Birchbox, a monthly curated box focusing on beauty products

I admit, I’d love to have a personal stylist/shopper.

But what about the masses? Especially groups that are far-removed from great shopping and lean on the Internet to help them stay stylish and current on new products and trends?

Although I live in a shopping mecca, I find myself wishing I had a stylist to keep me up to date and help cut the lines and crazy crowds.

These reasons (in addition to curiosity) led me to sign up for Birchbox (beauty), JewelMint (jewelry)  and Shoedazzle (shoes).

The Breakdown

Birchbox ($10/monthly)

• Celeb Backer: None, but celebs like Cynthia Rowley often “curate” boxes
• Quality: Luxury Samples
• Goal: Send samples, get feedback, sell products
• Social: Active Twitter, strong Facebook  & Blog, strong referral engine (points for referring friends)

JewelMint ($29.99/monthly)

• Celeb Backer: Kate Bosworth
• Quality: Moderate. “Costume Jewelry”
• Goal: Sell limited-edition celeb-backed jewelry at a reasonable price
• Social: Facebook community, Twitter, Blog, strong referral engine (points for referring friends)

ShoeDazzle ($39.99/monthly)

• Celeb Backer: Kim Kardashian
• Quality: Moderate (personally i’d compare to steve madden shoes)
• Goal: Create a fashion hub that anyone can join
• Social: VERY active Facebook community, Twitter, strong referral engine (points for referring friends)

 Although different in product offering and price, each service follows the same model:

1. Take a Quiz or “Style Profile” 

Answer questions and choose from a variety of visual options, which determines your “style profile” (conservative, trendy, wild, etc).

2. Sign in Monthly

Each month, you will receive a curated selection of products that meet your “style profile.” However, there is always a chance to request different items, or purchase items that do not show up in your selection.

3. Make a Decision to Buy, or Get Charged

The situation here is that you MUST login each month to either buy something, or decline a purchase – or else you will be charged that month.

Why I’m Fascinated

Social Shopping = The Future?

Finding a way to showcase relevant products that fit what your consumer is looking for (and save time browsing through pages of products) is amazing, especially when it comes to Fashion. Obviously Amazon does this incredibly well, but then again, it’s Amazon.

The Products are Awesome

I’ve had great results with the products I’ve purchased. Birchbox has introduced me to killer products I wouldn’t have found otherwise.

Great Customer Service

Twitter and Facebook have resources watching and responding to questions from buyers.

It’s Social

Each monthly subscription service has a model built around gaining referrals through social means – full integration with Facebook, Twitter, and the like. It’s made very clear how leveraging your social networks can get you free stuff.

Everything is vying for our attention. EVERYTHING.

And in time, maybe we’ll train ourselves to become better at managing the hierarchy of distractions (infographic shoutout!) but in today’s world, the expectations are increasingly becoming that we’ll repond to everything, from wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

We bring our smart phones to bed. People use them in the bathroom (ew, but true). We hate turning them off when the plane is about to take off, and rush to turn them back on when we’ve landed.

Often it’s “too much to ask” to have someone turn off their phone when you’re spending time with them. There’s always the e-mail from work you’re expecting, that text message from a friend you’re meeting up with later,  or an update email from a family member who’s going through a rough time. Now add in the mobile apps, status updates, comments, and checking in.

Bottom line: there’s a lot going on out there.

So when it comes down to giving a gift – there’s nothing more thoughtful or romantic than giving the gift of your full attention (that’s right- phone off).

Can you do it?

//Purchase The “Phonekerchief” via Uncommon Goods for $15

BONUS: how it works –

The Phonekerchief fabric is conductive (conducts electricity) because it is partially made up of silver fibers. When the fabric creates an unbroken enclosure (when it is wrapped tightly around a phone without any gaps), it creates a phenomenon that is known in science as a “Faraday Cage”. This means that any external static electrical field, such as a phone signal, will cause the electrical charges within the conducting fabric to redistribute themselves so as to cancel the field’s effects on what is inside. In order for the Phonekerchief to work effectively, the fabric must be wrapped tightly around the phone and create an unbroken enclosure.

Today, we’re all over the place.

