If you have an iPhone or Android device you probably have heard of the credit card processor Square. Square allows you to accept credit card payments on your iPhone, iPod, iPad or Android device. You can even set up discounts and coupons through their web interface.

Everything is free from signing up for the service to receiving the reader they send you.  There is a tiny fee of 2.75% per swipe but you can gift the reader to a friend or relative.

What better gift to give than the gift of getting paid? For more info on how you can gift a Square credit card reader click here. It will cost you $1 to gift wrap it.

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We haven’t posted a deal of the day since the day before Thanksgiving, because Black Friday and Cyber Monday there were so many deals we had a hard time just picking one, plus we were out shopping out selves.

But we have restarted and todays deal is awesome. It’s for a 21.5” 1080p (Full HD) Ultra-Slim, LED-Backlit Dell monitor, and as you can see from the picture to the left it looks amazing, and the $149.99 price tag with free shipping is amazing too!

Price breakdown: $219.99 – $70 off = $149.99 with FREE shipping.

Past deals.

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Today Biscotti Inc. not the cookie company, introduced what they are calling the first High Definition TV Phone. Michael Reyes from HardwareGeeks.com checked it out at CES Unveiled a week ago.

The Biscotti TV Phone turns your high-definition TV into a communication hub, where you can speak to your friends and family on Skype or others with a Biscotti TV. The unit requires no computer just an internet connection (Wi-Fi or Wired) and from what I was told by Michael Reyes who was able to check it out, it’s so easy to set up my grandma who knows not a lick of English could set it up in a matter of minutes on her own. That’s something I want to check out for myself.

Biscotti TV Phone is now available for sale in the United States and Canada for just $199.  Unlimited free video calls are included - there are no monthly fees! For more information or to purchase, please visit www.biscotti.com.

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Today Verbatim announced their new mobile keyboard for tablets or mobile phone running iOS or Android. The keyboards connect to the tablet or phone via a Bluetooth connection.

They feature a soft-touch keys for silent typing and hot keys for iPad/iPhone users, so that they can easily copy & paste, easy access to menu screens and applications. For a full list of compatible devices and hot key functions click here.
 
For more information on the keyboards click over to their product page at Verbatim.com.

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I love basketball and as we approach Game 4 and start mentally preparing for the Heat to win tonight (let the hating begin) – there’s also a cool idea to start mentally prepare for. Gaming – in the world of physical motion.

Last year, at E3, Microsoft turned ‘us’ into the remotes of our gaming consoles – we’ve done yoga, danced, ran in Olympic games, etc – but imagine how this new concept of gaming, which is changing up and infiltrating all of our experiences, would change playing a simple game like basketball.

Forget NBA Live, the game I think my brother lived for each year it was released, and picture yourself physically getting into the game, with more than just your fingertips. This game is set to be different, and in a world where different is the goal, and being unique and all that other good stuff, it is pretty exciting to just think about the possibilities. Imagine watching yourself play in the game.

Majesco has partnered with the National Basketball Association (NBA) and have committed to releasing a new game that utilizes motion-based gaming technology in the Spring of 2012.

Majesco makes casual and family oriented games (console and digital) and have over 20 yrs of operating history. They are headquartered in Edison, NJ and have an international office in Bristol, UK. They are known for Cooking Mama, TETRIS Party Deluxe and Zumba Fitness (which I would love to try out on my Wii).

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I am probably one of the few girls that can proudly admit that I have NO fashion sense. I go for comfortable (obvious reasons), black (classy, sophisticated – never goes out of style and is flattering) and inexpensive items – that’s usually what I shop for. The end…oh wait, then there’s heels. I love them and they can be anything – stilettos, platforms, etc… but only because I love to tower over the men around me –its a power trip (you get more money for the same role – so yea, you should look up to me, its only fair).

Anyway – while I don’t often buy ‘style’ magazines because I rather look at ‘myself’ in Latina magazine, or read Oprah’s wonderful uplifting magazine of greatness and motivating stories – I did buy InStyle and oh my God – I am soooo thankful! Here are a bunch of coupons that InStyle.com included – since it’s the season to start (or continue) spending, I figured I’d help you all out a bit and share…enjoy!

Fashion:
• Bodenusa.com - 20% off select items
code: st20
• Castorandpollustore.com – 20%s off select items
code: instyle10
• Forwardforward.com – 20% off select items
code: instyle20
• Greenwithgalmour.com – 20% off
code: instyle20
• Modcloth.com – 15% off
code: instylewebguide
• Shopcerulean.comm – 20%
code: instyle
• Shopconfederacy.com – Free shipping
code: instyle
• Shopin.com – 20% off
code: lninstyle
• Shop.moxsie.com – 15% off
code: instyle15
• Shopruche.com – 20% off
code: instyle20

Vintage:
• Designersocial.com – 20% odd
code: ds4is
• Lulus.com – 20% off
code: instyle
• Relicny.com – 20% off
code: instyle11

Activewear
• Titlenine.com – $4.95 flat-rate shipping
code: INSTYLE

Lingerie
• Pantybypost.com – 20% off
code: instyle20

Maternity
• Isabellaoliver.com – 20% off maternity
code: instyle20

Denim
• Denintherapy.com – 20% off
code: instyle10
• Indidenim.com – 15% off
code: instyle2010
• Reverse-reverse.com – 20% off
code: instyle20 (log on to reverse-reverse.com/instyle)

Shoes
• Habitatshoes.com – 20% off all Coclico women’s shoes
code: instyle20
• Heels.com – 15% off
code: instyle15
• Scarpasa.com – 20% off
code: instyle20

Jewelry
• 1154lill.com – 20% off
code: insnov
• Alexandani.com – 20% off select items
code: instyle
• Ecosciousmarket.com – 20% off
code: instyle20
• Emersonmade.com – 20% off
code: eminstyle
• Gargyle.com – free tote with every order
code: gargyletote
• Givingtreejewelry.com – 20% off
code: instyle20
• Satyarai.com – 20% off
code: instylenov

Beauty
• Birchbox.com – sign up for a one-month membership and get 100 points ($10) toward a full-size product. Birchbox.com/instyle
• Bluemercury.com – get six free samples with every order
code: 6samples
• Tobi.com – 20% off
code: tobi20instyle

Fragrance
• Fragrancenet.com – 15% off
code: instyle
• Indiescents.com – 15% off and free shopping on orders of $75 or more
code: instyle
• Theposhpeasant.com – 15% off
code: instyle

Hair
• Folica.com – 15% off and free shopping on orders more than $50
code: instyle15
• Rickysnyc.com – 15% off all beauty products
code: instyle15
• Sleekhair.com – free shipping through 12/31/10 (exclusions apply)
code: sleek_style

Organic &Natural
• Beautorium.com – 20% off (restrictions apply)
code: instyle
• Skincarebyalana.com – 20% off
code: instyle20
• Upurea.com – 20% off, plus a free gift
code: instyle20

Home
• 2jane.com - 20% off
code: instyle20
• 2modern.com – 10% off
code: instyle10
• Abchome.com – 15% off select items
code: in888style
• Edenhome.com – 20% off through 12/31/10
code: instyle20
• Gardenhousedecor.net – 20% off
code: instyle
• Joannehudson.com – 20% off Polka Dot dinnerware
code: instyle
• Laylagrayce.com – 20% off select items
code: instyle
• Lazyusanausa.com – 20% off
code: LAZY20
• Pure-habitat.com – 20% off and free shopping on orders of $100 or more
code: instyle2010
• Threepotatofourshop.com – free gift with purchase
code: instyle3p4
• Ugallery.com - 20% off
code: instyle20

Entertaining
• Beau-coup.com – 15% off purchases of $99 or more
code: instyle15
• Froghollow.com – 15% off
code: instyle15
• Layercakeshop.com – 20% off
code: sweetinstyle02
• Merimeri.com – 20% off
code: instmm
• Minted.com – 15% off most items
code: instyle15
• Pannadolce.com – 20% off
code: instyle
• Plumparty.com – 20% off
code: instyle10

Gifts
• Incrediblebundles.com – 20% off
code: instyle
• Mollaspace.com – 20% off
code: is1001
• Nimli.com – 20% off
code: instyle20
• Papertrailrhinebeck.com – 20% off Jack and Lulu 2011 desk calendar
code: jl2011
• Reformschoolrules.com – 20% off
code: instyle
• Taigon.com – free two-day shopping through 12/1/10
code: instyle2010

Kids
Clothing
• Alexandalexa.com – free express shipping through 12/25/10
code: styleship
• Forestandzoe.com – 20% off through 12/31/10
code: instyle20
• Littlelunalu.com – 15% off and a free gift on orders of $100 or more
code: instyle15
• Modernmoppet.com – 20% off select items through 11/30/10
code: instyle
• Polarnopyretusa.com – 20% off non-sale items
code: stylepop
• Tadashop.com – free shopping for select items with URL: tadashop.com/instyle

Home Goods & Toys
• Dwellstudio.com – 10% off select items
code: instyle
• Gifthero.com – 20% off through 11/30/10
code: instyle20
• Magiccabin.com – free shipping on orders over $50 or more
code: instyle
• Modernseed.com – 15% off select items
code: instyle15
• Rikshawdesign.com – free shipping on orders of $100 or more
code: instyle

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Are you old enough to remember what cell phones were like when they had no internet? If you are – don’t fret because you think you’re old. I remember and I’m only 25 and as a woman, I don’t get older, I get better (as do you!)

I remember my first cell phone – Sprint Sanyo Something-Cool. It was September 2001 and I had gotten into enough fights with my older brother, and attempted to runaway – all because I wanted to use the phone (all the time). So my dad rewarded my toughness/geekness/desire for one…I barely texted…I mean why would I? I was a Sprint customer and the 1 person I spoke to the most, my cousin Glorisel, was also a sprint customer and we were BLESSED with PCS to PCS…ah! The good old days…

I used my phone as a phone – that’s it. That’s when a cell phone was only a cell phone. It didn’t have any sleek mirror-like surfaces to help me apply my lipstick, or real color! It didn’t have a camera – it was just a phone! I used it to call people and to wake me up in the morning because I had retired my sexy tiny Motorola beeper (it wasn’t the one that texted).

Life without the internet at the tips of my fingertips was cool. I wasn’t attached to my phone- I could leave home without it and NOT feel guilty. I would be able to go ‘MIA’ without feeling guilty and without my mother filing a police report. While I love the fact that my smart phone no longer only makes phone calls, and that I love it the same way I envision loving my first unborn child – it would not be this pivotal in my life without the internet.

My phone guides me – the same way a mentor does, via its GPS app. It influences so many of my daily activities – especially when getting dressed because the weather is at my fingertips. I can’t envision my world without it anymore, although one cool idea is thinking about what an iPhone would be without it’s app store…um, nothing. It would be nothing but a big ol’ screen.

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At Microsofts Open House I tried out some of their Xbox Kinect games and Michael, from HardwareGeeks.com, captured me playing Dance Central (available November 4th), a game from MTV/Harmonics – so – you can start laughing now. There’s just something about coordinated dancing that just turns me into a rhythm-less fool…I have no shame in my game though, if ya’ll ever catch me in a club, I will be far from being the best dancer, but I will probably be having the most fun. (I can bet money on that). Just an FYI Microsoft made us limit the video time due to licensing issues.

