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Cube Dog: The Extra Portable Pet Dog App

Thank you to Cube Dog (a Clever Girls Collective client) for sponsoring this review. For more information about Cube Dog please visit the Facebook page or download it on iTunes.

I don't usually participate in Clever Girls series, but this one was too fun and cute to resist: Cube Dog, a customizable dog that lives on your iPhone. You can take it with you anywhere, and play with it any time, without ever worrying about barking, bad behavior or allergies. And it's so cute!

Doubters, and IRL dog owners might be asking, "How cute could an iPhone pet be?" to which I reply, "OMG, SO FREAKING CUTE!"

I'm serious, when you "pet" your Cube Dog, his or her eyes turn into hearts. Like this:

That's Tanya, one of my Cube Dogs, sitting on my sofa. Isn't she a doll? And how neat is the feature that lets you take a picture of your Cube Dog, with your iPhone, actually in your house?

The graphics are surprisingly advanced and 3-D, which I think is why it pulls you (ahem, or why it pulled me in) so quickly. You can customize the color, the eyes, nose, the ears. And so many hair style options! (Okay, clearly THAT was the big selling point for me!)

Check out this video introduction to Cube Dog:

 
To use Cube Dog right now, you need an iPhone® 3GS, iPhone® 4, iPod touch® (3rd generation, except for 8GB model), and iPod touch® (4th generation). All compatible devices must be running iOS 4.0 or higher. There is a note in the iTunes store that they're working on supporting earlier versions of iOS 3.x in the future. You can get the latest news on releases, contests and new features by following Cube Dog on Facebook.

If you have a compatible phone, and you're in the market for the most carefree pet ever, download the free app and check out Cube Dog!

While Cube Dog provided me with the app to review, the opinions I've expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Cube Dog, Clever Girls Collective and I promote Blog With Integrity.

Yeah, My Dad is Straight G

 

Yeah, that's right. He has TWO pairs of glasses. And a fedora.

Mess with him at your own peril, evildoers!

Maybe Miss Ruthie & Duke Eloped

Somehow I think this might be a real Romeo and Juliet story, New Orleans-style.

 

Bad Wigs on White Women: Cate Blanchett in Robin Hood

I'm a fan of fake hair. But all too often the white ladies in movies -- or the gay men who wrangle their wigs -- utterfly fail.

No one says it's easy to make a weave look natural, but does it have to look bad?

Today's case in point: the lovely Cate Blanchett in Robin Hood. (I know, the movie was a shitfest, but she's delightful in almost everything, and nothing can ever be as bad as Kevin Costner's version, so yes, I watched it.)

Cate's hair in real life:

 

And Cate with a matted up cat corpse barely perched on her head:

Here is the matted cat corpse from a different angle:

It's hard to look like the scruffier man when you're standing next to Russell Crowe. But, well, you see it. A matted cat corpse slipping off your head looks worse than Russell Crowe's grizzled stubble.

Here's another photo of the real Cate, with her natural, pretty hair, to cleanse the palette.

 

NOLA Cloud Angels + One Jesus

photo: luckycatphotography.com

Roof Chair

photo: luckycatphotography

Pointy

Sometimes art can be as prickly and fragile as it is beautiful.

 

photo: luckycatphotography

Ford Gets It Right in Three Different Ways

Ford made the busy month of January even more exciting when they asked my company, Clever Girls Collective, to find 25 green and tech bloggers to participate in a Ford-hosted Driving Green event during the North American International Auto Show.

In Detroit. In January. Brrrr!

Despite the spectre of frigid temps, we were delighted to say yes, and quickly put together a kick-ass roster of talented and thoughtful Clever network car enthusiasts.

I have a long history with Ford, which includes a fabulous "40 Whatever" trip in a Ford-provided Mustang with my business partner (and BFF) Stefania, a side-story with Fake Scott Monty (more about him at the end), plus a family that only drove Fords for the first 25 years of my life, and for 50 years before that. Scott Monty, the head of social media for Ford, is a leader in social media strategy and execution, so it's always a bonus to work with him on a project.

