Radio Shack’s Netogether connecting tech heads from coast to coast

This weekend, the gals from GadgetSpin (Beth, Eliane, and Ponzi) and myself have been hosting Tech Makeovers at Radio Shack’s Netogether. Ponzi and I are hosting the event from  NYC’s Times Square, while Beth and Eliane are in hosting the event from San Franciscos’ Herman Plaza. If you guys are in a desperate need of a makeover,and are in the area make sure you check  the schedule at http://www.radioshack.com/theshack/ to find out when our Tech Makeovers are. It’s all very exciting stuff. We’ve had New Yorker’s dancing, singing, and beat-boxing for technology, and we’ve given away laptops, Flip cameras, Coolpix digital cameras, iPods, and netbooks to people who desperately need a tech makeover. You can watch some of those videos over at www.radioshack.com/theshack.

I’m posting pictures from the event below as well as video and a press release that gives you more details about tomorrow’s event. Please check it out, and if you’re in the are, come out and say hello! I’d love to see your face!

Press Release Below:

Thousands Watch as RadioShack Kicks Off Its Three-Day Summer Netogether Linking New York and San Francisco

Event connects Times Square and Justin Herman Plaza as two massive, 17-foot laptop computers with webcams show how technology can keep people together

New York (August6, 2009) —Thousands of people across the country watched in person and online as RadioShack Corporation’s (NYSE: RSH) three-day Summer Netogether in New York’s Times Square and San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza got underway today. The event marks the unveiling of RadioShack’s new brand creative platform, “THE SHACK.”

“THE SHACK is a more contemporary way of communicating with consumers through really smart, interruptive messaging that cuts through the tremendous advertising clutter”, said Lee Applbaum, RadioShack’s Chief Marketing Officer. “This creative is not about changing our name; it’s about encouraging people to take another look at RadioShack, which is one of the key goals of our brand repositioning effort.”

To bring the new creative strategy to life, RadioShack is connecting the cities via two, massive, 11×17-foot laptop computers with webcams that allow live video and audio exchanges. Each day’s activities are also being streamed live online at www.radioshack.com/theshack.

During the first day, tens of thousands of visitors watched online and in person as the day’s events-including live music from the Grammy-award-winning American hip hop artists The Roots, celebrity appearances by Soprano actors Steve Shirripa and Vince Curatola and a cross-country Simon Says game led by Steve Max-unfolded.

Throughout the day, consumer technology bloggers, Beth Blecherman and Eliane Fiolet blogged about the event from San Francisco, and the Techie Diva team of Gina Hughes and Ponzi Pirillo blogged from New York. When they weren’t blogging, they hosted periodic tech challenges where audience members were asked to explain why they deserve a tech update. After a vote from the audience, the winners were awarded a variety of tech prizes from RadioShack to help them keep up with the latest mobility and connectivity devices.

Social media consultant Sarah Evans was also on hand to demonstrate to people how to connect through social media.

The event continues Friday and Saturday with a full schedule of entertainment and more opportunities for tech makeovers. Details on each day’s activities can be found at www.radioshack.com/theshack where visitors are encouraged to leave comments and make arrangements for bi-coastal reunions with families and friends. Upcoming highlights include:

• The LIVESTRONG Bike-Off pitting ten LIVESTRONG cyclists in New York City against ten in San Francisco in a one-hour bike-off competition. For each mile completed by the cyclists, RadioShack will donate $100 to the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

• Performances from San Francisco by Forest Sun, a singer, songwriter, music producer, poet and painter; Big Light, an indie psychedelic rock band; Minipop, an indie electronic and dream pop band from Oakland; and The Ruse, a Los Angeles-based band whose song “Beautiful is Gone”was recently the iTunes Single of the Week.

• A performance from New York by Melanie Fiona, whose EP, The Bridge, releases on Steve Rifkind’s SRC/ Motown Universal Records in fall 2009.

• World Hip Hop Beatbox Women’s Championship in San Francisco, and Rahzel, the self-proclaimed “Godfather of Noyze,” in New York.

• A comedy showcase hosted by comedian Mark Pitta in San Francisco and featuring comedians Suli McCullough from San Francisco and Mo Mandel and Brad Trackman from New York.

• A “Dance-Off”between The Rock Steady Crew, a breakdancing and hip hop group from New York, and San Francisco’s Rock Force Dance Crew.

• Yoga classes led by Ruah Bhay from New York and Stephanie Snyder in San Francisco; fitness classes led from New York by Steve Feinberg, the founder of Speedball Fitness; Tai Chi classes led by Julie Reinganum from San Francisco and Greg Woodson from New York; and a dance class led by Ronnie Reddick, a multi-faceted San Francisco-based choreographer and dancer.

Performers at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater will close out the entertainment for the three-day event with a performance Saturday evening at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT.

