GeekSugar

Geek Out Roundup: Your First Cell Phone!

GeekSugar — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:00:04 PDT

Last week I asked all of you to geek out and share your very first cell phone as a way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the mobile phone. It was actually glam sugar's idea, so I have to give her a little shout out for initiating the idea, which ended up being a real exercise in jumbo gadgetry.

I have to make a special note of verily's Motorola MicroTAC, which has all the best "first cell phone qualities." Yes, it was a flip phone, but it was also large and in charge.

"My first phone was a hand-me-down from my dad, who needed a cell phone for his job," says verily. "This was considered a revolutionary phone because it was a "small" flip phone instead of the giant bricks that preceded it. I have an iPhone now, so I've definitely come a long way!" Oh yes my fellow iPhoner, you sure have!

To check out other people's first cell phones, scroll through the widget below.

Geek Out: Find Your First Cell Phone!

GeekSugar — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:00:49 PDT

This week marked the 20th anniversary of the mobile phone and glam sugar had the fantastic idea that we should all share our first cell phone.

While I sadly can't recall or find a photo of my first cell phone, it was a chunky Nokia that looked a bit like the one at right. It was at least twice the thickness of the iPhone and housed a humongous battery. Chic or not, I loved it. It was an extreme upgrade from my pager (yes, I had a pager!) and meant I had a new kind of freedom and accessibility.

Do you remember the make and model of your first cell phone? Share it with us by finding a picture of it on the web and bookmarking it on TeamSugar. Make sure to tag your finds with "my first cell phone" and tell me why you bought it and what you liked about it. Then check back to geeksugar next week to see if I featured your picks.

To learn what Geek Gear is and how to bookmark your finds on our site, click here. To see some of my favorite online stores,

11 Things You Need to Throw Away

Emily Co — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:05:07 PST

The first step to taking care of yourself and de-stressing is to make sure that your environment is in order. Seeing your house full of clutter can affect your mood negatively and make your personal space seem like a place you want to escape from, rather than something to look forward to coming home to. Organize a "throwing out" day every month to make sure that you don't have clutter building up. Here are some things you should consider purging from your home:

Old magazines. Get rid of old magazines you have lying around because chances are, you aren't going to read them again. Find places where you can donate your magazines to such as child care centers, doctor's offices, nail salons, nursing homes, and libraries. If there's an article that really speaks to you, scan a digital image of it and keep it in your computer. Or keep a folder of magazine clippings if you like saving magazine articles.
Receipts, bills, and documents. Throw away receipts for items that you aren't planning on returning, and ones that you won't need to use come tax time. If you're wary of throwing away receipts, you can make a digital copy of them with a basic scanner, a pricey specialized receipt scanner ($174), or a smartphone app ($2). See here for a full list of documents you should keep forever or temporarily.
Clothes. Use the two-year-rule for clothes - get rid of apparel that you haven't worn in two years. Sell them to a thrift store (find a thrift store at thethriftshopper.com) or donate them to the needy.
Books. Go through your bookshelf and gather together books you haven't touched in months and ones that you aren't planning on rereading. Be realistic and make sure you're ruthless. If you haven't touched it in a year, you're most likely not going to read it again. Sell the books on Amazon, Craigslist, or eBay. You can even trade them for something else on swap.com. You can always donate them as well!
Medicine and vitamins. Take a look at your medicine closet and clear out drugs that have expired, medicine that has sat on your shelf for too long, or ones that you no longer use. First, check to see what the proper disposal methods are for the medication, and if you can't find any, check to see if your community has a drug take-back program. If there isn't a program near you, then the FDA advises mixing medicine with "used coffee grounds or kitty litter" in a container or sealable bag before throwing it away to make the drugs less appealing.

For more things to throw away, read on.

Jonathan Adler Transforms Taboo Topics Into Groovy Style Statements

CasaSugar — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:16:48 PST

Interior designer, potter, and color-enthusiast Jonathan Adler takes happy chic to uncharted territory this month with the launch of his new toilet paper roll covers for Cottonelle's Spring collection. The three limited-edition roll cover designs are available online, and at just $2 per cover, practically everyone can afford to stash their spare rolls in Adler's signature style.