I (attempted) to dance Lady Gaga’s Poker Face. While the video is very short (due to their strict guidelines on video lengths) you can see I was at least trying to enjoy myself, as I had a conversation with Mariana, while trying to watch the various movements, while trying not to shake my butt in a club, while getting my hair out of my face, etc… Looking back, I can’t even count the times I tried pushing my hair out of my face and neck because I got soooo hot in a matter of 2.3 seconds. The video would’ve been a lot funnier had Mike been able to record me pumping my fists in the air, but hey – you get the drift.

The game has the option of letting you go straight into a performance mode, or you can rock it out in breakdown mode, where multiple dance steps will be shown to you, and then you do it in a sequence. I only saw the performance option but I can only imagine how cool it would be to break it down.

Another cool feature of the game is that it allows you to enter your body weight, and it’ll record the time you’re jamming out, which in turn allows you to figure out how many calories you’ve burned. This by far, is a lot more enjoyable than being on a treadmill, or elliptical running nowhere. I can see this (and a number of other games) being the ultimate workout plan. I would totally add an hour slot to my activities, even if only once a week, to rock out to this. I also thought this would be a lot more enjoyable to do with friends – those that were tired from too much karaoke.

During the songs, there is also a ‘freestyle’ part, where you can jam to your own steps, and then the game shows you you’re own moves! Kinda weird if you’re camera shy like me, but totally worth it, especially if you’re around people that truly love you, even when you’re making a fool out of yourself.

I didn’t understand the whole she-bang about this Xbox Kinect thing, and while the newer devices will give you much less memory space, the fun that you’ll get from the games (and workouts) should compensate for that loss. I can already see this being a huge hit across families – the singles, the married, the kidless and the Brady Bunch. Definitely check it out, even if only at a Best Buy when they become available.

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I personally didn’t get to speak with or interview Hannah Simone as I was unable to attend the event (E3) where our CuteGeek representative met her. Which sort of sucks because after reading her answers and reading up on her she’s an amazing person. Would have been nice to have met her. But I got the second best thing, I got the task of writing up why she’s a Brilliant Women in Tech.

Hannah Simone was born in London England and as lived all over the world. From Saudi Arabia to New Delhi India where she attended school and would help organize to benefits to help women and children with Aids. In 2006 she landed in Canada where she became a VJ for MuchMusic and in 2009 she became the host of WCG Utimate Gamer, whose second season starts August 19th 2010 on the SyFy Channel. Check local listings. I always wanted to say that…I guess I still haven’t said it and I just typed it.

We asked Hannah what her favorite video game was? She told us that she is fascinated with gaming and that she enjoyed old school games with her favorite game was Ms. Pacman. She went on to say Ms. Pacman was the pioneer for female in technology. I somewhat agree, I remember going to the arcades back in the 80’s early 90’s and seeing girls lined up at the Ms. Pacman machine. She inspired a lot of us believe it or not.

We should have asked her if she liked Dig Dugg and Q-Bert, I love playing Q-Bert on my PS3. Who doesn’t like Q-Bert but I agree Ms. Pacman kicked ass and was way better than regular old Pac Man.

We learned that Hannah loves her smartphone and can’t put it down, maybe that is because of Twitter which she said she is addicted too. Her twitter handle is @HannahSimone (ours is @cutegeek follow us too!!!).

We also asked her about the upcoming season of Ultimate Gamer. Ultimate Gamer is a reality show on SyFy where 12 guys and gals battle it out in real world challenges and games. The winner takes home a $100,000 prize and title of Ultimate Gamer.

When asked about the show, she told us that this year’s season is a lot more intense and she wouldn’t be surprised if a girl took home the $100,000 prize. When asked if she had a favorite she wouldn’t say. I don’t blame her.

So Hannah Simone is our latest Brilliant Women in Technology. She has helped many and with her hosting WCG Ultimate Gamer she is sure to inspire young ladies into technology and not just gaming.

Watch Hannah on Ultimate Gamer Season 2 which starts tomorrow on SyFy.

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1. Brilliant Women in Technology: Meet Ann Finnie
2. Brilliant Women in Technology: Meet Samantha Sobota
3. Coming Soon: Brilliant Women in Technology

Hello Cute Geeks – Microsoft unofficially kicked off e3 with their “Project Natal” event aka Kinect. The event was amazing – screens, lights and incredible designs throughout the stage and performers. We all had to wear these poncho looking white tops, with crazy shoulder pads that lit up during the event.

The show exemplified the evolution of gaming-which was just using a controller and eventually not using a controller. The many examples shown really cleared up the confusion I walked in with and I left pretty excited about the future of gaming, especially after seeing the many ways all members of a family could use it.

Check out the video to hear more about it-the personnel were very strict about taking pictures but I managed to take one haha!

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Wherever it is that you are working you may find that at some point you will need to store information or transfer some information from one place to another. For example you may have written about broadband packages from o2 on one of your computers but then need to edit it on your laptop at home. The easiest way to do this is with a USB flash drive.

Your USB flash drive doesn’t have to be boring. There is a whole range on the market at the moment that are funky looking but that also fulfil their job perfectly. You’ll find one to suit you and your needs with no trouble at all. Today I’m looking at the Yoda themed one.

Funny story…they actually make Yoda USB flash drives and though I haven’t watched all the Star Wars (I am assuming I will getting death stares from Star Wars fans), I was intrigued. I love the Yoda USB Flash Drive! Anytime you can transform an electronic product into something that is iconic and fun to put on your desk is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! If you like personalization of anything tech and if you are like I am then you will love this.

Of course I had several Yoda quotes in my head…

1. “Size matters not.”
2. “May the force be with you.”
3. “Help you I can, yes”.
4. “Always in motion is the future.”
5. “Strong am I with the force.”

Below are the product specs (per the website) and also a link where you can purchase it.

• Fully sculpted 3D USB 2.0 drive of Star Wars characters: Yoda, Darth Vader, Stormtrooper and Boba Fett
• Product is Licensed and approved for sale by TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd
• Appropriate for Star Wars fans ages 5+
• Storage Capacity: 4GB,8GB, 16GB  

Available at: www.tymemachines.com
Price: 4GB $29.99, 8GB $39.99, 16GB $59.99
Website: www.tymemachines.com

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I bet you read that twice – you should have. I did. But that’s exactly what I was ‘greeted’ with when I received the new and improved We-Vibe II ™. It almost looked like a wedding invitation and all I could do was say “Awwww” because it was so cute, yet at the same time, I sat up a little straighter, adjusted my posture, crossed my legs, and flipped my hair a bit because it was very, very, sexy.

Interesting concept right – some seductive font and great paper quality made me feel sexy and made me want to be sexier. Imagine how I felt when I actually saw the product.

Confused.

That’s the feeling. What the ??? How the ??? With who??? How again ???

It was simple to figure out though. The We-Vibe II ™ is made from 100% medical grade silicone so it felt super nice and soft, like the handle of my favorite hairbrush. I stared at it a bit, rubbed it, felt every little rib or indention and thought – alrighty then, this will be fun.

I didn’t say that, but if I did, I could assure you that it would’ve been with a sarcastic tone.

These kind of reviews take a little longer to produce because you can’t just ‘review’ it anywhere, or at anytime. There’s a lot of prep work involved. That’s all I’ll say.

(This is how you turn it on…by pressing down on the top, thicker piece, and to turn it off you hold it down…you also can press to move to one of the nine tones)

Back to the product…

It’s purple with a glossy finish (go Lakers, go Barney – sharing is caring, etc…), weights only 2 oz, has a heavy-metal FREE rechargeable battery (it’s almost impossible to see the hole where you charge it – but it’s there. I promise) and comes with a beautiful lilac satin pouch for your convenient carrying. I would personally like a hard case, like those cases they may for GPS’s but the satin gives it that extra umph (here we go, feeling a tad bit sexier).

Instead of creating a ripple effect in the adult toy industry, it’s caused tsunami – winning awards across the globe, gaining recognition from all forms of the media (Oprah, Cosmo & the world’s sexpert Sue Johanson)…it’s amazing and receives my thumbs up.

The We-Vibe II ™ was created by a lovely Canadian couple – go Canada! I love you all a bit more now! It was the world’s FIRST dual (clitoral and g-spot) stimulation vibrator that could be worn while making love. The concept makes you do the Scooby Doo – huh?!? But it is real. I’m sure a lot of trial and error went into this masterpiece but while all the research and practicing to make this perfect was going on – do you know who else they thought about?? Our planet!

This product is super eco-friendly. The makers ‘believe in having a positive effect on the environment both inside and outside of the bedroom”. They are a carbon neutral manufacturer and use water based pigments, recyclable materials and ultimately – what this means to us is that this product is very high in quality, and will last a very long time.

The We-Vibe II™ has nine pleasurable play modes – low, high, throb, wave, pulse, ramp, tease, ascend and cha-cha (for you the Latin dancers or lovers – jk!). It can be used for about 2 hours (non-stop) or be on standby for up to 60 days. For those that know what this means it is <50 dB and its frequency is 50-80Hz. It is water resistant, requires no hands, is extremely flexible and easy to wear and also very comfortable (it may not seem like it is, but it contours to your body and the connecting piece between the two vibrators is actually a lot thinner than you may assume) and contains 2 ultra powerful motors.

I enjoy (notice no –ed) this product very much and so does my partner. It was a unique experience, so start training your mind to be a tad bit more open, it is not your traditional sex toy – but what the heck, aren’t we in a ‘We believe in change” state of mind – thanks Obama!

I recommend this gadget to everyone, couples and singles alike. It requires minimal thinking which is the best, doesn’t ‘feel’ intimidating in any sense, is intuitive to use, extremely easy to clean, a nice ‘different’ shape – different enough to not feel weird when traveling with it in your carry on, and more than one person can enjoy it at the same time.

Ladies and gentlemen (I hope you’re reading this too) – meet the Mercedes of Sex Toys – I say Mercedes because of the quality behind this product. You think Mercedes, and probably think sexy, sophisticated & a great ride…I think of the We-Vibe II™ and think “you’re damn right we vibing!” – I’m half-way kidding, but I also think of it being sexy, sophisticated & a great ride.

Prices vary amongst retailers but the We-Vibe II™ is available all over the world, online and in stores and the average price (which may change) is about $100. I have gone into many stores where this item is sold out, so order online if you’d like to save some time.

I think this would be the best gift to give a mom – or a dad – or a non-parent any day of the year! In the case that I haven’t already convinced you of how awesome this is – and want to hear and see me say it – watch this short video…

You can also watch their official instructional demo.
You can purchase a We-Vibe at Babeland.com

The We-Vibe II™ receives Cute Geek’s 5 Diamond Award and also our Green Award for the many ways they show their commitment to our planet.

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I think I am the last person on the planet that doesn’t have an iPhone and I have no idea what I am waiting for…Oh I know a day job:-). I asked all my iPhone friends if I could test the iSkin solo SE/ solo FX out on theirs and my friend Aziz from Cabana Networks kindly volunteered. Aziz also has an iPad so stay tuned for a review on the iPad and the accessories that I have been receiving.

The iSkin solo SE /solo FX is made from a material that looks and protects like a hard case however it feels like a soft case. The material was created to be heat and cold resistant, features shock and impact qualities, and cleans with ease (per the website). I quickly unboxed it and put it on his iPhone. Seemed easy enough and you can access all the ports which is great as some of the one’s I have seen you have to adjust the phone and case to access them. I also liked the look of the case and the brilliance of the colors. 