Not just in a busy sense (well, that too), but also in a digital sense. We leave our footprint (Foursquare checkins, Facebook wall posts, Tweets, Blog posts, Comments, Yelp Reviews etc..) all over the ‘net. We share where we’ve been, where we’re going, what we did, ate, thought and felt with our friends, family and even complete strangers whom we’ve never met.

But, in reviewing a few photos that were posted by @GeorgeGSmithJr from a recent trip up north, all of the tweets and foursquare checkins fall in the shadows of some of the pictures he uploaded from the trip.

So my question is– we’re sharing our social lives online- but it all seems to fall short when you compare it to a picture.

I think this one’s my favorite, but check out his Flickr stream here for the rest (if you’re interested).

Techyness turns 24, and celebrates it with a cross-country move.

I must have some sense of twisted sense of congratulatory celebration, as my moving date happens to fall on the same day as my 24th birthday.

Hopefully this move won’t include similar stories from my last move — movers who asked me if I wanted to “party” later or go hit up the bar across the street — #professionalismfail.

If you’d like to follow my move and the crazy stories that happen, you can see them come through on Twitter with the hashtag #alanasmove2010.

Which brings me to my next point – when you’re moving, and people come and take away all your stuff, what are you left with?

It’s you, your gadgets, and a suitcase – usually hanging out in a corner, like me.

We tend to trust people with many items that we own, but refuse to hand over the gadgetry. I know I’m one of those crazies going through security with two laptops.

Ode to linksys unsecured wireless networks. (And XKCD comics, of course)

I’ve named my car. (Amelia)

I’ve named my blackberry. (Lanesberry)

Even my alter ego has a name. (Lane Dog)

So why wouldn’t you take the same care with naming your wireless network? This topic was brought up while talking to @ethansen on episode 15 of the podcast that we co-host, Millennious.

Personally, I don’t like default settings on anything. If you have the option to customize, why wouldn’t you?

In doing some tough research on what to name my new network in Houston, I thought to look into some top naming ideas for wireless networks:

Via MacRumors Forums,

• My neighbor is a middle aged single mom. Her network is called “CougarNet”
• At work, I pick up a signal called “Macs are Better”
• The two lawyers in the flat across the way have named their wifi “Sue your ass”.
• NO_MORE_WORLD_OF_WARCRAFT_4_U
• Wonkavision
• “GET_YOUR_OWN_WIRELESS”.
• PasswordProtectedBetterLuckNextTime
• RIAA

My internet has not yet been hooked up in my new apartment in Houston, but lets just say I’ll be in a situation very similar to the xkcd comic above.

Yep. That's Windows 98 keepin' this kiosk alive.

This past Thursday evening, I visited my local Albany, NY movie theater to go see State of Play with a friend. What I was expecting was to be entertained, what I was not expecting was to have my evening nearly ruined by a klunky user interface (UI).

If you just thought to yourself, “this girl is totally exaggerating,” you are 50% correct. I am, but I’m not, really.

It was at this point when I realized that not all movie ticket kiosks (kindof like men) are not made equal. Post-Google research showed that there are many companies who design and distribute these handy machines, but it just so happened that I happened upon a sub-standard one.

Sure, this situation vaguely reminds me of a Kurt Vonnegut novel, but there is some truth to it- there are some things that movie ticket theater kiosks should keep in mind.

1. Touch Screen Monitors are a Must: This local albany kiosk had some sort of old-school “the buttons on the sides do not line up with the items on the screen” issue. Not cool.
2. Don’t Time Out after 15 Seconds: The kiosk timed out while I was looking for my credit card. By the time my hand emerged from my (huge) purse with my visa ready to go, I was back to looking at the home screen. really? really?
3. Maintain ‘Em: After a flikr search on the subject, I found a hilarious picture of one kiosk running Windows 98 (see above- embarassing…shouldn’t it be showing the app dashboard) and a friend sent me an iPhone photo that depicts another with the blue screen of death.

Bottom line: Sometimes, it’s OK to embrace when something has reach it’s EOL (end of life)… and it’s ok to move on (like in the case of windows 98). We all did.

