Zara Rabinowicz

Los Angeles : Five alternative things to do on a City of Angels Trip

admin — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:32:01 +0000

So you’ve been to Los Angeles more than once and ticked off everything your Lonely Planet guide suggested would be fun. You can now rules out a Segway tour of Santa Monica, a drum circle on Venice Beach, an adventurous foray into a Venice pharmacy (followed with a quick back away -you’re really going to sell me what!?) and the usual thrills of Hollywood Boulevard, the Hollywood Sign and the Getty Museum. Depending on your age, career and personal inclinations you may also want to add West Hollywood to that list, Westwood ( a mecca for students and fraternities), Rodeo Drive (lovely on the eyes, hard on the wallet) and Griffith Park (pretty, but watch out for snakes).

Now you can happily tell everyone that you’ve ‘done LA’- but wait! There’s so much more to the sunshine state than 24 hour McDonald drive throughs and exploring new food outlets such as Taco Bell and Jack In The Box (written by a UK based person, OK?).

Within the city of Los Angeles there exists a panoply of alternative attractions all which will add a little more joy to your Los Angeles expedition, so I’d suggest you to sit up straight and get your CTRL+C fingers at the ready.

In no particular order I’d like to welcome you to my five unusual hot spots in Los Angeles- where the crazy never ends and all adults can become kids again.

The LAX Firing Range: Tuition

Sure, you’ve played plenty of Gears of War but have you ever held a 9mm semi automatic Glock in your hands? The answer may be yes if you’re from abroad or have visited Vegas, but even then it’s unlikley that you’ve loaded the magazine, taken apart the gun or looked inside the machine and learnt how to aim correctly.

LAX Firing Range offer a 2 hour training session that costs $99 (including tax) and which takes you from a gasping sweating gun fearing Brit into an armed and dangerous ninja. OK, in reality you turn from someone who whimpers at every bang to a competent and calculated shooter, who memorizes the rules of combat. Taught by a straight up speaking ex marine, the first rule was that on a semi automatic, ’The Safety is the trigger button’. Seriously. The next few rules were equally thrilling (for someone with a Die Hard fetish).

To quote, Rule One: Only point at something you are willing to destroy, Rule 2: Only point when you are ready to shoot and Rule 3: Always check if your gun is loaded.

The 2 hour class taught me how to take a gun apart, put it back together, check if the chamber had bullets in it, learn the release and load buttons for the magazine and learn how to disable a gun if the magazine was empty- but a bullet was still in the chamber.

I worked on stance, which eye was stronger (I’m a rightie) and how to pull the trigger (best to hold your breath as it avoids your gun lifting when you shoot). My accuracy and confidence improved, and I also learnt to wear higher cut tops as a hot bullet shell plus a V neck involves squeaking (true story). Next stage is regular practice, and then an advanced class where I could learn to ~~play~~ practise with more guns, and find out what suits me.

Check it out here

LaserTag – Adult Style

It could be my recent conversion to How I Met Your Mother( truly amazing TV show) that made me look up laser tag in LA, but I’m so glad I did. Ultrazone Laser Tag is based in LA and consist of a 5,000 square foot arena where you can duck, dive and roll as the mood takes you. Armed with your trusty laser gun and team mates at your back, you concentrate on tagging the opponents, protecting the base, and going Rambo style crazy on the enemies stronghold.

In the UK lasertag tends to be the domain of kids but the Ultrazone Laser tag centre has late opening hours, adult only events and a ridiculous warren of mazes, smoke and blaring music. Prices are pretty cheap, with options starting at $8 a game, or $15 all you can play on Thursdays. Some nights they are open to midnight and beyond, so you really can get your game on whenever you choose.

The arena is multi level which means you need to get seriously tactical and as its only lasers you can’t actually hurt people (unless you drop kick them; avoid).

Check it out here.

The Los Angeles Derby Dolls

I blame Drew Barrymore for my obsession with roller derby as Whip It was my first intro to the sport. Since then I’ve gone to a London RollerGirls meet (exhilarating) and enquired about auditioning (they said maybe, but my back injury can’t take it), so the prospect of true to life American Roller Derby Girls was pretty thrilling. The sport started in the USA and they take it a lot more seriously here, with the Los Angeles Derby Dolls having a dedicated arena they can always practice in (as opposed to temporary erections in Bethnal Green and Excel).

The Derby Dolls practice in the Doll Factory, a dedicated banked rollertrack which is 100′ x 60 and is created out of f wood, steel, and masonite. If you have time you can sign up for some training classes with the derby girls, but you should definitely attempt to take in a meet. They have regular bouts-all on their calendar- and the action is as fast and as chaotic as watching WWE- but this is REAL and unscripted. What are you waiting for?

Find out more about the Derby Dolls here.

[image via Derby Doll site]

Royal-T Maid Cafe in Culver City

I know that Maid Cafes are big thing in the East, but having never ventured that far (yet) I was unsure what to expect. In the last few years a few have reached Los Angeles and I checked out Royal-T, the biggest and most famous of the LA Maid cafes. So what was it like? Well the venue is a cafe/gallery/art space/ restaurant and all the waitresses are dressed in predictably kawaii style clothing- aprons, knee socks, cute little collars. The menu was relatively small, but they did offer a good selection of teas ( I advise the flowering blossom one if you’re interested) and the menu was affordable and tasty, with a definite Eastern inspired menu. The waitress was bubbly and friendly but no ‘extras’ were offered (you know you wondered about that) and after eating we were left to wander around and look at the art installations, They ranged from the bizarre- a selection of trash in a glass box to the quirky- a portaloo designed to look like an iPod with a disco ball and iPhone inside so you could have a ‘Porta-Party’.

There was also a small shop which sold the kind of tat you find in little boutiques- weird anime figures, quirky cushions, a hat that looked like a cupcake, and all with a size-able markup. The experience was fun and friendly, but I can’t help feel that service would be a little different were I to visit a similar cafe in Tokyo. Worth a visit for the experience, and they also host comedy nights here, if you want something to do on a night out.

Check out the Royal-T Maid cafe here.

Go snowboarding at Big Bear or Mountain High

Snowboarding is definitely not the first thing you think of when you visit Los Angeles, but if you’re there from Dec- March it should be something you might want to consider. Yes, it’s bizarre packing a bikini and thermals, but where else can you go in the world where the beach and the snow are both about an hour away? There are two main mountains close to Los Angeles which are around an hour and a half drive from the city.

Both mountains have a different feel to them- Mountain High is good for beginners and generally always has snow as they often use artificial stuff to add to their slopes, whilst Big Bear has much more of a party atmosphere with ramps, jumps and a massive bar down at the base. Prices are cheap-sooo much cheaper than in Europe- with a lift pass and equipment rental costing around $76 for the full boots, board and half day lift pass-that’s currently around £48 at the current exchange rate. It’s a sport I love and wish I could do more of, so if you get the chance you should head to the mountains. The drive there and back is also pretty stunning- though you might want to crash out on the way home.

Check out Mountain High and Big Bear.

Any other crazy LA attractions you think are worth checking out? Let me know in the comments section.

