GeekSugar

Tech Trends to Watch Out For at CES 2012

Kristy Korcz — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 07:13:07 PST

Our CES coverage kicks off this weekend (follow our coverage here, and on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, too!), and while there are over 20,000 products launching during the show, there is a common theme running through their veins. Take a look at four trends we'll be watching this year below.

Ultrabooks - Netbooks are so 2010. CES 2012 might just be the year of the ultrabook. Light, thin, and travel-friendly, look to companies like HP, Toshiba, and Lenovo to battle it out with Apple's MacBook Air for beauty and portability.
More tablets - There were hundreds of tablets announced at last year's show, but that doesn't mean there won't be more in 2012. Acer, Viewsonic, and others are expected to debut their offerings in Las Vegas.
Large, thin, and connected TVs - Your TV set learns to multitask with the addition of WiFi and specs like Google TV which are becoming more common in the list of specs. And while TVs are getting bigger (we're talking 84-inches and up), they're also getting thinner. LG will be demoing an OLED screen that comes in at just 0.16-inches thick. That's impressive.
Fitness gadgets - Staying healthy is a way of life, and tech companies will be showing off ways to keep track of your fitness, food intake, steps, workouts, and more with the help of gadgets. Many, many gadgets.

What trends are you most excited to hear about?

How to Create a Financial Vision Board

LearnVest — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:15:40 PST

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

What if there were a fun, free, creative project that could help you reach your financial goals faster?

Well, there is. And the holidays-when there’s no shortage of catalogs lying around-are the perfect time to whip out the scissors and glue, and kick off the new year right by creating a financial vision board.

What is a vision board? Basically, it’s a poster or bulletin board you fill with images and words that illustrate your ideal life. You can tear photos from magazines, put up cards or print Google images, or draw whatever it is you need.

The goal is to choose five to ten goals you want to focus on. Maybe your board will include a new job and a perfect house, a dream wedding and a healthy baby, or you, smiling because you’ve finally gotten out of debt or saved up an emergency fund. Then again, maybe it will be filled with all of the above.

The benefits of this exercise are twofold: Not only can mapping out your priorities help you determine where your money should go, tapping into your deepest desires can set you on a path to achieving what may seem out of reach today.

After all, just the simple act of writing down your goals helps you focus your energy on making them a reality.

What You’ll Need:

- Poster board or corkboard
- A glue stick or rubber cement (plain old glue tends to cause magazine pages to
ripple) or, if using cork board, thumbtacks
- Catalogs and magazines. The more variety, the better.
- Peace and quiet.

Read on to learn how to create a successful vision board.

OK Go Sends a Video Message With HTML5

GeekSugar — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 11:07:05 PDT

OK Go's habit of creating clever music videos helped make them Internet viral video darlings, and they're certainly not going to start resting on their laurels anytime soon. The band's new video for the song "All Is Not Lost," a collaboration with HTML5, Google Chrome, and the dance troupe Pilobolus, gives viewers a kaleidoscopic dance performance of the song in both the video and the browser if viewed in Chrome. We recommend the Chrome viewing, as you can also create a personalized message to be embedded within the video and watch how the browser adjusts itself in tune to the music.

Beyond the video's incredible choreography and technology, the band uses the theme of the song to send support to the people of Japan in the wake of this year's earthquake and tsunami. Viewing the video in Chrome is a must, but we do have the "old-fashioned" music video of human dance kaleidoscope after the break.

Angry Birds Gets Chrome Exclusive Content, Plays Offline

Kristy Korcz — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:22:34 PDT

During today's Google I/O keynote, Rovio announced that it would be bringing Angry Birds to the web.

An exclusive Chrome edition will be available soon in the Chrome web store (which includes Chrome-themed levels), but the best part is - you can play Angry Birds in its entirety offline. Now you'll never get any work done in the office or on the plane.

Daily Tech: Trim Your Tree With Vulcans This Holiday

GeekSugar — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:47:30 PDT

Star Trek-themed Hallmark keepsakes for holiday 2011 - StarTrek
Facebook video rentals kicks off with Doctor Who - MTV Geek
All three Google science fair winners are young women - The Mary Sue
Will Forte takes a weird audio tour - Urlesque
8 words you're confusing with other words - Cracked
A third of all iPhone owners think they have 4G already, but they don't - Dvice

How To Plan a Wedding Shower With Online Tools

GeekSugar — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:57:00 PDT

Planning parties has become infinitely easier with the advent of the Internet, and if you're already familiar with the tools at your disposal, then planning your wedding shower or engagement party will be that much simpler.

Whether you're the one getting married or a friend of the bride and groom throwing the event, trust me - online planning is where it's at. Check out some of these online tools that will help you design an awesome fête.

Online party planning site PunchBowl can help you plan your party, with ideas and advice for every step of the way.
Since the wedding shower is not quite the big, formal event a wedding is, email invitations are perfectly acceptable (not to mention eco and ultra-convenient). One of my favorites, of course, is eVite. They have a few pages of wedding-themed invitations that would be great for a shower, and you can always design your own.

