Geeking Out!

Tech Dressing?

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:04:52 -0400

Andrew: There's a lot of important people around us. Me: I know! Andrew: Are we underdressed?...

Andrew Mager and I are sitting three seats away from Marissa...

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 12:03:36 -0400

Andrew Mager and I are sitting three seats away from Marissa Mayer. Andrew is liveblogging the whole event and I’m using Qik. Between the two of us, we should have the TC 50 event covered.

Getting my iPhone jailbroken to start livestreaming with Qik....

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:54:04 -0400

Getting my iPhone jailbroken to start livestreaming with Qik. YAY!

The first one to greet me TC 50. Let the games begin!

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 11:28:38 -0400

The first one to greet me TC 50. Let the games begin!

My last little Google Gush is about Marissa Mayer (by far one of...

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:05:00 -0400

My last little Google Gush is about Marissa Mayer (by far one of the most BRILLIANT woman in tech). Today, an interview came out by Jessica Guynn with Marissa talking about the past, present, and future of the Googster. I’m excited to see her speak at TC 50; she’s truly an inspiration for all women in business and technology.

Happy 10TH Birthday Googster! I (like most people) feel VERY...

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 21:21:00 -0400

Happy 10TH Birthday Googster!

I (like most people) feel VERY close to Mr. Google. I visit and chat with Mr. G more times a day than I contact my closest friends. So, it’s only fitting to pay homage to this 10-year old that’s the strongest and most brilliant in his class. I’d personally like to thank the Mr. Google for the fantastic results he’s provided me in the past and continues to do for me on a daily basis.

Have you ever searched Mr. G’s images? I promise that no matter what you’re looking for, you will find it in EVERY sense of the word (yikes!). And what about analytics? I’m a PDF girl, so having a document full of clear site stats makes it easy to track popularity progress. Have you seen Mr. G’s Docs? All I can say is ‘THANK YOU’, being able to modify documents between others without having to send each change by email has been a real lifesaver. What about the Googster’s mobile application? I’d be perpetually lost in NYC, if it wasn’t for Google Text (free 411 SMS service) and the Google Maps to direct me home in the snow. I could go on and on, but I’d rather hear what your favorite features is of that Good Lookin’ Googster. Email me some stories on your Google Experience and I’ll make sure to post them in celebration of their anniversary.

Tech Etiquette? Photo from this months issue of Real Simple.

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:48:06 -0400

Tech Etiquette? Photo from this months issue of Real Simple.

List of companies I predict will be at Techcrunch50 - Updated

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:57:46 -0400

List of companies I predict will be at Techcrunch50 - Updated : pop17: (via fjgruber)

Supposed iPod 4G unboxed from Engadget. If that’s the...

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:09:45 -0400

Supposed iPod 4G unboxed from Engadget. If that’s the case, I’m not impressed. I don’t know what exactly I was expecting, but it looks like the 2G iPod. Hmmm…

My mother and I visited with some family friends Kristina and...

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:03:00 -0400

My mother and I visited with some family friends Kristina and Judy this morning at Dinah’s Poolside Grill in Palo Alto. I met Kristina when we were 15-year-old models in Paris (Gosh, that seems like a lifetime ago). Our mothers accompanied us on the trip to make sure that we were settled in, all my memories of Miss Kristina revolve around late night Croque Monsieur’s (still to this day my favorite sandwich) and all day model castings. I was never a good model, I think you have to have an air of coolness that was never in my genetic makeup.

Though we haven’t seen each other in years, it was easy to catch up over a mother-daughter breakfast where we laughed about old times, spouted off about how much has changed, and speculated on what the next 10 years will bring for two simple girls from California.

Why the heck is there an advertisement telling me High Fructose Corn Syrup is as safe as sugar?

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:15:00 -0400

Why the heck is there an advertisement telling me High Fructose Corn Syrup is as safe as sugar? :...

My OmniDiskSweeper diagnostic, I’m having WAY too much fun...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:10:00 -0400

My OmniDiskSweeper diagnostic, I’m having WAY too much fun pressing the DELETE button and emptying out the crapola in my drive.

maryrambin: Here’s how you should follow Mercedes Benz Fashion...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:07:00 -0400

maryrambin:

Here’s how you should follow Mercedes Benz Fashion Week with Julia and I:

Live from the Front Row:

I blog photos from my seat via iPhone, quality is decent

I livestream to Mogulus from my N95 via Qik, YOU ARE FRONT ROW!

Julia live twitters via ghetto Treo

(That’s a lot of technology, Megs would be so proud!)

Post-Show:

Julia uploads better quality pictures via MacBook Air in the W Lounge

I recap all shows at end of day on blog

Video On Demand and Looping Feed on Mogulus

Behind the Scenes:

Added all the time everywhere!

I promise to twitter more :)

I’m SO proud of BOTH my girls, they are ROCKIN’ OUT Fashion Week and using technology to boot. My mother has been glued to their blogs all day. Miss my ladies- xoxo

STARTUP DISK ALMOST FULL? I’ve been ignoring the error...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 20:00:00 -0400

STARTUP DISK ALMOST FULL?

I’ve been ignoring the error message ‘Startup Disk is almost full’ for quite some time now. It’s caused me a MAJOR migraine trying decipher exactly what to discard and what is taking up the most space on my hard drive. Today, I decided it was time to slay the dragon (i.e. my overflowing startup disk) and go for the gusto when it comes to cleanup. At first the clean out process was overwhelming, until I came across the MOST incredible hard-drive diagnostic software called OmniDiskSweeper. I’m a huge fan of The Omni Group and this application lives up to the high standards they are known for. The application shows you EXACTLY what’s filling up your drive. There’s a free version to download for a diagnosis and after that it gives you the option to pay $14.99 for the ability to delete from the actual application itself. I’m not going to lie, finding this application made me yell ‘WOOT!’ at my little laptop.