I then asked Aziz what he thought and he actually doesn’t use a case because unlike myself he isn’t hard on consumer goods. Plus unlike some of us women who just throw it in their purse items like this can sometimes catch while in a dude’s pockets due to the material.  This made me wonder if women use cases more then men due to the pocket factor.    

The iSkin solo SE /solo FX fits the iPhone 3G/3GS models with a pretty light weight and thin casing. It also comes with a screen protector which is something I should be using as I am constantly scratching my phone screen. The solo FX/ solo SE is made with Microban® antimicrobial protection to help with stain and odor causing bacteria on your iPhone.

The solo FX retails for $32.99 (comes in Lush, Vive, Sunset, Breeze, or Passion) and the solo FX SE from $34.99 (comes in Ice, Cosmo, or Onyx).

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I recently received the ScanSnap S1300 and did the unboxing video here!  I had a funny visual moment when I read that it was portable. I had a vision of someone walking around with a Netbook and the ScanSnap S1300 in downtown San Francisco on Market street computing and scanning.  I do realize that is not what it’s meant for though my mental visual made me laugh! The ScanSnap S1300 is made for business people on the go who need a quick scanner, portable users (I bet this could even work on a plane though I didn’t get to fly and test it) or for those who have a small work space and need a scanner. What I found intriguing when I did the unboxing is that you can power it via USB for the ultimate portable experience. Nice! I loved that it was very light in weight and realized why its made for folks on the go.

I quickly downloaded the ScanSnap S1300 software for the product which by no means took long at all and started scanning. I kind of put it to the test by scanning a very thick card board flyer and it worked! I scanned my cutegeek business card as well and though it was slanted going in it scanned straight.

With the ScanSnap S1300 software you can Scan to ScansSnap Organizer, to Cardminder, to a folder, to email, to print, to word, to Excel, to Power Point, or to Word.  The ScanSnap S1300 can convert scanned data into searchable PDF files AND users can use a colored highlighter on a black & white document to create searchable keywords. Sweet! I always need a search feature.  Also this works with PCs and Macs.

Here is a screenshot of the instructions that I scanned with the ScanSnap S1300 like a big geek! You can tell the scan turned out great.

I plan to have a MindTouch demo so I can also test out how their software works with the ScanSnap S1300.  This is part one of the ScanSnap S1300 review so stay tuned cutegeekers! Below are the product specs and it retails around $295.00…

1 

Scanning speeds may vary due to the system environment used.

2 

Requires simultaneous connection to two active powered USB ports on computer.

3 

TWAIN or ISIS® applications cannot be used directly.

4 

When hopper is closed.

5 

Documents measuring approximately 5.8 inches (148mm) in length or less are scanned in “Best mode” while other documents are scanned in “Better mode”

1 

These applications only support Microsoft Windows®

2 

Windows® Desktop Search (WDS) can be used with Windows® 7, Windows Vista™ or Windows® XP. Adobe® Acrobat® 7.0 or later (not included) is required in order to use the Adobe® Acrobat® search feature. Windows Vista™ users must apply the Adobe® Acrobat® update for Windows Vista™ before using the search feature.

3 

Service Pack 2 or later required.

4 

Service Pack 4 or later required.

5 

Scanning speeds may drop if recommended CPU, memory capacity and USB 1.1 requirements are not met.

1 

These applications only support Microsoft Windows®

2 

Windows® Desktop Search (WDS) can be used with Windows® 7, Windows Vista™ or Windows® XP. Adobe® Acrobat® 7.0 or later (not included) is required in order to use the Adobe® Acrobat® search feature. Windows Vista™ users must apply the Adobe® Acrobat® update for Windows Vista™ before using the search feature.

3 

Service Pack 2 or later required.

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Bone Collections sent me their Phone Leather 3GS Case for the iPhone recently. Have you ever been the last person on the planet to adapt to a gadget (which is rare for me)?! Admittedly I do not have an iPhone as I prefer to click actual buttons…crazy I know but I have shaky hands and it would take my friends days to decode my texts using an iPhone. Don’t get me wrong, I think the iPhone is an AMAZING product and endorse it to everyone plus the applications are phenomenal.

Fortunately I knew someone who owned one; my great pal Mel. She invited me over to make calzones with her (yes this cutegeek can also cook); I realized this is the perfect time to test this iPhone Leather 3GS case out. She currently owns a hard case which after she took it off realized it was scratching her brand new iPhone. I opened up the box for the Phone Leather 3GS case and since it’s a simple silicon case we slipped it on in no time.

I asked her what she thought and her first test was if you could access the 3.5mm audio jack since with her hard case she has to mess with it until it finally plugs in (that would annoy me BTW). With the Bone Leather Case  it was indeed easier for her to access it. She then tested the button functionality and how the case affects her usability of the iPhone functions. They worked great…She only had one complaint and it was not a big deal but the volume switch was harder to access then with her current hard case (volume buttons worked great I might add).

All and all she liked the product and thought the leather was awesome. I also think this product is much easier to use then a hard case and more stylish for your iPhone. Also I love that this product is 100% Bio-degradable!!! Cheers to you Bone!

Below are the product specs to the Phone Leather Case for your 3GS and a picture of our yummy calzones!

• Protect your iPhone 3GS away from dust
  
• Supreme genuine leather – classical fashion
  
• Leather texture for an exquisite feel
  
• Includes a free screen protector
  
• Washable silicone (Excluding the leather part)
  
• 100% Bio-degradable
  
  Dimension
  Size: 66x119x15 mm
  Net Weight: 25.5 g

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By mid-day I realized I should have ate; dumn mistake and should have known that from previous E3′s and CES’s.  Admittedly I was a tad grumpy however I was not ready for this.  At every show as a women blogger some dude is going to either think we don’t know our products (women make up over 60% of household decision making) or they are just sexest. I ran into one of those booths that will remain un-named. It’s sad that women in technology still get treated this way.

After that bad taste in my mouth I decided I should visit a fun booth; ie Hard Candy…Surely these folks would be sweeter; I mean the word candy is in the product name! When I walked up to Hard Candy Cases I got a big smile on my face; the booth was  ran by all women at the time! Their product line was bold but durable; everything a women now-a-days needs!  These cases do not scratch and if they by chance do it’s an easy buff out. They also had cases for the iPad and showcased a new all rubber case for Macbooks which felt kind cool. I am looking forward to checking out  Hard Candy’s Cases  and how these will work with my Macbook.

My next meeting was with Iqua; a Finnish communications company that specializes in bluetooth headsets and portable speaker phones plus some are solar powered. How cool is that? How many times have you lost a call because you forgot to charge your bluetooth? One my favorites from this booth was the Iqua 603 Sun which was not only light in weight plus solar powered but the price point was impressive.  Iqua took being “Green” to the next level as they also showcased several other solared powered products as well.

As I started walking around looking for other booths I wanted to check out I saw the Blue booth; USB powered microphones with studio quality. I know…WHAT?!  Truth be told I use to be a singer as a kid and in my house in Texas I had a music room. If it’s not obvious I love music! I checked out the Yeti and talk about a beautiful microphone; I have to test it out…How can something that looks so good perform so well with a USB?!

I then got a demo of the Mikey; a microphone for your iPhone.  Every time I go to a concert and attempt to record just one song of proof that I was indeed there it turns out like crap. Blue’s Mikey attaches easily as a plug and play unit to your iPhone and the sound quality is amazing.

Another booth that had allot of attention to a point that I could not get a personal demo was Macspeech. Part of me wonders; have we truly gotten to a point where our society is so lazy we cannot even type? Apparently with Macspeech you can use your voice to input text; rather than clicking your mouse and just speak commands. Interesting…I actually want to test this out and possibly after a glass of wine at night to see if the slur impacts the text (for the art of testing products right?).

While constantly on my feet at Macworld (at which now hurt), I HAD to stop by the Monster booth. I love Dr. Dre the branding of Beat’sand now they had Lady Gaga earbuds; who would pass up that demo?! I tried out Dr. Dre’s Beats Spin headphone at the beginning (after all the first Rap song I learned in entirety was “It’s like Dis and like Dat.”). First off the headphones come with a brief pause button on the headphones and the cable can disconnect from the headphones.  At this point I learned why you need to have a cable that can disconnect to your headphones. Apparently most people will brake a perfectly great pair of headphones by clumsy mistakes, like the cable catches. I learned it is much easier to replace the cable since it’s inexpensive versus buying all new headphones.

I then checked out the Lady Gaga Heartbeats earbuds (which I am testing in the first picture); I have to say she did a good job on the design.  I loved that she did not want pink instead a bold red hue. Lady Gaga you’re so right; there are enough products out there that are pink for women but bold colors and styles not so much. The design of these Heartbeatsare versitle (like her audience) and strong!

After Monster I went to the Mophie Booth where I found my one of my favorite products; the Mophie Marketplace. The Mophie Marketplace is a magnetic strip reader for your iPhone 3G and 3GS. At first I thought whoa I am in trouble if I get one of those and secondly how does this product work (or does it really work)? I waited my turn for a demo and sure enough this product works and it’s a winner. This is a HUGE score for small business owners; not even my corner store (which annoys me) takes credit cards. Mophie Marketplace was one of the most impressive gadgets for your iPhone.

On my Macworld booth trajectory I found another booth for headphones from Shure. I think I have a small problem with head gear; or maybe just headphones.  We recently got a turn table (stay tuned for a review) and am fascinated with headphones (even though it’s just one turn table and I have a whole 5 records plus its not really for true DJs…just the inner DJ in the Nina). I loved these Shure headphones and yes I did blast them to the MAX! I should be getting a pair of these to test out my inner DJ and will be posting a review shortly as well:-).

My next stop was something I typically would not stop by however my curiosity got the best of me. It was the Trik/Eleven booth and apparently Eleven says its wireless technology is better than the bluetooth solution for music. I am interested to test out this technology though to be fair I have no idea how they created this alternative solution from bluetooth.

My last stop was at the Telltale gaming booth which creates games for Mac users. I do have a Macbook but I rarely use it as I still can’t let go of my Dell (solely b/c it has all my photo’s/ videos and NOT because it’s the best). After playing Tales from Monkey Island I realized it is time to maybe put all my videos/ pictures on a WD portable HD and bust out my Macbook. The PR manager (Chris) I met was probably one of the most enthusiastic person I met; he truly believed and loved his product (are you guys hiring?!). I probably sat in this booth the longest playing Tales from Monkey Island; the game truly captivates you and you do not want to end the game. Tales from Monkey Island was almost like a gaming soap opera; it’s the only way I can describe it. I actually got a free test drive but apparently I messed it up while trying to download it. Sigh! I am hooked now though…

Well this finally wraps up my Macworld experience! I hope you enjoyed my recap and try out some of these new and innovative products!

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 This year was my first year at Macworld  as a cutegeek blogger and of course Apple didn’t even have a booth…however that didn’t stop the masses to attend the show. When I first told my friends I was going I got the immediate question; “Why are you going since Apple won’t be there?” Another friend sarcastically said “What is MacWorld without Apple…just World?” I had no idea what to expect after all my pals banter…What was MacWorld without Apple?  And where is Mr. Job’s?

My questions were answered as soon as I walked into the masses…Software, Games, and Accessories!

Anytime you walk into these shows it’s sensory overload. Each booth trying to be louder or more hip to the competing booths. What was I thinking trying to accomplish 6 meetings plus 10 booth visits in one day?!  As I walked into the Moscone Convention Center I saw the long lines and thought “Damn I am so smooth for registering early and picking up my badge early,” and breezed on past all those suckers.

