Cool tech toys for the ladies?
Posted on: October 15, 2007
- In: Cool Toys | General | Internet | Rants | ServerBeach | Technology
- 3 Comments
Being a woman who loves technology and super-cool tech toys, I always find myself disgusted at the “toys” marketed towards women. I did a Google search looking for something that might capture my attention enough to go out and buy and was greatly disappointed. My search came up with things like:
* Interactive Health Equalizer Foot Pro Massager – “What women doesn’t love spa-style gadgets?” (Uh…ok? Not only is this not cool, but for that price I can go visit my local manicurist/pedicurist and get a wonderful massage several times!)
* Black & Decker Handheld Cordless Can Opener – “This opener is ideal for women of all ages….” (Yeah, this is so cool I want to go buy 20 of them to give to all of my female friends so it can make their lives IN THE KITCHEN easier to cook for their families!)
* 7 inch Widescreen LCD Digital Picture Frame – …… (sigh)
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are females out there who’d love to get neat little gifts such as the above. Being a woman who lives, breathes, and eats in the tech field… I’m looking for something that carries the cool factor much, much further.
I’ve created a post on our ServerBeach Forums, asking our customers and anyone else who visits what they’ve bought for that special geek-girl in their lives in hopes of ending my search for a new toy.
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3 Responses to "Cool tech toys for the ladies?"
October 16, 2007 at 7:26 AM
Oh my God, someone else who thinks the same way! Forget pink for girls. That works for my 5 year old niece. I grew out of that by the time I was 7.
Give me something that is optimized for my hand, not a guys hand. Give me something that doesn’t take a huge amount of hand strength to open. The folks men creating things think about how they fit in guys hands, but when it comes to how they fit in our hands, they seem to have convenient amnesia.
Now the black & decker hand held cordless can opener, they are marketing to the wrong audience. They need to be marketing it to baby boomers who are aging and taking care of their parents. As my mother has developed arthritis in her hands, something like this would be a good thing to make her life easier as she does cook, but has problems with gripping a regular can opener. But not as a gift. It shouldn’t be a gift like they are thinking about.
Unlike getsomehairspray, I don’t have long fingernails, but I do wear earrings all the time. I’ve never managed to hit buttons with my earrings, but I can really see how that would happen. I really wish the designers would take a reasonable amount of time to speak with their intended female audience and see what is actually important to them. If they managed to do that, they’d have a runaway hit on their hands, rather than the jokes that most of these “womens” items seem to be.
March 24, 2008 at 11:24 AM
[…] Why…why…why?!?! A few months ago I made a post titled “Cool Tech Toys for the Ladies“. I’m always on the search for cool tech toys and gadgets and get easily frustrated […]
October 15, 2007 at 1:54 PM
Glad to see girl techs talking. I am a hairdresser, not a tech professional, and I constantly wonder if the people designing gadgets have ever met a girl. You would be surprised how many gadgets I can’t use because I have fingernails. Or how many phone buttons and screens accidentally get pushed by my earrings. I think it is time for device designers to realize that women make a lot of the purchasing decisions in a household and we need to be included in the planning and testing. We don’t want something just because it is shiny or pink or helps us out around the house.
Happy Monday!
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