Technology & Gadget Blog

In the words of celeb stylist Rachel Zoe, “I die”. That is, when I first saw this incredible laptop sleeve from mister Marc Jacobs himself. It’s totally sassy in raspberry red and a fun animal print, and it dons stitched letters all over (plus, let’s not forget the designer’s signature black and gold-tone plaque on the front). Looks like I’ll be retiring my 2-month-old laptop bag, because this beauty is a winner.

$68 US, available at net-a-porter.com.

The holidays are on their way and the Apple App Store has everything you need to throw a fabulous Christmas bash. While styleathome.com has all of your party planning, decorating and tabletop ideas covered, these 4 apps are ideal for getting the best food and drink recipes at your fingertips.

1 Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals ($7.99)
He’s British, he’s cute and now he’s gone mobile. With 50 brand new recipes and over 1000 hi-res step-by-step photos, this app doesn’t mess around. It also includes a shopping list for each recipe that you can cross off once you’ve purchased. Even better? Once it’s downloaded onto your Phone or iPod Touch there’s no internet connection needed to access the recipes.

2 Canadian Living Mobile (free)
Finally, the great recipes that our nation’s own food mag produce every month are now available in mobile format. Follow their holiday countdown or check in daily for the featured ‘Recipe of the Day’. Plus, check out tips on entertaining, holiday and style and bookmark recipes and articles that you want to keep close at hand.

3 Mixologist: Drink Recipes ($0.99)
A party isn’t a party without a great selection of mixed drinks. This app literally has every combination you can think of — over 7,900 drink recipes, to be exact. You can browse recipes, search by what’s in your liquor cabinet and also by category (Jello shots, anyone?). Definitely a must-have app for discovering your party’s signature drink.

4 All Recipes Dinner Spinner (free)
From the net’s best user-contributed recipe website comes an equally wonderful free app. With thousands of recipes to choose from, it may seem overwhelming at first, but the Dinner Spinner portion makes it easy as pie. Just choose the dish type, ingredients and ‘ready in’ time amount and the app selects all the recipes that fall under those categories. Need something that’s gluten-free? When using the recipe search function, you can filter what you’re looking for, whether it’s a variety of vegan dishes or meals with no wheat or milk.

I love scouring tech blogs on the net, surfing through the latest and greatest gadgets — it’s a great way to find inspiration for my own blog. Sometimes, however, I look no further than our very own styleathome.com. Whether you’re looking for tips on finding the right flat-screen TV or eco-friendly home office ideas, you’d be surprised at the great tech content we have on our site.

Take a look at some of the neat tech articles pictured above:

1 Buying guide: Washer/dryer pairs
Need help figuring out the best options for your laundry room? We have your washer and dryer solutions.

2 Living green with steam
Check out why steam is the hottest trend in appliances, and how cooking and cleaning with the technology helps you lead a green life.

3 Tech style: Great gadget covers
Make over your gadgets by dressing them up in something stylish. Check out these fab finds designed for a range of devices.

I spotted these adorable (said in a French accent, btw) earbuds on our senior web editor Natalie Bahadur’s desk and I fell in love upon first sight. Mixing music, tech and glitzy style all in one? Doesn’t get much better than that folks. Here’s what Natalie had to say about them:

“I adore anything that’s got a touch of bling and these earphones from chicBuds are fantastic! They’re so girly and stylish and are adorned with Swarovski crystals, which instantly takes them from ordinary to extraordinary. But they’re not just about form; they’re big on function too. The earphone wires are rolled onto a retractable wheel (also adorned with crystals!) that keeps them from getting tangled. And as I’m sitting here listening to my iPod, I’m amazed at the sound quality. Crisp, clean, clear. Perfect.”

Check them out for yourself (chicbuds.com) — tons of colours and designs to pick from!

I’m a bit of a label snob when it comes to my electronics — I love displaying the logos on my Sony DSLR, Flip Mino camcorder, and especially my iPhone, iPod, Airport, and iMac (yeah that’s right, I just name-dropped).

Check out these seriously cool MacBook adhesives from iamhuman. With a sweet slogan selling “human individuality for non-human objects”, the company lets you jazz up your laptop while still displaying that sweet Apple logo. The graphic prints go for a cool $30 US and the wood grain one is $35 US.

Available at iamhumannow.com.

