| Home Community |
Ideas IdeaStorm |
Blogs Direct2Dell |
Videos StudioDell |
Discussions Forums |
Dell.com | Support |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Have a tip for doing more with technology? Share ideas for future blog posts here.
| |
    |
Check out Actor beats CNN in race to milestone, pledges $100,000 in malaria fight to learn what Ashton Kutcher has been doing on Twitter. Oprah will be talking about it today as well.
10 Ideas for Earth Day Celebrations with Kids has some great tips for next week!
While I have never received any comments about my appearance, apparently some do in Sure she’s a good tech blogger, but what does she look like?
I recently met several of the Wal-Mart Eleven Moms at a discussion in Austin. They shared some great thoughts on the purchasing power of moms. Their readers are often moms who make the decisions on what to buy for themselves, children and their homes. Let’s not forget all the kid birthday parties, too!
Yesterday, I shared another takeaway from that discussion — about the term “Mommy Blogger.” Check out Mommy Blogging - The Way I Understand It on Direct2Dell and share your thoughts on the subject.
Geek Sugar has a great How-To this week on Converting Files on the Web with Media Converter. This free conversion service is an easy way to convert a YouTube video into an MP3.
Audrey at Mom Generations is sharing 365 Days of Fashion Advice that has some very realistic ideas. Yesterday’s post includes a video on How to wear a sweater wrap – very helpful!
Have you ever tried Cyber Squats? Check out 10 ways to get fit while you’re glued to the computer.
A report about Video Gamers in the Recession sites that 38 percent of gamers are women.
PopGadget has figured out why Adamo is Latin meaning to “fall in love with” in Dell Adamo Love.
Try Six tips for coping with the fact that you can’t remember a person’s name to try to avoid those awkward moments
GirlAmbition.com is a Safe Facebook For Kids and a great option for kids who are not ready for Facebook and MySpace.
The interactive portion of SXSW came to a close yesterday, and even before the final panel opened its doors, the transformation from film/social media to music could be seen all around the convention center. Many participants had already rushed off to the airport to catch their flights, and many more had decided to break away from the convention center to see what downtown Austin had to offer.
I managed to catch one panel amidst all the excitement and transition, though I had slated several. The panel discussed the move of social gaming from the computer to other more mobile devices, and the implications this had on gaming in general. Many of the ideas presented were location based, allowing gamers to use real world environments to stage their play. The most bizarre concept presented was a game that can only be described as “combat picnicking”. Game participants go to popular picnic locations with little to no food, compete to see who can get the most freebees from the people around them, and then hilarity ensues.
After the panel, I met with Richard Bernier and Brad Laurich at a local pub and eatery to see how many tweeters showed up. Afterward, I wandered through the various tents around the convention center.
I finally landed in the Techset Blogger’s Lounge with Lionel Menchaca, and got my first look at the new Adamo. I must say it is the sleekest piece of hardware ever to exit the doors of Dell. Thank you Richard Binhammer for bringing it out! Now that I’ve put my hands on one, it’s definitely on the wish list!
I also have to say that hanging out with Lionel at SXSW was akin to hanging out with a rock star at Lollapalooza. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised…
Now that the music portion of SXSW is coming into full swing, be sure to follow Chris Byrd on twitter at @ChrisBatDell. I’ll be haunting the music as well, so you can follow me on twitter at @Dell_John_B.
I decided to end day two of SXSW Interactive by checking out the first annual Game Design Competition. They had two categories, one for “casual titles”, and one for AAA title proposals. It was really great to see the game designer hopefuls pitch their ideas to game industry professionals in front of a live audience. I have to give the teams props: all of their ideas had merit, and all sounded very interesting.
The casual game competition was taken by a great looking game concept called Sloppy Ice by Gwen Murray. In the game, players will take on the persona of a raindrop named Sip who just took the long tumble from his rain cloud home to earth, and desperately wants to make it back home. The objective of the game is to eventually make it to the ocean so Sip can evaporate and become part of a cloud again. The main mechanic of the game is to battle through “very angry” beasties on your way to the ocean using abilities granted you through the three states of matter. To add complexity, abilities can be mixed and matched by players, as Sip’s “state” can be controlled at will, allowing players to switch from water vapor to liquid to ice as necessary. Kudos to Gwen and team for coming up with such a great concept, and congratulations on winning the contest!
The AAA contest was taken by Seth Smith and his concept entitled Project Z.E.U.S., where players would be challenged to have their android avatar (Z.E.U.S.) battle against mutated monstrosities in a far future setting to make an area of a decimated Earth habitable by a population suspended for over 30,000 years in a time capsule. The game would allow players to customize their android with specific modules, and players would have to make hard choices about which technologies they employ to reach their goals. Different technology types would have different impacts on the environment both short and long term, making this sim/rts/third person strategy game enormously complex. I sincerely hope Seth can take this concept to production, as I’d really like to get my hands on this title.
