GeekSugar

The 2009 Geeks We Love Roundup!

GeekSugar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:43:46 -0800

Once again, I already feel like I had a fulfilling Valentine's Day because I got to interview some amazing folks I admire - fellow tech bloggers. Most were hilarious, but all were totally brilliant and entertaining. Check out my roundup of this years series of interviews for Geeks We Love.

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Geeks We Love: Elaine Chow of Gizmodo

GeekSugar — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 04:01:36 -0800

You've already seen the men of this year's Geeks We Love series, and now it's time to mix it up with a girl-crush: Elaine Chow of Gizmodo.

A gadget girl living in and writing from China, Elaine is set apart by geography and gender, as most of the Giz staff is male. Check out what she has to say about that, as well as a valuable dating/technology lesson she learned in my interview with her.

GS: You're the Gizmodo member who writes from Asia. Do you look out for what's breaking in tech while we're all sleeping on the other side of the world?

EC: Basically that's my job! Catch things that are only around the Asian websites or that would otherwise fall through the cracks during the graveyard shift. Thanks to the Internet, it's not too hard to do - though it sometimes gets lonely since very few of my coworkers are on the company chat room at two in the morning.

To see the rest of my interview with Elaine, just read more.

GS: Gadget rundown! Cell phone, computer, console?

EC: I actually have a terribly old cellphone - a Nokia model from 2005 that my dad stopped using last year. I'd lost my U.S. phone, a SE W580, on the plane ride over here. I've been hemming and hawing over what to replace it with since. A part of me wants something I can slip into tight jeans. Another part of me wants to use a smartphone already. Preferably running Android.

I've got my tablet PC, a Fujitsu Lifebook T4210, and my desktop. . . a Shuttle PC I built myself. I've been kind of lazy with my Shuttle. Back in New York, I had it hooked up to a 27-inch LCD TV. I was going to do that here, but just haven't found the time or money to go TV shopping. I got the Shuttle because it was small and easy to move around, but I wanted to be able to swap components as they got old. With the tablet - I love tablets. I like to doodle, so sometimes when I'm feeling a little strung out, I'll fire up Sketchbook Pro.

Besides that, I've got a Wii, a PS2, and my DS Lite. I've been a little obsessed with Mario Kart lately. I used to DDR a lot, but I haven't found a good mat in China yet. I'm waiting for Sony to come out with a slim PS3 (you know they're going to at SOME point in time. Come ON Sony!). . . and debating whether I really need an Xbox 360.

I waffle a lot when deciding whether to buy new stuff. I'm very stingy and I hate waste, so I'll obsess over the value to use ratio of my purchases. My TV's a big ol' 26-inch CRT my parents donated to my apartment.

GS: As one of the only female writers on the Gizmodo staff, do you feel you have an edge? Do you think you handle tech stories differently?

EC: I don't know if it gives me much of an edge to be a girl writer. When I first started out, I'd get some misogynistic comments if I ever wrote about say, a kitchen or cleaning gadget. I would like to think I don't handle anything differently than my fellow writers because I have ovaries though. It helps that the Giz crew is a pretty enlightened bunch. Maybe the guys tend to make a few more boner jokes. . .No. . . No, I make a lot of boner jokes too. Never mind.

GS: Being a woman writing in tech, is it more important that you connect with a female audience and show them you're a woman so they can relate to you, or that you are seen on the same level as a male tech blogger?

EC: I think the best way for me to write is to not think about being anything other than being "Elaine, who was fascinated enough with geeky things to become a tech blogger." I think me being a woman will color my posts as often as me being an environmentalist, me being a science lover, me liking cats, etc. You know? Like, it's important. . . but it's not the most important thing. That being said, if me being a woman blogging at Gizmodo has made any girl out there think "Hey, maybe this tech stuff isn't just for guys after all," I'd be super psyched.

GS: How do you feel about the current state of dating and technology? Any funny mishaps happen to you that could be blamed on tech?

EC: I'm one of those terrible people that never write letters or calls to say hello anymore thanks to email, IM'ing and text messaging. I think the last two guys I dated, I never actually conversed with on the phone. Part of that is probably because I actually hate phone conversations. It's a weird neurosis.

