Man Made Horrors Beyond My Comprehension: The Apple Vision Pro

21.2 ounces, $3500, 256 gigabytes. Meet the Apple Vision Pro, a state of the art augmented reality device tailored to your every need. Seemingly straight from a sci-fi film, you simply don the headset and wave your hands to access immersive photos, play games, and escape within virtual landscapes. Its possibilities feel endless (much like the price tag)! In an age where technology has advanced to allow us such commodities, what isn’t there to love?

Image via

Well, the utopia-white goggles feel quite the opposite. The generous folks at Apple offer free in-store demonstrations of the device, and after taking a spin myself I must say it was the most beautiful nightmare I’ve ever had. Indubitably impeccable, I found myself far from the Chicago store on Michigan Avenue and on a 30 minute joyride through cyberspace. Following the experience I found myself within a state of reflection, squinting at the sunlight as I readjusted to the real world. I wonder, in the wake of perpetual threats made to creativity, AI creations, the looming dread of assured destruction in a world war through man-made weapons, and now the Apple Vision Pro— when is development in a field enough? While there are undoubtedly benefits to the product, I feel as though they were overshot in the interest of filling the space up with more features, and this presents a new future fear: that of film.

Towards the end of the demonstration I was shown a trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The characters danced across the screen of my personal theater, precisely where my cinephiliac dread broke through the immersion. Let’s take a step back to a time when movies primarily belonged to the big screen. There was something about the theatrical experience that beat an at-home watch, from the proper showcase of filmmaking to warm popcorn and a cold drink. Of course, COVID put a dent on things. With mass lockdowns movies faced delays, cancellations, and people began to switch to streaming. A prime example of this necessary adaptability came in the Summer of 2021 with the Fear Street trilogy: “after initially being intended for a unique three-month theatrical rollout, Fear Street’s release on Netflix essentially amounts to a three-week streaming event for a trio of feature-length films made on a major studio budget” (Surrey). A complex tradeoff was present, where the films still saw the light of day though on a smaller scale than originally intended in semi-isolation.

Image via

Following the decline of the pandemic and return to “normality,” Nope arrived in theaters with a technical twist: “Nope marked the first time the Imax format had been used for the horror genre, and Markoe says Peele understood how to use it creatively” (Tangcay). Here, development worked hand in hand with creative intent, resulting in the show stopping spectacle the film had intended to be for its audience. Yet 2 years later it seems as though the sentiment has regressed with the Apple Vision Pro. Impressive as it is, the film screening feature is a direct attack on the theatrical experience. Its convenience and experience render a trip to the cinema useless. The creativity involved in the Imax shooting of Nope would be for nothing if the theater didn’t have an audience. With that, what does the future of filmmaking and consumption look like?

Image via

Return to the dystopian nightmare. While nothing is for certain past the present and the product’s price tag may prevent it becoming a common commodity, the possibility for such a case is present. Would it result in another hit on the theater business? Could it sustain such a hit only a few years after COVID? Will the theatrical experience be lost to time? Is the future of filmmaking for a smaller screen than ever before?

Cover image via

Digital Get Down: Music that Anticipated Social Distance

An unanticipated oracle of our times, Soulja Boy has been equipped to make the isolation required of the current public health situation work since 2008. Kiss Me Thru The Phone is a responsible, self-quarantining anthem—he wants to get with his girl but acknowledges that he can’t right now, even though he misses her! He then offers some fantastic alternatives to physical interaction like calling and texting. (America, take notes.)

Music has long been used to chronicle the uncertainties of changing world orders, and in the latter half of the 20th century artists zeroed in on the modern-day industrial revolution: the rapidly changing nature of technology, and its growing presence in our everyday existence.

Aging silent film actress Norma Desmond resents the moviemaking technology that left her behind in Sunset Boulevard (1950). Image via.

One of the first pop hits to retrospectively examine the growth of media technology was British band The Buggles’ Video Killed The Radio Star (1979). It told the familiar tale of cultural obsolescence made possible by an unforeseen advancement in artistic production. After video, the next seismic shift in media saw the “talkies” (film + sound) kill the career of many a silent film star (see: the plots of Singin’ in the Rain and Sunset Boulevard). Actress Clara Bow famously couldn’t stop looking up at the microphones when making her first film with sound, and essentially retired at 25 after suffering a nervous breakdown due to the drastic shift required for her craft. Video Killed The Radio Star was, in a stroke of the most Shakespearian irony, the first music video featured on the innovative new Music Television channel when it launched in 1981. MTV dominated the next few decades, shaping a musical monoculture for two generations of teens until the Internet killed the Music Television star. 

Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks fell in love over AOL in You’ve Got Mail (1998). Image via.

The last few decades have seen music reckon with the omnipresence of technology with varying degrees of excitement. In 1985 (!), Zapp crooned about the vast opportunities to find true love online, claiming “I no longer need astrology / Thanks to modern technology” on Computer Love almost 30 years before the launch of Tinder. Britney Spears transplanted typical post-breakup woes onto the Web with Email My Heart (1999). *NSYNC’s Digital Get Down (2000) was the first song about sexting, with the band more than excited to “get together on the digital screen.” In concert performances, they would burst from a flow of code onto the stage. Lead singer and co-songwriter JC Chasez told Billboard “…it's essentially putting away your inhibitions and sharing something through the digital stream.” There was a pervasive sense of hope that the information highway would simply string the world together, creating an overarching sense of connectivity regardless of physical space.

Alongside this strain of techno-optimism ran artists with a deep-seated fear of the consequences of a drastically altered world. Electric Light Orchestra’s Time (1981) is a concept album that tells the story of a man who travels to 2095, a future plagued with widespread isolation. ELO’s perception of a future governed by alternative modes of communication was one in which softness and connection couldn’t survive. In the analog era, a social life conducted by technology seemed like an emotional death sentence. The third track, Yours Truly, 2095 presents a stark contrast to songs like Computer Love in its view of connection (or lack thereof) in the digital age as the narrator speaks of his 2095 girlfriend:

ELO’s futuristic girlfriend sounds an awful lot like Ava from Ex Machina (2014). Image via.

