GeekSugar

Five Websites to Help You Get Your Drink On

GeekSugar — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:00:37 -0700

The Internet is pouring with social networks and websites dedicated to sharing drink recipes, Happy Hour tips and trendy modern ways to send your chum a brew. There's honestly a site for every drinker: Whether you like fancy cocktails, Absinthe, or just a nice cold beer.

It may be business hours right now, but you can still indulge in a looksy.

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Website of the Day: Unthirsty

GeekSugar — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:00:42 -0700

I know I know, with posts like Buy Your Friend A Drink, Mappy Hour and now this one, you're probably thinking that geeksugar is quite the boozer. It's not that I'm a happy hour fanatic, it's just that I have a duty to bring you the most useful and interesting websites on the net - which just happen to be these ones. *wink* *wink*
Thanks to TeamSugar user atkoester for submitting one of her favorite websites - Unthirsty. "For those of you who live by the rule: 'It's five o'clock somewhere,' UnThirsty is a Google maps mashup that will locate your nearest happy hour locale happening right and also give you info on any food specials, outdoor seating, and Wi-Fi hotspots at each watering-hole," says atkoester. A site that can tell me where to find a drink special and surf the net? I'll back that up in my permanent memory files.

To learn how to post your favorite sites to the Website of the Day group, 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 "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 photo was "Website of the Day")
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 website, do it before the code that has appeared.
Click Submit

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Website of the Day: Mappy Hour

GeekSugar — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 12:01:51 -0700

Last week, PartySugar and I decided we needed a little after work brew. After coming up empty handed with ideas, I suggested we check out Mappy Hour, a great site to help you locate happy hour hotspots in your city. Sure enough, Mappy Hour provided us with many options. All you have to do is type in your city, state or zipcode and let Mappy Hour do the rest. The site will instantly generate fifty of the closest happy hour locations which are conveniently shown on a Google map. Just click anywhere on the map to draw more beer glasses or click on the glass to see the name of the pub or bar. PartySugar and I were having so much fun with the site, that we almost missed out on all the happy hour action!

To learn how to post your favorite sites to the Website of the Day group, 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 "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 photo was "Website of the Day")
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 website, do it before the code that has appeared.
Click Submit

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all of your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Testing Out the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach

GeekSugar — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:50:45 -0700

In my opinion, achieving a sense of general well-being includes three vital components: incorporating a balanced and nutritious diet into your lifestyle, getting regular exercise, and getting enough sleep. Not surprisingly, most people are lacking in one or all of these areas, which is why I am thrilled to tell you about this new device that acts as your personal sleep coach - because we all know if we don't get enough sleep, diet and exercise tend to be the last things on our minds.

Based on academic articles within sleep science and designed in conjunction with sleep scientists, the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach is a four-part system which includes a headband, a bedside display, an interactive website, and a seven-step sleep fitness program. Its purpose is to measure your sleep patterns and give you tools to help improve your sleep by educating you on how you're actually sleeping. It's not some magical sleep doctor in a box, but it is pretty cool.

To keep reading about my first few experiences with Zeo and to see some more photos of the device, just read more.

If you're already thinking, "Huh?" let me explain. The way it works is you wear the wireless headband to bed, and with its sensor technology, your sleep patterns will be tracked and transmitted to your bedside Zeo clock. You can see me wearing the headband below - it's really not that bad once you get used to it, just make sure on your first night you're really tired and it's the weekend so you can slowly adjust!

After a night of wearing the headband (it fell off my first night, although I learned I could pull my ponytail right through the back strap), you can read the bedside display to see a sleep graph which summarizes your pattern of sleep phases each night (like total amount of REM, and light, and deep sleep, which is broken down into hours, minutes, and percentages), and your ZQ score. I think the best part of this entire trial run was the excitement of waking up to read the graph - and check out my ZQ score, naturally! It's funny because my highest score (usually around 110) would be on the weekends (they say your ZQ can range from 0-120). The fact that I was completely tuckered out from the week before, and relaxed because it was the weekend, made for some ideal sleeping conditions.

Zeo also comes with a SD memory card that will load all of the info from your headband onto it (when you dock your headband), which you can then upload onto your computer to your web-based personal sleep account. The Zeo's seven-step fitness program will then analyze your sleep patterns and lifestyle (like exercise, diet, stress, and environment), and recommend techniques, tools, and tips to address the issues that may be affecting your sleep. The program is intended to be completed within eight to 12 weeks.