Hmm . . . a mishap with technology. Well, I don't know if I can call this one funny. A former boyfriend of mine had problems controlling his jealousy. One day, I had left my MSN messenger on before leaving my house for work and he saw that I'd received an email from another ex. He went into my emails, from there got passwords to my private blog and then proceeded to read it and yell at me for things I'd written (sometimes about him) that he didn't like.

Now my laptop is password protected and there's a specific guest setting for anybody that's not me to use. Also, I try not to date psychos.

GS: What's your favorite or most memorable thing you've gotten to do as part of Gizmodo?

EC: Meeting Brando in Hong Kong was a very surreal moment and it was thrilling to know that he was a fan. I think that sometimes I forget that millions of people are reading us, and some of those people are making the things we talk about all the time. And then you meet one of them and you're kind of like "whoa, why are you even giving me the time of day? You're awesome!" I love that I got the opportunity to do that.

Geeks We Love: Mike Fahey of Kotaku

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:05:00 -0800

A man after my own heart, Mike Fahey is a game addict. Currently helping to hold down the East Coast office of Kotaku, and ripping through game after game so you don't have to, Mike is a man of many hats. He's been everything from an arcade attendant (totally expected) to a vinyl sign cutter (huh?), but still, his love for games made him who he is today. But besides being multi-talented, Mike is one seriously good catch, and why we included him in the Geeks We Love series: he loves to game (but doesn't demand that you do), he's a good listener, and he even loves to cuddle. Score!

GS: For our readers who don't know you, tell us a little about yourself.

MF: Hello there, readers of geeksugar! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Michael Fahey, and I'm the East Coast Associate Editor for Kotaku, a website about video games and video game-related cakes. I am a six foot, six inches tall fellow who is much less intimidating once you realize that I am writing this with one of my two cats laying belly-up on my desk, desperately trying to finish typing without succumbing to the lure of tummy rubs.

In my 35 years of existence I've been a shoe salesman, an arcade attendant, a tech support specialist, a gas station manager, a web developer, a vinyl sign cutter, a dishwasher, a graphic artist, and several different flavors of customer service representative, all following a brief period following my birth during which I was too stunned to speak. Now I spend my days writing about video games in my pajamas. How the video games got into my pajamas is another story entirely.

Find out how gaming accidentally introduced Mike to Playboy, why he'd spend the rest of his days with just a Nintendo 64 and a coconut tree, and discover a softer, more tender side of Mike when you read more.

GS: Do your earliest memories involve a game controller, or did you develop a love for gaming later on in life?

MF: My entire life seems to be punctuated by video games. They're how I organize important milestones. My first kiss was given to me by a girl who was trying to tear my attention away from a Speak and Math game she had in her bedroom - the start of a long tradition of women trying to tear my attention away from whatever I was playing at the time. I first discovered sex while trying to get the Atari 5200 in my father's den working late one night and accidentally switching to the Playboy channel. My first real sexual experience took place in the hallways behind the video game arcade at the mall I used to hang out at - her name was Sula and the amount of hairspray in her bangs was the stuff of legends. I guess it isn't so much my earliest memories, but really all of my memories.

GS: What's your all-time favorite game EVER?

MF: This is a terribly unfair question. Would you ask a mother which of her children was her favorite? Would you demand that she single out one of the tiny humans that sprang from her loins into the world as the end-all, be-all? Yes, you would, and she'd look around to make sure no one else was looking and then quietly whisper Final Fantasy III (U.S. version), which is a terribly odd name for a child.

GS: Are you down with girls that don't know how to game, or is holding their own on Gears a prerequisite?

MF: I've found over the years that the perfect woman for a gamer is one who is game curious - she enjoys watching them, and every once in awhile grabs the controller from you when something strikes her fancy, but on the whole just enjoys knowing that she has a man who she can leave alone for a week knowing that when she returns he'll be in the exact same spot, in front of the television. I've been with women who are nearly as passionate about video games as I am, and it isn't really a good combination. Any relationship needs some sort of anchor to the real world. . . a person who can pull the other one away from the controller long enough to eat, bathe, clean the house, and have sex. You put together two rabid gamers and soon you are getting horror stories about folks leaving their babies out in the car after returning home late for a guild raid. I'd like to think I would remember a little person that I helped make, but man those guild raids can be intense.

