lipstick geek » toys

Why don’t dainty Apple toys scare the boys?

Pamela Poole — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:50:03 +0000

There’s a refinement to Apple products that jumps the gender gap (and creates a healthy aftermarket for butch iPhone cases for those who aren’t real comfy with their feminine side, or “How to make your Apple product look more like a Hummer”).

Getting the girls on board is no small feat for tech companies (laptop bag manufacturers haven’t figured it out yet). What GameBoy would have given to have girls go for GameGirls the way they have for Apple stuff!

In couples, women make most of the purchasing decisions. And for a long time now, single girls have been buying their own diamonds, if you get my drift. Apple, with its aesthetically delectible toys, has managed to achieve the Woman Acceptance Factor, starting very young, without alienating the boys.

Read the rest on frogblog: Watching a digital native bloom.

What just happened?

Pamela Poole — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:20:35 +0000

I rarely try out a new site without being highly conscious of my own user experience. That’s what happens when you’ve been in startup Lala Land for a few years, write for a tech blog, and are married to a UI design expert.

Read my post Online seduction on frogblog, about being a conscious user (but mostly about how I was seduced by Squiz, and their anti-business cards).

Miscellany. What else is there, right?

Pamela Poole — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:44:33 +0000

This week I’m launching an e-commerce site to accompany Francophilia, the social network for francophiles I founded. It’s running on the Zlio platform. It has some limitations, but I’m pretty happy to be able to offer my francophile members one-stop shopping for French and French-themed products!

Just found out my personal blog, frogblog, is ranked 42 of all blogs in the “France” category according to invesp consulting. And I’m in some pretty good company! But you know what they say about stats.

Got my blogging pass for LeWeb ’09. I’ll be there for Web Worker Daily again this year. I discovered some exciting startups to write about there in ’08.

I have a new dog. Well, actually, he’s a “used” dog. I even wrote about one of the reasons why someone with my lifestyle should get a dog on Web Worker Daily the other day. It was published on the day I got him from the shelter! His name is Wiley. But we also call him Firefox because he looks like a fox. And, of course, we are Firefox fans.

I got an iPhone! Like Wiley, it’s used — Vincent gave me his 2G when he got a 3GS. I spent Saturday morning playing with it in bed…

Magical mystery tour of France

Pamela Poole — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:02:11 +0000

It started with Springwise, which I subscribe to to see what’s hot out of the entrepreneurial oven. It’s always a refreshing read because it’s not only – or even mostly – about Internet startups and the latest Twitter app. You’d be amazed at how many great ideas and insights you can get reading about non-Web innovation…

Springwise occasionally covers Web startups that are truly special, and YourTour.com is one of them.

As the founder of Francophilia, I was thrilled to discover this dream travel site for anyone who loves to travel in France or dreams of doing so. You enter some basic info about where in France you’d like to go and with a couple of clicks, YourTour builds you a road trip complete with sites of interest, places to stay, and more. And you can customize your trip once it’s been created. I gushed about it on frogblog and Francophilia, tweeted it to Francophilia’s followers, and sent YourTour a message asking if they would like to advertise on Francophilia.

The other day, I had lunch and brainstormed with the founder and director of marketing , who were in Paris on official YourTour business (it’s a Belgian startup). I could tell it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

YourTour is in beta and looking for beta testers. If you need a little mental health break, go to the site and let YourTour build you a magical mystery road trip in France. When you’re done, provide your feedback through their short questionnaire.

French men and fashion: Ooh la la !

Pamela Poole — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:37:06 +0000

Oh lucky me! I discovered Ykone, a sizzlin’ French startup last night when I saw their presentation at the Keiretsu Paris investors’ meeting. It’s a social network built around fashion brands that has really taken off in the couple of months since they launched. Delicious site (visually and in terms of interactivity), impeccable concept, an encyclopedia—literally—of content for the fashionistas. This is one to watch.

Charming founders Olivier Billon and Mathieu Lebreton gave the presentation and had the investors at their feet. Olivier, with his degree from Sciences Po, and Mathieu, who, at only 23, authors the top fashion blog Matérialiste, probably wouldn’t appreciate being called adorable, but they were. When you are selling a high-fashion startup, it doesn’t hurt to be a living doll.

And you know I’m going to offer to translate their site into English ! Because, yes, they’re planning to do just that. Watch out Vogue…

Twitter: the artificial sweetener

Pamela Poole — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 07:29:34 +0000

Is the secret to Twitter’s success a generation’s need for constant validation? Read my post Aspartame for the brain on frogblog, and Owen Thomas’s I Tweet, Therefore I Am on Valleywag Gawker.