Technology

CES Wrap-Up with TechMama

by Angel Amy on January 15, 2012

We are LIVE from Caesar’s Palace!

CIMG2858

L-R: Heidi, Beth, Rebecca, Amy, Nancy

No, really, we recorded this episode in the swankiest hotel suite I’ve ever seen. We all attended a great dinner hosted by Sony and Techlicious at a huge suite at Caesar’s (THREE bathrooms!), and since Angel Heidi works for Techlicious they let us stay in the suite afterwards and record.

We were thrilled that Beth Blecherman could stay with us, since we’ve been trying to get her on the show for a while – not easy since we usually record 3,000 miles away from where she lives.

In a way, Beth is one of the Godmothers of The Blogging Angels, because she was a co-founder of the Silicon Valley Moms, which spun off the NYC Moms, which is how we all met in the first place. She’s also the founder and CTM (Chief Technology Mom) of Techmamas, a fantastic site that, according to its tag line, curates the best of tech and social media for families. It’s a great resource.

So, the five of us discussed the most interesting things we saw at CES, the trends we spotted, and the future of mom bloggers at CES.

And hookers. We can’t come to Vegas and not talk about hookers.

This Week’s Links

The Haier transparent TV has no consumer use that I can think of (it’s probably for store displays), but it’s really, really cool.

The WowWee AppGear airplane, which attaches to an iPhone, is just the tip of the augmented reality iceberg.

 

Heidi’s son has an AppBlaster, which is definitely less weird than Amy’s son shooting at his family’s floating heads on his Nintendo 3Ds.

Amy stopped by the Art Pro Nail Printer and had the Blogging Angels logo printed on her nail.

CIMG2827

The Rose Gold ZENBOOK Ultrabook from Asus is gorgeous, as is the HP Spectre slimbook with Gorilla Glass.

The charity website Whatever It Takes is definitely worth a look.

Amy loves that the Steadicam Smoothee is priced for amateur filmmakers.

The new Smart TV from Lenovo runs on the Android operating system.

Sesame Street Kinect will bring interactive TV to a whole new level.

And last, a shout-out to Grace Duffy – we love you right back!

You can listen to the podcast below, or subscribe on iTunes. Don’t forget to give us a great rating!

To download this episode to your computer directly: right click here, then click “save link as”

We’d love for you to weigh in! Leave a comment, we’ll talk back.

{ 6 comments }

High atop CES with Ben Rudolph

by Angel Amy on January 12, 2012

Blogging Angels and Ben

L-R: Nancy, Rebecca, Heidi, Amy, and Ben; Rebecca & Amy didn’t get the red shirt memo

The Blogging Angels are back in Vegas for another round at the Consumer Electronics Show, and we were thrilled to sit down this afternoon with Ben Rudolph from the Windows Phone division of Microsoft, in the Microsoft Loft high atop the chaos below on the show floor.

Hell, we were just thrilled to sit.

We talked with Ben about Ultrabooks, the new Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone and the just-announced Lumia 900, and the $100 challenge that Ben has been running on the show floor. We also talked apps vs. experiences, Microsoft’s future at CES, and our friend Ben had an announcement that nothing to do with phones, CES or Microsoft!

We also gave a roundup of the most interesting things we’ve seen so far at CES, including Disney Appmates, the Casio Digital 3D Printer, GeoPalz, and the Samsung Galaxy Note. Plus much more that we simply don’t have time to write down here because we have to get back to the show floor!

CIMG2768

The new Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone

CIMG2776

The just-announced Nokia Lumia 900

Galaxy Note Charicature

Amy had her caricature drawn by an artist on the Samsung Galaxy Note

CIMG2775

Thanks for joining us Ben!

You can listen to the podcast below, or subscribe on iTunes. Don’t forget to give us a great rating!

To download this episode to your computer directly: right click here, then click “save link as”

We’d love for you to weigh in! Leave a comment, we’ll talk back.