We caught up with Adler to chat about his Cottonelle collaboration and so much more! Keep reading to get the skinny on his bathroom must haves, bucket-list mantra, squeaky-clean lifestyle, and why he'll never use the male form in his designs.

Gear Review: Motorola's MotoACTV Fitness Tracker

Leta Shy — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:55:36 PST

Is getting fit one of your New Year's resolutions for the coming year? Whether you're just diving into a new regimen or need a better way to track your workouts, you'll love the new MotoACTV fitness tracker from Motorola.

Released in November, the MotoACTV promises to be your constant fitness companion, and with good reason. It can track calories burned, pace, speed, steps taken, and GPS route out of the box, and holds up to 16 GB of music and workout data. All features that will make anyone's workouts better, so I was happy to test out the 8 GB version that Motorola recently sent over ($250; the 16 GB version goes for $300).

The MotoACTV is slightly bigger than the iPod Nano, and like the Apple product, it has a simple interface making it completely intuitive as soon as you power it on. You can use it as a pedometer, and the home screen shows the time, steps taken, and calories burned for the day. By swiping left and right you can navigate to four more screens with different options. Five tactile buttons and one designated back button on the touch screen work all the main functions, which I appreciated since having easy-to-feel buttons made pausing music or finding my way back to my workout screen much faster than if I were fumbling my way through touch screens. And after entering your height and weight stats, the MotoACTV tracks the amount of calories you burn throughout the day, including your basal metabolic rate. When on the workout screen, you can choose between five styles - running, cycling, walking, elliptical, and step machine - and what type of workout you want (like racing against a previous personal best or setting a time and distance goal). During a workout a pleasant voice keeps you updated on certain milestones and how long you have left in your workout.

Keep reading for more on how the MotoACTV performs.

Tips For Gallery-Worthy Instagram Pics

GeekSugar — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 07:41:47 PST

From Oct. 22-23, London's East Gallery hosted the My World Shared photography exhibit, which may not seem unusual, until you learn that this was the first exhibit ever curated to feature only Instagram pics.

A community of passionate "Instagrammers" have launched the exhibit and a website that's stocked with info for other Instagram addicts, like city-based groups, photo walks, and tips on how to become Most Popular, how to boost your profile, even "10 ways to make Instagram profitable."

If you're looking to up the ante in Instagram yourself, we've rounded up a few tips on how to take better cellphone pics below. Snap away!

Play with angles - Don't just take photos from your eye view! Be adventurous and get low, high, or level with an object to snap some really interesting angles.
Get close - Because camera phones have lower resolution than a full-blown digital camera, it's best to take images as close as you can, but be sure to stay within proper range so your pics don't look grainy or blurry.
Get focused - Choosing to focus on one particular object will generally create more interesting photos. Instead of snapping the entire scene at the beach, hone in on the seashells that wash up on shore, a playful umbrella, palm trees, or kids playing in the surf.
Make sure your subject is well-lit - If your camera doesn't have a built-in flash, try to take a pic in an environment with decent lighting. If you are indoors, simply turn on some lights!
Keep your camera lens clean - We all know how dirty cell phones can get. Just wiping off your lens with the proper cleaner and a soft cloth can make a world of difference.

13 Signs You’re Too Busy

LearnVest — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:15:38 PDT

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

There’s busy.

Then there’s too busy.

Busy is running from one appointment to the next. Too busy is running over someone on your way to the next appointment (physically, vehicularly, whatever). Busy is leaving your cell phone behind at the grocery store. Too busy is leaving your kid behind at the grocery store.

And then there’s the biggest of all ironies-we want to cut back, but frankly, we just don’t have the time to figure out how to do it.

Sound familiar? Well, we’re here to do an intervention-a time intervention. Today, we’ll help you figure out if your life is starting to burst at the seams when it comes to your time. If it is, you need a wake-up call to reset priorities, because there is no shakier foundation for healthy, balanced living (and healthy, balanced money management) than not having the space and breathing room that time provides in our lives.

