Schools, teachers, parents, students get inquisitive and get experimenting! Google has just launches it’s annual science fair competition!

The Google Science Fair is an online science competition seeking curious minds from the four corners of the globe. Anybody and everybody between 13 and 18 can enter. All you need is an idea.

Geniuses are not always A grade students. We welcome all mavericks, square-pegs and everybody who likes to ask questions. Simply upload your project here to win some life changing prizes.

Everyone has a question. What’s yours?

It could be a new take on particle physics, or game theory. It could be a cost-effective way to provide clean water to a remote community, or maybe a project like reducing the carcinogenic properties of grilled chicken (that was one of last year’s winning entries). It should definitely be inspired.

You might already have the beginnings of an idea. Or just be hungry to get involved. Either way, you have until 30 March 2012 to work on identifying your question and building your project.

Get started right now by registering and securing parental consent.

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

Do you remember the interview that we did last year with Timothy Hill of Furguson Hill the sound company?  In case you don’t here’s the link to the geeky video.  Well Ferguson Hill are back with their latest home theatre system.  This one probably won’t make our gadget christmas list as it’s more expensive than many would spend on a present. However it does look interesting.

Featuring the company’s classic horn shaped speaker units that Ferguson Hill is renowned for; the system delivers dynamic, powerful, pin-drop clear sound and brings a unique, elegant design to any home cinema set-up.

Minimalist, beautiful and unobtrusive, the FH009’s art-deco influenced design oozes glamour and sophistication. Suited to the design aficionado, audiophile or movie buff, the chic exterior is matched by the sound system’s incredible performance. Constructed from high-quality, strong transparent acrylic, the FH009 provides a sensationally stylish look whilst delivering subtle and totally unique sound to a TV system.  The stunning speaker units will prove to be as much of a talking point as the movies themselves.

“I’ve been consumed by a passion for music, sound and design since I was very young,’ explains Tim Hill, former aeronautical design engineer and founder of Ferguson Hill. ‘More and more people are now investing in home cinema and consumers are for a design aesthetic that really stands out. This was the inspiration for the FH009, to produce a fantastic sounding home theatre system that also looked beautiful. I wanted to create very minimal looking speakers that would complement the living space whilst also making a statement. The signature horn shape is a nod to the classic horn speakers of 1930’s cinema which I think lends the FH009 an air of grace and style.”

The system owes its outstanding sound quality to the unique design; the patented di-polar horn speakers (wall mounted or free-standing) eliminate the interference that can come with standard encased or boxed speaker systems. Using horn loaded drivers, the FH009 allows sound to be more easily magnified at the frequency range the human ear is most sensitive to. Because the system focuses on this range – which corresponds to the human voice – it produces a natural, warm sound that has depth, clarity and range.

The FH009’s robust, stylish integrated amplifier (available in white or gloss black) is the only class A-B amplifier that can be found in systems anywhere near its price range. The transconductance-voltage amp is made of more than 4lbs of high quality copper, along with high spec capacitors powering the speaker’s neodymium magnets. The system uses the best and most expensive materials to ensure that there is no compromise on build quality and sound experience. The plug and play amp will work with any device with an audio-out line so works with a TV, DVD/Blue-Ray player, games console, Hi-Fi, MP3 player or wireless base station meaning streaming music from a PC, laptop or tablet device is easy.

Dr Bradford C. Backus, Ferguson Hill’s Head of Acoustics and Chief Technical Officer, from UCL’s Ear Institute, helped refine the FH009’s audio capabilities to produce the world class sound. Holding a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Speech and Hearing Biosciences and Technology, Backus also trained in acoustics under Dr. Amar Bose and previously worked for Bose Corporation.

Pricing and Availability

The FH009 Home Theatre Speaker System will be showcased at CES Unveiled, London on Thursday 17th November 2011 and will be available in December from www.fergusonhill.co.uk.  Leading independent UK retailers will also be stocking the system.

The FH009 is priced at £795.95.

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

If you’ve ever wondered why in November you see more facially haired men then look no further than Movember! Where men grow moustaches and beards of all shapes and sizes in aid of charity.   However it also helps keep their faces warm and cozy during those winter months.  But how does that have any bearing on me I hear you ladies say? Well… now we too can get involved and not just by donating.

Now you too can have a nice warm face and support Movember all at the same time!  Imagine wearing this to work in the winter months… and round the office with your facially haired male counterparts… I wonder who would win the best facial hair this year!

No joke this really does exist to buy!  It’s officially known as the Beard Beenie and they have 2 styles and 2 shades to choose from!

Send us links and share your Mo’s with us on Twitter and Facebook!

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

The Lady Geek TV Security Show series tackles important and topical issues such as cyber-bullying, inappropriate content and how to protect yourself from malware.

The fourth episode gives the viewer advice on how to reduce the security threats posed by social networking. We show how Kaspersky’s PURE software can help remove spam and malware, but that the most important protection lies in measures taken by social-networkers themselves to limit access to sensitive information.

