Wake up to a little sunshine in the 'Cuse cold

Tired of waking up to cold, grey mornings?

Me too.

As a native San Diegan, I miss rousing to the sun hitting my face and its warmth luring me out of bed.

Instead, here in Central New York, I'm usually curled in a ball fighting myself to get out of bed and face the coldy.

A solution: the Remy blanket.

It imitates sunlight rays to slowly wake you up 10 minutes before you need to wake up.

The blanket is connected to an alarm that triggers the sunlight to start rising you out of your REM cycle after you set your desired - or needed - time to rise.

But that's not all.

The blanket also tapes your sleep patterns.

The alarm device starts taping you, so you can see how restful your slumber is.







A little creepy, but perhaps useful?

Maybe useful for taping things other than just sleep ... Paris.

*Illustrations courtesy of Yanko Design.

Hipper than Starbucks, still not cheaper than Dunkin

Wish your morning cup of joe really stimulated your thoughts?



This cup designed by Hyuh-Jin Lee & Hyeroung Choen pours digital images from the web.



The overarching concepts is to let ideas flow.



Here's how it works: surf the web, put things on an USB stick, upload into "The Cup" and spill out on the table to show others.

Useful or useless? A lot of feedback ask what's the point?

I guess it just cool, cutting edge and ultra hip.

Techno-ify your keyboard!

Need a little color in your life?

Add a taste of the rainbow - not by eating Skittles - but to the keys on your keyboard. You stare at them for a large portion of the day, why not make sitting at your sexy laptop fun again?

The Luxeed Dynamic Pixel LED keyboard lets you colorize each individual key and illuminates it. Check out the video below or what users have to say on YouTube.



I thought my colored Mac skin was pretty hip - guess I was wrong.



Maybe the Mac skin isn't as cool, but for under $10 it's more in my budget than the $200 price tag of the Luxeed.

Browse in style

When browsing around in the real world, you like to look and feel good.

The same rule should apply in the virtual world while browsing the internet.

Your internet browser isn't something one typically gives thought to, but you should. The browser you choose can offer you personalized options that can make surfing the web more comfortable for you.

We'll start with my personal favorite and browser with top style: Firefox.



My web life before Firefox - well, I can't barely remember it, but I recall being frustrated and unhappy with the standard options my old browser offered me.

Firefox sped things up by letting me quickly get where I need to go. And it's ultra-customizable with the add-ons (or plug-ins, whichever you prefer) it offers.

You can change your standard toolbar to have a theme, color your tabs to differentiate your pages open (still in the works for the latest Firefox -3.0) and add other extensions to save the things you find while browsing without bookmarking.



One of my favorites is Zotero, an add on that is good for researching. It provides the capability to store and organize pages you visit for projects, turn them into PDFs, print them out and much more - handy for documenting information quickly.

Safari, Apple's little baby, is Firefox's main competitor.

I just don't like it.

It runs slower than Firefox and isn't as up to date in its latest technology. You can Pimp Your Safari and add extensions to the default browser, but it doesn't offer as much as Firefox.

And then there's Google Chrome - the most recent big hit on the web.

It hasn't really caught on though, and I understand why. If you want to override your browser with Google, you can do so in any other browser with iGoogle, Google searches or Gmail. I don't think you need a browser to receive extra Google benefits.



Google coupled with Firefox is a heavenly solution, in my opinion. And the two co-exist perfectly by making Firefox your default browser.

And if you're still on Internet Explorer, switch quickly - anything is better than that.

Video game player + DVD = 2-in-1 dealio + smart shopper

The PS3 and X-box.

While watching a movie at my boyfriend's house, who uses a X-box in place of a DVD player, I realized what a trend it is for many of the male species to use video game software as their movie entertainment centers.

'Tis an economical way to save money.

And isn't that a technological trend right now? Get the most bang for your buck.

Despite the economic downfall, people are still buying long-term technology devices that can be used for more than one purpose. For example, computers haven't decreased dramatically in sales because they are an investment that will last people a long time and serve their personal, business and entertainment needs.

This consumer report says DVD and video game players have little price difference, but with a game player you get a two for one.

Condense, consolidate and cut costs. Get as many uses out of one device as you can.

I guess if you're interested in video games, then it seems efficient to go through the player.

Girls kind of get the short end of the stick though since most don't like video games enough to invest in a Playstation - the popular alternative to X-box.

I'm not a video game fan and don't have enough money to justify spending dollar bills on a one-purpose unit of technology, so I stick to using my computer.

A minuscule 15-inch, but it does the trick.

Holiday themed tech

Happy Valentine's Day!

For the first time in a long time, I actually have a Valentine. And my how that changes the meaning of this holiday.

I feel lovey, grateful and really into celebrating.

Sorry you single folk - this holiday tends to make people who are alone especially lonely.

Everything on this day is meant for couples and love. The world is shot by Cupid's arrow as the whole world focuses on the idea of celebrating that special someone.

Today's look = red, pink, hearts and roses.

