Entries Tagged 'Techie Stuff' ↓
February 19th, 2009 — Blog love, Bloggers, Friendship, Giving respect, HP, Inspiring people, Photographs, Reviews, Techie Stuff, Travel, Women
After an evening trying to whip myself together into some sort of presentable look for fashion week, myself and the 20 other bloggers tromped out into the rain to go see the Vivienne Tam show.
What did I expect? Some very beautiful, thin, doe eyed girls trooping around in fabulous outfits and a crew of fashionistas getting it so much more than I am, and eyeing everyone up and down. I doubted I’d see VT herself, but what do I know about how these events go down…
And what happened?
Well, we arrived, were escorted right in and handed glasses of champagne. And there was Vivienne Tam standing with all the models in front of a row of Touchsmart HP screens! After many pictures, the models moved on and the crowd mingled. The wonderful DWJ from the Art of Accessories grabbed my hand (I love this woman, by the way) and managed to get us in for a picture with Vivienne Tam herself!
Um. Is this my life? Here we are. (I have no idea what happened with my hair. I am clearly channeling “A Flock of Seagulls”. Whatever. I’m standing next to her!)
And then a few minutes later, they lined up all the bloggers with Vivienne Tam and took endless pictures. This sounds silly but I totally had a red carpet moment all of the sudden. Little ol’ me. Whoda thunk. I don’t have a big group shot now but will post one when I do.
Anyway, we saw the amazing collection. Its absolutely gorgeous. I fell in love with a beautiful leather dress of hers and was amazed by the beauty of the detail in her dresses.
A Mom in Red High Heels and I checked out the Touchsmart PCs. We pulled up our sites and took pics of ourselves at the event.
We talked to interesting people, learned more about the inspiration of her collection (which I hope to post more about in the future) and just generally had an amazing time.
I think what impressed me most was Vivienne herself. She was so taken aback that we were all women bloggers there to support her show. She said it meant so much to have women supporting her this way and was extremely appreciative of us being there. I said to her that women bloggers absolutely adore this mini and all want one. Her face absolutely lit up. She spun around to some very nice man behind her. “Did you hear that?? The bloggers love the Mini!!!” She was genuine, she was warm, she was truly grateful to have us there.
Grateful. Yes. My words exactly.
What an amazing evening.
For more information about the HP products I review, please visit my HP Update page.
February 18th, 2009 — Techie Stuff, Travel
I’m here and this suburbia bumpkin is amazed. It is hard to get perspective on how utterly awesome Time Square really is. Like trying to capture the depth and size of Grand Canyon, two dimensional pictures are frustrating and minimizing. But offI go, stumbling along, taking pictures of everything around me and moving along in a stream of people, voices, languages, cultures.
Today I head out for a tour of the city and tonight we are going to see the Vivienne Tam show. Its fashion week so its very fabulous around here.
I’ll leave you with a pic of my room. This is where I sit and post and tweet and annoy all with my “I’M IN NYC!!” updates. I’ll be back with more but the tour bus is waiting.
February 17th, 2009 — Bloggers, Packing, Panicking, Parenting, Stuff I have, Techie Stuff, Travel, Vietnam
Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today.
That’s right, the day has come. Morningside Mom is finally heading to the City. My parents have flown in to help take over all of that stay at home, groundhog day, going around in circles, cat corralling that I do on a daily basis. Today I fly away from the “oh so predictable” kid schedule of my life and drop into the land of fabulousness, cosmos, culture, no bedtime routines… hell, I’m about to go spend 4 days at the center of the universe.
Bring it on.
And I am going all for the sake of the Vivienne Tam HP Mini Netbook. See mine sitting there? All ready to go? And the new uncomfortable looking but actually very comfortable shoes I bought for the trip? (Target, by the way. Don’t tell anyone.)
And check out that bag. My mom brought it back for me from Vietnam. The fabulous part is that the silk lining of that bag almost exactly matches the silk handbag that comes with the Vivienne Tam Netbook. Cool, huh?
