ladygeek_news

How our morning habits reveal where we’re from

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 08:51:03 +0000

A cross-European study has found that our morning habits correspond strongly to which part of the world we’re from. The study was commissioned by consumer electronics brand Pure, and analysed the early-hours habits of those living in the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Norway and Denmark. Respondents were asked what their favourite part of their morning routine was, whether that […]

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Women lead the way in crowdfunding – Anastasia Emmanuel, Indiegogo’s Director of European Technology & Design

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 09:50:19 +0000

Anastasia Emmanuel is a one-woman show. Small, slight and instantly familiar, she exudes the kind of positive energy which makes you immediately want to be friends with her – yet beyond the bonhomie is one very smart woman who is hugely passionate about technology and the role it can play in changing people’s lives. For […]

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Zing wearable is affordable alternative to Apple Watch

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 10:28:39 +0000

As we well know, wearable technology is going nowhere. It’s estimated that 10% of 16-24 year olds own a smartwatch, and smartwatches were all over IFA this year. But in spite of their omnipresence, which is fast driving down prices, they continue to be prohibitively expensive for many people. The Apple Watch, the most costly, retains […]

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Pure release Siesta Rise digital radio with smartphone charger

Thu, 17 Sep 2015 11:56:47 +0000

Pure has today announced the latest addition to its Siesta collection of bedside digital radios – the Siesta Rise. With a sleek, updated design and array of great features including a handy USB smartphone charging port, the Siesta Rise also delivers the high-quality sound we’ve come to expect from Pure products. As it’s a bedside […]

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Moto X Style smartphone and new Moto 360 smartwatch now available in the UK

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 10:00:55 +0000

Motorola’s colourful X Style smartphone and Moto 360 second generation smartwatch with black and cognac leather bands are now available to pre-order on motorola.co.uk. They will be available online from Carphone Warehouse from 25th September. Priced from £399.00 for the custom 32GB version, the Moto X Style can be fully customised in the Moto Maker online design studio with […]

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Facebook comes round to our way of thinking, introduces ‘dislike’ button for grumpy/depressed folk

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 08:59:52 +0000

Seems that it’s not just Brits who are depressed and grumpy most of the time and want to dislike most of the content on Facebook. The company’s CEO is coming round to our way of thinking too! With so much, let’s face it, depressing content posted on the social media behemoth it’s often difficult to […]

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Snapchat users can now purchase ‘replays’ of disappearing images and video

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 08:11:10 +0000

Snapchat users can now purchase “replays” of disappearing content, including photo and video snaps they receive on the app, the company said in a blog post on Tuesday. Representing the first time users can spend money in the app, the replays will cost users 99 cents for three. Snapchat will continue to give one free […]

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Fight tech with tech. And reasons to drone on about home security….

Tue, 15 Sep 2015 13:24:29 +0000

In the tabloids, there are almost daily reports on the latest break-in stats, the newest trickery used by criminals and the best initiatives to tackle them. It can seem as though everyone is droning on about home security. But for good reason! Your home security is under more scrutiny than ever. This time, believe it […]

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Ted Baker and Proporta announce new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus covers

Thu, 10 Sep 2015 14:22:52 +0000

Brighton based tech accessories company Proporta hasn’t wasted any time announcing its line up of Ted Baker accessories for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, following last night’s Apple launch. Developed in conjunction with Ted Baker’s newest clothing ranges these cases are just as much a fashion statement as they are a practical way […]

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New colours and features added to Jawbone UP2 and UP3 fitness trackers

Wed, 09 Sep 2015 14:07:45 +0000

Wearables company Jawbone has unveiled a new design with a new strap for its UP2 fitness trackers and 10 new colours for the UP2 and UP3, further expanding its portfolio of fashion-focussed activity trackers. Crafted by leading industrial designer Yves Behar, Jawbone’s new UP activity trackers are designed for 24/7 wear and can be accessorised with jewellery […]

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Unusual Zelda merch at Human

Alice — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 13:21:21 +0000

Cute mug.

