Being Geek Chic is a blog for stylish geeks, sophisticated nerds and people who enjoy the musings of a complete dork. Join us as we dream of driving the TARDIS, cuddle with our eBooks and test out an iPad sleeve. It's written by Elizabeth Giorgi and a team of brilliant lady nerds. Meet the team.
Another year is almost through, so why not take a moment to recap the good, the nerdy and battery powered?
Check out my Tech Top 10 of 2012 over on Apartment Therapy.
See that cute iPhone cover? It will fit on the iPhone 5! Even before the iPhone 5 has hit your mailbox. Now you can buy that and help fund this here website and let everyone know that you’re a future Martha Jones/Donna Noble type. How cool is that?
In all realness, I’ve decided to start a shop with Society 6. Let me tell you some reasons why:
1. I always wanted a super geeky iPhone cover that expressed my future career plans.
2. Making blog content costs money.
3. Making blog content takes time.
4. I don’t have a lot of time or money.
5. I love my readers and want to share more content with you.
6. I think you might like this stuff too.
7. Society 6 makes it so, so easy.
You may have noticed that I’ve been running ads for a while on the right sidebar and that has been going OK - But I hate how they add this ugliness to everything and are truly random. They’re unpredictable. So I started thinking: is there something that my blog readers might like to buy that I can offer? Something they might actually want? Or would just buy anyway?
And here’s the thing: buying something isn’t the only way to support this effort.
If you feel compelled, please help get the word out about these geeky items by:
1. Pinning the products
2. Tweeting about the products
3. Sharing them with your Facebook friends.
I really appreciate every single one of you and wanted to do something that not only added some geeky beauty to your life, but made it possible for me to start paying contributors, covering the cost of DIY materials and maybe even expand on the video aspect of things.
If you have an idea for a product - let me know. I’m open to suggestions and would love to spread more geeky goodness via stationary, laptop skins and iPhone 5 cases.
I recently found myself swooning over Bloom Theory’s Camera Straps and one or two managed to find their way to my Pinterest. When I took a close look at them, I realized I could easily DIY the $130 strap for much less - so that’s exactly what I did.
Here’s the best part.
Here’s how I did it:
1. Start with a simple canvas or cotton camera strap. You don’t want anything too thick, because you’re going to hand-sew or machine sew some sequin ribbon onto the strap later. In other words, choose a material that isn’t too tough. I bought this strap for $9.99 on eBay. (Here’s a link to that strap.) There are all kinds of options out there - so shop around.
2. Next, find some sequin ribbon. I bought mine at my local JoAnn Fabric store, but a Google search pulls up a bunch of other options. For those of you who want to go to the store and buy the exact same thing, it’s called: Sequin Stretch Ruffle Trim - 3 inch. I bought one yard.
3. All you have to do now is hand sew or machine sew the ruffle trim to the strap. Be sure to secure it by back-stitching or double knotting the ends.
Attach to your camera and enjoy!
(P to the S: do you like this DIY? Then subscribe to my YouTube channel where this DIY and more are captured in video form. No junk. No vlogs. Just high quality nerd crafting.)
You Need:
Camera strap
Scissors
Thread
Sewing Machine or Needle
Sequin Trim
20 minutes
Total cost: $12
It’s been a while since I reviewed a techessory around here, but since I’ve got a new video to post in mere moments, I thought I’d give you a review of the product I used to make the video happen.
I’ve always wanted to try to do an outdoor movie showing, but even the cheapest projectors cost around $800. Plus, they require an outlet, which really limits the locations you can use them. Enter some of the new pocket projectors on the market. Only one problem: most of them don’t have enough juice to put out an HD image for more than an hour. Until the handy Brookstone HDMI Pocket Projector came along. Here’s the details:
The Good:
1. No plugs! Just charge and your set for about 2 hours. In my test run, we even stopped the movie for about 20 minutes at one point and left the projector on. In total, it ran for about 2 hours 15 minutes before the battery died.
