GeekSugar

Website of the Day: Before I Die I Want To

GeekSugar — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:03:13 -0700

Before we can kiss Polaroid cameras and their photos good-bye for good, an adorable website called Before I Die I Want To is honoring the beauty of Polaroid Pics by having people write down what they want to do before they die on Polaroid image of themselves. On the site, you can vertically scroll through submissions and even purchase the "Before I die I want to. . . " book which includes 111 of the portraits taken.

Do you have a favorite website you want to share with us? Submit your faves to our Website of the Day group! To learn how, just read more.

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and “Regular Post.”
Give your story a “Title.”
Fill in the “Body” with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click “Next."
Choose the audience for your story to “Website of the Day” in the drop-down menu
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to “Technology and Gadgets.”
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click “I’m done” to submit content.

Love 2.0: Heather Champ and Derek Powazek

GeekSugar — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 10:00:40 -0800

If we’re to believe pop culture, a Beauty and a Geek can fall in love in six episodes, teach each other to dress and balance their checkbooks and combine to make the perfect pair. It may not be that easy in the real world, but there are plenty of beautifully geeky couples that continue to inspire us with their innovative ideas and contributions to the technology and resources we use everyday. As part of our Geeks We Love series, I caught up with a few couples that, through the beauty of the internet and technology have influenced both our lives and each other in a wonderful way.

Heather Champ is the Community Manager at flickr and co-founder of JPG Magazine. Her husband, Derek Powazek is the founder and CCO of 8020 Publishing and Editor-in-Chief of JPG Magazine. A life-long camera junkie, Heather never leaves home without a camera, hoping to capture the small moments that catch her eye. Derek was an early blogger - even though he never liked calling it that. He also used to run fray.com, the original digital storytelling magazine, which Heather calls a “wonderful gift to the web in a time when self-publishing wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today.” What geeky things do these two love about each other and life? read more

Geeksugar: Tell me a little about yourselves!
Derek: I graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 1995 with a degree in Photojournalism. When every paper I talked to said they just weren't hiring photographers anymore, I fell into the web. I never really realized it would become my life, but here I am. Of course, now I'm running a photo magazine, so I guess I've come full circle. I invented the magazine I wanted to work for 10 years ago.
Heather: I built a home page in August of '94 while working at Princeton and immediately fell in love with life online. I developed websites professionally for 10 years and then joined Flickr as Community Manager in 2005.

Geeksugar: What’s the geekiest thing about yourself?
Derek: The other day I was on the subway going to work, listening to a NPR podcast on my iPod and checking my email and surfing the web on my Hiptop, and I thought, when did it become the future?
Heather: I've geotagged over 3,000 of my photos on Flickr. I became absolutely obsessed with adding the geo location information a few weeks before we launched the photos on Flickr. Given that I shoot mostly film, I find myself making mental notes of where I am when I'm out and about.

Geeksugar: How about the geekiest thing about your significant other?
Derek: Heather's pretty oldschool. She loves her Polaroid SX-70 and shoots mostly film. But come between her and her Treo and there'll be trouble. She's also the only person I know who can actually watch the low budget Saturday movies on the Sci Fi channel.
Heather: He gave me a dual tuner DirecTV TiVo a couple of year's ago for Valentine's Day. Given that our viewing preferences fall into two buckets ("hand drawn", ie cartoons: him, accents and/or costume drama: me), a dual tuner device is a must.

Geeksugar: How and when did you two meet?
Derek: We met at SXSW in 2000, which I guess is pretty geeky, too. That was the same year Kottke and Meg met, and a few other couples, too. Love was in the air.

