:: Netwoman ::

:: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 ::

It doesn't have to be pink to make it work for me

"Girls like gadgets, too. So why are those most likely to appeal to them so hard to get hold of, Debbie Davies, editor of Gizmogirl.co.uk, asks

Shiny gadget guides with touched-up cover shots of gizmos that you can't actually buy have been falling out of many newspapers as the Christmas shopping season warms up. In between the pages of "boys' toys", the idea that girls might be interested in gadgets, too, has emerged. But just as girls have a problem understanding what men like in a razor, boys seem to be having problems understanding what girls might like about gadgets.

Boysstuff.co.uk, an online shop for boys' toys, is typical. This year, it launched a shop for women, girlsstuff.co.uk, and filled it with anything pink, and anything to do with sex. As someone who is interested in gadgets, I struggled to find anything that I wanted to buy.

Research suggests that girls almost match boys when it comes to spending on gadgets. But a language of two words - pink and sex - is not going to do it.

Apple, the computer company, which has just opened its first European outlet on Regent Street, hopes its London store will be the first that does not make women want to walk straight out. The company is relying on knowledgeable staff whom customers can talk to, rather than leaving shoppers to wade through bewildering lists of product specification sheets.

Apple's straightforward products are popular with women and they will like shopping in the new store, providing Apple delivers on its promise. However, when I tried telephoning, I gave up after being given too many automated options and waiting too long on hold.

Gadgets that fall short of their promise turn women off, in the same way that pink-coloured gadgets are patronising. In my experience, men are much more forgiving than women about them. Men's risk-taking, entrepreneurial streak, and their better understanding of numbers, mean they have invented almost every bit of technology that all of us use, every day. That same experimental quality makes them put up with cutting-edge technology even when it is a few years off being ready for use.

Men have been buying "bluetooth enabled" mobile phones for years, without actually making much use of what has been an emerging technology. The idea of bluetooth - wireless communication across short distances - is enough to make men want it, according to staff at my local branch of Carphone Warehouse.

For men buying gadgets for girls, my advice is that, as long as it is not pink, if you can explain how it will improve my life and it works, you have a gadget for women.

That's as long as it is available. I have tried and failed to buy all of the following this Christmas: a Sky+ designer box, a purple Creative Zen Micro mp3 player and any coloured Apple iPod mini.

Let's hope things will get better in 2005 for girls who like gadgets." more here

:: Netwoman 6:29 PM [+] ::
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Women Online Have New Tech Attitude

Women Online Have New Tech Attitude, According to Survey; Survey Reveals New Woman Emerging - ''Tif'' the Technology Involved Female

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2004--It's sometimes fashionable, always functional, and a growing number of women consider it an absolute must-have. It's not the latest designer outfit or high-end household appliance - it's technology. And, according to Intel Corporation's "Women, Technology and Lifestyle" online survey of American adults, released today, women are catching up with men in the way they embrace technology.(1)

Intel commissioned Harris Interactive(R), best known for the Harris Poll, to look at differences between male and female attitudes toward technology. The survey reveals that women are using computing technology in their daily lives now more than ever.

"Intel recognizes that women are a driving force in technology adoption, and it is important for us to understand how women use technology so we can meet their needs, too," said Dr. Genevieve Bell, a cultural anthropologist with Intel, who observes how people around the world use technology in daily life. "Throughout the world, women are embracing technology as part of their family and work lives, as well as for social, spiritual and romantic occasions."

Introducing "Tif" - the Technology Involved Female

A new, tech-savvy woman has emerged and Intel calls her "Tif," short for Technology Involved Female. She spans generations and backgrounds, from the young women who have grown up with technology, to women who have been exposed to technology at work, to motivated self-learners. Tif is closing the technology gender gap, with women at the youngest end of the spectrum actually surpassing men in their intent to purchase a laptop. Half of young women say their next computer will be a laptop as compared to 43 percent of men their same age.(2)

Closing the Technology Gender Gap

Technology has become increasingly important in the daily lives of women. The Intel/Harris Interactive survey reveals women (58 percent) feel as lost as their male counterparts(3) (56 percent) if they don't check email at least once per day. And, women continue to want more and more from their technology, with the majority of women (62 percent), like men (66 percent), enthusiastic about learning how to use new features on their computers.

Not often recognized as early adopters, women in the survey are revealed as leading the way with wireless Internet access, as more women than men believe this is one of the most important features for a laptop to have (39 percent women versus 29 percent men). While men (51 percent) and women (48 percent) agree that the airport tops the list of the most useful locations to have wireless Internet access, women (38 percent) are more likely than men (30 percent) to desire a connection in a doctor's office as well.

"While women have embraced technology as a useful tool in their daily lives to multi-task, stay organized and keep in touch, they are less tolerant of poor experiences - women are busy and want technology to work well right from the start," Bell said.

Since Intel's survey, "Laptops & Lifestyles," was conducted in 2002, women have become more reliant on their laptops. Eighty-seven percent now think checking a laptop at a coat check or with their luggage is too risky, as compared with 59 percent in 2002. Just two years ago 54 percent of women said they would panic if they left their laptop unattended in a public place; in 2004 that number is 87 percent.(4)

The survey concludes that women still lag behind men in some areas including confidence in their decision to purchase computers. "According to the survey, men are more likely than women to be confident in their technology purchases," said David Krane, senior vice president of Public Policy and Public Relations Research at Harris Interactive. "It makes sense for companies, such as Intel, to focus on women as a key audience and to create programs that educate them about technology."