{ 3 comments }

Introducing Avatar Kinect, featuring…us!

by Angel Amy on July 24, 2011

When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced Avatar Kinect  for Xbox during his CES keynote speech earlier this year, we Angels were intrigued. Angel Amy, especially, was excited by the idea of connecting with people on XBox Live without having to get out of her bathrobe – her avatar is always neat and put together. So we were thrilled to be able to stop by Microsoft’s midtown offices a couple weeks ago and give it a whirl, then download it at home and play around with it.

Avatar Kinect let’s you choose from a bunch of different sets, and invite friends in to chat (or just talk to yourself, if that’s your thing). There’s a talk-show set, a beach set, a kids’ playroom set, and a rock star set, to name a few. While “onstage” you can chat, gesture with your arms, raise your eyebrows, move your head, and Kinect will capture it all with your avatar’s movements.

Kinect also takes care of things like camera angle, zooming, and panning, so that you can just talk. Or, if you want, you can add things from the “emote” menu, like applause, balloons, beach balls…the choices change with each “set.”

Entering and exiting the stages happens in different ways, and the Angels had a blast just popping in and out of each one to see how it would happen. We popped in like Bewitched, surfed out on a wave, dove in after a beach ball, and rocketed out into the sky.

Best of all, when you’re done recording you can upload your video to Kinect Share, then download it to your computer and do whatever you want with it. Here’s a little intro video we made. Enjoy!

Avatar Kinect is available in Kinect Fun Labs, for XBox Live Gold Account members.

{ 4 comments }

Links from Day 3 at CES

by Angel Amy on January 24, 2011

The Day 3 podcast from CES saw the complete disintegration of the Blogging Angels’ composure, as well as a link to a porn star. But we also found time to talk about some more great products.

One more thank you to Microsoft Windows for sponsoring the Blogging Angels’ trip to Las Vegas, and for providing us with four HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7 phones to use while here.

Thanks to Blue Microphones for letting us use the not-yet-released Yeti Pro to record our CES podcasts.

A highlight of the Blogging Angels’ time at CES: we were interviewed by the awesome Chris Brogan (@ChrisBrogan).

The Angels with Chris Brogan, our honorary Bosley

And everyone but Amy attended an awesome Ladies Who Tech breakfast hosted by the Clever Girls Collective, which was the brainchild of @tech4moms and techmama, and was sponsored by Swagg. Yes, Amy regrets not going. And don’t worry, Nancy found her gift card!

By the way, @littletechgirl is an overachieving mom of TWO sets of twins. We just thought you should know that.

Amy gushed about the Makerbot. And was confused by the idea of a printer that prints itself.

Rebecca invoked the name of Robin Byrd, which takes a lot of explaining (unless you grew up watching NYC Public Access TV in the 70s and 80s).

Rebecca liked the Samsung Slider Series 7 tablet/laptop, almost as much as Heidi liked miming the motion the keyboard made. Then there was the Samsung 9 Series latops, made of ultra-thin aluminum.

And we talked about the Samsung TV, again. We can’t help it.

Yup, we're still talking about this TV

And we discussed MommyTech again. A lot.

Nancy thought that David Pogue gave some good business advice about real-time  sharing. However, the Angels in attendance wondered why he was giving a keynote at the MommyTech Summit when nothing he said had anything to do with moms. Or tech.  Also, he was sort of funny – but not nearly as funny as he thought he was.  Really.

And that’s it! Thanks for joining us at CES.

{ 1 comment }

Links from Day 2 at CES

by Angel Amy on January 23, 2011

The links from our Day 2 at CES podcast include dancing robot mops, a laptop that watches you while you watch it, and the most beautiful TV in the history of TVs. Read on and enjoy!

We had a very special guest with us for this podcast, mom blogger and Microsoft Windows employee Lisa Worthington (@WinMommyLisa).

Nancy was amazed (and a little horrified) by the ArtPro Nail Printer.

photo fingernail machine

We predict this will soon be featured on Jersey Shore

We will forever have the music from this “dancing mops” video in our heads. Thanks, Mint!

Nancy talked about Eye-Fi, which kind-of turns any old digital camera wireless, and about how much she loves sending her pictures from her HTC HD7 phone (given to The Angels by Microsoft to use at CES) to SkyDrive.