Geeksugar: What are your top three favorite gadgets:
Derek: Number one has to be the gadget I use most, which is my 15" Powerbook. I still have the pre-Intel version, which I'm sticking to until CS3 comes out. But it's just a marvelous machine. Two is Danger Hiptop, aka T-Mobile Sidekick I've had every version of this device, and each gets better. I love the flip-out display, qwerty keyboard, and mobile email, web, and chat. I wish the hardware design was better, but I guess the iPhone will be here soon enough. Three is the Apple iPod (video, 30gig). I know, so pedestrian. But it's a nearly perfect device. I love that I can use the click wheel through it's case. And the videos and games are a nice addition for boring Muni rides. I do wish the batter lasted longer, though.
Heather: My Treo 680 (red), Sony DSC-T5 (the wet suit accessory is most excellent for the beach and rafting) and our dual tuner DirecTV TiVo (a Valentine's Day present a few years ago).

What about the top three luxury gadgets you really want?
Derek: The Leica M8. It's the digital version of the M6 I mentioned earlier, and it's expensive as hell, but I'd love to give it a whirl. If they could finally make a digital Leica as sweet as the film Rangefinders, it'd be a dream come true. Does a car count as a luxury gadget? If so, bring on my Mini Cooper. Silver and black with moon roof, please. A stylish car that you can actually park in San Francisco. Bliss. Also a big ass HDTV. When I picked up a plasma display last year, the actual HD models were just too pricey.
Heather: Leica M8, Slingbox, Sony GPS tracker (oh, and a more current version of my point and shoot to go with it), that set of 128 tea mugs designed by Onkar Singh Kular - "Each of the 128 tea mugs is a Pantone shade of brown, which allows people to pick out the mug that matches the way they take their tea. Depending on which one they pick, the host with the most can judge how much milk to put in." And a My5 Power Plate (very weird jiggly, anti-fat thing).

Geeksugar: Your first computer was a…
Derek: Commodore 64. I was bootlegging video games on 5" floppies in grade school. Yeah, I was THAT cool.
Heather: Mac Iici with a whopping 8 MB of ram, baby!

Geeksugar: What are your favorite websites?
Derek: Heather's site, of course! Daring Fireball is a must-read and Ze Frank has
put a smile on my face nearly every day since he started the show. And, of course, the flickr addiction must be fed daily.
Heather: Flickr.com (natch), jpgmag.com, cuteoverload.com, mightygoods.com, dooce.com to name a few.

Geeksugar: What is your Valentine's Day plan?
Derek: I'm not saying! Surprise is the spice of life.
Heather: I don't know. We alternate and last year I made the plans: we went to EOS, a lovely restaurant in Cole Valley where we had our wedding reception. Derek's on deck this year. No pressure. Nope. None at all.

Geeksugar: Who makes the final decision when it comes to gadgets for the home?
Derek: We both do! We had dinner with a couple of friends not long ago, and she said something about not being able to buy a camera because he wouldn't let her. Heather and I just looked blankly at them. If I ever came between Heather and a camera, well, let's just say it wouldn't be pretty.
Heather: We both follow our bliss when it comes to gadgets. Derek definitely plots out the big ticket items while I gift him gaming devices for Hanukkah.

Geeksugar: Who solves tech problems at home?
Derek: Judging solely by who cusses the most when the airport network goes out, it'd have to be me.
Heather: Derek. Period. I once almost had a nervous breakdown when presented with a TiVo green screen of death while he was away at a conference.

Geeksugar: Are you going to buy an iPhone?
Derek: Are you kidding? I may buy two: one to use and one to keep pristine in its box to save for future generations to admire. "This was the moment, children, when computers went mobile," we'll say. And they'll respond in some sort of future kid lingo that we cannot begin to imagine now.
Heather: Will my super secret de-coder ring be taken away if I say no? I'm a big fan of a qwerty keyboard and a die hard Treo fan.

Geeksugar: How do you feel about people calling you a “geek”?
Derek: Amen! To me, "geek" just means "someone who's just a little too into something." I was a guitar geek before becoming a camera geek before becoming a web geek before graduating to being a coffee geek. I can't wait to see what I geek out on next. It's better than being a nerd, anyway.
Heather: That they're misguided.

Geeksugar: What has been your partner’s greatest contribution to the tech/blog?
Derek: As a prominent woman in tech, Heather's been a real inspiration to a lot of girls out there. She's also inspired a lot of people to pick up their cameras again. I know she inspires me to want to be a better photographer.
Heather: If you've seen the Blogger "B", then you've seen Derek's work, but I think that Fray (fray.com) was a wonderful gift to the web in a time when self-publishing wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today.

