GeekSugar

Have You Ever Been Guilted Out of Using a Technology?

GeekSugar — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:13:19 -0700

When people ask about when my boyfriend and I moved in together, I wax nostalgic on one thing. No, not my independent living or some mushy story about commitment. My VHS tapes.

See, as much as I love to adopt new formats and tech, I was holding onto a small collection of VHS tapes, not because I thought the format was still good (please, I frown on people who don't appreciate Blu-ray yet), but because of the titles. I knew I'd have to replace these faves, so they were staying with me.

However, my boyfriend's relentless teasing about the "ancient" format led me to dump the movies, especially when he was right - I rarely pulled them out and turned on the VCR.

I find that this method of teasing and guilting has caused a lot of people to upgrade from one technology to the next, rather than a genuine desire to adopt the latest thing. I admit that I've guilted people out of using MySpace and Friendster, and urged people to drop the dumbphone and go smart.

Tell me, have you ever been guilted into feeling your tech was too old and needed to upgrade?

Make Funny Photos and Graphics With Says-It

GeekSugar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:00:54 -0700

Oh my gosh, I absolutely love Says-It! When I first came across this rad site, I had no idea that you could choose from a variety of objects, signs, seals and badges to create hilarious graphics for! Says-It is just as addictive as MagMyPic because the options are endless with what you can design. Here I selected a lovely VHS tape to have some fun with and there's even an old school cassette tape to customize - fun fun! Just enter some text in the lines provided, choose colors and font, and click the "Go" button. A picture of a tape will be generated for you, which you can then email to friends or put them on your own blog or social networking site!

Crocheted VHS Tape Bag. . . Enough Said

GeekSugar — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:15:48 -0700

I bet your grandma hasn't had you over for a crochet-making session where she uses tape from old VHS tapes?! Now if she has, that's pretty rad, and I guess you can pretty much crochet any material that can be woven into a crocheted masterpiece, right?! As you can probably guess, this bag made entirely from recycled plastics has left me dumbfounded. In order to make this handmade bag, Etsy seller BarkerBell used a trash bag as the plastic liner and fused it to the VHS tape. For $50, it could have been yours. Sadly, it's already flown off the Etsy shelf.

Be Kind Rewind: Um, What About Blu-ray?

GeekSugar — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:00:39 -0700

Totally sick of hearing about the end of the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD? And totally sick of having to think about when you'll have to start buying Blu-ray discs instead of DVDs? Escape with Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind - a whimsical film and welcome departure from the high-tech rat race that's going on.

I've long loved Gondry for his use and of high and low-tech in his films - usually in terms of special effects (if you haven't seen Science of Sleep, get thee to your Netflix queue), and this time, for Be Kind Rewind, in subject matter as well. For more on Be Kind Rewind, read more

The movie is about two video store clerks (Jack Black and Mos Def) who accidentally de-magnetize their VHS tapes and must re-record them by acting them out themselves. The shop owner (Danny Glover), meanwhile, struggles with the resistance to make the move to DVD.

Of course, after the film I thought: What about Blu-ray? There's no reference to it at all in this film, even among discussion of switching formats. If this film had been shot a year later, would it have warranted a mention? But this movie retorts, what about Blu-ray, indeed.

Be Kind Rewind chastises us for our quick abandonment to newer and better technologies, and celebrates the films and movie-making, regardless of format. By then end of this movie, I even missed my VHS tapes. Sigh. . . I still haven't replaced Reality Bites.

Photos courtesy of New Line Cinema

"25 Years And It's Already Obsolete."

GeekSugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:00:43 -0700

As low-tech as the boys of Flight of the Conchords are, they're a geek entertainment staple. Don't get me wrong, it's not a show devoid of tech references, it's just that they're not exactly discussing 3G and Ubuntu here. Nope, my favorite New Zealanders may not be Apple devotees or own a flat screen, but at least Bret and Jemaine know the difference between DVD and VHS. Murray, I'm not so sure about. He kills me, that one - watch this clip for his appraisal of how fast technology moves! Whew!

Daily Tech: Calvin Klein One Comes With "MP3 speakers"

GeekSugar — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:00:18 -0800

Nothing gets between you, your Calvin, and your mini speakers? Calvin Klein fragrances get paired with "MP3 speakers" - Engadget
You may not be able to find VHS tapes anywhere, but you can celebrate your love for all things rewindable with VHS toast! - Crave
Looking for a project? Check out this guide to giving your home electronics a makeover. - Unplggd
Sprint's quarterly report ain't grand: another 1.3 million subscribers have fled. - Gizmodo
Forget iTunes and check out some of the best web-only shows. - Switched
Keep your tots entertained with these kid-friendly media services. - lilsugar

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.

Source

Do You Still Have a VCR?

GeekSugar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:00:20 -0700

You might be surprised to hear that I still had VHS tapes as recent as two years ago. I actually only got rid of them because, when my boyfriend moved in, he insisted they go. It was quite the geeky tug of war!

But it wasn't about me thinking the technology was still viable - I was just hanging on to movies I hadn't bought on DVD yet and it was kind of sentimental. In the end, I knew he was right - they were just taking up space and I couldn't stand to watch movies in that level of quality anyway. So heave-ho, off to Goodwill they went.

But then, of course, I had to decide what to do with my VCR. My family hasn't converted all our home movies from VHS yet, and I was worried I'd need it for something. In the end, I was the one who got rid of the VCR (mostly because I was having a Monica Gellar attack).

So do you still keep one around? Either for just-in-case purposes, or because you still watch VHS tapes (promise I won't judge)?

Source

Are You Hanging on to Old Media Formats?

GeekSugar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:00:10 -0700

Now that I have my Blu-ray player in my PS3, I feel like I can start buying movies again, in that format. I stopped buying DVDs because it's time to move forward, and it sounds like I'm not alone: DVD sales have flatlined recently; whether that has to do with people waiting to see if they should commit to Blu-ray or movie downloads remains to be seen.

Luckily, my big DVD library doesn't qualify me as a hoarder since my player is backwards compatible, but I still remember my boyfriend insisting that I get rid of my haggard old VHS tapes (I wasn't watching them). I give crap to other people, too - when I ride in my mom's car, I inevitably pull out a few old cassette tapes and wave them around saying, "really?!"

It's hard to give up old formats though; many people don't, electing to keep old players around because they enjoy the format (like with records) or just don't want to give up things they own. So tell me: Are you hanging on to old formats - VHS, music cassettes, records, etc.?

Source

Daily Tech: Classic Gadgets You Can Still Buy

GeekSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:00:59 -0800

Sure, there's a new hot gadget every month, but there's nothing like a classic gizmo to celebrate geekiness. - Switched
We better be careful. The Wii hospitalized 10 people this week already. - Gizmodo
Is Apple preparing a new multi-touch Mighty Mouse? - Unpluggd
The iPhone has quickly risen to prominence on Flickr, rivaling most SLRs in popularity. - Crave
VHS distribution is grinding to a halt. - Engadget
Linux has entered the operating system ad battle and is looking for you! - Wired