GeekSugar

Would You Trust a Digital Fortune Cookie?

GeekSugar — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:05:32 -0700

Wouldn't you agree that the thrill of an edible fortune cookie is breaking it open to find that white fortune telling piece of paper? Well how would you feel about reading words of wisdom from a digital fortune cookie? Check out exhibit A below. With this e-fortune cookie game, you pull the two outer halves of this pink cookie apart and you can immediately read your fortune. There are over 1,500 sayings that scroll across an LCD screen. For $15, you can learn about luck, friendship, prosperity and finding true love. A little FYI though, the manufacturers can't guarantee that the one you get will be pink...total bummer. Be sure to leave your thoughts below about this 21st century fortune cookie.

Fortune Telling Ouija Mouse Pad

GeekSugar — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 09:17:19 -0800

Now this is what I call multi-tasking. While hard at work on the computer, you can be communicating with the dead and learning about your destiny! Designers have created the Ouija Mouse Pad so that you can let supernatural forces control your mouse and give you guidance.
If you feel like taking net surfing to a new spiritual level, go to Udderstuff Online to purchase a Ouija Mouse Pad for $15.
Yay or nay? A little too creepy or kinda cool? Leave your comments below!

Geeks We Love: Doug Aamoth of CrunchGear

GeekSugar — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:06:23 -0800

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, we're kicking off our third annual Geeks We Love interview series to showcase some of the most talented and loved tech writers in the industry. And who better to get things under way, than the charming Doug Aamoth, who spends most of his days reviewing high-tech gadget goods for CrunchGear? I had the pleasure of meeting Doug at the HTC Touch Diamond Event in London last year, and found him to be very much the way he comes across in his work - passionate and knowledgeable about technology, and a really great guy with an addictive sense of humor. By the end of this interview, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about - enjoy!

GS: Considering you're the king of product reviews, what types of gadgets are you most excited to take for a test drive?

DA: I'll review just about anything, but I really like to take a look at stuff that has some sort of technological slant to it instead of being a full-fledged technology product. Basically, if I think it's something that would be interesting to other geeks, I'll review it. We get some pretty good response from stuff like the Penguin Home Soda Machine and a little four dollar keychain breathalyzer that also has a built-in stopwatch and flashlight. Of course, right? Every breathalyzer should have a stopwatch just in case you want to have an emergency footrace outside the bar before you figure out if you're okay to drive home.

As far as "real" technology products go, I'm really enjoying this netbook craze right now. I think it'll get much better, too, once Intel sees some more competition from AMD, NVIDIA, and VIA. Other than that, I also really like reviewing things that make people's lives easier. The simpler the better. Oh, and energy drinks. I love taste-testing energy drinks.

To learn more about Doug, including his "ah-ha" moment and his thoughts on technology and dating, read more

GS: What's the most outrageous and hilarious gadget that's arrived on your doorstep?

DA: I think that one of the best reviews I've done was for a product that never showed up. I spent a few days waiting for the new Flip Mino to arrive, at first thinking it would be here on a Tuesday morning, then being told Wednesday instead, then getting a press release envelope but no camera on Thursday, and finally having it show up Friday morning after all our competitors had gotten theirs on Wednesday. It wasn't really that big of a deal but I thought it'd be funny to chronicle the event as though it were an episode of The Office.

Aside from that, the most outrageous review would definitely be for a product called FyreTV, which is a set-top box that streams, um, "non-traditional" video. It's weird because it's basically a review just like any other. We rarely look at the media content for set-top boxes, but more at the actual hardware and how well it handles streaming. So for the FyreTV review it was like, "Here's the box, here are the connections, here's the remote, it streams stuff really quickly, and the video quality is pretty good. Oh, whoops, sorry I had to blur everything out and block the camera with my hand at certain points but you get the idea."

GS: Describe one of the most memorable moments of your career thus far. . .

DA: I had an "a-ha" moment about six months into my career when I was at this Acer conference in Spain. It was my first real work trip and I postponed my own bachelor party to go to it. I remember getting into this big conference hall with a bunch of other reporters, and sitting down at this long table with my laptop and my voice recorder waiting for the presentation to begin. I looked around and thought to myself, "This is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. I love this stuff." I've had over 30 jobs in my lifetime (I get kind of restless) but I finally felt pretty calm for the first time.