Geeksugar: How many hours do you spend online a day?
Derek: Pretty much all of them.
Heather: Too many.

Geeksugar: How many hours does your partner spend online a day?
Derek: Same. We try to get out of the house and away from the computers on the weekends. But, otherwise, the net is just part of the fabric of our lives. It's never far away.
Heather: Too many.

Geeksugar: What is one geeky habit you’re trying to quit?
Derek: I think I've already done it: After 10 years, I just recently killed my blog. It was one of my new years resolutions: There's enough pressure already, don't put more on yourself. It was stressing me out whenever the top post got more than a couple days old. I decided to just take it down until I have the time to enjoy it again.
Heather: I think I'm a great multi-tasker, though Derek would disagree. Less SMSing while out and about together would be greeted with enthusiasm.

Are you the “Beauty or the “Geek” in the relationship?
Derek: Oh please tell me I'm the geek.
Heather: While Derek's wardrobe is far more beautiful than mine, I would crown him alpha geek at Casa Chawazek.

Want to know more about Heather? Check out HChamp.com. For more about Derek, check out Powazek.com.

To Smartphone or Not to Smartphone?

GeekSugar — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 13:10:39 -0700

I'm a devout smartphone lover now, often espousing the virtues of the iPhones and the BlackBerries, but I remember the days of having a regular cell phone and thinking - I didn't need all that "junk." I just need a cell phone for calls, I thought. How young and naive I was. Then of course, I wanted a camera on my phone, so I hit that up. And it sounded nice to have email whenever I wanted too, so I started to succumb.

By the time the iPhone came out, with its gorgeous Internet interface, touchscreen, and integrated iPod, I was first in line (well, first in line when it died down a week or so later).

I can't imagine life without a smartphone now and could absolutely never go back, but I still hear the same things now that I thought before - either that you don't need "fancy" features, or worse, I know girls who say a smartphone is too "high tech" for them, which I hate! When did accessibility and convenience become equivalent with high tech? I hate overly complicated gadgets, and I think the iPhone and Blackberry are totally not.

So I want to know, do you have a smartphone or a regular cell phone? And is there something keeping you from getting a smartphone, besides the price?

Source

iPhone Review: Forget The Phoney Talk

GeekSugar — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:00:28 -0700

Yes, we attended the iPhone launch at the Apple Store in downtown San Francisco and a neighboring AT&T store. No, we did not buy one on launch day. At the time, waiting for the crowd to die down seemed like a good idea (two days spent interviewing the people in line turned out to be a real energy blaster). A few days later, I succumbed and joined the 40 percent of you that said you would be buying the iPhone this year and ordered it from the nearby AT&T store. While I half expected it to make my dinner and wash my hair, I am honestly more impressed with it than I am disappointed. Here is part one of a series of reviews I will be doing on the gadget of the moment.

Touchscreen: The rave reviews about the iPhone's multi-touch screen are all true. As soon as I began navigating my way around the menu and web browser, my finger effortlessly tapped its way through the screens. With two fingers I could shrink and expand web pages, as well as move the page around with one finger to zoom in on a particular spot. Even typing letters for messages and pressing numbers on the dial pad turned out to be easy.

Browser Speed/Edge Network: When connecting to the internet with the iPhone, I noticed that using a WiFi connection is much faster than using the EDGE network. Even when I couldn't pick up a wireless connection, using EDGE wasn't that painful - despite what all the critics say.

For the rest of the review, read more

Smudging: Either I have really greasy fingers or the iPhone's new screen is super shiny because after a few minutes of playing, the screen was covered with finger-prints and smudge marks. I'm guessing that the large 3.5-inch screen only contributes to the appearance of smudges. But then again, the screen on my BlackBerry Pearl is covered as well and I hardly touch that. My advice is to get yourself a soft screen cloth so you can keep your iPhone's screen looking brand new. My second piece of advice is to quit worrying about smudges because you won't be able to avoid them.