[top image source]

The five top technological trends at CES 2012

admin — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 21:07:58 +0000

The year 2011 was all about the tablet computer, we saw the first ever affordable (and good) Android options launch, and people went gaga over the idea of 4G and LTE and the BlackBerry PlayBook. This year, the atmosphere was a little different on the show floor. Yes, we did have a lot of new products coming out, but the main points seemed to be more about the long term trends than any particular product per se. I found this new way of assessing technology pretty interesting however as ways in which the average consumer could integrate some of the trends slowly started to emerge. Here’s my overview of the top five tech trends at CES 2012- let’s see if any of these make it into your home or work this year.

The year of the connected TV

We’ve heard mumblings about connected TVs for some time now (and you can read my article on future predictions here) but there generally have been two barriers to them going mainstream. One has been the pricepoint as most people simply aren’t ready to invest in a new LCD TV so soon, and the second barrier has been confusion over the services offered and the many complex buttons on the remote controls. This year is a little different, as not only were all the big names (SHARP, LG, and SAMSUNG) offering up web ready televisions but they’d also started integrating some pretty helpful features.

I’m talking about TVs that come with an integrated forward facing camera installed, TV’s that feature an upgradeable card slot so that you don’t need to replace the hardware and TV’s that offer remote assistance where the helpdesk can actually program your TV for you if you’re struggling (Sharp Aquos is offering this service). We’re also seeing super slim bezels on offer from a lot of brands, with some a mere 3mm thick- very gasp worthy. One of the new TV areas I’m intrigued by is the increase in peripheral devices, as these allow you to upgrade your TV without buying a new one- such as snap on cameras for Skypeing.

Gadgets get rugged in 2012

I tend to be fairly precious with my gadgets, having had too many cracked screens and toilet droppings for my liking, and gadget makers are finally catching on that we really want our precious gadgets protected. At CES 2012 there were numerous companies displaying all sorts of interesting peripherals designed to keep your products safe from knocks and bumps, from child friendly iPad cases (knock em, throw em, can’t break em) from companies like M-Edge to crash proof iPhone cases from Casemate and Benzitech.

We also saw some innovative ways of safety proofing gadgets, with start-up company Liquipel a prime example, as they have created a special coating which allows your gadget to be dropped in water and not die. Yes, they don’t guarantee it and it only allows a dip not a full on swim, but their coating doesn’t affect the red water level in the iPhone and seems pretty exciting. IoSafe were another company who extended their range of rugged hard drives with one that is shock proof, fireproof and waterproof (for 36 hours at a depth of 3 feet) to show how important they think keeping your digital data safe is. Their hard drives can also withstand 1 million volts from a Tesla coil, but that was more of an entertainment piece than something the average person need worry about.

We also saw rugged gadgets that had more of a home feel to them, such as the Qooq tablet. This iPad looky likey is actually a heatproof, waterproof kitchen friendly cookbook compendium which allows users to play with its display whilst feeling like they’re Jamie Oliver. Yes, it comes with 3600 recipes and 1200 videos, but the fact that its kitchen proof is the biggest selling point here.

3D Printing gets home options

2011 was the year of the 3DTV, 2012 looks to be firmly in the domain of the 3D printer. These clever machines can whip out a basic CAD design in no time at all and give you something stylish and wearable to play with. MakerBot is perhaps the most well known in the 3D printing world and they were evident at the show, both with their brand new 3D printer and with their printed accessories being worn on the FashionWare catwalk. The new MakerBot machine is called the MakerBot replicator and is able to print 3D products in 2 different colours, which is pretty amazing, and opened us up to a world of future possibilities. It also comes pre assembled which is nice, as having to go IKEA on the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic put many people off. Objects printed are also larger with a maximum size of 8.9 inches by 5.7 inches by 5.9 inches.

MakerBot is not the only player in the 3D printing game as Cubify also announced a 3D printer of their own- the Cube. Smaller than MakerBots offering it uses cartridges rather than spools of plastic thread to create objects and comes with its own App store, where you can learn how to create custom belt buckles, turn your voice into a bracelet and more. This addition is a really nice user friendly touch which makes this technology a lot more accessible, even if the $1299 price tag is still pretty painful to think about. They say that they are looking at working with the Kinect so you can sculpt an object with some hand waves. It’s good that MakerBot has some healthy competition and if more companies get into this market, the likelihood that homes will start to own their own 3D printers gets ever closer.

The 2012 FitBit gadget Generation

Health and fitness gadgets were an ever present trend at CES 2012, with more companies getting on the fitness bandwagon. This was evident both in the stands with the variety of products offered and in the accoutrement’s the journalists themselves wore, with 1 in 3 carrying a FitBit to track how many steps they’d been walking during the conference. The additions to the gadget fitness line up ranged from the unusual to the everyday, and some of the products on offer were fairly mind boggling in their specs.

The most accessible type of fitness gadgets revolved about small adjustments to already existing products, such as a new range of Yurbuds headphones (headphones designed to NEVER slip out your ears when working out), a new iSport Headphone from Monster (created to be machine washable and now in new colours with a new more flexible cable) as well as FitBit releasing info of a new pair of scales that lets you always stay connected to your weight (shudder). Called the FitBit Aria, the portable scales measure your BMI and body fat and wirelessly stream your data to the web. A nice touch is that you do get rewarded virtual badges for achieving your goals, and they’ll create some neat graphs for you to track your progress on.

On the more exciting end of the fitness gadgets scale lies the Sportiiiis goggles, which combine eyewear protection with real time visual feedback on performance- perfect for any athlete or enthusiastic amateur wanting to improve their snow skills. You simply attach the Sportiiiis to any glasses and it will give you feedback on your heart rate, your goals and can verbally tell you to slow down or speed up- which I think is pretty impressive!

Robo-Magique

Robots are becoming a more understandable concept nowadays, with many a Mint or a Roomba making it onto people’s wedding lists (you know who you are), so the fact that CES had some new robots on offer won’t come as a huge surprise. What was interesting though is that I saw ones I could actually imagine having at home, as there were a few cool surprises. Every year, the vendors at CES trot out the same old machines- the cuddly Paro seal that’s good for therapeutic use (but horribly expensive and bad if your hate seals) an automatic robot that helps people with rheumatism, but none of this ever goes into mass production or really reaches UK shores.

[the much maligned Paro robot seal]

Well, there was still a lot of that sort of that going round, but there was also a few products that made you think hmm. One of them (sigh) was presented by Justin Bieber, the mRobo Ultra Bass, a cool looking dance robot. What made this so unique was that the robot is actually a speaker which folds up and down Transformers style, so it can be easily packed away and dances to whatever beats you play through it with per programmed moves. Necessary- no, but it is affordable ($199) and is the type of novelty gift that you imagine will last a Christmas or so.

The trend I’m not going to mention

Depending on what sites you read, 2012 may well be the year of the Ultrabook. An Ultrabook is not a netbook, nor a tablet, nor a UMPC (a now defunct term), they’re essentially long life slim line laptops… which makes them LAPTOPS (or a MacBook Air clone) ; Ultrabook being a term coined by smart marketing exec that has somehow caught on. We may well get lots more laptops with battery longevity, but I’m not going to discuss them like it’s something new and exciting- unless pejoratives really do get you excited…

What do you think about my 2012 gadget trend predictions? Are there any gaping errors in my account or do you want to praise me for my astute analysis? Get commenting below.