This morning I had the pleasure of attending a panel to discuss ways to use gaming technology to help young girls feel more comfortable with technology, science, and mathematics. The panel notably featured Dee Kapila from girlstart.org, Sheri Graner Ray from Sony Online Entertainment, and Cindy Royal from TSU, et al. The discussion was very interesting, and focused on the way games are being built and marketed to a predominately male audience, and the effect this has on young women and their views about technology. While I thought they made some interesting points, I really felt the problems they were pointing out were market driven, and were the same problems that cause publishers to either go with licensed properties they know from the get go will do well, or pump out endless sequels and clones with no really new innovative content or mechanics year after year. There’s no easy answer to any of these problems, but I don’t believe these problems are gender specific, per se. I do see how these same problems affect would-be young female gamers, however. It certainly got my cognitive cogs turning.
Afterwards I went to Stubbs BBQ to eat some grub and attend a talk about using social media tools to make social differences. The stories presented about twitter and blog communities coming together to solve individual problems in different communities were inspiring.
This evening I’ll be attending a panel about mainstream girl gaming featuring some folks from GirlGamer.com, and one of my favorite gaming personalities, Amber Dalton from Clan PMS.
Don’t forget to swing by Dell’s Cocktails and Conversations this evening if you’re floating around SXSW. I’ll be there, as well as Lionel Menchaca and several other Dell Community team members. Oh, and the speaker and guest list is pretty impressive too…
Geek Tip: Save Money by Contributing to Google’s Tip Jar is a great idea. This takes sharing with your friends about the great sale you just found to a whole new level.
Barbra Walters explains Twitter – Check out the video!
Shine shared 12 quick tips for boosting your happiness at work, which includes checking for eyestrain and getting a headset.
Turning MySpace into Mom’s space indicates that the growth of moms age 25-54 on Facebook is nearly 50 percent since November 2007
It’s the season of change and there have been some BIG changes to Dell Lounge. If you’ve haven’t visited the site lately, it might be time for you to take another trip and see what’s new.
Once you start looking around, you will notice a lot of new features and functionality have been added to the site. One of the coolest new features allows you to search, tag and comment on your favorite content, then subscribe to custom RSS feeds to get instant updates on the stuff you care about. Want the latest in music, style, tech and more? Just visit and explore and make Dell Lounge all yours.
We’ve also added unique channels like Motherboard – our new collaboration with Vice and a must-see for tech revolutionaries everywhere – and even some original series of our own like fashion-savvy fare Practically Posh, Style on Stage and the Canvas artist series and hip entertainment like Film Gods and Dead Venues Live.
Not only has the Dell Lounge Web site received a makeover, but we have also branched out into other social media sites recently. Make sure you visit our Dell Lounge Facebook, Dell Myspace and Dell Lounge Twitter accounts as well.
Stop by, say “Hello” and join the conversation today! =)
I’ve been an avid Twitter user for a little more than year now. And just as the online Web version of Twitter is not as robust as say TweetDeck or Twhirl, neither is their online mobile interface for my phone. So I went hunting, and found a really great client that I can use on my HTC Mogul phone.
Enter PockeTwit.
PockeTwit expanded with side menus
PockeTwit is a big step up from the online Twitter interface. Once installed, you can immediately appreciate the Kinetic scrolling the interface has to offer. Just flick your finger to the left or right, and you have quick access to robust side menus for the UI. Of course, an up or down flick scrolls through the tweets from your followers as well.
PockeTwit uses standard Windows Mobile notifications to inform you of new messages and/or new friend status updates. So if you are out and about and want to know if someone has contacted you, you can set your phone to alert you. I’ve got mine set to “Display message on screen” and “Vibrate.” This is essential for those of you going to SXSW 2009, when you need to make sure you are notified when the next “It” band is killing the crowd with their set.
PockeTwit also allows you to set up multiple Twitter accounts, so if you are like me and need to Tweet from more than one account you aren’t locked into only one on your phone.
Check out the rest of the features:
* Unique user interface.
* Works on VGA, QVGA and SmartPhone devices.
* Support for multiple Twitter and identi.ca accounts.
* Maps view shows users on a world map and allows searching by region.
* “Conversation View” shows what this status was in reply to.
* Uses standard notifications to alert you of new friends statuses or replies.
* URL shortening with is.gd.
* Take photos and send to TwitPic.
* Integrated search.twitter.com.
* Clickable @names, URLs, and #Hashtags.
* Themes.
If you would like to see a quick PockeTwit UI demo, take a look at the following video:
That said, you really need to experience the software on your phone to appreciate it. Let me know what you think, or if you have a better recommendation, please share as well.
Follow me on Twitter: @ChrisBatDell
How to Fly Coach in Comfort has some great money-saving tips as well as ways to stay comfortable on your flight.
Want to find your happy place? Try ‘Flower’ explores a PlayStation game that is actually relaxing!
Jessica Knows has a great new series: 15 Days if Work/Life Balance Only a few days in, but day 2 - Where Does Time REALLY Go? is right on!
Dell’s Richard Binhammer (RichardatDell) talked with the fun ladies from Tech Moms Talk this week about everything from boots to social media to the new EDU4U group for teachers and students.
Dell announced the Wasabi – an ultramobile photo printer this week. It packs both functionality and style all into a pocket-sized printer!
I read this story from the New York Times in a couple of places: Layoffs Surge, Women May Pass Men in Job Force. The article suggests that economic ups and downs have less impact on jobs held by more women, while 82% of recent job losses have befallen to men.
Kitchen scale takes the heat features a neat gadget. It weights and measures the temperature of your food all in one!
Top Ten Reasons Social Media is Like Survivor is a fun read from Jessica Knows.