My first meeting was with Atlona Technologies  where I met with Marketing Manager, Joshua (don’t we look great in this photo?).

 Atlona  is a Silicon Valley company that provides solutions typically missing in most AV systems and their product line consists of switchers, cabling, extenders, converters, and spliters/amplifyers. The product I checked out and thought was the coolest was the HDAiR which is based on UWB technology that allows users to extend high resolution content up to 30ft away. The HDAir acts as an external video card, which allows you to connect to VGA or HDMI monitors and HD TVs. The HDAir also has dual video (HDMI and VGA) and dual Audio (HDMI-Audio and 1/4″ mini stereo) outputs.  I hope to test this out in the near future though sadly my condo is not 30 feet wide/long.

Next I saw this AWESOME booth by efilliate/Bone which specilizes in an assortment of Mac accessories that I thought were perfect for Mac users and females. The item that caught my eye was the Bone collection flash drives that were encased in a soft one-piece removable water-resistant silicone shell shaped like either cute animals, doggy bones, mammals, or I believe dinosaurs. What I found interesting is that even though they were a fashionable USB key/ flash drive they remain durable per the PR manager. Apparently you do not have to worry about these breaking regardless of how frequently they are used. Aren’t they so cute?!

 After that I went to iFrogz  to pick up some CS40s head phones to test out for cutegeek (stay tuned for a review). iFrogz specializes in Apple iPod™, MP3 player, and digital media accessories. I use to be an earbuds girl till I accidentially punctured my ear drum so I was ready to embrace trying out some headphones. I loved that all the styles came in different colors plus a cord that I have yet to tangle…yet that is. I also tested out some other iFrogz  styles of headphones at the booth and decided I liked the DJ Style headphones the best (the inner hip hop girl in me).

My next stop was Western Digital where I met a female executive who knew her stuff about external portable storage and backing up your Macs/ PCs. I just love it when I run into fellow female geeks (stay tuned for a Brilliant Women of Technology interview). She explained all the external portable storage products after which I decided I liked the bold blue Passport Elite the best. The Passport Elite is a ultra-portable drive and features automatic, continuous backup, an illuminated capacity gauge, and a USB dock. You can also get cases for these so they remain shock proof but not in as many colors.  I also thought the Passport Essential  was awesome with 1 TB of storage; while I have no idea if I could find a TB worth of files having the option is nice.

She next showed me the WD TV Live HD Media Player that allows you to connect to sites like YouTube, Flickr, Live365 or stream content from your home network which you can then view on the HD TV.  The WD TV Live HD  Media Player also has full-HD 1080p video playback and navigation, can play a variety of file formats, access media files on your home network, and its WiFi ready. I was intrigued by this product and hope to test it out in the near future.

Two products that caught my eye especially after working from home was made from Fujitsu.  They had 2 scanners they demo’d for me one portable (ScanSnap s1300) and one for your desktop (ScanSnap S1500M). I have been under the belief a scanner is a scanner; anytime you make a copy of anything their is always room for error (hence why I will never be cloned). HOWEVER these little scanners from Fujitsu actually may have solved one of my biggest pet peeves of scanning; the crocked scan. As I watched the demo I was amazed; you can put the page or receipts in the scanner at any direction and it auto formats it to the correct page setup (landscape or portrait) and makes it completely straight.

The most amusing part of the show was of course the Q&A with Kevin Smith; he was hilarious BUT I think some of the questions were even more outragious. For an hour he got hit on by 2 gay guys and this girl asked for a hug (see youtube here)…Strangely not much was said about technology besides the fact that anyone can now make/edit films due to the vast array of inexpensive recording technology and social media. Unfortunately I had to leave early to make it to my next meeting but when I was walking out I noticed the room was jam packed!

After laughing my ass off at Kevin Smith’s Q&A I had a meeting with HP. I know most people are wondering…HUH? HP at MacWorld but indeed their printing and imaging department was in full effect and showcasing some new printers along with 6 new HP applications that you can use on your iphone. I met with another female executive who I also hope to interview for Brilliant Women in Technology.  

The printer that stood out to me was for the Officejet 4500 Wireless AIO  and priced inexpensively (in this economy we all need it). It can print anything from broshures to pictures plus it scans and fax plus it prints borderless.  I am anxious to test this out as I have reviewed a few HP printers and have never been disapointed.

Well this wraps up the first part of my day so stay tuned for Macworld Recap- Part 2 and also more product reviews from cutegeek!

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I am quite the loyal gal; in fact it took me years to bow down to HP products after bleeding the Dell blue  for so long.  My first gaming system back in the 80′s was the first Nintendo (yeah I saved the princess in Mario brother’s, ran my ass off on Track and Field, and vastly improved my shooting aim from Duck hunt). 

I had played  Wii Sports  a year ago plus again at my cousins place recently and for the first time ever I got over 150 on bowling (now I am up to 200), kicked booty on virtual tennis and can box anyone out of my virtual boxing ring. After realizing I rock at the game I made it a goal to get it at some point.  After 1.5 years of owning a PS3 I got a Wii as a second gaming console. It has become quite the addiction.

In fact I got a the Wii console (retail around 199.00) with the Wii sports, Wii Play and Wii fit plus. 

I know…I know…a little late to be posting about a Wii but I realize that some folks are like me and just owned one but itched for another gaming console.

 As most of you know the Wii console comes with the Wii console, one Wii Remote Controller, One Nun-chuck, Wii Sports, Sensor Bar, Standard Composite Cable, and Power Cord. We also bought the second nun-chuck where is the fun in playing by yourself? 

 Wii fit plus comes packaged with the Wii Balance Board accessory. You can choose for several different types of work outs for instance yoga, aerobic, strength, balance games, and training. Within those categories you can choose from a variety of different work outs like Kung Fu, skateboarding, running (my favorite), hula hoop and many more. At first I tried to trick it and half way do the work outs. It truly can tell when you aren’t doing it right or not going as fast. For 45mins of Wii fit plus I burned a little over 200 calories so I am not sure this will be daily thing but if I ever don’t want to leave my condo (usually because its raining) but need a work out this game is for me. The retail is is around 99.00.

Lastly we also got Wii Play which has a shooting gallery and Mii-matching game, billiards, air hockey, tank battles, table tennis rally, Mii poses and a cow-riding race. One has to wonder if you ever need to leave this house. I haven’t played much with Wii Play as I got bored pretty quickly.  I’ll just stick with my Wii sports and Wii fit plus.

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I should make them pay me for saying that – that would be a perfect slogan for them!

I have been an avid fan of Canon’s for quite some time now. I love them so much that last August I attempted to buy ‘the cutest’ camera on the market (which was not Canon) and ended up ignoring it because of how unsatisfied I was. In less than 1 month I purchased two digital cameras and I love my PowerShot SD780 IS more than anything in my bag of wonderful gadgets.

Its shots and videos are breathtaking. They capture more greatness than you think.

I went to the Canon booth at CES and spoke to some of the ‘printer dudes’ and after listening to Michael Reyes rant about Kodak and their assumptions, I decided to roam around it and boy was it worth it.

Their booth had a ton of pictures – that showed how amazing Canon is.

Here are some of my favorites:

Impressive right?

Most of the pictures taken during CES and the AEE were taken with my Canon - which is one of the slimmest on the market. Check it out and if you have any questions about the camera email me and I’ll try to answer it to the best of my ability. If you want to see more pics from CES & the AEE, check out our Flickr account.

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It was fun…there is always too much going on to realize what’s really going on but the world of technology never seizes to amaze me.

I will be posting many pictures and information regarding new products that I saw at both conventions.

Stay tuned!

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The great people at Harmonix and MTV games recently sent me the Beatles Rockband game (instruments sold separately) to test out (THANKS GUYS!!) for my CES/Holidays round up of products to review.  When I first found out that they were sending me Beatles Rockband I was overjoyed and jumping around my condo like a kid in a candy store.  

 I played it twice at E3 but frankly I wanted to play all the songs and see how I would progress in the game as I became better. I kept wondering what cool things could I unlock with my mad Rockband skills.  I also recently hooked up my microphone stand next to my drums (Phil Colins style) so I could sing and play.  One would think I am taking Beatles Rockband to another level by doing this but actually I saw on the Beatles Rockband Stage at E3 and have been dying to get to a level where I could sing and play at the same time. 

This game is truly for all ages especially those who love the Beatles (which I do) and believe it can be a great bonding experience between grandparents, parents and kids. If your into Rockband like I obviously am it’s the perfect gift. I actually have visions of parents waiting till their kids are asleep to play the game themselves; like my parents did.

The introduction to the game was phenomenal and quite a visual trip! At first we did a couple rounds of the quick play as our typical Rockband band. The neat thing about this game is that you can harmonize with up to 3 singers, play 2 different guitars (bass and electric), and of course the drums. This gave this game a whole new aspect; more challenging and engaging more people to participate in the game all at once. See the screen shot below of what it would look like if you played the game.

We had some friends over fo my pal Mel’s birthday and we all had a chance to play Beatles Rockband as a real band (instead of the puny band of just my husband and I).  First we got all the girls together to see how well we could do and show the boys whats up! I have to admit Mel, Lauren, Colleen and I rocked it and all had a chance to try different instruments. Check us out!

We then let the boys join; I guess that is fair right? Everyone had a blast; I have to be honest Rockband can get old at parties but not the Beatles! One of my guy pals, Jeff, decided to really play the game instead of quick play and went through the “story” portion. What was neat about that portion is if you do well you win video clips and photo’s of the Beatles. That made me a tad fanatical and had to play all the chapters of the story which sadly meant I had completed the game. For those that make it to the end of the game there is a nice surprise that I will not spoil; just realize you have to go through all the ending credits (and there is allot)!

So gather up all your gift cards from the holidays and get Beatles Rockband. This by far is one of my favorite games currently and believe its definately a 5 star experience…if only I had the special drum set.  Stay tuned for a seperate post of all our youtubes of playing Beatles Rockband (be warned there is hours and hours of videos).

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On Friday, November 20, I went to WIRED’s media preview day and fell in love as I saw their magazine come to life. WIRED has opened up their 5th annual holiday store in the heart of NYC and they’ve somehow merged the world of geeky technology with the wonderful world of shopping.

I mean, if someone asked you what your one WIRED wish could be – what would you say?

Would it be for the world to go green?

Or to always be the recipient of some awesome undergarments? Woohoo!

Instead of a wine bar in your home, would you rather have a demo bar?

Are waterproof sneakers on your wishlist this year?

Or are you interested in high design items this holiday season?

Would typing on this remind you of Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard?

If someone called you an intellectual slacker – would you feel offended?

Is that not the cutest robot ever?

Do you want a subscription to WIRED magazine?

Are you an early rider, or a late adopter?

Do you need a different set of lens to capture life?

Would you allow your home to reek of a social networking addict?

Probably not, but if you were planning to, now you at least know what it could match with.

The WIRED Store is located at 415 West 13th Street between 9th Avenue and Washington Street in Manhattan’s Meatpacking/Highline District. It opened on Saturday, November 21, 2009 and will remain open for 6 weeks, through December 27, 2009. It is open from 10am to 8pm Wednesday through Friday and from 11am to 7pm Saturday and Sunday.

The store sells limited merchandise but most products found in the store can be purchased online, in the store’s designated spot to ‘check out’.