The last 8 months in books: May-December 2011 reads

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:07:05 +0000

The amount of books I read is simply getting ridiculous. Not so much for me- I can easily cope with the heightened surge (summer days/holidays= parks/beaches= abundant literature consumed) but trying to carefully write up everything I read coherently is just not working anymore. I’m so far behind on my book updates that I feel I’ll never catch up again, so I’m going to try a new tactic. Rather than read, summarize and elaborate, I’m now going to list what I’ve read and the few key ones that have stood out will get a more in depth evaluation. If you’re curious about a book I haven’t expanded on, comment below and I promise I’ll answer/ mini review and query if that helps you with your summer reading list.

I’m not certain exactly how many books I read from January to May 2011, but I’m going to conservatively estimate 14 based on this list here. That takes my total to approximately 104 books read in 2011. Yes, some of them were short young adult fiction, and a few were novellas/ Charlaine Harris’ work (read and you’ll know what I mean), but overall, that’s a total I’m happy with.

Last year I enjoyed a lot of young adult fiction. There’s something about the immediacy of this genre that really appeals to me, the intensity of the emotions, the way all the characters really do feel the centre of the universe and just how raw and ready everything is- people experience rather than evaluate and there’s something very exciting of being this involved in the story. During my exploration of this genre I discovered Kevin Brooks, and was really impressed. Kevin is a gritty author with a wonderful way with rhythm and his stories lure you in and don’t let go. The pace is fast, the words bright, and the books all have a sense of magical realism- despite documenting mundane activities. It’s the combination of what might be with the reality that makes these so gripping.

I also managed to finally read some of Sophie Kinsella’s earlier work, whilst she was using the pseudonym Madeleine Wickham. I was warned they were ‘in a different style’, but I didn’t expect them to be this bad! The Tennis Party was a dry tale of middle age and wine, with family complexities and friendship lies. It was so dull, it felt like Jilly Cooper had written a book whilst high on Robinson Fruit squash, it flowed badly, you simply didn’t care about anyone and-worst of all- it wasn’t funny at all!

Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller was fantastic- I had thought it might be sordid or titillating but it actually really resonated and you felt the awkward despair at the illicit affair and understood how it occurred. The two women had this strange Freudian dependent relationship and it was an eerie book to read. I really wanted to like 100 Years of Solitude but I found it hard going, the book meandered around and though it was beautiful in parts I didn’t find myself really connecting and it was a struggle to finish.

Read on for the full list of the 104 books I read this year!

Here, in no particular order are the books I read during May and June 2011.

1.One Day in May by Catherine Alliot

2.Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

3,Body Double by Tess Gerritsen

4.Ex in the City: You’re nobody till somebody dumps you by Alexandra Heminsley

5.Getting over Mr Right by Chrissie Manby

6.100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

7. BloodTide by Melvin Burgess

8. Nicholas Dane by Melvin Burgess

9. Men I’ve loved before by Adele Parks

10. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

11.Slam by Nick Hornby

12. Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

13. To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell

14. The Tennis Party by Madeleine Wickham (a.k.a Sophie Kinsella)

15. Nobody’s Girl by Sara Manning

16. Spa Wars by Chris Manby

17. Black Rabbit Summer by Kevin Brooks

18. Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller

19. Being by Kevin Brooks

20.The Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks

21.Inglorious by Joana Kaven

Spa Wars by Chris Manby was a treat, a frivolous frothy piece of fiction that was entertaining and silly, and though highly unrealistic it made me laugh ,most of the way through. Nick Hornby’s novel Slam was interesting- he tends to be hit or miss for me ever since the dirge that is Fever Pitch and he was on good form with this tale. Sam is a skateboarding fifteen year old with an obsession with Tony hawk and an accidentally pregnant girlfriend. Oops. This book addresses how he has to grow up quickly, the problems of being a parent young and the strange way this manages to fit into his everyday life. Sweet and sad, it’s a smart read and Hornby shows he has the pulse on teenage troubles.

Kevin Brooks is the king of teen grit, his novels full of blood and dirt, and racked with complicated loyalties and strife. The Road of the Dead shows two boys trying to put their sister to rest- and discovering a plot around her death at the same time. Mixings of magical realism and gypsy lore imbue this with a dark twist, and though all characters are flawed they remain compelling to the end. He’s a new discovery and I can’t get enough of his tales. I also loved Melvin Burgess- it had been a long time since I read Junk, and his work is every bit as compelling as I remembered it being.

Inglorious by Joanna Kaven is a strange novel. What do you do when you reach the end of your tether? Grab a shotgun and go mad, or quietly withdraw from life, floating on a wave of prose and never ending to do list as you let the ephemeral senses of being slowly fade away and replace your sense of self with a disjointed look at reality. This is what happens to Rosa, a thirty something journalist who one day slowly and quietly decides to give up, quits work, loses her partner and slowly withdraws into a world of classic books, long to do lists and a faint sense of nothingness, only impinged by the annoying consequences of rent and bills. It’s scary to see how quickly she dissolves her present reality and makes on aware how close we are to that line- of how change is always present, though we like to disassociate it.

Here are the books I read from July to December 2011. The ones in bold are those that especially stood out.

July 2011

1. Boomsday by Christopher Buckley
2. The toilet of doom by Michael Lawrence
3. Knocked out by my Nunga Nungas by Louise Rennison
4. One Red Paperclip by Kyle MacDonald
5. The Lost Oasis by Robert Twigg
6. Monday’s Child by Louise Bagshawe
7. Underground City by Jules Verne
8. Summer Holiday by Penny Smith
9. Eve Dallas (series) by Nora Roberts
10.The Broker by John Grisham
11. Myth No 3 by Robert Aspirin
12. Things you didn’t know by Melissa Hill
13. Diary of a Facelift by Toyah Wilcox
14. Room by Emma Donoghue
15. I Heart Paris by Lindsay Kelk
16. Gone by Michael Croft
17. The Secret Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre
18. Loose Girl by Kerry Cohen
19. Water for elephants by Sara Gruen
20. Collapse by Jared Diamond
21. Cocktails for three by Madeleine Wickham
22. Mum on the run by Fiona Gibson
23. Living Dangerously by Katie Fforde
24. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
25. Martians by Ray Bradbury
26. Myth Inc 7 by Robert Aspirin
27. Myth 5 by Robert Aspirin
28. Myth 4 by Robert Aspirin
29. Myth 3.5 by Robert Aspirin
30. I remember you by Harriet Evans
31. Something Wicked this Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

August

1. From Hell with Love by Simon R Green
2-7. True Blood Volumes 1-6 by Charlaine Harris

September

1. The Wonder Spot by Melissa Banks
2. The Nowhere City by Alison Lurie
3. Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey
4-7. True Blood Books 7-10 by Charlaine Harris

October

1. How to make love like a Pornstar by Jenna Jameson
2. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
3. Living Doll by Cindy Jackson
4. Surgery secrets by Cindy Jackson
5. The Castings Trilogy by Pamela Freeman

November

1.Something from Tiffany’s by Melissa Hill
2. Londonstani by Gautam Malkani
3. City of Ruin by Mark Charan Newton
4. Wicked by Gregorgy Maguire
5. Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
6. Anonymous Lawyer, A novel by Jeremy Blachman