2. Tripodable. This mini projector can be put on almost any tripod and since it’s light, putting it on a little Joby GorillaPod was the perfect height for us.
3. 85 Lumens. Comparable mini projectors are anywhere between 40 and 60 lumens. This sweet little device has 95 lumens, which gives you a lot of great light and clarity, which stays clear up to 60 inches. And yes, the 1080p HD quality still looks great at 60 inches.
The Bad:
1. Turn it up. The projector has some built in speakers that just don’t put out enough sound for a great experience. You can plug in some speakers in the AV jack, but most speakers made for AV jacks don’t put out much sound either.
2. $300 buckos. So this projector is much cheaper than $800. However, $300 is still steep for me.
3. Apple device confusion. In store, this projector is set up with an iPod touch. The pictures on the box also feature an iPad connected to the projector AND an iPhone. The only problem is that as soon as you open the box, you’ll discover that in fact, you’ll need to run over to the Apple store and buy and Apple Digital AV Adaptor. Yes, I find it annoying that Apple has all their proprietary plugs and whatnot, but Brookstone didn’t have to feature Apple products in all these manners either. If you aren’t a savvy consumer, it creates confusion. Oh and while I’m thinking about it: It adds about $35 to your total price.
Overall: This was a fun, fun experiment and it was truly easy to use. Plug and play entertainment. However, I would need to watch 30 movies outdoors before it would be worth it.
My laptop bag is my lifeline. It’s more important than my brain, really, because my entire brain is in there in a certain sense. I used to use a bag from Target, but TJ got me the Michael Kors MacBook Pro Tote for Christmas this year and I’ve been happy with how it’s held up. It still looks new to me - which I can’t say for many other bags after more than 7 months. (Full review here.)
So here’s what I keep inside in clockwise order:
1. Charger
2. Travel Tums (*I like spicy foods…)
3. Kleenex
4. Business cards from misc. people in a giant binder clip (This method works shockingly well!)
6. Orbit gum
7. Glasses case
8. MacBook
9. Misc. mail and coupons … I’m a coupon gal.
11. Tide Pen
12. Misc. pens
13. Fingernail clippers
14. Notepad
15. Misc. magazines (I’m currently subscribing to Elle Decor
16. Sally Hansen nail file
17. iPad 2
18. Juicy Couture Aztec Owl accessories bag (misc. makeup and lady bits in there…)
One of my favorite summer activities is star gazing at my family’s lake place. The calm of the water and the clarity of the sky never fails to make me happy. This DIY is a celebration of that love. Your LCD screen provides the light for making your favorite constellation come to life.
The best part about this constellation iPad/eReader/tablet case? It costs less than a buck to make. Seriously. If you’ve got the tools and thirty minutes, you’re done.
Here’s how I did it:
1. Cut out two pieces of felt in identical shapes with the width and height of your iPad/eReader/tablet in mind. Allow for a half inch seam allowance around three of the four sides. The felt I used is an eco-friendly blend that is very soft and costs less than $.50 a sheet at JoAnn fabrics.
2. Using a very small hole puncher (I used Fiskars Hand Punch, 1/16-Inch, Circle), punch a hole in three of the four sides. Do this for both pieces of felt.
3. Print out a map of your favorite constellation. I used the big dipper. Now use this as a guide to punch out the constellation in the center of one side of your case. Using a larger hole punch (I used Fiskars Hand Punch, 1/8-Inch, Circle), punch out the major stars in your constellation.
4. Thread the edges with a thick yarn. You can do a straight stitch or do something fancy. Have fun with this.
Put your iPad/eReader/tablet inside and turn off the lights. Then, press any button and watch your constellation light up! Fun, right?!
You need:
Two pieces of felt
Scissors or fabric cutter
Yarn needle
Yarn
Hole punches (two sizes) I used Fiskars 12-23508897 Hand Punch, 1/16-Inch, Circle
30 minutes
Total cost: The felt was .39 a piece, the yarn, needle and hole punches were on hand.
