Skip Succumbs

Well, it's happened. I have given into the pressures of mass consumer culture and purchased an iPhone. I know, I know.

But, in my defense, the entire purchase was motivated by my current complete lack of cell phone service in my own flat. While I am enternally devoted to T-Mobile, if there is one place my mobile needs to ring, it is in my house! Secondly, please believe me that this was a carefully considered (and reconsidered) decision that involved multiple trips to Verizon and AT&T before I finally accepted the iPhone as my own. I tried the Storm (painfully slow) and the Omnia (frustrating user interface) but, ultimately, the iPhone was the lesser of the evils.

I hope you can forgive me, dear readers!

Update 1/18: Just a wee note, on the ridiculously cool iTunes/iPhone App store. As much as I wanted to hate it, it might make the entire conformist thing worth it. I am obsessed with Shazam (already put to use on a Ray LaMontagne song), my Traffic update application that helps me avoid road rage on my commute and the quirky Quad Camera program that has turned my otherwise crappy iPhone camera into a nifty Lomo-type one.

Mini Me

With basically nothing to do at work this week (my final four days) and the excuse of my impending birthday, I've logged (too) many hours trolling the world wide web for much-needed gifting treats.

Indeed, my latest craving is the Dell Inspiron Mini in Alpine White. While not an Apple, the Mini is finally a refreshing aesthetic offering from the stodgy PC people that can somewhat compete with the chic-and-sleek (if functionally weak) MacBook.

It's so wee! It's so portable! It's perfect for my New England-late-Fall-walks-through-parks-with-poetry-writing-stops-at-Starbucks...er...or something.

Chumby

I have a new pet. While not a puppy as RTT repeatedly promised, my new pet is a Chumby named Loafy.

Chumby is a total gadget-freak invention that replaces your alarm clock while also acting as an entertainment device pre-bed time. It has a squishy exterior with a small screen in front with widgets that can be customized on Chumby channels; mine include the weather, Boston traffic, my horoscope and the New York Times headlines while RTT uses it to watch the David Letterman Top Ten clips each night and repeat his channel's asinine Chuck Norris jokes to me.

I certainly do not think that a Chumby is for everyone, but I am particular about my alarm clocks and to be able to wake up to a stream of NPR news headlines (or Top 40 Hits or the New York Times Book Review podcast) rather than an assaulting siren is worth the money. Even if it means I have to hear how Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the world down.

Skip Loves Large Bags

I harbor no doubts about my long standing candidates for the imaginary "best invention" contest I hold in my day dreams. Clearly, I do not believe it to be indoor plumbing, electricity, the Internet or the printing press (as submitted by my brother and father, respectively). But in our modern age, I am convicted that the greatest consumer creations to-date are the Sharpie and Ziploc bags. The permanence, the colors, the convenience, the preservation! I refuse to hear of any other so-called contenders (e.g. the pencil sharpener, cars and the ill-fated VHS cassette).

Indeed, my case for the Ziploc bag just got that much more persuasive when I recently discovered (and promptly purchased) the XXL Ziploc bags. They offer the same plastic conserving features of the smaller, kitchen-sized creations, but are sized for sports equipment, garden gnomes, camping supplies (as if I would ever go camping, but still...), etc. Absolute genius!

I shoved every last piece of exercise paraphernalia into one bag and labeled it as such with a Sharpie.

Oh. My. Awesome.

As a Shoe Buyer, I participate in many a 'wear-test' program which, though intended to direct fit and quality, basically involves me just getting free shoes (and the occasional fabulous handbag). It's probably the best part about my job. So, when asked by a co-worker almost 6-months ago to be a part of his friend's mobile phone website testing program I eagerly signed up (I'm a gadget freak, after all), while still carefully managing my expectations since I am clearly way down on the priority list as a friend of a friend of the brother's uncle or whatever. Imagine my surprise when I was informed that the influx of new 'consumer available' mobile phones in Q3 2006 meant that my number was up! Oh, happy day!