In retrospect, I wouldn't have moved my bachelor party for a work trip but at the time I didn't know how often an opportunity like that Acer conference would come around. Turns out, it was a lot. It was still a great experience, though. Singing White Wedding at CES this year was pretty cool, too.

Also, any time I meet someone that I used to read before I started blogging is always really cool. Every person I meet always looks at me weird when I tell them I'm a big fan of theirs or that they're like a hero to me. I used to read tech blogs and magazines and think "Man, that would be the best job." Now that I'm actually doing it, I still haven't forgotten that feeling. I consider myself to be really fortunate.

GS: How geeky is your significant other? Who makes the final decision when it comes to gadgets for the home?

DA: My wife is probably about a three out of ten on the geekiness scale. She's not into tech stuff whatsoever, but she'll think some of the things I tell her about and some of the products I show her are cool. So she's definitely not against technology and she's pretty savvy with the stuff she uses on a daily basis. She does NOT like all the boxes we have around the house, but I can't blame her for that. It gets pretty out of hand sometimes.

I handle all the IT administration and technical support in the Aamoth household. Interestingly enough, I've been terrible about picking a good cell phone for my wife. I got her the LG Chocolate a few years ago and she didn't like it. Then I recommended the Samsung Glyde and between the non-responsive touchscreen and the poor reception, it's really been a terrible device as far as our relationship goes. One of these days, though, I'm going to pick out a good phone for her. It's just tough being in the doghouse for two whole years while we wait for her contract to come up for renewal!

GS: In the new movie He's Just Not That Into You, Drew Barrymore's character has the following to say about technology and dating:

"I had this guy leave me a voice mail at work, and so I called him at home, and he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It's exhausting."

What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think technology makes dating more complicated?

DA: Sure, I can see technology complicating things for people who don't embrace it. As someone who's into all this stuff, though, the thought of having seven different technologies that don't synchronize with one another is mortifying to me. I have a single Grand Central phone number that forwards to any other phones I might currently be using and my various e-mail addresses all funnel into a single Gmail account.

It's funny, though, because people will be like, "Give me your cell phone number, I can never get a hold of you at your work number," and I'll try to explain that my work, home, and cell phone numbers all forward to the same place. So they'll leave a voicemail on what they think is my home number saying that they'll try me on my cell, which leads to them leaving the same message in the same voicemail system two minutes later. Same thing with email: the same message three times to three different email accounts.

I think just starting to date someone would be really weird nowadays with Facebook and Twitter and everything. Do you friend this person right away or what? Is there a rule as to how many dates you go on before you can friend someone? And it'd be super weird if you were dating someone for a little bit and then they told you they were getting too busy with work or whatever, and then all of a sudden you see their status change on their profile and you see photos of them with someone else and all that. My buddy told me he watched his little brother's relationship with his girlfriend fall apart over Facebook, which seems totally surreal to me. That's what happens now, though, I guess. Everyone has access to everyone else's private lives with all the social networking stuff.

I'm really apprehensive to admit this but a former girlfriend and I actually broke up over AIM once. And we'd been seeing each other for a long time - like a couple years. We'd been living together in Seattle and I'd moved home to Minneapolis and I think we were both kind of ready to move on, so the mutuality of it made everything easier. I don't think most breakups would work that well over AIM but if you're both pretty much on the same page and it's going to be a relatively clean breakup because you both want the same thing, then it actually kinda works. Weird, huh?

