This month's Vogue has more than Iron Woman Gwyneth Paltrow — they have a spread called "Let's Get Digital," that seems to be aimed squarely at me and my geeksugar loyalists! They mix Logitech with Lanvin, iPhones with Armani, Blackberrys and Balenciaga — what I've been striving to do for years: meshing a look that loves fashion as much as technology. Check out the slideshow to see the geek chic intersections!
As much as spam emails totally suck when they make their way to your inbox - especially ones like these - I can honestly say I was completely shocked when I read this story on USA Today.
A man from Colorado has been arrested for sending hundreds of thousands of spam e-mails. His sentence? Twenty-one months in prison plus having to pay nearly $715,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.
I've met the odd "professional spammer" in my day, and they seriously look like your average Joe that basically gets paid for sending mass emails for various companies. . . usually without even knowing or caring about what the email is about. What's different about this case is the serial spammer was creating emails to deceive stock investors and he actually achieved this. During his spamming stint, he ended up raking in over $3.5 million. Nuf said.
Even though I look forward to the megapixel number for digital cameras and cell phone cameras increasing, don't think I'm not a wistful, sometimes very old-fashioned person. I miss the look of film sometimes — its richness and romance that digital, with its sharp edges and modern beauty, lacks. That's why I've been thinking about getting a film camera lately.
Urban Outfitters has a lot of vintagey cameras, but none of them have really tempted me until I saw the Diana+ Dreamer camera. An all-plastic reproduction from a '60s model, the Diana's simplicity ensures beautiful, dreamy images — think Virgin Suicides. Add to that the fact that its mint green color means it can be displayed without being an eyesore and that it comes with a Diana book filled with images and history, and you've got a sale, my friend.
Exactly two hundred years ago today (can you believe it?), the first manual typewriter was invented by Italian entrepreneur Pellegrini Turri. It's fascinating how far the typewriter has evolved over the years — from the manual typewriter to electrical typewriter, and eventually word processors to now personal computers! Who were the ones delivering the goods? Popular typewriter manufactures included E. Remington and Sons, IBM, Imperial typewriters, Oliver Typewriter Company.
I swear it feels like this past year has been dedicated to the old school typewriter. Who can forget the important role the vintage typewriter had in the Oscar nominated movie Atonement? Or what about the geeky-fabulous and fully restored Royal typewriters I couldn't help but get excited about?! And last but not least, if you just can't part with your typewriter, but need to send e-mails like the rest of us, there's always the 22 Pop! Wishing everyone a happy manual typewriter day!
This month's InStyle had a funny "Truth or Tabloid" item about Katherine Heigl — Star magazine claimed that the actress pretends to rock out to her iPod without music playing so that people won't bother her on the street. Her rep busted the rumor and responded that Katherine has an iPhone (which we can certainly attest to) and is usually just talking on the ear buds.
It's nice to know she's not hiding out, but I totally have to fess up here — I do this! I pretty much always have my earbuds in when I'm walking to and from work and on public transportation, and I'm not always listening to music. I admit to sometimes eavesdropping on conversations (hey, if you're talking on the bus, someone's listening), but I definitely do it to avoid being bothered. I have even pretended to be on the phone on my earbuds to get out of being bugged by those pesky solicitors on the sidewalk! Have you ever done this?
If you're over just getting the word out on the Internet with your blog and think you could rock the Interwebs with your voice, then check out the U CAST podcasting kit.
It includes a professional-grade USB microphone, headphones, sound editing software, and promises an easy way to get your podcast online for people to download.
What would you podcast? Would it be a talk show (more Seacrest, or more NPR?), would you mix, spin, and scratch as a DJ, or would you just use it as a personal soapbox? If you've got something to say, U CAST will let you say it. To everybody.
I saw a childhood friend at a birthday dinner a few weeks ago, and we got on the topic of how much communication and gadgets have changed since we were teenagers. On top of making us feel old, it evoked memories of our hoary pre-cell phone days. He actually reminded me that, for a brief (but oh so awesome!) time, I carried a beeper (commonly referred to as a "pager" by unhip people and doctors). I can't explain why, except that one day my parents presented it to me as a way to "keep in touch" when I was out with my friends.
I can't imagine having a pager without a cell phone would benefit anyone aside from Stone Age doctors at this point, given payphones are considered vintage artifacts. News to Liz Lemon's pager salesman ex on 30 Rock: Pages are just text messages created without the genius of the QWERTY keypad. I've got nothing to say but 143, I promise.
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