What are your top three tips for staying safe on social networks?

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

The Lady Geek TV Security Show series tackles important and topical issues such as cyber -bullying, inappropriate content and how to protect yourself from malware. The third episode shows how Kaspersky KIS can be used to clean-up a computer which has been infected by malware, block inappropriate content and monitor your child’s browsing history. We show how Kaspersky’s software can help parents ensure that their kids use the Internet responsibly.

And if you’d like to look back over past LadyGeek TV episodes then you’ll find them all here!

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

GirlyGeekdom and Girl Geek Dinners are delighted to offer our members and readers the opportunity to purchase discounted tickets for the Mozilla Festival which is happening from the 4th -6th November 2011.  All you need to do is select the “student/partner community member” option. Being part of our community gives you the discount! How awesome is that!

A big chunk (1/3) of the people signed up already fall into these two categories. But they need even more developers and designers to add rocket fuel for the Festival’s roster of design challenges and hack sprints.

http://mozillafestival.org/program/design-challenges/

More specifically they want more:

• Javascript developers, HTML5 video and audio enthusiasts, front end developers, news app developers, and other news hackers. To help build everything from data-driven journalism kits to mobile news apps to amazing browser-based video games that run right in the browser.
• User experience and interface designers, graphic designers, game developers and 3D modeling people. To help create everything from data visualizations to translation workflow to whole new ways of imagining news and information.

Know anyone who fits the bill? Please ask them to join us in London by signing up here:

https://donate.mozilla.org/page/contribute/festival-register/

If you aren’t one of those skill sets do not fear! You are still welcome to sign up and head down! GirlyGeekdom will be there along with loads of other awesome Geeky folks!

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

The Lady Geek TV Security Show series tackles important and topical issues such as cyber – bullying, inappropriate content and how to protect yourself from malware.

The second episode of the Lady Geek TV Security Show series shows the viewer how to defend against common security threats including viruses, phishing software and spyware. We also show why it’s important to keep Internet security software such as Kaspersky PURE up to date in order to protect against the latest threats.

In addition to the LadyGeek TV list on how to keep secure online I’d also add that you should ensure that you have auto update turned on for your antivirus software and for your OS so that you always have the latest fixes and updates.

What are your security tips?

And in case you missed Episode 1 here it is!

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

Who needs a data contract for their phone, ipad, laptop and kindle??? Are you like me and tired of thinking you need a data contract for every device to connect to the internet on the go! Well fear not! We have a solution that might just tickle your fancy. It’s a simple and effective one and just needs one simple device!

The Three E586 – a high speed MiFi device that uses the HSDPA+ (21.1 Mbps download, 5.76 Mbps Upload) network that is currently being rolled out across the UK. Three are planning on having 80% of their network upgraded this year, with the rest following soon afterwards.

You may have missed the recent launch of the E586 as Three are usually pretty quiet about their most useful technologies! If you remember we reviewed the older version a while back and you can find that review here.  The latest MiFi device from Three is known as the E586 and despite just looking like a number change is an interesting upgrade to the older version. Like it’s predecessor you can connect up to 5 devices to your MiFi and off you go! The way to connect to it is even simpler than before there’s a simple button on the side that you press and it scrolls the wireless ID and key for the device and input it on your phone, ipad or whatever. It’s that simple, once the connection is set up you just use it like wifi. Charging is nice and simple too as they now include a dock for it. Very handy if you charge multiple devices each day and have a docking table for them all.

I’ve been doing a bit of experimenting with this by turning off the data on my mobile and ipad contract and using the same MiFi device to connect my laptop up when I’m out and on the go! So far I’ve not had a single issue with it! In fact I pestered the poor PR folks that are looking after this little device for Three to send it out to me and now they are going to struggle to prize it from my tiger grip! I don’t want to give it back at all! By having this I really don’t need mobile data, 3g data for my laptop or that extra data contract for my ipad! This does that for all of them!  It’s not my ideal but it’s pretty close! Ideally I’d be able to have multiple sim cards and them all to hook up as just 1 contract with 1 data allowance and I could request as many sim cards as I like for my contract as I want and up the data limit as I need. Then I’d be all sorted but unfortunately none of the telecoms providers actually provide this offering so this is the closest I’ll actually manage to get to that.

Now if you thought the black MiFi device was a bit ugly or a bit masculine then they are also going to do a pristine white version too, these should show up on the three store soon so keep your eyes pealed for them! Personally I prefer the black just because it won’t show up dirt and dust as much as the white but if you want to be noticed then go for the white! After all it is coming up to christmas and it will remind you of snow and frost and all things wintery! OK well maybe that’s going a bit far but it’s a bit different.

The cost of this new MiFi device is £84.99 on pay and go but there are 1 month and 18 month contract options available too. You can find all the official tech details and the pricing here.