I met someone who looks a lot like you,
She does the things you do, but she is an IBM

She's only programmed to be very nice,
But she's as cold as ice, whenever I get too near,
She tells me that she likes me very much,
But when I try to touch, she makes it all too clear.

She is the latest in technology,
Almost mythology, but she has a heart of stone

One decade and zillions of technological advancements later, Prince explored similar themes with My Computer (1996). Firmly ensconced in the MTV era, Prince’s musings on a future governed by the Web were less apocalyptic and more reflective. Ever the pioneer, his philosophy was prescient of the current discourse on technology: machines simply reflect and amplify what we behind the screen are already prone to (à la Black Mirror). In the song he describes a loneliness that isn’t satisfied by any medium—neither paper letters nor phone calls provide a magical fix to social alienation. The Internet is merely another tool with which we can attempt or approximate connection:“I scan my computer looking for a site / Make believe it's a better world, a better life.”

The most comprehensively damning indictment of a digitized future came the next year with Radiohead’s third album OK Computer (1997). Thom Yorke’s signature brand of angst made for a frighteningly recognizable spectre of a socially atomized world. Fitter Happier, a song entirely spoken by early Apple computer voice “Fred” (a sort of proto-Siri), tears into the tension between striving for perfection with what we lose along the way. The song describes seemingly positive goals of modern society in a detached and robotic voice that demonstrates the cold byproducts of said goals:

No longer afraid of the dark or midday shadows, nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate
Nothing so childish
At a better pace, slower and more calculated
No chance of escape
Now self-employed
Concerned, but powerless

The next few months will surely reveal the possibilities and limitations of online spaces as stay at home orders are extended and our screen time skyrockets. How vast is the capacity for compassion and humanity in online spaces? What do we give up to survive? Which parts of us are translated through the screen and what do we leave behind? We have a pervasive desire to form narratives around history, and living in such a rapidly changing cultural moment makes that frustratingly impossible. I suppose it’ll be up to the artists, bloggers, and academics of the future to see if we become Radiohead-esque Paranoid Androids or if it's possible to live off of Zapp’s proposed Computer Love.

---

Featured image via

Feeling Anxious? Your Technology Usage Might Be the Problem

Do you experience a constant, low hum of anxiety? Do you compulsively check your email/Instagram/Facebook/Twitter/texts? Do you find yourself spending hours scrolling through Instagram or watching Youtube and Netflix to unwind? Do you feel stressed when you are unoccupied and can’t access your phone?

Gif via.

According to Cal Newport in his new book Digital Minimalism, all of these are symptoms of a decade that espouses the idea that all technology is worth taking advantage of if it displays any benefit at all, a philosophy which Newport labels “digital maximalism.”

He defines the counterpart, digital minimalism, as “a philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that support things you value and you happily miss out on everything else.” In other words, digital minimalism presents an actionable way to develop new habits and a healthier philosophy around technology use without demonizing it.

Newport’s book does attribute a host of negative effects to our current use of technology, but he does not advocate eliminating it or even deny its inherent usefulness and convenience. He just wants people to think more intentionally about how they use it and to recognize that a lot of the tech we use has been programmed to take advantage of our psychological hardware, keeping us locked in, whether or not that is what is good for us.

The primary disadvantage Newport sees with our current technology habits is that we do not engage in ‘solitude.’ Solitude is not simply isolation from other people, rather it is “freedom from input from other minds.” For example, being alone with your thoughts while sitting on a crowded subway without anything in your ears would be considered solitude, while reading a book in a remote mountain lodge would not be. This definition focuses on what your mind is processing rather than what your surroundings are.

Gif via.

It can feel uncomfortable or even repulsive to sit without looking at your phone or listening to music, but we underestimate the value of that time to ourselves. Solitude provides us with time for self-reflection and insight that helps us set our principles and values and to take action and make decisions that are in line with them. Solitude allows us to fully process all the information that we are constantly exposed to on a daily basis and to extract its full benefit. And there is evidence that our brains cannot function properly without solitude, leading to a host of negative side effects, including a rise in anxiety.

So how can we change this? How do we unhook ourselves from our refresh buttons and explore pages and become calmer and more introspective?

Here are some of the tactics Newport suggests that can help us all become digital minimalists:

1. Think about your values

   Take a journal session, meditate, and reflect on what you value. Adventure? Loyalty? Cats? Then evaluate your technology use and only keep things that significantly support one or more of those values.

2. Find high quality leisure activities

   We usually refer to these as ‘hobbies.’ Sewing, reading, running, gardening, etc. Find activities that you like to do just for the sake of doing them.

3. Schedule low-quality leisure time

   Think about when you really want to watch Netflix. Saturday mornings? Wednesday afternoons? Put it on your calendar and feel free to enjoy for that period of time.

4. De-bundle your tech

   Make your phone a phone again. Dumb it down to a single use computer as much as possible.

5. Have a regular schedule for calling and texting friends

   Make time to reach out and make plans to meet in person. It’s easy to become disconnected from people you care about while feeling connected to a device all the time.

6. Turn on Do Not Disturb

   This prevents you from responding to messages as soon as they come in and allows you to stay focused on who and what is around you. Only give certain people the ability to reach you 24/7. The rest can wait until you’re ready to turn off Do Not Disturb and deal with their communications.

7. Don’t click “Like” ever.

   “Liking” something conditions your brain into thinking that social media is an acceptable alternative to conversation. In reality, it isn’t. If you want to comment on something someone posted, tell them about it over the phone, over text, or in person!

8. Hold conversation office hours

   Sit in a coffee shop at a specific time each week and tell people that’s where you’ll be. Your friends or anyone who wants to talk with you can drop by to chat. Do some of that SOSC reading while you’re there too!

9. Have a specific time to check the news

   And only check high quality sources. Facebook, Instagram, and the Snapchat discover page don’t count. Use a site like Allsides to make sure you’re encountering high quality sources from multiple perspectives and an app like Instapaper to gather the articles you want to read so you don’t fall down a depressing news black hole.

10. Play games with your friends

    Playing games with friends is like supercharged social activity. Have a wine-and-board-game-night!

11. Join something new

    Seek activities that require real-world, structured social interactions.