The schedule for Friday and Saturday can be found at www.radioshack.com/theshack where consumers are invited to watch the live streaming of the event and join in the conversation online.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

BlogHer 09′ Room of our Own Session: Gadgets For Blogging

First, I want to apologize for being MIA for the past couple of months. I’ve been going through a lot of changes (all good) in my life, and starting a new venture  called GadgetSpin with a group of talented women you all may already know. Go check out our new video blog at www.GadgetSpin.com. You guys are probably already familiar with these gals since they are everywhere online. They are Ponzi Pirillo from Ponzarelli.com, Beth Blecherman from TechMamas.com and Eliane Fiolet from Ubergizmo. Speaking of which, we will be heading to BlogHer this weekend and will be livestreaming as well as conducting a panel called “Gadgets for Blogging.” We’ve all be blogging for a very long time, so we’ll be sharing our wisdom with fellow bloghers. If you happen to be attending the conference, make sure you stop by our vlogging station and say hello. Below are more details…

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

LEGO Diamond Ring Proposal

Remember when everyone was finding some geeky way to propose to their girlfriends back in 2006? Yeah, well here’s another example of what to do if your girl has a passion for LEGOs or all things geeky. The giant LEGO ring housed a real diamond ring inside a transparent brick stone. Not the most subtle way to say you want to spend the rest of your life with someone, but what is?

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Belkin’s makes new mice more comfortable

Mice and comfort are two words that aren’t frequently together in a sentence, but Belkin wants to change the way we feel about that annoying devices next to our keyboards. I just hope its Comfort Mice nice product line feels as good as it looks. Gizmodo says the Comfort Mice are available with a retractable cable, in Bluetooth, and wireless. They’ll be available in Midnight Blue, Pitch Black, Fushia, and Candy Red when they are released at the end of July in Europe, Asia, and Australia.  More details here.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Study: Consumers still confused about netbooks

We have three netbooks in our house, and to be honest, I rarely use them unless I’m going on a trip. They’re actually very useful if they have a big screen, a webcam, and full-sized keyboard, otherwise they’ll just sit in a corner to collect dust like my first netbook did.  I’m sure Techie Diva readers don’t have this problem, but according to a recent study, the average consumer can’t tell the difference between a netbook and a notebook.  That is a serious problem.  Sadly, consumers believe the two have the same functionalities!  So next time you’re shopping for a notebook, keep this in mind and shell out the extra cash for something you’ll be happy with in the longrun. Netbooks are meant as a companion, not a replacement.

Check out the study below for more details regarding the study.  Via Engadget

NPD Finds Consumer Confusion about Netbooks Continues

Port Washington, NY, June 22, 2009 – Netbook, notebook – they sound the same. According to a new report from leading market research company, The NPD Group, many consumers believe the two have the same functionalities. NPD’s Netbooks II: A Closer Look report, found that 60 percent of consumers who purchased a netbook instead of a notebook thought their netbooks would have the same functionality as notebooks.

That confusion about functionality is leading to some dissatisfaction. Only 58 percent of consumers who bought a netbook instead of a notebook said they were very satisfied with their purchase, compared to 70 percent of consumers who planned on buying a netbook from the start.

Satisfaction was even harder to ascertain among 18- to 24-year-olds, one of the main demographics manufacturers were hoping to win over with the new products. Among that age group, 65 percent said they bought their netbooks expecting better performance, and only 27 percent said their netbooks performed better than expected.

One marketing aspect that has interested buyers is the portability factor. It’s been the key marketing tool for netbook manufacturers, and consumers agree that it is a great feature. Sixty percent of them said that was a main reason they bought their netbooks. However, once they got home, 60 percent of buyers said they never even took their netbooks out of the house.

“We need to make sure consumers are buying a PC intended for what they plan to do with it,” said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. “There is a serious risk of cannibalization in the notebook market that could cause a real threat to netbooks’ success. Retailers and manufacturers can’t put too much emphasis on PC-like capabilities and general features that could convince consumers that a netbook is a replacement for a notebook. Instead, they should be marketing mobility, portability, and the need for a companion PC to ensure consumers know what they are buying and are more satisfied with their purchases.”

