We all know stealing music is lame and I’m an avid iTunes user — I like the option of purchasing songs without having to buy the whole CD. Unfortunately bricks-’n'-mortar music stores have suffered because of this availability.
With the holidays fast approaching, I was in the mood to search for tunes to add to my Christmas playlist and I heard about a brand new digital download site. HMV Canada has finally joined the tech world and created a site for you to browse and download music, similar to iTunes (although still in the Beta stage). The benefits of the HMV site is that you have a longer preview time of songs, and it creates a mini-playlist of recently browsed songs. And like iTunes, most songs are $0.99 a download, with the current chart toppers selling for $1.29 each.
I’m really glad HMV decided to do this, not only because I had a blast working at the stores throughout my high school years, but because HMV is a British corporation that invests largely in the Canadian market and not within the US. Even though I love Apple, I’d rather support a company that gives back more to the Canadian economy.
Check it out at hmvdigital.ca
The editors of Style at Home have long been lovers of online arts and crafts marketplace, Etsy. So you can imagine my excitement when I found a similar site called Supermarket. Like Etsy, Supermarket allows advanced crafters to create online shops and sell their goods to the public. So what’s the diff? Supermarket is very design oriented and modern, so there’s no need to wade through any junky items to find what you want. Below are some of the neat finds I found while rummaging through the site.
1 Andalucia pillow from Etcetera Media, $78 each.
2 Pod vase from Kim Westad, $80.
3 Hanging cuckoo clock from Decoylab, $28.
4 Hello! blank cards from In-Vita Paper Studio, $11 per set of 6.
5 Letterpress coasters from 12fifteen, $12 per set of 8.
6 The Four Seasons cup set from Bailey Doesn’t Bark, $92 per set of 4.
It was a dark day when Polaroid announced they were no longer producing their old school cams that used film to print out automatic pics. The white border around the image was iconic, and the vintage wash over the shot made every picture seem more interesting than it probably was. Those days are long gone…or are they?
Check out rollip.com, a great website that lets you upload your personal pics and then transform them into Polaroid-style shots. The site lets you play around with your pictures too, allowing you to add text on the bottom and pick what type of exposure you want. Plus, it’s free — sweet!
Check it all out at rollip.com
I’m a TiVo fanatic. Ever since I brought the wonderful little box into my apartment, I’ve been hooked. How did I enjoy life before the magic of digital TV recording? I just don’t know. Whether it’s to watch junk reality shows like MTV’s The Real World, or record my fave movie that is inconveniently airing at 4am, my TiVo has become a reliable pal.
Well, TiVo has just made my life even easier. When I was away in Boston this past weekend, my little video buddy recorded a plethora of programs and I’m having a hard time trying to watch them all. And now, I’ve just found out this fascinating little program: iTiVo. That’s right, folks. You can now transfer your recorded programs from your video box to your iTunes account on your Mac computer. From there, you can upload the content onto your iPod or iPhone. How cool is that? Now there’s no reason for you to fall behind on your fave TV shows, even when you’re on the road.
Check out the details here, as well as instructions on how to download the instruction manual.
If there are two things I learned this weekend, it’s that: a) I love Boston, and b) if ever in Boston, the Copley Square Hotel is the only place to stay. Located in the Back Bay area of the city, the Copley Square Hotel is one of Boston’s oldest hotels (built in 1891), but the interior is nothing short of modern chic. The building’s re-opening in January 2009 after a year of renovations shows a hotel with exquisite attention to detail and comfort as a main priority (seriously the most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in).
Along with all of the fab comforts that the hotel offers was the great selection of tech goodies found in the rooms. For such a historic hotel, I was surprised to find complimentary WiFi available in every room, not to mention a sleek LG flat screen TV. Even the Sunbeam iron was the best I’ve ever used! However, the coolest thing was the iHome iPod speaker dock on the bedside table. The hotel had thought of everything I might need to feel at home – music, TV, Internet. If it wasn’t for the fabulous city waiting outside its doors, I might have just stayed in the hotel the whole time!
For more information and to book reservations at Boston’s Copley Square Hotel, please visit their website.
Social networking sites seem to have taken over the web world, and they show no signs of slowing. MySpace, Twitter, Facebook — they’ve all become part of our everyday digital lives. It seems like everyone and their grandparents have Facebook these days (no, seriously — my 81-year-old Grandma uses it). So the question is this: if you haven’t signed up for a Facebook or Twitter account, what the heck are ya waiting for?
Well, the Style at Home editors are giving you even more of a reason to join the web phenomeon that is Facebook: we’ve upgraded our user group to a fab new fan page! Complete with gorgeous images, a discussion forum and posts on all things news and contest related, the fan page is your one-stop-shop for the most up-to-date happenings at the magazine.
Just click the link below to join our Facebook fan page, and don’t forget to follow Style at Home on Twitter as well. Jump on the bandwagon, because we’re not making any stops.
