Today at 6 pm Samsung held a press conference introducing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and two players, the Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0.

The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is extremely thin – that is the first thing that you notice.  It has a nice metallic finish and while I’ve handled many tablets this one fit perfectly in my hands – like absolutely perfect, as if it were made for my hand.

It was funny hearing the product manager speak about it because they said ‘One size does not fit all’ and all I could think was – ‘You’re damn right!’.

The Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 are entertainment focused devices – bringing you everything but a phone call (games, media, and services).  Taking a quick glance will make you think it’s an iPod Touch – I’m not going to lie – but its not, and its very nice.

The Galaxy Tab 8.9 will be available on October 2nd for $469 (16GB) and $568 (32GB).

The Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 will be available on October 16th for $229 and $269 respectively. 

Check out our pictures on twitter http://www.twitter.com/cutegeek

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Earlier today I accidentally opened my Mozilla Firefox browser. I say accidentally because ever since I downloaded Google Chrome, I have primarily used that and ONLY that. The only exception would be when a website looks all funky in Chrome I will open Explorer (because it’s the default and I’ve learned from experience that it will look best in those situations).

Chrome is soooooooo fast, and if you need a reminder of how fast it really is, click on your Mozilla or IE shortcut. Test it out!

I use the Proxy Switchy plug-in to manage and switch from personal, work and client proxies, and…SURPRISE it works! I also have the Foxy Proxy plug-in on Mozilla which is designed to automatically detect which connection you are using and then it changes the proxy accordingly…or at least that is the theory. It works, but not all the time and I have gotten so frustrated with fixing the settings that I have moved away from using Firefox.

I like the “New Tab” page and how it displays the website you frequent most, and the most recent closed tabs (this way if you restart you don’t have to worry about where you found those amazing shoes after web browsing 2 hours, I kid I kid).

Google Chrome has changed my web influenced life.

Since the browser has been out for quite some time, do you use it? What’s your favorite feature?

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…for travelers during the Holiday Season courtesy of Google Chrome.  For those of you traveling on Delta, AirTran or Virgin America during the Holidays (November 20, 2010 through January 2, 2011) don’t forget your laptop or WiFi enabled gadget!  The three airlines combined have over 700 planes that are equipped with Gogo® Inflight Internet (their entire domestic fleet).  WOW!

What a great way to help make stressful Holiday travel a little more enjoyable!

Business Wire

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Have you woken up and thanked the Tech Gods for saving you during this holiday and possibly every future holiday season?

No?

Well why the heck not?

You no longer have to buy the fabulous women in your life jewelry. Haven’t you heard that the latest fad is tech?! Diamonds aren’t cool anymore (I am soooo kidding-they always will be)…but a girl’s best-friend CAN be her handy dandy Windows Phone 7, or HP’s new Palm Pre 2…

Tech gadgets?! – YEAAA!

Women are using gadgets and their wonderful cases and complements as accessories nowadays. Nerds are in, geeks are even more in…so help your lady out and get her the latest fun toys out there. In the end – girls just wanna have fun (while of course still looking absolutely fab in the process)!

Blinged out phones, phones that replace their iPods, iPods that replace their TVs/radios, shower radios, beautiful purses for their laptops, iPads, netbooks, the Slate!!!, underwater cameras for your next vacation, Microsoft’s Kinect, etc…

The options are endless – your dream of having a cute geek as a girlfriend may come true…just hold tight and wait for the gift-giving season to start. Buy her some tech and watch the dream come to life, right before your eyes.

Here are my personal thanks…

(I <3 Google Guys)

(Bill Gates)

(Bill Hewlett & David Packard – the makers of my first PC ever!)

(Michael Dell)

(Steve Ballmer)

(Last, but absolutely not least…the GREAT Steve Jobs)

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At first I was hesitant to comment about this because I wasn’t sure if it was true.  I recommend you read the article and pass your own judgement.

Let’s face it, Google seems to be taking over the world!  Can you remember when we didn’t HAVE Google?  Now, I can hardly imagine living without it.  I’m not sure if you’re like me, but I use it for everything.  Even when I don’t think I’m Googling…I’m Googling!  I use the map application on my phone everyday, I use gmail, I google anything I don’t know, use the translate function, the reader for RSS feeds, I can literally go on forever!   Don’t forget about the  reviews that are conveniently displayed when you’re looking for a restaurant or hairdresser.  Who provides you with all these functions and many many many more?  Google!  They even have one of the top selling cell phones on the market!