Eye-Fi booth at CES

The Eye-Fi booth

Lisa and Rebecca talked about some of the great features of Windows Phone 7 phones, including your facebook pictures automatically appearing on your phone and being able to make “tiles” for individual people.

Heidi told us about a Toshiba laptop that uses its webcam to sense where your eyes are looking, so that you can watch 3D without glasses.

Heidi also brought up the 75 inch Samsung TV that we (and everyone else at CES) were drooling over.

It's thin, gorgeous and shiny - it is Vegas, after all!

Amy and Rebecca talked about Neer, which Amy desperately needs on Windows Phone 7.

Amy loved the Etch-A-Sketch iPad covers from Headcase.

We all talked about the unfortunately-named Mommy tech. And Amy hyped her post, Please PR Pros, treat me like a Mom Blogger.

And Lisa talked about how great it was bringing kids from Boys and Girls clubs through CES.

Lisa Worthington leads some kids from Boys and Girls Clubs of America around CES

Thanks again to Blue Microphones for letting us use the not-yet-released Yeti Pro to record our CES podcasts.

And of course, another huge thank you to Microsoft Windows, for sponsoring the Blogging Angels’ trip to Las Vegas, and for providing us with four HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7 phones to use at CES.

{ 1 comment }

Links from Day 1 at CES

by Angel Amy on January 23, 2011

Our podcast from Day 1 of CES was chock full of great products and links, and here they are!

Nancy discovered Tech Support for Dummies, and we all immediately wanted to sign our parents up.

Nancy and Amy had to watch Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote address from a Las Vegas hotel bathroom (Heidi actually made it into the room), but you can watch it from the comfort of…someplace other than a bathroom.

Avatar Kinect will allow you to interact with a group of your friends on XBox Live using  your gaming avatar and the Kinect’s incredible ability to track your movements and facial expressions. Coming to Kinect this spring.

Microsoft Surface uses the new PixelSense technology to take touch screens to a whole new level: each pixel acts as a camera, so the screen can “see” exactly what you’re doing!

Acer showed off the Iconia, a dual-touch-screen notebook running Windows 7.

The Angels were all sporting their HTC HD7 phones (compliments of Microsoft Windows), running on the new Windows Phone 7 operating system.

Heidi enjoyed Lenovo’s CES party, where she ran into @JenRab, @MoreThanMommy, the Lenovo LePad (yes, we’re still laughing at the name), and an incredible cake driven in all the way from Baltimore by Charm City Cakes.

Driven from Baltimore to Las Vegas by Charm City Cakes!

Of course we just HAD to mention the adult film expo down the street.

Heidi liked the new Sony Bloggie 3D, which will record and play back in 3D without glasses. Yay for no glasses!

Heidi also reported on a couple bits of Skype news: Skype’s acquisition of Qik, and their group video chat service which, at $8.99 for up to ten people, may make Amy switch over from the more expensive ooVoo.

Nancy was fascinated by the new Microsoft Touch Mouse that uses finger gestures instead of a wheel, which reminded Heidi of Nox Audio’s Admiral Touch noise canceling headphones, which have touchscreen gesture controls.

Rebecca and Nancy stopped by the PrimeSense booth to check out the technology behind Microsoft’s Kinect.

Amy had a Kinect revelation: you can use VideoKinect to talk to other people over Windows Live Messenger.

A huge explosion – either the volcano outside of the Mirage hotel or part of the pirate show at the Treasure Island hotel across the street – interrupted the podcast and sent the Angels into fits of laughter. Only in Vegas could something explode and you’d having trouble figuring out which sidewalk show it was from!

We all talked about the great features on our HTC HD7 phones, including the ability to automatically post pictures to skydrive. And Amy loves how quick the phone can go from asleep and locked to taking a picture, which allowed her to snap this before it pulled away:

Amy wants to know how this works. Are the girls actually IN the truck?

Nancy was fascinated by Splat ElectroClean, which reminded Amy of CyberClean.

Heidi loved the incredibly beautiful (and expensive) jewelry-like bluetooth accessories from Novero.

Thanks so much to Blue Microphones for letting us use the not-yet-released Yeti Pro to record our CES podcasts.