That's a long way of saying, I was already a fan and excited to join the group as a green blogger, and to represent Clever Girls Collective. But as always, my opinions are my own.

Three Things Ford Gets Right

1. Ford talks to women

For one thing, Ford reached out the Clever Girls Collective network, which is predominantly women, to include 25 of our members in the Driving Green event. We sent (including me) 23 women and 2 men. Ford invited another 75 participants, most of whom were from major sites like Fast Company, Gizmodo, and the New York Times.

I give Ford huge props for including the Clever network bloggers, who have (relatively speaking) smaller, but highly engaged audiences. It speaks volumes about their understanding of how women make major purchasing decisions: We discuss it with our friends.

This inclusive attitude toward women was also noticeable at the Auto show itself. Ford set up a very nice "private" lounge area for the bloggers, where we could recharge our electronics, get lunch and cold drinks. Thoughtful. Good hosting.

They also brought in several senior executives to do interviews with us in that lounge -- everyone had a chance to speak one-on-one with them, regardless of the size of our publication or audience. Also, there were no restrictions on what we could ask.

It was dramatic to go from that environment to rest of the auto show, where few (if any!) of the women were acknowledged or engaged by other car companies. One other car company did a little online outreach, and invited several of the bloggers to their hospitality suite, which was smart. But once we got there, she was the only person we spoke with -- and she was from the PR company, not the car company itself. She was very well informed about the product, but it was a far cry from getting to ask Ford's head of sustainable design about alternative fabric choices.

Six Stinky Hours Next To "Cap'n Legolas Bad Body Odor"

 

Sometimes I think I'm so funny. And then I'm wrong.

Like when I snapped this photo of a "pirate" waiting for the flight back to San Francisco from Detroit, and tweeted it out with the tag #themagicalcityofsf.

At the time, it sure as hell was funny to me. Here, let's count the ways, starting at the top:

• highly engineered white dude dreads/scruffy beard
• not one, but TWO amateur steampunk-metal-feather-hoop earrings (really, wouldn't one have been plenty? I have to think that Captain Jack Sparrow would have shown restraint, and thereby achieved greater impact -- but that's how you know you're dealing with a professional, innit?) from Etsy
• dashing red sash from Etsy
• corset murse (translation for the uninitiated: man-purse) from Etsy
• a pair of "crafted by elves" gators from Etsy

The only thing missing was a treasure map, with X marking the spot of that stupid McSweeney's pirate supply store in the Mission. And he probably had one safely tucked into his Esty murse.

Ha ha ha! So much airport entertainment! People-watching and tweeting! All in good fun!

Until I walked by him and got a whiff of the most vile body odor, ever. And I've been to Germany! Believe me when I say he had never, ever, ever bathed, washed his clothes, or "defiled" his body with deodorant. Because, you know, PIRATE.

And then saw his seat assignment. 

Yep. Right next to me.

I braced myself for the five hour flight, with a scarf to wrap around my nose, and scented hand lotion which I huffed at regular intervals.

If smells had colors (and you kinda could see fumes radiating off this dude) then his aura would have been acid green with streaks of dried blood red. He smelled like the floor of a charnel house that had been washed down with urine.

Old urine. From angry goats.

With time on the runway waiting for the de-icer, and then 30 minutes in the de-icer, the whole olfactory ordeal took about six hours. Recovery involved a gallon of Febreeze for my coat and prophylactic squirts of Nasonex.

Learn from my tragic experience, and don't mock Pirate Elves in airports!  They travel with Protective Stank Ass, and do not hesitate to unleash it on the entire coach section. You've been warned!

 

Boobs or Breasts, Kittens or Kittehs

Boobies and Kittens - watch more funny videos

I saw this video on Funny or Die and thought, if you add Oprah and Justin Bieber, it's the ultimate site traffic generator.

Then I thought, shoot, I do stuff like this for a living. Will a "Tits and Cats" video (with maybe *one* nip slip, watch closely) double my site traffic? I need to know if it's true!

So consider this a test. Social media and SEO research!

Plus seriously you guys, those kittens are insanely cute.