GS: You're stranded on an island. It's just you, a coconut tree, and a gaming console. Which console would you want to spend your days with?

MF: At first I thought this was a trick question, so I began to research which console had the ability to draw power from a coconut tree. Then I realized the true extent of your trickery: I have no television, and no games. Just me, the console, and Dr. Treeheart (I would have named the tree after the first day). Having finally come to realize the full extent of the question, I'd have to say the Nintendo 64, because if you turn it around and look at it just right, it could pass for a face. Not a very pleasant face, but when you are stranded on a island with only Dr. Treeheart to keep you company you take what you can get.

GS: Is there a game you just can't live without?

MF:It's not that there is one game that I cannot live without - I just couldn't live without some sort of gaming. I constantly have at least two devices on me that could run a video game of some sort, and if hard-pressed I can build a chess board from sticks and rocks. . . which I've actually done. It's just comforting to me to know that I have some sort of game available to me should the need arise. Otherwise I am stuck alone with my own thoughts, and my own thoughts are kind of odd.

GS: We're so close to Valentine's Day! Tell us what your perfect date would be like.

MF: The perfect date isn't about a place or an activity. The perfect date involves getting to know someone. The best dates are the ones where you can sit an talk with the person you are with, sharing stories, telling secrets, and basically basking in this new person you've just discovered, immersing yourself in them while sharing yourself. In this day and age, where you can find pornography with a few keyboard strokes, learning about a person is so much more intimate than having sex with them. That having been said, the perfect date for me involves a great deal of talking and perhaps a bit of cuddling, an activity of which I am a huge fan.

Geeks We Love: Adam Pash of Lifehacker

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:00:46 -0800

Continuing on with our Geeks We Love interview series, I'd like to introduce you to Adam Pash, the editor of one of my all-time favorite blogs, Lifehacker. This past January, Adam took over the helm at Lifehacker when Gina Trapani stepped down from her position, and he's been doing an amazing job ever since. Aside from running a site that's filled with more productivity tips, organizational tools, and useful downloads than you can imagine, Adam has also co-authored the book How to Do Everything with Your iPhone and can be found whipping up helpful web applications of his very own.

GS: Lifehacker is one of the most popular blogs on the Internet today. How do you explain the appeal of your "Lifehacks"?

AP: It's no huge secret: Everyone likes doing things better. We cover a lot of stuff every day - often with a tech-heavy slant (everyone also has computers) - aimed at helping our readers streamline their lives. Lifehacker gets really good when we find a great trick for doing something completely banal a thousand times better or more efficiently. Them's the goods.

GS: You just created a useful, printer-friendly website called Printable Checklist. How often do you build online tools like this one that help make your life a little easier? Which ones do you regularly use that you would call favorites?

AP: It's actually a side-hobby I've just started. Over the past year I've been working in my spare time on a much more ambitious music site that I'm hoping to launch in the next few weeks, and in doing so I've significantly improved my HTML, CSS, and JavaScripting skills. So when I had the idea for Printable Checklist (or, rather, when I wished something like it existed), I realized that making it myself wouldn't take all that long. So. . . chances are I'll make more similar one-use web applications in the future. But MixTape.me (the music site) is my real baby.

To learn more about Adam, including some of his favorite gadgets and hobbies, read more

GS: What are your five "must have" gadgets that you can't seem to live without and why?

AP: Oh boy. Contrary to what one might assume, my personal gear isn't all that impressive - but here goes anyway:

iPhone: There are a lot of improvements I'd like to see from the folks at Cupertino, but I still am gaga about my iPhone. It's an awesome multi-room music remote, music player, mini-app monster, and it's not a bad phone, either.
My Hackintosh: I love Apple gear, but it is ridiculously expensive for my taste. It gets less expensive if you're willing to roll up your sleeves and built your own. I've been using the same Hackintosh for a couple of years, though, and I'm looking and updating my build (and my guide at Lifehacker) very soon.
Xbox 360: I don't do all that much gaming, but currently my 360 is the centerpiece of my home theater. I use it as a DVD player (lame, I know), Windows Media Center extender, and Netflix streamer. I only own two or three games for it, and the only one I ever play is Halo. (I suppose that's also pretty lame).
Logitech Harmony Xbox 360 Remote: It's a universal remote that works really well with the Xbox. It works with other stuff, obviously.
My Linksys Router: This router has served me oh-so-well, both at home and at Lifehacker. I've written about it twice on Lifehacker - once for a guide to installing the open-source router firmware DD-WRT, the other time for a guide to installing the also open-source router firmware Tomato. They're both awesome router upgrades, and their corresponding guides at Lifehacker remain two of our most popular posts of all time.