Cute ... blankie?!

REALLY cute PILLOW. I may have to have this one.

Take a moment to appreciate how merch has changed in the last 10 years.

Star Wars Battlefront, so darn real

Alice — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 13:36:45 +0000

Imminent life-priorities issue looming:

The realness is nuts. It cheers me that in my lifetime - just in time for retirement, probably - the realism + worldbuilding + VR and that gubbins means a whole ton of fun where the real world really isn't. When you're 80. Ew.

New genre in 2030: MMOs for seniors.

Famicom portable charger

Alice — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 14:13:08 +0000

Bloody expensive. But handsome! Like my husband.

$111 at JapanTrendShop.

The DIY Kit for budding Game Designers

Alice — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:35:53 +0000

Look at this lovely thing. It's a recipe for making your own Game Designer's Toolkit, using everyday household items, the total cost of which should be under 20 quid/bux.

By Rick Marazzani, game industry vet and clever DIY'er!

Where the fuck is Princess Leia, asks Glynnis MacNicol. Good question. To the Etsy!

Alice — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 00:24:35 +0000

Seriously. Where the Fuck is Princess Leia?

Until someone has a go at licensing Leia for all sorts of goods, we have Etsy. I present to you:

The custom Leia lunchbox.

Kick-ass poster 01.

And 02

Earrings.

Rubber undies (and why not).

Proper Leia dressup

Hair bows 01

And 02

Aaaand finally the crochet baby hat.

What would we do without Etsy, huh?

Legend of Zelda Monopoly

Alice — Sat, 08 Nov 2014 07:42:59 +0000

Getting ridiculous. But look at the tokens!

THE TOKENS!!

At thinkgeek for fifty bux.

Haunted Mansion dinnerware

Alice — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 10:29:23 +0000

Uhoh. I know a husband who is going to a) freak out and b) insist we replace all our plates immediately.

Foolish mortal.

Disney's Haunted Mansion tableware.

Fight Like A Girl

Alice — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 08:47:33 +0000

One of the many funny tees over at HUMAN...

Hyrulian Shield backpack

Alice — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 08:13:09 +0000

As modelled by RellyAB!

Oh gods it's amazing, and it's £29.99 and it's on Nintendo UK.

Lucky Seven caps

Alice — Thu, 14 Aug 2014 10:11:26 +0000

My pal Jay (from primary school!) and his lovely wife make these brilliant Lucky Seven customisable caps, have you seen 'em yet? They do patches from cult classic movies, like Alien, Star Wars, Back to the Future, and this beauty:

I got Tattooine for the kid, and the Tyrell Corp for me.

... but at this rate I'll probably end up with a whole set. Off world colonies! Hal! Augh!

Makies FabLab is live...

Alice — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 13:16:56 +0000

After many months of development alongside (and you know how difficult that is) Makies going into Selfridges, and ramping up for Xmas delivery, and various in-store apps, and STUFF, we are aliiiiiiive!

And it's just the beginning. We decided a while back that we wanted Makies FabLab to be an iterative, growing thing; something that we would launch early and expand upon on a regular basis.

We did this with our toys - when they went live, they were bone white, weird looking, and £100. It was horrible! But we stuck with it, and iterating with our customers means Makies are looking pretty happy right now.

(Yep, she's 3D printed!)

So here we are... Makies FabLab is a fashion game, targeted at 8-80. It's got a massive focus on creativity: while most fashion dolls are mass produced passive things, we wanted ours to be little individuals, who encourage creative hands-on making.

We've blended Resource Management with Dress Up, so far, to produce a lightly educational clothes-making game: growing materials through to patterning cloth and fulfilling orders. Next steps: player-to-player shops, if that's what our community ask for. Android. More things to create.

Would you help us?

