GeekSugar

What If You Could Get Better Pics on Your Cell?

GeekSugar — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:00:22 PST

I love my BlackBerry Pearl and iPhone. I use them for different things (the BlackBerry for work and the iPhone for play) but I have to admit, neither one of them takes phenomenal photos. The iPhone's camera is definitely superior to the BlackBerry's and the fact that it syncs to iPhoto is fantastic, but I wouldn't let anyone take my head shot with it. I am so intrigued by the idea of telescopic zoom lenses for cell phones because it would allow me to take good pictures from afar and sharpen my Nancy Drew skills. Geek haven Brando sells a telescopic zoom lens ($19) that fits on Motorola phones and offers some serious zoomage. Would you use it?

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Share Your Food Photos on YumSugar

Susannah Chen — Sat, 26 May 2012 03:24:28 PDT

Have you cooked, eaten, or spotted something mouthwatering recently? If so, then don't let anything hold you back from sharing it with the rest of us: we want to feast with our eyes too. On a recent trip to Chicago, I hit up one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, Big Star, for some south-of-the-border sustenance and wound up ordering their queso fundido, a platter of melted, pungent, cheesy goodness.

Are you ready to share? We've got a group called Savory Sights, where you can upload mouthwatering images of foods and drinks you've made, consumed, or simply salivated over. Start showing us your photos now. There are lots of ways to participate, so read on to learn more.

Nighttime Fasting: A New Way to Lose Weight?

Shape — Thu, 24 May 2012 04:09:52 PDT

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. This week Shape turns to Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian with master's degrees in both nutrition science and public health.

If you couldn’t let anything cross your lips from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m., but you were allowed to eat anything you wanted for eight hours a day and still lose weight, would you try it? That’s the apparent bottom line of a rat study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, which recently stirred up the weight loss pot.

Top 50 Summer Diet Foods for Weight Loss

Scientists put groups of mice on different diet regimens for 100 days. One group of rodents ate healthy food while animals in two of the groups chowed down on high-fat, high-calorie feed. Half of the junk food eaters were allowed to munch whenever they wanted to while the others only had access to feed for the eight hours they were most active. The conclusion: even though they ate a fatty diet, the mice who were forced to fast for 16 hours were almost as lean as those who ate the healthy fare. Interestingly, the round the clock junk food eaters became obese and developed health problems, even though they consumed about the same amount of fat and calories as the time-restricted junk food fed mice.

See if a nutritionist thinks nighttime fasting works after the break!

"I Snooped and Found Something . . . Now What?"

Tres Community — Tue, 22 May 2012 03:05:00 PDT

This question is from a Group Therapy post in our TrèsSugar Community. Add your advice in the comments!

I'll try my best to make this short. I really appreciate any and all advice here, I am so stumped on what to do.

My boyfriend and I have been together for about three months now. I'm 24 he is 28. We met at work, and were not really friends before we started dating. So basically I have some trust issues because I don't really know much about his dating life before we got together, other than the fact that he was kind of a player.

We have an interesting relationship. Most of the time we are great, have a good time together. He told me he loved me first, probably about two months in. That was a big deal for him because he had only said it to one girl before, and they dated for five years.

A couple weeks ago we had a bad string of fights about all sorts of things, but the past couple weeks have been great with no problems.

I'm not really sure how much of this back story is relevant, but there it is anyway lol.

So back to my trust issues.... I snooped in his phone last night because I just had a bad feeling. I know it's totally wrong and an invasion of privacy, but I couldn't help it. Anyways, I found something. A text conversation between him and another girl from last Saturday late night / Sunday afternoon.

This conversation happened when he was away at a bachelor party all weekend on a boat with a bunch of guys. I was under the impression that he didn't have cell phone service out there, so seeing that he was talking to anyone was kind of a shock, because I didn't hear from him until Monday, only one little text on Saturday.