GS: Would you say your wife is as tech savvy as you are? Are there certain types of posts she inspires you to write?

AP: I hate to say that "the wife's not big on technology," but she's really not. I mean, she's good with computers and all that, but her main interests lie outside technology. She's a big Internet lover, though. She also casts a broader net than I do when she's doing her internetting, so I've gotten a lot of great non-tech ideas from her for Lifehacker - which is very important to the site.

GS: When you're not "geeking-out" so to speak, what are some things you like to do for play?

AP: As bad of an answer to your question as this may be, my main hobby for the last year has been working on my music site. I love music, play guitar, etc., (yeah, okay, I play Rock Band, too). I'm a regular jogger, like hanging out with friends, taking hikes. . . wait, I think I confused my geeksugar and Match.com emails.

Geeks We Love: Kevin Hall of Dvice

GeekSugar — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:25:24 -0800

I check in daily with Dvice, not only because of its gadget coverage, but also because of its sweet sci-fi influence. So just in case you aren't familiar (and if not, why?), let me introduce you to one of Dvice's endearingly geeky contributors - and one of this year's Geeks We Love - Kevin Hall. Recent Brooklyn transplant, this geek hottie has traveled the world, seen (almost) everything, and can still say that robots are his favorite thing . . . ever.

GS: Pretend I'm a total stranger (and let's be honest, I pretty much am), and tell me a little about yourself.
KH: Well, I'm a 24-year-old freelancer living in Brooklyn, NY. I'm a transplant, though - I was born in La Jolla, CA, and have lived in Indonesia, Pennsylvania, London, and Texas. After graduating from college, I knew I wanted to write and heard NYC is the place to do it, so I moved here. I was lucky enough to get a shot at blogging for Gizmodo, then started writing for DVICE, and editing a SCI-FI channel blog called Visions For Tomorrow. That's all rather boring stuff, I suppose. What else? My favorite color is orange, I love eating at all of New York's fine burger spots, and I'm probably more into robots than anyone made of flesh should be. Seriously, if technology made it possible to implant my brain into a robotic shell, I'd totally do it.

To see how Kevin appreciates old(er) school technology, what gadget is on his hot list, and why I'd go on a Valentine's date with him any day of the week, just read more.

GS: Are you strictly a gadget type of guy, or are you also a sci-fi nerd and/or gaming geek?
KH: All three, I'd say, though mostly a sci-fi and gaming geek. I love gadgets, but I don't camp in lines for the latest thing. In fact, I've got a fat, old Samsung clamshell for a cell that's maybe 4- or 5-years-old now, and the same 3.2-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot that I had in high school. And when it comes to science fiction, all of my favorite shows have come and gone - Star Trek: TNG, Space Above and Beyond, Cowboy Bebop, Futurama, and Firefly. I do enjoy the new Battlestar Galactica, of course, and I still love Star Wars, despite my love of Star Trek. If it's in space, I'll probably love it. I read more sci-fi than I watch.

Oh, how I love video games. I'd say the titles that define my tastes would be Deus Ex, Myth, Shadow of the Colossus, Halo, Tribes, Guardian Heroes (for the Saturn), Everquest, Anarchy Online, EVE - now that I've started, I really could go on forever. The last game I played was Gears of Wars 2, and that was about 20 minutes ago. And now it's five a.m., so yeah, you can see how I enjoy my gaming!

GS: Do you remember your very first gadget? Mine was a pager. No, really.
KH: I think my first gadget was probably a Game Boy. Growing up overseas, most of the games we had access to were pirated cartridges titled something like "99 games in one," but each one would just have maybe five or 10 ripoffs of Mario and Pac Man and stuff like that. I think I've actually owned almost every iteration of the Game Boy, from the old beloved brick to the niche-y Micro. I guess I'm slowing down in my old age, though, as I didn't run out to replace my first-gen DS with a Lite.