12. Have a seasonal and weekly leisure plan

    This can help you make intentional decisions about how and what you want to spend your leisure time on.

13. Delete social media from your phone

    Seriously. The app versions of these sites are designed to be way more addictive than the online ones. Instead, use social media like a professional. Ask yourself if Anna Wintour would do it like you are.

14. Download Freedom

    Freedom blocks certain websites when you want to focus or when you want to force yourself to be away from the internet and in the analog world. Which, for a student body with so much reading to do, should be an awful lot.

15. Take a 30 day non-essential technology break

    I put this last because I didn’t want to scare you off! Try it! Take a month and only use the internet for the truly essential things you have to do. Writing papers, checking reading, responding to email, etc. Then intentionally add back in the tech that reflects your values.

Feature gif via.

Robot Stylist? A Hard Pass

Skepticism and utter confusion are appropriate terms to describe my general reaction to strange developments in the fashion industry; however, when we're combining that with my indefinitely glazed-over eyes at the thought of machine learning and artificial intelligence, we have a recipe for disaster.

So, I proudly present to you... Amazon's Echo Look.

Image Via

Here was my thought process upon seeing this:

Stage 1: Discomfort

Image Via

Why does this Echo Look resemble an elongated Eve from WALL-E? It's ruining my childhood a bit and freaks me out a lot. (Pixar, any thoughts on litigation?) But let's focus on the product. Why does this product normalize a creepy vibe of constant surveillance and why does it add YET ANOTHER potential judgmental eye to my strange fashion sense? What actual benefit can this product offer to people who struggle with fashion sense? Why is Amazon advertising for me to spend $200 to get laughed at?

Stage 2: Actually being an adult and doing some research

Image Via

Turns out, this isn't just a product where you can ask, "How do I look?" and receive an uncomfortable "ehhhh, try again" in response. Amazon claims that the product will take pictures of your outfit (upon your request, duh) and use algorithms "based on current trends and what flatters you" to suggest future outfits. That's basically the Style Check feature, which will compare your outfits with each other to see which ensembles might work best on you. So it seems that the success of this product relies on your already existent fashion choices with potentially some influence of the world around us (read: you're going to see a lot of Stan Smith and sheer black mesh shirts... fantastic!). The interface looks a lot like Instagram too.

Stage 3: Final thoughts

Let's preface this by saying that I don't really trust machines. We like to think AIs and software developments can make our lives a lot easier, but that might just be a huge aspect of White America. I know that might take some people aback, but just think about the mechanisms running soap dispensers or facial recognition that leave some demographics at a loss. As for this product, it seems that it's for people who already have cohesive looks and would potentially ogle at the thought of its built-in ring light. If you're really looking for some help with fashion sense, you might want to consider some cheaper and better suited products, such as subscription fashion boxes. Think Birchbox and Ipsy but led by fashion experts. Some great examples are Le Tote, Rocksbox, and Stitchfix. These boxes will curate - through a short quiz - what sorts of styles you like and send you monthly boxes of what will work best for you. If you don't like it, there are decent return policies as well.

---

It seems that maybe this is just a fad and it'll go away or maybe Amazon will find a way to make this product a little more productive. I'm not sure. But for now, I'll steer clear.

Feature Image Via

Interview Series: How Hintd Plans to Shake up the Online Shopping Scene

Welcome to MODA's Interview Series, where we feature influencers and leaders in the fashion industry in the Chicago area and beyond to discuss their design inspirations, their creative backgrounds and what it means to be a self-starter in the fashion world today.  

Lucy Danziger and her team wanted to create an online platform that would take the guesswork out of gift giving. Their solution is Hintd, a brand new shopping app launching this fall that serves as both a curated e-shopping platform as well as a streamlined, user-driven online registry and wishlist. We sat down with the Hintd team to talk about the app's conception, how they hope to grow their platform, and their exciting Brand Ambassadors program.

---

First things first, please introduce your team! How did you all get involved with Hintd? Were you always set on pursuing careers in fashion and tech?

Lucy Danziger was the former Editor-in-Chief of SELF Magazine for over 12 years. Through her Condé Nast years, she worked with a vast array of talented young women, many of whom are now in magazines and digital publishing, so when she started Hintd, she called on her former editors and colleagues and several joined.

The first person to join the team was her long-time colleague at SELF magazine, Francesca Castagnoli, fashion writer, market editor and curatorial eye, who had worked at Harper’s Bazaar and Condé Nast, as well as helping launch Gilt Home and writing for many magazines over the years. Both Lucy and Francesca share a love of helping women get the life they want, and envisioning that life through shopping for things that bring meaning and delight. Francesca joined Hintd at the beginning as Chief of Content and now is in charge of curating all lists and creating the beautiful rich discoverable content on the site.

Lucy Danziger, founder of Hintd; image via WWD

Lucy Danziger met Sophie Smith, when she was at Kate Spade and had just worked on six continents growing Kate Spade. That company was about to launch shoppable pins on Pinterest, and Sophie realized right away that Hintd was a whole new kind of experience–part user driven, part curated. When Sophie heard about Hintd, she knew she had to be involved because it put the consumer in the middle of the conversation. She joined the team as Director of Marketing.

Lastly, Claire Wardlaw, Content and Operations Coordinator, came to Hintd from her job in fashion retail, as an assistant buyer, and has taken over much of the operational and editorial support for the team and app.

Hintd is a brand new app launching this fall—what inspired you to create your own online shopping interface? 

When I was the Editor of a magazine, various people would send me gifts, usually orchids, which died within four days. I always thought everyone should have a list–like an everyday registry without the bride–since it would be so helpful to know what people loved, including charities they support, so you could not waste money and get something useful or meaningful.

I have also always believed in rewarding yourself and I always pushed that concept at Self. If you are treating yourself right, exercising and being responsible to yourselves and others, working hard and making strides toward your goals, you deserve to reward yourself. With either a gift or experience like a massage or something you rarely treat yourself to.

When I was graduating college a woman in my grade showed up at breakfast one morning with a huge sapphire and diamond ring and I gasped. “You’re engaged”? She said “No, I just really wanted a ring and I bought this for myself as a graduation present.” I thought: so smart. So many women get engaged when they just should buy themselves a ring, but not get stuck with the wrong guy! It was a revelation to me. That women could just treat themselves to jewelry and not wait for a man to buy it for them. Hintd believes in telling the universe what you want and then going and getting it–on your own terms.