It’s hard to believe that any company (especially in this economy) would give every single person a 10% pay increase and a $1000 bonus.  I guess if anyone can do it, Google definitely can!  *cheers*

Enough cheer-leading from this gal, head over to Business Insider to read the article.

Oh just admit it already, you can’t help but love Google!

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In Episode 9 of the Girls out Loud Show, Maya and Cristina talk everything Silicon Valley going from venture capitalists to super angels to IPOs. Then we move to the Valley’s established companies with the trials and tribulations of the search industry with Google, Yahoo and Bing. We finish off with typical Silicon Valley exec Owen Van Natta‘s career run-through of Facebook, MySpace and Zynga. Take a listen for a brief excursion to everything SV from the female perspective.

Hulu Is Said to Be Ready for an I.P.O.

VCs And Super Angels: The War For The Entrepreneur

Zynga Hires Former Facebook, MySpace Exec Owen Van Natta

Social Network Ad Spending to Approach $1.7 Billion This Year

JULY SEARCH SHARE: Google Loses, Yahoo Gains, Bing Hits Wall

To download, simply right-click and “Save As” onto your computer somewhere.

Girls Out Loud Episode 9

Got feedback or questions? Give us a shout at maya[at]girlsoutloudshow.com or cristina[at]girlsoutloudshow.com.

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I’m not quite sure when they enacted it, and I’m pretty surprised that more people (or at least what I have read and seen online) haven’t talked about it: Google Reader…Play!

Okay, for those of you where are also new to Google Reader, it’s basically another RSS feed for all of your favorite sites. Instead of visiting 10 different places, it pulls the latest articles for your perusal. The other interesting thing about Google Reader is that you can share articles that you enjoy with your *select* friends on Google.

I love Google Reader for catching up on all the latest pieces on the Web…but, as it usually tends to go, I ended up overpopulating my Google Reader with TONS of different blogs. One day, I noticed this message:

Google Reader Play is a fun way to browse interesting stuff on the web. Give it a try!

When I clicked on it, this is what I saw:

Although there are still some kinks to work out, I enjoy using it (especially when I don’t have tons of time in my day and night).  As you can see, Google Reader Play pulls some of the trending articles, pictures, links and more.  I’m not quite sure where the algorithm comes from, but so far I’ve found some pretty fun things.

It isn’t without problems.  For example, once you scroll through all of them Google Reader Play runs out of recommendations.  So sad.  Of course, this is remedied when you wait and peruse it again the next day.  Also, Google Reader Play can also get a little redundant.

Even though it’s not perfect, it’s something I’d definitely recommend checking out.  I’m curious though…what RSS feeders to you cute geeks use out there…or do you get them straight to email?

The Internet is a big place. There are so many sites to read, widgets to play with, and viral videos to watch. In the midst of all the trending topics and links being sent around, sometimes there are those little tidbits on the Internet that go unnoticed. Have something to share? Drop me a line at Shay@cutegeek.com!

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Okay, so if you’re a cute geek chances are you’re on Facebook.  With the site overtaking Google for the first time as the most popular destination on the Web, you’re really missing out on a chunk of culture if you’re one of the few profile-less people out there.

For the rest of us that are on Facebook, you’ve probably seen a lot of people with the “my year in status updates” around December of 2009. I thought it was pretty neat; after all, I tend to forget all of my status updates and now they are all there in one place. Now, a new site has taken it even further…enter My Famebook, a site that aggregates all of your updates in one place and puts it into a real notebook.

Basically, it’s three easy steps: you connect your Facebook account, pick your “wittiest friends” (according to the site), customize and preview it and you’re done! The site automatically picks from your stream and each page has a post from your feed. Ever wanted to write a book but didn’t have the time? Maybe you’ve been doing it all along. Need a unique coffee table book? Here it is. Or hey, how about a trip down a digital memory lane the old fashioned way? Yup, this would be it.

