When I think of Polaroid, I think of Polaroid cameras, which at this point have a vintage geek following, but the company is doing its darndest to promote their other products and has jumped on the celebrity beach house bandwagon.
The company has created a lavish $30 million dollar beachfront estate where celebrities and VIPs can enjoy tech toys, private dinner parties, exclusive events, BBQs, clambakes, and beachside activities.
Like the LG Beachhouse, the Polaroid Beach house is located on "the most exclusive stretch of beach in Malibu," and is completely decked out with with the company's TVs and gadgets. The house is decorated by the designers at west elm and features the company's home furnishings and accessories — such as bedding from west elm's new Pure Organic collection and comfy Walton sectional pieces with lots of glam mirrored side tables. It also features a gaming room outfitted with the latest Polaroid LCD TV's, sitting areas with the newest large flat screens and loads of outside space for celebrity photoshoots.
Polaroid has opened the house up for stars like Eva Mendes, Kate Bosworth, Courteney Cox Arquette, Jennifer Aniston, Leonardo DiCaprio and the cast of Entourage. If only we were so lucky.
Here's one of those "always good to know tips" from Mac OSX Hints that may in fact make your music sound better with improved balance. These 'non-flat' iTunes equalizer settings are said to output the music the way it was intended to be listened to. To get started, open up your equalizer from the view menu and select "make preset." Call it whatever you'd like for future reference and set the levels, just like below, from right to left (while skipping the preamp section): db +3, +6, +9, +7, +6, +5, +7, +9, +11, +8 db. Make sure that the 'on' box for the equalizer is activated. The pic above will show you what it is suppose to look like. One thing I noticed is that it works well with external "high quality" speakers but not when you are playing music through your laptop. So if you just use your laptop for sound, it may be best to keep your settings on default.
Sony has announced the first U.S. Walkman video players that support Windows Media technology and video. The the NWZ-A810 series and NWZ-S610 support security- enhanced Windows Media Audio (WMA), as well as non-secure AAC and MP3 music formats, plus JPEG files for photos, which means more options for downloading and managing music and video collections online. I got to check the players out a few weeks ago and was most impressed with the devices' home screen, which features a standard interface that makes it easy to navigate through the music, video or picture menus.
The video players have a Quarter Video Graphics Array LCD screen that displays video at 30 frames per second. (Quarter Video Graphics Array is a display mode display mode for small screens in which the resolution is 320 pixels vertically by 240 pixels horizontally.) The battery life allows up to eight hours of video playback for the NWZ-A810 series and nine-and-a-half hours for the NWZ-S610 series. The battery also provides up to 33 hours of music playback for both series. Prices range from $120 to $230.
When we think of gadgets, we think of shiny plastic, aluminum and man made materials, not natural wood. That may be the very reason we see wood gadgets popping up all over the place.
Recently, wooden gadget cases (like this iWood iPhone case ) have been generating web buzz, but the trend doesn't just apply to the gadget covers — some geeks have begun creating gadgets made entirely out of wood. It's a phenomenon that cannot be explained easily. Either projects like the 60-inch wooden plasma and the S-Series Cellphone are a study in opposites and what's expected (say gold, silver gadgets), or a way to prove yourself as a real geek. Whatever the case natural is in.
Scroll through the widget below to check out how wood is being used in the gadget world.
We've already given away an iPod and iPhone so we figured it was time we branch out a little and give you something you can use to get creative. We're giving away the new Canon PowerShot SD850 so you can make use of all our photography and editing tips and capture all those special moments with your family and friends. The camera is known for being compact, but professional and takes amazing photos.
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below and I will do a random drawing on Thursday, August 30th at 5:00 pm, Pacific Time. Don't forget to email this to friends and family who may be interested in winning this slim, high quality camera. Good luck!
Click here for Official Rules. One entry per person - all repeat comments will be ignored. Also, you must be a TeamSugar member to comment, so if you're not a member, please register here for an account.
When I think of Polaroid, I think of Polaroid cameras, which at this point have a vintage geek following, but the company is doing its darndest to promote their other products and has jumped on the celebrity beach house bandwagon. 
Orlando Orlandini
John Lewis
Lee