1. Inkling by Wacom:

The Inkling digital sketch pen captures a digital likeness of your work while you sketch with its ballpoint tip on any sketchbook or standard piece of paper. Designed for rough concepting and creative brainstorming, Inkling is ideal for the front end of the creative process. Later, refine your work on your computer using an Intuos4 tablet or Cintiq interactive pen display.

In addition to capturing your sketch, stroke by stroke, Inkling allows you to create layers in digital files while you sketch on paper. Digital files are transferred to your computer using the Inkling Sketch Manager software, and later, exported to applications such as Adobe® Photoshop® and Illustrator®. Files can also be opened with the included Inkling Sketch Manager software to edit, delete, add layers or change file formats.

It’s the perfect gift for anyone who is a designer, or would like to improve their graphic design skills, and anyone who likes to draw. This is gets filed under ‘something I want, but really have no use for at the moment’. The Inkling appears to be currently unavailable, but keep checking Amazon for product availability.

2. iPad Card Readers:

As someone who shoots with a DSL and has an iPad, this is something that I’ve wanted for some time. This small gadget plugs in to the 30 pin connector in the iPad and lets you upload photos right from your SD or CF card. No more transferring files to your computer just so you can get them on your iPad. Buy the iPad CF and SD Card Readers at the Photojojo Store!

3. Ceramic Pig Speaker:

Now, I can’t explain the strange connection between geeks and pigs (and pork products) but you’ll just have to trust me on this one!

This little piggy is more than just a sweet sculpture, this Ceramic Pig Speaker works with any mp3 player. An audio jack in place of a tail is a clever twist on form following function.

4. HardCraft Heritage iPad case:

I’m in love with this iPad case! The felt combined with the leather brings amazing texture to this simply crafted case. A simple case with the perfect amount of detailing to distance yourself from the masses and shows that you know exactly what you’re talking about when it comes to style and the appreciation of high quality materials. The leather detail on the front is a handy pocket for your phone. Also fits the iPad 2 with a smart cover on.

5. Jawbone UP:

One of this year’s most talked about pieces of technology. The new Jawbone UP tracks your physical activity, your sleep patterns and what you’ve been eating. It’s the perfect gift for someone who aspires to live a healthy lifestyle.

6. Buckyballs:

I’ve coveted this little desk toy as it sat on my bosses desk. It’s the prefect little gift for anyone who works at a computer all day. Sometimes stepping away from it all and playing with this little toy can be just what you need to get the creative juices flowing.

Featured in Rolling Stone, People, Maxim, Esquire Magazine, each Buckyball cube contains 216 powerful Rare Earth magnetic balls that can be shaped, molded, torn apart and snapped together in UNLIMITED WAYS.

7. Thinksound ts02 Headphones:

I’m a sucker for anything with wood detailing and these headphones are too perfect.

Thinksound ts02 headphones flaunt a small 8mm speaker diameter and reduced housing size to provide better ergonomics, upgraded acoustics, and a wider sound-stage. The ts02 also featuresPVC-Free cables and a hand-crafted, sustainable wood housing for more accurate sound reproduction.

Lastly, if you are still stumped with what to get that special geek in your life, you can always check out my gift guides from years past (2010, 2009, 2008). Also keep in mind that your geek may have a Svpply or Pinterest account. This are places where he or she might have already started a wish-list of items just ready for you to pick from. 

And if you have a vintage lover you are shopping for, head over to my store that is full of vintage housewares and accessories that make great gifts!

The tool is super easy to use, enter keywords or possible words you’d like in the name. Let’s say you want to open a vegan bakery (not the most original startup idea, but just go with it). I enter the keywords vegan, bakery, baking, treats, cakes, simple, healthy, chocolate, tasty, delish. Then I enter the prefixes little, and the. Then pick some suffixes like, ous, ly, and shop. Mix it up and here’s what I got.

More options than I could show you! Mixnomer not only shows you the available domain, but if the twitter username is available as well. Right now the list is ordered by the number of characters in the URL. But I can rearrange to show my favorites on top.

Some of my favorites from this search were DELISHVEGAN.COM, LITTLETASTY.COM, THEDELISH.COM, lots of options I would have never thought would be available domains.

So play around with it, I’d love to see what cool domains you guys come up with! (full disclosure, mixnomer is a company I have been consulting for, but I honestly think it’s an awesome product!)

But if you’re interested in what’s been keeping me busy these days while I’m not updating my blog, I’ll tell you. I’ve been doing some consulting work with a few clients while going to school full time. I’ve also rebranded my tumblr blog and opened a online store selling vintage home goods.

There are of course a bunch of other projects I always have floating around my head at any given time that I’d like to explore. Most recently I’ve been wanting to teach a skillshare class on the importance of copy in social media. But chances are before I get a chance to put a whole class together it will probably just become a blog post here.

Summers are made up of good friends, good food, and warm late nights.

