Entries categorized as ‘For The Love of GEEK.’
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 · 5 Comments
A few months ago, due to the whole toxic water bottle craze, I dumped my uncool Nalgene and opted for a Sigg — like all the cool kids. Up to this point, I didn’t have too many issues with my Sigg except for ONE:
- Not being able to CLEAN it well! The mouth of the Sigg is too narrow that I can’t stuff a brush or a sponge down there to clean the insides of the bottle. I also can’t look into the bottle to make sure there is no residue or “gunk” on the insides. A little unnerving.
This morning, I forgot my Sigg at home. So I ended up buying a Klean Kanteen bottle for $27 at Bikram Yoga NYC Midtown. After checking the Klean Kanteen website, it looks like I purchased a Classic 40 oz Bottle with a Loop cap.
After just a single use, I am OFFICIALLY CONVERTED!! Here’s why:
- Klean Kanteen Bottles are 100% BPA and Toxic-free! Apparently, not ALL steel water bottles are created equal. I was SHOCKED to discover that in August 2009 Sigg , publicly acknowledged for the first time that every aluminum bottle made and sold by their companies prior to August 2008 was knowingly LINED with an epoxy resin containing BPA.
- Klean Kanteen Bottles are made with Food-Grade Stainless Steel: This means that the steel doesn’t need to be lined with anything to protect the metal. This also means there won’t be any flavor residue left on the bottles.
- WIDE MOUTHS!! Such a little thing, but the mouth of the bottle is large enough that I can look inside to ensure a good cleaning. You can also guzzle without having to stop for air during class! (or, can sneak in icecubes on a hot summer day)
- Caps don’t have to be twisted 15x to be tightened. This seems like a very petty thing, but on a Sigg bottle, the caps need to be twisted at least 10 times in order for it to be opened or closed. Although it’s nice knowing the bottle’s secure, during a yoga class when you want to take a quick swig of water, having to continually twist the cap on & off gets to be a pain in the ass. I loved the fact that my Klean Kanteen cap screwed on and off securely with just a few simple twists.
To read more about why Klean Kanteens are so DOPE, click here!
To purchase a Klean Kanteen of your own, visit their website: www.kleankanteen.com. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors!
I know I’m going to be gradually making the switch from Sigg to Klean Kanteen!!
Categories: For The Love of GEEK. · Yoga
Tagged: Klean Kanteen, reusable water bottle, Sigg
Sunday, November 22, 2009 · 2 Comments
The beauty of Twitter is the sharing of information. Immediately after my Droid post, @The_Borg wised me up to the new HTC Passion that is rumored to be announced on Verizon in mid-December.
Check out PhoneArena for some detailed info on the specs, but some highlights that make this sucker attractive are:
- 1 GHz Snapdragon processor
- large WVGA-resolution screen with multitouch
- HTC Sense overlay
- Android 2.0 OS
- 5 MP camera w/ auto focus & digital zoom
If this is like other HTC handsets, there is no slide-out QWERTY keyboard, but immediately, the design of the device is far more attractive than the square brick-of-a-Motorla-Droid.
THE ONE MYSTERY: What’s that round button on the bottom? Is it a Sleep Button?
Rumors are, Verizon will be announcing this device in mid-December.
I guess the lesson with technology: it’s nearly impossible to keep up! Just when you think you have the latest, there will always be another new lust-worthy device on the horizon.
Categories: For The Love of GEEK.
Tagged: Droid, HTC Passion, Verizon
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 · 4 Comments
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageously bad AT&T reception on my iPhone?…
It’s no secret that I have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone 3G: I love the device, I hate the poor service with AT&T in NYC. I still have my gripes with the iPhone, too (the lag in responsiveness in between screens, poor battery life), but overall the good outweighs the bad:
- seamless synchronization with my MobileMe account
- music, calendar, email and contacts all in one device
- great apps, and lots of them!
- easy UI, sleek & solid design
Lately, the AT&T coverage in NYC seems to be getting worse and worse. Last night, I had 3 dropped calls within the span of 2 minutes. No bueno.
Verizon launched the Motorola Droid on Friday, November 6th. It’s rumored to be the 1st of many Droid devices coming out on Verizon. The Gadget Girl in me is very tempted to add this new shiny toy to my phone arsenal. I’ve been frequenting the local Verizon Wireless store to play with the Droid for the past week (so much so, all the employees know I’m there just to play with it).
