of its content is, let's face it, Amateur Hour. Not so Hulu.com, which just opened to the public. It features real TV shows and even movies. For free - so long as you're willing to watch ads too, of course. (Hulu estimates its ads at about 2 minutes per half-hour's entertainment, less than commercial television.)
I was one of Hulu's beta testers, but I didn't get the big head because there were 5 million of us. I only checked in a couple of times, partly because the selection was limited and partly because I'm spoiled by my fairly big TV screen - not to mention haunted by many hours of programming languishing unwatched on my DVR.
Some of Hulu's offerings are top-drawer. TV shows include "The Simpsons," "30 Rock," and "The Office" (US version). Among the movies are "Sideways," "Ice Age," and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" - plus several golden oldies. There is, of course, also dreck. Exhibit A: "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine." I can tell it's dreck without having watched a minute of it. Don't argue.
Continue reading "Hulu.com: free movies and TV online"
Posted by Tam
Category:
entertainment
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| on the web
Tags: hulu tv. video
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03. 6.2008
I have a girlfriend who will only hit the gym if she has an appointment with her trainer, or take a run if she has a partner. (And I have another girlfriend who's a gym rat but we're planning an intervention, so that's a different story.)
Girlfriend #1 needs the new Adidas miCoach system which is like having a coach or trainer constantly pushing you to new levels ("Come on, just one MORE MILE!").
Unlike the devices that collect data for your workout, miCoach claims to be the the first system that actually coaches by turning your data into a personal training plan based on your fitness level and goals ("LAZY BONES, speed it up!").
Created as a partnership between Samsung and Adidas, miCoach uses your cell phone as a personal trainer, the first "fully--featured, fully-reactive and adaptive personal trainer mobile phone." This means there are some unusual features such as a heart rate monitor, a pedometer which works by attaching a "foot pod" to your laces (or if you bought the matching runners, there's a spot specifically for it) and measures the distance you’ve travelled and how fast you’re going.
Meanwhile, since you inputted all your data, the domineering phone is supposedly motivating you by pushing you to your own personal fitness plan. Perfect for people who need a personal trainer or coach. Me? I would have trashed my phone after the first mile.
Scheduled to be released next month, there's no pricing information available yet.
Posted by Evan
Category:
body
| cell phones
| highlights
| on the web
Tags: fitness
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02.26.2008
Your aerobic exercise routine may not be a bust, but it will be more efficient and productive if you monitor your heart rate and keep it in the target zone that's right for you. But those chest straps that measure electrical voltages from your heart . . . so ugly and geeky. And using a wrist-only device to measure your pulse instead just doesn't work as well.
But suppose they made a pre-wired sports bra with tiny electrodes knitted right into the fabric, electrodes that could sense your heart's electrical signals? Suppose a tiny transmitter, snapped into a small pocket in the front of the bra, radioed readings from the electrodes to a digital heart-rate monitor/watch on your wrist? And suppose this wired device looked pretty much like a regular sports bra?
That's what NuMetrex has done with a sports bra wired to send your heart-rate data to a digital readout for real-time monitoring. Prices for the bra alone start at $49, not much more than a wire-free brand-name sports bra. An entry-level package featuring bra plus transmitter and watch (with time, date, stopwatch, alarm, and heart rate limits) is $99.
OK, now the crucial question. A sweaty sports bra can get funky pretty fast. Is this, miracle of miracles, a washable electronic device? Yes. And you don’t even have to hand-wash; machine will do fine. The company says you can rack up 100 machine washings with no effect on performance, and even after that their electronic boob job continues to work with only slight error readings. Order one in red or a pretty deep pink called razzleberry before the end of February, and NuMetrex will send $5 to the American Heart Association.
Posted by Tam
Category:
body
| highlights
| wearables
Tags: bra fitness heart rate
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02.14.2008
So it’s Valentine’s Day (insert virtual vomit here). Now, you could spend $60 a month on eHarmony, getting paired with all the people you wouldn’t date, or spend $0 and post a personal ad on craigslist and get about the same result. But, I’m suggesting that you try a new online service, WooMe.
WooMe takes a very fun hybrid approach to online dating through virtual speed dating. It’s ridiculously easy to meet people who share your interests, and it's also a lot of fun.
Continue reading "WooMe.com online speed dating for Valentine's fun"
Posted by chrissie
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Tags: dating
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02. 6.2008
Photo: Nikon D300 DX 12.3MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Nikkor Zoom LensPrice: $2,479.95 and ranked 5/5 stars with 51 customer reviews!
Back in December 2007, I made my first post about a mid-range Digital SLR camera that I had just purchased - the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. (scroll mid-way down the gift guide to read).
In advance of posting about a new group of wonderful long-lensed SLR’s arriving to market in the next few weeks, I wanted to guide you towards a wonderful article recently written by Mike Davidison, CEO of Newsvine, “A Rookie Guide to Digital SLR Cameras.”
Mike dives right in and explains the query that so many of us reach after owning a number of pocket-fitting 7-10 megapixel cameras, “What’s the story with the SLR?” Why would I want to own such a big bulky camera? And, make that serious of an investment? And, if I do, when is the right time?
As you look forward to my upcoming series of posts on these bulky, sexy, snapping, shooting, SLRs in the coming weeks, take a moment to get a better understanding of what’s behind the technology and how it applies or doesn’t apply to your own photographic needs.
Visit Mike’s post over at his blog: mikeindustries.com.
[Try out our Interactive Buying Guide for digital cameras.]
Posted by chrissie
Category:
cameras
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Tags: buying guide digital slr
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01.31.2008
If you love music and you love sharing, meet miShare, a single-button, smart gadget that enables sharing files and playlists between iPods. Simply attach the source and iPods (sans cables and computers) press miShare's can't-miss big button and presto changeo!
miShare allows you to navigate and share music, video and photo. Copy your media one file at a time or by batch. miShare uses the On-The-Go playlist for multiple songs—simply create an On-The-Go playlist on the source iPod by selecting by song, artist, album, or even playlist.
Single music files take about ten seconds to transfer once the iPods are attached, depending on the file sizes and videos up to half minute. (miShare runs USB 2.0 "Full-Speed," which is rated at more than one megabyte per second. Our real-world experience is about 500KB/second.)
Compatible devices:
* Minis, Nano, 3G, 4G, Video (5G), and Classic (6G) iPod models
* miShare does not currently work with the iPhone or iPod Touch
Continue reading "miShare lets iPods get social with sharing"
Posted by chrissie
Category:
highlights
| portable media
Tags: ipod music sharing
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