The Zeo also includes a neat feature called the SmartWake Alarm which will look for a moment when you transition into and out of REM sleep when the brain is highly active. Therefore Zeo may wake you as early as half an hour before your set wake-up time, but it will never wake you up later than your actual alarm time. Because the Zeo costs $399, you'll be happy to know that this is one fancy schmancy alarm clock. Even if you're not using the headband, the alarm clock itself includes settings to adjust its brightness, and it offers relaxing alarm sounds to make the wake-up process a little less startling.

Overall, I give the Zeo a nice four out of five stars. As I said, it's not some magical sleep doctor that's going to cure insomniacs or people with major snoring issues, but it is going to educate you on your sleep style and give you some helpful suggestions for improving your sleep. Note to self: no more gadgets in the bedroom!

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No Twitter Profile Pic? Flaunt It With a T-Shirt

GeekSugar — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:12:10 -0700

Are you one of the many who signed up for Twitter but still haven't tweeted? Don't shy away from mentioning it at your office happy hour when everyone's talking about the week's funniest celeb tweets - proudly display your lack of follow-through with the Anonymous Twitter Shirt ($16). Modeled after the default profile pic on Twitter, this tee comes in the same blue and brown as the icon and goofy face that says "I haven't found the perfect thumbnail pic that adequately conveys who I am yet."

Tech Dating 101: How Can I Tell If He's Into Me Online?

GeekSugar — Mon, 11 May 2009 11:02:55 -0700

Trying to navigate the the online dating scene and feel like you're swimming upstream? Get your digital dating questions answered in geeksugar's Tech Dating 101 series, where I share my take on topics like gadgets in the boudoir and texting during a date. Today I'm tackling how to tell if someone is using the Internet to flirt with you, or just playing the friend game.

Unfortunately, it's often easier to figure out that he's just not that into you than it is to establish his intentions are of the Don Juan variety. If he doesn't IM you back after an hour and you know he's online, he doesn't see you as a priority. If you've had the "relationship talk" and he hasn't changed his relationship status, he's hesitant to announce he's off the market. But, just like happy hour flirtation, it's important to look at the whole picture if you think he wants to get fresh: Is he single? Is he dropping flirtatious hints and innuendos? Is he singling you out specifically or playing the field? And most importantly, is his aim true?

If you suspect a certain someone is trying to bust a virtual move, play PI and track his online interactions, both with you and others. If he's hitting up your Facebook wall weekly, sends you personal emails and links, shares items with you via his reader because he "thought you'd like this!" and Tweets back, chances are high he's interested in you on some level. He wants to know what you think about things. If he's spamming every girl he knows, he's just fishing around and looking for someone to take the bait. For a list of questions you should ask yourself when trying to categorize his intentions as romantic or purely platonic, read more.

Does he comment on all your status updates, blogs, or Flickr photos? If he doesn't comment (or "like") everything, does he comment more than other friends or potential lovas? Weigh his interactions with you against your BFF and a casual acquaintance for perspective.
Does he comment on obscure things? If he's dropping links, hints, and comments on random social network sites you've signed up for, or random pics you uploaded a year and a half ago then he's intentionally seeking you out.
Does he tweet back more than once or twice a week? Most people don't tweet back unless they truly appreciate a Tweet, or want to engage with you.
Is he following and friending you everywhere? If he's suddenly taken an interest in all your online activity and started following you everywhere, he's trying to get to know you and wants to monitor your activity. Use your commonsense based on his attitude in person to measure what this means.
Does he use a flirty tone and sexy humor? Come hither phrases and sexy talk are innuendo, whether online or not. If it sounds like flirtation when you read it out loud, it's flirtation. Men don't use words like "baby," "cute," "hot," and "sexy" unless they mean it. Well, they do, but they always mean it on some level.
Does he send you special private messages, notes, or links? Maybe he's not interacting with you on Facebook because he doesn't want your friends in common, his ex, or (yikes!) his current girlfriend to know he's singling you out, but if he's instant messaging or sending you links and private messages daily, and even weekly, stop and consider his intentions. You may just be online buddies, but his tone and the content he sends you will speak volumes.
Does he retweet, reblog, or reuse your "material"? This can be the ultimate compliment, but also a telltale sign of his intentions. If uses your material, but gives you credit (say by calling out your name) he's OK with letting people know he watches you. If he uses it without crediting you he's clearly figured out how awesome you are, but is timid about calling out his discovery. Beware the man who hides his online interaction with you. He may be running a messy game.

