The Gadgets Page

When I got my Acer Aspire, I immediately wanted to make it look unique. Fortunately, there were a ton of skins made specifically for it from Decalgirl. I bought a bunch of different ones, but I really love this one. It’s called, aptly enough, Laurie’s Garden for the Acer Aspire.

I really like how the skin is made specifically for my laptop. They even cut out holes for the little indicator lights.

I also bought the Laurie’s Garden skin for my iPhone.

Each iPhone skin comes with a code to allow me to download a wallpaper to put on my iPhone to match up with the skin. I was worried that the Laurie’s Garden skin might look weird on my white iPhone, but it turns out that there is plenty of white in the design to make it look good.

You can see all the photos here:

• Decalgirl Skins: Laurie’s Garden – a set on Flickr

Whenever I get a new gadget, I want to make it MINE. Putting a skin on my iPhone and laptop is a great way to mark my toys as mine and fulfill my matching disease in one fail swoop.

I’ve only recently started watching House M.D. After watching the episode with Felicia Day earlier this season, I immediately went back to the beginning and watched the show from start to present. A few years ago, Wilson got kicked out of his house by his now-ex-wife. For a short time, he was living with House. The two of them were perusing his Tivo recordings and this flashed on the screen.

I laughed out loud and paused the video. Wilson was asking House about all the episodes of New Yankee Workshop, but tucked toward the end of the list hides a recording of Blackadder.

The actor who plays House, Hugh Laurie, starred in Blackadder alongside Rowan Atkinson. It’s little inside jokes like that in television shows that make me LOVE them.

House and Wilson LOVE their Tivos. I watched this episode the other day:

I just laughed when I heard the familiar blip-bleep of Wilson’s Tivo.

House: “What is El Fuego del Amor and why do you need ten of them?”

Wilson: “It’s a telenovella. I’m learning Spanish.”

House: “Well, say adios!”

Wilson: “Are you erasing my Tivo?! House! Not the season finale!”

Honestly, Tivo has been the savior of television for me. I used to think that it was just a glorified VCR, but it has surprised me. After less than a year of training, Tivo KNOWS exactly what I want to watch. It can tell that I like House M.D., but I don’t like CSI or Grey’s Anatomy. It can tell that I would love to watch Legally Blonde again, but I have no desire to watch the latest Lifetime television special.

Before we connected our Tivo to our television, my TV watching had dwindled down to nothing. I would download a show or two on iTunes, but I had no desire to watch shows on my very EXCELLENT television. The VCR had become more of a burden than an asset, so I just stopped watching.

It’s nice to see that the writers of House M.D. know how important my Tivo is. I love to see the characters on television just as worried about losing an episode of El Fuego del Amor as I am about losing an episode of House.

A while back, I wrote about an iPhone stand that you can make yourself using binder clips.

• Gadgets Page » Binder Clip iPhone Stand

It looks like there is a sleeker way to make your iPhone sit up on your nightstand. It’s called Ultra Thin MobileRiser. It’s a little stand that sticks onto the back of your iPhone (or other device) with 3M adhesive that folds up flat when you don’t need it. You can see it in action here:

I like to have a cute decal on my iPhone, so the idea of sticking the MobileRiser on the back of my phone isn’t appealing, especially when I can just have a binder clip stand by my bed to use when I’m sleeping. For only five bucks, however, this might be the perfect option for someone who isn’t obsessed with making his iPhone cute.

There are lots of games available for the iPhone, but one that I’ve downloaded and really enjoyed is Electronic Arts’ Sudoku. You can see it here:

• Electronic Arts: Sudoku – iTunes Link

At only $4.99, it’s a reasonably priced application for the iPhone and it beats all of the free versions out there. It’s easier to use than any other version and I rarely press the wrong number with their user interface.

My only problem with this game is the splash screen. I can turn off the music and sound effects in the game, but EVERY time I load the game, it plays a LOUD flute tune while loading. I don’t mind the fact that it takes a while to load. I don’t mind the hubris and vanity of Electronic Arts and the visual graphics while the game loads, but the music is SO LOUD that I can’t just pull out my iPhone and play a little Sudoku in public places.