‘Cause we are living in a digital world, and I am a dig-i-tal girl…

Although I’m a sucker for pretty paper and journals, I much prefer the ease and convenience of digital organizing. I use my iPhone’s iCal for keeping track of appointments and meetings, and I prefer to type up charts and such on a computer rather than write it out the old school way.

Which is why I love Western Digital and their supersleek external hard drives. I have a white My Passport Essential that’s featured in Style at Home’s Tech Style column in the September 2009 issue, but I’ve since spotted the bronze My Passport Elite and just finished wiping the drool off my desk. I mean, how gorge is this?

Besides the fact that it’s a fabulous colour and has a sexy design, this hard drive packs a lot of punch. This 500 GB beauty holds a heck of a lot of data (100,000 digital photos or 190 hours of video) and is small enough to slide into your purse. Really, what’s not to love?

$150 US (also available in other colours and data storage sizes), Western Digital.

For more digital organizing gadgets, check out the Tech Style column in the September 2009 issue of Style at Home (on newsstands August 3rd).

In the words of Buddy the Elf in Will Ferrel’s hit holiday film: “I’m in love, I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it!” Although Buddy’s love was a sarcastic department store elf played by Zooey Deschanel, my newest love comes in the form of a labeler. Brother’s new P-Touch 1230PC to be exact!

Labeling can be addictive (you know you go adhesive-happy when the label gun comes out to play), and you really have to be careful with the 1230PC, because it’s just too easy. All you do is plug into your PC (sorry, Mac users — you have to get Windows XP or Vista to get this running) and the software installed on the device pops up for you to start labeling away on a wide selection of tapes. Similar to a Word format, you have a huge array of fonts and sizes to choose from, and you can even add in images and logos. It’s super quiet when it prints, and as always, I love a sleek design.

$70, available at brother.ca.

Follow me on Twitter! twitter.com/tech_style

If you’re one of the many who can’t afford to shell out $870 for Adobe Photoshop (I mean, really? Who has that kind of cash these days?), don’t fear — the software giant thankfully provides a way for us regular folk to edit our images, too.

The web-based version of Photoshop Express allows you to do basic edits on your images, and can be accessed from any computer (well, during registration it says it’s only available in the US, but doesn’t ask for any proof, so edit away!). Resize, rotate and do minor colour corrections, then when you’re done, save up to 2GB in your online account — free web real estate, too! — or save to your desktop/external hard drive.

Free never felt so good.

Check it out at photoshop.com/express

Follow me on Twitter! twitter.com/tech_style

The month of June is up, and apart from celebrating Canada Day, it’s also time to announce the winner of the Flip Mino contest. All of the entries were fantastic, and I loved reading all the original ideas you had about using your Flip. Sadly, there can only be one winner.

The winner of the contest is Denise Wilson from Barrie, Ont.!

Denise submitted a great comment about her globetrotting honeymoon adventure in August:

“I’m getting married this August, and then venturing into the rainforests, mountains, hill-tribe villages, and of course, island beaches of Thailand and Cambodia for a three-week honeymoon. Although my fiance is a seasoned world traveller, I’ve never left the continent. I am really excited for this experience that we’re going to share together. The Flip Mino would give me the ability to record our first big adventure together and to share it with our families and friends. I’m also a high school teacher and would love to record some of my trip to share with my students in September.“

Congrats to Denise and I hope you have a great time on your trip!

It’s true, folks – we’re going off the rails on the Twitter train! Spreading like wildfire, Twitter is the newest internet phenomenon, and we at Style at Home can’t get enough of it. We love the idea of sharing (or ‘tweeting’ as it’s called) what’s going on here at the office and what’s newsworthy in the world of home decor.

Not familiar with Twitter? Here’s a quick lesson:
Similar to status updates on Facebook, Twitter allows you to post updates of up to 140 characters on what your current status is (whether it be your plans for the night, an exciting website you discovered, a topic you think warrants discussion, etc.). You can have people follow your tweets and you can follow others as well. Did someone tweet something you think is funny or want to comment on? Simply type the ‘@’ symbol, followed by their username and your response, and it will be sent to them as a reply. It’s a great way to keep in touch with friends or see what your fave celebrities, stores and magazines are working on.

Check out what the Style at Home editors are tweeting about!

Lauren McPhillips (me!): twitter.com/Tech_Style

Laurie Grassi, executive editor: twitter.com/Natural_Chic

Brett Walther, associate design editor: twitter.com/stylesleuth

Natalie Bahadur, web editor: twitter.com/StyleAtHome

Margot Austin, senior design editor: twitter.com/margotaustin