Even websites go along with the holiday theme. Here are some of my favorites from this V-day:



I always love what Google does on certain holidays.



Sending love messages through the Fbook.



A weaker attempt, but can't go wrong with the cliche rose.


Yes, love is definitely in the air - it's invaded the digital world full force.

Hope you singletons are doing OK with all the romance reminders.

Back up, is that a style?

Back it up, back it up, back it up - you got it!

And no, I don't mean back up that bootay.

I mean all the ish on your computer. Yes, it's just ish, but generally it's ish you need.

Not only is it trendy to do, but extremely necessary.

When your computer crashes, you don't want to lose your life's work.

So here's a list of sexy, sleek external hard drives - all around the $100 range (usually all the average person needs for personal use) and portable. I recommend buying a portable one because what's the point of investing in something untransportable. Plus, portable doubles as an USB stick, so you don't have to invest in two pieces of technology.



1. WD Passport
Best bang for your buck

I may be biased, but this is my top pick because I love where my passport has taken me. The most memory for the cheapest price and a sleek black, silver and even red interface that matches Macs well - don't worry PC-ers, it'll go along fine with yours too.



2.Seagate FreeAgent Go

My second choice when I looked at external hard drives. Some lower GB models are cheaper than the WD, but Seagate is a little iffy in compability with Macs and don't have as good as reviews as the WD.




3. Toshiba USB 2.0

My third choice is deceivingly appealing because of its attractive design and moderate prices, but it is said to be the less optimal of the three. Slower than the previous two, it still has its perks, but I would only get it for its charmingly good looks.

Look, and please touch.

Illustration courtesy of Esterline, Advance Input Systems.

Museums always post signs up saying "Look, but please don't touch."

But humans want to touch. They want to feel. They don't just want to look. The want the whole shebang - the full experience of something.

We've always been restricted to touch nice things though for fear of damaging high-end goods. And when humans are restricted, what is the first thing they want to do - break that rule.

Enter the touch screen era.

It's allowing humans to touch and connect with the digital era.

It's the tech fad on the rise and the current high-end luxury for the cellphone industry.

If you have a touch screen cellphone, man are you cool. Touch screen is the new must have.

It really became hip to the mainstream with the new iPhone, and now all cellphone carriers are hopping on the bandwagon. The Blackberry Storm has become the second most talked about fad.

Here's the best review I found of the top five touch screen phones.

Jeff Han invented the multi-touch interface design back in 2006 though - it's no new idea.

And Nokia released a touch phone shortly after - Apple wasn't the first innovator.

Touch screen's been on the rise, finally hit popularity and soon will be an old fad that everyone is used to in no time.

People have even started to integrate touch technology with outdated systems. Check out this 1942 Philco radio that a touch screen Mac-mini was built into.

Touchscreens.com also allows you to add touch screen capabilities to outdated computers.

The iPod Touch is the most famous example of touch screen music players.


Smartboards are the leading touch educational tools in classrooms, so teachers don't have to mess with computers hooked up to projectors.

TVs are the next big hit in the touch screen era. CNN used one during the presidential election.

With televisions sets mandated to go digital soon, every household will have an interactive television set. I thought this NYT article was pretty interesting and could support the idea of touch being the future of TV sets to engage audiences.

What's next to go along with touch TVs? How about this $10,000 touch coffee table?

You-net: the customizable web

The internet, interweb, interface - whatever you want to call it - is no longer a means to network people, it's a way to display everything about you.

With the rise of social networks, people are increasingly communicating through different sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, personal blogs and the like, which all seem to be one big YouTube. It doesn't seem like people are communicating through these social networks, as much as they are displaying information about themselves.

Shlee Style - the blog you're reading (the spot where I get to infiltrate the web with my personal opinions) - is all about technology and personal style.

Whether it's your bedazzled Blackberry case, green Macbook cover or Skullcandy earbuds, a major emphasis in the technology industry is for all products to be customizable.

The internet, the most easily accessible, cheap - and free in most cases - technology that allows you to flaunt your style, will be the first tech topic for Shlee Style's first post.

The internet has become increasingly customizable through the fad of social networking sites. The one I use most: Facebook.

When I first joined Facebook it was to keep in touch with long distance friends. That turned into using the social site as a photo gallery of my life, then updating everyone about my current status with status updates. The most recent, obnoxious addition is the '25 Random Things about Me,' where friends tag you in a note listing things you probably never knew (nor wanted) to know about them.

After being tagged in what feels like a million, I still haven't given into the annoying trend. Quite irked by the new Facebook fad, I was engrossed with this NYT article about the 25 tidbits about me (hooray!) in the Fashion & Style section.

It is truly another innovation in the way people can flaunt their "unique" style online.

I say, how much is too much? I see your photos, I can see what you are doing 24/7, I see your conversations and I can have a real-time conversation with you.

Do I need any more?

Apparently, it is essential for me to know the 25 random things. If you're going to write the note, be tasteful.

Or just use Twitter, that will let you stream random things 24/7, if you wish.