The store this year has surpassed any of their previous years, the sexy Camaro that greets you to the right, and the perfectly placed gadgets make this store feel like a geek’s dream museum, except you can actually buy the cool stuff you see, after playing with it and really checking it out for yourself.

Check it out – this is a MUST!

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The last time I ever felt this excited during the holidays was during Christmas in 1990. I was 5 and the one thing I felt like I’d die without was the gift my mom got me. I had to search high and low for this picture at my mother’s house, but I knew once I found it – you’d understand why I decided to post.

Best Christmas Ever!

I haven’t felt this excited for a ‘toy’ in such a long time, that I almost don’t know how to control myself. It’s a different dynamic though because now I don’t need to have someone buy it for me.

Ever since I played the New (& Improved) Super Mario Bros game at e3 in June, I’ve been waiting for this damn 4th quarter to come around, in hopes that it would be released way before Christmas.

There is a lot of hype around the New Super Mario Bros because of the fact that it’s back in 2D, has the ability to let 4 people play simultaneously, it’s release date was a mystery (Nov. 15th – is the official date according to my sources) and because of its difficulty!

It’s hard!!!

Although I tried it out, it was really only for less than 5 minutes (if that), so I can’t comment on the levels of difficulty, but I’ve read a couple of articles that actually have me nervous about how hard this game will be. If you want to see what I mean look at what they said here.

It’s going to be so hard, so damn hard, that the computer will actually help you out when you get stuck – can you imagine that?

I’m not sure how easy it’ll be to get accustomed to playing to the new remotes so I made sure to buy myself a classic one this weekend…don’t want to end up with a broken LCD – hell to the no!

The price of the Wii going down is icing on the cake for Super Mario lovers, because unlike many people out there, (before Saturday that is) I still had not purchased a Wii, and because of the ‘sale’ – I did.

Christmas was fun growing up – especially when they are all like the Christmas of 1990.

Although I won’t stay up until midnight this year, in hopes of opening my game, I know have this thing called life to thank. Thanks life for allowing me to grow up and have a job. Yes – I would much rather have someone else buy all this stuff for, but since I can, why the heck not!

This is the crazy madness/prep work for the new game…I’m sooooooo psyched! (& so getting fit!)

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Hi everyone, today I attended the Microsoft Open House and I got to check out a bunch of cool stuff. Like Windows 7, Windows Phone and Zune HD. I even got a phone and a Zune HD to keep!

While at the Open House I stumbled upon a game that I immediately fell in love with. DJ Hero its perfect for the club goer (sp) who always wondered what it be like to DJ.

Michael from HardwareGeeks made a video of me testing it out, hope you guys like it

The Game comes out on October 27th 2009 and I believe it will retail for $119 – $150. Don’t remember the exact price.

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1. CuteGeek.com & HardwareGeeks.com @ E3 playing at Disney’s Interactive Booth (Toy Story Mania!)

I love to skateboard and yesterday at an event here in NYC I saw a product that is perfect for skaters like me and anyone who is into extreme sports, and wants to record what they’re doing from their own perspective.

It also comes with cool easy to use software, atleast it looked easy to use. The software will help you edit your videos and even tag them. You can even upload the videos to a community they created so other people can view them too.

It’s a pretty cool little camera and I might get one for my next skate boarding adventure.

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Today Harmonix and MTV released Beatles Rockband; frankly its about time!  I tested out the Beatles Rockband game at E3 (see youtube here) and have been dying for it to be released. I had hoped for a copy before the release date but I am apparently not cool enough…yet (do I sound bitter?). 

A true Beatles fan I watched VH1′s classic channel tribute to the Beatles all Labor day; including all their movies and the George Harrison Concert that Eric Clapton arranged. Till this day I start my morning with “Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head…”

So there is a pretty cool demo here but if you want to see us cutegeekers rockin’ it I suggest checking out this link!

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I finally got a PSP (our friend gave us one) and Rockband Unplugged for it courtesy of the friendly folks at Harmonix and MTV. After E3 playing Rockband Unplugged on PSP I realized it was a must have for me!  For several reasons, first I hate flying with a passion and I believe this is a great distraction for anyone like me or those who travel allot and are bored on a plane.

I am the type that needs to have a few glasses of wine and take 2 Dramamine just to get through security, board the plane and prepare for take off.  Once my husband put me on the smallest plane (2 propeller plane) known to man in a thunderstorm from Seattle to Utah…I was convinced he was trying to kill me by a plane crash (not to mention ironically my life insurance was up’d).  Something to be said when even the flight attendants were white as a ghost and no drink service. ”CRAP,” I thought…I don’t even get a glass of wine before I die!

 

Since I will be traveling more via plane to visit my gal pal moving to LA; I believe a PSP may distract me enough to where I don’t have to medicate myself to a zombie like state!  Or freak out the passenger next to me by saying “God please don’t let me die today!” (out loud!)

Second reason I think PSP is great not just for kids(of course its perfect for kids but my angle is towards adults) but also for any city people like myself that use public transportation…Especially if you have a long commute on the train! You can play Rockband Unplugged for an hour on PSP and not realize where the time went and you’re at your destination…SWEET! I will probably be the dork on the Muni dancing to my PSP while everyone thinks I am “oh one those wackos.” Plus it was so easy to figure out, Sony may hate me for saying this but I didn’t look at the owners manual, its pretty straight forward!

Third, I just love playing Rockband especially when we bust it out in parties!  So when I got the Rock Band Unplugged game in the mail I jumped up and down with joy!  I immediately started playing with it.  I created my band just like I did on my PS3, named my characters (my game name is “Ninja”), and started the tour.  Here is what was odd about the game;  the game automatically started with San Francisco (where I live now) and then I unlocked the Austin (I am from ATX).  I was miffed; how did this little contraption know this information…I have think this is a coincidence…O-O-O-R-R is it?

The game itself for me was a challenge at first b/c you have to flip inbetween each instrument and hit all the notes within phrase. Then you pop to the next instrument and hit every single note and so forth in order to get those magical little stars that up’s your score and fan base (because we all need fans). The game helps you figure out which instrument to go to next; I figured this out much later into my tour (unfortunately)!  Once you have hit every note in a certain number for phrases on each instrument you get a notification that says “BAND GROVE!” That’s when you know your starting to do well; unfortunately it distracts me each time and I miss a note!

So far (since I also have a life and can’t play 24/7) I have only unlocked Austin, Seattle, LA, Chicago, New York, Boston, Montreal, Street Promoters, a Merch girl, and 2 Deluxuliner Bus (because you need a second bus for your entourage! Hello I am a ROCK STAR on PS3).  Below is the list of songs I have so far on my PSP.

•  ABC, Jackson’s 5,
• Miss Murder, AFI
• Buddy Holly, Weezer
• More Then a Feeling, Boston
• Float On, Modest Mouse (my favorite)
• Alive, Pearl Jam
• I Was Wrong, Social Distortion
• Livin’ on a Prayer, Bon Jovi
• My Own Worst Enemy, Lit
• White Wedding, Billy Idol
• Message in a Bottle, The Police
• Today, Smashing Pumpkins.
• Our Truth, Lacuna Coil
• The Killing Jar, Siouxsie and the Banschees
• Carry On Wayword Son, Kansas
• Mr. Brightside, The Killers (another fav, saw them back stage at ACL)
• Drain You, Nirvana (Nirvana was my first CD ever!)
• Show Me the Way, Black Tide
• Where’d you go, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
•  Aqualung, Jethro Tull
• The Middle, Jimmy Eat World

I had to share this new toy with some of my greatest pals in San Francisco on the way to Fremont (which I believe is on another planet but its not…though sure does seem like it from the city!)  My BFF Mel and I also geeked out and played at our weekly girls lunch a couple minutes.  She really got into it and she isn’t a gamer like me at all! Then my two guy friends in the car tested it out; one got annoyed pretty quickly…guess it’s not his cup of tea (maybe he just was not good though a lovely person…gamer not so much!) and my other guy pal did decent.  Then my husband was the one that got all 100% on Buddy Holly (grrr!)…not when he was driving of course.

This is probably my favorite product I have received so far, I can’t stop playing it and loosing sleep trying to unlock cities!  If you don’t have it go get it, its going for about $39.99.

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Hello Cutegeek FANS; its rare I get this opportunity but I got some cool skins that frankly will not match with any of my technical devices!  Sorry I am not an iPhone chick nor do I own an Xbox (bummer I know but one does has to stop after having a PSP and PS3; though after E3 I have considered getting a Wii)! 

I talk on the phone way to much so dealing with an iPhone that is anything BUT a phone would piss me off (trust me I tested it out)! I love my iPod shuffle but I need a reliable phone considering I live IN the city and frankly you never know what you may run into while on a random outing. Story of my life recently!

So I have these very vibrant colored skins for an Xbox and for an iPhone.  Whomever replies the quickest that is a TRUE cutegeek fan (prove it to me honey) plus has a funny remark shall get these skins (granted you live in the USA because heck I am not rich and I will be shipping it to you)!

This shall be a true test of who is Nina cutegeek fan! LOL. Game on cutegeekers!

Note: The iphone skin is the exact design!

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Yippee skippy!  I cannot wait till September to get the Beatles Rockband!!!  Always been a huge fan even though I am an 80′s baby, my parents played music from the 50′s and on since I was a child!  Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is clearly one of my favorite Beatles albums (it helped my parents had the CD)! I recall I use to listen to that CD nightly in high school (unlike everyone else in HS listening to pop rock, no offense I am just an old schooler)!  Till this day I swear I sometimes I start my morning with…

“Woke up, fell out of bed, Dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup, And looking up I noticed I was late. Found my coat and grabbed my hat. Made the bus in seconds flat.” (Beatles Song: A Day In The Life)…and yes I literally sing this with a lil’ dance! I should have a reality show since I am such a dork! I swear I have been meaning to do a youtube of this reenactment! BUT I am hoping one day this song will be available for Rockband!

 So yesterday I got a list of more songs for Beatles Rockband! 

Per the press release, see below…and I believe the list will grow…to see full press release go here!

“Following the world premiere of The Beatles: Rock Band at the Microsoft press briefing at the 2009 E3 Media & Business Summit last month, the newly announced 15 songs represent a cross-section of hits and favorites that span The Beatles’ storied career from Can’t Buy Me Love and Paperback Writer to With A Little Help From My Friends and Yellow Submarine, bringing the total number of announced songs to 25.”
 
The 15 new songs for The Beatles: Rock Band and the venues they are featured in are:
 
·         Twist And Shout / Cavern Club
·         Do You Want To Know A Secret / Cavern Club
·         Can’t Buy Me Love / Ed Sullivan Theater
·         I Wanna Be Your Man / Ed Sullivan Theater
·         Eight Days A Week / Shea Stadium
·         Paperback Writer / Budokan
·         And Your Bird Can Sing / Budokan
·         Yellow Submarine / Abbey Road Dreamscape
·         Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band* / Abbey Road Dreamscape
·         With a Little Help from My Friends* / Abbey Road Dreamscape
·         Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows / Abbey Road Dreamscape
·         Revolution / Abbey Road Dreamscape
·         Birthday / Abbey Road Dreamscape
·         Dig A Pony / Rooftop Concert
·         I’ve Got A Feeling / Rooftop Concert
 
Additional on-disc songs will be announced at a later date.  Stay tuned kids; I think this can only get better!!!!

