Geek Gift Guide

Around the holidays everyone is scrambling to find the perfect gifts. Well I thought I could do my best to give you this geek’s wish list for perfect gifts.

1. The Kodak Zi6 – Now while many people may see this camera as a flip knock-off, I see a bigger better screen, rechargeable batteries, and no red light in the front while recording (unlike the flip) This allows for super secret stealth recording. Plus (and I hate to say this) I do love pink gadgets.

2. The Sanctuary – This takes all your gadgets, keys, and everything else coming out of your pockets at the end of the day, and puts it in one neat box that also hides all the wires and keeps everything neat. You might say, ok Sarah that’s nice but what is so special about this? It comes with a universal charger compatible with over 1500 electronic devices from most major brands and a USB port. It can charge whatever you got! All you need is a spot that will hold the 9″ x 9″ box (23 x 23 cm). Oh and in case you were wondering, it works with 220V and 110V.

3. Canon 5D Mark II – With 21.1 megapixels and HD video can you really blame me for wanting this?

“Professional photojournalists and wedding photographers already choose the EOS 5D for its discrete size and outstanding image quality,” said Mogens Jensen, head of Canon Consumer Imaging. “The addition of HD movie recording opens a new chapter for EOS. It creates new possibilities for EOS photographers to capture and share their stories and to stay relevant in a rapidly changing digital landscape.”

Now I don’t blog about photography because it is my first love. Before the internet, before social media, before I was a blogger or a vlogger, I was a photographer.

If you are thinking about picking this up for yourself or as a gift do yourself a favor and only buy the body. DO NOT get the kit with the lens. Just buy a fixed 50mm EOS lens to start with and you will be much better off.

4. Polaroid PoGo Printer – A mini polaroid printer that can print via bluetooth from a cell phone or from being plugged into your digital camera is awesome in my book. The printer prints 2” x 3” borderless, sticky-back prints. A must gift for all your friends who take a million photos at the party. Now they can have this tiny printer and stick the picture right to your back.

5. TriniTEA Electric Tea Maker – This is the ULTIMATE tea gadget! I am so sick of coffee drinkers getting all the gadget fun. So this goes on my list for all us tea geeks. This wondrous appliance does it all – heats water, steeps leaves, and keeps tea warm. Variable timer and temperature control let you adjust the strength of an infusion, ensuring a perfect cup of tea each time.

6. Apple Macbook – You know it can’t be a wishlist of mine without Apple products. I have been moving around a lot and realizing that life without a laptop is not as easy as it seemed. So the new macbook seems the most practical. We all know the reasons to buy it so I am not even going to waist your time with why it is amazing.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season. And remember, jewlery never hurts either.

Wired Store

Wired magazine has set up a store in New York City for the holidays on 15 W 18th Street in Chelsea. The store will be open from Nov. 21 through Dec. 28 so make sure to stop by if you’re in town before it closes. Also check out their list of events, there are some pretty interesting ones.

Last night I was at the store for an event with Alex Rigopulos, CEO of Harmonix. But I was much more interested in playing with all the gadgets. But there were more than gadgets in this store.

One of the most interesting things were two packages made by A & R. “Help I’ve cut myself” and “Help I have a headache”.

Help Remedies aim to solve simple health issues simply by stripping away the extraneous elements. The packaging is molded from recycled paper pulp and is compostable, and all Help’s products are packaged together at its upstate New York factory which employs adults with learning disabilities. The 500mg acetaminophen pills are as pure as possible, and without the dyes and coatings most brands are fond of using to pretty up meds. Acetaminophen doesn’t cause stomach problems the way aspirin and ibuprofen can. These next-generation bandages are made of hydrocolloid, the same material hospitals use to help wounds heal faster and reduce scarring. These strips are nearly invisible, and should stay on for several days. They are best for minor cuts and blisters. If all that wasn’t helpful enough, 5% of profits are returned to charities that help people without healthcare get healthcare.

But what I was most excited to play with was the Blackberry storm. I was very curious about the “Screen that clicks” But it is exactly what it sounds like. The touch screen can tell where your finger is but that will not select anything. Not until you actually press the screen down until it clicks will it be selected. The feel is much different than say and iPhone but I can see how some people will like it. I found the UI complicated but then again I am not a blackberry user so maybe it is more intuitive than I thought.

I didn’t get as much time to play with it as I would have liked. I hope to get my hands on one again soon so that I can do a full review. (hopefully with video)

I also got to play with Pleo, a chumby, Peak (the email only gadget) and many more. Check out all my photos from last night below.

www.flickr.com

Eye-Fi Card

I first heard about Eye-Fi a while ago. I thought it was interesting but I didn’t jump on it for a few reasons. The main reason was that it was a SD card and my DSLR used CF cards. The other reason was that until recently I was never really a big flickr user. But the more I blog the more I find having my photos on twitter is a really easy way to add pictures of a blog post or add a URL to a twitter.

I love the idea of mobile blogging but when it comes time to add a picture from my iPhone to my blog post I just am not happy with the quality of the iPhone camera. The eye-fi would be perfect for this. As soon as you get to your home network the Eye-Fi goes right to work uploading all your photos, so before you know it, you have a flickr url and photos to add to your post. This is officially on my “I want” list. (along with a camera that uses SD cards of course)

the new iphone facebook app is awesome

Today facebook launched version 2 of its iPhone app and it is 100% better than the original. The new app adds basic facebook functionality that it was originally missing. Notifications are there and you have a real news feed with some functions that are even better than facebook’s actual site.

One of my favorites is the new news feed. It allows you to see how many comments any certain post has, and let you add one right from the news feed. Another great feature in the news feed is the bar on the top. You slide your finger horizontally across the bar to switch the news feed you are viewing. It implements friend groups so you can only look at the news feed of people you want to see. It also lets you look at the news feed for certain facebook apps. The inbox has been updated, showing a much easier to read conversation. And as always there is facebook chat.

Hacked my iphone 3G

So when I had a first the iPhone I was very afraid to hack my phone. I knew a lot of people who had it hacked and loved it. But I was holding out for 2.0 and the app store. To me it didn’t seem like there were any killer apps I NEEDED to hack my phone for. Until now… A few days ago I posted that Qik had come out for the iPhone 3G but only through hacked iPhone’s. Since the iPhone technically does not record video, Apple could not allow an app that would stream video live to the internet. But Qik released it anyway for hacked phones.

Now since live video is something that I love, this was enough to make me hack my iPhone. So I did! Last night using the iPhone dev teams Pwnage tool it was really very simple to hack the phone. So you might be wondering why I feel safer now than before? I guess it comes from the fact that when you hack an iPhone running 2.0 you still have access to the app store. So all the other apps I am running are Apple approved apps so I feel safer. Plus I know I can always restore the phone to the original software.So I have added a Qik embed to the random sarah live page, and you can follow me on Twitter for updates when I go live