GS: What gadget are you lusting over right now?
KH: Boring answer, I know, but the iPhone. I'm really impressed by it, especially now that the App Store has been blown wide open. I'm not hardcore enough to want a Blackberry, and I hate cellphones too much to be interested by anything else on the market. The iPhone seems to be a good blend of functional phone and handheld computer, and that really appeals to me.

GS: Dvice is a Sci-Fi owned blog, so you must get cool insider scoops, right? You know how Battlestar Galactica ends, don't you?! Tell me! Tell me now!
KH: We get our tie-ins and exclusive content, sure, but I can't say much more than that. The last thing I want is one of the Sci-Fi Channel's Terminators to return from the future and kill me in the middle of this interview.

GS: What would a geeky-cool guy like you want to do for your lady friend on Valentine's Day? Take us through your perfect date.
KH: Well, we'd start out by taking a newly constructed hover train from New York to Germany (yeah, doesn't exist, just roll with it - I love trains), and hit up this restaurant called Baggers, which has fully automated service. Then we'd fly over to Russia and hitch a ride up to the International Space Station for a flashlight-lit (I imagine candles would be dangerous) dessert in zero-gee and some stargazing. I think the brilliance of the Earth from orbit would make a pretty romantic backdrop, so we'd probably ride around for a full orbit, uh, "playing video games," and then it's back to Earth for us. Or - for a creepy alternate ending - she could reveal that she's actually a robot from an alien world and I'd follow her home. Or we could just go to Tokyo - it's my favorite place to visit and it's about as close as you can get to living in the future.

Geeks We Love: Joshua Topolsky of Engadget

GeekSugar — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:01:30 -0800

You'd think that Engadget's editor in chief, NYC-based Joshua Topolsky, would be too busy doing things like manhandling the new Kindle to have time to talk to geeksugar for this year's installment of Geeks We Love. But this is a man who says if he could, he'd be called "super king" rather than simply "editor-in-chief." Do not underestimate him.

Since taking over Engadget's top spot last year, the mass of responsibility that's been heaped on Josh is matched only by his irreverent sense of humor (just listen to an Engadget podcast). And from music-industry beginnings (he was a music producer with a studio in Brooklyn) to excellent taste in eyewear, Josh is nebbishly cool - the definition of one of my favorite cliches: geek-chic.

GS: As a fan of your podcast, I know you're a funny guy - does not taking things so seriously make it easier to process all the information overload of tech news?

JT: I think our industry has a history of taking itself a little seriously. I'm not sure that having a sense of humor makes it easier to process the information overload, but it definitely helps to keep things in perspective. Ultimately, I know that if one day our technology becomes self-aware and turns against us, chases us down with a Green Goblin 18-wheeler, and forces us to sail to an island where there's no electricity - at least I'll have my sense of humor. And this iPhone I whittled from driftwood, and these apps I made from leaves.

To read more of my interview with Josh Topolsky, which includes his love for books and zombie-infused video games, read more.

GS: Favorite gadget right now that you cannot live without?

JT: It's safe to say that I would be useless without my laptop. I wish I could tell you that all I need is a notebook and a pen, but that would be a blatant, cool lie.

GS: Gadget rundown! Cell phone?

JT: I'm currently juggling three phones - the G1, iPhone 3G, and BlackBerry Bold. I'm really frustrated because each one does at least one thing that I really love, but none of them do exactly what I want. For instance, the G1 is great for Gmail (perfect, really), the iPhone has its killer app ecosystem and is really good for getting around/doing "fun" stuff, and the Bold is the ultimate serious-phone, for when I need to impress bankers and stockbrokers. Which is often.

Mac, PC, or Linux?

JT: I use all three. I write for Engadget!

Home tech setup?

JT: My TV is a really depressing Olevia 37-inch, I really need to upgrade. I've got Time Warner's DVR, which is made by Scientific Atlanta (if you must know). We've got a huge pile of consoles here, and my favorite game is anything with zombies, and preferably so terrifying that people actually die while playing it.