Just imagine being in church. You’re bored out of your mind because Sister Christiansen is bearing her testimony AGAIN about the way genealogy work has brought her closer to Jesus. You KNOW she’s going to be talking for at least fifteen minutes before they will be able to wrestle the microphone out of her hands. Time to check out with a little Sudoku, right? NO! Don’t do it! The second the splash screen plays that flute music on FULL volume, the entire congregation is going to turn around and look at YOU! You can’t even disable the noise by turning off the ringer on your iPhone. NOTHING STOPS IT!

It’s not like the game hasn’t had multiple updates, but each one has failed to give me the option to TURN OFF the audio on the splash screen. I can turn off the audio while the game is playing, but I can’t load up the game without EVERYONE getting an earful of Asian flutes.

Until EA realizes that we need to be able to discreetly load up their games on our iPhones and play them when no one is noticing, they are going to FAIL in the casual gaming market.

I never played Viva Pinata on the Xbox 360, but I have been looking for something fun to play ever since I finished filling my museum on Animal Crossing: Wild World. Unfortunately, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise for the Nintendo DS isn’t anything near as inviting as Animal Crossing was for me. Here is a video describing how to play and a general review of the game:

The video clips look great. The tutorial was thorough in teaching me how to play. I was never confused on what I was supposed to do, but I just didn’t find it interesting enough to return. In fact, I’m more tempted to load up Animal Crossing: Wild World and visit my old friends there. I just didn’t feel the need to make my garden great enough to attract rare pinatas because there is no real reward to attracting them. Sure, they get on my list of pinatas and I unlock an achievement, but that wasn’t enough for me.

The reason I wanted a complete catalog in Animal Crossing is because sometimes my little animal friends wanted something. If it was in my catalog, I could order it for them and make them happy by giving it to them. That was a HUGE payoff to me. I wasn’t just checking off every item on a list. The items could be used to make my animal friends like me.

This is an aspect of Viva Pinata that just never materialized for me. WHY do I want to attract pinatas? They aren’t that cute. They don’t talk to me. I can’t even pet them or teach them tricks like I could with Nintendogs. I just didn’t see the point of investing any time in the game and this comes from a girl who played Animal Crossing at least thirty minutes a day every day for two years.

In the end, a game needs to give me a bit of relaxation and a bit of achievement. I got neither from Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise.

I didn’t get a chance to look at the JVC camcorders when I was at CES this year, but they filmed some cool videos showcasing them.

I really like their hand grip and wrist strap option. It’s an innovative twist on the typical camcorder hand grips because it can pull tight on your hand, but when you aren’t filming, it can pull into a wrist strap.

They’ve also added a bunch of colors for their camcorders, which makes their camcorders appeal to me even more.

I’m pretty bummed that I didn’t catch the JVC camcorders when I was at CES. I don’t know how I missed them, but it’s great to be able to show them to everyone who didn’t get to attend.

I saw this ad for Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens.

Nail polish pens have been around since the Eighties, but they have never caught on. They still sell the kind of nail polish pens that they made back then. They’re called Color Quick Nail Pens. They have a broader tip than the Nail Art Pens. My biggest problem was getting the polish to come out smoothly so that I wouldn’t get streak marks on my nail. Maybe Sally Hansen has solved that problem, but I just don’t think so.

I think the Nail Art Pens are flawed because it’s just REALLY hard to draw something on your own nails. Even this photo from the actual advertisement shows how awkward they would be to use on yourself.

See how you would have to hold the pen just to put something on your nails? I just can’t see these Nail Art Pens working very easily.

The best bet for interesting nail art are the Konad Stamping Nail Art sets. I have a nearly complete set and I just LOVE them. Instead of a stencil that is easy to screw up, these sets have metal plates.

I paint the design with whatever fingernail polish I want. Then, I use the scraper to scrape off any excess polish. I take the rubber stamper and lift the polish off the metal plate by pressing the stamper on it. Then I transfer the polish to the nail with the stamper. The toughest part is applying the clear nail polish over the top to set the image. Unless I’m careful, the image will smear. Here’s a video showing you how to use them:

I did a lacy pattern on my nails by using white and stamping several times with the same image.