Well. I think so.
So. Ok. Here I go then. I am going to try and blog as regularly as I can. I’ll be twittering it all too and uploading pics and video when I have something cool to share. And of course, I’ll be doing everything from my VT Netbook.
So here I go, leaving the mommy gig at the door. Off to be… um… fabulous.
I hope I don’t look as clueless as I feel. See you on the flip side.
January 31st, 2009 — Bloggers, HP, Reccomendations, Reviews, Techie Stuff, Travel
As the fates would have it, Morningside Mom is heading to New York City. I know, pretty fabulous right? Now you are probably wondering why? And how? And don’t I have kids to watch and coupons to clip and… other, um, important stuff to manage?
Well, thanks to HP and the fabulous folks at Buzz Corp, I am a part of a crew of bloggers headed there to learn more abot the Vivienne Tan HP Mini Netbook. Four days of blogging from the center of the universe. Four days of checking out all that is fabulous about the designer Vivienne Tam. Four days of meeting HP peeps and getting the scoop on this product so I can report the real skinny back to you all. Four days of looking up a lot.
And what about the kids? Well, let me send a quick shout out to Grandma and Grandpa Morningside who are braving four days of kindergarten pick up lines and potty training to make this happen. I know they’re wondering what they got themselves into but no take-sies, back-sies. They’re coming and I am grateful.
Back to NYC. So I am heading there in mid February and will be meeting up with a whole crew of bloggers on the same adventure as I am. I think it is only polite that I introduce myself and my readers to them here. Come take a look at who is a part of this and what they’ve had to say about the VT so far. If you are interested in purchasing a VT, it should be a real advantage to have access to so many opinions in one place. And this is only the beginning so be sure to come back and check in with all of us later!
The Art of Accessories and her VT intro post.
The Technology Starlet. Check out the Journey of a Pro Fashion Techie and Vivienne Tam HP Mini!
A Mom in Red High Heels and her VT intro post.
Moosh in Indy and Moosh’s Buys and Tries site.
The Gadgeteer
OSNN
VivirLatino
Gizmodiva, Newlaunches and PCLaunches
The Coveted. Check out both her VT intro post and her VT mini review.
Gotta Be Mobile
Geeks!
Notebooks.com and here is her VT intro post (be sure to check out her great video too).
Gear Live
Digital Home Thoughts
Techmammas
Techie Diva and her VT intro post
Gear Diary
Chip Chick and her VT intro post.
Mobile PC World
(Fellow bloggers: If I’ve missed your post and you’d like me to list it, just let me know!)
Hey, and did you see how I’ve organized my HP Updates page? Be sure to check there to find links to all of my HP product reviews and information in one place.
January 24th, 2009 — HP, Reviews, Stuff I have, Techie Stuff
Ok folks. I got really lucky again. And I mean REALLY lucky. My favorite PR peeps over at Buzz Corps brought me into the fold of another project for HP. And a couple days ago, they sent me the product we’re reviewing this time. What is it? Oh, you’re gonna like this one. Its a Vivienne Tam HP Mini Netbook. It’s pretty damn fabulous – and I’m going to tell you why.
Now, I am going to warn you. I am going to post here all about how I endorse this product. But I am going to try my damnedest NOT to sound too much like an infomercial… I’m not sure I’ll succeed, but stick with me anyway, ok?
So to keep it interesting, I decided to also check out the 12 seconds site. Instead of typing a bunch of bladdy bladdy blah text, I thought I would try sharing my top 5 reasons why I love the HP Mini on there. Consider it my first stab at “Vlogging”, if you will. But I love the concept of the videos only being 12 seconds – its my personal guarantee that this review can’t get too boring. So check it out because if you’ve read this far, you clearly have an attention span of more that 12 seconds.
So here we go.