GS: What do you do when you're not Engadgeting (that's my clever way of asking about spare time)?

JT: We actually don't get a lot of spare time, but I'm really a big book nerd - we have a large collection here, though I don't read nearly enough (hardly at all lately). I also enjoy video games, as previously stated, and I try to watch complete television series in a single sitting. I collect old calculators, Dune toys, and I love comic books. Oh, and I'm usually trying to get new distros of Linux and/or BeOS working on my many, many computers.

GS: You're married; is your wife also a geek?

Well, my wife and I work together (she's an editor at Engadget), so there is a lot of crossover, but she's really much more of a book person than I am. In fact, her collection of books is far more impressive, and she read something like 500 new books last year. It's staggering. Essentially, she makes me feel bad that I haven't read anything in ages.

GS: Lastly, what's your absolute favorite thing you've done with Engadget (like that open letter to Palm)?

I really loved the letter to Palm, and doing the first iPhone unboxing for the site was pretty wild - but the thing I love best about the job is all the nuts and bolts stuff that a lot of people don't see. Hunting down stories, working with the brilliant team we have, actually scooping something - it's thrilling. It's kind of impossible to pick one thing, but a friend of mine told me the other day that I have the dream job my 13-year-old-self would have wanted, and that's pretty much true. It doesn't really get better than that.

Image Courtesy of Morini & Montanari

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.

The Geeks We Love V-Day Roundup!

GeekSugar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:02:29 -0800

This week in honor of Valentine's Day, we decided to show some love to four fabulous geeks we truly admire in the tech world. In case you missed one of their enlightening and fun-filled interviews, click on "start slideshow" to check out the entire list!

View Slideshow ›

Geeks We Love: Adam Frucci of Gizmodo

GeekSugar — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:21:27 -0800

For the last installment of the Geeks We Love V-Day series, I would like to introduce you to the multi-talented, fascinating Adam Frucci. Adam's home base is in Brooklyn and he currently works as a contributing editor for Gizmodo. Why do we love Adam you ask? Well he doesn't exactly fit the "guy in the tech industry" average mold. Adam doesn't own an iPhone, would be the first to admit that digital photo frames are tacky pieces of garbage, and actually discusses the environmental impact of packaging from crappy gadget knock-offs and useless accessories-We're in love! And that's just the beginning (trust me). . . Keep reading to check out the full interview with Adam below and be sure to stay tuned tomorrow for a round-up of all our Geeks We Love interviews!

GS: You write for various websites and do improv comedy performances. How do you manage to squeeze so many things into your busy schedule and what other "hidden talents" can you share with us?
AF: Since I work from home, it's really important for me to get out of the house most nights, otherwise I'd go completely crazy. Improv is great because it keeps me busy two to five nights a week and lets me be creative in a way that's completely different than my writing, which is important to me. As for other talents, I'm not sure. I really love writing fiction, but it's tough to sit down and write for pleasure after writing nine hours for work, so I haven't dedicated as much time to that lately as I would like. It's something I always tell myself I'm going to get back into, but haven't yet found the time or energy to dive full-on into it as I'd like.

GS: What are some gadgets you can't seem to live without and why?
AF: I'm actually not a huge collector of gadgets. Since I deal with them all day for work they don't give me a huge rush in my free time - I think I'm the only Gizmodo editor without an iPhone and I don't have cable. But I would go completely crazy on the subway without my iPod and obviously no one can survive without a cell phone these days. So that's my really boring and predictable answer: My iPod and my cell phone.

To learn more about the infamous Mr.Frucci, read more

GS: Your personal blog is very eclectic (we're already addicted). . . What's your criteria for deciding what makes the final cut?
AF: I don't even know if I'd consider it a blog. I just started it as a way to share things I find while surfing blogs all day with my friends. Basically, if I think it's entertaining and it won't work on a site I write for, I'll throw it up there. I'd like to start actually writing things on it rather than just posting silly pictures and links, so hopefully I'll get motivated enough to start doing that soon.