No doubt, it’s positioned as a sexy device. Just reading about the features makes me drool:
- Android 2.0 software
- RELIABLE Verizon coverage
- VERY responsive to touch
- big, bright & beautiful screen
- Notifications drop-down keeps all your alerts conveniently in one place
- Great apps (not as many options as iPhone, but they are not far behind)
- slide out full QWERTY keyboard with D-Pad
- 2 touchscreen QWERTY keyboards: vertical & horizontal
- 5 MP camera
- Verizon’s über reliable, fast network
But I admit I’m hesitant. The same features that make the Droid attractive are also its greatest vices. Here are my personal reasons, based on my limited playtime:
- Dual-band, CDMA: CDMA gives great Verizon coverage in the States, but the Droid is a dual-band phone. Unfortunately, this is crippling to any international jet-setter or traveler (I am neither). The rest of the world typically runs on a GSM/SIM-card system. You’ll be virtually unable to use the Droid in Europe and Asia.
- Clunky design: Yes, the Droid has a very “solid” feel to it. No one wants to feel like their phone is made of plastic (even if it really is). But for a newly launched phone, the design of the Motorola Droid seems square & clunky. No rounded edges.
- Slide out keyboard: The full QWERTY keyboard — while it’s definitely handy — seems to be more of a handicap than a help. The keys lay directly adjacent to each other, with no topography — I really like raised keys so you get a sense of differentiation between the letters. It’s easy to make typos and difficult to discern between keys. Also, I don’t have gigantic thumbs, but this keyboard feels very Lilliputian…
- D-Pad: This is a great little tactile cursor-navigator, but compared to the size of the mini-keyboard, it’s HUMONGOUS. I would trade a smaller D-Pad for a better QWERTY keyboard.
- Touch-screen keyboard: In addition to the slider keyboard, the Droid offers 2 touch-screen QWERTY keyboard options: vertical & horizontal. Both are very sensitive, which is good & bad (I wish there was some way to adjust the touch-sensitivity). The horizontal is decent, but the vertical one is more difficult to use. Even though the width of the Droid screen size is comparable to the iPhone, the vertical touch-screen keyboard on the iPhone seems easier to use.
- 5 MP Camera: 5MP is pretty great for a camera phone. Yet, somehow the auto-focus on the Droid seems to botch this up. It’s hard to time perfectly and seems to take an eternity to snap an in-focus shot.
- It’s gotten slower: In the week that I’ve gone to the store and played with the device, its responsiveness has gotten significantly slower. Granted, it’s probably been man-handled by hundreds of people, but it doesn’t bode well to say it’s slowed so much over the course of one week.
CONCLUSION:
SO…Despite my inner gadget fiend, I’ve suppressed my Droid desire, and resisted buying it because of the above. Also Verizon’s newly-implemented $350 ETF is not attractive. For a gal who hates commitment, that’s a hefty fee to break up with Verizon.
(I’m also trying to be a sensible adult, and not buy every new gadget that pops up on the market).
I think I’m going to wait and see what the next Droid device will be. Hopefully they’ll update it accordingly with some of the consumer feedback — particularly with the keyboards.
Do you have a Droid? If so, do you love it?
Categories: For The Love of GEEK.
Tagged: Droid, iPhone
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 · 4 Comments
I never thought I’d ever utter these words, but: I have e-Book Reader ENVY!
This past July, my parents were generous enough to buy me the Amazon Kindle for my birthday. Since I have a 45-minute subway commute to work, and I travel a lot for my job, a Kindle was the perfect gift. I read more books on there in 2 months, than I did ALL of last year.
Then, last night, my friend @brooklynbum had to go and spoil my contentment by showing me this story on Gizmodo about the new Barnes & Noble e-Reader, Nook.
←DROOL
Just from everything I’ve read online, here’s what I can gather about these 2 devices.
Of course, the Nook boasts a lot of the SAME standard features the Kindle offers:
- e-Ink Screen
- Sample e-Books
- Free Wi-Fi or 3G to download books
- 2MB of built-in Memory
- Built-in Dictionary
- Page Mark-Up ability
- Kindle & Nooks both have FREE versions for BBs, Handhelds and iPhone
How is the Nook BETTER than the Kindle?
- Touch Screen (sexy!)
- Color Book Cover preview window (extra sexy!)