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Website of the Day: Frame Finder

GeekSugar — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:02:32 -0800

The last time I had to pick out a pair of glasses, I felt stricken with guilt that I was taking up too much of the salesperson's time. He'd pick out a style, I'd pick out another one, and it went like this back and forth for about an hour. So you can imagine how happy I was when I discovered a cool site on Digital Inspiration called Frame Finder, that allows you to try on glasses virtually. I decided to use my adorable mother as the guinea pig for this online experiment to see if the site actually works as well as I'd hope.

Once you upload a large (at least 700 pixels wide), fairly centered photo, Frame Finder will then help you make a few more adjustments to make sure they get the dimensions correct (and figure out where your eyes, and nose are situated). After a couple of tries getting the photo centered correctly - I actually had to re-upload it since my mom's head was a little bit tilted - it was finally ready for some virtual eye glasses action. I had some fun clicking through various frame designers like Guess, Ray Ban and Oakley, as well as seeing what designs suited my mom's face the best. Naturally, they give you the option of purchasing the frame (although I'm sure you could take the model number to a store in your area). Overall, the user-interface isn't that friendly, and it does take a bit of work before your photo is ready to go, but it is free, and the results are quite accurate.

Do you have a cool site like this you want to share with geeksugar readers? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, 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 dropdown 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.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

Oscar Worthy Gadgets: Wall-E's Junkyard Vintage Geek Finds

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:30:38 -0800

It's only fitting that I'm reviewing Wall-E's Oscar worthy gadgets during the week before Valentine's Day, since enduring love is one of the film's main themes. And naturally, Wall-E was one of my top rated movies of last year, since a few of his costars are some of my favorite things: gadgets and robots. Nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Screenplay at this year's Oscars, Wall-E takes animation to new heights, and keeps the geeks happy at the same time.

From Bic lighters to light bulbs and VHS tapes, Wall-E finds tons of items on the toxic wasteland called Earth that are unknown to him, but are totally low-tech to us now. The song and dance routine he learns from his VHS and tube TV give him endless hours of fun, while his collection of calculators and kitchen whisks keep him entertained after his long, trash collecting days alone. Although Wall-E eventually ends up on a futuristic space ship (hello sci-fi!), and finds himself among gobs of new robots and humans that are living lives driven by computers, all he wants to do is find Eve and make a home with her back on Earth. Aww, my heart.

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Do You Use Airport WiFi?

GeekSugar — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:03:48 -0800

One thing that makes me happy is free WiFi in airports. Something that doesn't make me happy is when I have to pay $9.95 for one hour of Internet use in most airports across the United States.

Once in a while I'm fortunate to be armed with a wireless broadband card so I don't have to stress about whether or not an airport has free WiFi, but quite often, it's just me and an expensive connection. Traveling is stressful enough without having to dig deep in your pockets to pay hefty WiFi rates. So I'm curious to know what you do - Do you pay the rates or turn to some other means?

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Animal Crossing City Folk For the Wii: New Features, Still Cute

GeekSugar — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:30:12 -0800

I'm obviously a big fan of Animal Crossing - having spent hours on end playing Wild World on my DS - I'm happy to say I've already put in some good time with Animal Crossing: City Folk, since its release on Sunday. It's the same game you know and love from before (which could be a good or bad thing, depending on how you look at it), but thankfully there are a few awesome new features on the Wii version that you won't find on any of the other consoles.

One of which is the Wii Speak adapter ($30) that lets you chat with others from around the world via your WiFi connection. Just attach the USB speaker into the Wii and you're off. But the coolest thing about this version has to be the DS import feature. Instead of making a brand new character in City Folk, you can transfer your town from your DS and start where you last left off. I'm totally stoked about that since I've upgraded my house quite a bit. Plus, working for Tom Nook to pay off my mortgage wasn't easy - who wants to start that all over again from scratch?

Animal Crossing City Folk is now available online ($50) or in stores. But here's a tip: pick the game and microphone bundle from Amazon for $70 - you'll save ten bucks!