But wait, it gets better. I was concerned that my phone was going to be a beast of a machine with intricacies I could never discover and functionalities I would never use. But, today I received my free test phone, the Samsung i320N (which I must comment on and then return in 3 weeks or purchase at 50%-off the wholesale price), and I'm about to faint. No, really. I love Samsung phones, first of all, and second of all, it's incredible! Despite a QWERTY keypad, this mobile is slim and I know how to use it because I already have a Samsung phone and it has an incredible camera and nifty lights and a radio and an organizer and...I think I'm pretty much speechless...

I may have to leave work to play with my new friend.

Skip Likes Tiny Things

What is it exactly about electronic gadgets and size? Perhaps that is an inbecilic question, but think about it. Why is it the smaller things become the cooler they are?

Regardless, I've fallen into the size trap. Although I am ever-loyal to my iPod Nano, I couldn't help but gasp at the new iPod Shuffle. It's so tiny! Granted it has no screen, but who cares when it's the size of a half dollar and for less than $100?!?! Clearly it couldn't be my plane pod, but I'm definitely considering it for the B-team, bus pod position.

News in a New Way

Thanks to my friends at DailyCandy, I have been turned on to the Newsmap news service and its novel and quirky visual representation of news dissemination and reporting across the globe. Not only does it look cubist and cool, but read this description from its creators;

Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google news aggregator. A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator. Treemaps are traditionally space-constrained visualizations of information. Newsmap's objective takes that goal a step further and provides a tool to divide information into quickly recognizable bands which, when presented together, reveal underlying patterns in news reporting across cultures and within news segments in constant change around the globe.

Um, algorithms? So cool! I love the news.

A Home for L'il Lou

For those of you who know me, it will not come as a surprise that my obsession with everything having its place is tantamount only to accessorizing. Naturally, I need a GPS watch for my half-marathon training. Naturally, I must have a magenta snake skin case for my camera. Of course I must have Hunter Wellingtons in case I'm stranded in flood waters or working at a dairy farm in Cornwall. And, naturally, my Nano (named L'il Lou) needs its own home.

I've discovered that the market for Nano cases, skins, etc. is just as vast as that for iPods (recall my Invisishield infatuation). And there are some fairly amazing choices out there. Take for example the Nano armour or Nano Capsule, each makes a different statement about the owner and hints at the varying contents of the pod.

After an arduous search, I have located the perfect poetic statement of a case to protect my pod. The incredible, the artistic, the witty, the Gelaskin.

Skip Gets Cooked

Those of you readers who know me (and let's be realistic as to how we define 'readers;' Mom, I would hope that you know me) are well aware that my skin tone resembles that of bleached rice. This naturally presents a problem when exposed to heat or light in any form, be it sun, heat lamps or some 75-watt bulbs held at close range. In less time than it takes for me to fall in love with a pair of shoes, my skin has turned red and blotchy and developed adorable freckles, warning me that I am essentially slow-roasting and will soon be in extreme, burning pain. Unfortunately, these symptoms are most easily viewed in relative darkness (i.e. after coming inside from sitting in the sun).

Now, thanks to some fellow, skin-cancer conscious Brits, who understand my Ivory Tower immurement so to speak, I can have my very own 'done-o-meter' and truly cook to perfection like a Thanksgiving Turkey. The UV Meter monitors your exposure to sun and UV rays and beeps to indicate when you've baked long enough (about 3 minutes...I'm a medium-rare girl after all).

Genius. Stick a fork in me, I'm done.

Skip's a Beta Tester

I'm positive that my steadfast support of all things Yahoo! resulted in my being a beta-tester for their new mail portal. I mean, not really, but I did download the new beta version of Yahoo! Mail and I am obsessed with it!

Check out all the nifty icons (I especially like the Spam folder with a flame shooting out of it), search function, direct access to RSS feeds and easy layering of open email with convienent tabs.

It's awesome! All you gmail losers should be very jealous.

More Distractions Needed

Being at home sick and bored, infested by the evil Mono virus, has got me craving mindless things to do. I've almost completed all my Sudoko books (which is not only sad, but very sad), and daytime television is simply not what it used to be. As I am too exhausted most of the time to stay focused on any one activity, I think I need several options.