Of course, I do wonder if they would ever figure out a way for you to make this into a gift. Maybe one day you could stream in updates from someone else. What do you guys think? Is this a real famebook, or kind of a lamebook?

The Internet is a big place. There are so many sites to read, widgets to play with, and viral videos to watch. In the midst of all the trending topics and links being sent around, sometimes there are those little tidbits on the Internet that go unnoticed. Have something to share? Drop me a line at Shay@cutegeek.com!

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This wasn’t required but after seeing some of the comments on my initial video I figured, why the heck not?

At first I wanted to make a nice video, and give the Hero all the kudos in the world, but I can’t lie. I’m not a fan of the phone, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

If you want to listen to mine, click below…if not, don’t click, but realize that most phones always get a huge hype stirred up about them before they’re released – this doesn’t mean they’re great. Before buying a phone, or any gadget for that matter, try to check it out and actually play with it. Mess around with it and see how it performs.

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The HTC Hero is an attractive phone, with a large clear screen and a small panel for buttons. While it is an Android phone, it is interestingly not marketed as a Google phone, as the MyTouch is or the first TMobile G1 that came out. What this may mean in terms of how the phone operates is not completely clear to me, the operating system remains the operating system, its running Android Cupcake (yum!) just like the other Android phones (although 1.6,Donut is arriving soon…so. Hmm.)

I like how the screen transitions are super smooth– using your finger to flip between screens (which you will have to do, as the phone will tell you you’re out of wall real estate once you have a screen full of icons positioned– no scroll downs, just more walls) rivals the iPhone experience, which is something that can’t always be said for multi-touch screen phones that are not brainchildren of Infinite Loop street in Cupertino.

One place I noticed the transitions become to get slow and clunky was in the pictures app. After taking a few unflattering glamour shots (because it was 4 am, not because the camera was sub par) I was flipping through them and the response rate to my inputs decreased very  noticeably. The same thing happened with multi-touch adjustments– pinch to zoom in or out was almost painfully slow. Why, Hero? I wasn’t even running all the apps and widgets simultaneously!

I love certain little interface characteristics  of Android, like the process of creating an app shortcut as an icon on your screen– you hold down the app in the menu for a bit, until it pops itself off in a very intuitive animation and then guides you with little messages until you’ve successfully “dropped” it onto your wall, or one of your walls (as real estate goes fast, like I mentioned earlier.)

Boo- worthy aspects of the phone, for me. What the HELL is up with the unlock process? The phone is on, and you want to use it. There are two COMPLETELY unintuitive ways to go about this:

1) Press the “End” button once and then swipe the curve icon DOWN. (Why? What in the world?)
2) Press the flush “Menu” button TWICE. (Why twice? Why not once, or three times, or hold it down?)

Most notable point to be made about the (should-be simple) unlock process is that NONE of the other buttons will make the phone “awaken.” You could press them until your face turns  blue, but the phone will remain locked and the screen will remain off, until you press happen across Menu twice (which is how I figured that one out) or you press End once and then swipe across the screen in all directions until it tells you to swipe DOWN, not UP.

Its not disfunctional, to be sure, but its VERY unintuitive, and annoying, especially to an iPhone user (Swipe to Unlock, anyone?) where almost any function of the phone or the interface can be figured out instantaneously with no prior instruction, because it was designed just THAT well.

Call me a fangirl, why don’t you.

And there it is! I haven’t tested the call quality yet, but in my experience, that has a lot to do with the carrier and Sprint is a strong carrier, generally. (Definitely loads better than my network, AT&T, which is horrifyingly awful, especially when handling– and failing to handle– data interactions from the millions of 3G customers fiddling with their iPhones all day).

Verdict*?

Thumbs up!

The HTC Hero is a very pretty, highly functional Android phone on a solid network. The screen resolution, picture and video capabilities, and apps functionality will make it a very strong contender for the upper echelon category of smartphones currently occupied (and in my opinion dominated by) the iPhone, as well as other strong fighters, like certain Blackberries (properly pluralized?), the G1 and MyTouch, and the Pre.

Welcome, Hero!

*Thumbs up image courtesy of free clipart! Woopee!

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Sprint launched a new phone today, the latest iPhone competitor – the HTC Hero.