December

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
3. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
4. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
5. The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
6. The Private life of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller
7. Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
8. The Fat Chance Guide to Dieting by Claudia Pattison
9. My Single Friend by Jane Costello
10.Paddy Clarke Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
11. Troubles by J.G.Farell
12. I Heart Vegas by Lindsay Kelk
13. Den of Thieves by David Chandler
14. The Desert Spear by David.V.Brett
15.Ember and Ash by Pamela Freeman

Some books were especially compelling, as the Suzanne Collins trilogy had me reading till the sun rose, and the complexities of Panem civilizations and machinations lefts me tossing for days trying to work out alternative outcomes. Londonstani was an amazing book, written in a dialect that was both strange and familiar at the sane time (I am a Londonite after all) and addressed a subculture I’d b never really thought about. Schindler’s Ark had me crying on the tube, and feeling way more inclined to call my Grandmother and actually ask her some questions- this should be required reading in schools! Pamela Freeman impressed me with her Castings Trilogy and I loved how she weaved magic and fantasy effortlessly and had me wishing her mammoth book was longer! One Red paperclip was an inspiring tale that has me vowing to read more biographies, of how one man traded up to a house from humble beginnings and had me laughing from the start (similar to Twitchiker in a way). I even got a Tweet from the author (yay me!).

Room by Emma Donoghue was strangely moving, despite my initial resistance to reading it- do you ever get that to best sellers, it’s like a knee jerk ‘NO!’ response I’m glad I overcame as it was extremely touching, as well as being pertinently topical for our time- it revolved around an abducted mother and the child she bore her captor whilst imprisoned, told from the kids perspective. I read a few cosmetic surgery books and found Toyah Wilcox’s account of her facelift journey very intriguing, despite the waffle about how she ‘Had to have it to continue working’ and the namedropping moments. I also liked Cindy Jackson’s Living Doll story, though I was puzzled as to how someone who clearly has body dysmorphia was allowed so many procedures (no judgement Cindy, just a need to control doctors more stringently). She offered a fascinating and frank glimpse of her life, and kept nothing back in the before and after photos.

I’ve also now managed to read most of the Booker novels ( a resolution of mine two years running) and now I have only eight or so left to go, and I’m confident I’ll have finished that list by June. Have you any reading suggestions for me, or would you like me to recommend a book for you based on my reading adventures? I’m open to pretty much anything (minus the latest Katie Price bio).

Here’s to 2012 being the year I break my reading record!

The High Tech Home: My Top Ten personal design wishlist

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:28:57 +0000

Now that 2012 has finally arrived, it’s time to start getting revved up for the Olympics (not so far away now), actually start visiting the gym and start tackling some of those resolutions on your list. One of them is bound to be ‘Have a lovely, stylish and geekified home’, so I’ve out together ten great gadget accessories to let you live a lovely geeky life at home.

1. Geek Wall Stickers from Bouf

I’m a big fan of wall decals (easy to apply and remove= no landlord surcharge) and Bouf has an amazing selection. My favourite would have to be the Super Mario wall stickers, which would be amazing for a games room- heck, any room, but they also have a more muted space invader version if you want to class it up.

2.The iPod Duvet set

Show your love for Apple (and your single status) with this super cute coverlet. I wish you could custom order it with your favourite Apps- mine would come complete with Dropbox, TripAdvisor and Byline. [via]

3. Camera Lens Cups

These are something that might make your Mum look worried and go and buy you some of BHS’s finest, but these cool camera cups will add some geek chic to your kitchen area. Not only can you drink coffee from a DSLR lens, you can also use the lid for cookies- a win win situation! £12.99 for one from Firebox.

4. BodyClock Elite Wake Up Light/ Alarm clock from Lumie

I’m cheating a little with this inclusion as I actually own one and think it’s brilliant. You get a SAD lamp which features a low light that turns into a fierce glow to help you wake up in the morning and you can set it to turn the radio on/play music at the same time.

Get it here

5. FroYo machine for the home

I’ve loved Froyo ever since I first had a Tasti Dlite when I visited New York. The texture! The taste! The fact that it’s like ice cream but sooo much better for you.

Thankfully we now have many more options to get one in the UK, but having a machine for the home would be the ultimate in luxury. A few companies offer them, so I’ll just have to start saving the approximate £2000 needed to get one. Taylor Company is a good place to start looking…

6. Cuisinart Soup Maker

Every year I promise myself I’ll do more in the kitchen than wince and turn the microwave on, and the Cuisinart range may help me take the next step. I’m intrigued by their smart looking soup maker, and I would like to cut down on my Covent Garden Soup expenditure. OK, it’s an investment piece, but if you really do get 1.4 litres of soup it may be worth it. I love that it has an integrated heater, so once blended you’re ready to dig in straightaway. Check it out here.

7. Stiletto shoe bath

I’ve already written about my love for this amazing looking themed bath, and feel this has to be included on a top ten list of geeklicious home delights. What it’s missing in iPod docks it makes up for in- well, it’s a STILETTO shaped bath! Nuff said, right?

8. Spiky shower curtain from artist Elisabeth Buecher

I’m really more of a bath girl than a shower girl, and this spiky shower curtain would certainly inspire me to spend less time in the shower. Designed to inflate SPIKES after four minutes of use, the concept is around saving energy and spending less time wasting water/singing Mariah Carey badly. It’s actually pretty as well as eco friendly and I’d love to have this in my house and shock visitors with it!

Artist Elisabeth Buecher created this for a show- I hope to see it in production soon.

[via]

9. Bedside booklight

Everyone who reads this site knows I love books about as much as chocolate/Facebook/the internet (basically, A LOT) so this cute book light/lamp ticks all the right boxes for me. Shaped like a house it’s the perfect shape to act as a bookmark for the novel you’re reading, and looks quite stylish as well. The light is fairly low, so won’t damage/burn the book and you don’t have to worry about losing your place- or being one of those awful people who creases pages (shudder). Just one aside- don’t think it will manage to hold my Kindle!

Get it here from Firebox

10. Star Wars R2D2 dustbin

Whether you’re more Trekkie/Dollhouse than Star Wars, you must admit this is a super cute trash can, and would make throwing out your rubbish a lot more entertaining. OK, you’ll still be flipping a coin to see who takes turns going outside, but whilst indoors this beauty is perfect for any room.

[via]

How to make money from blogging in seven steps

admin — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:08:59 +0000

I have worked online for over seven years, and a lot of my time and effort goes into creating blogposts. The subject matter changes- one day I’m reviewing the latest mobile phone, next time it’s a beauty product, but the format is pretty similar and writing online has its own rules and regulations. I’m an online writer, a web journalist, an editor, a social media consultant, a presenter and a blogger. It’s the blogger part of this equation that often produces the most interest and there’s one question I get over and over again.

How do you make money from blogging?

I’ve been explaining the intricate answer to this question for a number of years now and thought it might help if I put it down in steps for you to follow. First of all, I’m going to address the money/blogging issue from the perspective of a home based NON journalist blogger. If you have writing experience, that’s great, that will definitely help, but if you’re asking this question it suggests you’re not being paid to blog- you’re not on the staff of Handbag/ Beauty and the Dirt/ Sugar etc (great blogging business companies) so you’re looking to find out for personal use.