- Memory Slot Card for expandable memory: you can carry your entire bookshelf on 1 memory card!
- MP3 Music listening capabilities
- No Keyboard (I think this is an advantage, because I don’t often use mine and I’d rather devote the space to an enlarged screen)
- e-Lend Program: Ability to “Lend” a book to a friend for 2-weeks. Very much like an old-school library system. Books can be shared & read on any B&N e-Reader platform: on a PC, Mac, iPhone or Blackberry. Sharing is caring. (extra EXTRA sexy!)
- No International version…yet.
How is the Nook is NOT better than the Kindle?
- Limited Wi-Fi book-browsing: at least for the launch, you can only access the free Wi-Fi and browse books in their entirety AT Barnes & Noble store.
- Limited Title Offering: Amazon will offer a more extensive title offering, so if you are looking for obscure books, you still need to buy an “old-fashioned” paper version.
- e-Book prices are slightly higher on B&N.com than Amazon.com
Honestly, I’m kicking myself a little for copping the Kindle in July. I’m a sucker for all gadgets, shiny & new. I’m sure there will be kinks/bugs that will need to be worked out – as with any new device. But the initial specs look very promising.
Very drool-worthy!
You can place a pre-order for your Nook on the B&N Site. Expected ship date November 2009.
What do you think about the new Nook? Are you going to get one?
Categories: For The Love of GEEK. · Lust Caution
Tagged: Barnes & Noble, Nook, Kindle, e-Reader
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 · 5 Comments
Being the “social media gal” at MAC…I’ve decided to commit to understanding the GPS-app craze. I’ve been trying out both Foursquare and Gowalla like crazy. I’ve even been elevated to “Superuser – Level 1″ on Foursquare – go hard, or go home!
So far, between Gowalla and Foursquare, I’ve found Foursquare to be more “user-friendly”. But there is ONE thing that gets to me – on an ETHICAL level.
I remember as a child, being told “Cheaters never prosper!” But they can on Foursquare:
- Creating a “New Spot” Whenever you enter in deets for a New Spot, you get +5 points, rather than the +1 you get for checking in to an existing spot. Hypothetically, you can rack up more points just by creating multiple “new” spots. This lends to multiples of the same location on the Foursquare database.
- No GPS Checks & Balances For being a GPS social network…there’s no system of GPS checks & balances. Right now, I could do a search for my office on the Foursquare iPhone app and could technically “Check In” to my Office in NYC, even though I’m snuggling with Syd Vicious on my couch in Astoria. IMO, there should be some way of “detecting” whether you are actually even CLOSE to the place you’re checking into.
Like I said – so far, I still prefer Foursquare. Really digging the business-related Special Offers they’ve been implementing. But I really hope they add some security measures so we can all Foursquare fairly.
Categories: For The Love of GEEK.
Tagged: Foursquare, Gowalla
Saturday, September 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Clearly, a Saturday afternoon indoors = Heather geeking out online.
My friends Andrew Andrew are my fellow lovers of all things GEEK. Whenever I’m excited about a new iApp, program, device or gadget, I can always count on them to know about it so we can compare notes. They are also movers & shakers. As DJs and theater critics and Professional JetSetters, they are always on the go. So naturally, they would know all about the latest Apps.
First there was Loopt. Then there was FourSquare. But recently, Andrew Andrew have been raving about Gowalla. So I had to investigate for myself.
Overall COMMENTS about these types of GPS-locater/social networking Apps:
- Get over the GPS: At first, the thought of being GPS-locatable made me extremely uncomfortable. But it’s just something you have to get over. You must take comfort in the fact that you can approve (or un-approve) who your friends are and who has access to your whereabouts.
- Only as Fun as your Friends: Just like any other social network, it’s really only as fun as however many friends you have on that network. No friends, no fun.
After playing with Foursquare for a few months, with a handful of like-minded friends on there…here’s my personal feedback on the experience:
- MEH: It’s fun to know what folks are up to…but honestly I sometimes feel like it’s just a Lo-Jack for friends. And I ask myself, do I really need to know where they are at all times?
- TIPS/To Dos: I like the ability to create a “to do” list of places to check out.
- Badges: There seems to be NO rhyme or reason to the awarding of badges. It seems you get awarded a badge whenever the Arbitrary Badge Gods seem so inclined. I’d like to know what actions qualify for a certain badge. Goals, please.
