GeekSugar

Do You Play Games on Your Cell Phone?

GeekSugar — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:41:35 PDT

Love your PSP but resent carrying around an extra device? Sony might be resolving this little problem with its rumored development of a "PlayStation phone," a gaming/cell phone hybrid.

I've been all for all-in-one devices ever since I've known the bliss of having my iPod, cell phone, and mini media center combined on my iPhone. But the real question is, will people shell out for a new cell phone to have integrate a gaming system on it?

I play a lot of gaming apps to pass the time, and it seems like cell phone gaming is pretty low-key, albeit popular (take the president, who famously plays BrickBreaker on his BlackBerry). Do you play games on your cell phone?

Destiny's Child Gets Their Game On

GeekSugar — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:00:40 PDT

Wow, who knew that celebrity video games would become the latest rage? Square-Enix just announced a new cell phone game called 'Destiny's Child Groove," that will apparently keep us jumpin', jumpin', jumpin' all day. Showcased on CrunchGear the game will feature photos of Beyoncé, Kelly and Michelle and include songs like "Survivor," "Bug A Boo," and "Lose My Breath" and my personal favorite, "Say My Name." In "Destiny’s Child Groove," you'll be able to audition to become a backup singer for the group. To play the game you press arrows on the screen which are synchronized to the beat of certain songs. If this game is anything like Dance Dance Revolution, my wildest dreams have come true.

Source

YouTube Gurus Take Their Business Offline

Jaime Richards — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:05:29 PST

At one point, YouTube beauty videos may have seemed to be just a blip on the radar. But as a group of beauty gurus is proving, there's more to it than creating cute looks on camera. In fact, some are getting into the retail game, launching products as an extenuation of their Internet personas.

Fashion and beauty YouTube stars Elle and Blair Fowler have come out with a line of bedazzled and colorfully decorated line of cell phone and iPad cases for Cellairis, the Elle and Blair Winter collection (starting at $20).
YouTube giant and Lancôme video makeup artist Michelle Phan recently launched her Glamour Eyes Kit ($60) exclusively through Sephora. The limited-edition set includes a five-color palette dubbed Chic by Chelle, an Artliner in Noir, and a Hypnôse Drama Mascara in Excessive Black.
Samantha Chapman of the popular YouTube channel Pixiwoo is now selling a line of color-coded brushes. Made with taklon bristles, Samantha's Real Techniques brushes are shaped to give the wearer a pixel-perfect finish.

Source, Source, and Source

Travel Tips For the Upcoming Holiday Weekend

Kristy Korcz — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:45:22 PST

Traveling this holiday? Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday this year, which makes one big mess at the airport. If you can't take a car or a train, be sure to check out these packing and travel tips to make your life easier while booking flights, getting through security checkpoints, and beyond.

Booking Flights

TripIt - Once signed up for the free service, forward travel confirmation emails to TripIt, which will automatically create a master itinerary of an upcoming trip accessible through the web or a mobile device. The itineraries even include the tidbits we seem to forget like weather updates, local maps, and directions.
Google Flight Search - Book that plane ticket before prices rise any further! Google's flight search engine incorporates travel basics like price point, maximum number of connections, and preferred airline with an easy-to-use interface.
Hotel Tonight - If there are too many relatives in one house, scan the last-minute hotel deals at Hotel Tonight for a chic getaway at a discounted price. Every day three hotels in a city reveal their discounted rates starting at noon, and you then have until 2 a.m. to book the deal and take advantage of a peaceful room.
My TSA - Can homemade fruit cakes go through security? How early should you show up to the airport for a flight on the eve of Thanksgiving? Answer the pressing travel questions that could otherwise cause delays or stress by adding the TSA's free iOS app to your device. The app's airport security line estimator may become the most crucial feature on your phone when planning your airport arrival.
HearPlanet ($3) - Take the time to discover the cultural side of your holiday destination. This interactive app highlights attractions in over 300,000 locations and uses geolocation features so that you don't miss any of the nearby fun, plus it's a great excuse to get out of the house and move around in fresh air.
GasBuddy - Hitting the open road instead of the air? Use the free GasBuddy app to locate the cheapest fuel on the interstate. Show your fellow travelers some love and share the low-price gas station you discover within the app.

