engraving

In case you haven't heard, our recent party in LA was decidedly geek chic. PopSugar put on the event with our friends at TechCrunch, but it included an array of other sponsors who set up fun stations around the venue.

One of the stations was Etchstar, who I have written about in the past. The company sells custom laser etched and engraved preloaded iPods, cell phones, laptops, Moleskine journals and even metal dog tags and I have to say, they are adorable. During the party, most of the Sugar crew made their way over to the Etchstar booth to have their beloved BlackBerry's and iPhone's personalized with some one-of-a-kind etching creations. Thanks to the Etchstar team, we instantaneously had all our gadgetry customized with everything and anything from Sugar logos to stars and even skulls — so hot! Check out all the fun designs below.

You can see all their photos from the event for a better look at some of their other designs.

I was never really keen on the idea of engraving my gadgets, but after checking out all the neat samples by Etchstar, I'm starting to reconsider. What's great about Etchstar is the fact that you can buy products directly from them or send your own to be customized (coming soon). Select a design from the gallery or upload your own — the options are endless. Prices vary from product to product and are fairly reasonable. Definitely a much cheaper option than personalizing your gadgets with Colorware!

I honestly thought that the days of lasering your gadgets were over — primarily because I haven't seen many tattoo lasered laptops recently and because there are so many unique cases. Plus, I find it hard to justify permanently scratching-up your beloved gadgets.

But when I saw this shuffle on Chip Chick, I actually thought it was kinda cute! Epilog laser machines can engrave custom artwork like this on 2G shuffles and on iPhones. Want to engrave your shuffle for free? The online Apple Store offers free personalized laser-engraved text on new iPods.