Pink – As Fashionable As Ever
There are many of us who simply can't get enough of the color pink. We want a pink everything, and thankfully, manufacturers of all kinds of wares oblige. Here are 5 items on the market that will make any pink-lover
Wasabi Portable Color Printer Roughly the size of a box of kitchen matches (4.8" x 2.9" x 0.9"), the Wasabi portable printer from Dell is easy to bring along just about anywhere. It prints wirelessly (or via USB) and produces 2x3 sticky-back borderless prints using a new, inkless technology called "ZINK" (which stands for "zero ink"). You have to use the special ZINK paper, which looks like regular white photo paper, but has dye crystals embedded in it that, when exposed to heat in the printer, produce an image. The Wasabi comes in pink, blue or black, and costs $99.
Fluorescent Pink Diana F+ Camera When I made the switch to digital after years of shooting with film, I found myself with quite a bit of unused film in my refrigerator door, getting closer to its expiration date every day. I couldn't stand the thought of just throwing it out, and kept hoping I'd come up with a creative way to use it.
If you're in the same situation, or just want to give something different a try, check out the Lomographic Society: a worldwide community of photographers not only passionate about shooting with film, but shooting using cheap, mass market plastic cameras made in China, Hong Kong and the Soviet Union in the 60s - 80s. There is no limit to the creative ways you can use these cameras - take the lens off and make your own pinhole cover; shoot with 35mm in a 120 camera (which means the image will be exposed all the way to the edges, over the sprocket holes); advance the film just enough between shots to make one long panorama of an entire roll of film; make double exposures - you get the idea. The Lomographic Society's shops (both online and "for real") have tons of cameras to choose from, so you're sure to find something that suits your style (and leftover film).
A new addition this spring is the hot pink Diana F+ medium format camera. If 120 film is not your thing (although I love the square negatives it produces), don't worry - you can get both a 35mm and an instant back as well. This retro-cool, plastic camera with removable lens (other lenses such as fisheye and telephoto are available) gives you gorgeous, soft focus, vignetted, saturated images that have a decidedly yesteryear look. The camera is available in many different configurations, but the basic kit, which includes the camera, an external flash, "More True Tales & Short Stories" Diana Vignettes hardcover book, color gel filters (for the flash), 12 & 16-shot format frames, shutter lock, neckstrap and lenscap, costs $105.
Sony's VAIO JS PC This iMac look-alike comes in an elegant pale pink (as well as silver, black and bronze) and I have to say I do like the design. Other things to like, in addition to it taking up a lot less space than ordinary desktops, are: the 20.1" LCD display, 4GB of memory, the 2.50GHz, 2MB L2 cache Intel Pentium dual-core processor, the 500GB (7200RPM) SATA hard drive, and the built-in microphone and webcam (with face tracking technology). At the time of writing, it retails for $949.99
Colorful Inspiron Desktops From Dell Finally, someone is adding a rainbow of colors to desktops as well. While laptops are available in all imaginable colors and designs, desktops have remained in the silver/black range. Dell's new Inspiron desktop line has so far only been released in China, but is scheduled to appear on the US market later on this spring.
Available as a mini-tower or a slim tower, the customizable Inspirons come in 8 different colors. The pink one is part of Dell's "Promise Pink" series, which also includes several of their laptops, and Dell donates $5 from each sale to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Starting price for the base configuration will be $299.
Poken - Your Social "Business Card" With the growing number of social networking sites, keeping track of your identities and contact info can be a daunting task, and sharing them with friends even more so. Poken - a keychain-sized gizmo with a USB connector and a huge hand - will take care of all that for you. Select which profiles you want to share with people, add them to your Poken, and when you meet someone you want to exchange info with, just have your Pokens "high five", and voila! The two of you have exchanged your social networking info. The Pokens come in a few different shapes: Panda, Alien, Fox, Bee, Voodoo, and the two pink choices, the Geisha and the Piggy. They cost around $20 and are available online.