Gadget Essentials

iPad or Tablet - If you have the luxury of spending upwards of $500 on a tablet, it's probably the only gadget you'll need to tote during travel season since it can hold your ebooks, surf the Internet, and keep you connected.
eReader - If you're sans tablet, pack up your favorite ereader. Whether it's the latest Kindle or the new Nook Simple Touch, you can read the entire Game of Thrones series without all the paper weight.
Compact laptop - Though the MacBook Air is arguably the most popular lightweight laptop out there, there's plenty of compact PCs and ultrabooks to choose from as well.
Chargers - If you're toting all these gadgets, you're going to (obviously) need some chargers to keep things juiced. Thankfully, many airlines are offering charging stations in the terminal and even seat-side outlets on board, so you can stay 100 percent charged throughout your trip.
Headphones - Keep the roar of 35,000 feet at bay with some nice sound-isolating headphones. If you're going over-the-ear, consider Skullcandy Aviators ($149), which offer great sound and deep bass and are even comfy for those geeks who wear glasses.

Get more tips on how to pack your bag and save some dough after the break.

Lil Gift Guide: Great Gifts For 9-Year-Olds!

Rebecca M Gruber — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:53:04 PST

Nine-year-olds are quite the mature bunch! Gifts that let them try to exert their independence are a great bet for this age group.

The Logo Game ($19) is a must have for kids who pay attention to the ads on TV and the products in the grocery store! Fans of Dancing With the Stars or just those who like to dance in their rooms will love playing Just Dance 3 ($30). Consider Life of George ($30) Legos for the modern age. Kids build based on images they see and must snap a photo with an iPhone to see just how accurately they created it. Proving you're never too old to play with remote control cars, Air Hogs Hyperactives ($40) are made for adventurous kids. They may not be old enough for a cell phone yet, but kids will love having their music and games all in one place, and the iPod Touch ($190) does all of that!

Your Target: Trade In or Recycle Outdated Electronics

Kelly Schwarze — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 06:51:43 PDT

No more excuses for cluttering an apartment (or worse, a landfill!) with unused electronics as Target has expanded the amount of stores offering their electronics trade-in service.

Bring calculators, DVDs, video games, iPods, iPads, iPhones, cell phones, and Nintendo DS units to more than 1,400 of Target's 1,762 stores. These products are evaluated for their current worth at the store and customers can walk away with a prepaid Target gift card with the value amount.

If you have electronics that are too old to qualify for Target's buy-back system, not to worry; there are many options to ease your e-load.

Electronic recycling - To ensure electronics don't end up in landfills or are otherwise improperly disposed of, find a certified e-waste recycler near you, who can properly strip the devices of their recyclable parts. 1800Recycling.com provides nationwide resources. It can also be as easy as searching Google or Yelp for organizations that will recycle and delete and sensitive information from your goods.
Give it back to the manufacturer - Many technology manufacturers offer recycling of their own goods. Dell, Samsung, and Apple are among those that offer recycling solutions, and sometimes a discount on future goods, to customers.
Donate - Donate old computers to schools in need and charity organizations like Goodwill, which uses an online donation calculator to immediately show how the product will benefit the community.

9 Things You Need to Stop Paying For

Emily Co — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 03:05:54 PDT

We live in a consumer nation, where it has long been the case that many of us are encouraged to spend and to pay it off with money we don't have, which then racks up our debt. This mentality has shifted little during the recession; people are gradually spending less and saving more. However, there are still a lot of things we're paying for that we don't need. Here are nine things you should be getting for free:

Books: Don't buy books. Instead, borrow them from the library or from a friend, and explore sites that will let you swap books with other people such as BookMooch, PaperBackSwap and GoodReads has a section dedicated to swapping. Alternatively, there are plenty of wonderful free ebooks on Amazon if you're game enough to try an indie author.
Cable: A record number of Americans are canceling their cable services, reports the AP. Paying for cable almost seems pointless when you look at all the free options out there such as Hulu and network websites that offer free streaming of their hit shows online.
Credit report and score: Get your free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com, which allots you a free report per year. If you're looking to get a free credit score (you can't get it through AnnualCreditReport.com), head on down to Credit Karma, a free service that tracks your score for you.
Shipping: Hunt around the web for free shipping when you're shopping online. Go to freeshipping.org and find promo codes for free shipping on the website; you can even subscribe to get free shipping alerts from the site. Be sure to also check out retailmenot.com for free shipping codes.

