I feel like I should do something I’ve never done before today since it is Leap Day. This is a bonus day, after all. I can’t think of anything in particular to do since everything I do is still new to me here in New York. But I know one thing that I can make new: my Web site!
I have received a surprising number of entries for my redesign contest. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who submitted! What a creative bunch of readers I have! I will post the submissions later today, as well as my favorites. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, you should go out and do something new too! Try yoga (not Bikram though! Trust me on this one. I taught yoga for five years. You don’t want to do Bikram.), or try a type of food you’ve never eaten, or buy yourself a new pair of shoes. Whatever you decide to do, share it with all of us here in the comment section. Get a little crazy! Not too crazy though. Nothing illicit or prurient, please. My mom reads this blog, after all.
I want to redesign this site. The picture above is an old promotional shot from TeXtra and the color scheme is not my favorite. Unfortunately, I have no vision for creativity. I can’t accessorize to save my life, the walls in my apartment are painfully bare, and my sister informs me that my wardrobe on Loaded is “boring” and that I need to “push the edge a little more.” I am left brain.
I was talking to my very good friend Naldo about this yesterday. He is one of the most creative graphic designers that I know (and also a good dancer: He is the groom in this video). Naldo suggested that I ask my readers to help out instead of finding a random designer on Craigslist. He actually suggested a contest like Doodle 4 Google.
I don’t have a team of judges and I don’t have a grand prize to give out like Google does but if you would like to take a stab at redesigning this Web site, have at it! I will pay the person whose design I like the best $100 via PayPal, give mad props to him/her on this site, and happily be a reference on his/her resume or Web site.
Here is what I am looking for: I would like to get rid of this aquatic-looking color scheme. Perhaps something a bit more gender-neutral. Even a gray scale would be nice. I don’t like the font that my name is written in above either. I would also like to use either one of the two photos below in the header. I’m not really all that picky about it but one is quite formal and the other is more casual. I’m sorry I can’t give too many more guidelines. Like I said, I have no vision.
If you want to submit a design, please either post a link to your design in the comments or email it to me at ndelconte-at-gmail-dot-com. I will be choosing a winner by next Friday, February 29.
Thank you to anyone who considers helping me with this! I hope to create a prettier place for us all to visit here at natalidelconte.com!
I just back from 30 Rockefeller Plaza where I was a guest on CNBC Power Lunch. You can watch the piece here.
Today’s topic was gaming. I don’t consider myself a gamer, although I am quite good at Wii Sports. I do consider myself a casual gamer though. My new favorite casual game is 25 Boxes. It is a silly little time suck but I love it.
Power Lunch was my first nationally televised network news appearance. I feel good about it and I had a great time! I did not, however, eat a Power Lunch at NBC. I bought a cup of lentil soup from the deli across from my office when it was over.
I am on Reuters TV today talking about gadgets for your Valentine. You can watch here:
Truth be told, I didn’t really like that Kodak EasyShare EX811. It is one of the nicer looking photo frames on the market but the interface is crap. I personally prefer the Parrot digital photo frames but the EasyShare made for a nice round-up of “pretty” gadgets for the holiday. Of the rest of the gadgets on this segment, my favorite is the LG Venus. That is one slick looking phone! I don’t have Verizon so it isn’t an option for me but I did like playing with it. I had to give it back to the CNET labs though. Oh well.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you. Here is hoping you have some sexy electronics in your near future!
Why is Apple soft launching so many products lately? First the upgraded iPhones and now a new version of Aperture, just released today. There are also rumors of an upgraded MacBook Pro on its way very shortly. I don’t have a need for Aperture but I feel like all of these soft launches will have negative consequences for Apple.
For starters, why would I bother to go to MacWorld if I know that it won’t be a complete rundown of what is new from Apple? It also makes me jumpy as a consumer. Every time I purchase an Apple product lately, I worry that it will be less valuable in just a matter of weeks.
My next Apple purchase will be the newest version of the AppleTV, followed by the 250 gig black MacBook. This MacBook Pro is breaking my back as I lug it on and off the subway every day! I feel fairly confident that these two products will not be upgraded significantly within a year but you have to admit, Apple is erratic these days.
People sometimes ask me if I get these products for free. No! Even if I did, I couldn’t keep them because journalists are not allowed so I am affected just as much as everyone else by these short product life cycles. Nevertheless, I will bite the bullet and purchase the AppleTV shortly. We will be filming the setup process in my apartment for Loaded so stay tuned for that! Speaking of Loaded, find today’s episode here.
I have had two quintessential New York experiences in the last 24 hours: a delayed subway and a man publicly urinating on my building.
I was heading for the afternoon sessions of the Tech:Money Conference but I missed them because there was a delay on the 6 train. All trains were stopped and the station was packed. Police offers were roaming around and I heard something about an investigation into a fire. I gave up and took a cab home after half an hour of waiting in a foul-smelling station. I’ll try the conference again tomorrow.
The public urination shocked me more than anything else. I have never seen that before – the homeless in San Francisco must have better manners. I told the doormen about it but the reliever in question was gone by the time they went out to investigate. I wasn’t all that offended, just a little dumbstruck. I can’t believe people really do that in the year 2008. When you gotta go, you gotta go!
So I’m being indoctrinated into NY culture quickly, like it or not! Nevertheless, I mostly like New York so far. It helps to have my furniture and my house together. Also, I’m so busy with the new show that I barely have time to think about whether or not I like this city. I don’t dare call myself a New Yorker though. Last night I called the F and V lines the “orange lines” and the New Yorker I was speaking to laughed and said, “We don’t call them that.”
I have until tomorrow to return my iPhone for store credit, according to Apple’s return policy. I’m going to rush to do that after work because Apple now has a 16 gig iPhone on the market. That’s annoying.
I don’t necessarily need a 16 gig iPhone but I want one. It is worth an extra $100 to me to have more storage. I just called the Soho store and they don’t have the new models in stock so I’ll be iPhoneless for a few days. Also, I am subject to a 10% restocking fee on my return so this upgrade will cost me a bit more than $100.
I purposely waited until after MacWorld to buy an iPhone! I figured that Apple wouldn’t upgrade the iPhone if it wasn’t announced at the show so I would be safe. Psych! I’m just glad they announced it today instead of on Thursday because that would have really chapped my hide.
Loaded should be ready for you when you get in to work in the morning. We are shooting bright and early every Monday through Thursday and you can find it daily on CNET TV. If you use iTunes, the feed should be up sometime this week.
I hope you like it! Feel free to leave feedback in the comments section.
No, I’m not going binge drinking because of the move, although it occurred to me. I am referring to my new show on Cnet TV. We are calling it Loaded! A short promo began running yesterday. You can watch it here.
We are aiming to launch the show on Monday, barring any unforeseen circumstances. I will post about it here as soon as it goes live.
Loaded will be a daily news show, a lot like TeXtra, but it will also be a lot more than that. We chose the name Loaded, not only for its double entendre, but also to declare our intention to be an information-Loaded show. In addition to news and analysis, we have been pounding the pavement here in New York City doing news packages about technology-related conferences, events, people, places, and even food. You’ll see!
In the meantime, my weekend will be spent preparing for the show, unpacking more boxes, coming to terms with the fact that I will never wear certain clothes again and getting rid of them, and trying to crash a Super Bowl party somewhere in New York. I hope I can get my kitchen up and running in time because I have a pretty lethal mac’n'cheese that I make every year for the big game. I cannot divulge my recipe though. It is top secret. And no, it doesn’t involve a little blue box!