GS: Now for the lightning round!
Mac or PC? DA: PC
iPhone or BlackBerry? DA: I love my T-Mobile G1 but I'd take a BlackBerry. I need a real, physical keyboard.
MySpace or Facebook? DA: Facebook (as the lesser of two evils).
iPod or Zune? DA: I really like my iPod Touch.
The Hills or Gossip Girl? DA: I've never seen Gossip Girl, but The Hills is absolutely, positively, 100 percent the bane of my existence. My wife has to watch it in our bedroom with the door closed or when I'm not around because the way the brats on that show talk is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. So Gossip Girl.
Steve Jobs or Bill Gates? DA: Bill Gates. His acting in the Seinfeld Microsoft commercials was mesmerizing.
Picasa or Flickr? DA: Picasa. Great example of a desktop app working harmoniously "in the cloud."
Texting or Emailing? DA: Email. I like the cost better.
WiFi or Wired? DA: I'll borrow from a golf saying here and say WiFi for show, Wired for dough.
Pac Man or Space Invaders? DA: Pac Man, preferably Ms. Pac Man.
Star Wars or Star Trek? DA: Star Wars
Laptop or Desktop? DA: Ouch. That's like Sophie's Choice. I have both and could never part with either of them.
The Bachelor or the Bachelorette? DA: ABC should cut out the fluff and have them marry each other. I mean, they're both looking for the same thing, right? Set them up together and spare us all from having to sit through it.
Coffee or Tea? DA: Monster Low Carb energy drink. Coffee will do in a pinch, though.

Iron Man Review: It's All About the Flying

GeekSugar — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:00:01 -0700

I'll admit it, I have a geek crush on Iron Man. And, I adore his geeky-but-hot alter ego Tony Stark, who has a lab straight out of every geeks' daydreams with computers, gadgets, and hot cars (most likely equipped with some high-tech GPS) galore. Even the phone he carries is totally geek chic!

So after loving the movie enough to make plans to see it a second time with some pals – and shell out another $25 bucks including popcorn – I was pretty excited to see what they had done with the game. Although it's no secret that I'm not the biggest fan of movie tie-ins since video games based on movies are usually complete crap, there are some silver linings to this title, but not many. The movie absolutely crushed the competition and pulled in another $50 million at the box office this past weekend, but unfortunately I doubt the game will be received as well as the film. To see what I mean, read more.

As you may be able to tell from the title of this post, it really is all about the flying. When Tony takes to the skies, it's one of the most exciting parts of the film, and is probably the best feature about this game. I could fly all day! But you gotta come down to earth eventually, and when you do, it gets a bit disappointing. The graphics are cool, but movements are clunky, and the foes are kinda useless.

These days, games are intelligent and the enemy has some sort of evasion tactics where it becomes challenging and hard to shoot at them. Take Uncharted: Drakes Fortune for example. Those bad guys are a tough bunch, making it hard to beat, yet, it's totally satisfying. Iron Man's enemies however, must be blinded by the shiny suit, cause they don't put up much of a fight. . . Which is a good thing if you want to blast through the game (but you may get bored).

And although the likeness of Tony and Yen-Sin are pretty spot on even when up close (and RDJ's voice acting really does lend a great touch), the rest of the outside world seems to be missing something. Unlike Mass Effect, where you thought the landscapes could stretch on forever, the distant views in Iron Man are not as impressive. Plus, when you go from superintuitive controls while flying and attacking enemies in the air, to awkward and clunky controls on the ground, it gets a little frustrating.

All in all, Iron Man is good for a rental experience, but I doubt that you will keep it for long. Unless you just can't get enough of the flying that is, which is totally understandable! Iron Man is out now - pick it up online.

Get Your Game On: April Releases

GeekSugar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:30:10 -0700

The time has come for the start of the video game "dry" season. . . a gaming drought, if you will. Although there are a few games being released this month that are worthy of your time and cash - like one of my April Must Haves: Mario Kart – truth be told, some are just filler until we get to the next batch of great games. Fortunately, we had a huge Winter, and my console is still humming to the likes of Rock Band, Mass Effect (will I ever get the time to finish!?), and of course Super Mario Galaxy. Scope out my picks for this month and tell me what you think in the comments below!