Reason #1: It has a camera
Reasons #2: It’s the perfect size
Reason #3: Lovely design = “Mommies Only”
Reason #4: It’s light
Reason #5: SD port for pics
(So, be honest. I really don’t think I got away without sounding a little bit like an infomercial, did I? Yeah well, what are you gonna do. I’m sure Vanna White is quaking in her stilettos…)
Now there are certainly many other reasons why I like this mini so much. And I know that if you read on it will take more than 12 seconds, but bear with me if your interest is peaked now.
While it is certainly very light and easy to pop open and work on just about anywhere, it also doesn’t get as hot as my other HP laptop. The weight and low temp make this HP Mini seem almost effortless – and extremely easy to curl up on the couch with. (I guess it should be no surprise it has an energy star rating, right?)
The operating system is Windows XP and comes with Windows Media Player (which I use all the time). But I know someone else who just put Windows 7 on theirs and it sounds like it is working great.
It has two USB ports, one of which I am using for the remote mouse, a headphone/mic jack, a network jack, an expansion port, an SD card reader, and a security cable connector. Along with its camera, the HP Mini has speakers to play tunes on (and for such a little thing, its speakers actually sound surprisingly good - about as good as my regular sized HP laptop).
I know I talked about the design in Reason #3 but I have to go over that point one more time. It is really lovely to look at. The design makes it feel very unique. This mini even comes with a silk cloth “clutch” that you can slip it into. From there, I slip it into my purse. And as I mentioned before, all the flowers and femininity acts as its own security system – my husband, brother, father and the rest of the dudes in my family won’t be taking it out in public to use. With no threats of it disappearing, this mini has become the uber Mommy laptop.
Ok, how about a couple cons? Well, once again, I would have to say the very shiny screen is a frustration (this has been an issue I’ve seen with most HP screens). The shininess is very pretty to look at initially but it is just too shiny. Its very hard to look at outside, especially if the mini is unplugged and the screen is not as bright.
The overall shininess of the Mini also means many finger prints. Finger prints (and other various types of smears) are a reality in this mother’s world. I feel like I need to wipe it down a lot to keep it looking beautiful.
Also the camera seems dark. I need to be outdoors or near very bright light to have any hope of being seen. Perhaps I don’t have a setting quite right but I have heard this is an issue for other VT users too.
**Update about the Webcam!**
While on our Vivienne Tam NYC trip, the wonderful HP rep who came along explained to us that some of the first VT HP minis still have a small bit of plastic over the webcam. She wasn’t exactly sure why it was left on, one idea was that it was to protect the camera from the paint treatment. Nevertheless, it is fixable. She actually opened each of our VT HP minis and peeled the piece of plastic off. If you are having issues with yours, I would call HP tech support and explain the problem. HP has now recommended that you do not try to do this on your own in case it causes unnecessary damage.
If you unplug the Mini fully charged, you really don’t have too long on it without having to power it up again. I think I’ve gotten a couple hours out of it, but that’s about it.
All in all, it is a fabulous ride. And my bottom line is: if you’re someone looking for something stylish and easy, something more than just a blackberry but less cumbersome than a regular sized laptop, you might want to check out one of these Vivienne Tam HP Minis.
In the meantime, I am going to hope the men in my family don’t get over their complex about flowers too soon and do finally walk off with the thing. Wish me luck.
For other blogger reviews of the HP VT Mini, visit this post of mine for links to each blogger involved in this review. They should be listed at the HP Website also. For more information about the HP products I review, please visit my HP Update page.
December 19th, 2008 — Blog love, Bloggers, Contests, Gifts, Techie Stuff
December 15th, 2008 — Blog love, Bloggers, Gifts, Holidays, Karma, Movies, Techie Stuff
This weekend I had the opporitunity to try out a very fun new kind of movie making software called Muvee Reveal. Lucky me, I was approached last week and asked if I would like to do a review of the product. Considering I have a lovely new Canon HD video camera and the overwhelming project to create a “Best of my kids’ Christmases” DVD as a gift for my family… well, this review could not have come at a better time.