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While at E3 I had the chance to play with a PSPat the MTV booth.  It was really cool b/c they set up pods for each person to play the game; no one told me that this was so no one else can hear you playing the game.  So my geeky self goes to one of the pods hell bent on playing Rockband on PSP(I think I have an unhealthy addiction to Rockband, but that’s another topic).  I put on Modest Mouse b/c on drumming its easier then say QOTSA or Foo Fighters plus I never played a PSP before…Before you know “Float on” comes on and I start dancing along with the PSP in hand enjoying myself and having a good old time, so I started dancing along even more! 

This is when Michael from Hardwaregeeks.com comes to me in the booth, “Uh Nina,” he says.  Annoyed I say “yeah?” (hello I was in the middle of float on and throwing down some mad dance moves) “You do realize that no one else can hear you.”  First off thanks Michael for making me look like a dork for at least 2 minutes BEFORE telling me this.  I have to wonder if he was recording it with his camera or just standing there laughing at me. Michael if you have this on video post it dude! 

SO my face turned all shades of red from embarrassment and then I thought well I already made a huge dork of myself, mine as well keep dancing! After trying this PSP for the first time I realized I needed a PSP and ASAP!

So today I open my cutegeek inbox to this press release below.  I got EXCITED and sang excited (again sing with me world!)

Optical technology developer sets sights on Q4 launch of V-Screen for PSP.

My initial thought was man it must be soooo cool to be a kid now a days!  Then a light bulb went off in my head!  I don’t h-a-v-e to be a kid to play with the PSP; we all know I am big kid at heart anyhow!  So I am hopeful to score a PSP before Q4 so I can try out this new technology!

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At E3 I met the VP of Marketing Matt from Xfire (again cutie!), who explained all the ins and outs of gaming social media.  Sorry ladies I didn’t get a picture…just take my word for it that he is cute in his casual fedora hat!

So per the Xfire.com website “Xfire is a free application that combines multiple gaming tools into one powerful tool to alleviate the need to run multiple different gaming related programs. For instance, Xfire allows you to chat with your friends, see what games they are playing, what servers they are playing on and join them instantly with one click. Xfire also allows you to show off your gaming skills by capturing screenshots and videos and uploading them to your Profile page on the Xfire website.”

Admittedly I went on a spa quest to get out of the city and to a resort in the south bay.  I recalled that Matt said Xfire was in Menlo Park and since my resort was there I might as well stop by.  I had set up my clan on Xfire after E3 and since then did nothing to it and have only one sample friend, which is pathetic! Though how nice of Xfire to give me a sample friend since I clearly had NONE!  I needed some Xfire tutorials and demo’s of what other folks with more friends Xfire clan looked like. 

I have been wanting to try some online games out and Xfire is the perfect interface and seems to be the ideal website for me to join.  So I make my drive from the foggy city to sunny Menlo Park. 

I walk into the Xfire office, “uh…hello? Anyone?!” It was 9am…

It looked like any gamers office/ lab, I know this after working at Dell with engineers!  Cardboard cut outs of gaming characters and posters of games or gaming entertainment posters on the walls. 

In walks Matt…”oh thank gawd I am not in the wrong office,” I thought immediately!

Matt takes me to his office and I see his Xfire account…and now I have clan envy.  His xfire was all hooked up with all these friends and clans…it’s kinda like getting friend envy on facebook or twitter! Darn I am about to look like a major idiot once he sees mine, I thought. 

Please don’t ask…please don’t ask…

And then sure enough he asks, “Whats your account name so I can add you as a friend?” 

On No! uhhhhhh…I think the spa mentality got to me too soon…

I didn’t even have it memorized!  What kind of gamer am I?! Seriously  I shuffle around in my over sized Juicy C purse and finally find my user name and p/w.  Even more embarrassing is that I had some pretty crappy games listed that I honestly have no idea how they appeared on my account, maybe after some “grape juice?”

He gives me a standard tour on his PC of screen shots of different gamers on xfire and live broadcasts.  I got a better grasp of the hot keys that were used to switch between games and the web!

So here is a good list to help you all get started who aren’t on Xfire.com
Scroll Lock + X: Brings up Xfire Ingame
Scroll Lock + V: Starts Video Capture
Scroll Lock + B: Starts Broadcast
Scroll Lock + W: Brings up Web
Scroll Lock + S: Takes a screenshot

So then I meet the engineer who showed me the gaming interface and how all the above also help your xfire gaming experience.  I have to be honest till I play around and join games I am so lost.  However I recall at my Madballs Demo they said it would be online so that may be me!  So give it a try!  Why not right?! So be my pal on Xfire…I need pals…love me gamers!!

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I couldn’t help but put these pictures up of my godson and I…

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I was pleasantly and shockingly surprised by my Madballs Babo Invasion demo experience here in San Francisco. Remember the Madballs craze in the 80’s…if you don’t I feel dang old!

I recall all the boys had them, though till this day I don’t understand the purpose…yet thanks to the Demo I have my own little Madball to figure out and it’s an old school one too…

Screamin’ Meenie!!!  Do I throw it?? Step on it? WHAT?! So lost on this toy! But hell bent on figuring it out!

Everyone knows I am the queen of Rockband for cutegeek.com. In fact my arms were sore that day after 2 hours of Rockband drumming the night before including a jam session of Run to the Hills (that is one tough song).

So I wake up and think…will I enjoy this game? Will I be good at the game? Typically I play music games and car games (b/c who doesn’t want to crash into things, right?). Out of curiosity I went to the Madballs Babo Invasion website to check out what I just got myself into…

To be honest I was starting to think I wouldn’t be good at it…beads of sweat were starting to think about accumulating (mostly nerves but also b/c the cab was stuffy). What if I can’t cut it and oh crap I am videotaping…this could be bad! Demise of Nina in literally 30mins!

THAT ALL CHANGED…once I had the control in my hands  I was rocking…and I had F-U-N (sorry Scott from playbrains, I stole your expression!) HA! Scott also really helped me grasp the game; this game truly is for those that want to invest their time in a game.

Once I was in combat I was laughing and also being challenged at the same time, see the first time I played here!  My character the first time around was Magmor which as a dork I said his name in the deep voice the game did, yeah I geeked out!

I am not great at shoot em’ up games or anything that requires a target; my aim is awful and I get trigger shy once I am ambushed! Strangely I had no problems shooting and rolling around in this game!  I mean did you see the youtube where one of the guys said “she is doing better then me“, I was killing it on this game!  The rolling at first took some getting used to I am not going to lie to you all! Luckily the game has a rolling boot camp…I didn’t do it b/c well I am just that good and a geek…so if you are having problems figuring it out…do the boot camp…don’t be a punk!

Nina get to what features you liked about the game already…I know…I know…SORRY! First off I think this little character “Eidolon” for us ladies is HOT and I love her powers!  She can go invisible with her “Ghost” ability or temporarily blind her enemies with her powerful “whiteout”.  Man I wish I had those powers; not sure the male population would have a chance though sooooo maybe not! Especially since my favorite weapon is the beamer, which seemed to be very effective in my demo!

Then you get to create your own little avatar profile and instead of the Madballs faces its avatar profile pix of your friends.  Here is the demo of what playing with your avatar would look like…

I couldn’t help laughing about that! Imagine playing with your friends and having the chance to shoot each other! I could see this possibly getting messy if there is some Freudian anger between pals …maybe…but it was sure funny!

I also had the opportunity of making a map even though there are 21 maps to the game so you don’t need to but you have the option(hello women love options, I pack like Costanza). Building it was super duper fun! I could see myself spending more time building maps…it’s fun to build it and then play on your map…it’s like your new little creation that no one else made! NICE!

What I want to express to our audience is that this game though at first glance may be overwhelming for a girl like me who cannot shoot; but it was not hard to grasp in the least bit! Ladies I suck at this stuff; I have tried others back in the day like Battlefield or at E3 I couldn’t even shoot the dang chickens at the city interactive booth. Chickens people, not like that they are a small target!

I think I want this game…and now gasp…I need a dang XBox! Though you can play it online…still want an XBox though…

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I was so excited when I got my first new product after E3 and it was these SUPER cute ear buds and in ear headphones from Roxy/ JBL. First off I love bright colors, I am not sure if it is because I am in California or that I am blind and frankly colors stick out more…

Radiris and I  make amazing partners in crime; we both have different technology preferences! CUTEGEEKS UNITE (imagine Radiris and I running to each other in slow motion [because everything is better in slow motion]and high fiving like big geeks)! As most of the population knows not 1 woman is the same…Radiris loves the On Ear Headphones and I love the in ear headphones/ ear buds.

I realize we have said in the past not everything needs to be pink b/c not all women love pink; Radiris loves the color black and looks smashing in it.. I love pink and admittedly my shuffle is….gasp…PINK! When I got the pink and orange ear buds from Roxy/ JBL  in the mail I was S-O-O-O-O pumped! I did a one foot happy dance (still sporting the boot cast). They matched my lil’ shuffle perfectly and the sound was AMAZING!! A true geek at heart; I do get excited when I get products that look fabulous and impress me technology wise…literally the sound quality was A-A-A-M-M-M-A-A-A-Z-Z-I-N-G-G (sing with me world)!!! I love to jam out to rap/ hip hop and I always have to turn the volume on my other ear buds all the way up but not with these little Reference 230 miracle buds…And I love that they are smaller than the apple shuffle earbuds…who wants their ears all stretched out…not me…

So you want the specs right? Any geek would…

Power: 2 x 20mW

Frequency Response: 20 Hz- 20kHz (-10dB)

Dimensions: Diameter- 15mm/ Wire length 1250 mm

Weight: .38oz (11grams)

The in ear headphones reference 250 are cool too. Basically you can receive calls while listening to your MP3s and not interrupt your music list… pops you inbetween your phone and MP3 player. These little buds are a perfect size and smaller then the ear buds. It took me some time to get use to them but once I did I was impressed with the sound quality.  So again Nina give me the specs (shut up already right?!)…well here you go! 

Power: 2 x 5mW

Frequency Response: 20 Hz- 20kHz (-10dB)

Dimensions: Diameter- 13.5mm/ Wire length 1182 mm

Weight: .42oz (12grams)

And Chloe also had to try them on, the girl just loves new toys…I played no music though of course (do not try this at home kids).  She is just so curious about technology too!  Again no music was played while she tried them on!!

I know allot of people want to hear me rant (for those who know me…my rants tend to be funny) so I had to sit here and think (think Nina think think think think)…what would be a standard complaint? I love these things way too much and I believe ear buds truly are my generation’s technology fashion accessory.  After a couple glasses of “grape juice” I found minor and I mean minor items that bugged me…

Rant #1 the noise cancelation on the in ear headset is so strong I cannot hear over my voice when I speak. I used it on Skype and literally had to take one bud out…I hate my inside voice (you know the one only you hear and thank goodness for that). I think I am one of those weird people that does want to hear my surrounding…This really isn’t a complaint considering everyone else in the world would love it!

Rant #2, the pouches for these though super cute it doesn’t stop me from throwing my ear buds in my purse. This starts the downward spiral on the demise of my day, having to untangle little bitty wires. I have actually not used my shuffle if my wires are tangled. I have yet to find the miracle solution for having your buds not tangling; I have broken all the retractable ones. One would assume I would just put them away but NOOO…I don’t…if I was rich I would hire a professional de-tangler if there is such a thing! Again I think this is a Nina problem…I am one hot mess I tell you!