**New Video Game Releases (April 2008)**
Why You'll Love It	Console/Price	Release Date
Iron Man - You may already know how stoked I am for the movie, but I'm equally excited for the game as well.	PSP, DS, PS2, PC, Wii, $40 to $60	Coming April 22
Summer Sports: Paradise Island - Virtual volleyball, darts, horseshoes, and mini golf, all in a virtual resort? Sounds virtually perfect to me! Kinda like Wii Sports, just with a lot more sand.	Wii, $40	Out April 9
Mario Kart - Not only can you race your fave characters at home and online, but add in motorcycles and a Wii Wheel to the mix and you have an awesome racing party! Just be careful - those little kids that play online can be pretty good drivers. You better practice first!	Wii, $50	Racing into stores April 27
Arcana Heart - A gaggle of eleven heroic females are fighting to save the Earth from evil at all costs. Talk about some geeky girl power!	PS2, $30	Out April 8
Let's Pilates! - I know this one is kind of a "stretch" (ha ha), but it does fall nicely into place with the upcoming Wii Fit and the DS Weight loss coach. Just getting you ready for swimsuit season!	Nintendo DS, $10	Get it April 29.

Source

Valentine's Day Spam Emails Have Started Rolling In

GeekSugar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 09:02:08 -0800

Just when I thought my tough and mighty Google gods would keep my Gmail account free from love struck spammers luring unsuspecting email users to visit malicious websites - what do I get in my email? Emails similar to the"ILOVEYOU" worm email, that infected ten percent of all computers connected to the Internet and caused around $5.5 billion in damages!

Ok, I'll fess up, the emails did arrive in my spam folder, fortunately, which was a giant red flag to begin with. But not all spam filters are this good, so be careful of what sneaks into your inbox and NEVER open anything that looks strange, let alone download attachments, etc. . . even if it says "I love you." Also, make sure your anti-virus software is up-to-date and mark any suspicious emails as "spam" so that they go straight to your junk box next time. Valentine's Day is when a majority of these threatening emails get sent so please be cautious before opening anything that tells your gut something isn't adding up!

Trend: Nintendo DS Serves As A Life Coach

GeekSugar — Thu, 31 May 2007 08:00:07 -0700

My sources (as in Wired's Japanese School Girl Watch ) have alerted me to an exciting trend from our our geeky gal pals in Japan.

Apparently, some young women have ditched traditional DS games Super Mario and even non-traditional DS drinking guides for games like Female Power Emergency Up! DS, which promises to "Change your destiny in three months!" by measuring skills in love, fashion, beauty, diet, and fortune-telling.

Even more touchy-feely is Mainichi Kokorobics DS Therapy, which offers sessions with a digital psychiatrist. Need help with your waistline instead of your subconscious? There's always Yoga Anywhere, which is like having a personal trainer and tips on daily workouts in your pockets. I am going to stick with using my Blackberry to watch FitSugar's workout videos, but I think I could use a digital psychiatrist.

Source

Man Proposes to Girlfriend Via Mac Widget - True Story!

GeekSugar — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 12:05:01 -0800

There are geek chic geeks, Star Wars geeks and then there are people like Bjorn, a Computer Science student at Trinity Western University who proposed to his girlfriend Jenny using a Mac Dashboard widget. At first I couldn't wrap my mind around the geekiness of the situation - but realized it is actually the cutest, most creative and charming proposal story I've heard in a while. I mean it beats the played out Golden Gate Bridge, Eiffel Tower options. Bjorn's comment: Last night I proposed to Jenny using a Dashboard Widget. Fortunately she still said yes.

Jenny shares her version of the story on her blog, for the best part, just read more

As we were getting ready to leave he said he wanted to show me something he had been working on, on his computer. He gave me his computer and actually told me his password (no I will NOT repeat it!), which is kind of a big deal because we had an argument about how he never tells me his passwords! At this point, a lot of you have for sure clued into what is going on…me on the other hand, probably due to being sick, I thought nothing of the whole situation. So I got on his computer and there’s a picture of him and me from last year. He then tells me to press F12 like a true Computer science major, and up pops a picture of the ring he’d bought for me, and a little proposal (you can see below). He then got on his knees and confessed his true love for me. After some convincing, I said yes.

Aww, geeklove! I must say, the widget looks great and the fact that the couple had a whole password argument history is both familiar and cute when tied to their engagement story. All the best!