First of all, you should never EVER start blogging as a way to make money. For one, the passion will be lacking in your writing and you won’t get the followers, and secondly only a few few people ever make serious cash from their blog. Blogging superstars like Sussanah Lau of Style Bubble have revealed that most of the money they make is from side projects off the back of their blog- the blog alone does not garner a full wage. If you’re going to blog do it because you like it, you love it- it’s fun. Got it? Ok, now lets see how we can go about helping you get back your hosting fee.

Step One: Choose your Blog Platform Wisely

The platform you choose to blog on will actually help or hinder you in terms of money making. I get that you might not want to invest cash if you’re starting out, but if you’re using a free WordPress.com site, when you look to put ads you’ll be restricted as they don’t allows this in their terms and conditions. So choose wisely if you’re serious. Blogger- which is free on Google, is commonly used because of the flexibility if offers, but it can look a bit clunky and is hard to customise completely. WordPress.com is free to use- but- as already mentioned, restricts you. WordPress.org is also free to use and doesn’t restrict what you can do, but you’ll need to pay to host it (from £5 a month as a guide) and it’s not as easy to set up. There’s also Typepad as another option, but this is lacking popularity nowadays. I love WordPress.org and strongly recommend you start here- don’t think, ‘oh, when I get big I’ll move platforms‘ as you can lose lots of pageviews that way, and it’s a risky strategy.

Step Two: Adverts and Affiliate Links on the blog

The simplest way to make cash from your blog is to place adverts on it. One of the most commonly used platforms for adverts is Google Adsense simply because of how simple it is to install. You choose the areas you want the adverts to run (leaderboard/sidebar/skyscraper etc), identify specify category exclusions and then voila, you’re good to go. Not all ads will be relevant as they often scan the text of the blog to pick a related one, so you may find yourself with gambling ads if you ever talk about the ‘competitive world’ (hence the excluding option). It’s easy to install, but a little clunky to play with at the back-end and the returns are pretty low money wise. You generally make money here via clicks per impression (amount can can vary) and unless you have high volume traffic you probably won’t make very much (Think around £1 a month if you have below 5000 unique visitors a month).

You can also created spaces on the sidebar saying ‘Advertise here’ and then if a company is interested, set your own rate (for a small site, £20 a month with a 3 month minimum is reasonable).

Another option you can use (concurrently if you wish) is linking an Amazon Associates account. You can list favourite items like shoes etc, or allow them to place whatever they wish in the designated space. If someone clicks on the ad, then buys the product or ANYTHING else from Amazon, you get a percentage of this. This can be really helpful if you run a niche site and have carefully tailored your Amazon account to fit with your readership.

Another tool I like to use is Skimlinks. You can easily install this as a free plugin and what it does is hyperlink any mention in your text of a retail product- eg, I talk about a great Sony Xperia phone and it will link those words to TMobile. You then get a percentage of the cost of anything a user buys from those sites- this is what is called ‘affiliate marketing‘ and as a referrer you get some money. There are many affiliate networks you can join, bur rather than signing up individually to loads, Skimlinks covers most major retail stores and you get a cut (sometimes smaller than doing it all separately, but much more convenient). I like how unobtrusive it is and I do use it on this site.

Step Three: Blogger Advertiser Networks

If everything I have covered so far has felt a little bit overwhelming you may want to consider joining a blogger network. This will be a company whose main goal is to look after a number of blogs, and sell them as a group to companies. This means that someone like Estee Lauder buying in is assured of proper placement on 200 relevant beauty blogs and you get a quality advert on your site. A blog network can also offer perks like VIP nights and meetups with free drinks and products, and you may like the social element. The downsides are that you still need to have the readership to make any money from this, and ad rates can be lower using a network then if you’d negotiated yourself. An example would be that a site which has around 20,000 unique visitors (someone who has come to your site for the first time) a month might net its owner around £20-£30. Blog networks will also occasionally offer you other options, such as the opportunity to write a paid sponsored post (price from around £10-£50) and cash if you choose to reskin your site.

[see Glam reskinned with Ella's Kitchen advert above]

Reskinning means removing whatever background you have chosen to have on your site and replacing it with whatever campaign they are running- an advert for a film, or a product. That’s quite a lot of compromising on your side here, so you may not want to do this. Should you choose to go ahead, you still have to be accepted by a blogging network, and they don’t take anyone! Your blog needs to have been live at least 3 months, be well presented and inoffensive and have a good tone to it. Each blogger network has different niches, so consider them carefully before approaching. Good ones are Glam, Handpicked Media, Federated Media, NetShelter and The Guardian Select Network [disclaimer: this site is part of the Guardian network, and I also work with Glam on another project]

Step Four: Promotional / Sponsored Posts

There’s quite a lot of buzz in the blogging world about the value of promotional blogposts- both to the blog and the people who pay for them. You tend to need to place a disclaimer when you write one-’This review of X product was sponsored by X company’, which can devalue it in some people;s eyes and if you do to many, some will accuse you of selling out. In monetary terms, expect to receive an average of £20 to £200 for a post (minimum 250 words), normally containing three links back to the company. Yes, you CAN make more money- but that’s when you get bigger, and probably won’t read this article. Other companies may ask you to create a post which contains a video and offer you a CPM rate. CPM stands for ‘Cost Per Thousand Impression’ and refers to page impressions. Every time someone reads a post of your site they are giving you ’1 impression’, if they go to seven pages that’s 7 impressions. A company will offer you an amount per impression (think 0.05p) and then the more readers you get clicking, the more you make. This can be good if you have a high traffic site or if the content is off value, but make sure to judge each on its own merit. I’ve run video campaigns before for sites I’ve worked on, and they have tended to net me the least amount of money- maybe £20-£30 over 3 months, and you have to factor your time into this.

Step Five: Review Networks

You may be blogging out of sheer love, but by reading this piece, you have realized you’d like to get something back for your hard work. We’ve looked at ad networks and blog networks, well, I’m going to introduce you to the hidden gem that is Review Networks. How it works is that you sign up to these services and you’ll get regular emails. Some will be irrelevant ot time wasting, e.g. ‘Looking for blogs to review a cereal bar. Will provide one cereal bar and article must be 600 words with three links’, but other will be pretty good. BuzzParadise is a review network and has previously given bloggers free perfumes, trips abroad and even money if bloggers have written about something within their time frame. I know of BuzzParadise, FuelMyBlog and Broadcast Bloggers personally, but I am sure there are many more sites like this out there- let me know if you know any good ones and I’ll add them in!

Step Six: Working as a full time blogger

By now you may have realized that blogging is your passion and it’s all you want to do EVER. Well, you’re partly in luck as your blog now stands as a great portfolio if you try and get hired full time. I say hired here- as unless you’ve hit it big you WON’T be working full time on your blog- but maybe on the blog for Cosmopolitan or a blogging company such as Aigua Media. It’s a very competitive industry so you want to make yourself stand out, and having a well maintained blog is a good start. Try and be vocal on social media as well- a Twitter account and Facebook account for your site are skills you can list on your CV, but make sure they’re professional as people don’t look kindly on swear words or drugs. Be persistent and realize you may have to work from home a lot, as blogger jobs can be done remotely, saving money on company overheads. Blogger Jobs is one place to start, and you can often find jobs placed on Gumtree. Think about whether you’d accept working for free- if it’s a high profile site that’s good exposure but a start up can be a hit or miss option.