And of course, a huge thank you to Microsoft Windows, for sponsoring the Blogging Angels’ trip to Las Vegas, and for providing us with four HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7 phones to use at CES.

{ 4 comments }

Day 3: trends, Vegas moments, and the future of women at CES

by Blogging Angels on January 9, 2011

The Angels & More Fab Women Tech Bloggers

UPDATE: Looking for the links from this podcast? Look no further than our Day 3 link round-up.

We’re packing up our blistered feet and heading home. But first, one last podcast from CES, with some more cool products, some trend talk, and some favorite Vegas moments.

Thanks again to our fantastic sponsor, Microsoft Windows, and especially Lisa Worthington.  We had an amazing (and exhausting) time here in Las Vegas, got to see lots of cool new tech products, show off our Windows Phone 7 phones, and meet up with lots of great women, and even a few men. :-)   Microsoft gets honorary Angel wings for supporting women bloggers.

A special thank you also to Blue Microphones for letting us record on their brand-new, not-yet-released Yeti Pro mic.  It’s a powerful omni-directional mic that saved us from lugging four separate mics and a giant mixing board across the country.

{ 6 comments }

Day 2 at CES: We’ve forgotten what fresh air smells like

by Blogging Angels on January 8, 2011

UPDATE: You can find links to all of the products we talk about on our Day 2 link recap.

Day 2 at CES was a blast. Three of us spent some time hanging out at the Windows table in the Mommy Tech area, and got blasted every ten minutes with the music for the dancing Mint floor cleaners at the next table.

After being taken out to an amazing dinner by Lisa Worthington, our “Sponsor Angel” from Microsoft Windows, we all sat down in Nancy’s hotel room and managed to record a podcast without completely losing it like we had the night before. It helped that no volcanoes went off.

{ 5 comments }

The Blogging Angels do CES: Day 1 Recap

by Blogging Angels on January 7, 2011

UPDATE: Looking for all of the links we talk about in this podcast? You can find them here.

We came, we saw…we recorded while exhausted and totally punchy.  Here’s The Blogging Angels‘ Day 1 recap of notable things we saw at the Consumer Electronics Show, minus our usual links and other helpful things – we’re just too busy running around the Las Vegas Convention Center!  So we’ll be posting a wrap-up soon with all of the useful stuff we’ve been spoiling you with.  Until then, take a listen.  We saw some seriously cool stuff.

And we would of course like to thank our awesome sponsor, Microsoft, for bringing us here to CES.  If you’re here in Vegas, various Blogging Angels will be volunteering at the Windows kiosk in the North Hall throughout Friday and Saturday, so stop by and say hi!

{ 2 comments }

We’re off to CES!

by Blogging Angels on January 4, 2011

Are you wondering where your weekly Tuesday dose of Angel podcast went?
Well, worry no more! The Blogging Angels aren’t slacking off — we’re flying off to Las Vegas!

The kind folks at Microsoft Windows 7 are sponsoring all four angels for a trip to the Consumer Electronics Show, otherwise known as CES, the largest tech show on the planet, or the biggest geek-fest of all time. (It’s also known as the trade show held at the same time as the Adult Film Star trade show down the hall. Really. Not kidding.)

So we’re packing up pocket protectors and pasties, and heading to Las Vegas.

But what happens in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas: We’ll be posting and tweeting and blogging and vlogging and all around keeping you up to date on what’s happening at CES, in the Mommy Tech booths, and yes, what’s with those adult film stars. We’ve all got loaner Windows 7 Phones (thanks Windows Phone 7 people!) to make keeping in touch with pictures and tweets even easier.  Plus, we’re even doing a stint as “booth babes,” (minus the revealing outfits) at the Microsoft Windows booth during Mommy Tech on Friday and Saturday. So if you’re at CES, stop by and say hello IRL.

So listen up! Check back often. Follow us on Twitter. Send us comments! We’ll talk and post about this trip so much you’ll feel like you’re there. Minus the fresh-air deprivation and the strange sense that time has no meaning.

Wish us luck!  (At the trade show.  Not the casinos.  I mean, well, maybe at the slot machines…..)

{ 5 comments }

← Previous Entries