I am one of those people who tend to use my laptop all day long. I do have a desktop computer and I use it frequently. However, I still use my laptop more than my desktop. I use it to work from different rooms in the house, different locations throughout the city and different cities when I get the opportunity. Although I love that I can just pick up my laptop and go, I’ve found that it helps to have certain laptop accessories to make it easier to use my laptop as a primary computer.

The top 5 laptop accessories for people who use their laptops daily are:

1. Extra battery or long-life battery. It is crucial to have enough battery life for your laptop to work all day long whether you’re at home or on the go.

2. Longer power cord. One of my favorite bonus perks about my Mac notebook as compared to previous laptops (among many other more substantial reasons) is that it came with both a normal power cord and an extension power cord. So convenient when working in places where outlets aren’t necessarily right next to you.

3. Laptop sleeve. I don’t always put my laptop in its own bag when I take it with me. However, I do want to keep it safe from harm if it’s thrown into other backpacks. A laptop sleeve does that.

4. Laptop stands. There are two types of laptop stands that are important. First, there is the small stand that sits on your lap that serves the purpose of propping up the laptop and allowing it to cool from underneath while you work. Second is the stand that allows you to place the laptop up high for working on it while you stand up. Standing desks have a lot of health benefits so this is really great if you use your laptop every day.

5. Wireless mouse. There are some activities for which is makes a lot more sense to use a handheld mouse. A wireless mouse is the best option, in my opinion.

What laptop accessories do you think are must-haves for people who use their computers all day long?

Tags: laptop accessories, laptop sleeve

A new movie about Hitler is being produced in Bollywood and some people there hope it can help take the Indian movie scene in a new direction. Some information for the discerning smart chick about this new film:

• It is titled Dear Friend Hitler in reference to letters written to Hitler by Mahatma Ghandi. Interestingly, the actor who was supposed to play Hitler (Anupam Kher) has also played Ghandi in a previous role. There seems to be something ironic about this, doesn’t there? Negative press about the issue has recently caused the well-known actor to back out of the role.
• The film is intended to depict the final days of Hitler’s life. It is supposed to be a highly emotional piece that looks at his relationship with wife Eva Braun as well as some of the insecurities and pressures he may have been dealing with in those final days. Does this mean we’re looking at a sympathetic portrait of Adolf Hitler?
• The film is intended to be highly stylistically different from most Bollywood films. Although it may contain some musical numbers, they will be limited and will not include the main actors in the film.
• Some Indian film producers hope that this film can help add a new level of serious movie-making to Bollywood. In recent years, filmmakers in India have tried to escape the pigeonhole of the cheesy musical but have not been very successful. Hard-hitting films about serious issues just don’t do well in the nation. There is some hope that this new movie will be the turning point for that, allowing for a new serious genre of movies to come out of India in upcoming years.
• Should the film gain international attention, it may raise awareness of the fact that many people in India are not as highly educated about the issues surrounding Hitler’s reign as say the average person in Germany or America. This is not to suggest that the people there are ignorant of the issues but rather that there is not the educational emphasis on World War II there that exists in the countries that were more primarily affected by that war. It has been suggested that the film will depict Hitler’s love for India which could lead to some controversy depending on the chosen portrayal.

Tags: bollywood, controversial entertainment, hitler movie

I am really enjoying checking out the animation over at Aubrey Longley-Cook’s photobucket page. In particularly, I’m interested in the series pictured here in which Aubrey did fifteen different embroidered images of a dog and then compiled them into an animation of the dog running.

Why this is so smart:

• It has flip-book features. I’ve always loved flip-book style art because it’s fun and I also really respect the amount of detail and time that goes into creating each of the individual images that makes up this type of artwork.
• It combines old and new art forms. You have the high-tech art of online animation and it’s used to animate the old-fashioned art of embroidery. Genius.
• The artist has single-handedly brought attention to a new art form. It’s called manbroidery. Guys who aren’t afraid to dabble in traditionally feminine arts bring something fresh and new to the table.
• The value of repetition. There is something to be said for repetition in art. It allows you to explore your creative processes in more depth if you do them again and again. Here we have not only the repetition of stitches within one piece of art but then the repetition of strikingly similar images embroidered again and again for use in the animation and then the repetition of the animated image on repeat. Very fascinating.

Tags: animation gif, arts and crafts, creative inspiration, longley-cook

A German marketing company named BUTTER has come together with a medical imaging firm named EIZO to create a very creative marketing campaign. They’re using the popularity of the pin-up girl calendar to showcase the work that they do in x-ray imaging. They’ve taken gorgeous women, added stilettos to them and taken their x-rays for display in a calendar.

Are the images sexy? That’s up to you to decide but they’re definitely alluring in a strange kind of way. The flesh and flirty fun that makes pinups appealing isn’t there but it’s hinted at in the poses of the bodies. Gone are things like pouty lips and Brazilian blowout hairstyles. In their place are perfect bone structure and vacant eye sockets. Creepy, in a way, and yet a super creative approach to marketing what the company does. To my knowledge, it’s not something that’s been done before.

And for some personal information about myself … I actually hate having my X-rays taken. There’s something about the idea that a stranger (albeit a medical professional) can literally see through me that creeps me out. I’m not one to hide things but the fact that they can see things in me that I can’t see or know about myself is eerie to me for some reason. Does anyone else have this problem?

Via Geekosystem

Tags: creative marketing, x-ray pinups

I know that I’ve slacked off on being active on this blog. However, I’m getting productive again if for no other reason than because I wanted to participate in a really cool project called Pin It Forward. Through this project, launched by SF Girl By Bay, 300 bloggers are creating virtual inspiration boards and blogging about them this month.

We’re all using Pinterest, a new website where you can “pin” items from around the web onto your own virtual inspiration boards. You simply install the “pin it” widget into your bookmarks bar and then you can pin images from any website and they’ll be attributed back to the proper source. You can add your own thoughts and descriptions to each image.

The theme for this project is “What Home Means To Me”. As you’ll see from my Pinterest board, home to me means everything from a freshly made cup of coffee in the morning to really cool furniture to cuddling up with someone I love.

Make sure to check out yesterday’s post from Il etait une fois and tomorrow’s post by Illuminession. Find links to all of the other Pinterest board blog posts here.

Tags: inspiration, pin it forward, pinterest