GeekSugar

Fun: Colorizing and Customizing Your Fitness Gear

Heather Dale — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 05:00:02 PDT

I find working out to be very personal - I'm sweating, pushing myself to my physical limits, and striving to achieve my fitness goals - which is why I like my workout gear to reflect my style and personality. As soon as I saw Jennifer Aniston present Oprah with a customized yoga mat from Yogamatics earlier this year, I knew I had to have one since I love yoga and needed a new mat anyway. But other than yoga mats, what else can you customize to your liking? Here's a rundown of some of my favorites.

DIY Running Shoes From Nike: Add a splash of color to a new pair of kicks thanks to Nike's ID customization service. Just find your favorite Nike sneaker, use their color palette to find all your favorite colors, and then personalize your shoes with a cute tag (eight characters max). Just playing around with the site and customization options is a fun experience. What are you waiting for - just do it!

See what other gear you can design to your delight.

Do You Prefer Completely Customized or Factory Designed?

GeekSugar — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 14:00:29 PDT

One major trend I've noticed in the latest crop of new gadgets (including the just-released updated Flip camcorders): extreme personalization. Whether you can choose from a host of designs when ordering, customize your gadget on your own after ordering, or even skin your new device with your own uploaded photo, more and more devices are introducing these ultimate customization options.

Maybe I'm alone here, but the thought of completely customizing a gadget with a photo or design just doesn't appeal to me. To be honest, I almost always prefer the basic black, white, or silver original designs to crazy, colorful, and customized.

Which do you prefer?

Design Your Own Camera: the Pentax RS1000

GeekSugar — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 08:30:30 PDT

Pentax just recently announced its latest digital camera, the 14.1 MP, slim and lightweight Optio RS1000. In addition to capturing photos with remarkable detail, the camera features a 4x zoom and 3-inch LCD screen, but perhaps its most noticeable feature is the interchangeable faceplates for personalizing the device - choose from the included eight designs or create your own unique faceplate by uploading your own image and printing it onto a specially-sized template. To install it, simply unscrew the four corner faceplate screws and insert your skin underneath.

The RS1000 also records 720p video and features face detection for great portrait shots.

View 5 Photos ›

Website of the Day: Ning

GeekSugar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:00:37 PDT

If you're dying to take a bite out of the social networking pie, but want something that's all your own, take in a whiff of Ning - a customizable social networking community. Like Blogger and Wordpress are to blogging (which allow you to start your own blog about whatever the heck you want), Ning lets you to gather up all interested parties and socialize together in one place.

Why would you want to start your own social network? See one reason when you

read more. Say you want to start a social network for your 10-year class reunion (which is creeping up a little too fast for yours truly, by the way). Just head over to Ning, set up your network, then mass email all your old buddies that you found on MySpace, letting them know where to hang out online. Plus you can incorporate videos, photos, and calendar events to keep you all informed and up to date. Ning is so simple to use, free, and easy to customize your way. And that's what it's really all about isn't it - getting what you want, the way you want it. You're so spoiled!

How To: Change Your Desktop Icons

GeekSugar — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:00:04 PDT

I love to customize! From getting my BlackBerry engraved at the TechCrunch/Popsugar shindig in LA, to downloading some pretty wild wallpaper to bring out my inner animal and make me feel at home while I'm at the office. I do all I can to show my personality and prevent desktop boredom, even when it comes to my gadgets, which is why I switch it up and get down with cool (and free!) desktop icons through Iconfactory. The good news is that they're both Mac and PC friendly, and if you haven't checked them out, head on over - they have tons of cool icons to download and use to customize your virtual space on your computer. Not everyone loves the standard Safari or iPhoto icons, am I right? Once you find the icons you love, come back here and learn how to quickly and easily change your old icons into something a little more you.

Beautify Your Cell Phone Screen With Getfrog

GeekSugar — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:03:32 PDT

Now that I've grown accustomed to my BlackBerry Pearl's user-friendly interface and colorful homepage, I couldn't imagine using my old black/grey screened Nokia again.