Time: 7 hours (including drying time)

Cost: $155 (including supplies)

Basic Steps: After carefully measuring the interior dimensions of the mantle, we built a basic MDF box with shelves to mount behind it. We attached that box to the back of the mantle using wood screws, and then used carpentry nails to attach a piece of masonite to make the back of the shelf. We then used pre-fabricated trim pieces from our local hardware store to trim out the form of the shelves and the bottom of the mantle. The mantle was then sanded, primed and painted.

LOVE IT! The best part is that if you move, you can take it with you!

This weekend was a mild one here in NYC, but it was a welcome change from the heat wave we had been having. On my way home friday I stopped by Whole Foods to pick up some veggies for the weekend, but I also treated myself and bought some peonies!

I’ve been wanting to experiment more with arranging flowers and peonies are my new favorite. They were just beautiful and fluffy in the store, I couldn’t resist. I’ll have to take a picture now that they’ve bloomed fully. They really fill out and you can see the flecks of pink inside the white buds.

On Saturday I spent the day on the east river, kayaking. Last summer I started volunteering at Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse and this summer I’m doing it again!

The boathouse runs out of Pier 1 in Brooklyn Bridge Park and offers free kayaking to the public in the summer. The first day for this season in next saturday, June 11th. So this weekend some of the volunteers got together to get some more formal kayaking training. It was a lot of fun.

What did you do this weekend?

There is something that has always made me happy about the sun streaming through the 59th st bridge. I shot this photo a few weeks ago and I thought it would make the perfect photo of the day. To me the sunshine signals the beginning of summer in New York. And I for one, can’t wait. Happy Friday!

Welcome everyone to the new Random Sarah. I hope you like the new theme, but more importantly I hope you enjoy the new content. I’m moving towards having this be more of a personal blog again. I made an attempt to do that last year, but I’m giving it another shot.

I’m not yet ready to admit defeat and say that Tumblr killed my blog, but I will say that it wounded it. My Tumblr has become a place where I really can post about anything. It really is much more random than Random Sarah is these days.

But I’m not giving up on my blog just yet. I’m just allowing myself to explore all the different things I’m interested in here on Random Sarah.

Don’t worry, I still love the internet and I’m sure I will write about startups and tech from time to time. But I also want to feel free to post about art, photography, interior design, food, and all the other things that catch my interests.

That may seem a little unfocused, but I got some good advice recently about blogging, if you keep writing, it will get focused. That’s exactly what happened when I started Random Sarah back in 2008. The more I wrote, the more I found myself talking about social media, online communities, and gadgets. It was a great way for me to get involved in the community and learn. Now that I talk about a lot of that stuff on a daily basis for work, I want to explore new areas in the same way.

I hope you keep reading Random Sarah. Any feedback you have on the changes I’d love to hear it.

For over 6 months now I’ve been meaning to write a post about my love for Svpply. Svpply is a site that allows you to save what you may want to buy later from any retail website. I’ve been using it more like  virtual storage for all the things I like. In the beginning that was mostly clothes and accessories, but more and more it’s becoming more of a place for me to keep a catalog of products that inspire me.

Svpply is frequently compared to Pinterest. Pinterest lets you catalog the things you love. It has similar features to Svpply in that it allows you to grab images from the web and “pin” them. But it also acts like a social bookmarking tool, letting you place things into categories, called pinboards.

This is a style pin board by my friend Patrice. Unlike Svpply, Pinterest allows you to add text to the photos you are saving. It also has features similar to Tumblr. Users can “re-pin” a post, like it, or leave a comment.

I find both these tools more visual and more appealing than traditional bookmarking sites like Delicious. I love just scrolling through the main page on Svpply, and discovering new things from the people and stores I follow.

What are you using to save inspiration on the web?

So when the guy asked me how I got the Gowalla shirt, I was honest with him. I said “I paid for this shirt”. He looked really confused, he said “wait, you paid money for that shirt?”. My response: “Yes, I paid cash money for this shirt”.

I love the design of Gowalla, so I am willing to pay to wear their brand. However, I was not really using Gowalla at SXSW. I was not willing to check in everywhere just to get a shirt, but I was willing to pay for one. That’s the difference between loving the design and loving the service!

I love Foursquare, and the new update makes me love it even more! Foursquare bringing back the leaderboard was smart! It feels like a game again. Every check-in counts and I’m loving it.

Foursquare is also showing me more about my check-in history. Gives me extra points for hanging out with the same people, and really is helping me to explore my city.

This is going to make foursquare tips more useful. Just the other day I got a thank you on twitter for a foursquare tip I left over a year ago.

My Gowalla shirt from SXSW 2010

It’s things like this that will make me add more tips because I know they are really useful to my friends. I also think this will turn into certain friends becoming experts in the categories of places that they check-in most. Of course my friends are going to look for my tips when they are looking for a good vegetarian place to eat. Hopefully foursquare will start to reflect the expertise that your friends have. They had the data, why not use it!

Gowalla hasn’t lost me as a user yet, I just use foursquare more at this point. That is why you will see me wearing a Gowalla shirt, while checking in on Foursquare.