He initiated the convo, asking for her to send him a video. She responded that her boyfriend probably wouldn't like the type of video he was trying to get her to send. He then asked her for a picture of her boobs the next afternoon. Thankfully she didn't send one. The whole convo was only around 10 texts, and in it he also made a comment implying that he didn't have a girlfriend.

I don't want to be conceited, but I'm an attractive girl. This girl he was talking to is really not that pretty and also pretty white trash.

Also I'm not a prude, we have a great sex life and see each other all the time, so it's not like he's missing anything in that department. I had actually sent him a naked picture two days before this, so why would he go asking another girl for the same thing?

I'm so confused. I really don't know what to do in this situation, so please if anyone has been there, let me know how you handled it. I really want to trust him deep down, and don't think he's actually cheating on me, but this is definitely not ok behavior. What do I do?

Thanks for any help!

Have a dilemma of your own? Post it anonymously to Group Therapy for advice and check out what else is happening in the TrèsSugar Community.

Brides and Bacne: What to Do

Jenny Sugar — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:30:19 PDT

Everything is going dreamily. You found the perfect wedding gown for the big day. You've been exercising regularly to make sure it fits just right. The problem is, all that sweating you've been doing makes you break out, and not just on your face - on your back and shoulders too.

For starters, do not stop working out. All that exercise is great for relieving stress, and there are many things you can do to prevent bacne from ruining your special day.

Always wear clean workout clothes.
Make sure to wear a sports bra and top that are made of wicking fabric to pull moisture away from your skin. Avoid clothes that don't let your skin breathe.
Take a shower immediately after exercising to wash off sweat and bacteria.
When you shower, use Cetaphil or some other antibacterial cleanser on your back since exfoliating helps unclog blocked pores and get rid of dead skin cells. Use either an exfoliating scrub or bath gloves once a week.
After showering, allow your skin to dry completely and then apply a topical cream that contains either salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide to treat and prevent blemishes. Be careful of bleaching your clothes if you go the benzoyl peroxide route.
If your problem persists or you have severe body acne, make an appointment with a dermatologist.

Be Wary of Chemicals: The Safest Sunscreens on the Market

Jenny Sugar — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:42:05 PDT

It's hard enough to remember to put on sunscreen when you leave the house, but now you also need to make sure your sunscreen is safe to use. The Environmental Working Group has just released its 2012 Sunscreen Guide, and in order to make the list, a sunscreen must be free of oxybenzone and retinyl palmitate, not have an SPF above 50, and must be broad spectrum (protects against both UVA and UVB rays).

What's wrong with oxybenzone? Although it does a great job of absorbing ultraviolet rays, some studies show that it can be absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream. The Environmental Working Group and toxicology experts believe this can disrupt hormones, damage cells, and potentially lead to skin cancer. Other experts disagree, like the American Academy of Dermatology, and oxybenzone has been FDA-approved since 1978 for use in children older than 6 months.

Keep reading to find out what else you need to consider when buying sunscreen, and for a list of the safest sunscreens on the market.

A Reader Shares Why She Loves Running in the Rain

Fit Community — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:05:25 PDT

Don't let the elements stop you! OnSugar blogger egilbride shares her thoughts on why she loves running in the rain in her blog, Ready to Run.

Today I went for a run . . . in the rain. I know most people HATE running in the rain, but sometimes I prefer it to running on a sunny day. Take my Rock n Roll Half-Marathon (did I mention it was my first half-marathon EVER?!) that I ran last August. I may sound a little extreme when I say this, but it was literally like a monsoon. And I loved every minute of it! If I had been running in 90-degree weather in the city in August, I'm not sure I would have finished. But running a half-marathon in the rain was . . . refreshing. Other than causing me to wait in line for the porta-potty a couple of times, the constant downpour didn't have much of an adverse effect on me.