Hintd's interface allows you to create themed registries or wish lists that suit every occasion, whether your merely on the hunt for cool workout gear, brainstorming bridesmaid gifts or trying to put together a graduate gift guide for all your clueless relatives!

Hintd is pitched as an app that will revolutionize the world of online shopping; how exactly will it go about doing so? What distinguishes Hintd from its competitors?

For most women, sitting in front of a screen and shopping can be both isolating and overwhelming. I need a dress for a wedding, so I go to a retail site and see hundreds of dresses and I don’t like any of them. Suddenly you feel out of it–what are my friends wearing? Long or short? Sexy or straight-laced? I just exit the page, and don’t buy anything. Or other times I like shopping in the context of a blog or online fashion story, and when I see what I like and go to open tabs, but not transact at that moment–I’ll close out the tabs and lose track of where the items were. When I finally am in the mood to buy something, or have figured out what I want, often I can’t find what I wanted in the first place.

Hintd solves these problems, and more. It’s like having a dialogue with your friends–the ones with really good taste, instead of shopping alone. On Hintd, you see what friends and influencers have added, and you get to become a recommender or influencer in your own set. Each hint or list is like saying: Here’s what I want, what do you want? It’s like shopping with friends since you can compare and comment and have fun collaborating on lists. We bring the social back to shopping online. Collaborative lists let you plan a party, a trip or any other event with friends and make your list together.

The obvious competition is Pinterest, but that’s often very frustrating as a shopping experience, since most of the leads take you to blogs and content that is not where to buy. You can spend hours and never find what you liked in the first place, or it’s out of stock. Pinterest is a scrapbooking site, where you collect ideas. Then marketers see what you are pinning and put their messaging around it.

On Hintd, which is designed for shopping and sharing, you can find what you want and click through to buy it. We have built a Chrome extension and an up-loader tool that will pull in all the relevant information and save it. The experience is an enjoyable discovery process, a peer-to-peer site. Hintd brings the social experience of going shopping with your girlfriends online and allows you to keep track of everything you want in one place, without feeling the pressure to buy immediately.

Describe an average day working at the Hintd offices.

Hintd’s offices are in Tribeca’s Spring Studios, a bustling co-working and event space for fashion and tech companies. With fashion as a main driver for the space, we often are amid season previews and debuts, photo shoots, and events that seamlessly meld the worlds of tech and fashion. It’s fun never knowing what to expect, but despite the excitement, we keep a fairly steady office routine.

We get in at 10 a.m., catch up, outline the tasks for the day, plan the newsletter, curate lists and sell sponsorship–plus work to grow the site. Around 1 p.m., we step out for lunch in one of the many tasty spots nearby (often ending with amazing cookies from Café Clementine), and sometimes we end the day on the rooftop terrace to decompress and have a glass of wine, while we plan for the day and week to come.

What are some of the day-to-day challenges of running a start up?

While growth and development are exciting, it can be nerve-racking as well to not have the security of a giant company, and raising money is always challenging, though we suddenly have a lot more interest in what we are building. We work with developers who are off-site, and endure some degree of delay with the site build itself, but really the positives far outweigh the negatives.

With a small team and no corporate ladder to deal with, we can produce content very quickly and efficiently. If we decide to make a change in the content, we do it. The company is nimble because we work together, and can act fast when news or events come up that drives a list idea, or a new growth partnership opportunity. And despite the distance from our developers, they’re incredible and our system of staying up to date with them is fantastic (thanks, Slack)!

What are some of the best parts of running and working for a start up?

All the freedom and ability to move fast that allow you to be nimble and ahead of the game. How often do you say to yourself: I wish I could convince my boss to do X (where X is something new, innovative and risk taking)? We just do that thing, since we see that as our job, to lead and innovate, make partnerships and grow. The things we don’t think of to grow the company and make an impact in the community are what scare me, since it’s never done, never enough and never over for the day.

Who is Hintd’s target audience? Why is an app interface the best way to reach these shoppers?

Hintd is actually accessible for anyone who loves shopping, organization, discovery, and being social! We say our target is 18-34 year olds, but we really try to make sure our platform has something for everyone. So many women say to me: I may not be your demographic but I love it! 

Tell us a little about the Hintd Ambassador program. What would an ideal candidate look like?

Ambassadors are those influencers who love to tell their friends about what is new and cool, so we try to sign up women or men who like to try the latest app or idea and then let their friends know about it. I can tell you who told me about Instagram first, so many years ago. I know that there are people who love to be early adapters. The Ambassadors make lists, let their friends know about Hintd and try to spread the word in their social set. We ask them to help sign up at least 10 people but how they do that is up to them. Please let us know if you are interested in joining, by emailing editors@hintd.com and we can help you get started. We also like to mentor and give advice about careers in publishing and marketing, digital or otherwise. 

Looking towards the future, do you have any ideas (or hopes!) with regards to how Hintd will continue to grow and expand?

We hope to be the shopping platform for the next generation. We want this to be your social shopping site, so it’s really up to you how we grow. Hopefully you will invite all your friends, like Venmo but for shopping.

Finally, do you have any advice for individuals interested in pursuing a career in fashion, tech, or even launching their own startups? 

The truth is if you are passionate about your choice of career you will succeed. And if you’re not you probably should find a new choice. The most successful people I know would show up for free because they love what they do. Love your work, the saying goes, and you will never work a day in your life. That, and meet everyone, be inclusive, and share information and leads. Truth is this is one big happy family and community, and if you help others, they help you back.

---

Start your own Hintd account today and see what all the buzz is about! Download the app here! 

All images via Hintd

iPhone Accessories You Never Knew You Needed

As if your phone didn't already keep your life from falling apart, what would we do without our alarm clock/shopping hub/calendar/source of entertainment/nap-timer/weatherman, take your iPhone do double (and triple) duty with these practical add-ons - you'll wonder how you ever managed before without them. 

Clip On Lenses

Image via

Take your selfie game to the next level with this cute clip-on lens. Compact and easy to attach, this little gadget will have you seeing life through rose colored glasses. 

