Honey I shrunk the phone

When it comes to modern day smartphones, the thinking seems to be “go big or go home”.  How else can you explain the existence of phones that are too large to comfortably fit in your pants’ pocket?  That’s why HTC’s new One Mini is a breath of fresh air.  On the outside, the One Mini looks almost exactly like its bigger brother, with a few cosmetic differences.  The phone now features a 4.3 inch 720p S-LCD3 screen and smaller Boomsound speakers.  However,the volume control is still on the right side, the micro-USB is still on the bottom, and the micro-SIM is still on the left, and the power button and headphone jack are still located on the top.  It also features the same 4MP UltraPixel camera found on the back HTC One, with a 1.6MP camera up front.  The major differences are under the hood.  The One Mini uses a 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 and 1GB of RAMts (compared with the One’s quad-core Snapdragon 600 and 2GB RAM), and there’s a smaller 1,800mAh battery running the show.  One thing that the Mini and it’s sibling share, though, is that both phones run Android 4.2.2 with Sense 5.0 out of the box.

Look for the HTC One Mini to drop in select markets in August, with global availability starting sometime in September.

Summer is officially here.   Time to put away the dreary, dark hues and break out the eye poppin’ pastels.  To celebrate the changing of the seasons, internationally known DJ David Guetta has worked with Beats by Dre to create the perfect set of DJ headphones: The Mixr.  The lightweight headphones feature extraordinary volume, deep bass, swiveled ear cups, dual input, daisy-chain connectors, and an ultra-flexible headband, and they’re available in five bright hues that’ll match all your popped collar polos.  Expect these beauties to be available later this summer for approximately $284 each.

Mara Hoffman’s new collection of Snap Cases for Incase

New York based fashion designer Mara Hoffman has partnered with renowned Apple accessory designer Incase to create a collection of Snap Cases for iPhone 5s.  The collection features four prints inspired by Hoffman’s personal affinity for world travel, nature, mythology, and magic: King Tut, 3rd Eye, Pow Wow, and Hunter.  A few prints are available in multiple color schemes. Each case has an open ended design for easy docking and charging, direct access to all buttons and ports, and features a durable hardshell construction to protect your iPhone from every tumble it’s sure to take during the course of its lifetime.  Each case is available right now in Incase’s online shop for $39.95.

Rise and grind

Unless you’re a morning person, when your alarm goes off at 7am your first instinct is probably to hit the snooze button.  Again…and again…and again…until you finally wake up an hour later wondering why your alarm didn’t go off.  Luckily there’s an app for that particular problem: Wake Alarm.

Wake Alarm is an alarm clock app that requires you to get a bit more physical with your phone before you can silence it.  Just how physical you have to get depends on what alarm setting you choose.  If you’re a light sleeper, you can choose a setting where a simple tap of the phone will shut off the alarm.  Not so light sleepers might find themselves having to turn the phone over on its screen to quiet it.  Those who would have no problem sleeping through an elephant stampede can set the alarm so that it requires a vigorous shaking before it pipes down.  There’s a total of eight repeatable alarms and 12 built-in alarm sounds.

Wake Alarm can be downloaded from  the iTunes App Store for $1.99.

I am someone who believes that social media has magical powers. I know some people believe it makes us all less sociable and that’s true sometimes. But only if you use it for evil.

In fact, I think social media brings the faraway closer to you. It brings different perspectives. I get happy whenever my friends in other cities post their adventures on Instagram. It’s amazing how a little snapshot, taken just moments ago, can make you feel connected to someone at the same time that it reminds you how much you miss them.

Instragram is also a way of reminding me how much I admire the vision and creativity of my friends. I like learning about what captures other people’s attention. And when you truly break it down, Instagram is all about POV and bridging the gap of distances, not creating more space between us. It’s an ideal platform for a visual discussions.

This little film directed by Paul Tellefsen highlights some famous Instagramers and the journeys they took using the program. (Best believe I started following a lot of these people after watching this.) I’ll admit that the movie sometimes comes off as one big ad campaign for Instagram but it also inspires and informs you about how something as silly or tiny as an app can touch millions.

One could see Instagram as just a tool to share photos (or for stupid things like #selfies) but to people like Allison (@allistrange) and Brenton (@brenton_clarke) it’s more about connection, sharing, art, and being amazed at all the friends you can make.

And if a picture is worth a 1,000 words, then let’s start talking.

Instagram Is from technopaul productions on Vimeo.

For more info check out the website: instagramis.com

(Or follow me too! @missestelle)