Then today, I went for a run . . . and it was amazing. I left my cell phone at home (see my last post reviewing my armband), which meant no GPS and no way to track my time, other than by using my iPod nano, which was set for the wrong time. It was just me, the road, and the rain. And what did I accomplish? A lot! Since I didn't have my phone telling me when I hit each mile and what my time was, I wasn't as worried about speeding up my pace at every mile to hit my goal time. But instead, I reached another "goal," which was to run my entire "course" - which includes running around my ENTIRE hilly block, including one the size of Grendall - twice! And I felt great! It may seem like a small feat to some, but that 2.62 miles (it's just a guess) was the best accomplishment I've made since I started running again! Here's to more victories to come in the future!

Do you like running in the rain? Share your own thoughts on outdoor running below. Start your own OnSugar blog and we might feature your posts on our homepage.

Virgin Atlantic Introduces In-Flight Calls - Uh-Oh?

Kelly Schwarze — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:11:02 PDT

The sweet sound of silence may be departing the friendly skies now that Virgin Atlantic has announced that in-flight mobile calls will come to at least 10 of the airline's routes by the end of this year. Even though Virgin has multiple US destinations, American law dictates cell service must be turned off within 250 miles of US airspace.

A company called AeroMobile will provide the in-flight cell access, which is only available for a limited bandwidth, meaning only a few lines can be accessed per flight. Virgin isn't the first airline to offer the power of mobile calls while en route to a destination: Qantas, Emirates, and Lufthansa also have AeroMobile on board.

With four airlines now offering passengers the opportunity to make calls in the air, is this the sign of an industry trend? How would you like an airplane full of telephone conversations on your next cross-country flight?

Photo Courtesy: Virgin Atlantic

16 Weird Reasons People Quit Their Jobs

Emily Co — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:28:26 PDT

Although common sense dictates a graceful exit when you're leaving a company, there are always going to be some who slip up. Staffing agency OfficeTeam recently conducted a survey among more than 1,300 employers who divulged some of the strangest reasons former employees have given them when resigning from their jobs. Here are a couple of doozies:

"A guy said he was making too much money and didn't feel he was worth it."
"The worker told us he just couldn't get up in the morning."
"He quit because he didn't like the way the office smelled."
"An individual did not like the sound of file cabinets being slammed."
"One person quit to watch a soccer tournament."
"We had someone leave because he had to stay home to feed his dog."
"An employee left because he wanted to watch a movie with his girlfriend during work hours."
"A person quit because he hated the carpet."
"He just walked out without a peep. We have no idea why he left, and we were not able to contact him."
"One worker left to become an apple farmer."
"A staff member quit to climb Mount Everest."
"There was an individual who left to play the trombone."
"Someone left because her boss lost the dog she had given him."
"Our employee said he was joining the circus."
"One person left because she lost her cell phone too many times at work."
"An employee said it was his routine to change jobs every six months."

Although you may be tempted to leave a job in a manner of your choosing (especially if you harbor negative feelings), it's best to reconsider your approach.

"How you leave a job can be just as important as what you did while you were there," said Robert Hosking, executive director of OfficeTeam. "Regardless of the reason for resigning, making a graceful exit by tying up loose ends and thanking colleagues shows your professionalism and can help you down the road in your career."

For those who are contemplating an exit, here's a quick guide to leaving your job with grace.

Talking on Your Cell in the Bathroom, and Other Annoying Cell Phone Habits

Kristy Korcz — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:15:02 PDT

I posted a question on Twitter last night asking our followers about the habit of talking on your cell while using the restroom. I experienced this yesterday, when a woman came in to do her business and was chatting up her daughter about what time dinner would be done that night. I thought it was pretty tacky (and kinda gross), and you overwhelmingly agreed. Here's what you had to say:

"Unless it's an extremely important call it shouldn't be done."- AlphaAC
"It's kinda like everyone sitting on toilets around a conference table." - JoleenKBarnes
"It's so gross. Every time I hear that, it just makes me cringe. Definitely taking multitasking too far." - mariyataukule
"Eww. That is the LAST place someone should have their phone. VERY tacky." - pixiestix1207

But talking on the toilet isn't the only place you should keep your cell phone etiquette in check. Find out more after the break.