Lastly, I think I need the other color Roxy/ JBL  b/c I am running out of pink items to match with my ear buds and I hate doing laundry or worse…dare I say I hate repeating an outfit…Opps, I’m always thinking of fashion first even if I am a technology geek!

I love these ear buds though and honestly I am the happiest little girl right now rockin my JBL/ Roxy  pink ear buds…even if I am not matching on the streets of San Francisco!  Don’t judge; if you heard the sound you would be rockin’ pink ear buds too!

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I little birdie told me today about the Announcement from Logitech Introducing Logitech Vid  and thought I would share to all you cute geekers.  I love their sloggan, “Isn’t it about time video calling became easy!” um YES! So check this out!!  I plan to toy around with it as well.  Give me your thoughts cutegeekers!

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On day 2 I woke up sore, I forgot to let you all know I am pretty sure I sprained my foot.  I was limping all through E3 and like a dummy I walked around on it. So day two was a late start (my nick name was gimpay)  but we headed off to the convention center for our first meeting.  Check out one of the displays in front of the convention center, this year truly had some creative outdoor displays and games.

Our first meeting was with Logitech and the first thing I tried was the Logitech® Wireless Guitar Controller and though I am not a Guitar Hero pro and never play the guitar I loved how this instrument played.  It seemed more authentic especially since the neck is real wood. It has a wireless range of up to 30 feet and virtually silent controls, NICE!

My most favorite thing I first tested out on day 2 is not yet released  from Logitech and I cannot give any information on it YET. What I can tell you is it MADE my E3 experience; I fell in love with it and didn’t want to leave after seeing this! I had a perma grin for hours and Radiris had to literally drag me out of the room!! Keep on reading my blog b/c I am hell bent on testing this out and telling you how AMAZING Logitech is! Love love love it! It may have resolved so many gaming issues I had in the past regarding my neighbors!

 HOWEVER I am able to discuss the Logitech G940 Flight System which is AMAZING! Here is the live DEMO from E3! One of my dearest friends flew in the war and also is a pilot now for a major airline so I have so much more interest in this! And yes she is a female pilot; did I just get cool points by association?

So the force feedback effects allow you to feel its movement as well as its reaction to wind shear, buffeting, turbulence, and g-forces. It controls multi-engine aircraft using the two 8-way hat switches or you can lock the levers when you need to operate your engines in sync. It also has true-to-life rudder control, which is needed when performing defensive maneuvers and crosswind landings, or piloting helicopters.The interactive buttons help control and illuminate red, green, amber, or off to indicate the status of critical aircraft systems—gear up, flaps down, and etc.

We also checked out at some Logitech mice.  One model was the V220 which is in a variety of limited-edition patterns and colors; priced at $29.99.

Next we went to City Interactive to test out some new games and my first one to demo was Chronicles Of Mystery: Curse of the Ancient Temple on DS and I have to be frank this game on a plane is Perfect!  We next tested out Chronicles of Mystery: The Three of Life on the PC and Redneck Chicken Riot on Wii; both very cool interactive games.  The ghosts in Redneck Chicken Riot were funny and spooky all at once!

Next we went to the MTV booth again; being a child of the 80′s I honestly cannot get enough MTV! But one of the most thrilling of my E3 experience is PLAYING THE DRUMS FOR THE BEATLES ROCKBAND!! Check out the all chic Beatles Rockband youtube video, I am rockin the drums!  At home I have the standard 4 pod rockband drums but I was up for the challenge and even played on medium first time around. Self hug b/c I rocked it and it was cool to have all chicks the first time! This game is a perfect party game, I should know…I love to throw parties! Nina jammin on Rockband Beatles Drums!

I then ventured over to the PSP Rockband demo…not only do I now need to get rockband Beatles…now it’s a PSP! Michael told me I looked like a huge dork jamming under the PSP Demo pods b/c noone can hear what you are playing! I imagine this is what I will look like once I get this device and you see me on the streets nodding my head with maybe bust out a little dance move…movin’ here and there…who knows! I loved hearing my Rockband songs and being able to play portable was amazing. I want this toy! My birthday is coming up…any takers?! ANYONE?! Its the first of many big 29′s!  (I can’t believe I am admiting this to you all, I was told no women should reveil their age but I think 29 is a big deal or party…ok back to E3)

One thing that made me curious was Xfire.com. Myself being new to gaming besides PS3 the entire explosion of this really cool website/ software Xfire is astonishing. Basically its similiar to facebook’s social media but gaming ONLY instead and also you can create “clans (ie: communities)”. The site has 13.5 million members all over the country! WOW!  We met with the VP of Marketing who was ultra cool (plus uber cute) and he was completely in tune with his audience; he gave us the entire back story. Ideally this site is for those who do online interactive gaming. It has so many short cut tools to continue gaming without even leaving the game! Including and not limited to Chat rooms, voice recording, video broadcasting, web browsing and etc. Also this whole creating clans is a fantastic creation!! Kuddos to you guys! In fact us cutgeek girls will be creating a xfire clan for all you gamers to follow us super cute geeks…I feel like I just became cool even though I am a GEEK! In fact we may even do a demo on building our own little clan and xfire profile.

Overall I had a blast at E3!  I feel like I saw some of the coolest shazza (yeah I said it…shazza) on day 2 and cannot wait to test out some of these amazing products!

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Its only just begun everyone see us Cutegeek girls at E3 on youtube. See some more new post of Ms. Radiris and I at E3 playing games. Radiris on Guitar and Nina on Drums!

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Today MTV Games’ Harmonix Music Systems announced a partnership with Warner Bros. Records and Green Day  to bring the music of Green Day, exclusively to Rock Band ®.  See Press Release Here! 

The first songs that you can download are a three-pack of songs of their Album; 21st Century Breakdown on July 7th including:  21 Guns, Know Your Enemy, East Jesus Nowhere.  Additional Green Day songs and projects will be announced at a later date.

If it is not obvious I am the Rockbander of the cutegeek.com and I am excited about this new release of Green Day coming to Rockband.  I wanted to be a rocker or punk rocker since I was a child of the 80s.  Unfortunately I lack the talent to play the real drums (sad face) therefore…do-to-do-dooooo Rockband drums!  Everyone saw how I killed it at E3 on the drums  right? (not so much on the singing, I use to be able to no idea what happened…opps!)

So MTV and Harmonix are just going crazy on these new releases of Rockband games and everyday I hope when I open my inbox there is a new release of something fun and I get…well…gitty like I was 7 years old again…what will I get?  Another Rockband alert…oh boy…oh boy!

This actually comes at the perfect time so thank you MTV/ Harmonix/ Warner Brothers and Green Day! I have a very important birthday coming up that I may repeat for several years to come and nothing makes my heart a flutter more then new Rockband songs!  BTW I celebrate my b-day for a month so…July 7th isn’t too far off.  THOUGH shout out to my pals at MTV/ Harmonix that if they want me to preview it, I would be the happiest birthday girl! :-) hehe

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After E3 I must admit I am more into games.  So today I got this lil’ tid bit in my inbox and thought I should share with my fellow cutegeeks and gamers who also love music!  As of today and for $50.00 Video Games Live Pre-loaded MP3 Player is available for your pure enjoyment.

This new MP3 player comes with high-quality VIVO Headphones, a USB Adapter and 2 GB of built-in memory. Also included in the player is an internal speaker for non-headset listening and a built-in microphone which can be used to record voice and audio directly onto the device. Included on the player are never before released live recordings of music from the following franchises: Halo®, Kingdom Hearts, Warcraft®, Castlevania®, Myst®, Mass Effect™, Civilization IV, Tron, Earthworm Jim and Advent Rising.

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While the lovely Radiris and I were at E3 we shared a hotel room…boys please focus there were no pillow fights involved.  So as we are getting ready together I look down at the scale; now I am legally blind but did my eyes just see the scale’s name is Thinner? What kind of subliminal message is this scale telling us women especially teenage girls?

So I looked over at Radiris and said; “Really?! Do I need a scale telling me to be thinner?! I mean if I am weighing myself its probably cause my pants do not fit or I am bloated.”  Granted I was a bit cranky as I am not all that happy about traveling or with my broken foot which seemed to drag me down (not to mention almost falling 10 times) but damn…Thinner…I wonder who thought of that brand marketing? Is it me or should it be named something more PC?! I suggest Healthy and Lovely!

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This year was my first experience actually attending E3. I had planned it for others before but never attended until now! As I walked into the LA convention center I was blown away immediately with a HUGE Pepsi Rockband stage with fellow rockbander rocking away, check out the video here!  I then walked into the south hall with my cutegeek partner in crime Radiris and I was AMAZED as you can see in my video here you can listen to my excitement plus see my girl!

My first observation, this was not like CES at all. There were so many women gamers and women executives at E3; I loved it! I believe women gamers truly showed themselves at E3 especially with Rockband, Guitar Hero, Wii Fit, Dance Revolution and Disney.  Of course we had some booth babes in gamer costumes; but I frankly thought they looked GREAT!

Our first stop was Disney Interactive Studios and I had a feeling Radiris would be in heaven! The Toy Story Mania game was fun check out Michael from Hardwaregeeks and I playing one of 25 games on this video. The Hannah Montana: Rock Out the Show (PSP), G-Force (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii) and Disney Sing It: Pop Hits (Wii, PS3)was fun as well! Oh and yes Radiris and I sang along with Sing it which also has vocal lessons as part of the game as well…How Cool!  Gforce was also a fun game to watch; check out Radiris in her GForce Demo…I think she rocked it!  See more toy story demo here!

My next stop and I was so excited Riiflex for Wii , check it out the awesome demo of Riiflex! Basically its 2 and 4 pound actual weights for your Wii wand and nun-chucks plus an interactive work out video which is intense as you see in the demo.

What I found amazing is that you cannot slack on this game, you have to work out and hard. Apparently the reason this product was developed was due to an executive whose wife loved WiiFit but needed a new challenge and a change to her workout routine! And Taaa Daaa…I think the husband majorly delivered. This product rocks and hope to test it out once its released.

Next and one of my favorite’s was the Beatles Demo! First off well done Harmonix and MTV the Abby Road House replica as the booth was amazing! We then walked into a theatre where we had a live demo of Rockband using all instruments. I have to be honest Harmonix, your employees love their job after seeing this demo!!

So what’s so cool? First off you get to vocally harmonize with other players. Second the new Beatle’s drums rock! Third they created the game so that if you are a beginner you will not fail out. How many times do you have a party, bust out rockband and you have to restart b/c apparently your friends aren’t gamers like you. Which is cool but I want to get through a song dang it!

This is the fun part to read so listen up! I got to DEMO it! OH yeah baby! First on day one all I did was I sing. I am a former singer but I hate singing, however to the Beatles, I loved it! It brought me back to a simple time in life!!!

So I missed the Alienware demo due to schedule conflicts (us cutegeeks cannot be everywhere all at once) BUT kudos Alienware, your booth rocked! Being a former Dell employee and into convention/event planning I loved what they did; two story booth, amazing gamer lights, modern/ sexy looking and a live DJ. Plus they had super official secret service Alienware agents! I also had the lovely opportunity to run into some old Dell friends from my past; always great!

Our next stop was Gamersfirst which is range of multi player online games as well as rich community features. I must be honest the dude who first gave me the demo bored the crap out of me, seriously I don’t care how to create a profile b/c guess what I already can figure that out dude (um not that hard).  I wanted to play and after this demo I was already looking around for new things to look at. Finally!  We meet a young marketing women of Gamersfirst (love it) who enlightened us on their products and how cool their games are.  She truly made me want to look more into their products and she was interested in social media! She related more to the female aspect of gaming and I admire their booth for that.