A newly updated version from the muvee autoproducer family, Muvee Reveal was explained to me as a very easy to use software that will create professional movies in a matter of four simple steps. I could not wait to try it out.
Sure enough. As soon as I downloaded the software, I added one hour of film I happened to have on my computer already. Then, clicked the transition I wanted, added a couple songs and pressed play. VOILA. Muvee Reveal took my film and transitioned through different scenes to the length of the songs I chose. While it did pull scenes randomly and flipped thorugh them fairly quickly, if I added more songs, it would lengthen the “show” and it really did a great job of picking nice scenes. I’m not sure how it does that. However, after doing some reading, apparently this software has a mind of its own and has been designed to focus on faces and sync them to the beat of the music. Um, how cool is that?
Now, if you want more control over the scenes, the transitions, the music, etc. – you can have that too. You can label scenes, do voice overs, add titles and credits and control which scenes you want in there. And then the software will help you share your movie just about anywhere such as the web, HD TV, a DVD or even your PSP.
So, do you want to play around with this software too? Well, guess what? The folks at Muvee were kind enough to offer TWO sets of software – valued at $79.95 – for a giveaway here on Morningside Mom. What a fun gift for someone (maybe even yourself) this holiday season, right? Read on for more details…
Muvee Reveal Blogger Cheer Giveaway
Well, if you know me, I like to do as much paying it forward as possible around these parts. And with this giveaway, I’d like to pay it forward to other bloggers. You see, I haven’t been reading in my google reader enough. I haven’t been spreading Blogger Karma NEARLY as much as I like to. So, maybe this contest can help with that. Especially with it being the holidays - lots of bloggers have ads on their sites and more hits could bring them a few more pennies from heaven. Lets help up some of their traffic!
Giveaway Rules
1) Go find your favorite blog, read one of their posts.
2) Comment. Tell them they wrote a great post and tell them you are going to post it here for this blogger cheer contest.
3) Come back here and paste their post link here.
4) You can enter as many blog sites as you would like. Each will count as an entry. I would encourage you to read some of the links others have posted too and comment on those!
5) I will pick two winners at random on Friday, December 19th.
That’s it! Now go love your fellow blogger and come back and tell me about it. I can’t wait to read some good posts and do some more giving this month. Good luck!
The best way to spread holiday cheer,
is reading blogs far and near!
December 5th, 2008 — Contests, Family, Holidays, HP, Relatives, Reviews, Techie Stuff
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, seven boxes filled with my HP giveaway goodies arrived in one astounding delivery at my doorstep. Per HP’s encouragement (and my brother’s, who had since arrived for the holidays and was salivating over each and every box), we opened it all up and checked most of it out.
Now if you look carefully at the picture above, you are probably mortified. Yep, that’s Thanksgiving leftovers surrounding that PC on the table. Sweet potatoes to the right and a turkey sandwich to the left. But in the middle of the picture sits the Touchsmart – too large to put anywhere but dead center of my dining room table. So, the Touchsmart enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday with our family, who gathered around and tested it’s touchy waters – including my adorably tech-savvy five year old son pictured above in his PJs.
We had 10 adults visit my home over the Thanksgiving weekend. They all had different backgrounds although three are teachers and one, my brother, is an IT guy who happens to use HP products at his work. So we pulled out the 4 computers. Admittedly, I wouldn’t say we used any of them up to their full potential. A lot of email was checked. Lots of oohing and ahhing happened. At one point, all the guys were on the back porch with the HDX notebook. My brother had hooked up HD TV on it, and they were watching the game, beers in hand. The Touchsmart was taken over by the teachers, mothers and children. Educational websites were brought up and we all played online learning games along side singing, giggling children. Folks would often sneak off to curl up in a corner with the mini and my very classy, super hip sister in law has decided the Pavillion Entertainment PC is, in fact, all she wants for Christmas.
Gobble Gobble, my fam went techie this Thanksgiving.