See the rest of my tips after the break.

In Her Shoes: Dana LaRue, Creator of The Broke-Ass Bride Blog

Emily Co — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:15:00 PDT

It's always inspiring to see someone take their passion and turn it into a full-time job. Dana LaRue, the creator of The Broke-Ass Bride, started blogging to her heart's content in 2008 when she was planning and budgeting for her own wedding. Fast forward to 2011, Dana has about eight other people (including her husband) contributing content toward the blog, and has several awards under her belt, which include being named Google Blog of Note in 2009 and winning the Wedding Channel's Best Budget Wedding Blog category in 2010.

SavvySugar: How did this all start?

Dana LaRue: I started the blog in April 2008 when I found myself engaged and addicted to wedding blogs, but I couldn’t really find one that spoke to my situation, a broke-ass bride. I was getting a lot of inspiration from wedding blogs and sort of getting into the blog world. I have a background in writing and needed a creative outlet, so I thought that might be a good way for me to express myself and possibly help or connect with other brides in a similar situation. And then it sort of took off.

SS: What did you do before becoming a full-time wedding blogger?

DL: I’m a trained actor so that means most of my life I was in cubicles working a day job. I was an office manager and an executive assistant and at the time Broke-Ass Bride was born, I was working for a nonprofit as an office manager. Around Christmas or a little before that the blog was getting really demanding in a good way, a way that made it difficult to balance the day job and the blog, so I got a part-time social media consulting position that allowed me to transition out of full-time work. Three months after that job, I was laid off thanks to the economy, and I got pushed from the nest so to speak, and I took that as, "This is my sign. Go for it and make it full-time work." And that’s what we have been doing ever since.

To learn what her wedding budget was, read on.

The Pros and Cons of Google+

Kristy Korcz — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 08:07:53 PDT

Google revealed Google+ to the world last week, and the new social network quickly became the talk of the Internet. Though most agree that it's not yet a Facebook killer, there are some interesting and noteworthy features included within its white walls. We've been getting to know the pros and cons of Google+ more intimately over the long holiday weekend, so check out our rundown below and don't forget to add your thoughts in the comments!

Pros

Sleek design - Google+ is super easy to navigate thanks to a simple design. Sure, it kinda resembles Facebook with its main news stream and sidebars of information, and it would be cool to customize what you see with Google+ themes, but as is, it's very easy on the eyes.
Drag and drop in Circles - Adding friends and contacts into different Circles is incredibly easy thanks to the drag and drop nature of the feature, and we love how easy it is to share updates and news with just one group of Circles, or all of them.
Huddle - Group texting goes Google with the mobile Huddle feature that lets you message with a Circle of friends, or just a few. If you're not mobile with Google+, you can still use GroupMe and get the same feel.
Integration with +1 - There's finally a reason to +1 things since it not only acts as a bookmarking feature, but allows friends and Circles to see things you like from around the web (under the Buzz tab).
Sparks - Sparks isn't a RSS feed, but it does grab news stories, blog posts, and articles from around the Internet on subjects you're interested in. As I use my Google Reader mainly for work reasons, now I can use Sparks to catch up on my interests during my downtime.
Auto uploads for photos and videos - All of your photos and videos captured on the Google + mobile app are automatically uploaded and stored in your account. Good news is you can customize your settings to choose when and who to share them with at a later time. Auto uploading sounds scary, but Google has made it easy to customize the mobile settings.
The quick share box - When you're inside Google+ or other Google properties (like Picasa, Reader, Gmail, and Documents), you can quickly share info or a link with your Circles by clicking on the "Share. . ." box on the upper-right hand corner of your browser.
No game requests! - A simple joy of using Google+ is the absence of Farmville requests showing up in my inbox and news stream. I'll take that for as long as I can get it.

Check out the list of Google+ cons after the jump.

Daily Tech: You Can Now Switch Between 10 Google Accounts

GeekSugar — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 09:51:03 PDT

Good news: you can now switch between 10 Google accounts at once - Dvice
Sony's S1 and S2 spotted in the wild - CrunchGear
An Angry Birds movie is finally in the works - MTV Geek
Filling the gap until 2012: Game of Thrones theme song played on violin - The Mary Sue
Small signs that could spell big trouble for your computer - Unplggd
Adorable kids react to the eHarmony cat lady - Urlesque

International Women's Day Around the Web

Kristy Korcz — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:20:10 PST

Today marks the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, and if you want to celebrate along with the rest of the web, check out the links below!

Honor - TrèsSugar has five ways you can celebrate the women in your life today.
Observe - Google released its annual Doodle, which comes after a long line of celebratory Doodles before it.
Check in - Make your way to a bridge today in honor of women. Bridges all across the globe will be packed with event goers to support causes near and dear to them.
Map it - Google Maps has changed its usual street view man icon into a woman today! Search locations to see it for yourself.
Watch - 007's Daniel Craig and Judi Dench star in this James Bond-themed PSA that describes just how unequal women and men are in the workforce, and in life. Also: Daniel Craig dresses in drag. You're welcome.