Read on for more items we shouldn't pay for.

Daily Tech: Lisa Kudrow to Host the Webbys

GeekSugar — Thu, 26 May 2011 09:52:29 PDT

Lisa Kudrow will host the 15th-annual Webbys on June 13 - PopCandy
The American Idol "Twitter Curse" wins again - Mashable
'90s video teaches cell phone manners to kids - Urlesque
The coolest laptop customizations - Unplggd
The Pioneer AppRadio will let you use iOS apps in your car - CrunchGear
Will there be a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy video game? - The Mary Sue

11 Ways to Simplify Your Life Using Tech

Kristy Korcz — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:26:51 PDT

Between work, play, and home, your life can get a little cluttered. Though some are in the camp that gadgets cause us more stress than we need, tech can actually help simplify and streamline our lives, even - dare we say it - make it a little more fun. Check out these 11 tips on how tech can help you breathe a little easier every day.

Set up autopay for your bills - Writing checks seems so outdated these days, especially when a majority of creditors and even landlords have an autopay option. By setting up your bills to automatically withdraw from your checking account, you save cash on stamps and envelopes and could even save a few trees in the process. Plus, you'll never be late on a credit card payment again!
Stop getting paper bills - In addition to setting up autopay, you should cancel your paper bills in favor of an electronic version if possible. This will cut down on mail clutter, and you'll have a digital copy of your monthly statement whenever you need it.
Use a social media aggregator - I like to use Hootsuite for my Twitter and Facebook needs, but you can also sync Hootsuite to see your LinkedIn, Wordpress, Foursquare, Ping, and Mixi accounts all in one place. No more jumping around to different social media accounts!
Try Spotify premium - Seriously, who has time to sync, drag, and drop files anymore in this day of fast moving tech? By paying just $10 a month, music fanatics can listen to all the music they want (whether they own it or not) on their computers, mobile devices (via an app), or even offline when they're out of reach. It's one of our favorite things.
Use an RSS reader - There are plenty of good reasons to use an RSS reader (like Google Reader), but the main one is that it saves you time. By subscribing to the RSS feeds of your favorite websites, you no longer have to jump around from site to site to get the latest news. The news comes to you! Plus, you can get access from the web at home or on your smartphone to catch up while you're waiting for the bus or sweating it on the bike at the gym.

See the rest of our tips after the break.

6 Tips to Ace Your Next Job Interview

Kiplinger — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:30:03 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

Given the late-winter thaw showing up in what has been an ice-cold job market, many workers are pondering a topic they haven't worried much about lately - job interviews. Here are my favorite interview tips for job candidates, from new grads to ultra-experienced hires:

Collect personal contact information. As you meet each new person in your interview lineup, ask him or her for a business card. Do it the minute you're introduced, before you sit down, or you're likely to forget. Since lots of people don't carry business cards in their pockets while they're at work, be ready with pen and paper to take down each person's name and contact information if no business card is handy. You'll need to know the names, titles and e-mail addresses for each person you meet, so you can compose and send a customized thank-you note to each of them.
Tell personal stories. When you're asked the standard interview questions, use stories to make your accomplishments come to life. You don't have to wait for the interviewer to ask you a “story question,” such as "Tell me about a time when you worked with a difficult customer." You can give a story-type answer to any interview question. If the question is "Have you been using FrameMaker very long?" your answer can begin, "You know, once we were under the gun to get some documentation done for a version of the product that was custom-built for one client. I hadn't used FrameMaker for that sort of thing before, so I pulled out the manual and began reading . . . " It's a great goal to tell two or three pithy, human stories in each job interview, to bring your talent to life and to get out of the zero-impact "yes, no, somewhat" rut.
Zoom in on the employer’s pain. In 2011, it's not enough to let an employer know that you've got skills X, Y and Z. You have to make it clear that you've faced down the same dragon the employer is facing now, and that means you've got to know which sort of dragon is circling the castle. Float a pain hypothesis early on in the interview - something like, "My take is that you're looking to get sales leads assigned and acted on more quickly after trade shows. Is that the biggest area you're looking for this new hire to handle, or am I missing something major?" Once you and the hiring manager are talking about the business issues and not the often-irrelevant list of job requirements, your conversation will become much more substantive and fun.

For more great interviewing tips, read on.