the digital haze.

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kindle is something i've heard of, moreso now that i'm in college, but have never really seriously looked at. for those of us who are blissfully unaware, kindle is basically an electronic device which you can download electronic "book files" onto and read, in lieu of paper publications.

novel idea. that being said, apple has already allegedly begun designing a rival product, deemed the "mediapad" by many tracking its potential development. the mediapad is pretty much a larger ipod touch, with the electronic book capacity. the screen would be larger than the kindle since and the touch screen feature would allow for the elimination of the keyboard from the device, but it would be smaller in physical size than the kindle. the only downside is that it would most likely be more expensive than the $350 kindle device.

i have to say, apple is awesome at coming up with fantastic new ideas, as well as improving upon previous media devices. smaller, more lightweight, and generally more convenient seem to be the trademarks of the apple label.

along with the new-and-improved mediapad, there has been talk about a new smaller, less expensive version of the iphone, dubbed "iphone lite", likely increasing the popularity of the already hot item. even more than this is the discussion of a possible collaboration between apple and verizon to create another version of the iphone (being sure not to break any alliances with the original host network of the iphone, at&t).

i think this would open up an entirely new and HUGE opportunity for apple. verizon is a gigantic network, and i know that i personally know more people (including myself) that have verizon than any other network. not to mention, spreading the product across two network lines would be an incredibly smart move, since it would allow people to continue their existing plan, but with a better product.

well done, apple. revolutionizing the media and technology all the time. while these products are all tentative and have yet to come to fruition, if they are released, i think they will prove to garner an enormous market. i'm pretty sure apple is set to dominate the market for a while.

i can't believe i haven't posted about this before, but i wanted to discuss something VERY near and dear to my heart:

threadless.

threadless is...amazing. basically, it's a t-shirt printing company (skinnycorp) that prints designs submitted by users based on the ratings they receive from the "threadless community" of registered users.

absolutely anyone can submit as long as the design is original. there are guidelines about what can be submitted like number of colors, certain messages, etc, but generally it's a pretty open forum.

and the designs aren't necessarily submitted as absolute finals, either. many users submit potential designs, get feedback, edit the design, and re-submit it to be voted on again.

this is a great example of collaboration between users in an online community to create a product that benefits all. the user gets the fame of having their design printed (as well as $2000 and a $500 gift certificate to the store), the company makes a profit, and the site's users get t-shirts that they voted on and like. it's a simple concept, just stepped up to make it as easy as possible.

i don't see the success of threadless stopping anytime soon. while the shirts range from around $15-25 at full price, they still sell like hotcakes. (and sometimes you can get ahold of them for $5-10 during clearance sales.) i've been known to browse designs for hours, and the 15-20 shirts currently hanging in my closet are proof that i just can't get enough of those witty, whimsical, sometimes ridiculous designs.

collaboration, folks! gotta love it.

i'm going to frame this post around something i'm pretty familiar with, and what a good amount of my time on blogger is spent doing--style blogging.

it may seem a little silly at first, but blogging is a great way for those interested in fashion to connect and share ideas, inspiration, and thoughts on anything new coming down the runways.

most of the posts generally consist of a combination of text and images, with the images being the focus of each entry. the blog posters typically include things like photos that inspire them (like this one from sea of shoes):



or feature outfits assembled by the posters themselves (like this one from karla's closet):



style blogging has really picked up momentum and with magazines like teen vogue and glamour featuring stories on it, will likely continue to rise in popularity. it gives people from all over the world and of all ages a place to discuss something that interests them and that they deal with every day--fashion.

one of my favorites to read is a blog called style rookie. it's written by a 12-year-old girl named tavi, and she puts together some of the craziest and most interesting get-ups. here she is (she's adorable!):



young creativity at its finest.

this social phenomenon is great way for people to connect and gives those who don't live in fashion capitals like new york or l.a. a chance to take part in the world of fashion innovation. it's particularly useful for anyone interested in diy fashion (such as myself) since many of the bloggers are extremely creative with the shapes and combinations they create.

overall, i think the future is bright for style blogging, and i think it will continue to garner attention as the fashion world becomes less about trends and more about innovation.

sorry for the lag time; we're n00bz at this!

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i'm a regular subscriber to the relevant podcast put out by relevant magazine. they were doing their regular "slices" feature where they talk about something weird or neat that they've come across in the past week, and they mentioned something that made me sit there kind of awestruck.

you can switch ipod tracks with the raise of an eyebrow. an eyebrow!

it's a little device that looks like headphones, but actually measures tiny movements inside your ear to trigger controls you pre-set, like skipping an ipod track. it can be controlled by anything you set it to like sticking out your tongue:



or wiggling your nose, smiling, winking, frowning, anything! smiling's probably a bad call though; who wants to be abruptly stopped every time they hear a song that makes them happy?

anyway, i thought this was a really tech-y, futuristic-y, ridiculous-y thing. and i'd really like one! but how lazy are we getting that we've come to the point where pressing a button is too much work? and i don't know if i want something that controlling anywhere near my brain. anyone seen the animorphs? you know what i'm talking about...