Blackberry Comparison: I'm a dedicated Blackberry Pearl user so I've been a little squeamish about the idea of a transition. Overall, my Pearl is much smaller and lighter than the Apple iPhone (the Pearl is 89 grams while the iPhone is a noticeably heavier 4.8 grams), but the iPhone's widescreen makes it much nicer for web browsing and watching videos, which was near impossible on the Pearl or my older 8700. In terms of loading time, the Blackberry and iPhone run on the same EDGE network and don't seem to have any obvious speed differences. The issue for me lies in the fact that the iPhone's e-mail is updated every 15 minutes, which is too infrequent for my liking. Conclusion: I like the iPhone, but that doesn't mean I'm dumping my Pearl.

iPod: When I first heard the iPhone would be controlled via a touchscreen and feature an iPod I was a bit baffled and wondered what it would be like to use an iPod without a traditional click wheel. I found there's no major difference, and the iPhone's touchscreen is so uber sensitive that it's a joy to play with the phone's iPod features. Of course, the iPhone does not have a click wheel and is controlled instead by an intuitive bar.

Complaints: I've found the iPhone's e-mail to be less than revolutionary. It does not update often enough for my "on the go" personality (it updates every 15 minutes) and I'm so used to my BlackBerry's reliability in that department that it's hard to compare. Of course, I'll have to use it for a few weeks to really get the hang of it.

How is your iPhone relationship working out? Share your reviews, tips and observations in the Geeky Things I Love group. To learn how to share, see list below.

I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Geeky Things I Love
Click "Create and Share!" on the left hand side
Choose "Blog"
Give your photo a Title
Leave the category as "general"
Change the channel to "technology and gadgets"
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this post was "museum, Lego")
Click on the "Add Image" link below the "body" box
A popup window will happen - click on "Browse" to find your image on your computer
Once you have the image chosen, click "Submit"
The popup will show you your image, choose size: "normal" - if you want, you can give it a title (which will show up as a caption)
Click "Insert" and the popup will go away
Your "body" box will now have some text in it. Leave it as is. If you want to add some text before the picture telling me why you love the download, do it before the code that has appeared.
Click Submit

So join the Geeky Things I Love and start sharing your observations. They might end up on the geeksugar homepage.

Do You Buy V 1.0 or Wait For V 2.0?

GeekSugar — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:00:30 -0700

Whenever hot new products are announced (especially with Apple) we all get really excited and worked into a tizzy. Case in point: the iPhone launch. You most likely forked over your cash before the launch to get your dream gadget preordered, making sure it was in your hot little hands the first day. But the problem with version 1.0 anything is that it's almost guaranteed to be buggy and not have all the features you want, and it's likely to die early.

So if we all know the risk that our beloved gadget won't be all it's cracked up to be, then why do we rush out and snatch them up on day one? One of my pals has patiently waited - well, more like a lion patiently stalking its prey – for the second release of the iPhone, thinking that 3G, a better camera, and streaming video will all be worth the wait. So with the iPhone V 2.0 launching soon, tell me, do you buy first-round gadgets or wait for a second release?

Source

Celebrity Cell Phone Watch: Katherine Heigl

GeekSugar — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 07:00:10 -0800

Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl showed off her new white BlackBerry Pearl at the T-Mobile Café at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. I'm just jealous she got her hands on the new white model before I did.

Apparently Heigl's five T-Mobile "myFaves" contacts include her fiancé Josh Kelley, her mom, aunt, uncle and one of her best pals. If you're wondering what's so great about the new white Blackberry, just read more

The Blackberry offers a phone, text messaging, e-mail, calendar and digital camera all rolled into one. It's small, sleek and will make you want to stay organized.

Check out additional Blackberry styles here, including the new Blackberry Pearl, a hot new compact design with support for playing music and video. The Pearl also has a built-in camera, ideal for capturing special moments on the spot. I currently have a black one, but I'm dying for this new white model. I say it takes geek chic to a new level.

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