Shop here

Image via

This iPhone add-on lets you take stunning wide-angle shots your phone alone can't quite capture. Bring it along for your next vacation and save yourself space in your carry-on. While on the pricier side, when compared to the price of a high-end camera it's practically a steal. 

Shop here

USB Keychain

Image via

Always have your cables on hand with this cute clip on bag charm. The leather tassel comes in a variety of colors to mix and match with all of your purses, because dead phone batteries kill a mood like nothing else. 

Shop here

Ring Stand

Image via

Call this the accessory you never know you needed in your life. This rose gold (sold already) ring stand means you don't have to worry about about sending your phone flying when you get slippery fingers and doubles as a little kickstand to prop your phone up.

Shop here 

Swiss Army Knife Case 

Image via

You never know where life is going to take you so it's always better to come prepared (with a nail file, scissors, tweezers, toothpick and screwdrivers). Just in case ya know? 

Shop here

Feature image via

The Tech Accessory That Changed My Life

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm low-key (ok maybe more like high-key) obsessed with my Fitbit. I received it as a birthday present shortly before the start of Fall Quarter and we've been inseparable ever since. I wear it every day, to bed and in the shower if I'm brain dead and forget to take it off. I've even stopped wearing my favorite watches in favor of my Fitbit. 

Part of a larger trend of wearable technology, Fitbits are a great way to keep an eye on your daily activity levels. At just the tap of a finger, you can see the time, steps taken and calories burned. The device has an associated app which helps track sleep and allows you to track your stats over time. The Fitbit is usually pretty quick to pick up on exercise and on the app you can manually log or label various exercises - from boxing to Zumba.

Depending on your lifestyle, you can also set goals for number of steps, calories burned, miles walked, and active minutes. Nothing gets me huffing up the stairs instead of taking the elevator then seeing that I'm 500 steps away from hitting my goal.   

App home screen; image via

On top of tracking your daily movements, Fitbit sends you an email, summarizing your weekly averages and how they compare to the previous week's stats. Seeing that I got less sleep than the week before is a helpful reminder to take care of myself more and try harder to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Another cool feature is the "Friends" aspect to bring out your competitive side as you challenge friends to see who can move the most. 

Compared to an Apple Watch, the Fitbit Alta is a very sleek, minimalist design that is discreet and practically unnoticeable on the wrist. The basic rubber wrist band is practical, sturdy and perfect for everyday wear and sweating it out at the gym. But for the more design inclined, Fitbit has several more ornate designs that look more like jewelry than a fitness tracker. Tory Burch has also designed a line of luxe leather wristbands for a more high-end edgy vibe. 

Wearing my Fitbit has made me much more conscious about how much I move (or don't - Reg days are bad days for my Fitbit) and motivates me to go to the gym or walk around campus more to hit my daily 10K steps. I now try to walk more when I would normally take the shuttle or choose the stairs instead of the elevator. The ability to see how each day compares to previous ones brings out the competitive side in me (to the benefit of my health) and pushes me to take a pause from studying in Mansueto to go for a lap and get my heart pumping. 

Shop Fitbits and accessories here. 

Feature image via

Higher Learning with Highbrow

So in case your inbox wasn't already overflowing from subscription emails (we promise you'll thank us down the road or in your next sosc class), we've found another service that will help make you a more well-rounded student (and human-being) in just a few minutes a day. Think of it like a Ted Talk in your inbox every morning - engaging, diverse and bite size learning on cool topics.

Image via

Highbrow features hundreds of mini courses covering a wide variety of subjects, from the academic to the professional to the personal. Offerings include "Cyber Security Basics", "The Secret of Body Language", "A Short History of the Universe", "History of European Epidemics", "Superfoods You Should Know About" and more, spanning 12 topics from art, health, and productivity, to science, technology, languages and travel. Courses are ten days long and broken up into 5 minute lessons perfect for absorbing along with your morning coffee.

For $4 a month, you can get a premium subscription and gain access to exclusive courses and 100% of their course catalog, all ad-free. Half of the fee goes to the Highbrow "teachers" who design the courses, many of whom are prestigious professors at top universities!   

Sign up for Highbrow here!

Feature image via

11 Apps For Adulting 101

There's no point in trying to deny that for most of us, our cellphone is basically an extension of our hands or about as vital as oxygen for our day-to-day functioning. Go beyond Snapchat or Instagram (aka the easiest way to turn a 5 minute "study break" into a 40 minute scroll session) and check out the following apps that make being (an almost) grown up that much easier. 

Finance

Image via

• Mint: Get a handle on your personal finances with this handy app that brings together all the different aspects of your financial life. Track your daily spending, pay bills, and keep an eye on your credit score all in one spot. Mint even offers weekly summaries and warnings when you go over the budget you set for yourself. 
• Splitwise: Think of it as Venmo for grown-ups. Splitwise helps you split shared expenses with roommates so that everyone pays their fair share. It also includes helpful reminder emails and redirects money owed as needed. 
• Plates: Actually integrated into the Splitwise app, Plates makes the tricky task of splitting the bill between friends at dinner that much easier. Simply enter each dish, including shared appetizers and such, and Plates will calculate how much everyone owes counting tip and taxes. 
• Robinhood: While that #brokecollegelife feeling may be all too real, it's never too soon to start investing, even if you only set aside coffee money once a week or use a birthday check. Robinhood lets you trade stocks without charging a commission fee and stay on top of your portfolio with real time market data and notifications for important market events. 

Political

Image via

• Countable: If 2016 was the year of realizing anything, it's that politics matter and you can have an impact. Register your voting district on Countable, select the issues that matter to you the most and you will be notified about upcoming related bills and how to get in touch with your local representatives. 
• Politico: The election may be over, but stay in the know all year round with the app from this non-partisan news source. With a focus on the White House and Congress, the app includes extensive article coverage, videos and morning newsletters.   
• Buypartisan: Put your money where your mouth is with the Buypartisan app that scans product barcodes and displays the political donations of the company's CEO, Board of Directors and employees. 