Here's a little techie tidbit..If you happen to have a QWERTY Smartphone and you're not digging its basic homepage, check out Get Frog a site that lets you customize your homepage with fun colors and links...all for free!

Featured on The Boy Genius Report, this site can help you pimp your phone, without having to download a thing. Customization categories include news, sports, tools, shopping, entertainment and business. Yes that's right, you can add your own flair and pizazz to any cell phone homescreen-yay!

The Cutest Kids' Silhouettes For Your Home

LilSugar — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:35:50 PST

As at-home above a mantle as in the nursery, a custom silhouette is a special piece that becomes a memento as your little one grows up. While the traditional black-and-white look suits some just fine, we've found some incredibly talented designers who do things a bit differently. Plus, for the DIY mom (or dad), a step-by-step guide to creating your own memorable piece of art.

Résumé Tip For the Long-Term Unemployed

Emily Co — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:25:53 PST

Employers generally tend to want to hire people who currently have jobs, making it harder for the long-term unemployed. That's why when you've been unemployed for a long time, you may feel insecure about your résumé. It's obviously natural to want to hide the fact that you haven't had a job in a while, but there are better ways to deal with this predicament. The New York Times offers some solid advice:

No matter how you organize it, prospective employers will see the gap in your employment. You can put the emphasis elsewhere, however. Mr. Margolin suggests customizing résumés for specific positions by writing four or five sentences at the top summing up your skills and experience related to that opportunity.

Change the "work experience" section to "experience" and write about volunteer and paid work, making clear which work was unpaid but using the same language for both, says Elena Bajic, founder and C.E.O. of Ivy Exec, a recruitment service in New York. For volunteer as well as paid work, she says, "quantify your results, talk about the strategies used to get there and about how you contributed to the growth and success of the organization."

This is just another reminder for job hunters to stay active and to invest time and energy into filling up the gaps in your résumé with volunteer activities, education, and freelance gigs. Employers like to hire people who take initiative, and you'll be a more attractive candidate if they notice your proactiveness.

It's About Time: 3 Steps Closer to Back to the Future II

Kelly Schwarze — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:45:31 PST

We've seen film magic turn into reality before - remember, the tablet was first seen on Star Trek! Now for those who daydreamed of a life as cool as Marty McFly's as a kid, your turn has come. During this week's New York Toy Fair, Mattel announced plans to produce the pink hoverboard from Back to the Future Part II.

OK, there's no actual air hovering that will occur, but it's a 1:1 replica that will glide over most surfaces and make whooshing noises. Mattel will take pre-orders from March 1-20 for the hoverboard, expected to ship in the 2012 holiday season. There's a bit of a catch: Mattel needs you to get your fellow superfans to pre-order the product to bring it to production. As they say, "Because this is such a high-cost item, there will be a minimum number of orders required to go into production. If we don't receive the minimum orders, won't go into production and customers will not be charged. The price will be announced later this month."

It's up to you mini-McFlys to make the hoverboard a reality! The hoverboard, though, is just one of the products that can have you living like Marty; follow the break to see what else can get you Back to the Future.

Michelle Williams's Gorgeous BAFTA Dress Is . . . H&M!

Marisa Tom — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:00:00 PST

The art of a well-executed surprise never goes unappreciated, and this one is too good not to admire. Case in point: Michelle Williams stunned at the BAFTA awards in a bespoke black-and-ivory H&M gown. Believe it. At first glance we assumed the consummately chic actress had opted for Chanel or Prada, but it looks like we've been treated to something totally new and unexpected. She complemented her strapless, boutonniere-adorned gown with a quirky faux Arthur Miller novel-cum-Olympia Le-Tan clutch and a statement collar necklace. Good news for anyone that can't get enough of this dress: a gold top ($40) and black skirt ($30) inspired by her gown will be available in select H&M stores in April, as part of the launch of the brand's exclusive Conscious collection. While we wait to get out hands on Michelle's sweet, simple evening ensemble, the real question remains - would you have ever guessed that this two-toned number was a custom H&M creation?