[image credit]

Step Seven: Moving forward with blogging

You should now have a good grasp of the steps you need to take to make money from your blog. It’s unlikely it will ever run into the thousands, but you should be able to afford a pretty dress or a new lipstick with the proceeds. It can seem like a lot of hard work when you first start, but once you’ve implemented many of these suggestions, they will run themselves and then you can enjoy responding to your readers and coming up with new story ideas. A blog is a great way to share your passion with people and give you a voice online, and if you use it as a springboard to a career in journalism- well, why not? Equally, if your blog is a hobby born out of love and passion for the subject matter, you should also celebrate that.

To stay in touch with what is going on in the world of blogging here are a few resources for you to bookmark.

ProBlogger- This site has loads of tips and tricks for you to use, from what plugins help you get more visitors, to ideas on how to construct blogposts.
Search Engine Journal- SEO is important to the life of your site so get acquainted with the jargon and pick up some tips.
Mashable- A lot of this hugely comprehensive site won’t be that helpful blogwise to you, but they always reveal the latest news about plugins and changes to blog platforms, so wade in now and then and you may come away with a gem.

Good luck with continuing to expand your blog, and if you leave me the link to it in the comments below I’ll check it out. You can also speak to me about the blog consulting work I offer, where I will help you increase page views and boost your PageRank and profile online.

My Body Gallery crowd sources images of Real Women

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:09:55 +0000

We all come in different shapes and sizes but this isn’t often very well represented by the mainstream media. Sure, we have ‘real life’ features where the women have been Photoshopped orange with a glossy veneer (a’la TOWIE) or we can read gritty down and out stories where everything looks tinged with canal water, but how about some variety in shop windows and magazine advertisements?

I’ve previously looked at the rise and insanity of vanity sizing, where you see how retailers pretty much create their own dress size guidelines, and I’d like to show people just what a size 12 actually looks like- and then we can see how much we all vary from the ‘guidelines’. Remember, clothes sizes are not life sentences and garments are cut in order to cater to mass markets- we are all individuals and let’s start looking at our bodies that way. OK, if we all wore custom made garments that would be horrifically expensive but we can share how we vary in size on a website called My Body Gallery

The website works on a easy to understand premise where user submissions make up the bulk of its content. You click a few buttons and share your weight, height, dress size and more and voila, your image has been added to their database. The fun really starts when you start sifting through the pictures they have on offer and start analyzing how women of the same basic specs can differ greatly in dimensions.

You can filter through a variety of options, from body type to shirt size and pant size (remember it’s American sizes here) and the end game is to get an accurate reflection of what women actually look like. The answer to this seems to be ‘all different’, which is not really that much of a surprise, but it’s good to crowd source images like this as you do feel that you’re getting a good cross section of society.

3 women, all 5’5 and 140 pounds- look at the variety of body sizes, and that they all lack the confidence to show their faces.

3 women, all 5’5 and 200 pounds

Many women have chosen to upload images with their eyes blacked out, which says something about how they feel about their body, whether they are 110 pounds or 200. In part this is because My Body Gallery helpfully added a ’black out tool’ as part of its upload process (having to do this at home puts people off) but it’s a shame to see how many have utilized this feature.

My Body Gallery also has a place where you can upload your weight and body stories, and some of them are pretty tear jerking.

‘Normal and body dysmorphic disorder are what come to mind now, the night I found this website.I am crying because I feel normal. because I look at pictures of women who weigh what I did 3 months ago (210 lbs), what my general weight has been for the last couple of years (195 lbs) and what I weigh now (185 lbs). Due to the media and social norms, a girl like me rarely sees others who look like me, especially in their underwear & swimsuits.Out in public, you don’t know if someone you think looks nice is the same weight or size as you. I see myself and I figure I look horrible. I come to know I look horrible. I see the women on this website and know they look beautiful. Maybe I can feel beautiful now too.

I’m impressed with the concept and feel that anything that allows women to have a better understanding of how varied all our bodies are can only be a good thing, and lead to greater self acceptance.

Check out My Body Gallery here.

PS. This site proudly announce it’s about women’s sizing, I’m wondering if perhaps a male version will follow?

Top Twelve Beauty Trends of 2011: Supermarket salons, Lip Tattoos, Home Nail Art, MAC Bloggers Collection and more

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:54:12 +0000

2011 is making way for 2012 and we get to look forward to a dark January, an escalating Euro crisis and the chaos/excitement of the London 2012 Olympics. It’s not all doom and gloom though as it’s time to take a look back at 2011 and evaluate just who the movers and shakers in the beauty industry were- and think about what will be big in 2012. I’ve previously introduced you to the top ten strange beauty trends in 2010, and in the same vein I’m going to reflect on how the beauty industry has advanced in the last year. Sure there have been the usual celebrity fragrances/product lines/ faces stuck on any old tat, but I’d like to dig a little deeper than just trot out that Kate Moss and the TOWIE girls are doing well. We all know that- what’s more interesting to me is looking at what else is going on in the beauty world.

Magentized Magic

The magnetized nail trend has been very popular in 2011, with numerous brand falling all over themselves to offer women the chance to create a strange gradient effect on their nails. Aping the Crackle craze of 2010, these nail varnishes work by using a formula that contains iron filings in the mixture. You apply, wave the attached magnet (normally in the lid of the product) over the nails, and voila, a cute ripple effect. Yes, you may well have done this when you were 12, but that just goes to show you how circular beauty trend can be- and the effect is very pretty.

Nail Art takes to the home with Nail Art Pens

Nail Art used to be the exclusive domain of nail salons and airbrush equipment but new developments mean that anyone with a reasonable steady hand and a spare half hour can be a nail art maestro. 2010 saw the popularity of home nail wraps/stickers emerge, and we’ve seen many brands rush to hop on that bandwagon, with Myleene Klass creating a range for JML, Nail Rock bringing out regular limited editions and Giles Deacon teaming up with New Look to create a nail sticker range. As well as stick on products, we’ve seen a rise in actual nail art tools for the home, letting anyone be a nail tech on their own. YouTube videos and how to guides have never been more popular, and Models Own started cashing in with their Nail Art pen- which saw record sales.

Topshop is now doing their own version, LAQA & Co do a beautiful Selfridges version and Stargazer offer more budget options. It’s a fun way to get more creative with your nails- and all the above looks were created by yours truly (minus the top right image). Orly are set to launch their Instant Artist Nail art products in the UK, which take this even further with dotter and striper tools allowing everyone to create their own cool looks. With related products like the Red Carpet Manicuren system just launched in the UK (which allows you to create gel nails at homes, and gives you a LED lamp to cure them) I wonder if the popularity of DIY nails will hurt nail salons?

Lip Art

If 2010 was the year of the nail wraps, 2011 was the year of lip wraps, or lip art, if you prefer that term. We’ve seen two new brands burst onto the scene and offer up something completely different and unexpected for the lips. Violent Lips (pictured above) offer temporary lip tattoos in a variety of cool and quirky designs. They’re a little complicated to get the hand of, but once on you’ll be rocking the coolest pout in the room. Glitzy Lips do a similar thing, but they’re all about a metallic foil finish and there’s a lot more cutting and gluing to make them stay on. I think both brands are incredibly creative and love that they’ve brought new life to the face, and are making people rethink their beauty looks.