Now, wouldn’t you know it – I took notes about what my family had to say about all these PCs over the weekend. And, as I am getting ready to send these boxes off to my winner, I thought I would share everyone’s thoughts with you now. Maybe this feedback will help you if you are in the market for a new computer.
Oh and wait. Big disclaimer here. Apart from sending me the hardware for this contest, HP (and other companies involved) did not reimburse me in any way for my participation in this competition. Yeah, I did get the HP Pavillion PC to review last summer (‘scuse me while I give it a quick appreciative hug), but if anything, you should trust my feedback since I use my Pavillion all day, every day.
1) The TouchSmart IQ816PC
First of all, it was heavy. So, we needed to find a very secure spot to set it up (hence my dining room table). That said, it was fairly easy to set up and it certainly was beautiful to look at. It gathered the holiday crowds – even the guys stepped away from the game for a minute to check it out. The picture was fabulous. Truly, it was breath-taking to watch. It has a very responsive to touch, you almost don’t even have to touch it and it will respond. We loved that it had an HD tuner included. There is a CD drive on the side and cool snap in drive pocket on top. The flat screen makes it a space saver, although it is as large as a TV screen. Overall, HP outdid itself with the “cool factor” on this one.
Cons? Well we all wondered what it would be best used for. It doesn’t seem practical as simply a regular PC. Your arm gets tired when you use the touchscreen option for too long and we wound up reverting to the mouse often. So this PC might be best used for demonstrations or display. Another big issue was the reflection. In fact, all of the computers had a very strong reflection. We kept having to turn the TouchSmart around to make sure no natural light was reflecting off of it. When it was placed facing towards a window, it was almost impossible to see during the day. And with all that touching, we worried how dirty it could get too – especially with children. Oh and a note about touching – my children saw that touching this computer screen was ok, and that made this parent a little nervous. I saw grape jelly finger prints in its near future if I didn’t fend my children off of it. Also, we couldn’t see any HD antennae with it which would make sense to have.
2) HDX 18 series Notebook
Again, this is a beautiful PC. Really, it is. It has a big screen which is very impressive to look at. If you are looking to get rid of your clunky home PC and laptop – and you need one overall good computer that is mobile – this is a great option. We loved the HD tuner and antennae. Its a lovely computer, very flashy and would make a fabulous all in one PC.
That being said, it is very big and very heavy. While, yes, it is a laptop, it is not something you would grab, throw under your arm or just throw in your briefcase and go. Its not an everyday portable type of PC. It can be moved, its nice and thin, but its heavy. Again, we had the same reflection issues with the screen.
3) The Pavillion Entertainment PC
This is what I have and (sigh) I love it. Although the model they sent (Dv4 series) seemed a little facier looking than mine – that may just be because it is a newer model. We all loved this one as a great laptop that has everything you need - especially for movie making and watching movies. All the external ports, serial ATAs and USBs are terrific. I also love that you can pop a media card directly into it. My brother noted that the HDMI out to the TV is great to have too.
Again, this PC does have a significant reflection. (I have gotten used to it on mine but avoid using my PC outside on my porch for that reason). My brother was disappointed that it doesn’t have a blue ray drive on it – but I don’t own any blue ray DVDs so that certainly isn’t something that bothers me. Also, this laptop and the HDX heat up on your lap. The fan is underneath so it feels hot fast. I always keep it on a table or lap tray if I am working on the couch.
4) The HP Mini 1000 with XP
We’re lucky this one made it back into its box, honestly. Everyone loved this PC – which surprised me. I thought the bigger, flashier ones would get them. Nope. My family loved how easy, small and light it was. It would be great for travel and it seemed to do a lot for its size. It was very fast and responsive. Folks appreciated the media card on this one too. Impressively, it has a full operating system. It has great resolution and is a very cool little laptop for sure.
However, users would need to get used to scrolling more often with a smaller screen. And they would need to get used to a small keyboard also. There is no CD rom, but what do you expect – its a mini! The track pad seemed a little too sensitive but maybe with some tinkering in options, that could be fixed.
