Technology & Gadget Blog

This week I was oh-so-lucky to get a sneak preview of the swag room at this year’s TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival, for those not in the know, like my oblivious boyfriend). Situated at the Intercontinental Hotel, the Britannia Room has been taken over by Tastemakers to pamper celebs with goodies and beauty touch-ups before being interviewed in an adjoining room.

Sponsors included Joe Fresh (with the lovely make-up artist, Simone, who made me sparkle), Mattel (look for a further blog post on their tech-y Pictionary), AMC (helllooo, Mad Men!), Rowenta (their new line of hair appliances is incredible), and Guats clothing (amazingly soft activewear made from bamboo). Croma Design pimped the place out, with a lot of the furniture and accessories being sourced from PC Home (gotta love the affordability!).

I have to say though, my fave sponsor was War Child, and I was speaking to the fabulous Rosie Levine, a Toronto-based photojournalist. Since 2004, Rosie has snapped candid pics of big-name celebs at TIFF, each of them raising two fingers in the international sign for peace. She’s in the process of compiling the photos into a coffee table book, in which all of the proceeds will go to War Child. What a fabulous idea from an extraordinary woman.

I managed to snap a few pics of my own, so check them out below:

A vintage style camera that’s pretty-in-pink is just too hard to resist. This retro Mr. Pink Diana F+ camera from Urban Outfitters is a cool reproduction of the classic Flash Diana — only now with a limited edition pink hue. It uses all varieties of medium format 120 film and has 3 different aperture settings. Not too shabby for a blast from the past!

$110 US, available at Urban Outfitters.

What’s not to love about this bag? Made of a crinkled goathide and topped off with 14 karat light gold plated hardware, Kate Spade’s Lincoln Road Dee bag is the perfect size to fit a netbook or 13″ laptop. Available in white, red, or black this bag brings sexiness into technology.

$475 US, katespade.com.

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.

Although I don’t have any little ones running around my apartment, I can appreciate a good product when I see it. Check out the Babycook from French baby food maker, Beaba. This small counter appliance multitasks as a steamer, warmer, blender and defroster to prepare fresh food for your babe. It basically steams the food first, then purees it to the desired consistency. What a great way to save some cash and be absolutely sure what’s going into your baby’s food.

Available at Williams-Sonoma, $150 US.

Remember the days when your computer router was an ugly old thing with unattractive antennas and a bland boxy shape? It’s an unfortunate computer staple that’s all to familiar to most of us. These days, one of those most important aspects of home technology is its attractiveness and ability to appear seamless with your home’s design.

Cisco Consumer Business Group that produces the Cisco by Linksys Group is changing the way we view the router, and it’s about time. I had the chance to talk to Linksys’ CBG’s Senior Executive Director of Worldwide Design & Experience, Chris Landry, about the sleek new design of home routers and why they took so darned long to get a makeover.

Tech Style: Chris, technology seems to be evolving at the speed of light. Why did it take so long for the home router to be redesigned?

Chris Landry: The thing is, when we started the redesign 2 years ago, we had 48% market share, so there wasn’t a huge push for us to change anything. We started to think, though, ‘Can you imagine what we could do with a good product like what we have, but with a better design?’. Essentially, it’s easy to get stuck if you’re doing well, but we realized that in today’s world, you can no longer present the same product for more than a few years.

TS: When you set out to redesign, what did you take into consideration?

CL: The biggest thing was eliminating the antennas. Some people actually liked them and perceived them as the only way a router could communicate wirelessly. There was a lot of resistance from our engineers about getting rid of them as well, but they eventually saw that the routers worked just as well, if not better, without them. Consumers also had a distaste for the clunky shape of the router, so we set out to make a product that was contemporary in shape and colour and also left a smaller footprint in your household.

TS: Why did you decide to stick with the standard black colour?

CL: We did a bunch of market research and results showed that most people associate high technology with dark colours. It was interesting to see that North American consumers prefer dark colours, whereas European consumers prefer lighter shades.

TS: So is this product mainly geared towards the North American consumer?

CL: No, not at all. We’re constantly creating demo products and trying new things for consumers worldwide. We’ve actually established design studios in California and Copenhagen, and we have international designers who can tap into what’s popular in the different markets.

TS: And finally, the price — does a sleeker model mean we have to shell out more hard-earned cash?

CL: Nope! The prices of our routers have stayed the same, and in some cases have gone down. They’re also easier to set up, so all in all, this is a better and more attractive product for the same price as before.

For more information on Linksys by Cisco routers, visit linksysbycisco.com

Remember that goop that used to come in a jar when you were a kid? There was really no purpose for it, apart from sticking it to things and driving your mother crazy.

Well now that goop has come back in a similar form and it actually has a purpose — to clean in between the tiny crevices on your gadgets. I tried using Cyber Clean on my keyboard at work and it did a pretty good job. For deep down dirt, you’ll probably need air compression, but Cyber Clean does the trick for picking up crumbs and dust bunnies trapped between your keys.

For info and to buy, check out cyberclean.com

Just the mention of IKEA makes me all warm and happy inside.Their designs are modern, super affordable and they go to great lengths to keep things eco-freindly. Basically, IKEA rules.

However, if I were to nit-pick, I do find the task of writing down aisles and bins and trying to find all the products in the warehouse a little tedious. I’m more of a ‘I see, I like, I pick-up’ kind of gal.

The iPhone app store has come through once again, this time with an awesome application called SwedeShop, where you can track the IKEA items you want for easy finding at the end of your trip.

5 cool features:

1 Record items you see in the showrooms and organize by section (cooking, textiles, etc.)

2 Add details to items like the name, quantity you need, price, and priority on your shopping list

3 Take pictures of items for reference and add to the item’s folder

4 Differentiate if the item is self-serve (i.e. in the warehouse) or in housewares (IKEA Marketplace)

5 List items you will need to order from the store

To purchase for $0.99, visit the iTunes App Store.

Cluttered desktop = icky (although my work desk is not exactly in tip top shape at the moment). Wires and cables create a disaster area on your desk, especially when you’re charging your phone, syncing your iPod and using an external hard drive all at once (want to win one a hard drive from Western Digital? Click here!).

Check out this super neat charging shelf that takes all of your wire woes away. Named the BackPack, you simply secure the little shelf to the back of your iMac then place plugged in accessories on top. You can wrap your wires up and place them on the shelf as well, so there’s no danglers hanging down. This is such a cool idea, and is pretty sleek so you can even attach two or three. So simple — why didn’t we think of this before?

BackPack $35, available at the Apple Store.

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