Supermarket Beauty Salons and High Street Botox

Tesco is not the first place you think of when you’re looking for a hair salon, but they’re trying to get you to rethink that notion. It’s not such a crazy idea- after all, shopping is when you have a little time for yourself and if you can fit in a quick leg wax or blow dry, why not? Sure, maybe get that wax done AFTER the shop, rather than before, but I like the concept. Prices have been kept cheap; leg waxing from £10 and haircuts from £12.50, but the concept is still on trial. As of right now, Tesco ‘Your Beauty’ salons are operating in Chesterfield and Leicester with threading chairs and nail bars in Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Manchester and Wembley. In a similar but equally surprising turn of events, we’ve also seen high street beauty retailer Superdrug offer in store beauty treatments- but they’re of a rather more cosmetic nature.

We’re familiar with places like MAC or Shu Uemura offering makeup applications and false lash treatments, well now Superdrug are offering Botox and IPL treatments in store. They have teamed up with Cosmedoctor and offer theses services at a reduced rate (making it better value) and so far only do this at a few select stores so far, but are expanding every day At the moment there are treatment rooms in Superdrugs in York, Wimbledon, Kingston, Twickenham, Kensington and more.

The Rise of the Super Serums

Every year sees new serums hit the market, all promising amazing skin, refined texture and minimized pores. Every year we buy into this, shelling out our money for the latest wonder product and are often underwhelmed by their efficacy and come to resent our purchases. 2011 was no different- but they did have a few serums that stood out in the crowded marketplace. First up is BioEffect EGF serum which has seriously revolutionized the market. EGF stands for Epidermal Growth Factor which is a substance which occurs naturally in human skin and which speeds up the rate of cell turnover within the skin.

The creators of BioEffect have actually won a Nobel Prize in medicine for their research into the role of the EGF cellular activator in cell biology, and the everyday application of this serum has turned it into a cult hit very quickly. Created in Iceland, it’s produced in a specially created greenhouse and planted in volcanic pumice and there are only 9 ingredients in the formula. It’s anti ageing properties are impressive and daily used really tackles fine lines. Suitable for skin of all ages ( a rarity in the serum world) a few drops is enough to cover your whole face, which makes the price tag more palatable, and the results are smooth shiny skin which has a radiant glow.

Next we have Lancome Visionnaire which is part of the L’Oreal prestige beauty group. They’ve developed this product within their high tech labs and named it after the LR2412 molecule which forms the basis of this formula- so named as it took them 2412 attempts to get to this exact specification. This plant derived molecule holds 17 patents, and the formula is very gentle to use, giving the skin a luminous quality and evening out texture. They say it ‘ sets off a series of tissular micro-transformations’, I say it’s pretty impressive and worth every penny.

The Middeton beauty boom – Kate and Pippa make the news

Perhaps it’s not a surprise that the new people’s princess has been aped at every turn, but as well as how to guides on everything from Pippa Middleton’s posterior to Kate’s flowing brown locks we’ve also seen a slew of products that ape the lovely ladies with varying degrees of humour. We’ll never reach the frenzy that was the height of souveneir extreme on the Royal Wedding Day, but we have seen nail varnishes called ‘No More Waity Katie’, nail stickers with the Royal Couple on them and multiple products saying they have the ‘Royal stamp of approval’. Well, it has done wonders for Yardley London, and the press releases with the sisters beauty secrets show no end of slowing. Just imagine how crazy it will get when Kate gets preggers- could I be predicting a Royal Baby Beauty Boom for 2012?

Stick on Eye style

This category is a little bit of an amalgamation as it actually encapsulates nails, lips and eyes, but even though I’ve touched upon this already I feel that the adhesive qualities of many of these beauty products needs an extra stress. Sure, you stick on nail wraps and you stick on Lip tattoos, but we’ve also seen high end brands adopting this trend, and none more prestigious than Christian Dior. Last year they embraced elegantly designed temporary tattoo art, and this year they’ve embraced black winged eyeliner- stick on style. Called Dior Velvet Eyes you get a variety of stick on eyeliner shapes, all to enable you to get that perfect winged eye completely fuss free.

Swarovski have also embraced this concept and released products with Nail Rock called Swarovski Eye Designs where you can create beautiful crsytallized eye looks- great for party season.

The MAC Bloggers’ Obsessions Collection- a worldwide blogger first

MAC is well known for their fondness and friendship with bloggers but in 2011 they took this to a whole new level with their exclusive Bloggers Obsessions collection which had a limited edition run and involved nine high profile beauty bloggers each creating their own shade of lipglass or eyeshadow. These bloggers including Temptalia and The Makeup Girl Nitrolicious and more, and was a worldwide first in terms of blogger/brand beauty mashups. I’m hoping they might come a knocking when they decide to do something similar with UK bloggers.. pretty please?

The MAC Bloggers’ Obsessions collection not only gave us insight into the favourite product formulations of some lovely beauty bloggers but also highlighted the value that brands are placing on blogs and social media, and makes us well aware that what we say counts- make your voice heard, as people are listening.

Laser hair removal at home- from all Brands

Home hair removal devices have been around for quite a while with a variety of products on offer. 2011 saw these types of devices (both laser and IPL) get even more popular as literally EVERY brand was investing in this area. There were offerings from Philips- the Philips Lumea, the Tria laser, Homedics Me My Elos and Boots Smooth Skin to name but a few. What’s interesting is how the technology has developed to make these types of devices suitable to mass consumers- and that brands think people are savvy and involved enough to WANT to pay the £400 price tag, which shows a rather radical shift in how consumers used to shop, and an overwhelming acceptance for investing in their beauty routine.

We’re also seeing this level of investment move into other areas of home beauty gadgets such as the Philips ReAura (a way to Fraxel at home) and the Cavislim ( a home cavitation machine) and I imagine we’ll see even more advancements in this area. Which leads me nicely onto my next point…

The rise of Groupon Beauty (and related group-buying beauty deal sites)

Massages and spa visits used to be a luxury but the popularity of group buying discount sites like Groupon, Wahanda and Living Social has meant that these are now a regular occurrence in many people’s lives. As well as introducing people to the delights of hot stone massage, they are also introducing a brand new demographic into the areas of high level beauty treatments, with their low cost promise seeing a rise in people undertaking laser hair removal, Botox treatments and semi permanent makeup.

I could argue about how ethical and moral it is to offer such treatments on discount sites (which is another article) but I will say that they are making costly treatments way more accessible and if performed well and correctly means that many people can now enjoy cut price high level treatments- a great step in making treatments like semi permanent makeup and laser adult braces (these have been on there!) more socially acceptable.

The Year the Advertising Standards Agency took a hard line on beauty adverts

Beauty adverts have often blurred the line between promising an aspirational dream and creating a fiction, and there have been many battles (think the false lash/lash extension debacle). Enough is enough with promising women unattainable images and the ASA has made some big calls this year. In its firing line have been Lancome and the Julia Roberts foundation ad, where she was so Photoshopped she looks like a Second Life star and MP Jo Swinson has been our spokes-model in this fight, complaining against “Overly perfected and unrealistic images, and that celebrities pictured were not representative of the results the product could achieve”, and her complaints have been upheld in regards to Lancome and Maybelline.

