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Fitbit's period-tracking features are seriously lacking
Fitbit wants to help women stay on top of their cycles. It added a "female health tracking" feature to its app two months ago, which puts data about periods and ovulation alongside your other metrics. Although there are plenty of period and fertility tracking apps available, having Fitbit keep all that information in the same place as the stuff it already knows about you should be both convenient and illuminating.
HTC Rhyme with Sense 3.5 hands-on (video)
We're here at HTC's swank New York City press event where the mood lighting and floral centerpieces are as unabashedly girly as the Rhyme, its newest handset for lady folk. We just spent a few minutes wrapping our hands around the device, exploring the ports (not that there are many) and poking around the latest version of Sense (v3.5). Do you like purple? Are you a person of style? Sure you are. So what are you waiting for? Meet us after the break where we'll run down our first impressions and see what this thing has to offer beside that cute design. %Gallery-134392%
HTC Rhyme official: 3G, 3.7-inch display, single-core CPU, headed to Verizon for $199 on contract
Well, well. Looks like those leaked press shots (and hands-on photos and video walk-through) were on the money. HTC just officially announced the Rhyme -- that womanly handset otherwise known as the Bliss. As it happens, HTC isn't explicitly marketing this as a lady phone, though it bears all the markers of a device pandering toward those of us with XX chromosomes. Which is to say, it's petite and purple with middling specs. What you're looking at is a handset with a 3.7-inch WVGA display, a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm CPU, 768MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage space, a non-removable battery, microSD expansion slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS radios and dual 5MP / VGA cameras. The phone runs Android 2.3 with "next-generation" Sense (that would be version 3.5) layered on top. And, as rumored, you can pair it with an optional "Charm Indicator," a bubble that glows purple when the phone is ringing so that you'll never again miss a call because your phone is buried beneath nail files and fifty tubes of lipstick. Other accessories include a wireless dashboard speaker for the car, a dock and a workout armband. As that tell-tale FCC report revealed, the purple version you see up there will land on Verizon as a 3G device, with a silver version arriving in Asia and Europe next month. HTC has yet to confirm pricing or availability. If leaks are to be believed, though, those of you with small hands and deep murses should be able to pre-order yours any day now. Update: We're told that it'll sell for the typical $199 on a two-year contract (which includes all accessories), with pre-orders starting on the 22nd and availability pegged for September 29th. A bit steep given the specifications, but hey -- you'll pay a premium for style, right? Right? Update 2: As for global aspirations, we heard from an HTC representative that it'll soon be available on an unspecified amount of European carriers, where it'll be hawked as the "Hourglass," tinged in a "sand-like color." All other specifications and accessories will remain the same, though. Update 3: Check out our hands-on (with video!) right here. %Gallery-134387%
Apple as "the world's most feminine brand"?
Fortune's Bridget Brennan has a bold statement: "Why doesn't Apple make remote controls? You ask: Why Apple? Because if any company could improve one of the world's most user-unfriendly electronic devices, it would be Apple. And then there's this: Apple just may be the world's most discreetly feminine brand." Oh man. We were with her right up until that last statement: remote controls are fairly user-unfriendly, and an Apple remote (other than, you know, the one already out there) would be a thing of beauty. But "the world's most discreetly feminine brand"? That opens up a whole can of nuts we probably don't want to open. But what the heck, snakes be damned, let's open it up. Brennan says that women drive the economy, by influencing 80% of all purchases, and 61% of all consumer electronics products. And she says Apple is doing great, because in a market that's "dude-driven" (her words, obviously), they've brought elegance and style to their products. She says that Apple products don't need manuals, and that Apple's face-to-face customer service is excellent. Which we mostly agree with (while even Apple fans have their issues with customer service, they do a relatively good job). But "feminine"? Do guys not like elegance and style in their products? Do they enjoy reading manuals, or using electronics that aren't user friendly? Apple is successful for these reasons, sure, but we don't quite see how that makes them "feminine." Brennan concludes by suggesting that "Apple's success [shows] when you make women happy, you make everybody happy." But we're pretty sure that, in Apple's case, it's actually the other way around.
He said, she said: Does Blizzard support homosexual stereotyping?
He Said / She Said is a new feature at WoW Insider, which looks at the game from masculine and feminine points of view. Today, Amanda and David discuss the age-old question: are male night elves and blood elves "gay?" Does Blizzard intend to give us that impression, and if so, why? If that's not what Blizzard intends, then why is gayness such a big deal when people think of elves?Read on to see the conversation.