Useful

Image via

• Sleep Cycle: While it might be a badge of honor at UChicago to boast about how little sleep you got, sleep is a vital part of any healthy lifestyle. Sleep Cycle tracks your sleep to wake you up at the lightest part of your cycle so that you start the day feeling fresh and well-rested.  
• Myfitnesspal: Hop back on the healthy New Year's resolutions bandwagon with this app, which allows you to set fitness goals and helps you achieve them. Track what you eat with a calorie counter that has food from grocery stores and nearby restaurants on hand. 
• Tiny Scanner: Turn your iPhone into a portable scanner and always have your important documents saved as PDFs in your pocket. An easy to use interface allows you to easily share documents, adjust the brightness, and even password protect the most important documents. 
• Cam Card: Keep track of the business cards you accumulate during the eternal internship hunt with Cam Card which allows you to scan cards, exchange e-cards, and manage your professional contacts with tags, notes and a search function. 

Feature image via

Camera Basics

DSLRs are getting cheaper every year and with the introduction of mirrorless cameras, more people are starting to buy prosumer level cameras. And nothing annoys me more than when I see someone with a really nice camera but they're shooting in Automatic mode. Now if you're planning on buying a camera, I would suggest splurging on the lens and getting a cheaper body. Glass is key. Through this post, understand and worship the trifecta of photography: Aperture, ISO, and Shutter Speed.

Image via

Shutter speed is the easiest and most straightforward to understand. It's the duration of how long a camera's shutter will be open for. If you have a fast shutter speed, you'll freeze a subject in motion. With a slower shutter speed, the moving subject will come out blurred.

ISO refers to the sensitivity of the sensor. The smaller the ISO number (the lower the ISO), the less sensitive to light the sensor is, and the less grain there will be in the final result.

Aperture refers to how much light is let through the lens. The greater the aperture, the wider the hole will be, and the lower the number and the more light will be let in. In the diagram above, f1.4 is the maximum aperture and f32 is the minimum aperture. Aperture also affects depth of field of the photograph. To get a shallow depth of field, use a wider aperture, and to get a deep depth of field, use a narrow aperture.

Of course, before taking a photography, you're going to combine all three. Keep ISO as low as possible and adjust shutter speed and aperture as needed. Most, if not all, DSLRs and mirrorless SLRs have an Aperture priority mode. Set the aperture and the ISO and the camera will select the appropriate shutter speed.

If you're shooting sports, wildlife, moving cars, or anything with motion, set the camera to Shutter Speed Priority, and the camera will select the appropriate aperture. (You can always set ISO to auto too; generally try avoiding going over 2000).

We hope these tips have helped you understand the different functions of your DLSR. Enjoy the summer, and get ready to capture those memories!

Kai is a freelance photographer at Gallery K1.

Featured image via

Superstar Supermodels: Karlie Kloss's Kode with Klossy

Prompted by a super adorable Instagram video with Bill Nye and the White House (yes, Karlie, this is "L I F E G O A L S." to a T!), I did some online digging around to explore the amazing work Karlie Kloss has been doing of late. Her Kode with Klossy CS classes and scholarship initiative and recent involvement with the White House Science Fair typify Karlie Kloss as a Superstar Supermodel.

Image via

Her Kode with Klossy scholarship program and coding camp for middle and high school aged girls extends the typically female-foreign field of computer science to young and motivated girls who may have struggled to gain access to this field before. This Tech Crunch Interview gets into Karlie's motivations and own experience learning Ruby on Rails at the Flatiron School. She has experienced much positive feedback from her peers and coworkers in the fashion and modeling industry, further fueling her desire to spread coding to even more girls. Extremely driven by the empowering feeling coding gives her, Karlie is launching three Coding Summer Camps with scholarships this summer in St. Louis, New York, and Los Angeles for girls aged 13 to 18. The previous camp's scholars' application videos are also available on the Kode with Klossy site (and definitely worth a watch when you're needing a dose of female empowerment!).

Image via

This past week, Karlie continued her empowerment of young girls and encouragement for the STEM industries at the White House Science Fair. Documented via Snapchat and Instagram (both @karliekloss), the model engaged with students and scholars of all ages and backgrounds as they presented their projects and research in D.C. In combination with the annual Science Fair, the Obama administration actively promotes the “Educate to Innovate” campaign and goal of extending opportunities for computer science education to every child.

Who runs the world? #supergirls // Image via

The need for increased women representation in STEM fields (among the many other feminist movements) is not new news. The initiatives of the influential role models, such as Karlie Kloss, that extend education and empower young women show how closing the gender gap can be made possible.

Image via

A Snapchat Fashion Campaign? How Tech is Changing the Fashion Industry

It's hard to ignore the many ways in which social media and app interfaces have revolutionized the world of high fashion–from redefining the meaning of ready-to-wear (many designers allow their collections to be purchased the minute their looks hit the runway) to propelling new faces and brands to the forefront of the industry through their skillful navigation of platforms such as Instagram.

It seems as if user friendly, fast fashion has reached an all time fever pitch–from designers scouting their next cover girls through Instagram competitions to unveiling campaigns online or over social media weeks before their printed release. Most recently, Snapchat became an essential platform for sharing the ins and outs of fall/winter ready-to-wear fashion weeks around the world. The app highlighted city specific "Snapstories" for the New York, London, Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks, which featured a compilation of Snaps from famous bloggers, models, designers and show attendees. Magazines also took matters into their own hands, with Vogue and W magazine inviting industry insiders to take over their accounts to document each day.

Leveraging social media has become an integral aspect of the continued success for fashion industry favorites like Lucky Blue Smith and Hailey Baldwin; image via

Snapchat, it appears, is the latest go to platform for major fashion labels. Tommy Hilfiger recently announced over Instagram a competition that offers five lucky fans the opportunity to join current campaign stars Hailey Baldwin and Lucky Blue Smith in Hilfiger's latest #HilfigerDenim photoshoot. The instructions simply prompt Snapchatters to tell the label why they deserve a coveted spot on the campaign in a creative way, and of course, under the constraint's of Snapchat's ten second video limit.