Another brand that was on the naughty step was Rimmel who advertised their 1-2-3 Looks Mascara using lash inserts on a model. Hopefully the brands will have taken all this on board and show more realistic product ads in 2012. That, or they’ll use younger models and Julia Roberts won’t get a look in (what me, cynical?).

Wake up to Beauty with bareMinerals overnight foundation

Taking beauty products off overnight used to be the accepted stance, and then along comes one which challenges this notion, the bareMinerals Pure Transformation Night Treatment is supposed to be worn over night. You apply it like you do a mineral foundation, but rather than the tagline ‘so gentle you can sleep in it’ that minerals like to carry, this mineral product is designed to create more luminous skin whilst you sleep, with pore reduction and faster cell turnover promised by the company. What this means is that applying this skin tinted powder will involve you looking ‘made up’ whilst you sleep, and avoiding that ‘morning after’ shadow when you’re with new *ahem* house guests. I like the idea, I just hope the product lives up to its promise in terms of skincare. Other products that do a similar style treatment would be the long-lasting Diego Dalla Palma Semi Permanent mascara, which actually dyes your lashes, so after 5 days of use your lashes are temporarily darker.

Did you get involved in any of these 2011 beauty trends- and which do you love?

7 brand new ways Technology is helping us beautify ourselves

admin — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:45:23 +0000

Technology is a fascinating arena as it’s constantly evolving with new and exciting products being released all the time. Many people think that high tech products don’t actually affect them on a day to day basis (unless they’re awaiting the iPhone 5) but there’s actually a lot of stuff that’s getting released that has a direct impact on your health and wellbeing. Many of the newest discoveries can actually enable an easier healthier lifestyle, so I’m eager to share some of the most exciting new ways that technology is moving into the field of health and beauty.

Laser Hair Removal using Sound Waves

Laser hair removal has gained popularity and affordability in the last few years, but it’s still a slightly uncomfortable procedure which involves lots of zapping and messy gels being used. Clinogen Laboratories has developed a new way of doing this using a product called the Epil Sonic which uses sound waves to identify and destroy the hair root.

It’s not a perfect treatment as to channel the sound energy down the hair shaft you do need to use a ‘probe’ which might be uncomfortable, but the sonic power of the soundwaves is able to disable the hair follicle and lead to a reduction of hair growth in the chosen areas. Sound energy coupled with static causes no trauma to the surrounding skin and over a period of 6-8 months can lead to a serious reduction in hair growth.

Due to the nature of this treatment you can treat all areas-even those considered particularly tender- without burning or pigmentation. Whats really exciting is that the Epil Sonic treatment doesn’t target melanin like normal laser treatments, so you can actually treat ALL hair colours including grey, white and red air as well as tanned skin (which would normally burn). FYI, shouting won’t work- you have to go and actually use the Epil Sonic machines for the right frequency. Check them out here.

Perfect Sizing in the fitting room with Fits.me

I love shopping online but I find it frustrating that I need to order an outfit in two or three sizes to make sure that it will fit perfectly. I can blame the fact that companies use different sizing, or I can use the FitBot to enable a perfect fit every time. The Fitbot is a robotic mannequin that comprises of a series of shifting mechanical muscles that adjust based on your measurements. How it works is that websites that are enabled with the Fits.me technology will accept your measurements and you can get an idea of how an item of clothing will hang on your exact physical shape.

It’s actually surprisingly easy to use and you can save your details on the websites you use, so you can log straight in each time. This is currently available on the Hawes and Curtis and Barbour website and they’re adding more clients all the time. One of the things I liked is that when you enter your measurements and ‘try’ the outfits on you’ll actually get feedback such as ‘arms too short’ which can be really helpful.

“Our female FitBot mannequin can adjust to just about any female body type, giving women the confidence that they are making a successful online purchase without the need to return,” says Heikki Haldre, CEO and co-founder of Fits.me Virtual Fitting Room.

It’s good for you as you’ll immediately be able to tell if an item will suit you, and by integrating this companies also see less returns as people are ordering the right sizes.

Those annoyinng reCaptcha codes are actually translating old books

admin — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:47:56 +0000

ReCaptcha codes are one of those necessary evils that inhabit everyday life, as filling them in for security reasons equates to emptying the bins or picking up dry cleaning- useful and important, but hardly fun. If you’re anything like me you may have even uttered a curse word or two as the lovely ReCaptcha code popped up onto the screen, as sometimes the words they give you are so faded and hard to decipher that you feel like you’re decoding some ancient text.

Perhaps it will make you feel a little better if you know that’s actually the truth and your squinty eyed keyboard stabbing at the latest frustrating ReCaptcha code actually IS DECODING an ancient text. Seriously.

So, how did this come about, and what does interpreting those ReCaptcha scrawls actually mean?

Well, we know why we use these codes- it’s so we don’t end up spammed with adverts for Nubian princes and cheap designer deals, and that we can securely login to our social networks when we’re travelling. The text you see when you enter is very distorted and it has been proven that humans can decipher this way better than computers can, so you’re unlikely to have a spambot filling in your email for you (1 point to humans!).

However, the strange pieces of text that we actually decode (estimated at around 200 million Captchas a day worldwide) actually have a benefit to us. All our hard work (collectively) adds up to around 150,000 hours of work a day and reCaptcha has utilized this to help digitize books. Yes, by effectively crowd sourcing a whole lot of Captcha codes worldwide, you are helping translate old books and make them available to the public in a recognizable format.

The phrases you see are from book pages which have been photographically scanned and transformed into digital copies using something called “Optical Character Recognition” (OCR). The issue is that OCR is not 100% accurate and many of these pages contain characters that don’t make sense leading to nonsense text that would make Edward Lear happy. To correct this issue, the Captcha codes we see are actually part of the universal book pages melting pot, and every person who adds their viewpoint on the code actually works towards a more unified translation.

The problem with the Scanned text

ReCaptcha was purchased by Google in 2009 and they are using this system to digitize old issues of the New York Times and books from the Google Books catalogue. Since they started combining their project with reCaptcha over twenty years of The New York Times have been digitized

OK, the codes are no less annoying than before, but at least you can have a little glow of pride that you’re helping the bigger picture. Well, it’s not like you have a choice, is it?

Now I know my ABC3D

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:14:20 +0000

It’s well documented that I’m a massive fan of eReaders, but I still have a place in my heart for the humble paperback novel. Occasionally a book comes along that makes you think that eReaders don’t deserve their acclaim, as though you might be able to get a video onto a Kindle Fire (if it’s ever in the UK) you certainly couldn’t created a 3D wonderland such as abc3D by Marion Bataille.

Educational AND a work of art! Bataille has created a beautifully styled pop up book that teaches children the alphabet in a clever and innovative way and the attention to detail is amazing. It really takes the notion of pop up books to a whole new level and I love how seamlessly the letters flow into eachother.

The red, white and black colour palette is striking and gives the book a sense of maturity, whilst still being suitable for a younger audience and she has even made the cover lenticular, for added coffee table nous.

£10 from Amazon

[via the Bibliomouse]