The HTC Hero (loaned to us by Sprint) is a great alternative for those that yearn for something iPhone-ish, but that do not want to switch from having Sprint as their cell phone service provider. Initially, I ooh-ed and ahhh-ed, but once I actually started using it those pleasant sounds turned into grunts, and sighs of exasperation.

The phone is very light weight, very thin, and the screen’s resolution is up to par (if not exceeds) the top phones on the market right now, but when I tried clicking on something on the screen I got nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Thanks to the precedent set by the iPhone, the HTC Hero now has a capacitive touch screen which means by lovely stabs at its screen meant nothing. It only measures or registers electricity from fingertips, so I had to angle my fingers in such a way that it would actually get the phone to respond. Doesn’t sound that difficult right – yea – think again. Think about having a lovely French manicure, on hands that are not a mechanics, and that actually have lengthy nails. It’s a nightmare.

If you’re texting/typing skills were great before – they’re going to decrease a bit in its accuracy. Why? Because if you try to click on one thing, you’ll most likely end up pressing something around it. As a non-iPhone user, I was taken back by it all, but I’ll make sure someone with an iPhone gets their hands on this phone to provide their experience.

The camera on the phone is 5 megapixels, which to me, is great because my first camera ever was a Casio Exilim and the poor thing only had 2 megapixels and it still rocked and captured all of my best high school moments.

I tried capturing my initial thoughts of the camera, using the camera, so you can check out the camcorder’s skills. (I recorded with the phone vertical – assuming it was the right way, and on the phone it looked correct…until I loaded it…sorry)…

The phone is intuitive to use, and because I accidentally left the manual of the phone when it was given to me, I’ve been using it ‘commando’ – with no direction, but no worries, because Sprint has a bunch of user videos that provide some guidance with the phone’s feature.

I mention it’s a great alternative to the iPhone because it runs Google’s Android operation system which to some is a bit easier to understand than Microsoft’s or Blackberry’s system (Research in Motion).

I won’t give up just yet but I’m going to try to find all the cool aspects of the phone before telling everyone with nails to stay clear from it. It was definitely a stressor in my life yesterday when it took me over 5 minutes to log into my facebook account but that’s probably a good thing, I’m too addicted anyway.

Today I did try signing onto AIM though and only 34 of my buddies loaded, so it appeared as if I had 2 friends on, when in reality I have many more. That was annoying, but once I couldn’t figure out how to access my IMs easily, without having to go through tons of screens, I gave up, and let the phone hang out, online, leaving my IMs unanswered.

I’m not giving up, but I will say I’m a little bit disappointed. I thought this Hero would actually come into my life and save parts of it. It’s not (it looks way better than an iPhone though

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Last week, I was among the lucky folks who got a promotion got lucky won the lottery got a Google Voice invite. (It sure felt like winning the lottery, though!) Since then, I’ve done my fair share of playing around with it, and so far, what I’ve seen has been very promising. While it’s not a completely intuitive interface, I feel that this can be allowed given that what Google is going for is a communications revolution.  It’s not immediately obvious how to reply to “Waves,” the usual commands are a little over-reactive while being under-reactive at the same time. Allow me to explain: Google Wave, as it exists now, is not ready for complete public consumption, and the private invite-only beta is more of a use “experience.” In fact, it’s even branded as the Google Wave preview right now. As such, this experience is usually pretty slow. Which makes it really a little frustrating to press ENTER to try and reply to a Wave, have nothing happen, press it again, maybe double click a few times, maybe hit reply– only to watch 15 “Wave-lettes,” as I would like to call the Wave responses, appear on the screen, all blank.

My Wave interface...inbox in the middle, open wave on the right, "one-on-one" private wave in the top left

In addition, its kind of a process to figure out how to make things work like you would expect. Embed videos? Sure! But how? Pictures? Totally, but no dedicated button or easy to follow instructions…its a hit or miss until you hit. Once you do though, the picture rendering is great, pretty instantaneous, no need for a download to preview or even view. You can play the embedded movie right in the Wave (and then invite everyone you know to the wave to watch the Youtube video of the French Bulldog who can’t get up.) Documents work the same way, with everything sitting pretty right in the Wave, enabling in line commentary from all of the Wave participants. Oh, and you can see what people type, letter for letter, in real time as they type it (if you are both online) which can be both awesome and ridiculously embarrassing. (“So, wanna go on a date go out to a movie make out grab lunch can i get your number?”)