Personalized Snapcodes are affiliated with all Snapchat accounts and allow users to easily add one another; image via

Similarly, British brand Burberry is utilizing Snapchat as a platform for sharing their latest Mr. Burberry mens fragrance and grooming products campaign. The advertisements can be viewed via the Snapchat Discovery feature, which was also utilized to advertise the brand's fall/winter collection during London Fashion Week. Burberry and Snapchat are also collaborating on Snapcodes—"scannable in-store promotions that enable consumers to unlock Mr. Burberry-themed content using mobile devices" (RetailDIVE).

There is, of course, a caveat to this mutually beneficial merger between fashion and tech. Among other issues, these collaborations frequently eliminate or throw into question the role of traditional advertising, marketing and print industries within the schema of the fashion and technology.

featured image via

Forq - the New Instagram Just for Foodies

Whether your Insta "theme" is #foodporn or you just love sharing a perfectly composed brunch shot, there's something so satisfying about sharing a beautiful pic of delicious food. Forq is a new app that caters to foodies of all stripes. Share your "snack shots" with the rest of the world and then spend the rest of the afternoon drooling over everyone else's treats. Think of Forq as an Instagram just for food with a few special upgrades. You can share your pics, "like" other people's beautifully plated dinners and include specific tags to label your photos. The app offers the option to scroll through your photos and will automatically save any food images to your draft folder so you can publish them with just a swipe of the finger.

Image via

Forq aims to be more than just a social media platform of artfully curated cappuccino photos. The company's mission, to “celebrate, share, and remember” food, means they are focused on the whole foodie experience. This extends to recipes. Forq will transcribe any recipe you take a picture of (whether handwritten or from a cookbook) and store it so you can review it later at the supermarket or share with friends. It will even calculate the nutritional facts and appropriate serving sizes for even your grandma's special pie recipe.

The cheery red and white interface is pretty straightforward. You can create a profile, include a photo and a bio, share recipes publicly or privately and organize them into themed "collections".

Maybe ease up on making your friends jealous with a shot of last night's perfectly plated dessert and head over to Forq and its community of foodies.

Free for iOS users

Featured image via

What are your favorite new apps? Let us know in the comments below!

12 Apps You Need to Try Right Now

There are days when it feels like you probably spend more time on your phone than interacting with real people (to be honest, that sounds like most days). We've shared some of our favorites to try and be productive during that time, and no, Snapchat doesn't count as "productive" nor does perfecting your selfie. But beyond the usual suspects of social media, there are so many apps out there that can help you do anything from brush up on a foreign language to extricate you from a bored-to-tears-nothing-in-common blind date. And the best part? They're (almost) all free!

Health

Clue: Never be caught by surprise in white jeans and a surprise visit by Mother Nature! Clue is designed to help you track your period and fertility while eschewing the traditional pink frilly design of most menstrual cycle tracking services. You can also jot down notes about your mood, the pain, and sexual activity all in a clean and simple interface.

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Mind Body: Maybe you just can't get out of bed at 7am but love the thrill of kickboxing or you're a die-hard spin fan, Mind Body allows you to find and book fitness classes from around the city on your phone. Read reviews, search for yoga studios nearby or check out deals in the neighborhood. Mind Body can also connect to your FitBit to help you track your progress and stay on track to achieve your fitness goals.

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Plant Nanny: New Year's resolutions, including one to drink more water, have long since fallen by the wayside. Get back on track with Plant Nanny, a cute app that encourages you to drink more water in order to keep virtual-you-as-a-plant happy. After inputting basic information (height, weight, etc), Plant Nanny calculates how much water a day you should be drinking and sends you push notifications to keep you on track. Don't drink your designated amount and your plant starts to look sad and wimpy.

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Social

Tab: Going out to dinner with friends is fun. Not so fun? Trying to split the check fairly at the end. Tab takes the fuss out of trying to figure out exactly how much everyone owes. You simply scan the check and select what you ordered and Tab calculates how much you owe including tax and tip so that you don't end up covering part of your friend's steak when you only ordered a salad.

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Image via

Gotta Go: You walk into a blind date and can tell it's not going to end well. He looks nothing like his profile picture, can't stop talking about himself and reeks of gross cologne. You need an out ASAP without being obvious about how terrible the date is going. Your favorite naked-selfie comedian Chelsea Handler developed "Gotta Go" to help you extricate yourself from an undesirable event. It allows you to schedule a text or phone call to your own phone that can be used as "proof" that your roommate really did fall down the stairs and you need to meet her at the ER or that your friends car is being towed.

Available for free for iPhone

Game

Neko Atsume: Thanks to Taylor Swift's trailblazing, we can all be crazy cat ladies without shame. Now, you never have to part with your furry friends. Neko Atsume is a Japanese mobile game app where you try and lure cats to their yards. Ridiculous sounding? Just try it and see how unexpectedly addictive and soothing it is.

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Photography

Image via

VSCO Cam: In an age of almost Instagram saturation, where any photo uploaded to basically any platform need to have a magic wand of filtering passed over it, a mega saturated Valencia filter just looks amateur. VSCO Cam aims for more subtle tweaks to up your game. You can apply a wide range of color filters, tweak the sharpness or adjust the saturation. The design is very streamlined and minimalist and takes some time to fully appreciate all the app has to offer. More themed pre-set filters can be bought in the app but the standard ones included do just fine.

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Phhhhoto: The day Facebook added GIFs to messenger was a great day indeed. And you know that if Mark Zuckerberg and Miley Cyrus are behind it, it's going to be great. Phhhoto turns your photos into fun gifs with special filter options available daily. You can easily share to other social media platforms and the platform is very intuitive.

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Other

RobinHood: UChicago is the home of econ after all so get in on the excitement of free market economics (find out how truly UChicago you are here) with the RobinHood app. Stylish and slick, the app helps you buy and sell stocks without paying the usual $7 fee per trade. Fingerprint login provides extra security and a clean layout makes buying and selling shares simple and fuss free. RobinHood also amasses news from the web about the stocks so you can stay informed. Keynes would be proud.

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Image via

DuoLingo: Something about learning from a green parrot feels distinctly elementary school but the idea of DuoLingo is to help you learn (or keep up) a new language through simple exercises every day. With lots of game like influences - "lives" that you lose if you don't pass an exercise, points for practicing every day - DuoLingo offers a fun and engaging way to learn over 20 languages, including Esperanto and soon-to-be-released Klingon (told you we were nerds).