—————-
Blogging Tunes: Kate Nash – Nicest Thing
via FoxyTunes

In preparation for West Point‘s 500th Night event, my mother insisted that I get a manicure. She even deposited the money in my account and said, “now you have no excuse.”

Sure, they look very pretty and make a fun noise when you hit the keys. But, the result of this nail extension beauty process has cost me my high WPM. My productivity level has also dropped.

this is a serious problem.

Over the next month, I will be writing a 3-part series in Syracuse University’s college paper, The Daily Orange. The series will focus on three part of technology that influence students: Software, Gadgets/Hardware, and User Generated Content (Podcasting/Blogs).

I’m really excited about this series– but also looking for some help. If you have any ideas on what would be helpful for college students (or what you find helpful personally), please write a comment or email me at alana@techyness.com.

Thanks!

While reading through an issue of Glamour (I think), one multi-page advertisement caught my attention. 2 SMRT 4 U, a campaign that works to promote cyber safety, funded by the US postal service, the national center for missing and exploited children and a few other organizations.

To raise awareness (and to draw people to the website), 2 SMRT4 U was sending free rings to those who visit the site and sign up (a great idea-brings users from the target demographic to read the information, and if the rings are cool, others will inquire as to the meaning of the inscription).

Anyway, 2 SMRT 4 U is working to educate the importance of online safety and the prevalence of predators in online environments. Sure, we’ve all seen “To Catch a Predator,” but it’s more than just a reality show. There are some creepers out there, and they’re armed with access to your most private information (social networking sites) and thoughts (blogs). It’s more than enough to do some damage.

A few tips from 2 SMRT 4 U:

• Save or print questionable activity and include date and time
• Remember that posting information about your friends could put them at risk
• Check the privacy settings of the social networking sites that you use
• Don’t make or post plans and activities on your site with the location posted

I think that the Internet is something we’re all so comfortable with that it’s easy to forget what could happen. Cyber law and cyber security are still developing, so it’s important to watch out for yourself!

My cynical side sometimes takes over on New Year’s, when everyone is working on their resolutions. Sure, marketers, retailers, and businesspeople alike love this time where they can segment the market based on overused expressions of next year’s outlook instead of a more traditional method of segmentation (sounds a little harsh but you know it’s probably true).

Anyway, in the spirit of resolutions for the new year, I wanted to list the top resolutions as provided by USA.gov (and backed up by this article)

• Lose Weight
• Pay Off Debt
• Save Money
• Get a Better Job
• Get Fit
• Eat Right
• Get a Better Education
• Drink Less Alcohol
• Quit Smoking Now
• Reduce Stress Overall
• Reduce Stress at Work
• Volunteer to Help Others

Listing these reminds me of a bumper sticker on facebook (a new 3rd party application I recently added to my profile), where a mother is stating the statistical improbability of keeping a new year’s resolution. These are hilarious- almost remind me of the demotivators.

So I think what I’m trying to say is that a resolution should be to find a new resolution- something with a measurable metric, something specific to you that also combines some sort of solution into the problem at hand. Because when you think about it, if you don’t give yourself some sort of guideline for your goal, it’s nearly impossible to determine how successful you’ve been.

For example, my modified list is…

• Lose Weight by signing up for a fitness class I’m interested in twice a week. And attending.
• Pay Off Debt by paying more than the minimum payment on my credit cards each month. Oh and I will not sign up for any more credit cards
• Get a Better Job by networking with friends, attending conferences, improving my resume and interview skills.
• Eat Right by speaking with a nutritionist and determining a healthy eating plan (long term), and taking vitamins.
• Get a Better Education by looking into tuition reimbursement from my employer and researching night/weekend/online classes.
• Drink Less Alcohol by not carrying credit cards to the bar, and placing post-it notes on alcohol bottles reminding me of my goal.
• Quit Smoking Now by researching government funded programs (like New York state)
• Reduce Stress Overall >by learning to self-meditate.
• Reduce Stress at Work by cleaning up my work space, setting up meetings with boss/supervisor/manager to make a career improvement plan- what you can do to better yourself in your current job/position.
• Volunteer to Help Others by finding a friend with similar interests and signing up together.

Happy New Year! Best of luck with your goals, and never become “just a statistic.”