Girls In Tech

A few weeks ago, Mashable put out an article on how to customize real life treats via the Internet. Among them: mix your own chocolate bar, smoke your own jerky, create your own pet-food, shoes, handbags, shirts. And the one that stuck out the most to me (other than the jerky): customize your own jewelry.

Say what?

Every girl likes diamonds right?

And boys (in many cases) are the ideal deliverers.

Thanks, pop culture. It’s because of you that I have this grossly generalized fantasy in my head:

Girl meets Boy.
Boy is smitten.
First date.
First kiss.
Move in.

“Dear Boyfriend,

When you propose, it will preferably be on a cruise to Costa Rica.

Think that’s too cliché? I’ll ask again when our mouths are full of lobster, and we’re riding a horse named Steve through the rainforest.

But most importantly, I would like you to present me with a 10 carat, princess-cut diamond in a platinum  setting . . . or was it a marquise in white gold with two emeralds on the side. Or maybe I . . .

On second thought. Don’t propose until I consult my jeweler to find out what the heck it is I want.

Love, your adoring, baby darling, shmoopie.” Continued »

9am EST yesterday morning began the launch of Loic Le Meur’s SeesmicLook, a radically innovative and intuitive app that curates Twitter content and introduces it to the mainstream population – aka those who don’t have a Twitter account, don’t know what Twitter is, or don’t really find the appeal in microblogging.

If you’re unfamiliar with @loic and his marvels, Seesmic has created a number of platforms that help people share information regardless of where they are: via desktop, web-based, mobile, and recently e-mail, SMS and chat. These platforms have been downloaded 3.5 million times since the company’s launch in 2007. And because one of Seesmic’s largest goals is to create a streamlined experience for Twitter users, devoted tweeters are, well, their main users.  Continued »

After three years in China and three months in New York, I am finally home for the holidays, in Dallas.

Last night, as we were coming home from another party, my stepfather decided to drive us to see some Christmas lights. There is a neighborhood about two blocks from our house, called Deerfield. And boy do they get it together. We drove up and down blocks and blocks of houses, all decked out in gorgeous lights and decorations. The two things that ran through my mind were: wow, and I wonder how much their electricity bills are. Then we turned on Quincy Street, and came across THIS house. Just watch this video, and come back to read the rest of this post.

Tech the Halls (Dallas style)

Okay, so it kind of looks like a house having a seizure. But what you don’t hear is that the entire display is synchronized to a radio station you can tune into in your car. COOL. I tried to share a little bit of the awesomeness here, but you just had to be there. Talk about technology. At its most creative

Happy New Year!

Breaking news this morning: flight delays across the nation, due to computer problems with the Air Traffic Control  System. Apparently, the issue stemmed from a glitch in one computer in Atlanta, where flight information has to be  entered manually, rather than automatically. There are no safety issues with the planes—just computer ones.

These are the times when we find out just how much technology affects our lives, without even realizing it.

Click here to see a map of the delays.

Good luck flying today!

Exciting news! All the way from Beijing.

Our very own Tan Siok Siok (@sioksiok)—insightful, creative filmmaker and core member of GIT-China—has just flown from Beijing and will be driving cross-country from NYC to LA and back Oct 21-Nov 6.

The mission? To film Twittamentary,  an innovative, crowd-sourced documentary about Twitter. The initiative officially launches TODAY, at the NYC 140 Conference meet up.

Twitta….what?

Twittamentary is more than just a documentary about Twitter. According to director Siok, “it’s about you and me and the unimaginable new ways we are communicating. We explore how, what, and why Twitter is affecting sea changes to society, media, business, economy, culture and our daily lives, all at the speed of light.”

People around the world have been talking about the Twitter revolution and how it has transformed our very identities and our collective subconscious. Twitter accelerates serendipity. Bonds are forged as a result of unexpected
encounters between strangers as they share moments of their lives in real
time.
 Twitter also attracts controversy. Cynics see the popular
micro-blogging service as the breeding ground of ‘narcissists’ and
”micro celebrities” who are lured by the promise of instant fame. But why has this seemingly banal micro-blogging service captured the
world’s imagination?
In this documentary, Tan Siok Siok peels away the hype and explores the human dimensions of how lives connect, intersect, and are affected and changed as a result of encounters on Twitter. Twittamentary is crowd-sourced by social medians across the globe; it is all about stories of the people, and by the people. Continued »