Geeky Girl We Love: Nandini Maheshwari

GeekSugar — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 23:30:00 -0800

Last month we featured some of the cutest geeky couples and bachelors in the blogoshere, which left many of you wondering - what about the women? Fear not my fine friends, we were just saving the best for last. March is women's history month so I figured there was no better way to celebrate than to highlight some of the smartest, most creative and successful women on the internet. First up, Nandini Maheshwari, editor of Born Rich, a site that makes the stuff of MTV's Cribs look like Salvation Army rejects, and co-founder of the Instablogs Network in India. While Nandini spends her days exposing the glamorous gadgets and accessories of the insanely wealthy, she's a smart, down-to-earth commerce graduate that's championing the geeky girls online movement. Her pick for sexiest geek in the world? Her hubby of course! read more

Geeksugar: So clearly you keep very busy as a blogger, but what are some of your other hobbies?
Nandini: Reading - I am more into magazines and non-fictional stuff. I love to indulge in adventure sports, watching movies (I would like to admit here, I just hate watching war movies, no matter how good they are) and I love to enjoy almost every good thing in life.

Geeksugar: This is my favorite question to ask bloggers - how many hours are you online everyday?
Nandini: I'm online for some 10- 12 hrs on an average.

Geeksugar: Your first computer was a ...
Nandini: My first computer was a XT machine, and I remember playing Chess and Prince of Persia on it.

Geeksugar: Born Rich is filled with amazingly decedent gadgets and luxuries that seem out of everyone's price range are there any luxurious things you've featured that you really want?
Nandini: Diamond-Studded Ego-lifestyle notebook, the Multimedia RUF Cinema bed, and the Calspas Luxurious Bath Tubs With 42" Plasma TV.

Geeksugar: Are there any items you featured that you ended up buying?
Nandini: Yes, I have a passion for mobile phones. So, I ended up buying almost every one of the Nokia N-series.

Geeksugar: How many blogs are in your RSS reader?
Nandini: I have some 200 odd blogs in my RSS reader at present.

Geeksugar: Bloggers have the fortune and misfortune of having unorthodox schedules. Can you describe what a typical day is like?
Nandini: The alarm goes off at 7:00 am, but it's only music to my ears and motivates me to sleep some more. I wake up around half an hour later with my husband bringing morning tea and my laptop. I go through my mails, new comments on my blogs and check out few feeds while sipping my tea. Start forming mental checklist and go over my "To Do List" again and decide what to do for the day (this changes throughout the morning). My husband, Ankit goes to work before me, so I prepare our lunch, watch few morning shows, and scan through my RSS feeds again.

After I head to the office I catch up and eventually drag Ankit from his PC to the lunch table (this happens everyday without fail). Lunch is a great place to bounce new ideas. Also meet few guys around the office. Then I start to panic by evening, since I have done everything except any blogging. But miracles happen and by night I have written around 6-8 posts. Leave office by 8:00 pm and prepare dinner. I welcome Ankit at the door and catch up on the day that he had with me. Catching up is followed by dinner/sitcoms/friends/being a good wife. I check stats, email and back-links again before saying goodnight which is around 12:30 am in the night. Have to drag Ankit again from his laptop to get some sleep.

Geeksugar: Who do you think are the top 5 sexiest male geeks in the world?
Nandini: Oh, that's a sweet one…

Ankit (my husband), he's is a Super Geek and one of the cutest guys I have always met. And, I am not saying this just for the heck of it! Whatever I have achieved would not have been possible without his support that, I often need whenever I am on writer's block or just low at work. He is also full of new ideas.
Charlie White - editor at Gizmodo. I love his blogging, his anchoring on his Sirius Coolness Roundup Show and I love his humble and modest nature too! I have told him this too and telling you now…I would like to make a list of "I have" just like he did…it's another thing that my list won't be half as impressive as his…no exaggerations!
Graham Bell - from TreeHugger. He looks so cute … and his achievements....don't think I need to say! He has led to the term Eco-Geek..in true sense.
Kevin Ross: He is cute too! and I love wasting my time on Digg everyday and watching his diggnation.
Peter Rojas - editor of Engagdet : He single handedly brought Engadget to a super gadget blog.

Geeksugar: Who do you think are the top 5 sexiest female geeks in the world?
Nandini: That would be...