As for me, I love it. The concept is superb, the ideas, brilliant. Sure, its almost frustratingly slow right now, but I am thankful that it’s finally here! And you can bet your bottom dollar (um, not real money, of course. Virtual currency, how ’bout it!) that when it does roll out of private beta it is going to be KICK ass. Yeah, you can call me a fangirl. I dig it.

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Greetings! My name is Maya, and I am a super geek.  I’m not sure that you would be able to tell immediately that this is the case– I look and act normal (…uh, I’ve been told) and I don’t have a CS degree or a technical background. But here it is, in one sentence (with a colon, because I never do things the simple way)–

There are three things I love: my family, my boyfriend, and the interwebz.

I consider it pant-worthy when Apple unveils some new ultra-cool device after letting the public speculate themselves into the ground for many months. I consider internet people to be celebrities– once, Steve Jobs rode past me on a bicycle as I waited to cross the street after lunch in Palo Alto (along with two bodyguards). I nearly got hit by a car whipping my phone out to Twitter about it as fast as I could. My news comes from my favorite podcasts and blog networks. Oh, and Twitter, of course. Television newscasts, you ask? What is this, the 20th century?

One of my favorite things to do is go to the retail stores where new gadgets are sold and play with them. Try before you buy type of deal. Last weekend, I was at Sprint playing with the Pre and inquiring about when the Pixie gets store bound. The week before that, I was fiddling with test videos on the new nano in the Apple Store. I once made an unboxing video when I got a Kindle 2, but didn’t want to put it up until I got my own blog more prettified– the vanity!

I am all about social media, gizmos and gadgetry, and the latest internet memes. I love to write and I could read all day, whether it be on a screen or in a book.  I could probably write you a whole essay in LOLspeak.  And still, there’s so much to explore and discover!

So! When I met Radiris at work, the first thing I did after shaking her hand was Google her. And that’s when I discovered my long lost twin (or, geek sister, at least…we should start a sorority.) She was a geek too! We speak the same language (when I keep it english, and not internet meme-ish.)

So when she asked me to write for the site,

Are you kidding? Do I even need to finish that sentence?

I just hope I do the blog justice, in the name of lady geeks everywhere. A-men!

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We often hear different opinions about what a good thing can do to you. “Too much of a good thing is bad”. “Too much is not enough”. My absolute favorite, which I found on a magnet in Beyond Books Bookstore in Dallas, TX, was “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful” – almost wants to make ya fall in love right? SIKE.

So listen to this, there is now a rumor going around suggesting that Google may be the future’s Big Brother. The NY Daily News had an article this morning on the many special functionality/services Google provides and it also listed some of the dangers that they each entailed.

Great timing Google haters – just when I tell the world my ideal mate would have many qualities that Google currently possesses, it decides to tell me that some of its services can be used for stalking people…I guess Google now has more of a reason to be compared with the male species – haha, just kidding.

Read the article, it’s an interesting read.

Happy Friday everyone

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Often times, the one thing a woman really wants is for someone to understand her, even when she doesn’t.

She wants to be understood, even when the words don’t come out as right as she may want, and even when she says the wrong things.

She doesn’t want to get lost while on vacation, or when venturing off to a new part of town. She wants the reassurance that she’ll get there, no questions asked.

She doesn’t want to dread certain holidays in fear of her better half forgetting them; they should always be remembered without any reminders. And they should be cute with nice decorations (when possible).

When shopping, women want options – options, options, options…and sales of course. They want to say “I want ‘blah’” and their significant other should respond by saying, “Well honey, there’s this ‘blah’ for $15, this ‘blah’ for $25, etc…” Or, it can be given to her in a list.

She wants all of this and more.

She wants to be able to communicate with her partner about current events. She wants them to be up to date with everything. Bad news, good news, gossips…she wants it all (duh!). She wants different ways of communicating, and all of them should be good. Online, phone, text, etc…the list goes on.

That’s why, I, Radiris Diaz, believe that if Google were a man, he’d be my ideal match and I’d marry him (on the spot).

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