If you are wondering if the HSDPA+ is actually worth it then it’s worth looking at the current plans for HSDPA+ roll out in the areas that you are likely to use the device in. In my area and on my train journey to London the coverage is pretty awesome and I was able to quite happily stream YouTube video’s without jittering unless you hit a total black spot which does happen on my line from time to time. It was impressive, sat next to some of those big business folks with their old fashioned USB dongles was actually really amusing! They were sat waiting for content whilst mine came down in seconds. Some were getting a bit miffed that they couldn’t get their content as fast.  I guess sometimes it’s what you know…

All in all I like this device and it certainly makes me consider moving my ipad contract and transferring it to a MiFi one…

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

Every year T3 the well known men’s gadget magazine brings together those in the know to a glamerous and glitzy award ceremony to celebrate the top gadgets of the year. Sometimes known as the “technology oscars” all the stars come out in all their glory (I think our invite got lost in the post somewhere!) and this year they were all tweeting away.  Here’s what was awarded to whom… let us know who you think should have got what?

T3 Gadget Awards 2011: the winners

Innovation of the Year: Razer Switchblade

Commuter Gadget of the Year: Amazon Kindle

Camera of the Year: Canon PowerShot G12

Gadget Accessory of the Year: Eye-Fi X2

Gaming Gadget of the Year: Microsoft Kinect

T3 Design Award: Apple MacBook Air 11-inch

Phone of the year: Samsung Galaxy S II

Tech Brand of the Year: Google

Tablet of the Year: Apple iPad 2

App of the Year: Flipboard

Work Gadget of the Year: BlackBerry Bold 9780

Digital Media Service of the Year: Twitter

Music Gadget of the Year: Monster Beats by Dr Dre Pro Studio

Home Gadget of the Year: Philips Airfryer

Computer of the Year: Apple MacBook Air 11-inch

Retailer of the Year: Amazon

TV of the Year: Samsung 8000 Series UE55D8000

Tech Personality of the Year: Mark Zuckerberg

Outstanding Contribution to Technology: David Attenborough

Gadget of the Year: Microsoft Kinect

We were quite happy to see a few of our personal favourites in this list such as the Kinect which really is stirring up the gaming industry and looks like it will also be going further than that with hacks making it usable on desktops and for all sorts of random things!

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)

Have you ever wondered if noise cancelling headphones are really worth the money?  After all they tend to be expensive, heavy and look huge on your head right?  Well actually that’s not quite the case. We got sent these Noise Cancelling headphones from Lindy to take a look at and they are only £39.99 which really isn’t  a bad price for active noise cancelling headphones.

By Kara Allyson

The headphones are quite light and fold up into a neat tidy bundle, they include A carry bag, in-flight adapter, 1.2m cable, and 6.3mm stereo adapter. The package looks pretty smart and bag keeps everything together. In terms of sound these headphones pack a reasonable punch with  40mm driver units built into the ear pads.  The ear pads are soft and comfortable, in terms of the sound they have a fair bit of base and whilst they aren’t the best pair of headphones in terms of sound quality that I’ve ever used they do feel very comfortable and in high noise environments such as the train or car or plane they are really quite good.  The active noise cancellation works well even in a quiet room to cut out the person next to you typing on their keyboard whilst you have the music on leaving you able to concentrate on what you are trying to get done yourself. In my case it was writing this post! They can cancel out up to 16dB of noise which minimises the disturbance of ambient noise… perfect when you don’t want to listen ti the washing machine going whilst working at home.

I took a couple of pictures of the packaging as well as the headphones themselves so that you can take a peak at the spec and everything that comes wiht them. Lindy seem to be pretty good at getting products out fast too! I was pleasantly surprised to see these get to me the next day and ironically I’ve taken a while to write about them just because I’ve actually been using them when concentrating on getting things done!

Competition

Lindy is a relatively unknown brand and as a result probably aren’t what you would think of as your first choice for a pair of headphones.  In fact you’d probably look at the Sennheiser, Sony, Panasonic or Philips branded headphones. But these are a competitive offering. If you want a professional opinion then What HiFi is a good place to compare the different prices and headphones as they have a huge range and rate these really well.

Conclusion

These are headphones that I’d use in the office and travelling where comfort is valued over form factor. I think for travelling to and from the office I’d go more with something smaller and in ear. My two criticisms of these headphones are that the cable is a bit short and that the build quality with the folding mechanism will probably means that these headphones won’t last as long as those that are just solid. I had a minor hiccup with one ear today whilst doing the review but a bit of wiggling about and they were back working again. Although even that’s nothing to worry about really as these do come with a 2 year guaruntee, so I could just simply send them back.

About Sarah Lamb

Sarah is the founder of the Girl Geek Dinners & GirlyGeekdom. She is a lover of gadgets, geeky things and sport! Find out more about her on her website.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | More Posts (289)