GS: What would you say is your all time, favorite story that you've ever written on Gizmodo? Why is this so?
AF: I think my favorite story that I've written so far is "10 Reasons We're Doomed: CES Edition." I wrote it while covering CES, the huge and terrible trade show, in Las Vegas this January. Press events always feel really contrived and gross to me, and CES is pretty much the granddaddy of all press events. My editors suggested that I do this top ten list, and I think initially they were thinking it would just be ten lousy products, but I kind of used it as an excuse to rant about how much I hated CES. I really tried to sum up how I knew most journalists (and PR people) working at the show felt about it. So much of the coverage of events like CES is just regurgitating press releases or just dutifully reporting on the news, but no one really talked about how soul-crushing the show itself is. It got a really strong response, especially from fellow CES-goers, so that made me feel really good. Also, it was an excuse to swear a lot and really go over-the-top, so that was a fun plus.

GS: With Valentine's Day only a short day away, we'd love to know what you would describe as the ultimate geeky dream date with your significant other?!
AF: Oh boy, I don't know, that's a hard one. I'd like to say watching Battlestar Galactica DVD's and eating take-out, if that counts as being geeky enough. But now that I think about it, that might be more pathetic than geeky. If it's really my dream date, how about flying to Tokyo on a whim, riding in the Odaiba Ferris Wheel, eating dinner purchased from a machine and then staying in a love hotel? Either one of those would be pretty fun, I think.

Geeks We Love: Cat Schwartz of eBay and HiTechMommy

GeekSugar — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 03:40:40 -0800

As much as I love the fellas that have been featured in our Geeks We Love V-Day showdown, I can't help but give some love to one of the coolest "Cats" in the industry. This versatile gadget guru gal is not only eBay's Gadget and Toy Director, but she is also the founder of HiTechMommy, a site which caters to all things tech for gadget-loving parents. The woman I am referring to is the fabulous Cat Schwartz! Cat is most commonly known for her appearances on shows like Live With Regis and Kelly, MSNBC's Hot List and The Today Show, and can be found making fun videos like eBay's Granny gadget makeover holiday video. With a resume that's so long and diverse, you can't help but admire how she's paving the way for the rest of us in this otherwise male-dominated field. To learn more about Cat, check out our interview below!

GS: If someone were to describe a typical day in the life of Cat Schwartz, what would they say?
CS: First off they would say, baby Jack needs to sleep in his own bed and not in mamma's because to start off the day with footprints all over your back is no way to live. Also, not eating until noon is bad for your health, and working from your couch with the TV and radio on can't be very productive.

GS: Who is someone in the tech industry you admire, and why?
CS: I'd say my fellow chick tech reporters like yourself, Veronica Belmont from Engadget and Mahalo, Kara Rowland from The Washington Times and Natali Del Conte of CNET. I'm really happy to see all of us busting out great content and being kind to each other along the way. Rock on, ladies.

To continue reading Cat's fun-filled interview, read more

GS: What are some gadgets you are addicted to right now and can't seem to live without?
CS: For sure the SideKick LX. Love it. Love looking at it even when I'm not using it. Is that normal? Next is my Zeppelin speaker system. . . Another gadget that I can't help but drool over, even when it's off. The design on this speaker system is to die for and once it starts kickin' out The Beastie Boys, for me, I'm in lust all over again.
Last, lately I've been really using my Magellan Maestro Elite 5340 GPS way too much. I mean, I've been programming in the route to my house just to watch how I digitally move around the world!

GS: I noticed a special section on your site featuring camera phone images. The quality of the pictures are exceptional (Jack is sooo adorable)! Do tell - what kind of phone do you use and do you still use a regular camera?
CS: Yeah, baby! That's all my Sidekick LX. It's all about the lighting, you know?

GS: I loved your appearance on The Tyra Banks Show when you talked about gadgets to catch a cheating mate. What are some other tech topics you enjoy chatting about on television?
CS: Yeah, that was really a fun segment for me because I had JUST caught my ex cheating on me and he kind of didn't tell anyone why I dumped him so abruptly. . . Ha! EVERYONE knew after that! I love talking about any tech that will help others realize that their own world can be a little easier if they just embrace gadgets, instead of run from them. A few upcoming Today Show segments I have coming up are, "Bluetooth Explained," "Baby Gadgets" (LOVE this topic!), and "Snowboarding Gadgets." I feel really lucky that I get to talk about this stuff all day long and actually get paid to look at cool trends on eBay!