Judie Hughes of the Gear Diary will always be the first one! She is just so amazing as a woman and as a blogger. She have a way with words…wish I would have learned the same vocabulary she had!
Katie Lee - the shiny editor of ShinyShiny
Amanda Congdon - Though no longer with RocketBoom she was kind of a pioneer in video podcasting.
Marissa Ann Mayer - the Vice President of Google - a true example of beauty with brains.
The beautiful and chic editor of geeksugar. I am sure she is responsible for all of the male audience on geeksugar.

Geeksugar: Oh, you make me blush! Who is the only blogger you admire the most?
Nandini: Oh, that's a tough one…I admire so many! As I have to name just one…I will go by the one I took inspiration from for BornRich – Deidre Woollard of Luxist.

Geeksugar: How do you feel about being called a "geek"?
Nandini: I love it! Geek is in.

Geeksugar: What is your goal for BornRich and the Instablogs Network?
Nandini: I want Bornich to be the best luxury blog in the world, and reach out and entertain my audience more in different ways. Instablogs Network's new version "Instablogs Community" has received a tremendous response. Now we are working on our next version where we could truly be an online newspaper by getting into localized blogging as well. We are also working on our own Ad server to help our bloggers monetize their work more.

Love 2.0: Peter Rojas and Jill Fehrenbacher

GeekSugar — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 10:00:47 -0800

As part of our Geeks We Love series, I caught up with a few couples that, through the beauty of the internet and technology have influenced both our lives and each other.

If there was an award for cutest hipster bloggers with actual street cred, Peter Rojas and Jill Fehrenbacher would take the cake. He is the cofounder and editor-in-chief of Engadget, a heavily trafficked tech blog about gadgets and consumer electronics, and the cofounder of Joystiq, which covers the world of video games. She is the founder of Inhabitat, a sensible and chic blog that looks at the future of design, tracking innovations in technology and practices and materials that are pushing architecture and home design toward a smarter future. Though they describe themselves as "art school geeks" rather than your "average geeks," the newly-engaged couple stands out in the Love 2.0 generation for using technology to spread their passion for life and their work. What do they love about their jobs and each other? read more

Geeksugar: How do you describe your profession?
Peter: I blog about gadgets, more or less.
Jill: I'm a designer, architecture student, publisher, blogger and all around green design evangelist.

Geeksugar: Bloggers often have the fortune/misfortune of having incredibly unorthodox schedules, what’s a typical day like for you?
Peter: I work from home, so a typical day for me involves getting up and going straight to my computer to deal with email and get a handle on what I have to do that day. I work a lot, but it's broken up by errands and meetings, with maybe an event in the evening. Then back to work before bed.
Jill: The beauty of being a blogger is that each day is different! That said, each day does involve a lot of time in front of the computer for sure.
Peter: It's funny that neither of us has a real job where we have to go an office every day. We both used to when we were younger, it's weird to have more freedom as you get older, I always thought it would be the other way around.

Geeksugar: And are you totally connected to technology all day or more focused on the concept/bigger picture of what you want on your sites?
Peter: We spend a lot of time at home on our computers, but my schedule varies a lot, so I'm often out and staying on top of things via my Treo.
Jill: We’re right next to each other but working. I work from home usually about half day, and usually spend the other half of the day online at my studio up at Columbia. And when I'm not in front of a computer, I am online with my Treo.

Geeksugar: And Peter - what's your "hours online" guess?
Peter: I suppose I'm always online in one way or another from the moment I wake up until the moment I go to bed. If I'm out I'm connected with my Treo and checking emails or monitoring things with that. Not that I can’t unplug if I need to, but I don’t see my work as this completely separate part of my life I need to escape from.

Geeksugar: To go a little bigger - what do you each think is your greatest contribution to your field? Don’t be modest.
Pete: Well, I've been blogging for a long time and I think I've had an effect on both blogging and technology journalism. How important or major that impact might be is for others to judge.
Jill: My goal is to bring the worlds of design and sustainability together, and I think I’ve been successful in this regard. I think people are finally starting to realize that sustainability is a design issue. You can see it in that most of the “green” organizations are focusing more on design and aesthetic presentation now, and most design and architecture magazines are focusing more on sustainability as well. Essentially, I'm an evangelist for thoughtful, sustainable design...
Peter: I just want Engadget to be a site that people want to read. That they feel like is a must-read.