If you’ve crossed over the line into too busy, you’ll need to reset your foundation: Maybe it means taking a day off from work to reassess your life priorities. Maybe it means evaluating what your time is worth and outsourcing chores like housekeeping or laundry. Maybe it means taking a break from social engagements for a little while to focus on building the right foundation.

Here are 13 signs that you might need a time overhaul in your life-and easy tips on how to get started, today.

You Spend a Good Amount of Time Worrying About Your Time

If your time is preoccupied with, well, your time, you might be: endlessly cycling through your to-do list in your head, spending a lot of time arranging and rearranging your schedule, or wishing throughout the day that you had more time.

If you've worried about your schedule or wished you had more time more than three times a day, you need a break from time itself as a stressor in your life.

Try this: Take a mental break. Remove one thing from your schedule for today that is the least important-it might be putting off doing the laundry or postponing a work call. Spend that time instead totally luxuriating in something in the present moment (like eating a macaron or listening to your favorite song) and not thinking about your schedule, or future plans, at all.

Read on for more.

Should You Use Separate or Joint Accounts?

Kiplinger — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:15:58 PDT

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

In every serious, long-term relationship, you reach a special moment when one of you has to pop a very important question: joint or individual accounts? (To be clear, this query is not fit for first-date chitchat; merging your finances is as big a commitment as exchanging keys or vows.) The right answer will be as unique as you are. “There is no magic bullet,” says David Fleisher, president of Firstrust Financial Resources, a financial-planning firm in Philadelphia. “But the healthiest of relationships that I see are those who ensure that both people are on the same page.”

You just have to talk out your financial goals and agree on a plan that works best for you and your mate. Be sure to consider your respective money attitudes and behaviors when deciding your strategy. Ask each other: What bills need to be paid regularly? Are you a stickler for paying bills on time, or do due dates tend to slip past you? What short- and long-term savings goals do you have? What are your spending habits? And of course, you’ll want to address these 4 Critical Money Questions to Ask Before You Get Married.

Read on to find out more.

The Anatomy of a Scam Email

LearnVest — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:15:00 PDT

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

This morning, I received an email from my first cousin telling me she was in dire straits and needed me to send her money to rescue her. Although the email was signed with her name and contained her normal email signature, it was a scam.

She confirmed this through a follow-up email a few hours later telling everyone to disregard her plea for help. So you never fall for a hacker trap like this, check out the email-and the warning signs that it’s not real:

1. I Was BCCed

Immediately, be suspicious of any seemingly personal email that’s not actually sent to you but rather to many people using the BCC option.

2. It Didn’t Even Say My Name

After all, if she really were going to ask me for help, I’d hope that she’d at least address the email to me. You don’t ask for emergency money to be wired to you in a generic email.

Read on for more clues to figuring out what a scam email looks like.

Applying Makeup While Driving Can Raise Your Insurance Rates

LearnVest — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 03:05:37 PDT

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

It’s not that insurance companies are sexist.

Or that they expect all of their female customers to go barefaced and disheveled.

But if you use your commute as makeup application time, you’re a crash risk. In fact, applying makeup is actually more dangerous than dialing a cell phone–it’s the fifth likeliest task to increase crash risk.

Talk about a dangerous tube of MAC lipstick.

About 3% of female drivers have had an auto accident while applying makeup, and 75% of those women are under 27 years of age, says Kevin Alsup, vice president of insurance at Foundation Financial Group in Florida. “We hear a lot about the dangers of driving and texting,” says David Miller, CEO of Florida-based Brightway Insurance, “but applying makeup while driving is just as dangerous.”

Whether You’re A Little Or A Lot At Fault

According to Nancy Germond, an insurance expert from Phoenix, AZ, an insurance company might “forgive” your first auto offense if you have a good driving record. Otherwise, if the accident is deemed to be your fault, you can expect your rate to take an upward hike.

Germond says, “If you are at fault in an auto accident and your insurance carrier pays more than a small amount, your rates will undoubtedly increase,” says Germond. Although some companies forgive the first accident, most will charge you “whether you’re 1% or 100% at fault.”

Find out how to lower your rates when you read on.