FLIP THIS! READER QUESTION: I remember you telling me at your...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:39:00 -0400

FLIP THIS!

READER QUESTION:

I remember you telling me at your launch party that you dislike the Flip. You know what? I’m with you. I’m fed up of it not being compatible with iMovie. I was wondering if you could also recommend a good compact digital camera I could use for both photos and decent quality video? Actually what might be more useful is to let me know what specs I should look for in the video camera part of a digicam? I want to do more video stuff for my blog and I am struggling to know the perfect compromise between camera size, video quality, and ease of upload to sites like vimeo. Also what size memory card would you recommend? I currently only use a 1GB and it runs out of space quickly if I am using the video camera.

MY RESPONSE:

I like to keep my ‘Gadgets on the Go’ to a minimum, so to me, it makes no sense carting around both the Flip and a digital camera. Especially, when the video quality and ease of upload is vastly superior using a digital camera on video mode compared to using the Flip. I know that there are A LOT of Flip Fan’s out there (Oprah spurred a whole movement when she endorsed them), so I hate to burst your bubble, but the most logical choice (keeping the purchases to a minimum) is to take your digital camera and load it with a large memory card. My choice in size? 4GB. As far as cameras are concerned, I’m a Canon Girl (FYI- I’m not being bribed in any way to endorse Canon, I just like them). Right now, I’m using the Canon SD870, it’s no my most favorite model, but it does the job. Mary and Julia use Canon’s SD 700 series. Why? Well, as you mentioned it’s quite frustrating to have to reformat video files into ones compatible to your computer. If you’re working off of a Mac, converting The Flip’s files are a pain in the booty. That being said, the Canon cameras I suggested are VERY compatible with Mac because of their AVI formatting. Purchasing a digital camera is a personal decision, like phones, everyone has a feature that is particularly important. The best advice I can give you is to try a Canon and perhaps another brand (like a Sony Cybershot) and see which one you feel is most adaptable for your needs.

To further answer your question here are some specs you should look for in a digitial camera when it comes to video capabilities:

Resolution 5 megapixels or greater
Lens type Supports lens converters or interchangeable lenses or zoom with widest focal range possible
Storage media High-capacity CompactFlash, Hitachi Microdrive, or Secure Digital/MultiMediaCard
Interfaces USB 2.0 or FireWire
Exposure controls Automatic, aperture- and shutter-priority, manual, choice of metering modes, autobracketing
Focus controls Automatic with selectable focus points, manual
Flash modes Automatic, fill, slow sync, hot shoe or contact for external flash
Cool features to look for Compatibility with existing 35mm-camera lenses and accessories, customizable user modes, dynamic histogram display, optical or mechanical image stabilization

UPDATE: I was mistaken about the Flip’s new software, apparently the new version of the Flip is Mac compatible.

READER QUESTION: I have all my contacts on my work HP computer...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:29:00 -0400

READER QUESTION:

I have all my contacts on my work HP computer which synchs with my blackberry. Is there a website that I can upload all my contacts to and then have my Mac synch with the website?

Basically I am trying to get all my HP contacts onto my Mac.

MY RESPONSE:

A compatibility question between Mac and PC? How obscure (NOT!!!). I’m estatic to tell you about Transmedia’s Glide web based suite that offers a slew of online applications you can access from any computer (PC or Mac- YAY!).

I’m a Google Docs girl and have done my far share of investigation into Zoho, but after seeing this range of products offered through Glide, I’m tempted to switch. Here’s a taste of what’s offered:

Word processor
Presentation software
E-mail
Calendar
Contacts
Online Photo
Video
Music sharing

Check out the site along with this great informational video by G4’s Attack of the Show.

Michael Moore’s trailer of Slacker Uprising. It’s...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:34:39 -0400

Michael Moore’s trailer of Slacker Uprising. It’s the first film released by Moore free online to the public. The film shows Moore on a 62-city tour during the 2004 U.S. presidential election where he tries to rally voters to support Democrat John Kerry.

"Thousands of people braved the rain to watch a 50ft (15m) high mechanical spider come to life in Liverpool. "

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:25:07 -0400

"Thousands of people braved the rain to watch a 50ft (15m) high mechanical spider come to life in...

Here’s the Sony Gadget Vending Machine, Zoom Systems the...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:40:51 -0400

Here’s the Sony Gadget Vending Machine, Zoom Systems the manufacturer of both the iPod and Sony vending machines does not like to be called ‘vending machines’ rather they prefer the term ‘robotic store’. There’s not much of a difference between these two ‘robotic stores’ (Sony and iPod) except the product brands vary in each (expect for the PSP which are sold in both- YAY!).

It’s an interesting alternative to purchasing items at a regular store. My only issue that I can’t seem to wrap my head around, is coughing up 200 smackers for an item that is distributed like a $2 candy bar.

ATTACK OF THE GADGET VENDING MACHINES Yes, I know that iPod...

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:28:00 -0400

ATTACK OF THE GADGET VENDING MACHINES

Yes, I know that iPod vending machines have been out for over a year now, but of course yours truly couldn’t help but make an video showing the goods of what lies beneath the glass walls when it comes to digital snacks.