On a personal level I met up with a new friend at Rivera Restaurant in DT La which was an amazing hot spot. I had no idea DT LA was revamping itself!  After such I met one of my greatest pals from high school ten years later (I didn’t make it to my HS reunion) also in DT LA.  After drinks at a Whiskey bar…we had breakfast for dinner (love it) at Pantry Cafe where I swear to gawd the waiter was George Costanza’s dad.

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Disney was our first meeting and boy it’s timing could not have been any better. It was perfect because I had the most fun and started E3 with a bang. Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m not an avid gamer. I currently don’t own any systems and although I enjoy playing them, haven’t in a while.

The one thing I do know is that I love Disney. I played games that made me feel like I was at home, in the living room, and could be surrounded by a bunch of kids. Call it my mother instinct trying to throw hints at me, although I’m not even close to my clock to start clicking…but yea…Disney has a bunch of cool games coming out that can easily turn any day into a family day. Adults and children could enjoy them.

Most of the games I played were for the Wii, so I am convinced that it was my calling. I need to buy a Wii. The best game they had was Toy Story Mania! It’s scheduled to come out in the Fall and has over 25 mini games to play. Nina, Mike and I all played some of the games, and by the end, all of our arms got some sort of a workout.

I also played a game (The Princess and the Frog) that made us compete to see who could cook a stew faster, we were chopping, throwing and then stirring ingredients into a pot and that was cool. Another game was a rendition of red light, green light, except we were dancing, playing instruments and had to stop when the bad guy appeared.

Nina and Mike played a couple of games against each other, but being the all-goodness women that we are, Nina ended up turning it into more of a collaborative effort – despite Mike’s “You suck” comments. Girls play nice, boys do not.

My lack of experience using the Wii became apparent once I started playing G-Force…One, I was a little guinea pig, fighting household appliances – you know, the regular – irons, toasters – story of my life as a woman. It was fun, but man, those controls were freaking me out. I guess my quick demo was too quick, because I didn’t ‘get it’ and I eventually gave up and told the Disney guy I would much rather see him play, and actually see him do something in the game. I was going in circles, as if it was my first time driving, and all I wanted to do was whip some butt.

Disney’s car game, Split/Second (for the XBOX 360), was so freaking cool. It made me feel as if I were on the road. I don’t know if it was due to all the swerving going on, or what, but the game is extremely realistic and fun to experience. I tried recording Mike playing, because he was almost a zombie – glued to the TV, barely blinking – but my camera didn’t do a great job at recording my funny comments. I still posted it, and I’ll try to add what I was saying in the description for those of you that are interested.

The next game I played was Disney’s Sing-It – yes, you can stop clicking on the videos now…you do not want to hear me…Disney’s Sing-It – Pop Hits (yes, yes, yes…pop hits) is an ideal game for people who enjoy doing karaoke. They have a large selection of today’s pop hits, like most karaoke games, but the best part was its ‘educational’ side of things. The game provides singing lessons! Like for real, for real…Wouldn’t that be great for a child that has a voice and for a parent that may not have the money to send them off to expensive lessons? That’s the first thing that came to mind…

Nina and I sang Colbie Caillat’s Bubbly…it’s a catchy tune, and although I’ve heard it many, many, many times, the only part I know about that song is the chorus. Like most of you out there…don’t lie. Although it shows you the lyrics (you’re probably thinking how can you mess up in karaoke), all I can say is that the main reason I stood next to Nina, CuteGeek’s own singer/drummer/guitarist, is because I am her groupie. Yes Nina, I am your biggest fan and I knew you could sing. I didn’t think I would actually be singing until they gave me a mic, and then I was doomed. I usually only sing in the shower, where the tiles make me sound amazing, or when the music is loud enough for me to not hear myself…anyway…Mike got it on video…man the lights were bright and it was so hot. Now everyone knows the faces I make when I’m embarrassed, clueless or confused…

Cecilia told us all that Disney is usually the most enjoyable booth to attend and it’s true. We were all ready to believe…

I had sooo much fun.

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I learned the value of being in good company this week. From the moment I arrived in LA, I thought, wow – it’s been a year since I’ve been here, and things felt so different. I blame it on the humidity, but I had a great feeling about E3 from the moment I got off the plane.

A third of our group was already at the hotel, aka Mike, and Nina was joining us in the AM, so it was fun going over our schedule and wondering how it would all play out. Nina and I had never been to an E3 before so I don’t even know if our foreshadowing into the event was on the same page, but I was impressed from it all.

First off, E3 is freaking cool. We walked into the convention center and were welcomed by a mini rockband concert going on. I can tell Nina was inching towards the stage, the closer we got to the escalators, but she saved her rock star skills for the goodies in the hall.

The crowd at E3 was so attractive, and so full of life that I automatically told Nina I liked it more than CES. CES is great, don’t get me wrong, I had tons of fun, but the people at E3 made me want to network a little more than I did at CES. The energy was different – I loved it and I’m sure those that attended agreed. It’s something about being in a place full of people who are all passionate about the same thing. You can feel it. There were also tons of women at the event. Both as exhibitors and also as attendees. There were many women behind the games that we played and that in itself was motivating to me. I’m like always oozing super girl power though, so maybe I was the only one that noticed that.

I saw Barry Bonds…

Nina and I, as many of you already saw, looked super cute and coordinated on our first day. We didn’t necessarily plan it, but once I saw the colors she was wearing on Tuesday, I decided to match the same color scarf to show our – unitedness or something, I dunno, or cute geek-ness…whatever…we looked good. That was the point.

The games we played were tons of fun, and Nina convinced me to try Rockband w/ her (the Beatles one of course). I can already tell she’s going to be a great mom, because I definitely communicated my fear of trying something new, especially on a stage, in front of strangers, but she said all the right things to get me on it. Even when it was over, and I received a 50% accuracy percentage, she still told me I rocked and forget it – now I want to rock out! Thanks Nina, for encouraging a disaster to continue to perform. Just kidding!

The goodies I can’t mention are worth the wait – trust me.

I won’t lie and say E3 was the best thing since sliced bread (because I think the New Super Mario Bros for the Wii wins that title) but it was a cool event. We didn’t always get to play though – as you can see from the picture below, we sometimes had to listen to really long techie talks regarding the game’s specs…Nina and I are more hands on kind of women. We wanted to see how all the games worked, we weren’t necessarily trying to become game developers by the end of the event…

By the end of the 1st day, I realized if I ever lost Nina, to look towards a stage, because she would most likely be on it:

I grew a greater appreciation for the gaming world and everyone involved in it. It was a really cool event and I’m already looking forward to next year!

(Mike & Nina had camcorders and I had the digital camera – hence why I have so many pics of them. They will most likely upload the most videos from E3 in the upcoming days, I’ll be sure to link them to the site, once they’re all up)

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Mario and I established a relationship many, many years ago. It has had its ups and downs, but this week, the spark was there. I forgot about all the times I couldn’t beat a level, or the times my brother seemed to know everything. All the memories were gone. At E3, it was all about me and the new game.

I played the newest Mario game to soon come out on the Wii and I was in pure bliss. Nina even commented on how happy I looked playing, especially once I figured out how to fly and I was. I really, really, was. With all of these new gaming systems, the one thing I really don’t like, and applies to most, is this whole ‘let me make you dizzy, and make you fall’ thing that they all do, oh yea, sorry, its called 3D. I don’t like it. I like the old’ skool Mario, and this new one allows you to play with up to 4 players at the same time. It was soooooooooooo much fun.

Nintendo is doing the right thing by bringing the New Super Mario Bros back to 2D. I am now going to buy a Wii. I’m buying it only to play this game. You’ll just have to wait and see when this heaven sent game is released. Once it is, I can guarantee I’ll have a copy. I promise.

I will link the video of me playing, once its uploaded. I’m sure you’ll be able to tell which part I learn how to fly in – it brought joy into my life.

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Slowly but surely we are posting our video’s from E3. Check them out and let me know what you thought of the games! Make sure and watch them in HD!

Cutegeek youtube videos from E3

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CuteGeek.com will post pictures of events, products, and random ‘forms’ of interesting technology that surround us on our new Flickr account !

Our first set of pics are from E3. Tomorrow we’ll add more pictures from the event and we’ll also upload all of the videos that we captured on our YouTube.com account.

Enjoy!

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It’s official.

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Original band members Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison, came together today to kick off the 2009 E3 Media & Business Summit with the world premiere of The Beatles: Rock Band.

See Presss Release Here!

Tomorrow will be a huge day for me as I will be testing out the New Beatles Rockband with my fellow cutegeeker Radiris!  I hope to video tape or have our unboss video tape us testing it out!  Follow my tweets and facebook as I embark on my first E3.

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E3 is fast approaching and we are starting to plan our booth visits.  Here is a chance to live vicariously through us at E3; tell us what you want us to check out!  What do you want us to check out?  Here is the exhibitor list

We plan to take photos and test out as many toys as we can.  Of course I will be at the Rockband booth (did you doubt me?!).  So let me know what you want to see!!!

Here is a goofy pic of me at CES; I am not affraid to try out unusual looking toys.

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CuteGeek.com will be there to bring you the latest and greatest from the largest video gaming conference in the world! e3 will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 2nd through the 4th.

We’re teaming up with Michael Reyes, from HardwareGeeks.com to meet some of the coolest companies showcasing their newest games, technologies, and ideas influencing the gaming industry. We currently have meetings scheduled with Harmonix, Logitech, Lucas Arts, and Ubisoft, to name a few. Click here to view the full listing of exhibitors that will be present at e3.

My flight and hotel are booked and my vacation days from work have already been confirmed!

See ya in LA!

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Today Harmonix Music Systems, MTV Games, and Electronic Arts Inc. announced that replica Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet guitars will be made available for The Beatles: Rockband. It will be available on XBox 360, Wii, and Playstation 3. This is awesome news and I am looking forward to checking this out at E3!  Now I just need to learn how to play guitar instead of drums.

Also today The Beatles: Rock Band Pre-Order Club also went live in the U.S. and Canada; which will give fans news and access to exclusive game elements till its launch on 09/09/09.  I suggest anyone to become a member of the club who is interested. 

See full MTV Press Release

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1. Do games control your spending?

I recently met the co-founder/ co- president of Everybodysafe.com.  This is an emergency alert website that is perfect for singles, frequent travelers or college students that are away from their family and friends! Everybodysafe.com is the only system that works with 411 and 911 plus uses email, text messaging and phone calls to make sure that everyone will be informed. The instructions seemed easy enough; basically potential clients can contact them two simple ways: via their website or by calling 800-399-0295. 

First hand I know this system is needed especially when you are in college, travel frequently, away from home or single!   I somehow found myself in the ER 3 times in college and this would have been handy! Instead everyone was alerted word of mouth. Not very effective considering all my family just lived 1 hour away.

I had the chance to check out the website and what it would be like as a member; I am impressed with the company’s website.  All I had to do was quickly add in some contact information and bingo…I am brought to my own personal dashboard where I can input all my emergency contact information along with a photo.  With becoming a member of everybodysafe.com you receive services such as; a system that informs everyone using email, text messaging and phone calls. You will also receive a  hard plastic ID card , multiple ID stickers, and an optional metal ID tag.  How great is that for anyone who travels, is single, a student or just away from family?

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