Pseudo Tech Girl

A Silicon Valley Girl Navigating Through the Tech World

Archive for November, 2009

Forget Black Friday, Shop on Cyber Monday

Nov 23

Posted by schlegelsteph in Uncategorized | No Comments

Originally published on bub.blicio.us


image_galleryJust a few more days until Thanksgiving followed quickly by Black Friday, the official beginning of the holiday shopping season. It’s true, there are some amazing deals that can be found on Black Friday but those deals come at a price. Waking up ridiculously early to shop with thousands of other people trying to get the best price on a new television or pair of designer jeans. This can be incredibly effective but the benefit doesn’t always out weight the difficulties, especially for a non-shopper. That’s where the web comes in.

For the non-shopper, there is another great shopping day, the Monday after Thanksgiving (this year, that is November 30th). Cyber Monday, the official kick off of the online shopping season, is a huge day for online retailers. This is the perfect time to track down great deals online, free shipping and discount codes. This may require waking up early but nothing beats the ease of shopping in your pajamas for those prized holiday gifts.

Of course, the web is vast so finding those deals can be another challenge. That’s where CyberMonday.com comes in. This site is the central hub for Cyber Monday deals at every store from Home Depot to Overstock.com and everything in between. They consolidate the deals from over 650 online retailers making it easy to search and find what you’re looking for. You can shop by category, deal of the week or a simple search.

So here’s my early holiday present to all of you, enjoy the Friday after Thanksgiving and worry about gifts for the holidays on Cyber Monday.

Happy Shopping!

Brizzly.com: Social Networking Made Simple

Nov 20

Posted by schlegelsteph in Technology, Tips, Web2.0 | No Comments

Originally published on bub.blicio.us

Brizzly.com, a reader that works with Twitter and Facebook, officially launched to the public today (previously available by invitation). The site pulls in the information from each social networking account, which is relatively straight forward. Beyond simple aggregation, Brizzly adds additional features that make the site attractive to users of both social networking sites. The two streams are accessed with tabs at the top of the page and at first glance, it seems like a simple site that brings Twitter and Facebook onto one page but the additional features are what make this reader useful.

Picture 2One of the additional features that stands out is the “why?” button next to the Twitter trending topics. For example, Oprah Winfrey is trending and you may be curious why. Click the “why?” button and you see this simple blurb “Oprah is ending her talk show in late 2011 when her contract expires. She will then launch her Oprah network in partnership with Discovery Networks” Brizzly allows users to get that extra trending information not available in the web based version of Twitter.

Also, the ability to save searches is included in Brizzly so you can easily track conversations that interest you without having to do a unique Twitter Search every time. Brizzly will also translate a tweet from one language to the accounts default language.

The Facebook tab does not offer much in addition to the existing streams in Facebook. The ease of quickly clicking between Facebook and Twitter is one of the features that makes Brizzly useful when accessing Facebook information. There aren’t many perks for the Facebook only user.

Brizzly did officially launch today so additional features will likely be added in the near future. The site offers a simple and clean user interface, making it an attractive option for staying on top of your social networks. There’s also an adorable bear mascot, who wouldn’t love that?

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Vook: book meet video, video meet book

Nov 13

Posted by schlegelsteph in Technology, Web2.0 | No Comments

Originally published on bub.blicio.us
A book may not be the first thing that comes to mind when discussing innovation but as technology has progressed, the way we consume the information presented in books has made a steady evolution. From the audio book to the Kindle, technology has jumped in to make books easier to consume in a variety of formats creating a debatably richer experience.

vookNew to the market is Vook. It is the latest innovation in reading that brings together books, video and the Internet. Vooks are available on the web and to download on a mobile phone. It’s an interesting idea with the goal of supplementing books with video and social content that aren’t available in the static format.

The web-based version allow for the reader to view the text of the book in a similar format to an e-Reader. Video is incorporated on the side of the screen so you can easily view complementary material without flipping between screens or from book to computer. It also includes social media capabilities by integrating with Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. The mobile format has similar features but due to the size of the screen, readers are directed to video rather than it being incorporated in the screen. Although I have yet to try it, I imagine this is incredibly useful for cookbooks and fitness materials more so than novels.

The book selection is on the smaller side and focused on fitness and cooking texts but the site is new and I expect their library to grow. I do wonder if they will attempt to turn some of the classics into Vooks, which could be very interesting to see.

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Politicians and Twitter

Nov 8

Posted by schlegelsteph in Uncategorized | No Comments

Originally published on bub.blicio.us

Regardless of your stance on the healthcare debate, on Saturday the 7th history was made. Like so many others out there, I learned about this via Twitter. It was utilized successfully to help President Obama connect during his campaign and he has continued to use Twitter to communicate with his followers (all 2,620,260). This is the tweet shared after the vote:
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Not too long ago, our access to politicians was limited to their “State of the (city, state, country) Addresses” and information shared through the press secretary. We now have unprecedented access thanks to social media. Some politicians are quick to jump into Twitter because they believe it will help them win elections. Others are true believers in the tool and how it allows them to connect with the supporters and non-supporters alike.

I am a big fan of lists so I’ve pulled together my list of the most interesting politicians to follow on Twitter. By interesting, I don’t mean that they have a similar viewpoint to mine, which means there are representatives from both parties and can lead to some entertaining updates. The list is in alphabetical order, enjoy!

“Skills Are Cheap”: Online Learning

Nov 8

Posted by schlegelsteph in Uncategorized | No Comments

Originally published on bub.blicio.us

You can learn anything on the Internet. I recently decided to take a few a few violin lessons and when I went to pick up my rental, the shop owner asked me if I was going to be taking lessons. I responded with “Of course, how else would I learn to play the violin?”. Her response was classic, “Kids now a days try to learn everything on YouTube”. I planned to take lessons but thought I would check out videos on YouTube to quench my curiosity. One broken string and ten dollars later, I decided to stick with the in-person lessons I’ve already scheduled.

JHerb Classroom.JPG

That did get me thinking about the amazing amount of topics that can be learned about online. As Gary Vaynerchuk said in his new books, Crush It, “skills are cheap”. Here are some free and/or cheap resources for finding online skill development opportunities whether for personal use or professional development.

Youtube.com: You can find almost any kind of video here. Whether you’re looking for music lessons or how to fix an appliance, you can find it here.

Gradschools.com: If you’re looking for a degree you can find both online and in person programs here.

Food Network: Recipes, tips and tricks to help improve your cooking skills. Yum!

DIY network: All sorts of tips on how to make and fix everything. There are a lot of fun do it yourself projects to be found.