Episode 4.2: Geek Gads-The Finale!

Hey Everyone! So, as promised, here is part 2 of my TOP 5 FAVORITE GEEK GADGETS. At the end, I read some of your emails! Check out the video here:

Tomorrow I will post a follow-up blog with a text recap complete with links to all of the products so that you can explore them further if you are interested. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, please email me or post them in the comments below!

Production starts next week on the next video podcast...I won't reveal the topic just yet, but I promise it will be fun and, well...geeky!

Email me at: geek.girl@earthlink.net.

To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE.
To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE.
And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :)

Cheers!

Geek Girl

New Video Podcast! Episode 4.1: Geek Gads!

It's here! Part 1 of Episode 4 for your viewing pleasure. I had so much to say about my favorite gadgets that I had to split this podcast into 2 segments. Part 2 (or Episode 4.2) will be up by tomorrow night. In the meantime, enjoy the first part, and be sure to send me your feedback!

To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE.
To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE.
And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :)

Cheers!

Geek Girl

Episode 4.1: Geek Gads!

Hey Everyone!

I'm uploading Part 1 of Episode 4 right now...it was so long (I was just GUSHING about my fave gadgets!) that I split it into 2 parts for all of your sakes. :) You are welcome. :)

And, I got so many responses from you all, that I read some of them at the end in Episode 4.2! Keep checking back this morning...the second the episode is live you will have it here first!

Cheers,
Geek Girl

A Few Good Gads

Greetings!

So, I am in production RIGHT NOW on Episode 4 of the video podcast. It will be completed tomorrow (Monday 11/12) night, and should be live on Tuesday morning. I am going to give you a bit of a sneak-peek here by giving away the topic because I need to hear from YOU about something that I will then reveal in the new podcast. Here's what I need to know:

What is your favorite gadget?

I am going to talk about 5 gadgets that I love, and expect the unexpected here. I'm sure lots of people will say their iPhones, iPods, etc., which is great, but I want to also hear about other things that you all love. Then, I want to reveal to you all if there is one response that is overwhelmingly universal, or if I get any wacky responses, I might share those as well!

Email me your answer to geek.girl@earthlink.net. Put the word "GADGET" in the subject line. OR, post it in the COMMENTS section below. Hope to hear from you!

Otherwise, come back for the new podcast tomorrow night/Tuesday morning!

To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE.
To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE.
And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :)

Cheers!

Geek Girl

Wow, is it really November? Oh yeah, and STRIKE!

WOW. I can't believe it's November. I haven't blogged in so long, but have no fear, a new GEEK GIRL production schedule is here!

I have been getting so many emails from all of you with questions and comments...I hope that the advice I've given has worked out! Make sure to send me follow up emails. Quite a few new episodes are in progress...and now that I got a nifty new laptop with the iSight built-in, I can change locations and shoot the episodes outside of my office! We're mobile, people...it's official.

On a separate note...as some of you may or may not know, I happen to work at a late night show that has been directly impacted by this week's WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike. They said that late night shows would be hit first, since our writers write fresh new content every day, and boy, were they right. Nothing is for certain now, and the issues (from what I hear) on both sides are difficult. Sometimes I just like to escape with my gadgets and computers and get away from it all (ok, more than sometimes), so that's why I'm going to focus on filming the next few podcasts for you all! But in the meantime, please keep all of us directly and indirectly affected by the strike in your thoughts. And for those people involved in the negotiations, GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! :)

If you have any feedback or just want to say hi, please feel free to post below in the COMMENTS section! Or, email me your thoughts, questions or even videos, at geek.girl@earthlink.net.

To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE.
To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE.
And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :)

Cheers!

Geek Girl

OCD Quickie and 1st Official Geek Girl Poll: Circus Ponies Notebook 2.1

Hi Blog Buds!

I was feeling lazy tonight and just HAD to tell you/ask you about this software I read about today, so I decided to do a quick video blog about it instead (I was sitting on my couch with my laptop in front of me, so forgive the background of my living room!) Check out the video here:





And then give me your feedback below in the COMMENTS section. Or, email me your feedback, or even video feedback, at geek.girl@earthlink.net.

To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE.
To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE.
And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :)

Cheers!

Geek Girl

Say Hello to my Little Friend... :-)...Happy 25th Birthday, Smiley Face!