We didn’t get a chance to try out the other parts of the prize package. Its just as well. I didn’t want to fall in love with anything more – after all, its not ours! And I certainly didn’t want the kids all over that TouchSmart any more than they were. My son even said “Mommy!!!! That Touchsmart is SO AWESOME!!!! You know why? I’m allowed to TOUCH it!!” SO COOL MOMMY!” And with that, I hastily packed it back into its box.
Thanks HP for the techie fun this Thanksgiving. But of course, I am more grateful for the opporitunity to send all of this someplace who will truly put it to good use. Congratulations again Moms Without Moms!
For more information about the HP products I review, please visit my HP Update page.
November 29th, 2008 — Bloggers, Contests, Gifts, Holidays, HP, Philanthropy, Techie Stuff, Thinking outside the box
Hello world! My Magical HP Giveaway contest has officially begun! It will run starting Saturday November 29 and a winner will be chosen on December 5th.
Before leading you to the official rules of the contest, I want to remind my entrants of one important fact. When you give, good will come to you. My regular readers know that I believe in karma and the power that one individual’s decency can have on society as a whole. I hope that entrants have the best intentions and truly expect to affect positive change somewhere in their world with this contest. Gather the magic of this holiday season around you, and let’s do something good.
Please click HERE (scroll to the bottom) to find out my rules and expectations.
And good luck to everyone!
***UPDATE: The contest winner will be announced on December 5th. Contest entires must be submitted by email (morningsidemomgiveaway@gmail.com) no later than 6:00pm today, EST. Those entered after that time will not be considered.***
For more information about the HP products I review, please visit my HP Update page.
November 24th, 2008 — Bloggers, Contests, Gifts, Holidays, HP, Karma, Philanthropy, Techie Stuff
And you thought I was just a quiet little mommy blogger, going about my boring mommying business, turning over my laundry basket now and again to jump up and go off about politics when the mood strikes. Yeah, just little ol’ me and this quiet blog, fighting off the boars in my backyard, navigating the perils of potty training and fretting over my kindergartner’s report card. Yawn.
Well. In fact. Something BIG is on the way to the Morningside Mom blog. In fact, I got all the confirmation numbers this weekend. Seven of them.
And now you ask: what the hell is going on here?
Thanks to my wonderful friends at Buzz Corp, I have once again been brought into the fold with HP and Microsoft. But instead of silly little me being the lucky recipient of their products… YOU ARE. Well, to be more specific, the lucky recipient will be someone who enters and wins my upcoming give-away contest.
Thats right. Did you pick up the key words here?
HP. Microsoft. Contest. Give-away. BIG.
But not just anyone can win this, you know. You better get your thinking hats on folks. This give-away will, in fact, be about GIVING. Times are hard right now and you know I believe in earning karma, paying it forward and taking care of one another. So for my give-away? Its about giving, on your part and mine.
You’re dying now aren’t you? What IS it? What is the prize? Well, I guess it’s time to direct you to My HP Giveaway page. Go on over and check it out. And then just try to tell me your eyes didn’t bug out at the list of amazing hardware and software being delivered to my doorstep any day now.
How much is the entire package worth? $6,000.
(Cue Christmas carol from trumpeting angels above: “Joy to the world!”)
Then make sure you jump over to the HP Giveaway site to learn even more. Because I am one of 50 bloggers who is doing a give-away like this. I have listed them on my page. 50 of us - worldwide - are offering this give away JUST in time for the holidays.
Seriously, I am just giddy. For real, if you could see me now: giggling and clapping my hands with glee.
So. You better get used to checking back here to find out when the contest starts. Because I can’t say. Soon though. Like I said, just in time for the holidays. And for someone, it will be a magical holiday time indeed.
Until then, my friends. I bid you an anticipatory adieu.
(‘Course… I’ll be kicking around yapping about my regular topics. But nothing more about this whole HP giveaway phenomenon… until later.)
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