GeekSugar

Website of the Day: Totally Looks Like

GeekSugar — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:30:46 -0700

Ever think someone totally looks like, well, something not quite human? Totally Looks Like is a website with one goal in mind: To suss out these comparisons.

Brought to you by the same goof troop that brought us I Can Has Cheezburger's Lolcats, they also brought it; with the same take-no-prisoners humor, Totally Looks Like is wickedly funny, and as unflattering and wrong as some comparisons might be, I bet you'd still have to suppress the giggles.

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 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.

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!

Would You Pay $34 For Gloves With Missing Fingers?

GeekSugar — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:30:00 -0800

The price seems a little steep, but at $34, these Etre Touchy Gloves do solve a basic problem: using your iPhone, iPod, computer, or other touch-screen device while wearing gloves. Most gadgets won't respond to a woolly glove, only bare skin. In theory, I like these. And on days that the temperature doesn't dip too low, I guess they're practical - but I still think they're a bit silly-looking.

For the record, I'm still torn on these fingerless gloves, though most of you find them totally geek chic.

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Create Your Own Photo Planets With the Polar Panorama Effect

GeekSugar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:35:46 -0700

I stumbled upon this great blog post, which shows examples of panoramic photos that have been altered in Photoshop to create your own little planets (like the one shown here), and got lost inside the 50 examples they provided for this fun and unique effect. I'm all about learning new ways to have fun with my photo library, so naturally I added this to my editing experimentation to-do list. Plus, the effect totally reminds me of the planets from Super Mario Galaxy, and you all know how much I adore that game.

This tutorial shows you how to make the effect yourself, and although it looks like a labor-intensive process, the steps are actually quite easy - just straighten your photo so the image is level, make the image a square, rotate, and apply the "polar effect" in Photoshop.

Check out the details on this tutorial page and have fun with your own images!

Website of the Day: Ruba

GeekSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:30:36 -0700

There's nothing worse than being pumped for a vacation, then arriving to find your digs/guided tour/planned activities aren't as awesome as advertised. Unfortunately for some, this could totally shatter your dreams of an ideal vacay. So next time, do some extra research on a site like Ruba.

Similar to Trazzler (which I love) Ruba offers a much more personal and behind-the-scenes look at places around the globe so you can make an informed decision on where to travel next. It's a positive website, where people write about the hotels, restaurants, and landmarks they love and the things that made their trip worthwhile, so you know you're getting good advice.

Going a step farther than Trazzler though, Ruba offers city guides, tours and things to do in a particular city for the amount of time you're spending there. Have two days in Sydney? Ruba has you covered.

Have an interesting website you want to share? To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group, read more.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click "New Post" under the website of the day tab at the top of the page.
Give your story a "Title."
Fill in the "Body" with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Type "Technology and Gadgets" in the Categories box
Add keyword(s) in the tag field with relevant tags (for example mine for this story was "Website of the Day").
Choose whether you want the post to be private or public.
Click "Create Post" 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!

Find a Face Area Rug: Totally Geeky or Geek Chic?

GeekSugar — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:25:37 -0700

Why do I like this Find a Face ($180) rug? Cause it reminds me of those fancy found object robots from Gordon Bennett I showed you last year. Yes, I'm still thinking about them. But there's just something overwhelmingly "kid-ish" about this rug that my little cousins (and my inner child) would totally dig.

It could be the blocks of red and yellow primary colors, or perhaps the fact that the rug itself is one big puzzle where you can find faces in everyday objects, which makes me feel young again. Who knows, all I know is it looks pretty dope sitting in front of that retro music player! What do you think?

Tyrant Clock: Your Friends Will Hate You If You Hit Snooze

GeekSugar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:30:00 -0700

Although it would be totally satisfying to shoot your alarm clock with a laser gun to get it to turn off (like the one I featured a while back), I don't think it will actually get me out of bed. What will? Angry, angry friends, relatives and co-workers.

This Tyrant Clock from Alice Wang (still in a concept stage from the looks of it) isn't just an alarm clock that threatens you with another beep in nine minutes. No, this clock is smart - it will sync up with your phone and call a random person from your contact list every three minutes after your scheduled wake-up time has passed, ensuring a large number of angry emails and nasty voicemails if you don't get the heck outta bed. What's worse - getting up at the first sound of an alarm, or having your boss call you into his office and asking about why you prank called his house this morning? You be the judge.

Geek Tip: Report Shady Twitter Accounts to @spam

GeekSugar — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:07:17 -0700

Isn't it a total disappointment when you net a new Twitter follower, but when you go look at their page to see if they're worth following back, there's just bot-like messages and a creepy profile pic?

Spam followers bum you out, but you don't have to just sit back and do nothing. User Nanimo commented on last week's post about blocking unwanted Twitter followers with a great tip: next time you suspect a Twitter user is a spammer, tweet their handle to @spam, Twitter's spam watcher. @spam checks out the account and removes it if is just a spammer.

Like Nanimo said, just reporting them is "quite satisfying." I have to agree!

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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New App Lets You See the World in a Whole New Way

GeekSugar — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:33:23 -0700

Obviously, I'm all about apps. Apps that help me take better photos, look better, and even find a cab in New York (it's possible). So if I had an app that turned my phone into a virtual Looking Glass - that let me see anything from apartments for rent to how high a building is just by holding up my phone to the horizon - I'd be all over it. I'm sure you will share my enthusiasm when I tell you that this type of technology is totally within our reach with an app called Layar.

Layar allows you to see things like apartment rentals, ratings on restaurants, available jobs, and where you can go to get medical care within your preferred provider network, all just by holding up your phone in video mode. Points of interest pop up as you scroll from building to building. Really, it's kinda hard to explain this "augmented reality," so I will allow the video demo to take care of that.

To see more about how this groundbreaking new app works, just read more.

Website of the Day: Just Left Home

GeekSugar — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:22:31 -0700

Feeling lost and like the Internet is your only connection to a home you left behind? The website Just Left Home was set up to be a resource for people who'd recently left whatever cushy nest they were used to and needed a resource for, well, everything in their life.

As they say, it's intended to be a "homepage-away-from-home cure-all miracle pill."

When you go to Just Left Home, you're greeted with big buttons to the places you probably visit most online: Facebook, Twitter, Amazon; on the right side of the page, or "Outside World," you get links to the JLH forums, also a helpful resource.

Even though this site was created for people feeling lost in their world, it's totally helpful to me, who's pretty secure. I guess we can all use a little help.

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!