Geeksugar: How did you two meet?
Peter: We met in San Francisco in late 1998 in the dot com boom, though neither of us worked in tech at the time. I was broke and had a job doing media planning at an ad agency. I was really bad at it - my boss thought I was incompetent. It turned out the job was lots of numbers and I was a poor fit for it.
Jill: I worked in a number of dot coms - doing things like HTML support, graphic design, and then I got a job as a web designer at a marketing agency.
Peter: I had a friend at the ad agency who was friends with someone I'd gone to high school with. We all went for drinks one day after work and my friend's friend had invited her friend Jill to come out with us.

Geeksugar: And clearly now you have found a perfect match…
Peter: You could say that!

Geeksugar: Would you describe yourselves as "geeks"?
Peter: Yes and no. In a lot of ways we're not typical geeks at all.
Jill: Yeah, I don't think we fall into the traditional definition.
Peter: I don't think "geek" is a pejorative term at all. Obviously I love gadgets and tech - I'm the kind of guy who likes to geek out by installing Ubuntu on old PCs - but we're also really into design and art and fashion and music. It’s just that we think tech is as important and as cool as all that other stuff, too.
Jill: I like being really nerdy about building materials!

Geeksugar: Why do you think the tech world is so important/interesting right now?
Peter: It seems like technology is driving a lot of cultural, social, and now even political change. It's hard to separate tech out from everything else. Some people are scared by that, but I think it's awesome how technology enables our lives – I know how cliché it sounds, but I know tons of people who are doing what they love now and that's because of the internet or because of some other technology. I thought I’d spend my life locked up in a cubicle somewhere doing a job I hated.

Geeksugar: And instead?
Peter: I more or less get to do what I want, in a sense. I have complete editorial freedom with Engadget, and because of the nature of the job I can work from wherever I want as long as I have broadband. Right now it's a good time to be creative - you can just follow your interests and build businesses around them.

Geeksugar: So for the fluffy part - tell me what you love about one another...
Peter: Jill is really driven and ambitious and smart. It'd be hard to for me date someone who wasn't always working on amazing projects.
Jill: Peter is witty and very funny - he is fabulous at making me crack up - even when I am in a foul mood. He is the only person in the world able to make me laugh when I am upset.

Geeksugar: So what are your Valentine's Day plans?
Jill: Peter? Do we have any?
Peter: Not yet... depends on how busy Jill is with school!
Jill: I'm sure Peter will come up with something fabulous, right Pete?
Peter: Perhaps I just want to lull you into thinking I have nothing planned. I did blow it out for your birthday, remember?
Jill: He did indeed - he's good like that. He rented one of those double decker tourist buses and gave all of my friends a tour of Manhattan - with vegan cupcakes. How’s that for geeky & sweet?

Geeksugar: This one is probably harder for Peter given the nature of his daily duties, but what are a few gadgets you both want right now?
Peter: I want a Vista Media Center with CableCARD support so I can throw out this awful Time Warner Cable DVR. Plus I'd like Palm to improve the Treo.
Jill: My stuff is all more blue sky. I want a sunlight transport device so I can brighten up my dim Manhattan apartment and an electric car!

Geeksugar: What about favorite websites other than your own, or each other's?
Peter: Fimoculous, PSFK, waxy, lifeiscarbon, BuzzFeed, TheSimpleMission, and Mashable.
Jill: I can never get enough of cute overload and Overheard in New York. Of course I read a lot of design websites everyday: archinect, bldgblog, core77, treehugger, mocoloco, etc..

Geeksugar: Who makes the final decisions about big ticket gadgets at home?
Jill: Peter because mostly - I just don't care except when it comes to lighting or home décor.
Peter: I did just buy a 37-inch TV and I think Jill found out when she saw it in the apartment.
Jill: Pete and I endlessly debate HDTV, because I don't really see the point of the technology.
Peter: Even HD isn't enough for me. I want Ultra HD
Jill: I care about the REAL WORLD, Peter, not TV.
Peter: Cool, you can just go for a walk while I watch Lost in HD.
Jill: Well, if we're talking about Lost, then I'll stay in and watch it with you - HD or no.