It took me less than a minute to do each nail and it looks VERY professional. If you are tempted to do nail art, I’d skip the Sally Hansen pens and just buy all the metal image plates from Konad.

Update 07-01-12: It has been over three years since I bought the Konad set and I still love it. I just did a patriotic fingernail design and I have a tutorial on how to do it on my personal blog:

• Pick Me! Patriotic Fingernails

I can’t believe how well the plates have lasted these last three years and they work as well now as they did then. I’ve been REALLY happy with them!

A couple of weeks ago, Dave Kellet wrote a great series on makeup for men. You can read the first strip in the series here:

• Sheldonâ„¢ Comic Strip: Daily Webcomic by Dave Kellett

Makeup for dudes isn’t actually a new idea. This article shows a bunch of products that count as makeup and have been marketed to men:

• Sociological Images » Make-Up And Beauty Regimes For Men

Considering how gadgety makeup can be, I’m surprised that more men AREN’T into makeup. Sure, there was a run of guys in makeup in the Eighties and we still have our spurts of guyliner on the rare recording artist or two, but mostly, makeup has been completely ignored by men.

All the more for me…

If there is ANYTHING that takes me to gadget heaven faster than a makeup kit, I don’t know what it is. There is something about the transformer-like appeal of some of these kits. Recently, I bought the Sephora Deluxe Palette pictured here. Even though I like my own makeup, I find myself wanting to use this kit. It’s not just for travel. In fact, it’s too bulky for travel. It’s just a great set of makeup that comes in a box that opens up in a myriad of different ways.

Sephora isn’t the only brand of makeup that packages their kits with style. Check out this BR Make Up Kit # 682. With eyeliners, mascaras and even face powder, this could be the only makeup that you carry. The risk with these sets, of course, is sub-par makeup and colors that you don’t like. That’s why I like the Sephora kit because the makeup is really good quality.

With many kits, you get TINY little brushes to use. That’s why this kit from Malibu Glitz is appealling to me.

• Malibu Glitz Make Up Color Kit # 05975-2 at Amazon.com

It has a set of nearly full sized brushes in the bottom compartment. Anyone who has tried to put on blush or face powder with the tiny brush from a makeup kit can appreciate a full-sized set of brushes.

Of course, you can always get a Sephora Face & Eye brush set and enjoy the benefits of full sized brushes without even using the brushes in the kit.

Of course, makeup kits can be simple and elegant like this Cameleon BR Make Up Kit. Just a few eyeshadows, blushes and glosses tuck into your purse for every day use.

Mary Kay makes a completely customizable makeup kit called the Mary Kay Compact Pro. The only problem with it is that by the time you buy the compact and all the makeup to fill it, you end up spending hundreds of dollars (compared to the very excellent Sephora kit for only forty bucks). Many times I’ve played with the Mary Kay website and ALMOST ordered a Compact Pro only to close the browser window without finishing the order because the cost is just too exorbitant.

In the Eighties, Revlon made the ABSOLUTE BEST makeup kits called Custom Eyes. They sold eyeshadow cases that could open up. You could choose your favorite eyeshadow colors (bought separately) to go into the case. Completely customizable. I found an ad for them in an old Seventeen Magazine.

To this day, I still own these eyeshadow cases. The eyeshadow is long used up and Revlon doesn’t make replacements for it anymore, but I cling to these cases as the epitome of what makeup kits should aspire to.

When I saw that Covergirl had teamed up with Crest toothpaste, my first instinct was to roll my eyes. Considering that lipgloss shouldn’t end up on your TEETH, Covergirl Amazemint Lipgloss seemed like just a stupid gimmick. Do we really need “smile-brightening” lipgloss with the power of Crest Peppermint Oil? Sounded like hogwash to me. Sure, they weren’t charging any more for Amazemint than they do for their other lipglosses, but is Crest really the way to go?

It wasn’t until I watched this review of the product from colormemakeup that I realized that it might not be all that silly:

The thought of a lipgloss could make your breath smell good is kind of silly, but the idea of flavored or smelly lipgloss has been around for a LONG time. Having a minty lipgloss to choose from after all the fruity flavors over the years sounds kind of… refreshing, actually.