We have fantastic 5* reviews so far on the AppStore, but as you know, absolutely the more the merrier. It's the currency of now, that, and we have a very limited window (presumably!) of being on the launch page under Best New Games (thanks Apple!).

The game's here: if you're willing, please play, rate, review, share, for great justice heartfelt gratitude. <3

Ian Bogost's future-dweller's retrospective, #GDC14

Alice — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 06:12:04 +0000

Every year at GDC there's a Game Developers Rant! session (sometimes it's publishers, and sometimes another slant, but mostly developers), and every year it's amazing. This year was a vintage year, and here's one of the rants, from academic/gamedev/genius Ian Bogost - a future-dweller's retrospective of the game industry of today. Part speculative fiction, part fact... it's depressing, and sad, and true.

Working long before sustenance powders, developers were easily seduced by appeals to their physical urges. Overseers plied them with sugars and salts during the day and forced them to engorge on extravagant meals at night. Shifts extended for days at a time. Developers were even required to worship in their cells, which were adorned with plush and vinyl totems of figures from terrestrial myths of the era.

Initially, these works were limited to propaganda meant to acclimate young men to governmentally-sponsored global violence. However, after the languorous wars of the first two millennia had failed at forcible depopulation, the task of social progress was handed over to a tribe of patrons called “venture capitalists.”

They had orchestrated the rise of photo-preening software popular before the Disruption came to Silicon Valley. A new arms race commenced—for virtual attention, which the Patrons converted into financial instrument. While historians agree that ancient works like Civilization and chess still provided inspiration, games primarily became a specialized form of banking.

The upside (there's an upside!) is that the variety of independent, self-expressive games on show today is the greatest I've ever seen, and despite these wars, we seem to be flourishing an underground movement, an art movement that's capturing the hearts and minds of a new generation of game-makers. It's good. They might win.

Link.

Sarlacc toilet

Alice — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 23:02:36 +0000

Oh wow. When I was a kid, sometimes I'd be afraid of going to the loo because of TENTACLES. Not sure where that came from, and now, my fears have blended with my love of starwars to produce this thing of um er

argh!

I love it.

Thanks @mink_ette!

Makies update!

Alice — Fri, 14 Mar 2014 16:13:00 +0000

< work stuff >

I was lucky enough to get to go to the BAFTA Games Awards t'other night, and to watch two of my favourite games (Last of Us and Tearaway) totally clean up. At some point in the later (v. drinky) proceedings, someone rather brilliantly said to me, "Are you still doing that doll thing?".

So yeah, we're still doing that doll thing ;-). Here's a mini update!

The game's out soon, which is the other, pretty critical half of the "virtual goods producing physical goods" idea that fuels MakieLab. It's a dress-up game, and one where you make all the fashions that you're going to dress up in, using all sorts of maker machines (including an in-game 3D printer), so it's super creative for older kids and young-at-heart adults.

The NPCs are named for scientists - Ada, Hopper, Tesla, Curie and friends - and over time, we'll build this gameworld out to encourage as much making, creativity and craft skill as possible. The avatars can be made into a doll; in-game objects will be real-world printable. Toys on demand!

Even the clothes a player makes, complete with customised patterning, we can turn into real doll clothes kits, too.

The Makies are already shipping worldwide, we just sent two to Korea (awesome!) last week f'rinstance, and word seems to be spreading. (Want to help us speed it up? I'd love you for it. Here are the Makies' Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube homes).

Some of the more recent Makies are button-cute, too, look at this one:

And this one:

Modded by their maker-y owners.

We've got new skin colours and new fashions arriving kind of all the time, and we'll be out in San Francisco at GDC showing things around too, if you want to have a look. Come say hi!

< /work stuff >

Star Wars glasses

Alice — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 12:12:35 +0000

Say no more. They come in Skywalker, StormTrooper, Vader, Boba and R2 flavours.

Nice cases too, but they're not cheap... $500 over at Gizmine.