While women may not feel as confident, they are nearly three times as likely as men to believe that the opposite sex overstates their knowledge about computers (32 percent women versus 10 percent men).

Technology as Essential as the Little Black Dress

As women are catching up with men, technology companies are catching up with women. "Women want the same things as men - and more - when it comes to technology," said Bell. "As women, we want our computers to be like that favorite 'little black dress' - reliable and functional, there when you need it, and readily accessorized to be as individual as you are."

According to Bell, increasingly companies around the globe are manufacturing products in response to Tifs' influence. Software has been developed to keep children off certain Web sites. Companies are integrating wireless Internet access capability into computing products, allowing women the freedom to have technology everywhere. There are even changes to the design of technology to give it a more fashionable appeal. From pink laptops to fashionable cell phones with built-in mirrors and clothing-size converters - European- and Asian-born trends are beginning to emerge in the United States.

Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted online within the United States between July 29 and Aug. 9, 2004 among a nationwide cross section of 2,545 adults (aged 18 and over), of whom 1,273 were men and 1,272 were women. Figures for age, sex, race, education, region, household income and Internet usage were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the online population.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 2 percentage points for the overall sample and plus or minus 3 percentage points for the men and women samples. Sampling error for the women aged 18-27 sample (259) is plus or minus 6 percentage points and for the men aged 18-27 sample (188) is plus or minus 7 percentage points. This online sample was not a probability sample.

Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.

About Harris Interactive(R)

Harris Interactive Inc. (www.harrisinteractive.com), the 15th largest and fastest-growing market research firm in the world, is a Rochester, N.Y.-based global research company that blends premier strategic consulting with innovative and efficient methods of investigation, analysis and application. Known for The Harris Poll(R) and for pioneering Internet-based research methods, Harris Interactive conducts proprietary and public research to help its clients achieve clear, material and enduring results.

* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Intel is a mark or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

All dates, product descriptions, availability and plans are subject to change without notice.

(1) The references to men and women are based on those who are online ages 18+.

(2)Young women and men referenced here are aged 18-27 and who are online.

(3)The references to men and women are based on those who are online ages 18+.

4 In the 2002 survey the question was asked as "Which of the following statements are true for you, if any?" and in 2004 the question used was "Please answer true or false to the following statements." Although there is a slight variation in the question wording, there is still the ability to compare the results between years.

:: Netwoman 6:27 PM [+] ::
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Her So-Called Digital Life

Wired news
"Mary Hodder owns two printers, but hasn't used either one in more than a year. To tell the truth, she can't remember the last time she printed something.

Instead, Hodder, a 37-year-old internet consultant, spends almost her entire life on-screen. She carries her laptop almost everywhere she goes, traipsing from cafe to cafe looking for Wi-Fi to hook into. She downloads pirated movies and even television shows off the net, shops there and pays all her bills, too. Her blog, Napsterization.org, explores how technology alters the media landscape. Although technically based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she lives, works and plays on the web.

With the exception of books, Hodder heads online for practically everything else -- news, blogs, academic papers, research. She employs aggregators to scan RSS feeds on her laptop and Treo. Even in a car, on a train or sidewalk she carries on simultaneous conversations with friends, associates, clients and business contacts via e-mail, instant messaging and talking on her cell phone. And while she refers to the material world as old-style "analog," the internet is strictly "digital."

Survivalists live off the grid, but Hodder hates being without it -- even for a few minutes. She's more of an interface grrl. "I will go far out of my way to get my next connection to the internet, via phone or my laptop," she said. "It's everything."

In some ways, her so-called digital life has become more real to her than reality. She checks friends' blogs, scans their comments, follows the same links, mulls the same information, shares her thoughts via discussion threads or by posting comments on napsterization.org -- and it's all hyperlinked, searchable and browseable, depending on the tools available. Although Hodder may be physically disconnected from her friends, they're never really far away, represented by digital word sculptures they make together. "They create content, I read or point to it in my blog or modify it, and they do the same," Hodder said.

She isn't an aberration. On the contrary, she's a trend. Most of her friends -- many of them geeks and übergeeks -- live this way, the internet at the center of their relationships. Hodder is one of a growing number of technophiles whose lives are one big Wikipedia (a web-based encyclopedia that anyone can edit). And the life she leads may foreshadow yours.

A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study found that 88 percent of Americans who use the web claim the internet is part of their daily routines. This digital socialization dovetails neatly with the emergence of content as the No. 1 reason people go online. According to the Online Publishers Association, 127 million people use the internet for content, as opposed to communications (118 million), searching (112 million) and e-commerce (106 million).

As OPA President Michael Zimbalist suggested in a Nov. 1 press release, "We are witnessing a shift in how consumers are using the web as broadband households continue to grow. Clearly, it is much more than a tool; it is a primary source of information, entertainment and fun."

As more people plug into cyberspace, our interpersonal relationships -- already framed by e-mail and real-time instant messaging -- will become predominately digital. We'll exist in multiple worlds of our own creation: the physical realm and the intellectual sphere constantly connected. Could personal avatars be far behind?

Hodder is perhaps a little ahead of the curve, that's all.

She's gone digital. When will you?

:: Netwoman 6:24 PM [+] ::
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