Methodology
Nearly 600 adults from NPD’s online panel who were identified as netbook owners completed this survey between April 27 and May 4, 2009.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Facebook on your desktop with Facebook(er)

I’m an avid Facebook user, and most of the time I update it from either my iPhone or through the browser, but the folks over at Widget Realm developed a sweet widget so you can keep an eye on Facebook from your desktop. Facebook (er) allows you to see all your friend’s status updates, change your status, and see if you’ve received any new messages, pokes, friend requests, group requests, and more.  The application is free to download through Facebook or  Yahoo! Widgets, but you’ll need to download the Yahoo! Widgets application to your computer first to get it working. As you can see from the image above, the interface is very clean, easy to use, and I love how easy it is to scroll through your friend’s status updates. When you mouse over your buddy’s profile picture, small icons appear over the image giving you quick access to their pictures, comments, pokes, and messages. Your current status update constantly scrolls above the status update,  and you can change the widget’s refresh rate, so you’ll always have the latest updates appear on your desktop.  It’s a wonderful widget to have so download it, and come back to tell us what you think. I’m still testing it out, but so far I’m really digging it.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Lego dress for geek fashionistas

Who says you can’t be stylish and geeky at the same time? Here’s the Lego Dress by designer JC De Castelbajac that has printed the famous Lego brick design all over it in different colors, and just like Lego bricks that are able to fit to one another perfectly (it’s magic, I know!), this dress will also fit all shapes and sizes, as long as, you know, it comes in your size. Well, would you fork out $135 for this perfect summer dress (to those who’re living in the northern hemisphere, of course)?

Source: Geek Sugar

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

WikiPock Twitter Contest

Those who don’t have an iPhone or internet connection when you need it the most, need something like WikiPock. WikiPock brings Wikipedia to your mobile phone so you can search for information anytime, anywhere without the need for an internet connection. The guys over at WikiPock sent me a review unit, and I’m loving it, so we decided to give away a copy to 10 lucky winners. WikiPock is available for Blackberry, and Windows mobile phones. Normally, this application is available for $9.99 as a download or it can be preloaded on a microSDHC memory card for an extra $15, but you can win one here before you head back to school or go on vacation.

To enter this contest, simply spread the word about this contest and WikiPock on Twitter by using the hashtags #wikipock and #techiediva in your tweet.

Example: I’m entering the #wikipock contest on #techiediva. Check it out.

If you don’t have a Twitter account, just leave us a message below in the comments section, and make sure you use a valid email account so we can contact you.

You should also visit WikiPock or visit their Twitter page at https://twitter.com/wikipock to learn more about this wicked cool application.

We will select the winners on June 24, 2009, so get your entry in before then. The contest is only open to U.S. citizens over 18.

Good luck everyone!

Update: We’ve extended the contest a few more days to give more people a chance to win, so make sure you enter.

Contest is now closed. Thanks to all those who entered!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Win a AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro Smartphone!-Contest closed

We are giving away an AT&T Pantech Matrix Pro smartphone along with a $100 AT&T gift card to one lucky Techie Diva reader. The contest will run starting today until May 6, 2009 11:59 EST. We will select a winner on May 7th at random, so make sure you get your entries in before we announce the winner. The contest is only open to U.S. residents. To enter, you must do the following:

1. Join our Facebook Group or Facebook Page.

2. Update your Facebook status with: Win a Pantech Matrix Pro at www.techiediva.com (or something like that)

3. Send an email to matrixpro@techiediva.com with your name, and a link to your facebook profile. This will count as your entry, so make sure you do that.

That’s it! We are making this very easy for everyone to enter and have an opportunity to win this awesome phone!

Updated: We got a winner! We are now awaiting confirmation back from them, and once that’s done, we’ll reveal the name. Thanks for entering the contest!

We have two more contests coming up next week, so come back to find out what the prizes are and how you can win!

Contest is closed! Congratulations to C. C. Syner, winner of the Pantech Matrix Pro.

Technorati Profile

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Sir Richard Branson gets techie on flight to Orange County

Virgin America’s inaugural flight from San Francisco to Orange County took place on April 29th, and I joined in the all-day festivities to bring you some interesting bits about some of your favorite reality TV stars starting with Sir Richard Branson (”The Rebel Billionaire”).  If you guys are following me on Facebook, then you got to see my instant updates throughout the day ( I wish it was as easy to update this blog from my iPhone, but it’s not, so make sure you follow me on Facebook). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to see Sir Richard Branson sitting next to Arianna Huffington across the aisle as they conducted a live  interview for Digg fans on UStream. You can see a list of questions they asked him here. Personally, I wanted to find out just how social media savvy Sir Branson really is, and while he’s not on Facebook, he did tell me he follows his fake profile there for laughs. He was also proud of the fact that he  updates his own Twitter account on occasion and even has a blog, which is more than most billionaires can say. What’s even better is that he conducted his first Twitter interview from the sky with the LA Times using hashtags (#vx2oc)! How times have changed!

Miss iJustine was also on board hosting Virgin America’s celebrity air-to-ground stream for the OC flight launch, and celebs like Shaun White, Sunset Tan, The Real Housewives of Orange County, and others were there to celebrate the launch. We’ll be posting video of the event shortly, so stay tuned for the rest of the interviews. Meanwhile, check out our Flickr stream for more candids, and the pictures below.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

« Previous Page — Next Page »