- New location: If you enter in a new location, you must manually enter in the street address – it does not get detected by the GPS locater. It begs the question: What’s the point of a GPS App, if you have to MANUALLY enter in your location? DUR.
- Limited Cities: Foursquare is only limited to a preset list of major cities. Unfortunately, if you don’t live in one of these cities – ya can’t really play Foursquare. Sorry, Middle America. Only Big City Mice need apply.
OVERALL: It’s adequate. Even though it has FB & Twitter connect, and it gives you the option of contacting your Friends on there…it seems very one-dimensional. To me, it provides an, “OH, so that’s where my friends are…” function and that’s it.
GOWALLA
Disclaimer: I’ve only been playing with this for one afternoon, so this is really only my initial reaction to the App:
- Stamps, not Badges: Loving the fact that each time you Check-In to a Spot, you get a Stamp in your Passport. It’s a simple, quantifiable concept. It’s also very “real life travel”-esque.
- GPS Detected New Spots: If you are Checking In to a new Spot, the GPS will detect the address, instead of having to manually update it. (Thanks for paying attention, Gowalla)
- Adding Friends – LIMITING: You can only add friends via Twitter of Facebook. Would be great to be able to add Friends from your Address Book or various Email Accounts as well. Also, there is no “Invite Friends” option, where you can send invitations for people to join.
- Trips: Really fun feature – kinda like a Scavenger Hunt. Currently, you can only try pre-existing Trips, but eventually, there will be a way where you can create your own Trip & share it.
- Non-City Specific: Perhaps the BEST thing about Gowalla, is that it’s truly GPS-centric, not CITY-centric. It works wherever you are – even Internationally – not just for specific cities.
I’m sure I’ll learn more nuances about Gowalla the more I play, but for now, I think Gowalla is far more friendly and intuitive. Definitely a lot of potential to make it a very rich experience!
To learn more about GOWALLA, click here!
For more info on Andrew Andrew (and their Potato Salad Tour across America)…click here!
UPDATE:
- Gowalla seems to have some kinks in their “Add Friends” functionality. It’s really limiting to only be able to add friends from Twitter & FB.
- I AM liking the “Tips” functionality on Foursquare a lot. Nice to know what others have to say and recommend about a certain location.
- LOVING Foursquare’s new GPS-based Perks. If you’re the mayor of a certain location, you could be eligible for a freebie or a discount!
- For the time being: I’m using both programs simultaneously. We’ll see where we net out. Over & out.
Categories: For The Love of GEEK.
Tagged: Andrew Andrew, Foursquare, Gowalla, iPhone App
Saturday, September 26, 2009 · 1 Comment
My love/hate relationship with my iPhone continues.
I think for functionality and performance, the Blackberry tends to win. It’s a reliable email device, great battery performance, and overall work horse. But let’s face it: the iPhone is one sexy MoFo with Apps to accessorize your every whim and desire.
One of the things that I sorely miss from my Blackberry is the Blackberry Instant Messenger function, or “BBIM”. It allows Blackberry-to-Blackberry IM, without incurring any SMS charges. I’d love to have a similar IM function between iPhones.
Enter the WhatsApp FREEE iPhone App! This is the official description:
“WhatsApp is an iPhone-2-iPhone messenger and a smarter Address Book for your Smartphone. Thanks to the status feature, you and your friends will always know what’s up and how to best get in touch. And now, with iPhone Push Notifications, WhatsApp can even let you know when your contact’s status changes and what they are up to.”
In Real Girl terms: a smarter, more intuitive form of a BBIM.
- Push Notifications for new IMs: Simple. Stupid. Done.
- Status updates: Similar to AOL IM, you can assign a “status” to your name. It seems these days, everyone wants to get in on the Twitter phenomenon, so I’m noticing this “status” action across several different types of applications.
- Integration with Address Book:
Of course, the one catch is: other iPhone users must download the App in order to use it – unlike the BBIM, which comes standard on every device.
One WISH: We’ll be able to use this application as an iPhone-to-iPhone-OR-Blackberry Messenger. 
According to the WhatsApp people, it’s something they’re working on!
In the meantime, iPhone users rejoice!
Download WhatsApp here!
For more information about WhatsApp, click here.
Categories: For The Love of GEEK.
Tagged: BBIM, Blackberry, iPhone, What'sApp
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