Hey there Webbies! I just came across a factoid that made me smile :) and I felt like it was theme-appropriate for this blog ;) and I've decided to report the story to share with you all. Today is the 25th anniversary of the first official usage of the digital smiley face, :-)




Click HERE for the Carnegie Mellon University's official smiley page, with details about it's history.

Where would we be today without the wonders of emoticons and other indicators of tone within otherwise mundane, on-screen text? How on earth could we possibly otherwise bridge the digital gap between an all-out LOL or LMAO and a mere smile? Here's an article from the Associated Press, published today, September 18th, 2007, detailing today's glorious anniversary:

Digital 'smiley face' turns 25
By DANIEL LOVERING, Associated Press Writer

It was a serious contribution to the electronic lexicon. :-) Twenty-five years ago, Carnegie Mellon University professor Scott E. Fahlman says, he was the first to use three keystrokes — a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis — as a horizontal "smiley face" in a computer message.

To mark the anniversary Wednesday, Fahlman and his colleagues are starting an annual student contest for innovation in technology-assisted, person-to-person communication. The Smiley Award, sponsored by Yahoo Inc. carries a $500 cash prize.

Language experts say the smiley face and other emotional icons, known as emoticons, have given people a concise way in e-mail and other electronic messages of expressing sentiments that otherwise would be difficult to detect.

Fahlman posted the emoticon in a message to an online electronic bulletin board at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982, during a discussion about the limits of online humor and how to denote comments meant to be taken lightly. "I propose the following character sequence for joke markers: :-)," wrote Fahlman. "Read it sideways." The suggestion gave computer users a way to convey humor or positive feelings with a smile — or the opposite sentiments by reversing the parenthesis to form a frown.

Carnegie Mellon said Fahlman's smileys spread from its campus to other universities, then businesses and eventually around the world as the Internet gained popularity.

Computer science and linguistics professors contacted by The Associated Press said they were unaware of who first used the symbol.

"I've never seen any hard evidence that the :-) sequence was in use before my original post, and I've never run into anyone who actually claims to have invented it before I did," Fahlman wrote on the university's Web page dedicated to the smiley face. "But it's always possible that someone else had the same idea — it's a simple and obvious idea, after all."

Variations, such as the "wink" that uses a semicolon, emerged later. And today people can hardly imagine using computer chat programs that don't translate keystrokes into colorful graphics, said Ryan Stansifer, a computer science professor at the Florida Institute of Technology.

"Now we have so much power, we don't settle for a colon-dash-paren," he said. "You want the smiley face, so all these chatting softwares have to have them."

Instant messaging programs often contain an array of faces intended to express emotions ranging from surprise to affection to embarrassment.

"It has been fascinating to watch this phenomenon grow from a little message I tossed off in 10 minutes to something that has spread all around the world," Fahlman was quoted as saying in a university statement. "I sometimes wonder how many millions of people have typed these characters, and how many have turned their heads to one side to view a smiley, in the 25 years since this all started."

Amy Weinberg, a University of Maryland linguist and computer scientist, said emoticons such as the smiley were "definitely creeping into the way, both in business and academia, people communicate."

"In terms of things that language processing does, you have to take them into account," she said. "If you're doing almost anything ... and you have a sentence that says 'I love my boss' and then there's a smiley face, you better not take that seriously."

Emoticons reflect the likely original purpose of language — to enable people to express emotion, said Clifford Nass, a professor of communications at Stanford University. The emotion behind a written sentence may be hard to discern because emotion is often conveyed through tone of voice, he said.

"What emoticons do is essentially provide a mechanism to transmit emotion when you don't have the voice," Nass said.

In some ways, he added, they also give people "the ability not to think as hard about the words they're using."

Stansifer said the emoticon was part of a natural progression in communication. "I don't think the smiley face was the beginning and the end," he said. "All people at all times take advantage of whatever means of communication they have."

OK, so my only question is: who on earth was writing posts on message boards in 1982?! Who knew that they even existed back then? Pretty amazing stuff, folks.

Anyhow, new podcast coming soon, and lots of exciting posts coming up now that fall is well on it's way! Summer is officially ending, and that means lots of new gadgets, tv shows and other great stuff coming up for the holidays!

Remember, to email me your questions, or even video questions for a chance to be featured in a future podcast, email me at geek.girl@earthlink.net.

To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE.
To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE.
And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :)

Cheers!

Geek Girl