The only all-in-one conclusion I can come to is to get a Sony PSP. I mean, it would serve so many purposes! I could surf the web, play numerous distracting video games (Madden Football), snooze listening to some tunes uploaded onto the device, watch movies (in the UMD format, thank you Sony for another annoying, proprietary technology) and dork-out at the local coffee shop (in my pyjamas). It would also come in handy for my flight to Chicago on Wednesday and my future trips to New York.

Santa?

Spy Tactics from Dr. Evil

Apparently, Dr. Evil was onto something in Austin Powers when he requested souped-up sharks to be used as tools in espionage and naval warfare. It seems that the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is pursuing this creature for exploitation in exactly this way (ok, neural implants for control is the same thing).

Now, I will readily admit to having more political passivity than a doorknob, but does anyone else out there think this is the stupidest idea they have ever heard!?!? I am trying in vain to add some political validity to my blog, but seriously, this was in Austin Powers! It's funny, not functional! I realize that I'm a bit late to the political party here, but weaponizing animals (insects included, apparently DARPA has some clever explosive-smelling bees) just seems a little too Animal Farm/Chronicles of Narnia for my taste.

Sharks with frickin' laser beams at Salon.com.

Protect and Beautify

I've heard through the grapevine that the iPod Invisible Shield is not exactly user-friendly. Of course it covers your pod in a nifty, thin, clear plastic shell, but it requires water and creates air bubbles and blah blah blah. The entire process sounds a might complicated for a lazy lady like myself.

So what kind of alternative is there to the Invisible Shield but that doesn't look like a space suit for your Nano? The Moshi iGlaze; ultra-fine gloss, scratch-resistent, removable with no residue and zero air bubbles. Perfect. I'll take the matchy-matchy milk white.

PS- And who out there doesn't like saying 'Moshi?'

Skip is Going to Faint

Seriously, I'm hyperventilating. I have to go to Walgreen's and get some brown paper bags to breathe slowly into otherwise I will pass out. In the meantime, look at this...

It's as if someone read my dreams and painted them into a perfect reality. First there is talk of a touch-screen iPod and now this! What is Apple trying to do to my sanity?!?!

Apple mobile phone.

Go, Go Gadget Watch

Cool. Night vision.

Swiss Army Watch.

Skip Downsizes

In the spirit of minimalism and cost-cutting and in preparation for a move (see Take Back 2006), I have determined that everything I own will have to be extremely efficient, effective and streamlined...I'm all about product multi-tasking.

This obviously obligates me to acquire some new, key items. For example, rather than an alarm clock and stereo, I will dispose of both and replace them with the iHome i5 clock radio. Then, rather than earbuds for the gym and massive, noise-cancelling cans for the plane, I will simply have the 6i Isolaters.

Et, voila! Less stuff. Genius!

NB: This will all clearly require me to upgrade to the Nano, but it's all in the name of parsimony!

Take it back, Brad

No. This is wrong on so many levels.

Tune Buckle.

Skip to the Future

Apparently JBL had 'The Jetsons' in mind when they created this spacy OnTime iPod alarm clock. It's ridiculously cool looking and I can already see my cats' heads stuck in the halo space (which is clearly a reason to buy); but, though I consider myself a modern girl, this just might be too contemporary, architechture-as-consumer-electronics for me.

Then again, maybe not. Have you seen the size of the snooze button?!?!

Skip's Mobile Phone Update

The wait is over! My oft'-blogged-about favorite phone ever, the Motorola SLVR, is now available in the US.

At eGizmo.com.

Spy Gal Skip

Last night, after much discussion about the state of man/men with my pal Natalie over some red wine and the persistent, pestering voice of our waitress, we have decided to become spies. Much like my (as-yet-unfounded) notoriety as Wilderness Barbie, I think I will like having the gear more than being a gumshoe. But, honestly, who wouldn't love accessories like this pen video camera or the indispensable envelope x-ray spray!?!

Available at Spy Life.