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Colorfy: Coloring books are not just for pre-K anymore. They've become bona fide accepted ways for even adults to de-stress. Colorfy offers mandalas, puzzles, and other patterns for users to pick their colors of choice and fill in the designs. Share your artistic creations on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Available for free for iPhone and Android

Featured image via

What are your favorite apps? Let us know in the comments below!

iPhone Photography Tips for the MODA Show

With the Winter 2016 MODA Fashion Show just around the corner, now is the time to update your iPhone-ography skills and expand your editing app arsenal. These tips and tricks will help you capture the best moments and memories to flood your Instagram feed in style - even with your shattered, old iPhone 5 whose screen fades to purple!

1. VSCO - Free

Notorious for its Letter+Number Filter Names, the VSCO app is a quick and easy way to enhance your snaps. My go-to filters are A6 and S2.

Downloadable here: Apple and Android.

2. Afterlight - $0.99

A super-thorough app for all your photo editing needs, from adjusting basic brightness and contrast to creating a circle frame for your pics.

Downloadable here: Apple and Android.

3. Layout - Free

Perfect for combining all the many pictures you'll be capturing at the show - for posting everything everywhere, without completely overwhelming your very jealous friends' feeds. Easily add boarders and switch photos around in this super user friendly app!

Downloadable here: Apple and Android.

4. Boomerang - Free

Capture the motion of the walking models on the catwalk with this app, which stitches together a burst of photos into a moving image. Make your Instagram resemble a Harry Potter newspaper, minus a bit of the wizard drama.

Downloadable here: Apple and Android.

5. 1 Second Everyday - Free

Not so much for photo editing but an awesome project idea to capture your memories from the show or the year - 1 second video snippet style. Create a vlog-montage of the show or capture the highlight of your February 26th for a year long project!

Downloadable here: Apple and Android.

And don't forget to tag @modauchicago for any photos you take!

Images taken from each respective app.

Featured Image via.

The Marble Aesthetic

Ever since GMYLE introduced their widely popular marble tech collection, the pattern usually reserved for kitchen countertops is appearing all over the place. From laptop cases to bracelets, marble is making its mark on every necessary accessory. And honestly, we love it!

Starting with the original marble collection laptop case, GMYLE has created the perfect classy tech case:

image via

And they didn't stop there! You can find phone cases, iPad cases, charging stations, and keyboard decals:

image via 

To order click here

With the rise of marble tech accessories, the marble pattern has been popping up everywhere!

Here are a few of our favorite aesthetically pleasing items:

Marble necklace by Madewell

image via

Click here for more

Marble earrings by H and M

image via

Click here for more

And finally the cutest marble journal by Urban Outfitters

image via

Click here for more

Featured image via

3-D-Printing a Second Skin

It attracts attention, it responds to attention. It morphs in response to various internal and external stimuli. Temperature, fear, passion, moisture, anger, and exhilaration are all factors which cause it to expand and contract. This is the garment of the future. Not only is "Caress of the Gaze" a garment that attracts attention, but it is also one that can stare back.

Created by Behnaz Farahi, this 3-D-printed animatronic wearable can detect a human gaze. The cape detects when and where you're being stared at and has the ability to shape-shift in response. So, ever wondering if that feeling of the heat of someone's stare is warranted?  This wearable garment will literally move and change to tell you if such is the case.

Image via

Caress of the Gaze is a stunning, modern cape modeled after the morphology of fish and snake scales. Each quill is a 3-D-printed piece of flexible mesh which mimics the movement of the innate human reaction to stimuli: goose bumps.

Farahi writes, "Our skin is constantly in motion...What if our clothing could behave as an artificial skin capable of changing its shape and operating as an interface with the world defining social issues such as intimacy, gender and even personal identities?" The forward thinking demonstrated by Farahi is remarkable. Her use of 3-D-printing technology to create clothing not only looks fashion forward but is additionally a technological masterpiece.

Image via

How does the garment actually work, you may ask? A camera lens 3 mm in diameter is stealthily placed right below the neck under the quills. The lens maps the viewers stare through a computer algorithm and reports back to the spines covering the wearable. The spines then attach to the specific spot and sway and stiffen to move just as human skin could.

Fashion is an ever-changing field. This garment combines the worlds of fashion, art, technology and design. Farahi's creation of the "Caress of the Gaze" garment opens up the possibility to a radical new approach to interactive clothing. Keep up with Behnaz Farahi on her website and see what is to come next!

Feature GIF via

New Dimensions in Fashion

In the past couple of years, the fashion industry has been experimenting and fusing with the technological world, ranging from 3D printed pieces peppering the runways to custom made insoles from a 3D scan of one's foot. While browsing around the internet about the tech side of today's fashion industry, I noticed two very interesting garment projects which combine3D printing technology with the social interactions of the wearer. Caress of the Gaze is a wearable-tech garment, created by LA-based artist and architect Behnaz Farahi, that responds to the gazes of others.

(Image via The Guardian)

The cape utilizes an eye-tracking camera at the front of the chest which can accurately estimate the age and gender of the gazer. The garment will then mimic the body language of being stared at, gently shifting its form and morphing its 3D printed fibers. Farahi has referred to her goal in creating the Caress of the Gaze cape as desiring to create “an extension of our own skin” in a garment. The "conscious" cape was inspired largely by the animal world around us, with attention paid to the the various textures of skin, scales, and feathers. The Vimeo video of the project morphing and responding is definitely worth a watch (here)!

Another very interesting extension of 3D printing and social interactions is the x.pose project.

(Image via Behance)

A collaboration between designers Xuedi Chen and Pedro G.C. Oliveira, the x.pose garment connects 3D printed fashion with the digital social era. The 3D printed bodice uses changing opacity in its panels as a social commentary on the lack of privacy in the twenty-first century habit of sharing and posting every moment and/or funny cat video of our lives online. The top connects to a mobile app that tracks and collects the wearer's digital interactions and online attraction and will then reduce the opacity of the triangular panels on the garment, revealing different levels of the wearer's skin. The more socially active the wearer is, the more transparent she will become. I also definitely recommend checking out the video for this project (here)!